Mellow 10.5% ABV stout aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels contrasts wood-charred whiskey tones and oak-seared bourbon licks with lightly creamed brown chocolate sweetness, picking up mild coffee roast.
Tag Archives: HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING
HOUSATONIC RIVER SACRED GROUNDS COFFEE PORTER
Upfront coffee roast receives creamy milk chocolatey caramel fudging and recessive citric acidity plus distant berry snips for satisfyingly mellow Sacred Grounds Coffee Roasters collab.
HOUSATONIC RIVER GENTLE ON MY MIND NEIPA
Signature soft-toned New England-styled IPA with slightly bitter lemony grapefruit juicing, sour guava-mango-gooseberry tartness and resinous pine tones contrasted sweet orange peel tang by utilizing Citra, Amarillo and Azsaca hops. Mildly creamed oated wheat base anchors juicy fruited razzle dazzle.
HOUSATONIC RIVER AMARILLO SKY DOUBLE IPA
Richly creamed full body combines Ipswich IPA’s thick cookie dough yeast and bruised orange swerve with Rogue Dead Guy’s honeyed chestnut/ almond splurge and rum-soaked whiskey warmth. Tertiary grilled pineapple, salted mango and pink grapefruit illusions, delicate floral spicing and sappy pine add to luxurious Amarillo/Citra hop blend.
HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT
Taking up a brown brick fronted bunk house with a covered deck and floor-to-ceiling stone hearth plus a separate beergarden pavilion, HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING perfectly recreates olden New England-styled wood work in purely bucolic fashion. The rustic pub’s pine kiosks, countrified stool seating, wraparound wood coves, wood paneled walls and corrugated aluminum roof suit the aluminum-sided lacquered pine top bar.
Opened in 2018, entrepreneurial brewer David Littlefield perfected his craft at California’s Harbor Lights Brewing before heading east and teaming up with veteran brewmeister, Steve Medd, at Housatonic River. The busy brewin’ duo have made over 150 different recipes in just over six years.
There’s a midsized stage area for music acts and brew tanks are staged in the rear.
I stopped by on a warm Friday evening, July ’24, to try an Imperial Stout and its oak-aged variant – plus a light Bavarian lager – taking home a few more goodies in cans (reviewed in Beer Index).
Easygoing German pilsner, Duffer Lager, brought sourly salted lemon seed spritz to dried plantain tartness, grassy hop astringency and slight vegetal herbage over popcorn-like maize buttering.
Creamily smooth Imperial Stout, Remedy, placed whisked bourbon chocolate sweetness next to caramelized coffee, wood-smoked molasses, chocolate cake, creme brulee and sugary vanilla illusions as its tarry hop char contrasted the mighty mocha nightcap.
Stronger spirits-derived variant, Whiskey River Remedy, aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels, embraced subtle dried fruiting to deepen its oaken whiskey-bent dark chocolate resolve.