Decocted melanoidin green grape tannins sidle stylish lemony banana-clove stead given mild vanilla creaming, dainty floral perfuming (and herbier backup than most Bavarian hefes).
NOD HILL GARTEN WEIZEN HEFEWEIZEN
Tag Archives: NOD HILL BREWERY
NOD HILL ZOAR BROWN ALE
Dry dark ale with bitterly nutted light roast coffee frontage given dark-roast hop char contrasting less prominent caramelized maple molasses sweetness. In the backdrop, soy-milked hazelnut latte spell drifts into black grape musting and oaken cherry musk as tannic walnut-skinned bittering counters sugared hazelnut glaze.
NOD HILL GIDDYUP HOP-FORWARD PILSNER
“Assertively dry-hopped” German pilsner adds NEIPA-like grapefruit zesting, tannic green grape esters and earthen pine resin to lagered lemony orange tang, phenol spicing and corn-starched white breading.
NOD HILL STELLAR RAY’S PILSNER
Crisp cold conditioning allows bulky German-styled pilsner to filter out any gunk from lemon-rotted grape tannins its Huell Melon hops promote, leaving dank cellar fungi, musky raw graining, root vegetable must and wafting compost upon roasted corn chip backend. Rustic.
NOD HILL BREWERY
RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT
Inside a tan stucco brick building overlooking the sylvan tree-lined countryside at the foothills of the Berkshire Mountain in Ridgefield, Connecticut, NOD HILL BREWERY came into biz, November 3, 2017. Boasting “separate authentic flavor profiles for its small community vibe,” the popular pub has expanded its taproom, began local can distribution and struggled to keep up with increased demand.
Nod Hill’s spacious wood floored interior features a lacquered wood top bar, two community tables, a few round tables, loungy metal-chaired tree stump tables, several side stands and an overhead door – plus a baby blue-tiled draught board at the back bar listing eight homemade elixirs. Brewtanks are stored in the large backroom and a centralized refrigerator serves to-go brews.
Perhaps the most important part of Nod Hill is its separate picnic-tabled pavilion beergarden. A solar-powered brewhouse, its brewers’ tend to make ‘hop-forward ales, Old World English, German and Belgian styles and spontaneously mixed fermentation oak-aged beers.’
Portishead plays trip-hop in the backdrop as my wife and I sink a few Nod Hill brews on a sunny Friday evening, July ’24.
Bavarian lager yeast, mineralized pilsner graining and Noble hop herbage connected for standard mild German Pils, Beam, a slightly pungent moderation with light lemon licks and recessive doughy breading.
A frisky lemon spritz sparked bustling hefeweizen, Fritz Walrus Edelweiss, retaining stylish banana-clove sweetness but adding date, plum and raisin subtleties to the rich honeyed wheat base.
Lemony white peppering, green grape esters and soft floral spicing engaged Trappist single, Ace of Wands, a delicate pilsner malted patersbier (best described as Belgian Monk’s lawnmower beer).
Mixed fermentation red wine-barreled Belgian dubbel, Queen Of Funk, stayed dry as leathery muscat grape, oaken vanilla and charcoaled black chocolate illusions picked up light lemon acidity.
Buttery dried fruiting draped lovely Belgian quad, King Of Swords, leaving candi-sugared raisin, plum and prune sweetness plus nutty toffee spicing and cotton candy confection upon brown chocolate malting.
Flagship NEIPA, Geobunny, raised grapefruit rind bittering, orange peel sweetness, tangerine tanginess and tart gooseberry-guava souring above vanilla-daubed oated wheat creaming.
Another flagship NEIPA, Super Mantis, maintained a sunnier, brighter disposition as its tropical fruit juicing embroidered a dryer wood backdrop. Peachy pineapple tanginess, lemony grapefruit bittering, navel orange sweetness and salted mango-papaya tropicalia reached mild oats-flaked pilsner malting.
English-styled dark mild, Eynsham, let bland dried fruiting run thru light-roast burnt coffee tones, buttery cocoa powdering and murky nuttiness.
NOD HILL STORMFIELD IPA
On tap at Ambulance, bittersweet Azacca-hopped orange peel juicing and sharp grapefruit bite complemented by resinous Amarillo-Simcoe hop pining above light white wheat malt base. Lactic yogurt souring sneaks in at the faded citrus finish.
NOD HILL SUPER MANTIS DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE
On tap at Growler & Gill, dryish floral-daubed tropicalia placed against wet wood astringency, onion grassed hops and well-disguised 8.7% ABV. Yellow grapefruit tang, orange rind bittering and pineapple-mango sweetness stay in balance above mild oats-flaked pale malt setting. Soft, understated pleasantry remains polished but inconsequential.
