Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

BREWERY ARDENNES

United States Brewpubs,

Brewery Ardennes Taproom & Kitchen ...

GENEVA, NEW YORK

Inhabiting a refurbished stone-and-slate dairy barn turned into a turret-roofed manor in the rural western Seneca Lake town of Geneva, BREWERY ARDENNES TAPROOM & KITCHEN is a pristine Belgian-inspired brewhouse entrepreneurial owners Derek & Stacey Erdinger created after attending nearby Cornell University. A former sheep farm, Ardennes now recalls a serene Euro-styled high-end winery. Tapping for the public began May ’21.

At the grand side entrance on the left side are the varied windowed brewtanks. On the opposing side, a brown-couched lounge area leads to the exquisite main pub. A U-shaped bar with black granite sandstone top stages two tap stations with six draught handles each plus a separate three tap station. Across the bar, tidy wood tables and chairs gather atop the rust concrete floor.

A small kitchen serves upscale gourmet dishes paired with certain house beers. Upcoming Events include Monday Burger & Pint night and Sunday Brunch at the Barn.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar ’round noon on a Friday early December ’23 to try four elegant Belgian-styled farmhouse ales, taking home a few more reviewed in Beer Index.

Expressive Belgian-styled Blonde Ale backed its white-peppered orange salting, saison-like barnyard musk, mild Chardonnay buttering, sweet clove snip and cellared herbal fungi with crusty baked breading.

Stylish orange-peeled coriander spicing lingered softly for Belgian-styled Wheat, letting lemon-candied banana breading counter its salty peppercorn notion and musty cellared mossing over a wispy white wheat base.

Tidy Belgian-styled Session IPA slid dry yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering onto white peppered herbage above buttery caramel malting.

Tropical fruited Belgian Hazy IPA may’ve lacked the haze, but this clear yellowed medium body let lightly embittered orange rind, grapefruit pith and pineapple tanginess gain grassy hopped pine resin and peppery herbal restraint atop honeyed pale malts.

 

TWISTED RAIL BREWING – GENEVA

United States Brewpubs,

Twisted Rail Brewing arrives | Business | fltimes.com

GENEVA, NEW YORK

With four locations in the Finger Lakes, including Canandaigua, Honeyone and Macedon, TWISTED RAIL BREWING’s Geneva pub is inside a historic tan brick movie theatre. Opened in 2019, a red brick walled lobby leads patrons to bistro-tabled, wood-floored main space where a U-shaped bar and leather-couched mezzanine (with old theatre tables) traverse the backspaced windowed brew tanks.

Utilizing reclaimed wood throughout provides a splendid antique design. At the bar, two TV’s surround the centralized tap list and pub food menu. Whiskey, rum and gin are available alongside the twelve proprietary house beers.

During my Saturday afternoon in December ’23 voyage, I quaffed a cherry wheat, rye IPA, barrel aged Scotch ale and three dark ales, picking up a few to-go cans reviewed in Beer Index.

Sweet-tart red cherry fizz greeted powdered sugared wheat base for Cherry Wheat Ale, a mildly hopped summertime spritzer.

Dry rye malting charged the piney orange-grapefruit blur of medium-full-bodied Hunters Rye IPA, retaining sharply citric residual spicing.

Creamy Madagascar vanilla abutted brown chocolate syrup for Vanilla Cream Porter, leaving dewy moss upon tertiary cherry and plum dried fruiting.

Molasses oats sweetness guarded the Black Forest-caked chocolate-cherry mesh of luscious Quaker Express Oatmeal Stout.

Treacly black chocolate syrup draped the creamy vanilla sweetness and mild espresso bittering of Vozkal Russian Imperial Stout, a luxuriously robust mocha java digestif.

A hearty nightcap, Barrel Aged End Of The Line Scotch Ale let dry bourbon warmth seep into chocolate and toffee sweetness plus mild sherry-port wining over toasted oak-chipped vanilla tannins.

LAURENTIDE BEER CO.

United States Brewpubs,

LAURENTIDE BEER COMPANY, Penn Yan - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

PENN YAN, NEW YORK

Residing at a 200-year old yellow carriage house in the heart of Penn Yan since 2020, LAURENTIDE BEER CO. finds married couple Brett and Jackie Driscoll crafting some well rounded sassy suds for local Keuka Lake minions.

Laurentide’s pristine neo-Industrial setting features wood slot flooring, wood and formica topped tables, an above-bar kiosk and dramatic hanging pendant lights. A centralized U-shaped, twelve-seat bar offers a dozen draughts.

A rear kitchen served sandwiches, soup and appetizers. I consumed the parmesan-cheesed chicken wings while downing nine rangy brews one Friday night in November ’23.

A local fave, Penn Yan Light Lager let lightly caramelized amber graining recede to musty lemon rot.

Musky lemon fizz caressed dark floral spicing for dry-hopped Italian Pilsner, a simple light body.

Summery Laurentide Mango Wheat let ripe mango juicing counter dry mango skinned bittering as ancillary orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess and mild cantaloupe nips settle atop wispy white wheat.

Lemon-licked grassy hop astringency gained mild spiced herbage for Kolsch, a pilsner malted moderation.

Laurentide’s most popular beer, lively tropical fruited IPA-like Hazy Pale Ale, allowed waxy lemony yellow grapefruit and navel orange lacquering plus slight guava-gooseberry souring to coalesce beside piney cannabis oiling above pale malt sugaring.

Cleanly dry Wet Hop West Coast IPA prodded mild yellow grapefruit bittering with mild herbal spicing and dextrin crystal malts.

Dewy peat-mossed cocoa powdering faded to sweet toffee for coppery Altbier, depleting its toasted hop crisping.   

Dark chocolate syrup draped the oats-flaked barley roast  and bitterly nutty hop char of Oatmeal Stout, leaving Blackstrap molasses on its tail.

Caramelized brown buttering induced luscious Barleywine, regaling candy apple-glazed whiskeyed cherry loveliness and mild sherry-cognac wisps for its brown chocolate base.

ABANDON BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Home - Abandon Brewing Co

PENN YAN, NEW YORK

Inside a restored barn overlooking Keuka Lake, ABANDON BREWING CO. began operations in Penn Yan during November ’13. Through major expansion, greater fermentation and the use of a geothermal system, Abandon’s become a true staple of the Finger Lakes region, concocting dozens of one-offs and recurring brews over its first decade.

On a 25-acre lot with vineyards and a hop farm, Abandon’s enclosed cement-floored porch and smokehouse pavilion surround the old creaky floored, archaic-wooded pub. Wood crossbars and columns fill out the farmhouse interior and the U-shaped wood-paneled bar (with six metal chairs) offers twelve-plus draughts and local wine. There are small wood benched seats plus a raised level with four-seat tables and ancient metal fireplace. TV’s are on opposing sides.

Wood-fire pizza, meatballs and mac ‘n cheese went well alongside the dozen stylishly diverse beers I enjoyed this Friday afternoon, early December ’23.

Fluffy soft-toned Pilsner submitted lightly creamed oated pilsner malting to lemon-daubed herbage and musty maize musk.

Amber-grained Vienna Lager let mossy fungi envelop its wattleseeded chestnut and caramelized rye toastiness.

Summery light-bodied Blonde Ale let mild yellow-fruited zesting, tart currant whims and probable sage/rosemary snips reach the white bready bottom.

A lighter English Brown Ale, Mild, let tobacco-roasted chestnut and pecan illusions plus dewy mossing reach its laidback rye chocolate finish.

Sweet orange-peeled coriander spicing and cologne-perfumed lemon zesting propped up moderate-bodied Belgian Wit Bier, drowning out its pale wheat malt base.

Spicy yellow fruited Belgian Golden Ale let beet sugared lemon meringue tartness, banana puree sweetness and champagne grape tannins pick up sweet vanilla creaming.

Beet sugar-syruped dried fruiting led Abbey Ale, gaining light rum spicing, mild chestnut sweetness and chocolate truffle earthiness.  

Easygoing Session IPA gathered perfumed citrus sweetness and wispy redcurrant tanginess for its resinous pine dryness.

“Smooth” Citra-Chinook-Cashmere-hopped New England IPA maintained lemony orange-peeled pineapple and guava fruiting for pine lacquered herbal salting contrasting mild spiciness over light oated wheat creaming.

Coffee-stained dark chocolate outdid gingered pumpkin spicing for Pumpkin Brown Ale, leaving earthen dryness at its gourd-licked mocha-latte finish.

Robust dark ale, Porter, stayed muskily dry as raw molasses bittering and dewy peat soiling saturated murky black cherry, raisin and date illusions.

Milk-sugared coffee sweetness contrasted the dark chocolate bittering of decadent Coffee Stout, sporting chocolate mintiness over Graham Cracker honeyed base.

LYONSMITH BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Upstate Beer Tourist

KEUKA PARK, NEW YORK

Concentrating on crafting Brit-styled brews and a few American ales since opening during 2020 (after five-plus years at a smaller locale), Keuka Park’s LYONSMITH BREWING COMPANY occupies a former ice cream shop. A pristine family-styled cafe for English beer lovers, Lyonsmith competes favorably with Seneca Lake’s Beerocracy.

A pale green walled pub with loungey right side gaming, several four-chaired wood tables and an eight-seat wood top bar with tulip-cupped lighting, Lyonsmith’s eight silver-backed tap handles retrieve head brewer Dave Smith’s backroom brew-tanked liquid suds.

My wife and I visited the first day of December ’23.

Dewy peat sweetened Reid’s Mild Ale, leaving earthen truffle, wattleseed, rye and chestnut illusions on spritzy dried fruiting.

Sessionable, yet assertive, Rylie English Pale Ale let dry leafy-hopped fungi penetrate toasted amber grains as well as acorn, macadamia and hickory nuttiness, finishing with a slight rye tease.

Rustic Wide Open Throttle Golden Ale let mossy English mild ale fungi and pale ale-malted ESB-like mineral graining meet tenacious herbal onrush as moldy apricot and rotted orange allow musky dried fruiting to penetrate basil, rosemary and lavender vim above musty horse-blanketed wet hay bed.

Offbeat herbal eccentricity, Dorset Coast Summer Ale, plies lemon-soured ginger spicing to sage, lavender, cilantro and tarragon perfuming plus coniferous fern minting atop malted white wheat base.      

Floral-spiced red and orange fruiting dabbed Irish-styled Rhiannon Red Ale, a crisp barley roasted moderation with slight cocoa powder influence.

Mild whiskey-soured rye entry picks up lemon-bruised spoiled orange and tangerine tartness for Peasantman Royal Bloodline ESB, hiding its earthen floral aspect.

Peat-smoked English-styled porter, 1814 Flood, let its Band-aid-like beechwood curing caress dark chocolate malting and nutty earthiness.

Uncommon Medieval-styled foraged gruit, Witchcraft, utilized heather tips instead of hops to serenade its dandelion leaf bittering, floral lavender perfuming, lemon-salted lime peel tartness and desiccated orange rot above light cellar fungi.

GRIST IRON BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for grist iron brewing company

BURDETT, NEW YORK

Founded in 2015 and a half-mile South of Two Goats Brewing, Burdette’s GRIST IRON BREWING COMPANY is perched above Seneca Lake on a 150-acre farm. A wide range of beer styles boasting a rich American heritage favors lagers, IPA’s and sours.

Occupying a spacious ruddy browned, vaulted-ceilinged barnhouse, the cement-floored, rustic wood-topped pub features a rounded service station with twelve taps plus aluminum-seated wood lacquer-topped four and six seat tables and silver-kettled brew tanks (behind the bar). A separate overhead-doored dining space and outdoor porch provide further seating and an on-site beer-themed lodge promotes overnight stays.

Sandwiches, pizza and barbecue crowded the food menu as I downed a few brews on a brisk Friday afternoon, late November ’23.

Easygoing Campfire Lite Lager stayed brisk as Seltzer-fizzed lemon peel bittering, salty lime dryness and Saaz-hopped herbage upstaged mineral grained pilsner malting.

Part of Grist Iron’s Sour Series, tart raspberry seeding seeped into sour lemon acidity and herbal woodruff syruping for Sour Raspberry Wheat.

Upfront Meyer lemon sweetness picked up salty lime-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering and slight mandarin orange tang for Life’s Lemons, an eccentric citric-splashed NEIPA.

Creamy dark chocolate syruping trickled thru the wood-burnt Blackstrap molasses bittering, mild hazelnut coffee roast and dry cocoa remnant of Maxximus Brown Ale, picking up subtle walnut-cola conflux and figgy black cherry nuance.

Dark-roast coffee bittering, coarsened nut char, dark chocolate creaming and crisp tobacco roast anchored Banshee Breakfast Oatmeal Stout, an oats-flaked full body with a dry espresso finish.

Modestly creamed dark chocolate bittering and mild peanut buttering nestled the dark-roast hop char, dry cocoa chalkiness and chicory coffee caress of Mom’s Favorite Chocolate PB Stout, leaving maple molasses-induced toffee fudginess on the rich mocha flurry.

I also consumed a few canned Grist Iron brews afterwards in January ’24.

Classic aluminum clear pilsner-malted bantam, Campfire Lite Lager, retained mild raw grained minerality, dry maize astringency, lemon-dried Saaz hop herbage, slight green peppering and sour cabbage musk suiting pleasantly pedestrian slightly salted fizzy fodder.

Semi-sharp lemony grapefruit and orange spicing plus lingered herbal hop astringency rose above the dry pale malting of polite moderate-bodied Ol’ Buddy Ol’ Pale Ale.

Dry golden West Coast-styled IPA, Lake Life, coalesced mild lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering with sweet orange peel zesting and peachy mango tanginess, staying easygoing as floral-daubed earthen hop herbage and light pining settle above doughy French breading.

Lemony yellow grapefruit tanginess gained subtle New Zealand-hopped guava souring and kolsch-like champagne wining for Juicy Way, a less oat-creamed, fizzier New England IPA.

TWO GOATS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Two Goats Brewing

HECTOR, NEW YORK

Inside a renovated 19th Century barn with “sweeping views of Lake Seneca, TWO GOATS BREWING came to fruition in 2010. A solar powered facility, co-owning entrepreneurs Jon and Jess Rodgers craft traditional beer styles that are right on the mark stylistically.

A nifty shanty-like interior includes five rounded three-seat tables in a roomy V-ceilinged right side space across from the left side eight-seat oak top bar (with low kiosk balcony). But it’s the oak wooded side deck, covered picnic pavilion, huge back deck and parkway benches that offer the beautiful outdoor lake views.

Brewtanks are located near the lower level fermentation room. Tow Goat’s signature beef sandwich plus local wine and hard seltzers are available as well. Interestingly, the hilltop pub makes beer mixers such as a kolsch/IPA, stout/cream ale and red ale/IPA blend.

I spent a noontime hour at Two Goats enjoying the lakeview and trying some homebrewed beer, last day of November ’23.

Alongside its Goatmeal Stout and Imperial IPA, the generic-named Cream Ale is one of Two Goats staples. Its crisply clean. mildly creamed kolsch-like malting and grassy hop astringency welcomed zesty yellow fruiting.

Spiced apple, pear and tangerine engaged the sharp citrus hop bite contrasting the amber grained caramel malting grounding Redbeard Red Ale.

Juicy orange-peeled pineapple and mango tanginess plus spritzy lemon zesting picked up bitter juniper-licked pining to contrast mildly spiced pale malt sugaring for X-IPA, an experimental hopped Imperial IPA with Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic influence.

Peaty soy dabbed the dark chocolate malting of Dirt Shepherd Brown Ale, leaving mild nuttiness at the soily mocha finish.

 

 

DOUBLE TAP BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Double Tap Brewing

WHIPPANY, NEW JERSEY

At a former flooded red brick post office in the Morris County town of Whippany, DOUBLE TAP BREWING opened its doors Labor Day, ’22. Inspired by Morris County’s colonial heritage and Ben Franklin’s description of New Jersey as “a keg tapped at both ends” by New York City and Philadelphia, Double Tap’s the brainchild of homebrewers John Coyle, Todd Townsend, Chris Mock, Jared Dougherty, and Jeff Mauriello, who met at regional homebrew competitions.

Steppin’ up to the eight-stooled stamp-pressed wood top bar, there are twenty-plus draught handles plus one pull-handled tap. The epoxy-floored pub also includes wood-metal tables, a loungey couch area and back-roomed windowed brew tanks.

Pendant lighting fills the one-room space and opposing TV’s at the bar show today’s pro football games. Blues music by Johnny Winter, BB King, and more plays as I consume all sixteen beers Double Tap had to offer on this cool Sunday afternoon in November ’23.

Easygoing cream ale, Friday’s For Da Werkas, let lemony grapefruit effervesence pick up mild herbal hop musk contrasting sweet corn sugaring under its fluffy vanilla-daubed head.

Another splendidly effervescent lightweight, spritzy Italian pilsner, The Boot, brought lemon-candied souring and mild floral-spiced herbage to muskily grained pilsner malting.

Festive light-bodied Oktoberfest, Take Me To Your Litre, tucked mild lemon musk inside grassy hop astringency contrasting its softly creamed honeyed Vienna malting.

Tropical fruited wheat ale, The Wheatorious P.O.G., snuck guava, passionfruit and orange adjuncts into its soft oats spine, leaving ancillary grapefruit-pineapple bittering and salted mango-kiwi snips at the powdered candied Jolly Rancher finish.

Pineapple habanero wheat ale, Tropic Heat, received mild habanero peppered heat for its tangy pineapple ripeness and floral citrus scurry.

Utilizing a piney citrus West Coast IPA recipe, Wren Song Pale Ale placed subtle dry lemony orange bittering above sugary pale malts.

Best selling Bent Brim Hazy India Pale Ale relinquished vibrant tropical fruiting as advertised Galaxy-Citra-Strata-hopped pineapple, mango and melon juicing, tangy orange-peeled grapefruit briskness and candied gumball souring retained dank pine-lacquered cannabis resin.

Another hazy IPA, Monotone Pilot, coalesced tangy tangerine, sour guava and citric passionfruit above lightly creamed oated wheat.

“Tropical flora” engaged smoothly clean NEIPA, Flood Plain, guiding orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and tangelo tanginess into mild piney bittering over vanilla-creamed oats.

Sessionable IPA, Low Hanging Fruit, merged lemony passionfruit, tart tangerine and white peach above fluffily oated wheat creaming.

Uniquely unconventional Basil Hayden bourbon-barreled saison, Postmaster General, let perfumed gin botanicals and buttery Chardonnay wined green grape tannins receive dry rustic barnyard acridity, finishing with a slight bourbon whiskey whisk.

‘Smooth brown ale,’ I Got A Rock Great Pumpkin Ale, allowed chai tea spicing to infiltrate caramelized pumpkin sweetness, anise-cologned vanilla tannins and dark chocolate whims.

Bettering most nebulous schwarzbier competition, Tightrope combined cocoa-powdered chocolate malting with earthen wood, burnt cedar, pine nut and Brazil nut illusions.

Wood-aged schwarzbier, Oakrope, sent mildly creamed dewy peat, oak-toasted rye whiskey and nutty wattleseed snips to a dry chocolate stead.

Fluffily creamed nitrogenated English pub ale, Nigel’s Daily (cask style), let dewy peat mossing and Fuggle hop herbage reach cardboardy caramelized wheat malts.

Lightly charred dark-roast coffee imbibed English-style porter, Nitro Pessimist, leaving walnut-seared dark chocolate on its nutty backend.

 

PERSONAL BEST BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Personal Best Brewing

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Opened summer ’23 in a high-ceilinged 8,000 square-foot warehouse a few blocks from the town center, PERSONAL BEST BREWING is helping to lead Ithaca’s downtown revitalization. A multifarious concrete floored venue with roomy picnic-tabled pub area, large overhead-doored indoor shuffleboard room and grassy enclosed biergarten (with firepits and outdoor games), Personal Best’s entrepreneurial head brewer, Anthony Cesari, slung 22 precision-detailed beers on my initial November ’23 Saturday afternoon sojourn.

A former city health club, Personal Best got the wheels in motion fairly quickly for an independent microbrewery. Cesari’s lively suds depend on efficient stylistic clarity, mild recipe risking, unconfined malted hop blends and the beautiful Finger Lakes water source.

Whereas nearby Revelry Yards relies on steadfast authenticity re-creating popular beer styles, Personal Best has a more expansive lineup of individually diversified, wider ranging and impressively meticulous brews.

At the 20 wood-seat, slate-topped central bar, there’s a gray brick-walled draught station and to the left are the sterling state-of-the-art silver brew tanks and fermenters. A small right side kitchen serves fine pub fare. Wood beams, lights and pipes hang from the exposed wood-trestle ceiling.

Crisply dry-hopped Italian pilsner, Rental Shoes, let lemon-candied herbage pick up floral-spiced perfuming over corny pilsner malts.

Maize-dried spelt and millet graining anchored Nostalgic Value, a rustic corn lager with musty barnyard acridity countering mild citrus spicing.

Festive autumn lager, Ritual Consumption, pleated leafy hop astringency into desiccated orange spicing and musty raw grained minerality.

Peculiar rye lager variant, Short Ride, utilized IPA-related Nelson Sauvin and Moteuka hops to enable lemony green grape and guava souring to penetrate its dry rye bed.

Musky English pale ale, Cone Poem, retained a dry herbal fungi mustiness for its dusky floral-daubed peach and apricot splotch.

Another English-styled ‘pub ale,’ Cult Status, splattered lemon zest across rye-dried pumpernickel, peppery herbage and papery gluiness.

Dryly sea-salted coriander consumed the cologne-perfumed lemon lime zesting of tequila-twisted, agave-doused Gose Dubbed Over, a ‘tart wheat ale’ with champagne grape esters reaching its acidulated malt base (and informed by a Margarita cocktail).

Meanwhile, classic sea-salted coriander spicing gained mild limey bittering and wispy herbage for Adult Gose Tour, a grassy-hopped gose.

Summery kolsch, Another Scorcher, let champagne-sparkled green grape esters get secured by grassy hop astringency and grainy pilsner malting.

Sweet flaked brown rice, toasted cereal graining and creamed corn sugaring punctuated Cold Spring Helles Bock, spurting spritzy lemon fizz over its brown bread base.

Honeyed wheat dough sweetened mild hefeweizen, Billowing Cumulus, slighting its dried banana, spiced orange and rotted apricot fruiting.

Fruity Pebbles-inspired sour wheat ale, Fruity Treble, coalesced pineapple tartness, oaken cherry musting, key lime bittering and vinous green grape esters with light lemongrass pungency over acidulated wheat dryness.

Zesty pink guava and bittersweet strawberry adjuncts gained light milk-sugared vanilla creaming for Blushing Meadows, a striking sour IPA with lemony lime-salted grapefruit, peach and mango remnants.

Sessionable Simcoe-Mosiac-hopped India Pale Ale, Today’s Active Lifestyles, brought sunshiny lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering to dry pine resin and grainy malt earthiness.

Dryly offbeat Imperial IPA, Gear Monger, permitted gin-soaked grapefruit, mandarin orange and pineapple tanginess to gain lightly cologne-soaked pine lacquering.

West Coast styled IPA, Pilot Season, sprayed yellow grapefruit misting and lightly embittered orange rind musk on dry wood tones over raw honeyed pale malts.

Peachy yellow grapefruit salted Another Green Whirl, a dry-hopped NEIPA, absorbed minty pine needling and grassy cannabis snips.

Another dry-hopped NEIPA, Fear Of Heights, piled sunny Citra-hopped grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess to sweet oats-flaked pale malting.

Milk-sugared Imperial Sour Smoothie, Personal Trainer, sprung peach-pureed blackberry and raspberry tartness upon oats-flaked wheat creaming, allowing tertiary lemon limed bittering, champagne-like saison yeast and dry rum snips to flutter.

Lessly milk-sugared Imperial Sour Ale, Immersion Bender, let bright tropical fruiting ensconce mild oats-flaked white wheat creaming. Zesty pineapple-juiced orange concentrate, salty guava-passionfruit-kiwi conflux, tangy tangerine twist, strawberry rhubarb tartness and perfumed apricot whiffs picked up latent vodka kick, briny lemon-limed Margarita spunk, hard-candied citric sourness and minty floral riffs.

Nifty autumnal Imperial brown ale, Pumpkin Spice Latte, placed milk-sugared latte creaming atop sweet brown chocolate, leaving pumpkin-spiced nutmeg and cinnamon seasoning on the bourbon vanilla-daubed espresso back end.

Dry Irish Stout, Short Shift, posted dark-roast coffee bittering and toasted pumpernickel breading to dewy peat and blanched hazelnut residue above dark cocoa powdering.

REVELRY YARDS

United States Brewpubs,

Revelry Yards | Dining | ithaca.com

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Joining Ithaca’s Aurora Street Restaurant Row during summer 2022, REVELRY YARDS serves steadfastly stylistic beers to go alongside wood-fired pizza, burgers, sandwiches and soups at the former Ithaca Ale House space. Its centrally located wood-lacquered 20-seat Container Bar, salvaged from a shipping container, services surrounding tables and four-seat booths as well as the front patio. Exposed pipes hang from the black art deco ceiling of the clean white-walled pub and the store-front windowed brew tanks are stationed upstairs.

Though highly conservative in approach (besides the few sour ales), each charmingly mainstream beer stayed crisply clean and easy to imbibe.

My wife and I joined local pal, Hank, to consume eight tidy suds, November ’23, in the midafternoon.

Musky grain minerality reached lemony herbal hop spicing for Pothole, a light-bodied Bavarian pilsner.

Easygoing floral-bound white grape esters gave atypical Italian pilsner, Cayuga White, its musty dry-hopped Sauvignon Blanc wining above acidulated wheat(?) malting.

Sweet amber graining and resinous hop herbage pleated lemony orange wisps for Flying Donkey, a mediocre Mexican lager.

Lightly orange-spiced Oktoberfest Lager let rummy marzipan sweetness fade into its biscuity base.

Floral-daubed kiwi tartness sparked fruit-spiced pale ale, Kiwi Tropic, leaving gooseberry, cantaloupe and melon subsidies.

Vinous grape esters and mild lemon tartness graced Happy Sour Ale, an oaken dried, lightly mineral grained moderation.

Lemony grapefruit-forward West Coast-styled IPA, Heat Of The Moment, picked up orange rind bittering and light pine lacquering.

Dry NEIPA, One Way Street, sunk lemony grapefruit pith bittering, sour green grape esters, floral sweetness and peppery herbage into sugared pale malting.

UPSTATE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Upstate Brewing Company to open new location in Watkins Glen

ELMIRA, NEW YORK

Established in 2011, Elmira’s UPSTATE BREWING COMPANY created a cool local buzz before expanding to a narrow Watkins Glen taproom (as of January ’23). At its original Elmira location, the white overhead doored tavern (with silver grain silo, black wood-tabled patio and covered back deck) unveils many one-off stylistic delights, a few recurring staples and a good few leaning towards fruited sour or IPA.

Large windowed brewtanks hold the favorable fizzy fare dispensed at the U-shaped, blue aluminum-sided, black concrete-topped bar. There are six granite top tables, one community table and colorful paintings furnishing the sterling wood-paneled white-wall designed interior.

I visited the Elmira location prior to my long weekending Ithaca/ Watkins Glen/ Canandaigua brewpub tour in November ’23.

Spritzy lemon fizz tingled caramelized chestnut, wattleseed and hazelnut nips for amber-browned flagship, Common Sense Kentucky Common Ale, an easygoing pre-Prohibition throwback with light maple oats sugaring contrasting leafy hop astringency.

Polite straw-hazed American Lager plied dry pilsner malting to mild lemon candied tartness and musky fungi soiling.

Middling copper-hued Vienna Lager let lemon sugared fizzing get spicy Noble hop herbage then become sedately dry.

Perfumed pumpkin pie spicing consumed autumnal Pumpkin Pie Ale, leaving brown-sugared cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg spicing atop nutty caramel toasting.

Lemon-limed jelly bean tartness and mild salted peanut buttering engaged lactic fruited sour, Peanut Butter & Jelly Ipso Lacto, a moderately acidic mauve-pinked Berliner Weiss variant. 

Sessionable yellow-hazed Upstate IPA caressed yellow grapefruit spicing, bitter orange rind dryness and sour lemon zesting with distant piney hop bitterness.

Crayon-like fruit waxing guided Nectaron NEIPA, buffing its oated wheat creaming with yellow grapefruit-embittered gooseberry, guava and green grape tannins as well as peachy mango tanginess, hiding the mildest piney bittering.

A collab with nearby Corning’s Liquid Shoes, Disco Nugs NEIPA, let yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering relegate its salty vodka-licked green grape and gooseberry souring over delicately creamed oats.

Crisp tobacco roasted nuttiness guarded Big Brown English Brown Ale, leaving subtle chestnut and acorn illusions on its subtle chocolate wheat base.

“Velvety” Mary Jane’s Veil Imperial Hazelnut Stout fortified its creamy dark chocolate foundation with pasty hazelnut, picking up peanut-shelled pistachio, Brazil nut and walnut shards as well as faded vanilla latte, creme de cocoa and caffe macchiato snips.

NAKED DOVE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Naked Dove Brewing Company | Canandaigua, NY

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Established by former Genesee employees, Dave Schlosser (brewmaster) and Don Cotter (sales), NAKED DOVE BREWING COMPANY opened its doors in rural Finger Lakes-bound Canandaigua during 2010. As the first microbrewery in Ontario County, Naked Dove is situated just down the road a few miles from Canandaigua’s downtown district.

After leaving Genesee, Schlosser gained respect making nearby Rochester’s most famous local beer, Rohrback Scotch Ale, and soon decided to setup his own brewery at a former Napa Auto Parks outlet. Crafting 50-plus different beers since beginning at their beige aluminum warehouse, Naked Dove’s core four include Wind Blown Amber, Berry Naked Black Raspberry, Starkers IPA and 45 Fathoms Porter.

A slot wood-floored pub with yellow walls, twin overhead doors, high ceilings, interesting growler collection and a spacious backroom brewhouse, Naked Dove features a wood paneled seven-tap draught board at its silver top serving station.

On a sunny Friday afternoon in November ’23, my wife and I downed all seven available elixirs. Bettering that, I picked up decadent Imperial Stouts – one aged in Templeton Rye and another aged in Basil Hayden bourbon plus a whiskey-aged Nice & Naughty Christmas Ale (all reviewed in Beer Index).

Flagship Windblown Amber Ale let mossy dew drip from its initial apple-tangerine-pear conflux as phenol hop astringency coarsened against sweet perfumed spicing and caramelized cereal grains given a gluey cardboard edge.

Passive Berry Naked Black Raspberry Ale retained a fluffy Seltzer-like tart raspberry fizz as slight cherry-cranberry-boysenberry riffs and wispy floral spicing flutter towards the blanched wheat base.

Fruitful summertime moderation, Tangerine Pineapple Kolsch, let raspy pineapple-tangerine tanginess and zesty lemon briskness receive a hard-candied glaze over grain-honeyed pilsner malting.

Dryer, denser and semi-sharper than a typical adjunct IPA, Hop Work Orange (conditioned on sweet orange peel) let its lemon-soured navel orange musk consume candied tangerine, fizzy soda pop and orange rum illusions as musty herbal resin nicked the finishing juniper bittering.

Easygoing double dry-hopped IPA, Drinking Zappa, allowed Fruity Pebbles-like Zappa hops to bring mango-passionfruit-pineapple tropicalia to the fore alongside sweet orange-peeled yellow grapefruit tanginess and salted green grapes, retaining a spritzy floral citrus-spiced misting.

Dry wet-hopped lemon rind bittering and sour lime zesting fronted Hopulus Localus, a Cascade-hopped IPA with green tea briskness, light herbal musk, parched pine acridity and light barnyard leathering.

Dry cocoa powdering, dark-roast coffee and Blackstrap molasses fronted 45 Fathoms Porter, spreading charred hop bittering over the preceding.

Anise-dried black chocolate and day-old coffee rode above the soily hop-charred mossing of Russian Imperial Stout, leaving soy-sauced tart cherry and black currant daubs on the molasses-smoked mocha finish.