BREWERY ARDENNES

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Brewery Ardennes Taproom & Kitchen ...

GENEVA, NEW YORK

Inhabiting a refurbished stone-and-slate dairy barn turned into a turret-roofed manor in the rural western Seneca Lake town of Geneva, BREWERY ARDENNES TAPROOM & KITCHEN is a pristine Belgian-inspired brewhouse entrepreneurial owners Derek & Stacey Erdinger created after attending nearby Cornell University. A former sheep farm, Ardennes now recalls a serene Euro-styled high-end winery. Tapping for the public began May ’21.

At the grand side entrance on the left side are the varied windowed brewtanks. On the opposing side, a brown-couched lounge area leads to the exquisite main pub. A U-shaped bar with black granite sandstone top stages two tap stations with six draught handles each plus a separate three tap station. Across the bar, tidy wood tables and chairs gather atop the rust concrete floor.

A small kitchen serves upscale gourmet dishes paired with certain house beers. Upcoming Events include Monday Burger & Pint night and Sunday Brunch at the Barn.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar ’round noon on a Friday early December ’23 to try four elegant Belgian-styled farmhouse ales, taking home a few more reviewed in Beer Index.

Expressive Belgian-styled Blonde Ale backed its white-peppered orange salting, saison-like barnyard musk, mild Chardonnay buttering, sweet clove snip and cellared herbal fungi with crusty baked breading.

Stylish orange-peeled coriander spicing lingered softly for Belgian-styled Wheat, letting lemon-candied banana breading counter its salty peppercorn notion and musty cellared mossing over a wispy white wheat base.

Tidy Belgian-styled Session IPA slid dry yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering onto white peppered herbage above buttery caramel malting.

Tropical fruited Belgian Hazy IPA may’ve lacked the haze, but this clear yellowed medium body let lightly embittered orange rind, grapefruit pith and pineapple tanginess gain grassy hopped pine resin and peppery herbal restraint atop honeyed pale malts.

 

TWISTED RAIL BREWING – GENEVA

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Twisted Rail Brewing arrives | Business | fltimes.com

GENEVA, NEW YORK

With four locations in the Finger Lakes, including Canandaigua, Honeyone and Macedon, TWISTED RAIL BREWING’s Geneva pub is inside a historic tan brick movie theatre. Opened in 2019, a red brick walled lobby leads patrons to bistro-tabled, wood-floored main space where a U-shaped bar and leather-couched mezzanine (with old theatre tables) traverse the backspaced windowed brew tanks.

Utilizing reclaimed wood throughout provides a splendid antique design. At the bar, two TV’s surround the centralized tap list and pub food menu. Whiskey, rum and gin are available alongside the twelve proprietary house beers.

During my Saturday afternoon in December ’23 voyage, I quaffed a cherry wheat, rye IPA, barrel aged Scotch ale and three dark ales, picking up a few to-go cans reviewed in Beer Index.

Sweet-tart red cherry fizz greeted powdered sugared wheat base for Cherry Wheat Ale, a mildly hopped summertime spritzer.

Dry rye malting charged the piney orange-grapefruit blur of medium-full-bodied Hunters Rye IPA, retaining sharply citric residual spicing.

Creamy Madagascar vanilla abutted brown chocolate syrup for Vanilla Cream Porter, leaving dewy moss upon tertiary cherry and plum dried fruiting.

Molasses oats sweetness guarded the Black Forest-caked chocolate-cherry mesh of luscious Quaker Express Oatmeal Stout.

Treacly black chocolate syrup draped the creamy vanilla sweetness and mild espresso bittering of Vozkal Russian Imperial Stout, a luxuriously robust mocha java digestif.

A hearty nightcap, Barrel Aged End Of The Line Scotch Ale let dry bourbon warmth seep into chocolate and toffee sweetness plus mild sherry-port wining over toasted oak-chipped vanilla tannins.

LAURENTIDE BEER CO.

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LAURENTIDE BEER COMPANY, Penn Yan - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

PENN YAN, NEW YORK

Residing at a 200-year old yellow carriage house in the heart of Penn Yan since 2020, LAURENTIDE BEER CO. finds married couple Brett and Jackie Driscoll crafting some well rounded sassy suds for local Keuka Lake minions.

Laurentide’s pristine neo-Industrial setting features wood slot flooring, wood and formica topped tables, an above-bar kiosk and dramatic hanging pendant lights. A centralized U-shaped, twelve-seat bar offers a dozen draughts.

A rear kitchen served sandwiches, soup and appetizers. I consumed the parmesan-cheesed chicken wings while downing nine rangy brews one Friday night in November ’23.

A local fave, Penn Yan Light Lager let lightly caramelized amber graining recede to musty lemon rot.

Musky lemon fizz caressed dark floral spicing for dry-hopped Italian Pilsner, a simple light body.

Summery Laurentide Mango Wheat let ripe mango juicing counter dry mango skinned bittering as ancillary orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess and mild cantaloupe nips settle atop wispy white wheat.

Lemon-licked grassy hop astringency gained mild spiced herbage for Kolsch, a pilsner malted moderation.

Laurentide’s most popular beer, lively tropical fruited IPA-like Hazy Pale Ale, allowed waxy lemony yellow grapefruit and navel orange lacquering plus slight guava-gooseberry souring to coalesce beside piney cannabis oiling above pale malt sugaring.

Cleanly dry Wet Hop West Coast IPA prodded mild yellow grapefruit bittering with mild herbal spicing and dextrin crystal malts.

Dewy peat-mossed cocoa powdering faded to sweet toffee for coppery Altbier, depleting its toasted hop crisping.   

Dark chocolate syrup draped the oats-flaked barley roast  and bitterly nutty hop char of Oatmeal Stout, leaving Blackstrap molasses on its tail.

Caramelized brown buttering induced luscious Barleywine, regaling candy apple-glazed whiskeyed cherry loveliness and mild sherry-cognac wisps for its brown chocolate base.

ABANDON BREWING CO.

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Home - Abandon Brewing Co

PENN YAN, NEW YORK

Inside a restored barn overlooking Keuka Lake, ABANDON BREWING CO. began operations in Penn Yan during November ’13. Through major expansion, greater fermentation and the use of a geothermal system, Abandon’s become a true staple of the Finger Lakes region, concocting dozens of one-offs and recurring brews over its first decade.

On a 25-acre lot with vineyards and a hop farm, Abandon’s enclosed cement-floored porch and smokehouse pavilion surround the old creaky floored, archaic-wooded pub. Wood crossbars and columns fill out the farmhouse interior and the U-shaped wood-paneled bar (with six metal chairs) offers twelve-plus draughts and local wine. There are small wood benched seats plus a raised level with four-seat tables and ancient metal fireplace. TV’s are on opposing sides.

Wood-fire pizza, meatballs and mac ‘n cheese went well alongside the dozen stylishly diverse beers I enjoyed this Friday afternoon, early December ’23.

Fluffy soft-toned Pilsner submitted lightly creamed oated pilsner malting to lemon-daubed herbage and musty maize musk.

Amber-grained Vienna Lager let mossy fungi envelop its wattleseeded chestnut and caramelized rye toastiness.

Summery light-bodied Blonde Ale let mild yellow-fruited zesting, tart currant whims and probable sage/rosemary snips reach the white bready bottom.

A lighter English Brown Ale, Mild, let tobacco-roasted chestnut and pecan illusions plus dewy mossing reach its laidback rye chocolate finish.

Sweet orange-peeled coriander spicing and cologne-perfumed lemon zesting propped up moderate-bodied Belgian Wit Bier, drowning out its pale wheat malt base.

Spicy yellow fruited Belgian Golden Ale let beet sugared lemon meringue tartness, banana puree sweetness and champagne grape tannins pick up sweet vanilla creaming.

Beet sugar-syruped dried fruiting led Abbey Ale, gaining light rum spicing, mild chestnut sweetness and chocolate truffle earthiness.  

Easygoing Session IPA gathered perfumed citrus sweetness and wispy redcurrant tanginess for its resinous pine dryness.

“Smooth” Citra-Chinook-Cashmere-hopped New England IPA maintained lemony orange-peeled pineapple and guava fruiting for pine lacquered herbal salting contrasting mild spiciness over light oated wheat creaming.

Coffee-stained dark chocolate outdid gingered pumpkin spicing for Pumpkin Brown Ale, leaving earthen dryness at its gourd-licked mocha-latte finish.

Robust dark ale, Porter, stayed muskily dry as raw molasses bittering and dewy peat soiling saturated murky black cherry, raisin and date illusions.

Milk-sugared coffee sweetness contrasted the dark chocolate bittering of decadent Coffee Stout, sporting chocolate mintiness over Graham Cracker honeyed base.

LYONSMITH BREWING COMPANY

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Upstate Beer Tourist

KEUKA PARK, NEW YORK

Concentrating on crafting Brit-styled brews and a few American ales since opening during 2020 (after five-plus years at a smaller locale), Keuka Park’s LYONSMITH BREWING COMPANY occupies a former ice cream shop. A pristine family-styled cafe for English beer lovers, Lyonsmith competes favorably with Seneca Lake’s Beerocracy.

A pale green walled pub with loungey right side gaming, several four-chaired wood tables and an eight-seat wood top bar with tulip-cupped lighting, Lyonsmith’s eight silver-backed tap handles retrieve head brewer Dave Smith’s backroom brew-tanked liquid suds.

My wife and I visited the first day of December ’23.

Dewy peat sweetened Reid’s Mild Ale, leaving earthen truffle, wattleseed, rye and chestnut illusions on spritzy dried fruiting.

Sessionable, yet assertive, Rylie English Pale Ale let dry leafy-hopped fungi penetrate toasted amber grains as well as acorn, macadamia and hickory nuttiness, finishing with a slight rye tease.

Rustic Wide Open Throttle Golden Ale let mossy English mild ale fungi and pale ale-malted ESB-like mineral graining meet tenacious herbal onrush as moldy apricot and rotted orange allow musky dried fruiting to penetrate basil, rosemary and lavender vim above musty horse-blanketed wet hay bed.

Offbeat herbal eccentricity, Dorset Coast Summer Ale, plies lemon-soured ginger spicing to sage, lavender, cilantro and tarragon perfuming plus coniferous fern minting atop malted white wheat base.      

Floral-spiced red and orange fruiting dabbed Irish-styled Rhiannon Red Ale, a crisp barley roasted moderation with slight cocoa powder influence.

Mild whiskey-soured rye entry picks up lemon-bruised spoiled orange and tangerine tartness for Peasantman Royal Bloodline ESB, hiding its earthen floral aspect.

Peat-smoked English-styled porter, 1814 Flood, let its Band-aid-like beechwood curing caress dark chocolate malting and nutty earthiness.

Uncommon Medieval-styled foraged gruit, Witchcraft, utilized heather tips instead of hops to serenade its dandelion leaf bittering, floral lavender perfuming, lemon-salted lime peel tartness and desiccated orange rot above light cellar fungi.

GRIST IRON BREWING COMPANY

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Image result for grist iron brewing company

BURDETT, NEW YORK

Founded in 2015 and a half-mile South of Two Goats Brewing, Burdette’s GRIST IRON BREWING COMPANY is perched above Seneca Lake on a 150-acre farm. A wide range of beer styles boasting a rich American heritage favors lagers, IPA’s and sours.

Occupying a spacious ruddy browned, vaulted-ceilinged barnhouse, the cement-floored, rustic wood-topped pub features a rounded service station with twelve taps plus aluminum-seated wood lacquer-topped four and six seat tables and silver-kettled brew tanks (behind the bar). A separate overhead-doored dining space and outdoor porch provide further seating and an on-site beer-themed lodge promotes overnight stays.

Sandwiches, pizza and barbecue crowded the food menu as I downed a few brews on a brisk Friday afternoon, late November ’23.

Easygoing Campfire Lite Lager stayed brisk as Seltzer-fizzed lemon peel bittering, salty lime dryness and Saaz-hopped herbage upstaged mineral grained pilsner malting.

Part of Grist Iron’s Sour Series, tart raspberry seeding seeped into sour lemon acidity and herbal woodruff syruping for Sour Raspberry Wheat.

Upfront Meyer lemon sweetness picked up salty lime-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering and slight mandarin orange tang for Life’s Lemons, an eccentric citric-splashed NEIPA.

Creamy dark chocolate syruping trickled thru the wood-burnt Blackstrap molasses bittering, mild hazelnut coffee roast and dry cocoa remnant of Maxximus Brown Ale, picking up subtle walnut-cola conflux and figgy black cherry nuance.

Dark-roast coffee bittering, coarsened nut char, dark chocolate creaming and crisp tobacco roast anchored Banshee Breakfast Oatmeal Stout, an oats-flaked full body with a dry espresso finish.

Modestly creamed dark chocolate bittering and mild peanut buttering nestled the dark-roast hop char, dry cocoa chalkiness and chicory coffee caress of Mom’s Favorite Chocolate PB Stout, leaving maple molasses-induced toffee fudginess on the rich mocha flurry.

I also consumed a few canned Grist Iron brews afterwards in January ’24.

Classic aluminum clear pilsner-malted bantam, Campfire Lite Lager, retained mild raw grained minerality, dry maize astringency, lemon-dried Saaz hop herbage, slight green peppering and sour cabbage musk suiting pleasantly pedestrian slightly salted fizzy fodder.

Semi-sharp lemony grapefruit and orange spicing plus lingered herbal hop astringency rose above the dry pale malting of polite moderate-bodied Ol’ Buddy Ol’ Pale Ale.

Dry golden West Coast-styled IPA, Lake Life, coalesced mild lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering with sweet orange peel zesting and peachy mango tanginess, staying easygoing as floral-daubed earthen hop herbage and light pining settle above doughy French breading.

Lemony yellow grapefruit tanginess gained subtle New Zealand-hopped guava souring and kolsch-like champagne wining for Juicy Way, a less oat-creamed, fizzier New England IPA.