Inside a grey stucco mechanics workshop near North Wales’ railroad station, veteran family-owned TEN7 BREWING CO. opened October 26, 2018. Head brewer Matt Nitchke crafts a tidily rounded cornucopia of oft-times slightly offbeat beers, learning his art alongside homebrewers Bob Heger and Gerry Viglietti, who’d experimented with back porch extract stovetop brewing (by incorporating five-gallon pots for steeped specialty grains and boiled malt extract).
Teamed up in a glorified cement-floored, overhead-doored garage, Ten 7’s principals set up thier Industrial-styled pub with olden corrugated aluminum walls, lacquered bark bar top, mantled white tile draught handles and two side TV’s. Six canary yellow plastic stools, a few ’60s-era couched and chairs, several wooden community tables and an imposing brewtank staging area fill out the high-ceilinged interior. There’s a Ten7 Brewing insignia hanging from the center of the bar. A back deck provides further seating.
My wife and I traveled to the northern Philly suburbs early May ’26, stopping first at this humble ‘barndominium’ around 3 PM on a Thursday, taking home a half-dozen more beers (reviewed in Beer Index).
Easygoing dry pale ale, Blonde, Jane Blonde, strapped cucumber-watered watermelon rind earthiness to soft white breading in unconventional fashion.
Dry lemony herbal spicing crackled for lightly peppered kolsch, Did We Just Become Best Friends, a briskly crisp moderation.
Treacly hazy India Pale Ale, It’s Always Honey In Philadelphia, combined lemony orange rind bittering, briny mango-guava tartness, peachy clementine sweetness and mild grapefruit swipe with light herbal spicing above golden honey malts.
Lovely milkshake India Pale Ale variant, Milky Milky Shakey Shakey: Strawberry, draped milk-sugared vanilla creaming upon tart strawberry puree insistence and salted mango-guava subsidy, leaving its sharp citric hop bittering to contrast the sweet fruited medley given oated wheat flake spine.
2025 barrel-aged Imperial Stout Cuvee, Living In Darkness, brought dry oaken vanilla tannins and whiskeyed cocoa nibs to cuvee-inspired French wining, picking up pinot noir and dry port notes as well as wispy rye spicing and wayward strawberry tartness.
In a red brick old farmhouse with brown overhead doors in Skippack Village, BROTHERS KERSHNER BREWING COMPANY hit the ground running in 2018. Amongst small boutique shops, custom cuisine, cultural art centers and a winery, Skippack is very reminiscent of New Hope (a half-hour away in northeast Pennsylvania). A refurbished auto body shop, Brothers Kershner now produces a diverse range of beers with a ‘focus on India Pale Ales.’
The rustic interior includes wood floors, block tables and a ten-seat magnetic silver metal bar top. An interior overhead door separates the barroom from a small banquet room. Rear brew tanks and Industrial pipes fill out the space. A small deck with plastic benches, wooden seats and strung Edison lights offer further seating.
Founding brothers, Basil and Kevin Kershner, have expanded their operations in 2025 to include a new 3,000-square-foot taproom, Brothers On The Brandywine Beer Garden, in nearby Coatesville. On top of the varied beers are fine pub fare, white and red wines, hard seltzers and cocktails.
My wife and I visited on a beautiful Friday at noon, early May 2026, sucking up ten sundry suds.
Salty lemon musk and herbal Noble hops gave gold-cleared flagship German pilsner, Johan, a slightly bitterer stylish spunk above dry barnyard cereal graining.
Lemon-limed Mexican lager, Zesty Bestie, let dry lime zesting contrast lemony rock candy sugaring as cologne perfumed musk spread thru tertiary lemongrass, agave, parsley and floral whims.
Dewy English Special Bitter ‘pub ale,’ Baker Street, swept dried currant fruiting across French breaded pumpernickel base.
Another English-styled ale, a collab with Philly’s Requiem Bar, Gold Horn, brought soily compost and vegetal earthiness to dry rye toastiness.
Yet another Brit-influenced ale, English dark mild, Moon, stayed dry as dark chocolate, black coffee and nutty espresso tones gathered comfortably.
Semi-strong (7.7% ABV) dark lager, Doppelbock, embraced molasses-sapped raisin breading and sedate plum-date whims given honeyed wheat sway.
Dry orange-spiced pale malting picked up musky hop astringency for moderate-bodied pale ale, Porch, leaving mild IPA-like piney grapefruit bittering on its back end.
Another steadfast year-round flagship, ‘Classic American IPA,’ Bing Bang Pow, placed floral citrus spicing across grassy hop astringency.
Softly citrus perfumed Belgian IPA let vodka-nipped grapefruit rind bittering and lemon musk ride atop lightly oated wheat creaming, picking up latent blackcurrant, blood orange and yuzu snips (hiding any true Belgian influence).
Robust Imperial Stout (a 10% ABV dark ale on the ‘beer engine’) sported milk-sugared coffee, dark chocolate and molasses richness, gaining black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant swipes.
At the semi-rural picturesque community of Neshamic Station, a few miles east of the Delaware River fifty miles north of Philly, READINGTON BREWERY & HOP FARM resides in a bright blue aluminum barnhouse with large wood-furnished wraparound deck. Utilizing a “bine to stein” approach promoting farm-fresh ingredients, such as proprietary vined hops, Readington’s idyllic splendor draws local families, Jersey brewhounds and varied sportsmen.
A few wagon wheel chandeliers hang from the Cathedral ceiling and two overhead doors adorn the spacious wood-framed pub interior. Community benches, wood-metal seating and a few four-seat tables lead to the twelve-seat yellow wood-topped bar (with TV’s at all corners). A picnic-tabled grass area adds further seating.
My wife and I passed thru on a Sunday at 3PM early May ’26 to imbibe three German styled beers, an English bitter and dry IPA.
Lemon-fizzed banana and clove surfaced for Open Hefe, picking up mild doughy pilsner malting to contrast wispy Noble hop herbage.
Dewy springtime maibock, To Hell N Bock, draped honeyed caramel sweetness across dry red and orange fruiting.
Delicate dried fruiting centered Alayna Doppelbock, placing mossy fungi upon raisin-date-fig scrum over buttery molasses toast.
Dewy peat moss saddled Churchill ESB, a Brit-styled pub ale plying mild cocoa powder on buttered biscuity base.
Piney floral-perfumed citrus juiced up West Coast IPA, John Paul Jones, leaving lemony yellow grapefruit, orange rind and pineapple bittering on crystal pale malting.
I first met brewmeister Charlie Holmgren when his sister and I brought him and his brother to the Bronx Zoo in a stroller. Over a decade later, at age 17, Charlie’d become a local homebrewer 50 yards away from my house in Ramsey, bringing his early zymurgic experience to Suffern’s long-gone Mountain Valley Brewery as brewer assistant soon after.
A decorated award-winning brewer, Charlie now handles operations for FENCE ROAD FARM BREWERY, a mammoth agrarian brewery-meadery-eatery at The Oasis at Warwick (fifty miles northwest of NYC). A 17,000 square-foot farmland with brown aluminum main brewhouse, private event pavilion, wood-benched grasslands, hop farm plus a disc golf pro shop, Fence Road’s Oasis space has many expansion possibilities.
Sharing a love for disc golf, Charlie joined Oasis entrepreneurs, Dan and Zach Doyle, to manage Fence Road’s operations, opening November 2025. Alongside older Orange County breweries such as Tin Barn, Drowned Lands, Glenmere, Rushing Duck, Apex and Aspire, Fence Road features a wide array of high level brewing equipment, pressurized tanks, and now, famed Ale Street News editor Tony Forder’s marvelous meadery.
What sets Fence Road apart is its self-stylized fungiculture, incorporating agriculture, permaculture, socializing, and recreation within the Warwick farmlands it occupies. If you grew up in the ’70s and ’80s like me in the close-by Northern Jersey area, you know damn well these sturdy communal ideals were put forth in the Whole Earth Catalog, an iconic countercultural guidebook.
A fifteen-seat, aluminum-fronted, black walnut-topped back bar services several four-seaters in the high-ceilinged epoxy-floored main space. There are fancy wood tap handles, hop-designed lights and small searchlights above the bar, creating a certain pastoral barn house rusticity. Wood barrels above the bar contain the multifariously ambitious beer fare readied for pouring right from the source. A fabulous farm-to-table biz, Fence Road’s everchanging pub food menu is equally exquisite. Fried squash blossoms went well with brick-oven pizza.
While my wife and I settle in at noon on a Friday late April ’26, the Allman Brothers classic, “Melissa,” plays in the background, ironic since Holmgren’s parents had parties the band would show up at in the early ’80s.
Flagship Italian-styled dry-hopped pilsner, Funziona, let earthen floral herbage and mossy fungi dusting sink into yellow grapefruit, Meyer lemon and mandarin orange zesting.
Another highly approachable moderation, rustic India Pale Lager, Geyser, splattered musky bergamot orange oil upon white grapefruit bittering and spritzy lemon spicing, gaining fungi-soiled herbal dankness.
Sessionable India Pale Ale, Designated Driver, plied mild grapefruit-peeled orange rind bitterness and grape must esters to buttery pale malting.
Tropical Imperial IPA, Tell You What, stayed soft-toned as lemony orange, grapefruit and pineapple bittering picked up wispy floral pining, retaining a delicate Nelson Sauvin, Citra and Motueka-hopped splendor.
Next, dry-hopped New England IPA, Fearless, coalesced white grapefruit-peeled orange rind bitterness and salted pineapple tanginess with semi-sweet coconut milk, hiding its slight herbal whims.
Zestful passionfruit led the way for Imperial IPA, Passion, tempering misty navel orange and tangerine spurts and champagne-sparkled grapefruit fizziness above raw-honeyed barnyard oats.
On the dark side, dewy Earl Tea-influenced Nermal’s Early Brown Ale, sank lightly soured bergamot orange musk into buttery cocoa-malted cashew, chestnut and macadamia tandem.
Black coffee roast regaled dry breakfast-styled Imperial Stout, Modi, a richly black-malted, hop-charred full body with molasses-draped dark chocolate edges.
An unfinished barleywine allowed dry bourbon-burgundy wining to seep into mildewed date, fig and raisin over earthen floor-grained malts. In the tank was a Belgian lambic blend. Also, there’s a pleasant mead on tap.
A week later, my wife and I again settle in at the bar to try a few meads and a renowned saison.
Zestful farmhouse ale, La Ferme, plied spritzy lemon-candied pineapple and passionfruit to white-peppered chamomile, basil and lemongrass herbage, gaining lightly lingered white grapefruit sway. A briskly tropicalized saison.
As for Tony Forder’s ‘fungricultured’ meads, sessionable champagne-cleared Hoptimead placed pickled homegrown Vista hop shoots in a salty raw-honeyed setting (with coconut-milked Thai herbage).
Soft-toned peach, plum and pear influenced 3P’s, an Easter bread sweetened elixir leaving dainty fruit dusting.
Mild ancho peppering seeped into champagne-sparkled Mango Ginger Chili, picking up lemon-oiled green mango souring.
Tart blackcurrant-paced Pennings Cidery collab, apple-cidered Black Currant, retained cucumber-watered lemon souring.
One of the finest, Oasis Elderblack placated subtle blueberry-powdered blackberry and elderberry tartness with oaken vanilla beans, white grape tannins and gin-soaked botanicals.
Had a few laughs with friend John Ehrhart, long-time pal of Holmgren, who joined me on a Friday in late June ’26 to down the ‘finished’ barleywine I tasted prematurely two months hence and a crisply smooth red ale.
Amber-grained Irish Red Ale, The Red, scattered dewy peat moss and caramel-roasted barley across mild red and orange fruiting.
Utilizing caramelized medjool dates, Old Curmudgeon Barleywine regaled ancillary burgundy-licked stewed prune, sugarplum and fig jam resonance topping semi-sweet Maris Otter malting.
Taking up a sprawling Saratoga Springs complex at Route 9, TREE HOUSE BREWING COMPANY now operates six fabulously gargantuan wood-designed franchises in the Northeast. Inside an aluminum-roofed lodge with brown wood siding, Tree House’s first New York brewhouse opened for biz March 10, 2025.
A world class enterprise proudly ‘pioneering hazy India Pale Ales,’ Tree House has emerged as one of the finest IPA and ‘big beer’ makers nationwide.
Surrounded by several pavilions with multiple Adirondack chair and firepits, Tree House’s sprawling epoxy-floored interior features a large 40 draught tap station, a few brew room trees, multiple TV’s and cavernous skylight at the black metal ceiling (with hanging bulbs, white sailcloth design and exposed pipes). The enormous left side dining space benefits from a stone-based central hearth with surrounding lounge chairs, couches and tables. A rightside pizza kiosk serves hearty pies.
I initially perused the Saratoga pub on a Thursday afternoon, March 2026, revisiting the next day dinnertime.
For St. Patrick’s Day (a few days prior), Tree House crafted two superb nitrogenated Irish-themed suds.
Soft nitro-frothed amber-grained Irish red ale, Cleona, left nutty cocoa remnants and wispy rye splotch on brown-leafed black tea earthiness.
As for dry nitro Irish stout, Oh Danny Boy, its bristling hop-charred coffee nuttiness subsumed black cherry, blackcurrant and blackberry whims in a bitterly cocoa-dried Black malt setting.
Frothy English brown ale, Bear (With Coffee), draped dark chocolate syrup over medium-roast coffee nuttiness, gathering wood-burnt chicory bittering to counter caramel-candied molasses, fudgy cocoa and hazelnut paste atop brown breaded mocha malts.
Bold “classic stout,” Sojourn, allowed upfront dark-roast coffee nuttiness to consume fudged caramel, chocolate and toffee sweetness contrasting oncoming dark-roast piney hop char, picking up mild hazelnut molasses, pumpernickel rye and espresso sway.
While watching the NCAA basketball tourney and listening to a spry female acoustic guitarist, drifted back to Tree House within 24 hours to consume more excellent fare.
Sessionable Czech pale lager, Easy Does It, doused mild herbal Saaz hop spicing and dried maize starching with spritzy lemon zest over doughy pilsner malting.
Amiable Hallertau-hopped wheat lager, Quiet Satisfaction, let lemony passionfruit, mandarin orange, clementine, white grapefruit and white peach spritz prickle light basil-tinged spicing and dry Pinot Gris wining above hay-like torrified wheat base.
Dry hop-forward straw-yellowed New Zealand pilsner, Hopsy, utilized tropical Motueka, Rakau and Nelson Sauvin hops to lightly embitter lemony white grape, passionfruit, guava, gooseberry and mandarin orange zesting given mildly pined juniper sashay.
Belgian-styled pilsner, Parel, put dry compost-wafted wild oats next to zesty lemon peel, musky orange rot, musty herbage and juniper-tipped lemongrass.
Wee heavy Scotch ale, Old World, caressed dried cocoa stead with peat-smoked dewiness, hazelnut molasses and cola nuttiness.
Upping the citric Tangier hop influence, 7% ABV “American lager” variant, Tangier, spread orange zest, tangerine tanginess and tangelo tartness across dry grassy herbage atop creamy oats base.
Virant mango puree sweetness anchored Imperial IPA, Big Mango, a juicy hazy golden medium body with peachy guava, pineapple and papaya tanginess settling across juniper-tipped piney bittering.
Fudgy brown chocolate and chewy marshmallow aligned for delicious melted S’mores dessert, All That Is And All That Ever Will Be, a rich pastry stout with vanilla-spiced dark cherry, raisin and anise illusions seeping inside honeyed Graham Cracker sugaring.
The perfectly named ARTISANAL BREW WORKS crafts a wide range of proprietary beers and pub cuisine at its spacious beige cement-fronted North Plaza mall space in Saratoga Springs. Opened 2016, the ‘mod’ prairie-styled, metal-furnished, glass-fronted bistro welcomes patrons to the main space thru a brown metal-awninged entrance.
A marble-topped eight-seat bar in the back of the green tavern services the barny community-tabled, yellow-walled dining room off to the left. A beautiful hop-designed barrel-crossed chandelier hangs from the ceiling while a covered side terrace provides more metal seating.
Former homebrewer Colin Quinn started at Olde Saratoga Brewing, then partnered with fellow Saratoga high school teacher, Kurt Borchardt, to begin Artisanal’s decade-long journey. Originally well known nationally for having created Warheads Extreme Sour candy ales and seltzers plus nifty Belgian-styled ales, the dynamic duo crave experimentation.
Burgers, pizza and salads were available on my April 2026 trip (alongside local wines, spirits and cocktails).
Easygoing golden bohemian pilsner, Hip Czech, sprayed Saaz-hopped herbal lemon zest upon popcorn-buttered cracked barley and bread crusted biscuity oats.
Another simple pleasure, casual dry-hopped Italian-styled pilsner, Intermezzo, matched raw-grained barnyard oats to floor-malted grains as its spritzy lemon pep gained minor floral herbage.
Perfectly centrist dry light lager, Artisanalager, let lemony orange fizz tickle pasty pale malts and mild hop astringency. Dryer variant, Artisanalager with Lime, was a limey offshoot for Mexican beer lovers.
Award-winning golden tripel, Trappist At The Track, utilized house Belgian yeast to guide its banana bubblegum sugaring, candied pineapple sway, light rum spicing, white-peppered coriander whim and slight butterscotch saucing over cereal grained pilsner malts.
St. Patrick’s Day ’26 Irish Red Ale, Rattlin’ Bog, snuck dewy peat into red and orange fruit spicing over tobacco-roasted amber grain toasting.
Flagship New England IPA, Saratoga Squeeze, sprayed lemon zest onto orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and peachy pineapple-guava-tangerine tanginess, leaving light pine hop resin upon contractive spicy pale malt sweetness.
Sharp West Coast IPA, Derailleur, spread floral-perfumed pine lacquer across lemony grapefruit bittering and sweet orange peel tanginess in an Amarillo-Cascade-Simcoe-hopped setting contrasted by less assertive caramel malting.
As for the dark ales, English-styled brown ale, BB Brown, plied light roast coffee and sweet chocolate to toasted rye graining while scattering Macadamia, almond and butternut snips across the dry mocha plain.
Milk-sugared coffee set up smooth oatmeal stout, Total Darkness, placing cocoa powdered tartness alongside oats-charred molasses sap.
Fudgy chocolate and Madagascar vanilla saturated the caramel coffee creaming of lactic milk stout, Multiple Infinities Vanilla Mocha, a decadent cacao-nibbed cold brew coffee alternative with espresso-laced cola nuttiness and black cherry tartness.
The soft-toned nitroMultiple Infinites version brought dewy earthen weediness to dark chocolate and medium roast coffee conflux, upping the dark-roast hop char.
As for the rich Irish Cream extract variant of Multiple Infinities, its cocoa nibs, vanilla and coffee adjuncts promoted milk chocolatey sweetness, picking up fudged Brownie and Neapolitan cookie illusions over oats-flaked mocha malting.
Taking over Albany Pump Station’s historic red brick warehouse brew space, South Glen Falls’ COMMON ROOTS BREWING COMPANY expanded to its second location 50 miles South in New York’s capital.
My wife and I enjoyed Cheese and Charcuterie board while downing six snazzy suds and snagging some slammin’ stouts for the road.
A lovely fruited opener, sweetly tart blonde ale, Berry Bunch, let pureed raspberry and strawberry and slight blueberry-boysenberry whims soak into the white wheat bottom.
Sessionable IPA, Shreddie, steeped pine resin into floral-daubed clementine, tangerine and tangelo fruiting as well as tangy pineapple-passionfruit-papaya tropicalia above sugary pale malts.
Lemony grapefruit sugaring and ‘red candied’ tartness paraded thru Psychedelic Sky, a moderate-bodied New England IPA with delicate oated wheat backdrop.
‘Mild sour’ variant, Tasteful Deception: Pineapple Mango, combined salted mango tang with brisk pineapple tartness given spritzy lemon liming.
Cold-brewed coffee sanctified luscious stout, Latte Cup, leaving creamy vanilla latte, cappuccino and mochaccino serenity on its dark chocolatey espresso base.
Richly fudged lactic campfire treat, S’mores Snowy Night, a decadent pastry stout variant, brought chewy marshmallow fluff to honeyed Graham Cracker, creme brulee, vanilla mocha cake and dark chocolate sumptuousness.
Residing at an old Victorian manor in the Lake George hamlet of Bolton Landing, family-owned BOLTON LANDING BREWING COMPANY came to fruition in 2017. Diligently operated by Brendan Murnane, the casually cozy cafe-styled pub (with Brit tavern-like low ceiling) features a snug right side wood bar with eight draught handles, small den with wood-metal chaired tables and diminutive open kitchen area while a snazzy picnic-tabled front porch overlooks beautiful Lake George.
Creating impressive home recipes (and temporarily brewing offsite before renovations begin), Murnane has crafted 40-plus one-offs and recurring beers at his seven-barrel system in nearly ten years. Expect that number to rise when the windowed rear brew section gets updated and redesigned.
The fine pub fare includes smashburgers, cheese pies, chili dogs, wings and pretzels. Guest taps from nearby Frog Alley, Paradox, Common Roots and Ommegang were available alongside two superb Bolton originals while my wife and I enjoyed hummus during my noon time excursion late March 2026.
Frothily creamed New England IPA, Tight Squeeze, took lemony orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple, mango and tangerine tanginess plus mildly resinous wood tones to the pasty oated wheat base – casually colliding bitter West Coast-styled citric pining with limey East Coast-styled green grape, gooseberry and guava tartness in a Citra-Moteuka-Sauvin hop blend.
Meanwhile, richly robust Imperial Stout, Urban Lumberjack, utilized local maple syrup and roasted coffee to sidle its Tahitian vanilla bean ‘heft,’ draping bittersweet dark chocolate all over the hop-charred vanilla, molasses and coffee-laden finish (and picking up tertiary creme brulee, hazelnut java, mocha truffle, glazed pecan, candied toffee and sticky anise illusions).
At the Town And Country Shopping Center in Claymont (just outside Wilmington), APOTHECARY BREWING COMPANY took over Hangman Brewery’s former space October 2025. Long time homebrewers John Ponte and Andy Poole craft well rounded fare for the community-focused pub that hosts local talent at its small stage and features an art gallery.
In a mustard yellow side shop, the rustic white-walled, cement-floored, brown aluminum-ceilinged mill opens up to a bark-laden bar with three draught boards (offering 20-plus taps). There are several chaired tables and TV’s at all sides.
During a bustling chili cookoff on a Sunday in February ’26, my wife and I stand at the bar and try four fine draughts amongst the standing room only crowd. We missed out on caramelized Greazed Scotsman Scottish Ale, juicy-fruited In Between Haze IPA, citric Philadelphia Pike Pale Ale and Arch-Bier Amber Ale. Ciders and meads were also available.
Crisply clean pale-cleared flagship, Claymont Cream Ale, placed corn-sugared sweet beading across grassy hop astringency and herbal whims.
Soft-toned, flattish Cupid’s Arrow Blonde Alestayed mild as tart passionfruit and hibiscus adjuncts picked up floral-daubed kuzu lemon, mandarin orange and tangerine snips.
On the dark side were two robustly full bodied enchanters.
Dry medium-roast coffee nuttiness consumed The Queen Is Dead English Porter, leaving dark chocolate bittering on its wood-burnt hop char.
On the sweet side, Stone School Stout, an Apothecary staple, combined caramelized nuttiness with roasted chocolate, creamy vanilla and milk-sugared coffee tones.
On a rustic farm inside an old wooden-floored barnhouse, Berlin’s unapologetically rural SINEPUXENT BREWING COMPANY came to life in 2020. A certified Maryland farmhouse brewery one mile southwest of Burley Oak Brewing, Sinepuxent’s expansive agrarian territory includes picnic-tabled side deck, planted fruits, hop vines and goats plus a glimmering side-walled blue tile mosaic.
The smallish cabinesque interior features a bark-fronted wood top bar with a few four-seaters and wood-tabled aluminum chairs. Endless beer stickers line the walls and olden wood beams. A centralized refrigerator contains beers-to-go while flatbread pizzas and snacks prove pub-worthy.
Head brewer Matt Kansak joined me and the wife buried eight dandy suds on a windy Thursday afternoon, February ’26.
Placing dark-spiced lemony grapefruit tanginess across musky grain-husked rye breading, Rye-PA Pale Ale picked up a mild herbal nip at the citric-laced finish.
Lightly sea-salted oyster shells gave Werster Erster Saison its buttery umami frontage before strawberry rhubarb tartness, Chardonnay buttering, banana bubblegum and sweet orange peel gathered at its dry peppery barnyard base.
Abbey-styled Belgian Dubbel retained caramelized dry rum spicing as subtle pear, banana and vanilla illusions slowly emerged.
Candied strawberry powdering sweetened almond and coconut toasted macaron knockoff, Strawberry Macaron with Almond IPA, a berry-fortified IPA offshoot with stylish piney grapefruit bittering and orange peel zesting merely backdrop.
Wintry cinnamon-toasted nutmeg, allspice and clove saddled Disgourd Pumpkin Ale, tucking bourbon vanilla inside its pumpkin-spiced finish.
Disguising its pumpkin pie spicing with Buffalo Trace bourbon, Barrel-Aged Disgourd Pumpkin Ale sunk earthen gourd into mild orange oiling and oaken vanilla at the dewy peated whiskey base.
English-styled Pony Kick Porter let roasted Costa Rican and Peruvian coffee sway dark chocolate, espresso, vanilla, coconut and coffee cake subsidies.
Brown chocolate-spiced bourbon molasses saturated exquisite Barleywine, leaving butternut, chestnut and almond flirtations on its sweet mocha-induced spirits.
At a renovated freight train station and feed store in a historic Delmarva downtown, BERLIN BEER COMPANY opened September ’24 (one mile down the road from Burley Brewing). A homebrewer since 2013, owner Adam Davis mans the windowed brew tanks at this rustic aluminum Industrial shed.
There’s a hanging silo and green Berlin Beer Company sign welcoming patrons to the daintily warm and elegant hearth-walled pub. Inside, olden wood beams, original wood floors, Edison-lighted chandelier, barn doors and the oak top bar get displayed below the slanted ceiling. Four-seat tables surrounded the U-shaped bar (with central tap station and a few TV’s). A 50-seat dining room, patioed biergarden and wood porch add further seating.
“Elevated street food” got served alongside five well rounded home brews on my late February ’26 venture.
Spritzy lemon fizz tickled the nose for herbal Saphir-hopped light lager, Lawn Chair, a crisply sessionable pilsner-malted opener.
Flagship New England IPA, Green Suede Shoes, let salty lemony grapefruit and lightly embittered orange rind reach mild oats base in brisk Citra-Mosaic double dry-hopped setting.
A stronger 9.4% ABV NEIPA, Berlin Fog, caressed lemony grapefruit, pineapple and orange rind bittering with pungent pine bluster over creamy vanilla-sugared oated wheat base, gaining fruited vodka, dry rum and candied peach whims.
Brown-sugared peach puree anchored cinnamon-sweetened fruited sour, Ad Libs Peach Cobbler Cinnamon Toast, leaving Fruity Pebbles, limey pina colada and zesty marinade illusions on the tartly tangy peach frontage.
On the dark side, syrupy black chocolate and dark coffee resin swiped nut-charred Forgotten Porter, picking up thin pudding skin crusting.
Originally operating inside Hooper’s Crab House, FIN CITY BREWING COMPANY moved within walking distance to West Ocean Beach’s Westside Square Plaza, May 2024. Crafting a decent variety of mostly straightforward small-batch fare, the small taproom celebrates Ocean City’s fishing heritage while faring well as a local sportsbar.
A blue-tiled oak top bar (with ten stools and twelve draughts) captures the eye with its simple elegance. Small wood tables, cornered TV’s, exposed pipes and aluminum-ceilinged hanging lights furnish the barroom. A rear nano setup contains the liquid suds. I grabbed a pint o’ pilsner and a mug of stout on my three-day Ocean City venture.
I took home several Fin City canned brews (reviewed in Beer Index) before heading out at nightfall on a Friday in late February ’26.
Honeyed cereal grain sweetness welcomed delicate German pilsner, Pure Lure, letting sugar cookie and lemon cookie confections receive lightly spiced hop pep in dry corny rice setting.
Semi-rich dessert stout, German Chocolate Cake, placed confectionery coconut-pecan frosting inside brown-sugared dark chocolate fudging, picking up black cherry nuances.
