MARLBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS

Originally emanating from Worcester, FLYING DREAMS BREWING COMPANY landed in the quaint downtown neighborhood of Marlborough during 2018. Inside a green-shingled tan-sided professional building, Flying Dream’s wood-glossed interior is reminiscent of an intimate 1920’s speakeasy with its brown embossed tin ceiling tiles, elongated 10-seat pine bar and tulip Edison lighting.

Brewmaster Dave Richardson, a University of Vermont science major and UC-Davis grad who started at Red Hook before heading Gardner Ale House’s operations, went out on his own thereafter. Richardson’s general Flying Dreams fare never strays too far stylistically, promoting well-roundedness, balance and vigor. He’s won several US Beer Tasting awards along the way.

Tonight, on this warm June ’21 journey thru Marlborough, I enjoy nine diversified brews while taking home four more for outside consumption (reviewed in Beer index).

Flagship New England/ West Coast IPA hybrid, Pond Jumper, brought mildly perfumed passionfruit-grapefruit-pineapple-orange tropicalia and peachy mango zesting to honeyed pale malts contrasting dank pine resin.

Mildly creamed wheated oats contrast dank pine resin underlying the orange-bruised peach sweetness and mild grapefruit bittering of The Experimental IPA #2, a dry Imperial moderation.

Worthy India Dark Ale, Nightcrawler, heaved dry cocoa-malted nuttiness at less pervasive citrus-spiced dried fruiting and dark-roast hop char.

Sour lemon-limed Himalayan sea salting and light coriander spicing provided oceanic intrigue to Straight Up Gose, scaling back its acidulated wheat malts.

Herbaceous citrus spicing guarded Dreaming Up Summer Saison, a musky barnyard-grained farmhouse ale with lemony mandarin orange tanginess and buttery Chardonnay illusions darting thru musky barnyard graining contrasting creamy caramel malts.

Even more herbalized, Just In Thyme Saison brought evergreen thyme freshener to lemony woodruff syruping, mild rosemary-basil-paprika shimmy and lead-based pencil shavings.

Honey-glazed brown chocolate dipped into sweet fig-plum-prune conflux and caramelized hazelnut-pecan notions for Dragonator Double Bock.

Easygoing Park Avenue Porter plied dark chocolate malting to sedate hazelnut coffee, walnut ice cream and cola nut illusions plus distant dried fruiting.    

Rich brown chocolate syruping drapes the mild chili burn of robust Aphrodisiac Russian Imperial Stout, letting creamily cocoa-nibbed hazelnut coffee tones as well as gentle burgundy-bourbon sweetness engage its fudgy cookie dough bottom.