NYACK, NEW YORK
Right in the heart of Nyack’s Main Street neighborhood village, TWO VILLAINS BREWING turned on its lights during November ’19 to become part of the Hudson Valley’s flourishing gastropub scene. On Valentine’s Day ’20, the narrow downtown brewpub added a light pub menu (with a Southern twist) to go alongside its promising liquid fare.
Upon entering the cozy wood-furnished joint, there’s a certain antiquity to the red brick and plank wood interior walls. The silver-tiled ceiling and small decorative mirrors add archaic charm and the plank-sided bar’s pendant lighting brings rustic elegance to the elongated one-room setup. Central fans hover over the right side high-chaired tables and a few windowed tables round out the front end.
A silver-handled tap station pours the suds emanating from the back-staged silver brew tanks. There’s also a fine selection of top shelf liquor available.
My wife and I gobbled down Candied Bacon Salad, Mac & Cheese and chicken wings during our 90-minute stopover late August ’20.
Casual soft-tongued light body, Harmonic Resonance, retained straw-like pilsner malting, corn husked barnyard acridity and mild herbal whims to embrace its salted lemon spritz.
Soft-watered Kveik yeast provided ultra-clean mouthfeel for A Drifter’s Gambit, a ‘Norwegian pseudo lager’ with brisk lemon zest brightening modest Nelson Sauvin-hopped mandarin orange, white peach, guava, melon and papaya lacquer over light pilsner-Vienna malts.
Lactic milk-sugared New England-style Imperial IPA, Moo’d Ring: Green, a juiced-up collaboration with Bolero Snort, maintained a splendidly sweet-tart tropical fruitiness as advertised Peach Smoothie and Orange Creamsicle succulence absorbed floral-bound mango, passionfruit, guava and gooseberry illusions lightly embittered by dank pine resin over mild oats malting.
Another lactic NEIPA, the hazily copper-marbled A Monument To All Your Sins, plied tangy grapefruit-peeled orange zest and subtle papaya, mango, green grape, guava and melon souring to floral-spiced orange blossom perfuming above oats-flaked wheat malts -‘finishing like an orange sherbet.’
On friendly June ’22 stopover, consumed four more worthy suds.
An offbeat dry pilsner collaboration with Port Chester’s Run & Hide, Don’t Front, smeared stylistic boundaries as mild herbal perfumed hops and acrid barnyard musk saturated straw-dried rye breading.
Rye-dried tobacco crisping anchored toffee-spiced English mild, Thinks And Thoughts, allowing the slightest smoked hickory wisp to suck up the dewy mist.
Semi-sharp golden hazed NEIPA, Doomsday, plugged lightly embittered grapefruit zesting into waxy guava, pineapple and gooseberry tartness plus sugar-spiced peach, tangerine and clementine riffs as salty herbal nuances spread above the soft oated wheat base.
Tartly brined Sus’ Juice: Blend 3 (Tangerine + Peach + Mango) brought concentrated orange juicing to moderately acidic tangerine and mango souring plus milder tangy peach sweetness in a hazily glazed tropical design.