On tap at Hop & Vine Taproom, rustic Czech pilsner-lager places muskily grained millet, alfalfa and rice dryness across sour lemon-smudged Noble hop herbage. Musty barnyard desiccation ensues.
All posts by John Fortunato
BACK EAST CZECH MIX PILSNER
On tap at Hop & Vine Taproom, flagship traditional bohemian pilsner departs from initial Czech ‘mix’ of crisp cereal grained biscuit buttering and musty herbal hop spicing as lemony green grape esters turn bitter.
THE SEED: A LIVING BEER PROJECT HOME WATERS PALE LAGER
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, lemony Cascade hop fizz and light Saaz hop herbage reach pilsner malted white cracker base of simple, efficient pale lager.
THE SEED: A LIVING BEER PROJECT SEEDS OF THE OCEAN KELLERBIER
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, unfiltered Bavarian lager (a.k.a. kellerbier) brings dry barnyard graining to light lemondrop spiced herbage. Musky maize husk and mild grits salting reach sourdough base.
THE SEED: A LIVING BEER PROJECT FIORE
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, slightly richer than typical Italian pilsner draws raw-honeyed Vienna malting and Magnum-Saaz-hopped earthen musk to lightly sweetened floral-spiced lemon spritz.
THE SEED: A LIVING BEER PROJECT LITTLE RIVERS NEW ZEALAND PILSNER
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, sharp lemony grapefruit bittering gains limey New Zealand-hopped green grape, guava and passionfruit tartness for brisk Kiwi-styled light pilsner with toasted bread base.
THE SEED: A LIVING BEER PROJECT SIMPLY LIGHT
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, unassuming Seltzer-like light lager lets evaporative maize acridity, musky perfumed hop spot and delicate pilsner malting coalesce. Betters Coors-Miller-Bud Light, if that’s progress.
HOUSATONIC RIVER SACRED GROUNDS COFFEE PORTER
Upfront coffee roast receives creamy milk chocolatey caramel fudging and recessive citric acidity plus distant berry snips for satisfyingly mellow Sacred Grounds Coffee Roasters collab.
HOUSATONIC RIVER GENTLE ON MY MIND NEIPA
Signature soft-toned New England-styled IPA with slightly bitter lemony grapefruit juicing, sour guava-mango-gooseberry tartness and resinous pine tones contrasted sweet orange peel tang by utilizing Citra, Amarillo and Azsaca hops. Mildly creamed oated wheat base anchors juicy fruited razzle dazzle.
HOUSATONIC RIVER AMARILLO SKY DOUBLE IPA
Richly creamed full body combines Ipswich IPA’s thick cookie dough yeast and bruised orange swerve with Rogue Dead Guy’s honeyed chestnut/ almond splurge and rum-soaked whiskey warmth. Tertiary grilled pineapple, salted mango and pink grapefruit illusions, delicate floral spicing and sappy pine add to luxurious Amarillo/Citra hop blend.
HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT
Taking up a brown brick fronted bunk house with a covered deck and floor-to-ceiling stone hearth plus a separate beergarden pavilion, HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING perfectly recreates olden New England-styled wood work in purely bucolic fashion. The rustic pub’s pine kiosks, countrified stool seating, wraparound wood coves, wood paneled walls and corrugated aluminum roof suit the aluminum-sided lacquered pine top bar.
Opened in 2018, entrepreneurial brewer David Littlefield perfected his craft at California’s Harbor Lights Brewing before heading east and teaming up with veteran brewmeister, Steve Medd, at Housatonic River. The busy brewin’ duo have made over 150 different recipes in just over six years.
There’s a midsized stage area for music acts and brew tanks are staged in the rear.
I stopped by on a warm Friday evening, July ’24, to try an Imperial Stout and its oak-aged variant – plus a light Bavarian lager – taking home a few more goodies in cans (reviewed in Beer Index).
Easygoing German pilsner, Duffer Lager, brought sourly salted lemon seed spritz to dried plantain tartness, grassy hop astringency and slight vegetal herbage over popcorn-like maize buttering.
Creamily smooth Imperial Stout, Remedy, placed whisked bourbon chocolate sweetness next to caramelized coffee, wood-smoked molasses, chocolate cake, creme brulee and sugary vanilla illusions as its tarry hop char contrasted the mighty mocha nightcap.
Stronger spirits-derived variant, Whiskey River Remedy, aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels, embraced subtle dried fruiting to deepen its oaken whiskey-bent dark chocolate resolve.
NOD HILL BREWERY
RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT
Inside a tan stucco brick building overlooking the sylvan tree-lined countryside at the foothills of the Berkshire Mountain in Ridgefield, Connecticut, NOD HILL BREWERY came into biz, November 3, 2017. Boasting “separate authentic flavor profiles for its small community vibe,” the popular pub has expanded its taproom, began local can distribution and struggled to keep up with increased demand.
Nod Hill’s spacious wood floored interior features a lacquered wood top bar, two community tables, a few round tables, loungy metal-chaired tree stump tables, several side stands and an overhead door – plus a baby blue-tiled draught board at the back bar listing eight homemade elixirs. Brewtanks are stored in the large backroom and a centralized refrigerator serves to-go brews.
Perhaps the most important part of Nod Hill is its separate picnic-tabled pavilion beergarden. A solar-powered brewhouse, its brewers’ tend to make ‘hop-forward ales, Old World English, German and Belgian styles and spontaneously mixed fermentation oak-aged beers.’
Portishead plays trip-hop in the backdrop as my wife and I sink a few Nod Hill brews on a sunny Friday evening, July ’24.
Bavarian lager yeast, mineralized pilsner graining and Noble hop herbage connected for standard mild German Pils, Beam, a slightly pungent moderation with light lemon licks and recessive doughy breading.
A frisky lemon spritz sparked bustling hefeweizen, Fritz Walrus Edelweiss, retaining stylish banana-clove sweetness but adding date, plum and raisin subtleties to the rich honeyed wheat base.
Lemony white peppering, green grape esters and soft floral spicing engaged Trappist single, Ace of Wands, a delicate pilsner malted patersbier (best described as Belgian Monk’s lawnmower beer).
Mixed fermentation red wine-barreled Belgian dubbel, Queen Of Funk, stayed dry as leathery muscat grape, oaken vanilla and charcoaled black chocolate illusions picked up light lemon acidity.
Buttery dried fruiting draped lovely Belgian quad, King Of Swords, leaving candi-sugared raisin, plum and prune sweetness plus nutty toffee spicing and cotton candy confection upon brown chocolate malting.
Flagship NEIPA, Geobunny, raised grapefruit rind bittering, orange peel sweetness, tangerine tanginess and tart gooseberry-guava souring above vanilla-daubed oated wheat creaming.
Another flagship NEIPA, Super Mantis, maintained a sunnier, brighter disposition as its tropical fruit juicing embroidered a dryer wood backdrop. Peachy pineapple tanginess, lemony grapefruit bittering, navel orange sweetness and salted mango-papaya tropicalia reached mild oats-flaked pilsner malting.
English-styled dark mild, Eynsham, let bland dried fruiting run thru light-roast burnt coffee tones, buttery cocoa powdering and murky nuttiness.