Eccentric green glob-hazed sour ale lets salty lactobaccilus acidity infiltrate puckered blue raspberry rasp and tangy orange-tangerine juicing. Limey sorbet tartness seeps into Sweet-Tart candied berry compote finish. Uniquely designed lactose-driven gooey green gunk.
Blueberry Smoothie knockoff works milk-sugared vanilla extract and salty lemon-limed bitterness into tart blueberry pucker for creamily salted yogurt-like setting. Soda-like blueberry sweetness contrasts highly acidic nature as sour navel orange juicing and wispy cranberry snips ripen ‘berry’ goodness.
Tangerine Smoothie knockoff becomes increasingly tart as high lactose milk acidity and salted lemon pucker gain grapefruit-embittered frozen concentrated orange juicing. Sweet ‘n sour ambrosial tangerine continuance gains slight vanilla-creamed sweetness at the citric-steadied finish.
KENILWORTH, NEW JERSEY
Occupying an unfinished white brick-walled warehouse in the Central Jersey Borough of Kenilworth, TWO TON BREWING originally came aboard as gypsy brewers in 2014 (utilizing Climax and High Point), opening its current taproom facility during 2018.
Two Ton’s raw one-room space features a 12-plus draught board at the bark-sided mahogany serving station, a few wood tables, several silver brew tanks, an overhead back door (leading to the makeshift beer garden) and exposed ceiling ducts.
Owned and operated by brothers Matt and Jim and their Cubs-rooting father, Mario “Doc” Barbiere, Two Ton’s family trio crafts enjoyable one-offs and some recurring brews, leaning heavily on crisply clean IPA’s.
At the patio-furnished beer garden, I quaffed all available tapped fare, picking up a bottle of the fabulous lactic-aided Field Artillery Russian Imperial Stout (reviewed separately in the Beer Index) during Sunday afternoon pre-Halloween ’20.
Nifty autumnal seasonals included dewy cereal grain-spiced Octbroberfest, a sedately appealing marzen with maple oats sweetness contrasting its leafy hop herbage. Also, dry Booing Pumpkin gathered gourdy ginger-spiced pleasantries, meshing mild brown-sugared nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice seasoning with sweet potato, acorn squash and buttercup pumpkin illusions.
Elegantly smooth Wrought Gold Blond utilized fruity English ale yeast to secure its polite lemony blood orange tartness and dry hop spicing above sweet doughy pilsner malts.
Liberated Lispering Gardens Saison spread floral cologne-perfumed bruised lemon tartness across pine-lacquered lavender oiling atop earthen barnyard leathering.
Soft-tongued Citra/Loral-hopped Robot Insurance New England IPA retained a juicily dry tropical fruiting above delicate crystal malts, mildly astringent grassy hop herbage, mikld pine tones and wafting floral nuances, bursting forth with tangy lemon-peeled grapefruit, navel orange, pineapple, mango, honeydew, peach and tangerine regalia.
Zestfully sharp Diamond Star Halo NEIPA let lemony grapefruit and orange rind bittering deepen its dry frontage, picking up peachy tangerine illusions above its pale malt spicing.
Another New England-styled IPA, The Fiffer, allowed limey coconut-milked grapefruit and orange rind bittering to accrue pine lacquered juniper musk.
Rummy coconut toasting sweetened confectionary nitro smoothie, Identity Crisis Coconut Brown Ale, a delicious dessert treat.
Creamily rich Extra Special Chocolate Vanilla Stout crammed Madagascar vanilla bean sugaring into Dutch cocoa splendor, bulking up its dry dark chocolate rummage with cedar-burnt cumin spicing and cayenne peppered coconut snips in fine dessert fashion.
Ancient Blues music was playing on the loud speakers when my wife and I revisited Two Ton, February ’21 to try a few more worthy suds.
Maize-dried herbal perfumed hops and mild lemon spicing dotted mild grain-husked muskiness for Crispy Boi, a moderate German-styled pale lager.
Salty dog knockoff, Cap’n Vic’s Salty Dog Gose, possessed crisply clean limey sea salting and lemon-twisted vodka briskness.
Buttery jasmine rice adjunct and tamped down hop restraint mellowed out juicy-fruited Super Saiyan Wild Rice IPA, as grapefruit-peeled mandarin orange and tangerine zesting enjoined candied pineapple tartness.
Lupulin-powdered herbal citrus zesting fronted NEIPA, Brothers From Another Mother, bringing bright grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering to grassy hop astringency.
Rounded amber-cleared Imperial IPA, Hammer & Ale, combined orange vodka punch with candied Gummy Bear tartness and rummy molasses sweetness above pastry-like malt sugaring.
Creamy caramelized wheat malting fortified Laird’s Wee Heavy, a heavenly Scottish ale with spiced toffee, roasted tobacco, dewy peat moss and almondine wine serenity.
Luxuriously rich stout exudes creamy dark chocolate richness and dried cocoa sustenance above maple-sapped oats. Black coffee, vanilla and anise illusions touch down alongside bruised black cherry tartness and prune-stewed fig stead, deepening its bittersweet mocha foundation.
Tangy, tart and spicy blood orange adjunct goes all the way for resilient hazy amber blond ale. Prominent blood orange blast receives lusty tangerine juicing, citron-perfumed English ale yeast misting, candied baby aspirin tartness and floral orange blossom wisps over delicate French-breaded crystal malting. Spritzy summertime fun.
MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT
“Restaurateurs at heart and beer drinkers by liver,” ELICIT BREWING COMPANY began proving that motto November 2019. Inside a spacious red brick warehouse right along the Adams Mill Trail in Manchester, Connecticut’s rural wooded area just outside its small urban center, Elicit pairs brewer Brian Ayers’ wonderful rotating liquid fare and fab one-off concoctions with respectable pub food.
A large front deck and even roomier rear Beergarden (with spiffy Marilyn Monore wall painting, two firepits, patio furnishings and stringed Edison lights) surround the epoxy-floored, high ceilinged millhouse. Combining a beer hall, cocktail bar, lounge and arcade, Elicit offers fifty draught lines (with a bakers dozen home brews plus several local elixirs) at its white marble-topped bar.
A comfy foyer welcomes patrons to the sportsbar-like brew house. Right side community tables and high-back seating are available and to the left are windowed brew tanks and a separate kitchen. The brick walls are decorated by dramatic curved PVC beams. Several games sidle the main space.
My wife and I grab pizza and tacos for dinner while consuming thirteen rangy suds at the Beergarden September ’20. The following day, we took the dog for a walk along the river-bound Adams Mill Trail.
A second Elicit Brewing opened in nearby Fairfield during 2024.
Corn-sugared lemon snips and floral perfumed spicing seeped into musky wet grains and herbal Tettnanger hops for German-styled Das Crisp Boi, a fine pilsner-Vienna malted pale lager.
Lemon-spiced crystal malt sweetness and grassy hop astringency plied Resilience Pale Ale, leaving a trail of guava, gooseberry and green grape tartness.
Spiced red-orange fruiting gained toasted caramel sweetness and a nutty remnant for Speling Bee Champion, a durable misspelled red ale with pithy lemon and tangerine peel illusions.
Stylishly dryer due to Hallertau Blanc-hopped green grape esters, Hefe Lifting brought mild white-peppered herbage to standard hefeweizen banana-clove spicing.
Juicy pineapple puree tartness embittered the lemony banana-clove expectancy of Yodeling Cherubs Pineapple Hefeweizen, a sharply tropical fruited offshoot of Hefe Lifting.
Lemony grapefruit zest brightened its bittersweet peach adjunct for crisply clean Doin’ Just Peachy, a spritzy fruited wheat ale with mild wood lacquering seeping into the honeyed wheat spine.
Lemon-soured green grape esters fronted Little Bo Blanc, an herbal Hallertau Blanc-hopped saison with leathery barnyard acridity countering the sweet wheat base.
Pink Himalayan sea-salted gose, Dueling Libations Margarita, sprayed freshly-squeezed blood orange-pureed key lime tartness atop Tequila-twisted agave for a perfect cocktail re-creation.
Lactic Dueling Libations Pina Colada unleashed creamy vanilla sweetness upon lemony orange zest, pineapple puree and coconut rum nearly as convincingly as its Margarita competition.
Sunny tropical fruiting gained honey-spiced pale malting for Drink This Outdoors, a sessionable IPA with yellow grapefruit, orange, pineapple and peach luster.
Extraordinary Marriage Counseling Double IPA stayed briskly clean as rummy pineapple-coconut tropicalia sweetened its lemony orange zesting and tangy peach reminder above sugary pale malts.
Black-malted dark chocolate dryness embellished Eligible Bachelor, a mildly nutty brown ale with light coffee roast.
Freeze-dried coffee tones led Nostrovia!, a slightly bitterer Imperial Stout with ashen walnut contrasting glazed hazelnut sugaring beneath the java surface.
MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT
Three ‘beer wizards’ control the tanks at Manchester, Connecticut’s LABYRINTH BREWING COMPANY, a rustically retro warehoused brewpub opened autumn 2018 (and closed July ’24).
The natural elegance of the hard wood floor, the antique charm of the exposed brick walls and the post-Colonial design of the factory-like wood ceiling (with exposed pipes) provide a casual warmth deepened by the lounge-y back cornered gas fireplace section.
A large wood slab-lacquered L-shaped bar spreads across the entranceway seating and the main space – where bottled Edison bulbs wind around a wagon wheeled overhead panel in glorious olden pub fashion.
I conversed with Adam De Laura, one of the entrepreneurial brewers at Labyrinth, mid-September ’20, while Steely Dan played in the background, quaffing nearly all the available brews.
Easygoing lemony orange-spiced Athena’s Wit allowed delicate floral sweetness to seize upon coriander-spiced chamomile herbage above its white wheat base.
Mellow dried fruited nuttiness anchored Mr. Dunkel, a dewy chocolate-malted Munich-styled dark ale with fading fig-dried pecan finish.
Fulsome Red Ale, Electrum Tears, placated chestnut-shelled pecan tones, tart red-orange fruiting and crisp tobacco roasting with leafy hop foliage.
Piney citric East Coast-styled Pan’s IPA brought floral-perfumed grapefruit, orange and lemon zesting to its moderate wood-lacquered hop bittering.
Flagship New England India Pale Ale, Turbo Love Juice, let lemony pineapple, orange and mango tropicalia inform its spritzy tingle as hop-oiled bittering contrasted crystal malt sugaring.
Silken NEIPA, Hesperia, let its mildly embittered grapefruit peel frontage gain sour lactose milking and wispy mango snips over acidulated pale malting.
Another NEIPA, hazily yellow-marbled Champion Of The Sun, brightened the tongue with spryly embittered pineapple-juiced grapefruit tanginess and salted mango-guava serenity, gaining yogurt-milked lactic acidity at the lightly spiced tropical fruit finish.
Raspy orange-peeled tangerine tartness consumed Siren’s Song Orange Tangerine, a superb fruited sour ale with lemon-limed salinity atop its delicate white wheat spine – recalling a spritzy Orangina soft drink.
BETHEL, CONNECTICUT
Inside a maroon cabin (with forest green base) that served as a former Bethel train depot, BROKEN SYMMETRY GASTRO BREWERY started slingin’ suds March 2018. Specializing in varied one-off brews and delectable San Diego-styled Mexican food, Broken Symmetry sports fourteen tap handles and a mezzanine level kitchen.
Its cozily clustered interior features a stainless-steel slate-topped bar, two community tables, side-walled dining spots and rear five-barrel brewing system. Clear individually designed Edison lights hang from the rustic vaulted wood beam ceiling. A right side patio and railroad seating area fill out the pub space.
My wife and I grab four home brews plus tasty burritos, tacos and nachos during our mid-September ’20 perusal. And I got a few growlers to go (also reviewed below).
Fair light-bodied opener, Aztec Sky Pale Lager, permits mildly lingered wet-grained musk and dry maize astringency to puncture its cloy pale malting.
Heavy herbal influence beckons for muskily spelt-grained aluminum yellowed light body, Wheat Ale with Spelt Malt, masking sour lemon licks.
Mild pineapple tartness greeted lemony orange zest for Solar Sail New England Pale Ale, a mildly lactic tropical fruited tonic.
Waxy yogurt-soured pineapple, gooseberry and guava tartness grazed vanilla-creamed crystal malting for Nimbus NEIPA, a dry-bodied hazily golden Imperial with juicily citric hop bluster and dank pine resin.
Bright IPA-like yellow grapefruit zesting and grassy-hopped juniper bittering embellished saison-related spiced orange sweetness, herbal farmhouse acridity and herbal sage licks for Farmhouse Style Double India Pale Ale, a sharp stylistic combo worth exploring.
Zestful Belgian-styled golden strong ale, Attraction Tripel, retained lemon meringue, peach melba, Bananas Foster and spiced orange serenity over salty herbal-peppered pilsner malting.
Rich Square Of Ten Quad let rum raisin and fig sweetness seep into maple-molasses-sapped chocolate malts, leaving subtle cardamom, cola, chestnut and Scotch licks in the recess.
NEW PALTZ, NEW YORK
The former home of Gilded Otter was bought out by CLEMSON BROTHERS BREWERY in 2018. Retaining Gilded Otter’s beautiful wood designed stone interior, this New Paltz landmark provides a casual lodge feel that’s essential to the bucolic forest-laden Catskills surroundings. Central brew tanks service the front bar, side-walled tables, bronze-tanked serving station, mezzanine seating and outside deck.
Upon September ’20 visit, tried two rangy dessert beers after one bold morning time eye-opener.
Almost re-creating a blueberry muffin, Blueberry Gunx Pale Ale lacquered its honeyed wheat pancake batter with blueberry puree tartness above mild dewy hop earthiness.
Pina Colada-like cocktail, I Dream Of Coconuts Cream Ale, regaled coconut-toasted pineapple tanginess and cotton-candied marshmallow goodness with mild lime-rimmed Margarita salting underlined by nearly cloy sponge cake, vanilla cake, overripe cantaloupe, confectionary butterscotch and buttery toffee sweetness.
Black patent malted-dark chocolate bittering gained an espresso-nipped cocoa nibs resilience and walnut-burnt hop char above the molasses oats base of Monday Morning Breakfast Stout, leaving latent anise-dried bourbon wisps when warmed.
On tap at Draught Industries, luxuriously bold lactose-aided Imperial Stout aged on vanilla beans invites fudgy molasses-sapped chocolate sugaring to bourbon-soaked vanilla creaming sweetened further by marshmallow, toasted coconut, creme brulee and bruised black cherry illusions for a mind-numbingly decadent nightcap.
On tap at Draught Industries, invigorating brown-marbled Imperial Milk Stout conditioned on roasted cocoa nibs and liquid cocoa retains fudgy toffee-candied brown chocolate sweetness above sugary Graham Cracker and marshmallow adjuncts, gaining mild black cherry souring. A marvelous chocolate dessert treat assimilating a Milky Way candy bar or brownie.
