ENDICOTT, NEW YORK
Ten miles west of Binghamton, Endicott’s THE NORTH BREWERY opened in 2013, one year after Water Street Brewing became the area’s first modern brewpub. Owner Zach Pedley’s a serious stout aficionado crafting some ‘extreme ales,’ winning Best of Tap New York’s statewide competition in 2017 with heavenly richly God Complex Cerrano Pepper Mocha Hazelnut Coffee Stout.
A makeshift caged-in black metal-furnished Washington Avenue patio leads into the small two-room pub. Edison lights adorn the concrete slate-topped bar with eight red brick-walled draught handles and the white-tiled floor contrasts the raw wood furnishings and reclaimed palate wood right wall. The bronze tiled ceiling features solid mahogany columns while a few windowed tables and sundry TV’s sprawl across the front room. A crazed lunatic and black & white octopus adorn the right side and back wall.
The current 5-barrel brew system and a canning line inundate the back room.
Zach’s got the Blues on the radio while I consume six well-designed draught beers slightly stretching the experimental spectrum during July ’19.
Soft-toned The Mexican Smoked Wit (with Lime) brought cologne-perfumed oiling and smoked Cherrywood acridity to subtle orange-peeled coriander, picking up tart lime resilience.
Lightly acidic Nelson Sauvin-hopped Taddy Mason IPA plied green grape esters and sour gooseberry tartness to floral-daubed wood tones before brisk yellow grapefruit tanginess ascends above the fray with a latent mandarin orange twist.
Milk-sugared mango and coconut perked up Bikini Tops NEIPA, leaving mild grapefruit bittering, zesty pineapple tanginess and lemondrop tartness at the bright tropical fruited finish.
Coffee-roasted nuttiness anchored hop-charred Ink Coffee Stout, inducing espresso macchiato and milk-steamed latte tones as well as tertiary black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant wisps.
In its indelible nitro version, Ink’s softer éclair-creamed mouthfeel relinquished windswept espresso, dark chocolate and mochaccino elegance.
Creamily rich ‘pastry stout,’ Lil Klouds, draped black chocolate syrup upon milk-sugared coconut, vanilla and marshmallow adjuncts with profound intensity. Its dried cocoa finish reinforced the dramatic mocha sway. Excellent nightcap!
northbrewery.com