Category Archives: United States Brewpubs
CULT CLASSIC BREWERY & TAPROOM

WARBLER BREWERY
CAVE BREWING COMPANY
MC CALL COLLECTIVE BREWING COMPANY
SEVEN SIRENS BREWING COMPANY

BRU DADDY’S BREWING CO.
TWO TON BREWING

KENILWORTH, NEW JERSEY
Occupying an unfinished white brick-walled warehouse in the Central Jersey Borough of Kenilworth, TWO TON BREWING originally came aboard as gypsy brewers in 2014 (utilizing Climax and High Point), opening its current taproom facility during 2018.
Two Ton's raw one-room space features a 12-plus draught board at the bark-sided mahogany serving station, a few wood tables, several silver brew tanks, an overhead back door (leading to the makeshift beer garden) and exposed ceiling ducts.
Owned and operated by brothers Matt and Jim and their Cubs-rooting father, Mario "Doc" Barbiere, Two Ton's family trio crafts enjoyable one-offs and some recurring brews, leaning heavily on crisply clean IPA's.
At the patio-furnished beer garden, I quaffed all available tapped fare, picking up a bottle of the fabulous lactic-aided Field Artillery Russian Imperial Stout (reviewed separately in the Beer Index) during Sunday afternoon pre-Halloween '20.
Nifty autumnal seasonals included dewy cereal grain-spiced Octbroberfest, a sedately appealing marzen with maple oats sweetness contrasting its leafy hop herbage. Also, dry Booing Pumpkin gathered gourdy ginger-spiced pleasantries, meshing mild brown-sugared nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice seasoning with sweet potato, acorn squash and buttercup pumpkin illusions.
Elegantly smooth Wrought Gold Blond utilized fruity English ale yeast to secure its polite lemony blood orange tartness and dry hop spicing above sweet doughy pilsner malts.
Liberated Lispering Gardens Saison spread floral cologne-perfumed bruised lemon tartness across pine-lacquered lavender oiling atop earthen barnyard leathering.
Soft-tongued Citra/Loral-hopped Robot Insurance New England IPA retained a juicily dry tropical fruiting above delicate crystal malts, mildly astringent grassy hop herbage, mikld pine tones and wafting floral nuances, bursting forth with tangy lemon-peeled grapefruit, navel orange, pineapple, mango, honeydew, peach and tangerine regalia.
Zestfully sharp Diamond Star Halo NEIPA let lemony grapefruit and orange rind bittering deepen its dry frontage, picking up peachy tangerine illusions above its pale malt spicing.
Another New England-styled IPA, The Fiffer, allowed limey coconut-milked grapefruit and orange rind bittering to accrue pine lacquered juniper musk.
Rummy coconut toasting sweetened confectionary nitro smoothie, Identity Crisis Coconut Brown Ale, a delicious dessert treat.
Creamily rich Extra Special Chocolate Vanilla Stout crammed Madagascar vanilla bean sugaring into Dutch cocoa splendor, bulking up its dry dark chocolate rummage with cedar-burnt cumin spicing and cayenne peppered coconut snips in fine dessert fashion.
Ancient Blues music was playing on the loud speakers when my wife and I revisited Two Ton, February '21 to try a few more worthy suds.
Maize-dried herbal perfumed hops and mild lemon spicing dotted mild grain-husked muskiness for Crispy Boi, a moderate German-styled pale lager.
Salty dog knockoff, Cap'n Vic's Salty Dog Gose, possessed crisply clean limey sea salting and lemon-twisted vodka briskness.
Buttery jasmine rice adjunct and tamped down hop restraint mellowed out juicy-fruited Super Saiyan Wild Rice IPA, as grapefruit-peeled mandarin orange and tangerine zesting enjoined candied pineapple tartness.
Lupulin-powdered herbal citrus zesting fronted NEIPA, Brothers From Another Mother, bringing bright grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering to grassy hop astringency.
Rounded amber-cleared Imperial IPA, Hammer & Ale, combined orange vodka punch with candied Gummy Bear tartness and rummy molasses sweetness above pastry-like malt sugaring.
Creamy caramelized wheat malting fortified Laird's Wee Heavy, a heavenly Scottish ale with spiced toffee, roasted tobacco, dewy peat moss and almondine wine serenity.
ELICIT BREWING COMPANY
LABYRINTH BREWING COMPANY

BROKEN SYMMETRY GASTRO BREWERY

BETHEL, CONNECTICUT
Inside a maroon cabin (with forest green base) that served as a former Bethel train depot, BROKEN SYMMETRY GASTRO BREWERY started slingin' suds March 2018. Specializing in varied one-off brews and delectable San Diego-styled Mexican food, Broken Symmetry sports fourteen tap handles and a mezzanine level kitchen.
Its cozily clustered interior features a stainless-steel slate-topped bar, two community tables, side-walled dining spots and rear five-barrel brewing system. Clear individually designed Edison lights hang from the rustic vaulted wood beam ceiling. A right side patio and railroad seating area fill out the pub space.
My wife and I grab four home brews plus tasty burritos, tacos and nachos during our mid-September '20 perusal. And I got a few growlers to go (also reviewed below).
Fair light-bodied opener, Aztec Sky Pale Lager, permits mildly lingered wet-grained musk and dry maize astringency to puncture its cloy pale malting.
Heavy herbal influence beckons for muskily spelt-grained aluminum yellowed light body, Wheat Ale with Spelt Malt, masking sour lemon licks.
Mild pineapple tartness greeted lemony orange zest for Solar Sail New England Pale Ale, a mildly lactic tropical fruited tonic.
Waxy yogurt-soured pineapple, gooseberry and guava tartness grazed vanilla-creamed crystal malting for Nimbus NEIPA, a dry-bodied hazily golden Imperial with juicily citric hop bluster and dank pine resin.
Bright IPA-like yellow grapefruit zesting and grassy-hopped juniper bittering embellished saison-related spiced orange sweetness, herbal farmhouse acridity and herbal sage licks for Farmhouse Style Double India Pale Ale, a sharp stylistic combo worth exploring.
Zestful Belgian-styled golden strong ale, Attraction Tripel, retained lemon meringue, peach melba, Bananas Foster and spiced orange serenity over salty herbal-peppered pilsner malting.
Rich Square Of Ten Quad let rum raisin and fig sweetness seep into maple-molasses-sapped chocolate malts, leaving subtle cardamom, cola, chestnut and Scotch licks in the recess.