NEWBURGH, NEW YORK
Located in a spacious 19th century fourth floor loft across from historical Washington Headquarters at a former box company, NEWBURGH BREWING COMPANY opened April 2012. Selling only tap and keg beer for now, this Newburgh-situated brewhouse also serves fabulous cuisine to the local minions that’ve called this rustic place home.
Large jalacy windows provide beautiful Hudson River views from three sides. Salvaged furniture, exposed ducts, plank floors, old beams, a ping pong table, two vintage arcade games and a lathe table near the wide bar fill out the cavernous warehouse.
On a sunny afternoon in October 2012, my wife and I grab a seat at one of the dozen German-style community tables to try former Brooklyn Brewer zymurgist Chris Basso’s reliably sessionable libations. Basso’s four staples include light-bodied Cream Ale, a dry wheat-husked easygoer gathering hay-horsehide earthiness, popcorn buttering and vegetal herbage. Then there’s herbaceous farmhouse-styled Saison, a sweet ‘n sour yellow-fruited Belgian knockoff with dried rye-oats backing its lemony white grape and orange briskness as well as white-peppered lemongrass, basil, oregano, rosemary and clove spicing.
On the dark side were beechwood-charred Peat Smoked Stout (a traditional Irish dry body with German rauchbier-like wood-burnt chocolate malting, coffee bean roasting and light Band-aid waft) and rich English-styled Brown Ale (with its stove-burnt coffee overtones, hazelnut chocolate mellowing, Blackstrap molasses bittering and black-breaded walnut char).
Basso’s “Brew with Heart Series” included New Burton IPA, a traditional English-styled medium body welcoming peppered orange-yellow fruiting to mild raw-honeyed bitterness. Its perfumed lemon, peach, pineapple and quince tones maintained a well-rounded fruiting.
Next up, Sterk Aal van Hoodie Belgian Strong Ale provided a lemony candi-sugared banana-clove-coriander flux above creamy honey-spiced malts and a subtle alcohol bite. Then, dry-hopped Bitter English retained a crisp yellow-fruited bark-dried promenade, musky black tea bittering and wood-parched earthen minerality. Two women a few tables over enjoyed Von Stuben’s Gose, a citric-fizzed Radler-like German wheat beer with soft-tongued briny salting, lemon zest, limey orange souring and withered coriander tinge.
While consuming the fine beer offerings, we munched on soft pretzels (with sweet and spicy mustard), a powder-sugared liege-style waffle and butternut squash apple soup.
A few weeks later, I hit Newburgh Brewing for dinner with my wife, son Christopher, pal Dennis and his wife, Dee Dee. My wife enjoyed the Artisan Grilled Cheese (with smoked bacon, caramelized onions and dijon mustard) alongside a Cream Ale and Christopher grabbed the bratwurst with sauerkraut while Dennis and I tackled two orders of delicious garlic-herbed Saison mussels.
Train horns blasted in the background as I began sipping the newly crafted Menditto-Madura 2012 Harvest Ale. Its leafy hop spicing endured above lemon rind bittering and buttered French breading (recalling Cream Ale’s earthy graining).
Anyone who has a hankering for approachable beers with a slight kick (despite the low alcohol) should get their butt to Newburgh and get a few highly quaffable brews.
During April ’13, tried extremely rich Newburgh Conspiracy, with its lactic maltose sugaring, hazelnut-oiled pine sapping, burnt caramel sweetness and mild black cherry souring blanketed by gooey anise directly above oats-toasted cedar char.
On tap at Growler & Gill, hybridized Belgian pale ale, Newburgh Squashtoberfest, brought baked butternut squash restraint to salty pumpkin-seeded rye spicing, picking up dried orange-fig nuances as well as acrid acetone snip.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, hybridized Baltic porter, Newburgh Winter Spruce Porter brought minty dark-roasted chocolate malting to evergreen–fresh piney spruce tips, picking up resinous-hopped pine nut, basil, sage and cinnamon snips.
On tap at Shoreline Beverage, hybridized white wine-soured dry body, Niagara Magnanini Tripel, let musty green grape esters (from local Magnanini Winery) and raw-honeyed yellow fruiting seep thru barnyard-desiccated brettanomyces yeast, affecting faded white-peppered apricot-peach-apple tartness as well as distant cotton-candied bubblegum sweetness.
On tap at Copper Mine, hybridized doppelbock/ dubbel Doppio Doppelbock worked chestnut into sour yellow-fruited tartness and peaty pale malt soiling. Lemon-peeled dried fig and white grape nuances waver.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, mild Rodeo Wild Sour brought delicate pinot-like white wine vinegaring to limey lemon zest tingle as brettanomyces-affected saison yeast enhanced tart citric finish.