GARNERVILLE, NEW YORK
Inhabiting the old Civil War-era textile warehouse Industrial Arts Brewing resided at prior to upscaling, Garnerville’s ROUND TABLE BREWERY was established in 2023. Part of the bourgeoning Garner Art Center, the spacious brick pub includes La Redonda Tavern, antique living room couches, rustic community-tabled covered deck, expansive brewing operation and hidden kitchen.
A “cozy gathering place,” Round Table wants to do its part cultivating the local craft beer community. Specializing in varied mixed culture sour ales, hazy IPA’s and dazzling stouts, co-owning brewmasters, Ricardo Petroni and Javier Laurini, show great originality blending ambitious concoctions.
Brewtanks are stationed in a large right side glass-fronted room, wooden beams spread across the vaulted ceiling and the timber-cut wood paneled backdrop at the bar fits the rustic gray concrete-floored interior.
Parking our butts at the corner of Round Table’s L-shaped, 30-seat, crosscut bark-topped La Redonda Tavern (with four tap stations featuring four draughts handles each), my wife and I ate the cheeseboard, bruschetta and hummus while consuming a few previously untried brews on a warm Thursday eve, June ’24.
Tonight’s lightest, easygoing offering, Pampa, a sessionable summertime wheat ale, misted spritzy lemon zest upon slight Saaz hop herbage over freshly baked breading.
Getting into a few brettanomyces-funked wild ales, Mangia Frutta Apricot And Peaches let salty lemon juicing embitter its sour apricot and tart white peach adjuncts as moderately vinous green grape esters puckered the tongue. Also part of the Mangia Frutta series were the Raspberry and Passion Fruit versions.
Another brett-soured wild ale, O Jeito (lightly barrel aged in bourbon), linked lemon-limed bittering to ultra-dry white wining, oaken vanilla earthiness and mild balsamic vinegaring.
Balsamic vinegary foeder aged Flanders Red Ale, Rood, allowed dry oaken cherry tartness and mild plum-raspberry respite to soak up subtle pinot noir acidity.
Sprightly sunshiny tropical fruited hazy IPA, Unga Munga, plied semi-sharp grapefruit-peeled orange pith bittering, zesty lemon souring and juniper-tipped pine needling to crystal-sugared pale malts.
On to the stouts. Rich coffee roasted nuttiness anchored magnificent Natural Necessities: The Natural, a robust stout with precise espresso, macchiato and dry latte reminders and latent dark cocoa powdering as well as chocolate-covered strawberry and honeyed molasses reminders.
Milk-sugared coffee, black chocolate and espresso tones led Natural Necessities: The Cup Of Excellence, a more complex dark ale than The Natural, gaining a mild roasted hop char plus tertiary ‘red berry and black currant’ illusions and a sweet red wine reminder.
On a windy Thursday evening early September ’24, discovered a few more Round Table ales while sitting at the bar.
A collaboration with Pearl River’s Gentle Giant, dry-hopped German pilsner Round ‘N Gentle let Mandarina Bavaria-hopped guava-gooseberry tartness linger with slight herbal spicing above doughy pilsner malts.
Dry coppery Imperial IPA, Doctor Jay (with pronounced 8.1% alcohol esters), retained pineapple, navel orange and white grapefruit tang plus lemon rind bittering and piney hop resin atop honeyed pale malting.
Juicier Imperial IPA, Motto Motto, pledged mild yellow grapefruit bittering, salty guava tartness and sweet orange peel briskness for its dry piney midst contrasting honeyed pale malting.
Mildly bourbon barrel-aged ‘wild ale’ eccentricity, Kroak Lambic, placed ultra-tart cherry souring alongside puckered green grape vinegaring and briny lime splurge.
Also part of the kettle-soured Wild Ale series, Mangia Frutta Passionfruit persuaded its tart passionfruit adjunct to receive briny lemon-squeezed guava-gooseberry souring above withered white wheat.
Rustic flagship, Alto Lindo Wild Ale, stayed approachable as bubbly champagne spritz sparkled against tart lemon-juiced green grape esters and hard cider wisps.