All posts by John Fortunato

SPACECAT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Spacecat Brewing Company

NORWALK, CONNECTICUT

At the edge of downtown on Chestnut Street in the thriving coastal suburban town of Norwalk, SPACECAT BREWING COMPANY occupies an olden red-bricked Industrial mill with polished wood floors, ancient window banks and stark wood trusses. Opened during October 2021, Spacecat became the first brewpub to operate after Norwalk lost Iron Brewing a year hence.

On an early Friday evening stopover, July ’24, my wife and I initially grabbed seats at the wood plank-topped bar adorned with Edison lights and featuring twenty draught handles. There were plastic-seated butcher block tables and six dual-stooled wood tables filling out the rustic barroom. Huge windowed brewtanks stored the straightforwardly variegated, dependably rounded and usually easygoing fare.

We then headed outside to the narrow biergarden where a nifty duo played cool tunes for the neighborhood crowd scurrying in. Local wine, spirits and ciders plus homemade cocktails were also available.

Contentedly crafting conventional brews celebrating familiar stylistic terrain, Spacecat’s (mostly) year-round suds, classic seasonals and one-off elixirs stay predictably sound and consistently rewarding.

Rustic yellow-bellied German-styled moderation, Whistleville Pilsner, combined musky lemon rot, dark floral must and dusty herbage atop maize-dried barnyard graining.

Soft-tongued Helles Lager retained spritzy lemon souring, spiced Noble hop herbage and cabbage-like vegetalia above bready pilsner malting. Toastily caramelized amber grains weaved thru Vienna Lager.

A saltier lemon thrust and muskier herbal response led crisply deviant kolsch, Spacecat Summer, a ’24 seasonal hiding delicate lemony grapefruit bittering and light pine tones over white wheat breading.

Brisk yellow grapefruit sunshine and tangy mandarin orange zesting stayed laid-back for Session IPA, utilizing newfangled Azacca-Strata-Sabro hop combo.

Raw-honeyed desiccated orange received musky fungi earthiness for The Tree Cat, a resinous hopped West Coast IPA.

Possibly my fave, spectral New England IPA, Orion, sashayed sweet orange peel zesting and yellow grapefruit bittering alongside salted mango, passionfruit and guava tropicalia while remitting light floral perfuming.

Dewy off-dry The Irish Red nestled hazelnut and chestnut subtleties beside mild toffee sugaring.

Lightly nut-toasted Brown Ale placed tepid toffee sweetness against mossy truffle murk.

Dry dark German lager, Schwarzbier, relegated mildly embittered black chocolate and light-roast coffee tones as well as musty dried fruiting.

TALL OAKS FARM & BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for tall oaks brewing brewer

FARMINGDALE, NEW JERSEY

In the “serene countryside” of Farmingdale (a few miles west of Asbury Park), panoramic family friendly microbrewery, TALL OAKS FARM & BREWERY opened its doors, January ’24.

At a white aluminum sided, shutter-doored barn house on 5-acre farm, Tall Oaks includes a pristine barroom, heated covered porch and separate large pavilion. Inside, white plastic seats and tables spread across the post-Mod pub where unique metal piping fills the brew tanks servicing the rounded elixirs poured for beer-centric minions at the wood top serving station.

Head brewer Rebecca Barry honed her skills at popular brew school, UC-Davis, joining Pennsylvania’s Weyerbacher and Newark’s Anheuser Busch before becoming Tall Oaks’ top cat.

My wife and I settle at the fenced-in picnic grounds, grabbing a few Adirondack-chaired round wood tables to suck down eight fine suds, July ’24.

Freshly baked breaded sourdough wheat engulfed crisp light pilsner, Berm, leaving slight floral herbage upon its sour lemon surge.

A West Coast IPA vibrancy enhanced bolder pale ale, Redwood Grove, bringing slightly embittered Cascade-hopped lemony grapefruit tanginess plus orange-peeled peach, pineapple and papaya sweetness to dry Centennial-Chinook-hopped pining atop dainty Vienna-Crystal malting.

A mild IPA, Open Field allowed brisk lemony grapefruit and orange sunshine, salted guava-passionfruit tropicalia and floral-daubed evergreen minting to rise above biscuity Vienna malts.

Lacquered mango sweetness grazed glutenous white wheat for Fruit Stand Mango, a summery soft-toned pilsner-malted wheat ale.

Spritzy lemon fizz sparkled above the freshly baked French breading consuming Meadow, another soft-toned moderation (with ‘white grape skin and pear’ nuances).

Offbeat farmhouse-styled grisette, Petal Rustic Ale, dripped Lemon Pledge-wafted citrus moisture into white-peppered sage and parsley herbage atop pilsner-malted cracked wheat backbone.

Serene dark-fruited date, plum and apricot fronted easygoing doppelbock, Cultivator, a German-style lager with musky cellared fungi digging into cardboard-like brown breading.

Light-roast coffee nuttiness, chalky cocoa powdered Black malt bittering and musky dried fruiting received dry hop char for Cottage, a mossy English mild ale.