Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

PALE FIRE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA

After cookie-cutter chain restaurants and malls replaced once-thriving ’70s department stores, Shenandoah Valley county seat Harrisonburg decided to revamp local businesses and revitalize apartments by the ’90s while James Madison University continued to thrive. In the light industrial section a few blocks away from midtown at the Ice House mall, PALE FIRE BREWING COMPANY continues to gain popularity with its sterling operation. Shiny glass-encased silver brew tanks hold a nice array of brews served at the U-shaped central bar.

Mild Golden Hour American Wheat Ale, a well-rounded Amarillo-hopped moderation counters dry lemon-pined bitterness with caramelized wheat sweetness, leaving lemon-pitted sourness and lemongrass herbage at the back end. Hybridized Foxy Roxy Rocktown Wheat (a collaboration with Brothers Brewery) brings IPA-styled dark fruited spicing to dewy carafa malts and barley-roasted red wheat.

Fruity American hops and dewy English malts formulate Deadly Rhythm Pale Ale, a dry medium body meshing raw-honeyed peat earthiness, fig-sugared spicing and dark floral accents.

Highly expressive farmhouse ale, Saving Grace Table Beer, brings herbal-citric saison yeast to pilsner-malted Saaz hops, allowing white-peppered lemon tartness and salty lemongrass brininess to pick up a bubbly mandarin orange spritz. In comparison, Salad Days American Saison loads barley-roasted rye malting onto Amarillo/Simcoe/Cascade hops, leaving yellow grapefruit, white peach and pineapple fruiting as well as lemon-rotted herbal snips in its lightly creamed caramel-malted wake.

Residual-sugared Munich malt sweetness fronts Red Molly Irish Red, a mildly hopped moderation with dewy earthen tones, chocolate-roasted wheat malts, nutty notions, sugared spices and red cherry licks.

Tropical Galaxy hops inform Major Tom IPA, delicately placing bright lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering atop crystal-sugared Maris Otter malting. Stylishly approachable Village Green Double IPA gains a sharp citrus spicing while staying easygoing. Floral-perfumed lemon zest, grapefruit, pineapple, peach and passionfruit illusions illuminate.

Silkily smooth Lucille Oatmeal Stout worked oats-flaked chocolate malting into milk-steamed coffee bean sedation, cocoa bean bittering and dark cherry wisps.

www.palefirebrewing.com

WILD WOLF BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs
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NELLYSFORD, VIRGINIA
Just up the road from Devil’s Backbone Brewery on the Blue Ridge Trail in its own 10-acre shopping village, Nellyford’s WILD WOLF BREWING COMPANY opened November 2011. An impressive all-purpose brewpub serving the local rural community extremely well, it’s also a full-fledged restaurant and worthy sportsbar spread across several disparate rooms. A former schoolhouse, Wild Wolf is packed on this Saturday evening following the fabulous Virginia Craft Beer Festival.
Adding to the bucolic splendor, an authentic biergarten, spacious pavilion, several decks, working water wheel, gazebo and koi pond surround the centralized rustic wood cabin while a bouncyhouse provides child-oriented activity. Inside the main space, ten taps service the 26-seat bar and surrounding dining areas. Though my wife and I cannot get a seat anytime soon, we picked up a few brews for outside consumption (listed in Beer Index).

DEVILS BACKBONE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs

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ROSELAND, VIRGINIA

Exquisite Blue Ridge Mountain retreat, DEVILS BACKBONE BREWERY, occupies a copious rural valley homestead in Roseland and includes a beautiful earthen wood-stoned gastropub, separate brew house, massive backyard party area and gorgeous mountain views of the beautiful pastoral landscape. Besides this distinguished Basecamp site, Devils Backbone also runs an Outpost brewery and tasting room down the road in Lexington. In town to enjoy August 2014′s 4th annual Virginia Craft Beer Festival, my wife and I hit Basecamp Friday evening prior to the event for a few suds.

Creating a total sportsman’s atmosphere, Basecamp’s pristine stone-towered columns, corrugated tin roof, cathedral ceiling, stuffed animals and rustic wood furnishings increased the intimate lodge feel. The spacious multi-roomed gastropub featured wooden floors and tables, several dining booths, glass-encased brewtanks, centralized bar (with two TV’s and black-boarded beer list) and outdoor deck (with red umbrellas). A varied pub menu included “field, forest, stream and pasture” items. Tortilla-chipped nachos (with jalapeno-cheesed roasted peppers and black beans), drunken mussels and the campfire burger made fine dinnertime fodder.

Previously, I’d only quaffed bottled versions of Devils Backbone’s two straightforward flagship offerings, Vienna Lager and Eight Point IPA. But these fair choices were bettered by several tapped draughts imbibed during my August ’14 sojourn. Each elegantly executed elixir elevated my peaceful easy feeling and complemented the panoramic splendor of the hilly Blue Ridge terrain. For starters, six German styled brews served as aperitifs, creating a delicate tone matching the next few tantalizing selections.

Impressively designed Trail Angel Weiss brought to mind world-class Bavarian hefeweizens by Franziskaner and Weihenstephan with its mild lemony banana-clove expectancy and honey-spiced crystal malt sugaring picking up a soft vanilla creaming. Equally soothing, Hasselhoff Lager layered wispy lemon-pitted hop astringency atop perfumed crystal malt sweetness. Approachable Smokehaus Lager balanced the dewy peat-smoked malting, mild cedar char and bacon fattening of a surefire German rauchbier against the sugar-spiced caramel malting and wispy dried fruiting of an amber lager. Dry Dortmunder lager, Tommy 2Fists brought docile grain pungency to lemony hop astringency.

Bettering most of its nebulous German styling, easygoing Alt Bier evenly blended subtly spiced grapefruit, tangerine, cherry and fig tones with Scotch-licked toffee snips. Gentle pinkish-cleared cranberry-soured cocktail, Crangose, offered a brisk lemon zing to pureed cranberry tartness and briny sea watering.

Following the parade of German beers were well-rounded Blue Ridge Hop Revival, a sharply citric Cascade hop-embittered medium body underscored by nut-breaded barley malts, delicate spicing and herbal peppering. Hybridized Hot Shots IPA placed mellow smoked jalapeno peppers atop the sunny citric splurge. Sessionable Spider Bite Black IPA toned down the black-peppered citric bite and piney bittering for black patent malts and wandering coffee-chocolate illusions.

Soft-toned moderation, Ale Of Fergus, and English Dark Mild, plied toffee, caramel and chocolate subtleties to peaty malts and leafy hops.

For dessert, hotshot Baltic Porter, Danzig, caressed bittersweet nut-toasted black chocolate with dark molasses, plum-dried black cherry and licorice.

dbbrewingcompany.com

RINN DUIN BREWING

United States Brewpubs

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TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY

Open since January 2014, Toms River-based RINN DUIN BREWING (named after a famous Irish castle and since 2019 operating as Toms River Brewing) crafted sessionable English-styled ales as well as approachable barrel-aged elixirs, a few hybridized treats and anything that struck their fancy. For their first anniversary, entrepreneurial father-daughter combo, Chip and Jacqui Town, created an approachable candi-sugared Belgian Dubbel using Irish barley, English hops and Irish yeast called Black Thorn.

Local disabled marine, Charlie Ryan, recently took over head brewing chores from veteran homebrewer, Ryan Michaels (formerly of Sly Fox). And as of my July 2015 visit, the brewery now bottles two of its year-round mainstays and a few specialties.

Inside a tan-hued, maroon-trimmed edifice behind Bacchus Winery, Rinn Duin’s just three-and-a-half miles west of the New Jersey Parkway on Route 37. Its Irish shillelagh-topped tap handles serve the wood-floored Tasting Room, a cozy area with a beautiful hand-made silver tin ceiling, wood-shelved beer bottle collection, several Irish themed photographs and one TV. A 25-barrel brewing setup presently takes up some of the 6,500 square-foot space.

Rinn Duin’s United Kingdom-inspired bottled selections (reviewed fully in Beer Index) included yellow-fruited Lawnmower English Blonde, mocha-dried Sandpaper English Brown, caramel-toasted St. John’s Irish Red and coffee-roasted Pota Caife Dry Irish Coffee Stout.

Alongside each of the aforementioned bottled selections tried on draught, three more worthy elixirs were quaffed as 4-ounce samplers and then by pint glass.

Peat whiskey-malted Trinity Scottish 70 brought serene kiln-smoked campfire residue to crisp tobacco-roasted reedy hops and poppy-seeded Scotch licks. Light-roasted coffee beans influenced Hiberian Dry Irish Stout, a sweeter selection than Pota Caife that gathered black patent malts, dark chocolate, powdered cocoa and charred oats.

Before departing, easygoing Bourbon Pota (aged in Elijah Craig barrels) blended dark-roasted coffee beans with oats-dried brown chocolate and a subtle hint of bourbon.

Making some of the most consistently rewarding and authentic mild ales, Rinn Duin will easily satisfy anyone with a hankering for crisp Brit-styled nectar.

www.rinnduinbrewing.com

 

NORTH RIVER HOPS AND BREWING

United States Brewpubs

 

WAPPINGERS FALLS, NEW YORK

In the backside of a mini-mall on Route 9, Hudson Valley-based NORTH RIVER HOPS AND BREWING has become a successful ‘mom and pop’ shop since opening, August 2014 (but it unfortunately closed June 2018).

Brewmaster Brandin Stabell (residential electrician by trade), his wife Nicki (ex-roller derby player), and father-in-law, Kevin, conceived this friendly neighborhood pub after Brandin received a brew kit and played around with different recipes. Though expansion may be inevitable, presently the wood-furnished, terra cotta-walled, cement-floored sample room features three bar stools, three window seats and several small brew tanks.

Upon my first visit in June ’15, the affable family biz has already crafted thirty-plus small batch beers. There are ten varied selections available during my enjoyable one-hour sojourn. Running the gamut from light American-styled delights to wood-smoked dark ales and Belgian-inspired derivations, North River recently began distributing their diverse suds to respected Rockland County gastropub, Craft House.

“I like English-styled beers and hop-forward bitters, but complexity and balance should be right for a continuously drinkable beer,” asserts Brandin.

I grab a few sampler trays and begin quaffing three fine red ales made from the same recipe originally created for malt-roasted Hoppy Red Ale, a caramel-spiced medium body with sharp citrus-hopped bite, mild dried fruiting and floral nuances. Delicate whiskey-staved Aged Hoppy Red brought soft vanilla spicing to polite raisin-plum-date subtleties while Belgian crystal malt sugaring gave Belgian IRA (Imperial Red Ale) its caramelized dried fruiting (plum-date-raisin)and light pecan nuttiness to contrast raw-honeyed bittering.

Sessionable soft-watered XTRA allowed subtle honey malts to heighten its Galaxy-hopped tropical fruiting and navel orange tang (countering the wood-dried Columbus hop sharpness). Similarly moderate-bodied, BLM Session Amber Ale gathered malt-smoked toasted biscuit breading, dewy earthen rusticity and citric-pined niceties. Another soft-toned winner, white wheat-breaded Tarwe tingled the tongue with hefeweiss-styled lemony banana and clove subtleties.

Sweet citric-spiced sugaring bedecked Paddle Steamer, an easygoing Cascade-Centennial-Magnum-hopped IPA with lemony orange overtones. Just as relaxing, Maple & Whiskey IPA seeped light wheat whiskey wisps into subtle maple-malted berry and citrus fruiting.

On the dark side, soft-toned Robust Porter brought smoked wood tones to cocoa-sugared brown chocolate sweetness, peat-soiled dried fruiting and dry burgundy whims.

Easily the most unique elixir on this humid afternoon, Wheat Wine uncommonly combined kiln-grained rauchbier smoke with honeyed Graham Cracker sugaring and fruit-candied malt spicing.

In October 2015 at Craft House, downed complex dry-bodied North  River Tea IPA, where smoothly sharp citric hop astringency gained black tea-influenced yellow grapefruit briskness, orange rind bittering and plummy passionfruit whims to contrast softer nectarine and peach illusions.

During November 2015 at Craft House, enjoyed North River Oktoberfest, a mild off-dry autumnal moderation contrasting honey-creamed amber graining and light brown-sugar spicing against pine-nutted leafy hop foliage.

www.northriverbrews.com

STUBBORN BEAUTY BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

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MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT

Fifteen miles south of Hartford, yet another very worthy Connecticut brewpub operating out of a rustic red brick warehouse opened. Past the bustling downtown shopping district and not far from liberal arts mecca, Wesleyan University, STUBBORN BEAUTY BREWING COMPANY is hidden away in the industrial back roads half a mile off the beaten track.

Visited on a sunny Friday afternoon in April ’15, brewer-owners Shane Lenini and Andrew Daigle tend to the two-and-a-half barrel brewery (with seven fermenting barrels) before the place packs up with happy local denizens and a few out-of-towners thrilled to soak down some of the latest great suds. With expansion imminent, Stubborn Beauty has both the space and captive audience to grow substantially in quick time, possibly canning and bottling within months (and already featured at nearby Celtic Cavern and 36-tap bar, Eli Cannon).

The maroon-walled tap area features a concrete-topped serving table, two stainless steel tables with six benches apiece, brass replica lighting, black hanging fans, and an eye-grabbing silver and red bottle-capped mosaic donning the company’s rose insignia. A humorously named Sour Tiddy’s ale make it past the censors but is now gone as I dig into seven really fine samplers.

Starting with the lightest choice, the briskly yellow grapefruit-juiced Naughty Eskimo Session IPA, each succeeding ale leads into the next in orderly fashion. Setting the stage, the above-mentioned Naughty Eskimo’s grapefruit rind and peel bittering softly flows into its light Vienna malt sweetness, picking up a lemony squint.

With its rye malt base deepening the sweet-soured citric hop oiling, How Rye I Am Saison plied honeyed saison yeast to lemony orange and grapefruit illusions, musty farmhouse rusticity and dark-roasted mocha malts. Its stylishly darker counterpart, How Atramentous I Am Black Saison, contrasted chocolate-roasted dark cocoa against black grape, green raisin, prune and fig.

Two impressively detailed German styled brews arrive next. Wheat-wined delight, Panzerfaust Weizenbock, with its nominal 15-IBU hop presence, allows all the Sugar Daddy-candied sweetness and Belgian chocolate spicing to shine above the honeyed grain spine. Perhaps as worthy, Kommandant Lassard Dunkelweizen combines fig-dried plantain souring and bittersweet chocolate with ESB-like tobacco-roasted peat tea.

Conquerer Imperial Brown Ale relied on hop-roasted chocolate spicing.

Coming full circle, Nummy Nummy IPA, the flagship beer, loaded sharp grapefruit-peeled bittering atop sticky pine resin and pilsner-like Maris Otter malts, gaining tangy orange rind, peach and tangerine illusions at the heavily-hopped citric finish.

www.stubbornbeauty.com

STEADY HABIT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

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HADDAM, CONNECTICUT

Another superfine warehouse-styled brewery popped up in the Nutmeg State during January, 2015. Within six weeks upon my visit, the raging nano STEADY HABIT BREWING was really going strong with its diminutive four 2.5 barrel fermenters already kicking out ten different (mostly pale ale styled) elixirs.

Head brewer Jonathan Peterson began as an apprentice home brewer and serves as beer manager for Tony’s Package Store, the awesome generically-named beer and wine haven fronting Steady Habit’s spare cement-floored backspace (where the only current paraphernalia is the cool limited edition beer bottles on three plain wood shelves near the tap station).

“Steady Habit’s an homage to beer history, built on the principals of wise decisions and good values,” Peterson claims. “And our (flagship) India Pale Ale, Our Daily Bread, honors the discovery of beer as a natural beverage – fermented bread.”

Tropical grapefruit-peeled orange rind, pineapple, mango, guava and passionfruit illusions surround the sedately bark-dried pine needling of the majestic Daily Bread. And its crisply well-watered minerality provides a clean bed.

Besides the brisk juicy-fruited IPA, robust In Robust We Trust Porter plied dark-roasted chocolate and caramel malting to bitter tar-like hop char. Prevalent black chocolate, dark cocoa and roasted coffee overtones as well as subsidiary tobacco chaw, Brazil nut and licorice illusions rise above the delicate oats-flaked bottom. Specialty German malts get utilized well.

It’ll be fun to see how quickly this place grows. There’s already a steady stream of locals and travelers sojourning to Steady Habit. Cheers!

www.steadyhabitbrewing.com

BRUTOPIA BREWERY & KITCHEN

United States Brewpubs

  

CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND

Inside a freestanding brown warehouse with copper aluminum roof and blue-yellow signpost in westernmost Cranston, BRUTOPIA BREWERY & KITCHEN opened its doors springtime, 2014. Championed Rhode Island brewer, Sean Larkin, created the trusty beer recipes and the variegated hickory-smoked barbecue menu also deserves plaudits.

A capacious Industrial sportsbar with exposed ducts and metal rafters, its left side windowed brew tanks, rectangular central bar (with 24-plus taps and multiple TV’s), separate dining room and far right enclosed patio deck (with umbrella-laden picnic tables) provide plentiful open space.

Brutopia starts getting packed as I settle into eleven 5-ounce samplers while chomping on delicious fried pretzels with homemade cheese salad this early Friday evening in October ’14.

Larkin, a well-experienced brewmaster, initially gained respect at nearby Providence mainstay, Trinity, then spread his time reinvigorating Rhode Island’s oldest brewery, Narragansett, and creating fine microbrewery, Revival. His taste usually runs towards the more robust, fuller bodied dark ales, but there’s no stopping his fertile imagination as proven by the Belgian and autumn influenced elixirs currently available at Brutopia.

While sessionable Bliss Light Lager suited blue collar thirsts, a finer choice may be fruit-spiced moderation, Valhalla Amber Ale, a stylishly hearty caramel malt-sweetened nicety with apple, peach and pear fruiting contrasting mild grapefruit tartness, acrid wood tones and toasted hop bittering.

A dynamic citric front end enveloped the sharp wood interior of Never Ender IPA, where orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering contrasted the tropical pineapple, mango and kiwi uprising. Citric ‘hop bomb,’ First Coast Belgian Double IPA, brought wafting perfumed florality to piney hop oiled lacquering and yellow grapefruit-imbibed lemon rind bittering. Earthen nuttiness and fruity caramel spiced enlightened Munk Belgian Abbey Ale. A more demure Belgian, refreshingly moderate Blossom Belgian White layered black-peppered Belgian yeast fungi atop orange-peeled coriander spicing, corny pilsner malting and earthen hop resin.

On the dark side, brown-sugared Bonfire Brown Ale countered honey-roasted toffee sweetness with citric-soured hop spices and soily nuttiness. Soft-toned Hello Darkness blended Revival Imperial Stout with White Electric coffee and retained a light chicory-roasted hazelnut coffee serenity as wispy charcoal-burnt hop bitterness and subtle berry tartness seeped inside its splendid java theme. Dry-bodied Dark Marvel Stout stayed mildly creamy, overloading black coffee bittering with dark-roasted chocolate malting.

By 7 PM, the place was jamming and I tried the two autumn seasonals. While crisply clean Oktoberfest brought wood-toned citric bittering to corn-sugared malts and leafy hops, a better choice was outstanding cinnamon-toasted pumpkin pie-like The Patch, an alcohol burnt full body combining Blossom, Munk, Bonfire and Dark Marvel with impressive results. Its vanilla-sugared gingerbread, chestnut and nutmeg illusions surged alongside the sweet pumpkin pureeing.          

www.brutopiabrewery.com

 

RAQUETTE RIVER BREWING

United States Brewpubs

TUPPER LAKE, NEW YORK

Tucked away in upper New York’s Adirondack Mountains, RAQUETTE RIVER BREWING opened March 2014 inside a small ‘northern country’ wooden cabin near Lake Saranac and Lake Placid. Featuring four flagship offerings, including an untried Pale Ale, this boutique operation allows free samples, growler fills and keg sales (as of August ’14). Based on the few worthy offering already available onsite, future expansion seems imminent for dedicated brew masters Joe Hockey and Mark Jessie.

One enjoyably sessionable summertime seasonal, Orange Coriander, brought lemony mandarin orange, curacao orange and clementine mildness and light coriander spicing to its toasted white bread base, retaining a pleasant citric tartness perfect for any witbier enthusiast.

As for the flagships, upscale Blonde Ale maintained a sturdier piney fruited IPA-like briskness than many of its simpler stylistic competition. A clear favorite among local denizens, its loud yellow grapefruit rind and peel bittering as well as zesty orange pith pectin and sugared pineapple tang picked up wood-dried white peppering.

Similarly styled India Pale Ale buttressed its bark-dried piney hop bittering with tangier grapefruit, pineapple and orange juicing.

The most unique offering, German-styled Red Ale, brought barley-smoked campfire cinders to roasted butternut-chestnut wisps and mild red-orange fruiting for a moderate-bodied rauchbier-like infatuation.

During October ’14, Dennis returned with sessionable summertime moderation, Pale Ale, a fruity Cascade-hopped pleasantry with crystal malt sugaring and mild grapefruit, lemon and orange illusions receiving wispy celery earthiness.

One month hence, Dennis picked up a growler of awesome autumnal dessert, Imperial Pumpkin. Its brown-sugared pumpkin pie luster sweetened the ethanol-charged lacquering, leaving cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg spicing along the honeyed yam midst.

November 2015, enjoyed rangy Hefeweizen, a sassy stylistic moderation with white-peppered grassy hop astringency reinforcing sweet banana-clove expectancy and raspy lemon bite. Afterwards, mocha-smoked Irish Stout brought black-malted dark chocolate bittering to dry oats toasting and wood-singed charcoal hop char.

January ’16, discovered three more Raquette River offerings. Best bet: convincing Imperial Pumpkin contrasted brown-sugared cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice seasoning against leafy-hopped earthen gourd acridity. Wheat-honeyed crystal malting and red cherry snip kept it on the sweet side.

Sessionable North Country-bound India Pale Ale brought candy-spiced tropical fruiting to moderate piney hop bittering and vegetal celery acridity. Sunny grapefruit, orange, pineapple, mango, peach and papaya tang retained easygoing nature. Surprisingly less bitter than the aforementioned flagship IPA, Double India Pale Ale relied less on stylish grapefruit-orange-pineapple bittering than brown apple/ brown pear sweetness to rise above light piney-hopped wood tones as well as French-breaded caramel toasting.

www.raquetteriverbrewing.com

 

 

REVOLUTION BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Situated in the increasingly popular Logan Square area (known as Hipster Highway) on Milwaukee Avenue just a few blocks away from Piece Brewery, ultimately rewarding gold-bricked beer haven, REVOLUTION BREWING COMPANY, practically created the whole 21st century Chi-town craft beer renaissance. An amazing modern Mecca for brews and food, Revolution opened in 2010 to rave reviews, expanding into production brewing at a nearby Kedzie Avenue location thereafter.

A nifty German beer hall-styled central island bar serves 40-plus patrons plus the left-side dining tables and right side balcony. Beautiful pine furnishings, hanging globe lights and silver ceiling tiles provide exquisite elegance. A rear open kitchen, full service second story bar, exposed ducts and windowed brew tanks fill out this ultimate north-side restaurant and brewpub.

Filled to the brim on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-July ’14, I grab the only seat left at the bustling bar to sample 13 well-rounded selections. Besides the excellent hand-crafted fare emanating from the colorful fist-clenched tap handles are 100-plus bottled choices – many of which were rare finds or one-offs.

The lightest fare was quaffed first. Soft-toned Bottom Up Wit unleashed orange-dried lemon zest upon floral-perfumed hops and white-peppered coriander spicing, leaving banana-breaded vanilla sweetness to contrast puckering limestone acridity and delicate mandarin orange tartness by the crystalline watered finish.

Traditional German pilsner, Mother Of Exiles, retained a light-bodied citric-soured spicing as grassy hops, musky grains and flaked corn reached its doughy bottom. Tame lagered moderation, Use The Schwarz, brought mild dark-roasted mocha malting to the fore, as dry cocoa bean, Baker’s chocolate and burnt toast reminders usurped its earthen hop bittering.

One of Revolution’s most interesting elixirs, Rosa, a tart summer ale, brought red grape, red cherry, lemon and lime souring to raw-honeyed coriander salting, rose-watered lavender florality and a latent white wine spritz that contrasted sweet vanilla-spiced banana licks.  

A worthy collaboration with Wicker Park cocktail joint, Big Star, Fist City Extra Pale Ale, fortified its light hop-roasted grain malting with frisky orange-peeled pineapple bittering.

Ultra-dry Iron Fist Pale Ale placed wood-dried Chinook hop bittering beside lemony orange-rotted souring and dewy earthiness (picking up a diacetyl hint if  warmed). A better alternative was approachable Double Fist Imperial Pale Ale, where tangy orange, grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine and papaya tropicalia overloaded crystal caramel malting.

Sessionable flagship beer, Anti-Hero IPA (also available in can), layered orange-candied grapefruit and pineapple tartness and lemon-peeled herbal notions atop oily pine hop resin. Its friendly stylistic competitor, citra-hopped medium body, Citra Hero IPA, gathered orange-peeled apple-peach-pear fruiting for its spicy crystal malt sugaring, leaving cantaloupe-melon-nectarine traces in its wake.

Peppery Belgian yeast inundated lemon-spiced Coup D’Etat, a dry mineral-grained saison with leafy-hopped sour grape esters and mild herbal nuances contrasting pleasant sugared spices.

French-styled Biere De Garde, Bastille, retained a stingy dry hop persistence alleviated by earthen green grape esters, sour-pressed Granny Smith apple tartness, sharp oak-chipped cherry acidity and latent apricot-fig snips.

Musty robust porter, Eugene, contrasted its cocoa-powdered coffee, molasses and chocolate stead with dried cherry, grape and date fruiting.

Best bet: Spectral Imperial Wheat Ale, Filibuster, a luxuriously smooth 11.5% ABV remedy aged in Old Forester and Woodford Reserve barrels, splashed bourbon hints upon rum-sugared vanilla creaming, almondine-candied butterscotch sweetness and bruised orange-cherry-nectarine chewiness.

www.revbrew.com

 

 

NEVIN’S BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

PLAINFIELD, ILLINOIS

Serving the rural town of Plainfield as well as neighboring Naperville, NEVIN’S BREWING COMPANY took over its large North Plainfield Crossing Mall space on main drag, Route 59, during December 2012. An expansive upscale sportsbar and brewpub (with intermittent entertainment), its plushly designed red-bricked interior matches antique wood with modern flagstone in a burnt orange-walled setting .

Besides its pristine central bar island, Nevin’s also offers wraparound dining tables, terrace balcony seating, a backroom banquet facility, glass-encased brew room and huge lanai vinyl side deck. Exposed pipes line the black ceiling, a chalkboard lists all current house brews available and a few pinball games at the entrance attracts gamers.

Science-teaching home brewer Marc Wilson, a Texas-reared Seibel grad formerly at Rock Bottom-Warrenville, provides a wide variety of beer styles for Nevin’s customers. Burgers, pizza, tacos and sandwiches fill the pub-fared menu.

On my mid-July ’14 two-hour nighttime stopover, I quaffed all twelve four-ounce pours available. Though best selling golden ale, Nevin’s Yolo!, had a gnarly vegetal musk, dank grained pungency and soured yellow fruiting, a better choice had to be soft-toned Nevin’s Summer Sesh, a less pungent alternative with lemon-rotted grapefruit acidity and grassy hop herbage overriding wheat-chaffed wild oats.

One of my faves, Ardennes yeast-affected Nevin’s Quick Witted, gained an herbal lemongrass-chamomile piquancy to highlight its sweet orange-peeled coriander spicing and distant banana snip. 

Decent Vienna lager, Nevin’s Vienna Waltz, maintained a musky lemon-bruised tartness over rustic alfalfa, whey and poppy nuances. But a finer option was dry-hopped Nevin’s IPL, a yellow-orange fruited India Pale Lager with dry bark astringency and resinous pine bittering contrasting sugary crystal malts.

Flagship medium body, Nevin’s Contentious IPA, brought tropical fruiting to peppery herbage as orange-peeled yellow grapefruit, pineapple and mango subtleties battles back banana-clove whims.  Just a tad richer, Nevin’s Fool Proof, a rounded Imperial IPA, let its multi-hopped tropical fruiting get affected by unexpected vanilla-creamed Chardonnay buttering.

Belgian pilsner malts aided Nevin’s Tripel Hops Brewed, a citric Cascade-hopped pleasantry with wood-dried perfuming. Easygoing maibock, Nevin’s Bock It Up, possessed a dry honey-spiced yellow fruiting and candied Pez-like tartness.

Busy Baltic porter, Nevin’s Bolsha Moi, layered its cocoa-dried Baker’s chocolate bittering with sour prune, sweet raisin and black cherry illusions, finishing like day-old coffee. Creamy mocha nuttiness and a thick eggshell head furnished Nevin’s Southside Stout, a decisive oatmeal stout with hop-charred graining, dark-roasted chocolate malts, amber walnut sugaring and wild cherry scurries.

The strongest and most aggressive offering, Nevin’s None Of Your Business (a hybridized 12% ABV Imperial Stout), received a barleywine-like dark fruiting to contrast its sweet chocolate-toffee conflux and deep-roasted black patent malting.

www.nevinsbrewing.com

 

PIECE BREWERY & PIZZERIA

United States Brewpubs,

Piece Brewery and Pizzeria | Book a Party

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

In Chicago’s upscale Wicker Park section in a red brick building on North Avenue, sensational hipster joint PIECE BREWERY & PIZZERIA recently celebrated its eighth anniversary. Modeled after Connecticut’s highly successful Bru Rm. at BAR, this humble post-industrial pub serves as a top-notch pizza place (specializing in thin crust New Haven-styled pizza) and casual sportsbar.

A rounded 20-seat right side bar sits across roomy stool-tabled seating. Multiple TV’s and several guitars (Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen’s part owner) are strewn about the gray and mauve walls while wood lattices and exposed ducts crowd the skylight rafters. Besides having a respectable selection of house beers, there are 20-plus bottles of fine craft beer available.

During July ’14 on a bright Sunday, my entourage grab a table at the raised level next to the front windows. Despite being crowded and busy, our thin crust pepperoni pizza came post-haste alongside the seven beer samplers.

For starters, dry-bodied Golden Arm Kolsch retained a lemon-soured hop fizz and orange-rotted cologne musk that may suit Blue Collar thirsts (though its sulfuric diacetyl murk may turn off a few stragglers).

A better choice was stylishly concise light body, Top Heavy Hefeweizen, a surefire bet with lemon-sugared banana, clove, bubblegum and vanilla sweetness sidling bubbly champagne effervescence and white-peppered orange blossom snips. Similar in approach, Belgian-styled moderation, Swingin’ Single, brought tart banana-clove sweetness to dry black-peppered lemon peel bittering.

Piney juniper hop bitterness mellowed to grapefruit-peeled lemon pit souring for crisply clean Dysfunctionale, a wily American IPA with ancillary honeyed pineapple, mango, navel orange and tangerine tang. For contrast, English-styled IPA, Victoria, maintained a musky lemon-grapefruit frontage, subtle juniper hop briskness, reedy bark-dried astringency and dewy earthen mustiness.

On the dark side, fudgy Roland The Headless Assistant Brewer possessed an approachable mocha theme as roasted chocolate, Columbian coffee, milked espresso, creme brulee, sweet hazelnut and bitter walnut illusions rode above the dry oatmeal base.

Best bet: classic Egyptian Pale Ale, Cameltoe, hid its hefty 9.5% ABV behind tropical IPA fruiting and soft resinous pine hops. Caramel malt sugaring and mild vanilla creaming sweetened its ancillary yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange, tangerine, clementine, pineapple, peach, nectarine and papaya tang as well as candied apple, pear and banana nuances.

While Chicago’s brewpub scene keeps growing exponentially, Piece continues to thrive and build a substantial reputation amongst locals and travelers alike.

www.piecechicago.com