WILLIAMSTOWN, NEW JERSEY
Inside a red brick Main Street cornerstone of Gloucester County’s unincorporated Williamstown, 13TH CHILD BREWERY occupies a former bank/ music studio. Opened March 2017, just a few months before Cross Keys Brewing Company began operations one mile down the road, 13th Child’s white-walled gleam, large sectional windows, olden wood floor and high overhead are reminiscent of a pristine 19th Century schoolhouse.
Five tables front the wood top serving station while pendant lights hang from the black tongue-and-groove ceiling. Corner counter seating opposes right side stainless steel brew tanks carrying approachable suds my wife and I imbibe this sunnily brisk January ’21 afternoon.
A few brave souls fought off the freezing temps by plowing a few at the beer garden.
Lemon-soured cranberry tartness rode above wheat crackered pilsner malts and leathery oaken tannins for Cran You Ugly Pale Ale, picking up withered boysenberry, gooseberry and green grape whims.
Mildly puckered lemon-limed peach bittering soaked up the lactic brettanomyces yeast of Wanna Peach Of Me, a kettle-soured fruit ale.
Diffident saison, Break It Frenchie, sidled zesty lemon tartness with honeyed banana, bruised orange, and green grape notions, leaving herbal nuances upon the straw-dried backend.
Easygoing English-styled IPA, Session 19, permitted pasty raw-honeyed pale malts to obtain waxy apricot-fig desiccation and dewy peat mossing.
Another sorta English IPA, inconspicuously soft-toned Cascade Annie IPA brought dewy tea-leafed earthen mossing to mildly creamed candi-sugared citrus spicing and dried plantain snips.
Flagship Mosaic-Citra-hopped New England IPA, Mean 13, allowed its ample yellow grapefruit thrust to gain ambrosial yogurt-soured mandarin orange tanginess and tart green grape esters above pasty pale malts.
Placidly sweet doppelbock, Irons Bock, let toffee-spiced dried fruiting delicately pleat chocolate crystal malt sugaring.
Mildly fudged chocolate creaming sashayed above the chewy cookie dough bottom fortifying Schoko Bliss, a sweet chocolate stout with espresso, cappuccino and cafe au lait undertones.