SOMERS POINT, NEW JERSEY
Tucked away in a yellow brick warehouse a half-hour South of Atlantic City, SOMERS POINT BREWING COMPANY came to be April 11, 2019. Its cement-topped aluminum-sided bar features twelve-plus taps while cornered TV’s dot the metal-wood-chaired pub. An overhead door leads to an enclosed brown-benched side deck with strung Edison lights.
Established Ukrainian-American head brewer, Kevin Szagala, crafts a rangy semblance of fine brews at the left side tanks. Educated in the “school of hard knocks,” Szagala began as a homebrewer inspired by iconic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – a briskly sharp West Coast IPA-derived transmutation.
I sank all ten available suds on my early October ’22 sojourn.
Easygoing floral-fruited Big Nose Blonde Ale contrasted dry lemon-salted Amarillo hop woodiness with honeyed pale malts.
Classic dry pale ale, Patcong, laid lively grapefruit-seeded orange bittering atop light wood-toned herbage and vegetal celery crisping in a casual Cascade-Centennial-Columbus-hopped coalition.
Toasted grains pelted the perfumed apple-pear conflux and leafy dewiness engaging Tony Martzen Oktoberfest, an autumnal seasonal that left a dried fruit smirk.
Another fall seasonal, Ubiquitous Autumn Ale, had brown-sugared pumpkin pie spicing work its subtle nutmeg-cinnamon-allspice triage into hop-dried Vienna malts.
Amber grain toasting allowed mild red-orange-yellow fruiting to enter the lightly spiced caramel fray of Josie Kelly’s Irish Red, plying roasted tobacco crisping and smoked wood notions to the backend.
Joyous witbier, Bay Rat, pasted sweet pureed banana, tart lemon meringue and zesty orange peel illusions to the mild fungi-cellared peppercorn snips contrasting its gentle chamomile-coriander remnant.
Strong Belgian blonde ale, Third Nipple Tripel, buttressed musty white-peppered fungi herbage with candi-sugared banana and clove sweetness and buttery Chardonnay pleasantries in a fluffily creamed soft-tongued manner.
Honeyed grapefruit tanginess and lemony orange daubs picked up mildly peppered hop spicing for Points West, a moderate West Coast IPA.
Subtle lemon-peeled grapefruit and orange bittering plus wispy herbal snips contrasted the mild caramel-spiced sweetness of Big Fish, a soothingly off-dry Imperial IPA.
Molasses-sugared dark roast chocolate dove thru light maple oats syruping for Live By The Nickel, Die By The Dime, a sweet porter with mossy earthen residue.