WATERTOWN, NEW YORK

Opened during autumn 2013, Watertown’s SKEWED BREWING is located in the rear of Salmon Run Mall next door to Regal Cinema. An upscale gastropub with sportsbar leanings, Skewed’s the first brewpub in this remote rural village 90 miles north of Syracuse and 20 miles south of Thousand Islands.

Techno-industrial brushed aluminum, dark wood and high ceilings fill the interior while one dining section faces the mall’s food court. An elongated wood-lacquered bar features 24 taps on each side and multiple TV’s crowd the ample space. Behind plexiglass are several brew tanks holding Skewed’s proprietary brews. Also available on draught are several Stone, Left Hand, Brooklyn, Great Lakes and Lost Coast fare. Light Americana food fills the menu.

My pal, Dennis Flubacher, brought back three flagship offerings during a May ’14 excursion. The lightest, Hop ‘N Mad Pale Ale, brought red, orange and yellow fruiting to musty peat-moistened compost earthiness and leafy hop astringency, picking up wispy  dried plum-fig notions.

Dry coffee-soured Breaking Out Stout gained soy-milked dark chocolate and cocoa powder illusions above its oily hop char, but may’ve been too moderate for its dark ale styling.

Best bet: busy chartreuse-hazed Skewed Wit wondrously contrasted orange-peeled pineapple, melon, banana and peach ripeness as well as wheat-honeyed butterscotch malt sweetness against lemony hop bittering and white-peppered Belgian yeast fungi.

‘Get Skewed,’ indeed.

www.skewedbrew.com