All posts by John Fortunato

ECLIPSE BREWING COMPANY

Eclipse Brewing - Philly Brew Tours - All-Inclusive, Guided Brewery Tours &  Craft Beer Events in Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey

MERCHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY

Eight miles east of Philly on the Jersey side in the borough of Merchantville at a black-fenced tan Victorian hideaway just off the main drag, ECLIPSE BREWING COMPANY was opened for biz October 2016 by two acclaimed local birders. One of the finest nanobreweries in the area, entrepreneurial couple Chris and Beth Mattern regale a wide variety of beers with significant attention to detail, having the moxie to churn out a bunch of spiffy small-batch suds from their tiny backroom brew space.

Eclipse’s cozy cement-floored white walled interior features a six-seat oak top bar (with 20 draughts and central TV) plus two wood tables and several barreled tables. A picnic-benched front area and three covered deck benches line the grassy perimeter. Vinyl records spin as I delve into a dozen elixirs at the bar with wife.

An impressive array of thirst quenchers crowd the right wall blackboard menu. A spectrum of dazzlingly kaleidoscopic cream ales are featured during my February ’24 excursion – alongside an English mild, dry pale ale, Belgian blonde, porter, two stouts and an intoxicating fruited barleywine.

First up, sweet dewy peat and honeyed brown tea graced English Mild, a lightly creamed moderation with buttered rye base.

Dry pale malted 7th anniversary pale ale, Eclipse 7, got muskier as its dry wood tones and  lemon rind bittering gradually ascended.

Ground coffee-steeped Coffee Cream Ale retained mild vanilla creaming for its milk-sugared coffee continuance, snagging a spritzy lemon twist.

For same-based Coconut Cream Ale, toasted coconut sweetness and zippy pineapple zesting rode atop sedate pilsner-malted corn flaking and grassy hop astringency.

Yogurt-soured peach puree sweetness picked up creamy vanilla snap and tart-candied edge as tertiary apricot, nectarine and dried fig snips wavered for Peaches N Cream Ale.

Lingered habanero peppering heated up the salty mango tang of Spicy Mango Cream Ale, relegating limey guava-kiwi snips.

Fluffily creamed cocoa-dried raspberry tartness regaled Chocolate Razz Cream Ale, a Neapolitan-styled soft ice cream alternative.

Honeysuckled raspberry puree tartness guided Raz Hi Honey!, an unassumingly 10% ABV Belgian blonde ale with spritzy lemon spree and beet-sugared wheat base.

Another raspberry treat, stupendous Raspberry Drizzle reached an incredible 18% ABV as syrupy raspberry tartness stuck to treacly caramelized sugaring, gaining luxurious barleywine, sweet whiskey and cognac warmth. Highly recommended.

Creamily brown chocolatey HACC Porter let cacao nibs-roasted almond, honey and flaked coconut blend into affluent bourbon vanilla serenity.

Softly frothed espresso creaming and mild dark chocolate bittering placated Irish Stout – Nitro, relegating its black cherry bruised dried fruiting.

Sweet brown chocolate contrasted java-roasted dry cocoa influence of luscious Russian Imperial Stout, picking up hazelnut coffee, chocolate cake and fudged brownie illusions.

ASPIRE BREWING

Aspire Brewing

MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK

Inside a mammoth freestanding 30,000 square-foot multifaceted facility in the Orange County city of Middletown (an hour outside Manhattan), ASPIRE BREWING opened its formidable doors at Crystal Run’s Galleria during June ’24. Head brewer Rick Hatch honed his skills at Denver Beer Company and Sparge Brewing in Colorado before heading east to New York’s Finger Lakes at Auburn’s Prison City. Now manning the tanks at Aspire, Hatch promises more barrel aged fare in the near future.

A veritable brewery-restaurant multiplex, Aspire’s epoxy-floored, pipe-exposed, high black ceilinged interior features a rectangular 40-draught Mosaic-tiled beer wall across the left side dining space. A full kitchen with elevated pub fare complements the beers emanating from massive windowed brewtanks servicing the expansive 25-seat right side bar.

There are several two-seat tables, metal-chaired community tables, middle lounge area, hanging basket seats and an overhead door (leading to a front patio). Adding to the eccentric sportsbar atmosphere are axe throwing competition, game room fodder, indoor corhhole court and golf simulation. My wife and I perused the jumbo pub on a crowded Saturday evening and quiet Friday at noon during late January ’24.

Let’s start with five German styled elixirs before moving on to the shitload of IPA’s, handful of heady dark ales and sundry remainders.

Crisp Bavarian-styled moderation, Widmen Pilsner, let musky lemon souring reach herbal hop astringency and muted floral spicing above musty pilsner malting.

Easygoing pinkish amber-cleared Keen Cranberry Kolsch snuck dry lemony cranberry souring into its pilsner-malted salted cracker base.

Lightly roasted caramel malting and muted spiced toffee contrast herbal Perle hop respite of Munich dunkel lager, Admire, leaving a gluey paper finish.

Oaken foeder aging provided musty cellared fungi to offbeat Rollick Doppelbock, permeating dry whiskey tones and black-purple-red grape tannins above distant pumpernickel breading.

Unassuming German-styled smoked lager, Flamme Rauchbier, lacked the cured meat resonance of better Bavarian imports (like fabulous Aecht Schlenkerla lineup), plying its delicate beechwood-smoked barley to mild cocoa tease, fatty bacon whim and soapy finish.

Maize-dried musk and mash tun-wafted sourdough breading guided lemon-twisted American lager, Striver, as celery-watered cucumber crisping reached its wet papered malt graining.

Pithy amber lager, Allay, countered caraway-seeded rye breading and caramelized cereal grain minerality with astringent hop herbage.

Sweet-Tart lemon-candied powdering, peachy cara cara orange tanginess and dry lime brining gathered for wheat-based Wallkill Summer Ale, a ‘smooth easygoer.’

Crisp caramel toasting and mild citrus spicing banked Noble hop herbage for Exult California Common, a lagered yeast-bound steam beer.

Tartly fruited sour, Fruticulture: Blood Orange Cranberry, plugged lightly acidic lemon-limed blood orange and cranberry adjuncts into dextrose white wheat starching.

Sessionable India Pale Ale, Kokua, gently serenaded spicy grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering, tangy pineapple zesting and tart passionfruit whims with light herbage and mild pining over dry pale malts.

Highly engaging IPA, Aspirations V3, maintained sugary bubblegum waft for Citra-Mosaic-El Dorado-hopped fruit cocktail splendor, advancing yellow grapefruit, navel orange, mandarin orange, tangerine and peach tanginess atop light vanilla-creamed crystal/caramel malts.

Soft-toned Imperial IPA, Favor, placated New Zealand-based Riwaka hop tropicalia with dank pine resin and dry rye malting, unfurling peachy pineapple-candied orange peel tanginess and lemony yellow grapefruit rind bittering.

One more soft-toned Imperial IPA, Delight, delicately coalesced peachy pineapple tanginess, grapefruit-peeled orange pith bittering and redcurrant tartness, deferring its ascending vodka-licked 8.7 % ABV booziness.

Double dry-hopped Imperial IPA, Devote, merged spicily orange-peeled Citra hop zesting with pungent Simcoe hop pining, picking up subtle grapefruit, pineapple, peach and tangerine tanginess.

Dry bronzed West Coast-styled Imperial IPA, Exhilarate, rushed lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit Citra hop bittering, hard-candied El Dorado hop tartness and orange rind desiccation across wispy pine tones for vodka-whirred 9.8% ABV medium body.

Another West Coast Imperial IPA, Courage, let its zesty Citra-Cascade-hopped grapefruit, orange and lemon spicing graze woodsy pine-needled Centennial-Simcoe-hopped herbage and dark floral snips topping dry pale malts.

Staying on the ‘Left Coast,’ Appetition IPA retained ultra-dry lemony grapefruit-orange-pineapple tanginess for resinous pine dankness and light herbal notions contrasting mildly creamed caramel malting.

Dry New England-styled IPA, Enthusiasm, combined Huell Melon-hopped white grape, guava and melon tartness with Citra/Idaho 7-hopped grapefruit, tangerine and orange salting and Cashmere-hopped lemon liming over mild spelt- dried oats creaming.

Brisk Citra-hopped NEIPA, Envisage, lightly embittered its lemony grapefruit tanginess with musky coniferous juniper tips above mild oated wheat creaming.

Muskier NEIPA, Seek, let lightly pungent pine tones delve into mild guava, mango and passionfruit tropicalia and subtle floral spicing over oaty cereal graining.

Down Under hops (Nelson Sauvin/Galaxy/Strata) engaged dry NEIPA, Burgeon, providing floral-perfumed grapefruit peel and orange rind bittering as well as residual passionfruit-guava tartness to earthen bark-dried herbal musk.

A bright NEIPA collab with Newburgh Brewery, AspireBoss, brought Citra-Mosaic-hopped lemony orange sunshine to musky Simcoe-hopped pine bittering countering honeyed oats breading.

Dark-roast Brazilian coffee anchored robustly sumptuous Baltic Porter, Caturra, picking up creamy cappuccino, espresso and chocolate latte illusions alongside latent burgundy licks.

Velvety coca-nibbed dark chocolate creaming enriched fudgy pastry stout, Enchant, picking up hazelnut coffee, chocolate cake and vanilla cupcake illusions.

Even more decadent, Enchant – Cordial Cherry, allowed candied cherry cordial confection to penetrate creamy brown chocolate syruping, intense Madagascar vanilla caramelization and fudged toffee sugaring before snagging bruised cherry sweetness at the lovely mocha-drenched finish.

OTHER HALF SNOWBIRDS 7: ALMOND MOLASSES MAPLE BANANA

An endless array of impressive adjuncts enrich heavily creamed maple molasses-whiskeyed chocolate nightcap. Completely dessert designed, sweet bourbon vanilla continuance invites toasted coconut-almond conflux and custard-pied Thai banana over wheat-honeyed cacao nibs base. At the busy finish, ascending cinnamon spicing, descending black cherry-bruised whiskey snip and distant hazelnut-pistachio-cashew whims embrace luscious milk-sugared bourbon chocolate-vanilla serenity.

BA Snowbirds 7 - Other Half Brewing Co. - Untappd

GREAT DIVIDE YETI MAPLE PECAN IMPERIAL STOUT

Superb Yeti variant tosses maple syruped candied pecan into fudgy Blackstrap molasses-embittered dark chocolate creaming and luxuriant bourbon vanilla sweetness. Bittersweet cocoa nibs, medium-roast coffee, burnt caramel, caffe macchiato, hazelnut espresso and spiced toffee illusions abound – nearly dissipating glazed maple pecan adjunct of assertive nightcap.

Maple Pecan Yeti - Great Divide Brewing Company - Untappd

BRIX CITY SNAZZY AFFAIR 8TH ANNIVERSARY STOUT

Aged in Smith Bowman whiskey barrels, upfront peanut butter creaming sops up sweet bourbon vanilla richness and cacao-nibbed cinnamon spicing of luxurious 8th anniversary stout. Inspired by cinnamon peanut butter blossoms, fudgy mocha nuttiness gains sugar cookie, Nutter Butter cookie, Devils Food Cake and vanilla birthday cake illusions as well as bold burgundy-brandy wining and slight cherry jam, blackberry and red grape nips. A decadent whiskey-aged dessert nightcap.

Snazzy Affair - Brix City Brewing - Untappd

EVIL TWIN BOZO BEER

“Screwball” stout lets complexities abound! Fudgy brown chocolate spicing leads the way as vanilla-creamed bourbon sweetness, marshmallow coconut toasting and muscovado-sugared almond and hazelnut pasting provide richly amplified frontage. In the distance, cinnamon chili peppering and light cumin spicing reach dark cocoa midst. Combining Mexican chocolate cake spicing with confectionery Mounds Chocolate, Almond Joy and Marshmallow Patties candy bars, luxurious Bozo satisfies sweet-tooth cravings.

Bozo Beer - Evil Twin Brewing - Untappd

IMPRINT STICKY SITUATION PASTRY STOUT

Decadent calandria-fired imperial pastry stout conditioned over Thai banana and cinnamon rolls in collab with Bolero Snort. Luxurious bourbon vanilla entry given fudgy caramel chocolate glaze and sweet banana creaming for doughy cinnamon roll base. Spirited burgundy, brandy and sherry whims plus hazelnut coffee, cinnamon babka, black forest cherry dessert and mocha mousse snips embellish syrupy banana-caramelized cinnamon chocolate finish.

Sticky Situation - Imprint Beer Co. - Untappd