On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead – Haledon, dank double dry-hopped IPA loads wood-soaked herbal spiced pleasantries beside sedate grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess and atop soft oats-toasted pale malting. Refreshing cucumber crisping adds vegetal tinge.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, refreshingly crisp double dry-hopped IPA utilizes tropical Nelson Sauvin lupulins to amplify brisk grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and zesty lemon-limed souring. Mild peach, pineapple and mango tang contrasts plastique pine lacquering beneath the citric surface, providing further spectral resonance.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, yellow marble-glazed New England-styled hazy IPA promotes sharp yellow grapefruit-seeded orange rind bittering and mild pine lacquered herbal respite. In the midst, tartly lemon limed souring contrasts less punctual peach-skinned mango tang.
On tap at Plank Pizza, “blissfully” well-balanced moderate-medium body leads lemon-peeled pineapple, peach and mango tropicalia thru grassy herbal hop astringency, dank pine resin and sweet floral perfuming. A mellower IPA.
On tap at Plank Pizza, soft-toned Abbey Ale aged in bourbon and brandy barrels seems a tad thin and underwhelming (despite heady 9.9% ABV), but not at the expense of its spicily candi-sugared plum, fig and date sweetness. Mild port, burgundy, brandy and bourbon illusions add subtle red-wined tannins.
Sharp cinnamon-barked pumpkin pie entry gains orange-peeled ginger, nutmeg and clove spicing as well as caramelized malt sweetness to contrast earthen yam-gourd conflux. Interestingly, spearmint, fern and pine nut illusions flutter by below.
On tap at Plank Pizza, crisply clean Czech-styled bohemian pilsner retains light maize musk for herbal-hopped lemon spritz, toasted cereal graining and honeyed biscuit base.
Sloppily aggressive Belgian quad/ German bock mix lets rotted apple mustiness, viscous corn syruping and disturbing alcohol burn relegate, then ruin, its fig-dried raisin, plum and prune niceties. Disgustingly cloy and stylishly conflicted 14% ABV Lithuanian worth avoiding unless inducing hangover.
Slickly cloying whiskey-malted caramel and toffee viscosity burned away by murky ethanol acidity. Though almond-pasted pecan sweetness and dried-fruited prune, raisin and fig sugaring aren’t out of place, they’re buried behind oily alcohol astringency.
On tap at Ambulance, fantastic velvety smooth oak-aged version of Beer Geek’s oatmeal stout series serenades fudgy cocoa beaning and French press coffee persuasion with sweet bourbon vanilla warmth. Whiskeyed chocolate battering gains ancillary café latte, Baker’s chocolate, espresso and toasted coconut illusions as well as dried cherry nuances. A perfect wintry nightcap.
On tap at Plank Pizza, robust porter aged on coffee beans imparts nutty java bittering to contrast molasses-spiced vanilla and chocolate sweetness. Nut-charred coffee roast gains modest cumin-paprika seasoning over time for creamily rich, yet crystalline watered, hybrid of Revolution’s Eugene Porter.
Sweet oak-barreled bourbon subtlety integrates well with velvety Hawaiian coffee overtones (though phenolic carbonation lowers rich intensity). Underneath roasted coffee extravagance, oats-sugared chocolate fudging and distant creme-bruleed vanilla illusions contrast nearly coarse wood-burnt hop char.