On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, delightful murky mustard yellowed Berliner Weisse perfectly re-creates pineapple dole whip dessert. Laid-back pineapple juicing, pulpy orange tang and zesty lemon perk march thru marshmallow-whipped creaming above pastry-like sugared dough of impressively designed tropical dessert treat.
Sturdily busy autumnal Berliner Weisse lets frosty pumpkin caking get edged out by salty lemon limed souring. Pumpkin pied cinnamon and nutmeg seasoning lingers thru milk-sugared vanilla beaning, creamy marshmallow fluff and buttercream icing atop its heavily wheated oats spine. Slight butternut squash nod adds wispy vegetalia. Superb!
On tap at Growler & Gill, milk-sugared vanilla sweetness pervades tart blueberry puree adjunct contrasting salted lemon splurge above subtle honeyed Graham Cracker base.
On tap at Taphouse 15, dry lo-cal grisette (a dryer farmhouse ale) lets spritzy lemon limed souring settle above herbal-tinged spelt graining and barnyard straw acridity in simple satisfying scheme.
On tap at Pompton Craft House, banana bubblegum sway outdoes spritzy lemon tartness, raw honey starching, mild plantain sway, dainty coriander-clove spicing and soft herbal snips.
On tap at Pompton Craft House, tart apricot entry receives lemon-soured clementine spritz and briskly peppered hop pep for crisp summertime moderation loosely based on a pallid Belgian blonde.
On tap at Taphouse 15, soft-toned dark spelt graining of English dark mild retains semi-dry profile. Sweet barley-roasted brown breading and peppery rye spicing settle next to understated coffee-stained cocoa powdering.
On tap at Taphouse 15, even-keeled Czech dark lager utilizes sweetly breaded Vienna malts and subtle chocolate malts to oppose slight lemony hop spritz ad dried maize flicker.
On tap at Taphouse 15, rounded lager pithily brings spicy floral-perfumed lemon musk to light hop astringency and tobacco-leafed toasted breading in brisk manner.
WEST NYACK, NEW YORK
A dandy l’il red brick neighborhood brewpub in an inconspicuous mini-mall close to Route 59 in West Nyack, TWO LADDERS BREWING began operations in August ’22. Homebrewing partners Pete Garrison and Jeff Turicek turn out stylishly approachable, satisfyingly straightforward and predominantly dry beers from the small rear brew kettles of this sports-friendly right-cornered watering hole.
The quaint interior features a laminated 12-seat wood bar with centered aluminum-treaded draught station, baroque stools, caged Edison lights and 4 large TV’s. Wall-bound stooled seats and wood tables fill out the front and right side. A black metal-railed front deck with red concrete pavers offers further seating.
Sank seven solid suds during Sunday evening one-hour spell in December ’22.
Dry lemony herbage and mild maize flaking embraced straw-hazed moderation, Paddy O Kolsch, to its bready pale malt bottom.
Easygoing farmhouse ale, The House That Saison Built, let lemony mandarin orange salting gain barnyard-dried herbal rusticity.
Dryer and more sedately fruited than most Belgian ales, OMG Abbey plied oaken cherry tannins, dried prune tartness, brown raisin sweetness and crabapple souring to roasted tobacco crisping creeping inside recessive earthen musk.
Sweet tangerine, clementine and peach fruiting outdid mild orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and sedate pine tones for Elder Statesman West Coast IPA, a honey malt-backed moderate-medium body.
Sharp yellow grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering saddled Uncle Pete’s Hyperbole IPA, leaving juniper-licked vodka nips and dainty pineapple tanginess upon its brisk evergreen pining.
Two Ladder’s most popular brew for its initial six-month stretch has been a straightforward India Pale Ale, Little Igloo. Its vibrant lemon-peeled navel orange, pineapple and tangerine zesting prodded the creamy vanilla froth opposing grassy hop astringency in crisply clean water softener.
Cream-sugared coffee and dried dark cocoa rampaged thru enticing Mad Dog Willie Stout, a trusty mocha nightcap.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK
Inside the Old Saratogian building in downtown Saratoga Springs, impressively designed and family-owned WALT & WHITMAN BREWING COMPANY opened in 2020. A multi-tiered, multi-faceted operation with an exquisite lounge leading to a pristine coffeehouse and spacious brewpub section, its catacomb lower level features a glass-encased brewroom, benches, couches, wood tables and walled pop culture pix. A large caged patio offers further seating.
The main 20-seat slate-topped pub area offers 20 draughts (listed on the wood menu) plus two opposing TV’s and a refrigerator with cans to go. Several community tables fill out the room while exposed pipes, old wood columns and Edison lights give the wood-floored bar a rustic old Americana glaze.
Fine pub fare from the right side kitchen includes Detroit-styled pizza, wings and sandwiches.
During my sunny noon time visit in November ’22, I bought several brews for the road (in canned version listed below) and consumed a lovely milk stout at the corner of the bar.
A soothingly creamed confection, Written In The Dark plied coffee-dried dark cocoa to mildly hop-charred cola, walnut and Brazil nut illusions as well as peaty chocolate truffle snips.
In the can and bettering most lo-cal light lagers, dry aluminum yellowed Dick Murphy Lite placed mildly grained German pilsner malts alongside salted lemon fizziness and phenol hop astringency while avoiding some acridity.
Clear beige-yellowed, billowy cumulous-headed “American wheat,” Agrarian Society, let its rustic amber graining and hay-like acridity dig into its sour lemon wedging.
Rangy Oktoberfest lager, Festbier, secured a stylistically upscaled profile as unexpected spruce-tipped perfume musk seeped thru autumnal brown leafy astringency, straw-dried barnyard acridity, raspy lemon oiling and wispy basil herbage.
Crisply tart lime salting stays dry alongside sour lemon twist for easygoing Rough Day Gose, leaving lightly vinous white grape acidity upon mild coriander seeding and cologned agave nectar.
Rangy frail-headed pale golden farmhouse ale, Le Petit Poete, awakened the senses with mildly spiced orange tanginess, bruised banana sweetness and lemon custard tartness penetrating salted white pepper herbage and cellared mushroom fungi in a spritzy flow.
Murkily dense purplish Berliner Weiss, Now, Forager Blueberry rode tart blueberry pureed pomegranate essence thru sweet milk sugaring, picking up vodka-licked purple grape, cranberry and crabapple illusions as well as mild tobacco leaf crisping.
Briskly tropical IPA-like fruiting paced crisply clean moderate-medium-bodied pale ale, I’m So I’m So… Citra, serenading zestful lemony grapefruit-peeled pineapple bittering and navel orange sweetness with polite pale malt spicing contrasted by dry wood tones at its grassy hop stead.
Floral-spiced yellow grapefruit entry of The Infinite Nick IPA picked up mellow mandarin orange, peach and pineapple tanginess against dry herbage and hay-like acridity in clean mineral water setting.
‘Candied orange, mango and grapefruit’ spicing gained floral-bound mango, pineapple, papaya and tangerine fruiting for Big Kids Table NEIPA, leaving grassy hop resin upon the fizzy salted citric finish.
BURLINGTON, VERMONT
Beginning its journey in 2014, QUEEN CITY BREWERY enjoys being a “comfy pub” at the historically industrial South End of Burlington. One of its founders, Paul Hale, was a former associate vice president of research at the University of Vermont. Managing partners Phil Kaszuba and Paul Held embrace the traditional beer styles head brewer Ben Gostanian crafts.
A ’40s pickup truck adorns the barroom inside the metal corrugated aluminum-sided warehouse. The cement floored pub features a laminated U-shaped 20-seat mahogany bar with a pipe-exposed high ceiling. Silver left side tanks service the bustling draught board (with over a dozen homemade brews). A meticulous pine-detailed, garage-doored Event Space welcomes large parties.
A rustic makeshift enclosed deck with orange plastic chairs matching the overhead canvas is where I sat with wife and dog to enjoy a host of German-style lagers and beyond during my two-hour November ’22 sojourn.
Ricey corn pilsner malting consumed Bushwick Lager, a ’50s-styled American light body with musky lemon-spiced herbage and wispy floral daubs.
Musky Noble hop herbage grazed the toasted cereal graining of German helles-styled South End Lager, ‘a delicate blonde lager,’ and the spicier toasted malting of Vienna Lager.
Dewy peat mossing, earthen truffle fungi and faded nuttiness saturated the dried fruited musk of Munich Dunkel, a lightly creamed Bavarian lager.
Another German lager, Psycho Keller, an unfiltered cellar beer, placed honey spiced Vienna malts against salted orange-oiled musk, leaving mild leafy foliage and fennel snips.
Spry herbal lemon zesting prodded the vanilla-creamed banana, clove and coriander expectancy of Hefeweizen, a sourdough-bottomed moderation.
Capturing much of the maple-glazed cured meat sweetness and only some of the smoked beechwood pilsner malting its Bamberg-derived style demands, Rauchbier gained a nifty lemon spritz.
Traditional springtime copper lager, Maibock, brought spicy red-orange-yellow fruiting to toasted caramel malting, picking up contrastive raw honeyed fungi must.
Smoothly effervescent Belgian tripel, Monk of Underhill, regaled butterscotch-candied sweetness to caramelized banana, lemon meringue and creamy vanilla affluence.
Moderately bitter Fuggle-hopped English IPA, Argument, left perfumed citrus spicing upon dry fungi herbage.
Soft-toned Yorkshire Porter allowed its black coffee-embittered dark chocolate roast to embrace weedy soy saucing and cola nuttiness.
Peaty mocha malting girded Barge Canal, a musty oatmeal stout with day-old coffee tones, chalky dried fruiting and spiced dark toffee atop charred oats.