Not necessarily a brewpub, though there’s always a few taps running in the reception area, NEW ENGLAND BREWERY has grown into one of the East Coast’s best microbrewers since its humble 1989 inception. On top of that, their increasingly diversified libations are canned for mass distribution. At the forefront of modern beer and ale canning, they became the first East Coast microbrew to deviate away from bottling (second in America after Colorado’s Oskar Blues).

Situated in a red…

Five miles south of Hartford lies residential township, Newington, where CARSON’S BREWHOUSE started business in ’09. A former HOPS brewpub, this tanned brown freestanding restaurant-brewery (with flat-slated base) served simple blue-collar fodder for nearby mall rats and mid-scale locals, May ‘10. Its open mid-sized interior featured a center rectangular bar with twenty seats and two small TV’s surrounded by sided dining space. Windowed kitchen served Americana steak-seafood-burger menu including recommended French onion soup with Aegean Salad (feta cheese,…

Opened 1997, Manchester’s JOHN HARVARD’S BREWHOUSE may be the best franchise brewpub in the Northeast chain. Visited May ’10, this freestanding mustard-hued maroon-trimmed pub is located across Manchester’s Plaza at Buckland Hills. Typical pub fare such as appetizers-pizza-burgers and expanded Americana dinner menu went fine with brewer Frank Fermino’s well-crafted stylistic libations emanating from rear glass-encased brew tanks. Rectangular center bar with opposing TV’s served open space wood-furnished side dining booths, pews, and roundtables.

I enjoyed ‘Pick-A-Pair’ clam…

At the hilly southwest outskirts of Portland in Beaverton’s Raleigh Hills section lies freestanding hunter green stable-like restaurant-brewery, RACCOON LODGE, which conveniently houses CASCADE BREWERY’s enthusiastically experimental beers. Going from the covered backyard patio into the side door, patrons experience ‘The Den,’ a downstairs pool hall sportsbar with full bar service, billiard tables, dart games, and TV screens opposing left side glass-encased brewery set-up full of fermenting wood barrels storing mostly lactic oak-aged ales. Brewers Ron Gansberg and…

Opened in 1997 and one-half mile up the hill from Six Arms on Pike Street, renowned ELYSIAN BREWING COMPANY (with two more Seattle locations known as Tangle Town and Elysian Fields) truly sets the bar for all Northwest brewpubs.

Visited December ’09, Elysian’s gray-maroon building, a former warehouse, sits on the corner of 13^th Avenue and features wraparound windows, old concrete floors, exposed ducts, high ceilings, and rear brew tanks. High profile pub not only has great beers…

Sojourned to northwest Quimby section of Portland, December ’09, perusing environmentally friendly green-powered LUCKY LABRADOR BEER HALL (with two more locations nearby on Hawthorne Boulevard and Capitol Highway). Using a solar thermal closed loop glycol system to power up, this former warehouse with gray frontage, maroon awnings, back patio, and spacious concrete-floored interior serves some terrific house pizzas from an open kitchen to go along with its wide array of brews. Operating since 1994, Lucky Labrador also bottles…

Opened 2005, East Portland’s ROOTS ORGANIC BREWING COMPANY brings a loose Caribbean theme to dingy baby blue-tanned warehouse, visited December ‘09. Salvaged material, cement floors, and a dusty beer bottle collection match the rustic setting of many likeminded Jamaican watering holes. Stickers and pictures line interior walls and the L-shaped bar featured fine Belgian beer bottled selection (Bosteels; LA Chouffe; Maredsous; St, Feuillien) to go along with simple American cuisine and snacks such as Roots Black Bean Nachos.…

In Portland’s historic northwest Mississippi District within walking distance to Widmer Brauhaus, AMNESIA BREWERY occupies a freestanding converted warehouse with old cement floors, exposed pipes, and covered side deck (with picnic benches). Its aluminum-sided green-walled interior had tickers, posters, and pictures strewn about. The atmosphere was laid-back this early December ’09 afternoon and brewer Kevin King’s delectable brews were tried alongside a meaty burger (smoked sausages are also available).

As I entered Amnesia, famed Rogue brewer, John Maier,…

Open for business, March ’07, Portland’s ‘first eco-friendly’ brewpub, HOPWORKS URBAN BREWERY (a.k.a ‘the Hub’), occupies a freestanding industrial building in the southeast city corridor. Owner-brewer Christian Ettinger’s ‘green’ brewery takes recycling and energy conservation as serious as brewing, providing cool-fit insulated cold water and compressed air systems for the cause. The large dining area had booths surrounding centralized stainless steel bar, exposed pipes, and wood ceiling. Beer can collection lined walls above bar and build-your-own pizzas dominated…

In early December ’09, took 20-minute uphill walk from downtown Portland to Northwest corridor, discovering street-cornered RAM’S HEAD, one of sixty MC MENAMIN’S-affiliated pubs in Oregon-Washington area. An up-front antique wood-furnished dining area led to 10-seated L-shaped copper-top bar with low ceiling at rear. Light food was served with adequate, if not mind-blowing, brew fare.

Soapy light-bodied grapefruit-soured raspberry-cranberry-tart Ruby Ale, honey-roasted corn-sugared crystal-malted Cascade-hopped Hammerhead Ale, floral-spiced grapefruit-peeled apricot-peach-induced India Pale Ale, brown chocolate-y vanilla-spiced pecan-macadamia-hazelnut-roasted Sleepy…