Caramel apple-glazed brandy entry greets beet-sugared dark fruiting and cellared fungi musk of a Belgian quad as bourbonized molasses drapes fig, date, raisin and dark cherry pleasantries soaking into cognac-sweetened vanilla midst. Perfect brandywine-barreled nightcap.
Offbeat sour saison peculiarity aged on oak with spruce tips (!) utilizes mixed culture brettanomyces yeast funk to add ammonia strength to dry lemon-limed parch, champagne sparkle and ambitious herbal spiced foraging underscored by acidulated wheat. Minty spruce tips amplify zesty lemony white wining as capacious pink peppercorn, fern, thyme, fennel, tarragon, dill, cardamom and mustard seed illusions penetrate musky mineralized rusticity.
On tap at Plank Pizza, plum dumpling-implied pastry sour lets salted plum entry gain light vanilla-creamed cinnamon spicing and floury brown-sugaring relegating stylish acidulated melanoidin malts.
Dried orange and apricot tartness plus peachy pineapple tanginess stay the course above pasty caramel-salted honeyed oats spine.
Zestful lemony yellow grapefruit entry sparks orange-peeled sweetness and peachy mango-tangerine tang of fruited vodka-like 8.3% ABV Imperial IPA. Light pine resin underscores voluptuous tropical fruiting, picking up slight candy-coated tartness.
Using organic barley-hops, Smart Beer became New York’s first organic brewery in 2016. Closer to a Brit-styled IPA with its dewy mossing and cellared fungi musk overtaking any bitter piney grapefruit expectancy – yet surprisingly diverting to dried-fruited raisin, prune and apricot sweetness. Molasses-honeyed sorghum syruping seems to coat the cocoa powdered bottom. A decent changeup.
On tap at Ambulance, smooth nitro-infused witbier retains softly frothed eclair creaminess for delicate orange-peeled coriander sweetness and tart lemon zip given mild celery-watered fungi musk that fades above placid pilsner-malted acidulated wheat.
Effervescent lemon spritz leaves banana-clove-bubblegum sweetness in the midst as white grape esters enter the easygoing summertime fray. Honeyed white wheat spine tingled.
Orange-rotted lemon lime spunk contrasts rummy pineapple-candied tangerine sweetness above peaty compost soiling. At the dry finish, raspy citrus hop spicing flows.
Straightforward pale ale with tangy orange, apple and pear fruiting picks up light floral perfuming and slight grassy hop astringency above pasty cereal-grained pale malts.
Demure rye malting just rich enough to anchor fudgy dark toffee and maple molasses sweetness contrasting hop-charred black chocolate bittering of bulky porter. Slight soy milking and black licorice onrush may seem offbeat, but ultimately, its sweet finish is not unlike a Sugar Daddy candy bar.
In the can, dark roast coffee consumes front end of mocha-derived Belgian blonde. Its delicate pilsner-malted yellow fruit spicing maintains a fungi-cellared Belgian blonde influence, bringing lemon rind bittering (and mild limey pucker) to black coffee stead as espresso crema, dark chocolate and cafe latte remnants add to seductive java joust.
