PORTLAND, CONNECTICUT

Coming to fruition in 2021, Portland’s CONCENTRIC BREWING COMPANY occupies a grey brick warehouse across the Connecticut River from liberalized Middletown. A plastic-furnished right side deck leads to the entrance of Concentric, a porcelain-floored pub featuring a centralized octagon-shaped beeswax concrete top bar (with two draught boards housing eight draughts each), wood-stooled tables, a few booths, large staged brew tanks and black art deco ceiling.

My wife and I perused Concentric noon time on a Saturday in March ’25.

Brusque, though light-bodied, Czech-styled Portland Lite Pilsner retained dry floral-spiced lemon spritz and mild herbage.

Brisk clean-watered IPA-like lemony grapefruit sunshine and sweet orange-peeled pineapple tang girded Pat’s Pale Ale, leaving light pine resin on its dry back end.

Easygoing Motueka-hopped New England IPA, Moving Target 7: African Queen, took tart guava-gooseberry tropicalia on an ascendingly bitter journey past lemony grapefruit bittering and above mild oated creaming.

Richer marshmallow vanilla-fluffed NEIPA, Bridge Traffic, coalesced sweet orange peel briskness with bitter yellow grapefruit swagger, tangy berry zing and drifting pineapple-guava tropicalia.

Black Patent-malted dark chocolate, black coffee and charred oats contrasted burnt caramel sugaring of Quarry Brown Ale, picking up latent nut singe.

Fudgy Imperial Stout, Double Stuffed, merged creamy vanilla-topped chocolate cake with dried cocoa powdering.

Aged in Four Roses bourbon barrels, boldly red wine-spiced Imperial Stout, Tarmac 2019, let dry bourbon, burgundy and pinot noir serenade cinnamon-cumin seasoning in rich dark chocolate setting.