Using organic barley-hops, Smart Beer became New York’s first organic brewery in 2016. Closer to a Brit-styled IPA with its dewy mossing and cellared fungi musk overtaking any bitter piney grapefruit expectancy – yet surprisingly diverting to dried-fruited raisin, prune and apricot sweetness. Molasses-honeyed sorghum syruping seems to coat the cocoa powdered bottom. A decent changeup.
Tag Archives: SARATOGA SPRINGS NY
WALT & WHITMAN BREWING COMPANY
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK
Inside the Old Saratogian building in downtown Saratoga Springs, impressively designed and family-owned WALT & WHITMAN BREWING COMPANY opened in 2020. A multi-tiered, multi-faceted operation with an exquisite lounge leading to a pristine coffeehouse and spacious brewpub section, its catacomb lower level features a glass-encased brewroom, benches, couches, wood tables and walled pop culture pix. A large caged patio offers further seating.
The main 20-seat slate-topped pub area offers 20 draughts (listed on the wood menu) plus two opposing TV’s and a refrigerator with cans to go. Several community tables fill out the room while exposed pipes, old wood columns and Edison lights give the wood-floored bar a rustic old Americana glaze.
Fine pub fare from the right side kitchen includes Detroit-styled pizza, wings and sandwiches.
During my sunny noon time visit in November ’22, I bought several brews for the road (in canned version listed below) and consumed a lovely milk stout at the corner of the bar.
A soothingly creamed confection, Written In The Dark plied coffee-dried dark cocoa to mildly hop-charred cola, walnut and Brazil nut illusions as well as peaty chocolate truffle snips.
In the can and bettering most lo-cal light lagers, dry aluminum yellowed Dick Murphy Lite placed mildly grained German pilsner malts alongside salted lemon fizziness and phenol hop astringency while avoiding some acridity.
Clear beige-yellowed, billowy cumulous-headed “American wheat,” Agrarian Society, let its rustic amber graining and hay-like acridity dig into its sour lemon wedging.
Rangy Oktoberfest lager, Festbier, secured a stylistically upscaled profile as unexpected spruce-tipped perfume musk seeped thru autumnal brown leafy astringency, straw-dried barnyard acridity, raspy lemon oiling and wispy basil herbage.
Crisply tart lime salting stays dry alongside sour lemon twist for easygoing Rough Day Gose, leaving lightly vinous white grape acidity upon mild coriander seeding and cologned agave nectar.
Rangy frail-headed pale golden farmhouse ale, Le Petit Poete, awakened the senses with mildly spiced orange tanginess, bruised banana sweetness and lemon custard tartness penetrating salted white pepper herbage and cellared mushroom fungi in a spritzy flow.
Murkily dense purplish Berliner Weiss, Now, Forager Blueberry rode tart blueberry pureed pomegranate essence thru sweet milk sugaring, picking up vodka-licked purple grape, cranberry and crabapple illusions as well as mild tobacco leaf crisping.
Briskly tropical IPA-like fruiting paced crisply clean moderate-medium-bodied pale ale, I’m So I’m So… Citra, serenading zestful lemony grapefruit-peeled pineapple bittering and navel orange sweetness with polite pale malt spicing contrasted by dry wood tones at its grassy hop stead.
Floral-spiced yellow grapefruit entry of The Infinite Nick IPA picked up mellow mandarin orange, peach and pineapple tanginess against dry herbage and hay-like acridity in clean mineral water setting.
‘Candied orange, mango and grapefruit’ spicing gained floral-bound mango, pineapple, papaya and tangerine fruiting for Big Kids Table NEIPA, leaving grassy hop resin upon the fizzy salted citric finish.
RACING CITY BREWING COMPANY
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK
Leaving his Sussex County home in Jersey to start successful Fort Edward-based Oliva Winery northeast of horse racing capitol, Saratoga Springs, entrepreneurial spirits venture, Tony Oliva, decided to brew professionally soon after. After moving his nine year-old winery to Saratoga’s outskirts with wife, Debreen, and son, Anthony, in tow, he hooked up with Olde Saratoga brewer, Yuri, and began crafting some of the most interesting brews in the area under the equine moniker, RACING CITY BREWING COMPANY.
Utilizing a fresh well water base, Oliva’s crew offer free-spirited, oft-times hybridized, originals that usually go one step beyond stylish conformity with uncommon herbal-spiced eccentricities.
Open for business since the night before St. Patrick’s Day, 2018, Racing City’s based in a freestanding 20,000 square foot grey-bricked warehouse. A sportsbar-related microbrewery with excellent light pub fare to go alongside a baker’s dozen tapped selections, its warm and friendly interior features a 10-stooled, wood-topped, corrugated sheet metal-sided serving station (with 3 TV’s and handsome beer menu) fronted by five community tables, several high-top bar tables and a mid-spaced sofa lounge atop an apoxy concrete-polished floor.
A beautiful 3D fiberglass horse racing mural signed by famed rider Angel Cordero (and previously hung at Saratoga’s old city center) graces the front wall.
When Oliva initially opened the joint, the only beer available was light pale ale, Break-In Maiden, a favorite amongst local dart and cornhole leaguers. By my early December 2018 noontime visit, there were fourteen diverse brews readied for draught.
While my wife nibbled on cheesy pretzels, I consumed all but Backyard Harvest, an autumnal Cascade-Centennial-hopped English-styled IPA.
A popular summertime easygoer given year-round status, Lemon Hop Kid, an adventurous lemon ginger wheat ale, let its lemon-peeled ginger juice soak up dry cologne-spiced lemongrass, basil, fern and lime sentiments.
Similarly off-the-beaten track, mint-leafed Colt Classic Dark Cream Ale (the base beer for the bourbon-aged Kentucky Classic) brought unexpected wood-toned Chinook-Saaz hop rusticity to the maize-dried Mint Julep furlough, leaving latent chocolatey cola nuttiness upon its busy mix.
Popular centrist libation, Fishin Lager, stayed crisply clean as its musty maize-flaked earthen grains gained rotted citrus notions and distant herbal musk.
Finely hybridized autumnal moderation, Punkinhead Pumpkin Lager (with its Fishin Lager base) brought perfumed-hopped wood lacquering to squash-dried pumpkin spicing.
Sessionable pale ale, Turning Point, kept the hop bittering light and caramel malt sweetness subtle while streamlined apple, peach, orange and grapefruit tanginess may’ve provoked far-off banana liqueur illusions.
Equally sessionable Top Choice Hopped Lager, a maize-flaked cream ale blend, allowed buttery honey-dried grain malts to pick up mild floral-spiced tropical fruiting.
Reliably abstruse LSH Saison boasted ‘natural herbs’ as primary lemongrass, sumac and hibiscus adjuncts received floral lemon niceties as well as birch-barked fern, lilac and rosewood reminders.
Rounded fruitiness stimulated wholly delectable JustifIPA, a juicy India Pale Ale submitting perfume-hopped peach, clementine, tangerine and pineapple tanginess to briskly coniferous pining.
Pureed blood orange desiccation saddled King 7 IPA, a tart dry body with constrained orange peel, tangerine, mandarin orange and clementine sweetness.
A winning collaboration with local brew friends, Taylor & Sons and Northway, vibrant amber-browned Big Red Double IPA (no doubt inspired by Secretariat) regaled floral-bound orange, pineapple, tangerine, peach and clementine tanginess as well as subtle apple-pear fruiting to creamily cookie-doughed caramelized rye malting (and creamy vanilla snips).
Silkily smooth English-styled Oatmeal Stout, Dark Horse, allowed oats-sugared black chocolate syruping to ride above earthen dewiness, charred hops and subdued nuttiness.
Nutty coffee tones reminiscent of Guinness Stout silkily pervaded Black Beauty Nitro Black Lager, a dark-roasted Irish stout with casual espresso, cappuccino and Bakers chocolate asides.
Impressive black-lagered Short Stack with Maple and Hazelnut let elegant chocolate-chipped bourbon vanilla sweetness lift its Kahlua-creamed pancake battering to decadent dessert heights. It proved to be an excellent Sunday afternoon sendoff.
As a certified farm brewery (utilizing local grains and hops), Racing City is also licensed to serve distilled New York spirits for refreshingly brisk cocktails. They’ll take on distribution in January ’19.
racingcitybrewing.com
DRUTHERS BREWING COMPANY – SARATOGA
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.
In downtown Saratoga Springs on Broadway, the first DRUTHERS BREWING COMPANY opened for business in 2012. Home of Skidmore College (one of America’s best party schools) and a few miles from Saratoga Raceway, this affluent community’s picturesque landscape draws summer tourists to its lovely historic splendor. Owned in part by former Albany Pump Station brewer, George di Piro, each distinct Druthers location benefits from spacious layout design, well-realized decor, diversified craft beer and excellent food.
Initially visited during January ’16, a black archway leads to an extensive courtyard that fronts Druthers pristine yellow wood-furnished dining lodge. Upon entering, the 20-seat slate-topped bar showcases the mezzanine level glass-encased brew tanks while a separate dining area adorns the backspace. An eclectic food menu (sandwiches-salads-burgers-entrees) includes the outstanding Chili Con Carne and Roasted Vegetable Puree (with sweet potatoes, butternut squash, fried leeks and parsnips). A selection of fine wines and spirits complement the ambitious hand-crafted beers.
First up, Strong Gose may be less sour than Druthers’ standard gose, but its lactobacillus-derived salted coriander expectancy stayed firm above tart lemon liming. A similarly soured lemony orange spritz engaged Rye Saison, a Vienna-malted moderation with caramelized rye toasting and soapy sugarplum notions.
One of the most popular elixirs, assertive All In India Pale Ale placed piney Amarillo hop sharpness inside floral-spiced grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering without depleting its back-end honeyed pale malt sweetness.
Toasted Munich malts frame Fist Of Karma, a chocolate-y caramel-spiced brown ale gaining hazelnut, pecan and almond tones above maple molasses sugaring and walnut-seared hop char.
A stronger version of a traditional hefeweizen, lofty Weizen Bock circulated dried plum, fig and banana fruiting around clove-coriander spicing and wheat-grained hop astringency. Decisive Strong Porter loaded molasses-sapped brown chocolate onto roasted nut resilience.
Sweet holiday delight, Winter Warmer, dripped caramelized molasses onto fruit-caked sweetness and toasted Munich malts for a surefire cold weather treat.
During March ’17 revisit, lemony banana-clove-bubblegum expectancy guided Against The Grain Hefeweizen as mild coriander riffs reached the subtle beechwood-smoked malting.
Scottish Style 80 Shilling brought caramel-toasted malts to dewy peat, dried fig, unripe orange and earthen hops.
Easygoing Irish-styled Dry Stout planted unmalted barley inside moderate black malt bittering and subtle dark-roasted coffee, chocolate and nut remnants.
www.druthersbrewing.com