Demure rye malting just rich enough to anchor fudgy dark toffee and maple molasses sweetness contrasting hop-charred black chocolate bittering of bulky porter. Slight soy milking and black licorice onrush may seem offbeat, but ultimately, its sweet finish is not unlike a Sugar Daddy candy bar.
In the can, dark roast coffee consumes front end of mocha-derived Belgian blonde. Its delicate pilsner-malted yellow fruit spicing maintains a fungi-cellared Belgian blonde influence, bringing lemon rind bittering (and mild limey pucker) to black coffee stead as espresso crema, dark chocolate and cafe latte remnants add to seductive java joust.
Easydrinking pale golden flatheaded cream ale with celery-watered crisping plies hop-dried grassy earthiness to champagne-dried green grape esters and mild herbage over rice-sugared white breaded pilsner malts.
Tidy red ale/ hazy IPA blend forwards straight-up lemony orange, apple and peach tanginess to mild grapefruit-peeled piney Chinook hops (of an IPA) with lightly spiced toasted amber graining (of a red ale).
Smooth easygoing pale wheat flagship lets cucumber-watered lemony orange rot and sparkling champagne effervescence merge atop white wheat spine for mild summertime refresher.
Briskly dry raw-honeyed lemon puree souring picks up tart orange oiling, green grape tannins, green mango salting and bitter lime peel splurge atop bready pilsner malt base of spritzy German-styled lemon-juiced summertime fun.
Dry Bohemian pilsner with musky grain husk, barnyard straw astringency and herbal hop earthiness given musty fungi dewiness as spritzy lemony orange Seltzer fizz and dark floral whims reach corn sugared bottom. Heady lil pils.
On guest tap at Last Minute Brewing, mild beechwood-smoked cured meat setting brings out distant salami, bacon and pastrami brining above powdered cocoa malting. In the can, creamy cocoa froth lathers peaty beechwood smoked cured meat spicing. A little too mild for rauchbier perfection – but getting close.
SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA
Residing at a white stucco garage catty-cornered into a hilly residential neighborhood, GROOVE BREWING opened its black overhead doors for business January 2023 (after operating out of a former dentist office since 2020). Scranton’s first brewpub, Groove’s smooth nano brews have captivated Northeast Pennsylvania.
Brewmeister Ed Generose crafts delightful one-off batches of stylishly varied suds plus two flagships, Steamtown Gold Lager, and Brooks Drift Wheat Ale. Alongside Generose, co-owners Joe and Shannon Bonacci strive to gain an imprint on Scranton’s redevelopment, prosperity and beer culture.
The red cement-floored, white-walled interior features an eight-seat Formica top bar, several four-seat tables, a couch, black-ceilinged exposed pipes and a spacious staged backroom for private parties. Windowed brew tanks carry the liquid load.
Our first stop sojourning to Scranton late October ’24, my wife and I slurped all available 5-ounce brews and took home a few reviewed in Beer Index.
Dry German-styled pilsner, Garden Party ’24, let dewy honey drip into subtle lemon adjunct and moist orange tartness.
A richer Vienna malted marzen, Groovefest, plied honeyed red-orange fruiting to leafy green hop resin, dark floral mustiness and musky mineral graining.
Spry kettle-soured Key Lime Pie caressed its pie-crusted key lime tartness with lime-peeled gooseberry, guava and green grape souring as well as lemon meringue piquancy, parched limestone chalking and minty ginger snips over honeyed Graham Cracker base.
Dry pumpkin pureed spicing embedded semi-sweet dark chocolate and confectionery marshmallow fluff for Marshmallow Pumpkin Porter, gaining resonant vanilla bean influence as latent anise spicing coats pumpkin pied cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg aspect.
One of the best American smoked lagers, Chimney Man Rauchbier may lack the brash cured meat goodness of Germany’s Aecht and Bamberger, but its scaled-back smoked salami, bacon fat and pastrami banter retained a sizable Scotch-licked cocoa malting.
Easygoing java-influenced Belgian blonde, Morning Joe, spread creamy milk-sugared coffee atop cellared Belgian yeast funk as restive lemon zesting fizzled. Supreme breakfast fodder.