All posts by John Fortunato

CONCENTRIC BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

PORTLAND, CONNECTICUT

Coming to fruition in 2021, Portland’s CONCENTRIC BREWING COMPANY occupies a grey brick warehouse across the Connecticut River from liberalized Middletown. A plastic-furnished right side deck leads to the entrance of Concentric, a porcelain-floored pub featuring a centralized octagon-shaped beeswax concrete top bar (with two draught boards housing eight draughts each), wood-stooled tables, a few booths, large staged brew tanks and black art deco ceiling.

My wife and I perused Concentric noon time on a Saturday in March ’25.

Brusque, though light-bodied, Czech-styled Portland Lite Pilsner retained dry floral-spiced lemon spritz and mild herbage.

Brisk clean-watered IPA-like lemony grapefruit sunshine and sweet orange-peeled pineapple tang girded Pat’s Pale Ale, leaving light pine resin on its dry back end.

Easygoing Motueka-hopped New England IPA, Moving Target 7: African Queen, took tart guava-gooseberry tropicalia on an ascendingly bitter journey past lemony grapefruit bittering and above mild oated creaming.

Richer marshmallow vanilla-fluffed NEIPA, Bridge Traffic, coalesced sweet orange peel briskness with bitter yellow grapefruit swagger, tangy berry zing and drifting pineapple-guava tropicalia.

Black Patent-malted dark chocolate, black coffee and charred oats contrasted burnt caramel sugaring of Quarry Brown Ale, picking up latent nut singe.

Fudgy Imperial Stout, Double Stuffed, merged creamy vanilla-topped chocolate cake with dried cocoa powdering.

Aged in Four Roses bourbon barrels, boldly red wine-spiced Imperial Stout, Tarmac 2019, let dry bourbon, burgundy and pinot noir serenade cinnamon-cumin seasoning in rich dark chocolate setting.

STONY CREEK BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT

Inside a 30,000 square-foot white aluminum-paneled, aquamarine blue-topped boat house along the industrialized Indian Neck riverway in Branford, STONY CREEK BREWING COMPANY began operations in 2010.

An enormous microbrewery with large production facility, expansive front deck, capacious plastic-furnished back patio and huge windowed brew tanks, Stony Creek’s cement-floored, black ceilinged pub features a corrugated aluminum-sided wood-top bar (with two tap stations holding eight draught handles each), several stooled and chaired tables, tin-covered Edison lights, a loft area and a kitchen.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar to eat Mashed Potato Bacon wood-fired pizza alongside nine rangy elixirs.

Pedestrian light-bodied golden lager, Bobcat, at least bested Budweiser with its musty maize dried herbage and fizzy yellow fruited spicing in a lightly smoked beechwood-like setting.

‘Laidback’ Vienna lager, Dock Time, stayed crisp as dewy peat grazed fig-spiced cocoa malting and wispy floral perfuming.

Tart raspberry entry gained oaken vanilla tannins and rigid lemon acidity for Berried Alive Vanilla Raspberry Sour, a sour-candied Fruit Roll-Up.

Brown-sugared pumpkin spicing of Gourd Fellas Pumpkin Ale gained subtle fig sugaring and slight Red Hot cinnamon heat.

Briskly easygoing India Pale Ale, Mountain Brew, allowed creamy vanilla foam to engage sunshiny yellow grapefruit and sweet orange peel zesting, spritzy lemon-liming and tangy pineapple salting.

Dry yellow grapefruit rind and orange pith bittering embedded Savage Stride IPA, a slightly skewed New England-styled medium body with ancillary raw-honeyed herbage and dank pine lacquer contrasting sugary pale malting.

One more dry stylish goodie, Just Another IPA, placed pine needled lemony grapefruit bittering and bark-dried musk across candied orange tartness.

Christmastime-seasoned Frosty Spice Winter Ale shook cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger above mild vanilla sugaring.

Wonderful winter warmer, Noel’s Nightcap, regaled brown-sugared cinnamon spicing and marshmallow vanilla creaming, picking up ginger, nutmeg and cumin seasoning atop milk chocolate richness.

HOAX BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

Homebrewers Austin Scott and Sean Ricci began crafting beer, March 2018, joining New Haven’s Beeracks collaborative brewing co-operative with Overshores, Armada, Front Porch and Nighthawk around 2022. Working under the guise of HOAX BREWING COMPANY, Scott and Ricci have found local success with well rounded liquid fare and wood-fired pizzas.

An outdoor front deck leads to the front door of the mod-designed tan brick warehouse housing Hoax. The epoxy-floored pub features a slate top 12-seat bar under an enclave (with ten draught handles), three opposing couch booths, windowed purple couches and rear brew tanks. A loft mezzanine area offers further seating. Black exposed pipes and zapped lighting hang from the aluminum ceiling.

My wife and I gathered at Hoax’s Beeracks joint to down a few suds on a cold Friday afternoon, March ’25.

Crushable pilsner-malted House Lager retained easygoing corn-liquored whiskey bent for perfumed orange riffs.

Easygoing blonde ale, Lightening Strike, slid lightly spiced yellow fruiting across mildly perfumed hops.

Ultra-dry pine lacquering coated lemony grapefruit bittering and musky orange oiling as well as floral-perfumed juniper swagger of ‘experimental hopped’ Imperial IPA, Apres Apizza.

Lemon-soured raspberry tartness outdistanced light marshmallow chocolate sweetness of moderately acidic fruited sour, Raspberry Toasted Marshmallow Sleight Of Hand.

Salted raspberry, pineapple and pink guava pucker outdid banana-chipped sweetness of Tropic Thunder, a sassier fruited sour.

Day-old coffee roast stained sugar cookie and vanilla adjuncts as sour cherry seeped thru bitterer-than-sweet pastry stout, Stout Darn Time.

Rich milk-sugared coffee and sweet vanilla creaming got draped by maple syrup for golden stout, Mugsys Morning, leaving wintry cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin spicing on its vanilla coffee stead.