On tap at Taphouse 15, frothily creamed beige-browned Imperial Gose ‘Smoothie’ gathers milk-sugared banana-coconut gunk and vanilla-enriched marshmallow sweetness to contrast sea-salted lime juicing of dandy banana daiquiri knockoff.
All posts by John Fortunato
EQUILIBRIUM MMM…OSA PALE ALE
On tap at Draught Industries, adjunctive pale ale conditioned on ‘zested orange’ picks up salted lemony white grape esters and mild mandarin-tangelo-clementine snips. But it’s more like powdered soft drink, Tang, than a champagned Mimosa.
CARTON WILL IT BANANA CREAM PIE PASTRY CREAM ALE
On tap at Beef Trust, ‘pastry’ cream ale brings rummy banana-daubed vanilla cream pie sweetness to the fore above grassy hop astringency in nitogenated setting.
HARDYWOOD FARMHOUSE PUMPKIN
Busy russet-hued Wallolian-styled farmhouse ale utilizes herbaceous orange-spiced saison yeast to infiltrate pumpkin-pied cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg seasoning as well as caramelized banana sweetness, ginger root-candied minting and brown-sugared whiskey whir.
BAY STATE VELVET REVOLUCE BLACK LAGER
Brisk carbolic thrust prickles sour-milked burnt coffee bittering before mossy fungi cellar funk and mildewed fig desiccation nudge weedy brown-leafed hop foliage of musky black-malted lager.
BAY STATE BLOOD ORANGE LAGER
Tangy blood orange influence totally mesmerizes the senses for murkily gunky amber-sludged fruited lager dotted by globular blood orange chunks. Lemon-candied grapefruit, tangerine and passionfruit illusions reinforce blood orange delirium as syrupy orange soda-like sugaring sweetens the finish of viscous medium-full bodied fructose concoction.
CAPTAIN LAWRENCE BIER PRETZEL MARZEN
On tap at Beef Trust, slow-baked traditional German-styled pretzel frontage loses some attenuation as autumnal leafy foliage and slight orange oiling settle above spiced rye breading.
SCHILLING KONSTANTIN MARZEN
On tap at Draught Industries, dryer, lighter Austrian-styled marzen mingles raw-honeyed pumpernickel rye spicing with tobacco-leafed truffle earthiness, subtle orange oiling and dewy mildewed cellar funk.
FIFTH HAMMER HAMMERSTEIN OKTOBERFEST LAGER
On tap at Draught Industries, classic German Octoberfest utilizes Norwegian Kveik yeast for crisply clean soft-toned moderation. Lightly creamed honeyed biscuit sedation mingles with delicate leafy hop astringency and wispy orange oil snips above floury pilsner malt base.
TORCH & CROWN HIGHBRAU OKTOBERFEST
On tap at Draught Industries, crisply dry Oktoberfest let honeyed Vienna-malted sweetness gain slight tobacco roast to contrast leafy foliage, dewy fungi and nutty remnant.
BOLERO SNORT SIMPLY IRRESISTIBULL VOL. 2 FRUITED SMOOTHIE SOUR
Abundantly vanilla-creamed fruited smoothie propels thickly pureed strawberry-raspberry tartness and mild blueberry influence above cinnamon apple-spiced Graham Cracker base. Tangy berry continuance gains concentrated orange juicing and slightly soured cranberry-passionfruit-pineapple conflux as well as salty Margarita-licked liming and sugary rum rush. Recommended.
HUDSON ALE WORKS
HIGHLAND, NEW YORK
A cavernous cement-floored tavern with industrial wood-metal furnishings, recycled pallet-wood backdrops and a concrete slate-topped serving station boasting 14-plus homemade draughts, HUDSON ALE WORKS opened in 2016. Local garage-brewing Highland natives, Josh Zimmerman, Neil Trapani and Adam Trapani, took a dilapidated 7,500 square-foot machine shop and turned the rustic corrugated steel-roofed spot into a snazzy l’il pub celebrating “Industrial life with a trendy low-key vibe.”
A right side tabled section with lacquered bark counter opposes the small bar area and the overhead-doored, white cement-walled far right area leads to a back lounge lodging two picnic tables, wicker seating and a huge TV. A picnic-tabled front deck offers further seating. Nano brew tanks are stored at the rear.
Alongside an array of approachable brews, Hudson Ale Works also serves fine wines, meads and cider.
I discovered thirteen Hudson brews on my sunny noontime Saturday journey, late September ’21.
Smoothly crisp gold-cleared Czech lager, Swillsner, drew herbed corn-maize rusticity to dry lemon rind bittering above biscuity pilsner malting.
Crisp Hawzen Bavarian Lager let sweet leafed dewy mossing address spiced tea-like herbage and dry red-orange fruiting.
Banana-chipped clove spicing and orange oiled tartness grazed the whiskeyed wheat malts pacifying How Sweet Wit Is, a slightly divergent dryer witbier.
Orange-dried fungi musk and mild earthen truffle pungency gained sweetly spiced pale malt alacrity for Highland Helles.
Cloudily faded golden-hued moderation, Citra Session IPA, brought lemon-pitted grapefruit bittering to dry herbal whims, picking up subtle mandarin orange, pineapple and mango tropicalia.
Over a richer pale malt setting, the dual-hopped version, Citra Mosaic IPA, retained a steadfast lemony grapefruit-orange tang and sly wood-toned niche.
Earthy herbal tea bittering sedately crept thru sessionable dry-hopped Gnpwdr Green Tea IPA, a pasty pale malted green-black tea derivative.
Lactose Hazy Boi, a dry Nelson Sauvin-hopped NEIPA infused with pineapple, left a zesty grapefruit bittering upon the salty pineapple tang fortified by oats-flaked wheat malting.
Soft papaya pureed tartness bowed to citrus-juiced hop acidity above wet grain musk for Sour Boi, a lactobacillus-soured hazy IPA offshoot.
Lemon-juiced lime salting catapulted tequila-barreled Century Plant Gose, a pleasingly puckered agave-daubed aluminum-yellowed cocktail.
Oaken cherry tartness and tannic green grape esters induced Pucker Up Flemish Sour, leaving pleasantly peculiar charcoal soot on its piquant gooseberry pucker.
Coriander-spiced orange zesting engaged gentle honeyed oats malting for Trappist Punk, a modest Belgian-styled tripel.
Confectionery chocolate-kissed raspberry tartness and sweetly sour bruised black cherry tang rode atop the lightly embittered hop char of Raspberry Vanilla Stout, a wispily vanilla-creamed cocoa-forward dessert with latent blackberry-jammed red grape esters.