Spritzy lemon-rotted orange oiling and tannic green grape salting pick up mild creamy froth above white bread base in mildly bitter Casacade-Hallertau hop setting but may lack stylish specificity.
All posts by John Fortunato
UNTIED PEOPLE PLEASER VIENNA LAGER
Conventional Vienna lager lacks assertiveness and distinct flavor profile. Sweet dewy peat seeps inside murky dried fig spicing, tingly candied apple smidge and lemon candied remnant as distant Tettnang hop earthiness contrasts toasted amber graining.
WELDWERKS WELD CZECH-STYLE PILS
On tap at Plank Pizza, muskily earthen grained Czech-style pils gains herbal lemon twist as hay-dried leathering and grassy hop astringency beckon.
GRAND STRAND BREWING COMPANY
MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA
In a glass-fronted red brick ‘contemporary cottage’ with white soffits and shutters, GRAND STRAND BREWING COMPANY opened its doors in March 2021. Located on Myrtle Beach’s busy Kings Highway in the revitalized Arts & Innovation district, Grand Strand came to fruition less than one year after Tidal Creek Brewhouse (a few miles South) began operations.
An interesting multi-faceted brewery with loft apartment rentals, turf grass lawn with Adirondack chairs, multi-TV sportsbar appeal and good pub food, Grand Strand covers all bases from family friendly neighborhood tavern to destination brewpub.
Its elongated 15-seat wood bar services several black plastic 4-seat tables and a loungey blue couched area with fish tank (next to hovered stainless steel brewtanks) plus the 4 awning-covered deck tables and umbrella picnic tables out front. The interior’s ceramic floor, low hanging ceiling pipes and red brick walls add a certain Industrial flare.
Alongside a well-rounded assortment of homemade beers, Grand Strand also offers fine spirits, wines and specialty cocktails.
On my sunny Tuesday afternoon voyage, April ’23, my wife and I enjoyed ten sturdy draughts.
Easygoing Wingtip Pilsner let brisk Seltzer-like lemon zest serenade slight herbal musk above flighty white breading.
A slightly bitter pale ale with experimental HBC586 hop strain, Flip Flop Hop unfurled mellow lemony white grapefruit bittering, mildly perfume-spiced orange peel sweetness and grassy hop astringency for subtle oated wheat creaming.
Milk-sugared coffee embraced lactic Conway Coffee Blonde Ale, a pale malted moderation with mild creme brulee and caramel latte sweetness.
Toasted amber grains and dewy dried fruiting approached the sugary caramelized malts securing Jolene Red Ale.
Mildly vanilla-creamed banana, clove and coriander plus pastry dough sugaring paced Rainy Day Hefeweizen, leaving slight herbal musk on the tail end.
Buttery caramel dripped into soft-toned Doof Dunkelweizen, picking up distant lemon meringue and fried banana tartness.
Tropical orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and mango tanginess gained light phenol hop bittering to contrast the dainty rum sugaring of dry pale malted Sandy Cheeks West Coast IPA.
Lemony yellow grapefruit bittering contrasted sugary tangerine-peach tang of Airbrush Hazy IPA, reaching its delicate oats base.
As for the two sour ales, First Rodeo Smoothie Sour let its lightly acidic lemon-soured plum and pomegranate adjuncts gain briny cranberry and crabapple tartness over sugary pastry dough.
Just as salty, Pavillion Pie Wheel Key Lime Sour stayed dry as mildly acidic key-limed lemon rind bittering countered cinnamon-toasted brown sugaring as distant cologne perfuming splattered sugary lemonade tartness.
TIDAL CREEK BREWHOUSE
MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA
Encompassing a coffeehouse/brewery, large wood picnic -tabled porch, chaired firepit area, a sprawling beer garden and palm trees, TIDAL CREEK BREWHOUSE started its journey in June 2020. At Myrtle Beach’s newly developed Market Common (formerly used as part of the nearby airport base), Tidal Creek retains a loungey sea shack vibe amongst the newly built small stores, restaurants and townhouses.
Inside the blue-awninged beige aluminum sided brewhouse, an L-shaped ten-seat bar (with cement-lacquered shell bar top) centers the cement-floored shop. There are ten 4-seat tables, hanging Edison lights, a spray foam insulated ceiling and corrugated aluminum walls filling out Tidal Creeks’ interior. Stainless steel brew tanks take up the 3,000 square-foot backspace. Cocktails, wines and pub fare were also available.
My wife and I had some delicious noontime pops during April ’23 visit.
Dry light pilsner, Liberatore, let bright lemon licks dabble with wafting floral spicing and leathery straw acridity over buttered white breading.
Cake-battered banana sweetness and mild clove-coriander spicing picked up a prickly lemon spritz and mild herbage atop the buttery sourdough base of Harmonic Hefeweizen, a delightful traditionalist on par with nearby Grand Strand’s German wheat competitor.
Sharp IPA-like fruiting and oily pine resin gave a moderate bittering to Breezy Blonde Ale, plying dry orange rind and grapefruit pith zing to latent floral herbage.
Streamlined Imperial IPA, Mean High Water, combined candied pineapple, grapefruit and orange tanginess with light herbal spicing and resinous pine remnants over crystal malt sugaring.
Equally approachable New England IPA, Bogey Bomb, let candied pineapple, sugared orange and tart lemon fruiting pick up mild sweet spicing over lightly creamed oated wheat pasting.
Mildly embittered NEIPA, Beam Reach, places spritzy grapefruit-peeled orange, pineapple and mango tanginess next to New Zealand-hopped guava-passionfruit souring above oated wheat complacency.
Piney citrus fruiting and floral-spiced herbage permeated Grand Strand, a West Coast IPA draping lemony orange, grapefruit and tangerine tanginess thru honeyed pale malts.
Coffee-stained dark chocolate led Backwater Brown Ale, leaving cola nut, waddleseed, hazelnut and candied molasses snips on its dewy earthen bottom.
Dry espresso-milked black coffee fortified Pollywog Porter, picking up setback peanut-walnut illusions and mild Blackstrap molasses bittering.
Nutty chicory coffee surged ahead of coconut, pineapple and black grape fruiting for Tradewinds Tropical Stout, gaining bittersweet dark chocolate influence.
SEVEN SOUNDS BREWING COMPANY
ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA
Along Elizabeth City’s downtown riverfront in an old hardware building, SEVEN SOUNDS BREWING COMPANY occupies a restored red brick dockside venue opened in the winter of ’22. A panoramic rooftop deck captures the still beauty of the Pasquotank River and the brick-walled pub room utilizes reclaimed wood and old beams to retain a vintage southern charm.
Seven Sounds’ cement-floored metal and wood furnished pub (with scattered beer barrel seating) settles below the pipe-exposed high ceiling. There are twelve draught taps at the pine lacquered L-shape bar.
In April ’23, my wife and I grabbed a few deck seats outback to quaff five ambitious stylistic creations on the riverfront.
Lemony passionfruit souring and salty guava tartness engaged Sea Of Love Pale Ale.
Matching its stylish banana-clove sweetness to crusty sourdough breading, Easy To Love Hefeweizen maintained a creamy vanilla-daubed eclair froth.
Mild ghost pepper heat tailgated the dark chocolate-roasted hazelnut coffee bluster of Nell Cropsey Ghost Pepper Porter, an applewood-smoked full body.
Mildly creamed milk-sugared coffee sweetness overlaid cocoa-dried dark chocolate bittering of lactic Front Porch, a milk coffee stout with distant cinnamon, anise and hazelnut wisps.
Luxurious Barleywine soaked rummy raisin, plum and dried cherry into candi-sugared crystal malting, picking up latent sweet burgundy spicing.
GHOST HARBOR BREWING COMPANY
ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA
At a historic retrofitted livery stable, Elizabeth City’s GHOST HARBOR BREWING COMPANY sits smack dab in the boutique-shopped Pailin’s Alley downtown district – a place perfectly suited for old pirates singing sea shanties. Opened in December ’18, but at its current larger locale since 2021, Ghost Harbor was the first microbrewery licensed in this historic Albemarle municipality.
Just up the street from waterfront Seven Sounds Brewing, the rustic cement-floored pub is owned by head brewer, Thomas Reese, a durable craftsman who has ‘draughted’ a few dozen one-offs and several recurring brews in the first five years of operation.
Inside a red-bricked shop with mauve-walled side entrance, its green awning protects the umbrella-seated alleyway. Upon entering, the glimmering stainless steel bar top provides a clean, efficient feel.
There are several black-chaired community tables and two-seaters filling out the pub and the stark black ceiling carries exposed pipes and caged Edison lights. The brick-walled bar back features sixteen bronze-piped tap handles leading to a cold storage system serving the left side brewtanks easygoing fare.
I sank six demure draughts during my April ’23 stopover, then got Vito Italian Pilsner, Gypsy Tears Pale Ale, Blair’s Fall Wheat Ale, That Girl Liz IPA and Mulligan Dry Irish Stout (reviewed in Beer Index) to imbibe at Myrtle Beach two days hence.
Spritzy lemon fizzled alongside sugary bubblegum for Ghost Heavy Pilsner, a sweet breaded lightweight.
Not far removed, fizzy lemon drops trickled onto herbal licks and spicy snips for sessionable Apollo Golden Ale.
Toasted grain sweetness, roasted tobacco crisping and mild hop astringency girded Mystery Of Nell Cropsey Amber Ale, picking up subtle red and orange fruiting.
Americanized pale yellow-cleared wheat ale, Blair’s Fall (also reviewed in canned version), retained a salty lemon spritz and mild orange-plantain-quince conflux above white wheat breading.
Polite white grapefruit, mandarin orange and pineapple tropicalia led Wight Of The Wild White IPA, a cross between a debonair hop-forward IPA and a coriander-spiced witbier.
Sharp citrus spicing saddled Nautical IPA, leaving lemon zest, yellow grapefruit bittering, brisk orange peel sweetness and salted mango-pineapple tanginess upon lightly creamed oated malts.
GHOST HARBOR MULLIGAN DRY IRISH STOUT
Soft-tongued nutty dark chocolate creaming settles upon dark-roast hop char. In the backdrop, Blackstrap molasses bittering engulfs espresso, cola, walnut and burnt wood illusions.
GHOST HARBOR THAT GIRL LIZ INDIA PALE ALE
Sedate white grapefruit-spiced orange peel zesting and juicy pineapple tang embrace hazy golden NEIPA. Ample pine sapping seeps into grassy hop astringency and mild fennel herbage until its oated wheat creaming reaches the salty bottom.
GHOST HARBOR BLAIR’S FALL WHEAT ALE
Straight-ahead American wheat ale less involving than its German hefe or Belgian wit counterparts. Complacent orange-dried lemon oiling and peppery phenolic sudsiness reach delicate cracked wheat base, picking up sour apple, unripe banana and Bosc pear snips.
GHOST HARBOR GYPSY TEARS PALE ALE
Tidy lemon-splashed yellow grapefruit and orange peel zesting (neither tangy nor bitter) caresses resinous pine wisps and spicy pale malting of golden hazed (6% ABV) moderation. Another trusty IPA-hopped pale ale.
GHOST HARBOR VITO ITALIAN PILSNER
Fizzy lemon pep, prickly phenol spicing, floral herbed musk and sweet white breading will please simple Italian, Mexican and Czech pils lovers. Sessionable suds.
