ORANGE, NEW JERSEY

In downtown Orange across from the railroad station, FOUR CITY BREWING COMPANY took hold August 2020. Occupying a large red brick professional building with windowed frontage, the 4,700 square-foot public house features a slate-topped serving station (with blue tile frontage matching the back wall holding the draught handles) as well as an epoxied cement floor, plastic furnishings, strung Edison lights and high-ceilinged exposed pipes.

Reflecting the vibrant local art and music scene with colorful caricature sketches spread across the four walls, Four City crafts stylistically diversified elixirs. Brewer Roger Apollon does a great job utilizing rangy flavor profiles.

A former homebrewer, Apollon helped birth the 300-plus member research and development-oriented Brew Council while visiting over 100 breweries across the nation and abroad.

I imbibed nine fine selections on my late October ’21 visit.

Flagship lager, Keg Stand, brought mild corn-flaked rice sugaring to lemon-herbed fungi musk and hay-dried barnyard acridity for off-dry light-bodied splendor.

Another flagship, Citrus City Pale Ale, coalesced Orangina-fizzed mandarin orange and clementine spritz with lightly embittered grapefruit rind, guava and gooseberry souring above dry wood tones.

Autumnal Eagle Rocktoberfest Marzen contrasted leafy Tettnang hop herbage against dewy caramel-malted Easter breading.

A bit understated, Four City Wit let subtle orange-peeled coriander spicing nip mild banana sweetness and wispy carrot soaping above raw wheat dryness.

Belgian candi-sugar draped laidback prune, plum and fig illusions as well as delicate vanilla-creamed banana sweetness for St. Cloud Belgian Dubbel, dabbing floral perfume spicing across its reserved dried fruited finish.

Onrushing marshmallow sweetness gained briny Sweet-Tart candied lemon liming for bitter blueberry-bustled Bru Berry Berliner Weiss, leaving ancillary orange rind bittering and oaken cherry souring to contrast the vanilla-creamed blueberry finish.

Brisk West Coast-styled Four City West IPA allowed mildly pine lacquered red-orange-yellow fruiting to seep inside perfumed juniper bittering abutting sugary pale malts.

Floral-daubed orange tang and plastique lemon-limed guava souring perused thru Bongo!, a New England IPA with cleanly citric cryo hops.

A resilient Twin Elephant collaboration, Only Built 4 Brewin’ Drinx Imperial Stout pitted Graham Cracker-honeyed peanut buttering and coconut toasting against dark cocoa nibs above molasses oats, gaining dry Bakers chocolate chalking at the bold S’mores finish.