NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the heart of Nashua on Main Street within walking distance of Talespinner and a quarter-mile from Liquid Therapy, ODD FELLOWS BREWING COMPANY set up shop September 2018. The perfect centralized location for a British-styled neighborhood gastropub, curious downtown boutique shoppers, local brewhounds and destination tourists will enjoy Odd Fellows’ casual splendor and expansive pub menu (plus homemade desserts).
Inside, the glazed wood furnishings and French terra cotta tiled floor provide elegant warmth. Right side dining tables counter the elongated 20-seat bar (with a dozen tap handles and 30-plus whiskeys) while the glass encased brew tanks are far right.
My wife and I sat outside at the umbrella-laden front patio on a sunny Friday afternoon, September ’22, to consume each available brew – though flagship NEIPA, Vision, was out, three other fine IPA’s were quaffed. Also, mushroom cream-sauteed Steak Stroganov and Caprice BLT hit the spot.
Sweet Vienna-malted baked breading lined Intrigue Vienna Lager, buttressing its dewy peat mossing with subtle toffee, caraway and chestnut illusions.
Spritzy lemon zesting outdid stylish banana-clove sweetness of plain-named Hefeweizen, leaving dried plantain starching upon its sourdough bottom.
Fizzy hard-candied raspberry tartness splashed briny rhubarb for Raspberry Chill, a washed-out variant of Chill White Ale with downplayed orange peeled sweetness and white-peppered coriander spicing.
Tart strawberry-salted rose hip florality engaged Rose Hip Saison, placing mild bergamot orange, pink grapefruit and gooseberry sourness alongside cardamom-spiced grains of paradise pepperiness and sedate hibiscus-lavender wisps at the judicious back end.
Dewy tea-leafed grain toasting anchored O’Brien’s Red IPA, a sharply spiced stylistic merger with red ale-like pear and apple crisping abutting IPA-like grapefruit-orange-pineapple conflux.
Brisk sunny-hazed Spring Cleaning Grapefruit IPA surged forth with juicy lemon-seeded grapefruit zest, picking up candy-glazed mandarin orange and tangerine tartness plus floral-herbed spicing above sugary crystal malts.
Bright Citra-hopped yellow grapefruit bittering contrasted orange-peeled pineapple and peach tanginess ascending for Hoppy Ending, a superb New England IPA plying ancillary green grape tannins to woody Simcoe hop herbage in a mildly creamed vanilla froth.
Terrifically spiced eccentricity, Brown Ale, dripped caramelized toffee upon cumin, sarsaparilla, star anise and cola cadences in a unique mix.
Creamy peanut buttered Damn Skippy Stout let bittersweet dark chocolate mingle with roasted walnut-hazelnut tandem over its Graham Cracker base.
