ENDICOTT, NEW YORK

Ten miles west of Binghamton, Endicott’s THE NORTH BREWERY opened in 2013, one year after Water Street Brewing became the area’s first modern brewpub. Owner Zach Pedley’s a serious stout aficionado crafting some ‘extreme ales,’ winning Best of Tap New York’s statewide competition in 2017 with heavenly richly God Complex Cerrano Pepper Mocha Hazelnut Coffee Stout.

A makeshift caged-in black metal-furnished Washington Avenue patio leads into the small two-room pub. Edison lights adorn the concrete slate-topped bar with eight red brick-walled draught handles and the white-tiled floor contrasts the raw wood furnishings and reclaimed palate wood right wall. The bronze tiled ceiling features solid mahogany columns while a few windowed tables and sundry TV’s sprawl across the front room. A crazed lunatic and black & white octopus adorn the right side and back wall.

The current 5-barrel brew system and a canning line inundate the back room.

Zach’s got the Blues on the radio while I consume six well-designed draught beers slightly stretching the experimental spectrum during July ’19.

Soft-toned The Mexican Smoked Wit (with Lime) brought cologne-perfumed oiling and smoked Cherrywood acridity to subtle orange-peeled coriander, picking up tart lime resilience.

Lightly acidic Nelson Sauvin-hopped Taddy Mason IPA plied green grape esters and sour gooseberry tartness to floral-daubed wood tones before brisk yellow grapefruit tanginess ascends above the fray with a latent mandarin orange twist.

Milk-sugared mango and coconut perked up Bikini Tops NEIPA, leaving mild grapefruit bittering, zesty pineapple tanginess and lemondrop tartness at the bright tropical fruited finish.

Coffee-roasted nuttiness anchored hop-charred Ink Coffee Stout, inducing espresso macchiato and milk-steamed latte tones as well as tertiary black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant wisps.

In its indelible nitro version, Ink’s softer éclair-creamed mouthfeel relinquished windswept espresso, dark chocolate and mochaccino elegance.

Creamily rich ‘pastry stout,’ Lil Klouds, draped black chocolate syrup upon milk-sugared coconut, vanilla and marshmallow adjuncts with profound intensity. Its dried cocoa finish reinforced the dramatic mocha sway. Excellent nightcap!

Stopped back at North Brewery, June ’24, to down six more satisfying suds on the way to Ithaca.

Wolves Pale Wheat Ale variant, Wolves With Rind, tossed dry briny lime rinds into the white wheat mix, affixing mild agave-daubed tequila licks to the zesty citric spritz.

Offbeat India Pale Ale, Tarlow & Tarlow, skirted convention, furrowing herb-spiced vermouth botanicals thru perfumed orange oil musk, green grape esters and white grapefruit tang.

Dewy soft-toned amber graining rode atop smoky chocolate malting of wee heavy Deathclaw Scotch Ale, picking up subtle black plum, almond, chestnut, toffee and cigar leaf restraint.

Dry nutty coffee and dark chocolate imbued nitrogenated Indigo Irish Stout, leaving tarry wood-burnt hop roast and recessive dried cherry tartness upon weedy moss backdrop.

Though its honeyed Graham Cracker influence stayed recessive, assertive vanilla bean bittering lingered by the nutty espresso-dried coffee ground bluster of Sicko Mode, a luxurious vanilla stout.

Black coffee creaming and dark milk chocolate syruping settled atop nutty cocoa resilience of Furiosa Imperial Stout, a bold full-bodied nightcap.

northbrewery.com