Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

YOUNG LION BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for young lion brewing

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Inside a sterling white-columned tan brick building across the street from Canandaigua Lake, YOUNG LION BREWING COMPANY opened its doors, June ’17. Its multi-faceted mod Industrial rooms include a pristine windowed 16-seat pub room (with white oak block-bottomed tan slate-topped bar, 14 tap handles and blackboard draught list), a casual left side lounge and an expansive second floor lake view event space (housing a separate Edison lit, formica-topped, 10-seat bar plus a four-couch lounge area and large TV). There’s also an outdoor side deck with an old wood floor and plastic seating.

During a two-hour venture, November ’23, I hung out with associate brewer, John O’Flaherty, a former homebrewer, whose cream ale is one of his favorite recipes used as the base for variants such as an upcoming Christmastime elixir, Egg Nog Cream Ale.

Stylishly robust Czech Pilsner retained a pungent straw grained musk, oats-dried barnyard acridity and herbal tinge to contrast its honeyed cereal graining.

Crisply clean easygoer, Mexican Lager, let lightly floral-spiced fungi musk infiltrate its caramel-toasted Vienna malting – leaving wispy caraway, rye and pumpernickel snips.

Another crispy straw-cleared moderation, Hey Ey Ey Ey Helles, let mild lemon tartness spunk musky barnyard acridity, corn-oiled astringency and cracked barley roast as well as dark floral and light herbal snips.

Leafy hop astringency and hickory-smoked molasses saddled Vienna-malted Oktoberfest, relegating its caramelized chocolate whim.

Like a lighter tasting IPA, Hill Of Fame Pale Ale stayed briskly citrus spiced as light pine sap grazed honey-sweetened pineapple, grapefruit, orange and tangerine tanginess.

Straightforwardly dry and clean West Coast-like IPA merged juicy navel orange, sunshiny yellow grapefruit, zesty lemon, salty pineapple and tangy tangerine in a lightly creamed setting, picking up grassy pine resin.

Orange-spiced grapefruit sugaring reaches cannabis-oiled hop resin as tannic grape must, mild honeydew-cantaloupe sweetness and botanical melon snips file in for Double IPA, a white bread-backed moderation.

Mildly spiced yellow grapefruit and navel orange peel entry and salted gooseberry-guava tartness pickup grassy pine-oiled white peppering for Harvest The Haze, a prim oated wheat creamed NEIPA.

Persistent Concord grape tartness and underlying green-red-yellow grape medley gain oaken cherry dalliance, lemon peel pucker and floral blood orange liming for Fall Into Grapeness Fruited Sour, leaving passive rosé wining, delicate champagne sparkle and l’il lemon icing.

Lightly tarred black malts got slightly whiskey bent for Black Lager, picking up subtle oaken burgundy-bourbon dryness in a distinctly offbeat stylistic twist.

Richly robust Barrel-Aged Hazelnut Coffee Stout plied dry bourbon vanilla tannins to hazelnut coffee tones and sweet peanut-buttered chocolate benevolence, leaving mild red grape, cinnamon bark and burgundy remnants.

PEACEMAKER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Photos of Peacemaker Brewing Company | Untappd

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

On a downtown Canandaigua side street formerly occupied by Twisted Rail Brewing, PEACEMAKER BREWING COMPANY is situated in a red wood barn house. Open for biz in November 2016, the small three-barrel pub crafts standardly stylized suds with an eye towards balance and quality.

A friendly neighborhood shanty crudely designed, Peacemaker’s windowed and rear brew tanks sidle the diminutive barroom. A ten-stooled hardwood-edged bar with bark bottom (and caged Edison lights) serves rangy liquid fare and a small back kitchen offers pizza, hummus and pretzels. There are four community tables across from the bar. A red-benched side area provides further seating.

My wife and I gathered mid-afternoon on a Friday in November ’23 to try all available elixirs.

Dry grassy-hopped astringency grazed corn-flaked pilsner malts for Captain Suburbia, a politely honey-dipped cream ale.

Dainty yellow fruit spicing secured light-bodied Fonder & Blonder as pallid orange-tangerine lollipop tartness wisped into earthen mineral grained pilsner malting.

Tangy ‘n tart peach sweetness absorbed Peachmaker Smash, a light fruited pale ale with slight lemon twist and herbal candied soothe above white wheat placidity.

Peachy grapefruit and pineapple tanginess embraced Flowerin, a hazy American IPA with ancillary floral-daubed hop pining skirting salty guava-mango tropicalia.

Dry yellow grapefruit and candied orange blew past the mild pine tones and grassy hop stead of Bottom Of The Bay, an easygoing New England IPA.

Bustling magenta-hued, pinkish-headed Persephone Blueberry Raspberry Vanilla, a slightly lactic fruited sour, let skulking vanilla creaming sweeten its tart blueberry pucker, salted raspberry tannins and gunky orange concentrate as well as tertiary purple grape must, pink champagne sparkle and blush rosé wining.

Cocktail-inspired yellow aluminum cleared fruited sour, Persephone Pina Colada, stayed a tad thin as lemony pineapple tanginess and toasted coconut sweetness could’ve used frothier vanilla creaming.

Maple pecan glazed the cocoa-dried walnut and hazelnut surge of Buffalo! Brown Ale, picking up relegated dried fruiting.

Candied yam glazed the brown-sugared nutmeg spicing of Shadyside, a nifty sweet potato porter with anise-daubed black chocolate malting.

Dark chocolate syrup draped the milk-sugared hazelnut coffee tones and black grape musk of Black Soul Of Mine, a cocoa nib-roasted Imperial Stout (with disguised 12% ABV).

FREQUENTEM BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Frequentem Brewing Co. | Canandaigua, NY

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Defined as a ‘social space to gather,’ FREQUENTEM BREWING CO. began operations at an old Main Street dairy in Canandaigua during 2020. Garage-bound small batch homebrewers David and Meagan D’Allesandro enjoy crafting ‘modern and traditional beer styles’ at their spacious downtown lair, leaning towards India Pale Ales and fruited sours.

Residing at a brown-bricked station, Frequentem’s windowed brew tanks service the 20-seat lacquered oak bar where the white tiled backsplash draught board offers a dozen-plus choice suds. Two TV’s entertain the six-seat tables fronting the bar. A plastic-furnished cement floored palate-enclosed deck with a few firepits offers further seating.

My wife and I got some pizza and popcorn to go with the ten available brews onsite during our Friday afternoon, November ’23, Finger Lakes exploration.

Anchor Steam-styled California Common, Cali Lager, placated its toasted grain crisping and dank hop musk with subtle caramel spicing that turns cardboardy.

Utilizing a corny Czech pilsner base, Cream Ale tempered its musky grains and grassy hops with orange-dried herbage.

Spritzy fruit-candied Fresh Squeeze (Strawberry, Lemon), a kettle soured pale ale, exuded tart lemonade and salted strawberry cadences as well as watermelon Jolly Rancher souring and raspy raspberry ripples.

Dry-hopped with zestful Idaho 7, citric Mandarina Bavaria and cannabis-oiled Strata, #39 NEIPA let seltzer-fizzed mandarin orange, clementine and tangerine briskness plus salty grapefruit bittering pickup subtle herbal spicing and dank pine resin.

Yellow grapefruit-forward #24 NEIPA, dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Rakau, allowed ancillary orange-peeled pineapple sweetness to contrast salted guava-gooseberry souring and piquant lemon meringue tartness in a mild oated wheat setting.

Kettle-soured IPA, Natural Flavors (Concord Grape), retained lightly vinous red wining to contrast its muskily sweet Concord-Muscat grape conflux above creamy marshmallow fluff.

Similarly kettle-soured Natural Flavors (Cara Cara Orange) rampaged salted navel orange concentrate and mandarin orange tartness thru slight vanilla creaming.

Smoothie-creamed fruited sour, Just Fruit (Cranberry, Peach, Strawberry), combined sharp cranberry souring with sweet peach tanginess and strawberry rhubarb tartness, bringing mildly acidic orange concentrate to the surface alongside latent mango salting and banana pureeing.

Another vanilla-creamed fruited sour Smoothie, Just Fruit (Pineapple, Orange, Mango), daubed bittersweet orange juicing with tart pineapple and sweet mango, staying mildly acidic.

An experimental red-hued tequila barreled sour IPA, Cincoro Anejo Tequila-aged Not From Concentrate (Blackberry, Tangerine) maintained burgundy-dried red grape tartness and tangy pineapple juicing for its relegated blackberry and tangerine adjuncts.

BLUESTONE BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

BLUESTONE BREWING

SAYRE, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside a 3,200 square foot aluminum-sided gray barn house, BLUESTONE BREWING CO. opened November 2015 in the Northen Pennsylvania micropolitan borough of Sayre. Just off two local highways, Bluestone is situated near Chemung River and its silver grain silo stands across from the right side porch.

A wood lacquered L-shaped bar with colorful blackboard beer list, stocked refrigerator and TV, Bluestone’s eight formica top tables center the blue-walled, arched wood-ceilinged pub. There are front windowed and backroom brewtanks plus extra space to build upon.

Brewmaster Brian Austin leads the way for homebrewing CEO founder, Brady Liechty, crafting a wide range of smashing suds. Wine, spirits and ciders fill out the liquid menu while burgers, sandwiches, tacos and spinach artichoke make up the light pub fare.

My wife and I sampled all twleve draughts available on a Thursday night in November ’23.

Dry pilsner-malted ricing and toasted cereal flaking picked up musky salted graining and slight cinnamon spicing for Underdog Light Lager, leaving mild hop astringency on its moderate-bodied finish.

Subdued blackberry tartness got washed-out for Trail Juice Blackberry Blonde Ale, picking up timid brambleberry, lingenberry and blueberry snips against lightly pungent earthen hops.

Lemon-spiced blueberry tanginess carried Blue & White Blonde Ale, gaining hard candied tartness and biting juniper-licked bittering over sugared oats.

Soft-tongued medium body, 1537 Imperial Blonde Ale, let lightly spiced pear, red plum, cherry and bruised orange illusions reach its delicate caramel base.

Zestful lemon peel briskness picked up dry lemongrass herbage to contrast subtle coriander-spiced banana sweetness for Ursa White Wheat Ale, a lightly wheat floured moderation.

Pumpkin-roasted gourd earthiness contrasted brown-sugared cinnamon spicing and oncoming sharp orange peel zesting for Howlin’ Pumpkin, going light on the autumnal spicing.

Perfume-cologned lemon zest guided Golden Bear Saison, bringing slight candi-sugared spicing to mild juniper bittering, dry rum wisps and casual herbal respite.

Candi-sugared fruiting contrasted dry dextrin starching for Common Wort Project Belgian Strong Golden Ale, relegating its sweet banana pureeing, piquant lemon meringue tartness, tangy tangerine flirt and Bartless pear nip as well as white peppered herbage.

Semi-sharp West Coast IPA-Styled Penna Pale Ale, brought sunny Mosaic-hopped yellow grapefruit, orange peel, pineapple and lemon tanginess to dry hop pining and caramelized pale malts.

Amiably low key Celestial Lotus New England IPA rushed tangy grapefruit, pineapple, peach and orange spicing and mild hop pining to sugary oated wheat.

On the dark side, nitrogenated Pumpkin Latte Stout escorted coffee-roasted dark chocolate bittering into autumnal cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg and allspice seasoning.

Creamy dark chocolate met nut-charred flaked oats for Mythical Beast Oatmeal Stout.    

 

DIVERSION BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for diversion brewery MONTOUR FALLS

MONTOUR FALLS, NEW YORK

Slingin’ soft toned suds in the village of Montour Falls since July ’22, DIVERSION BREWING CO. expanded to this countrified midtown after opening its first location at a Chemung barnhouse 30 miles south in July ’16. Run by local prize-winning homebrewers Dutch Blokzyl and Dan Bennett, Diversion’s easygoing fare suits both delicate palates and blue collar denizens.

There are twelve taps adorning the mounted industrial pipeline at the small back bar. Six window fronted beer barreled tables with metal chairs crowd the narrow, plank wood-floored, red brick-walled interior.

My wife and I pull up to the slate-topped bar to get all eight proprietary suds available on a chilly November ’23 Sunday at noon.

Mild yellow-cleared pilsner, DB Lite, let dry champagned citrus spicing grace lightly barley roasted cracked corn rusticity.

Tart raspberry pureed pale ale, Pilsberry, stayed thin as wispy blueberry and strawberry fruiting faded over its white wheat bed.

Mild spiced apple sweetness melted away for Appley Married, a fruited pale ale with oaken cherry and tart apricot pectins.   

Sweet potato-infused pumpkin ale, Gourd Jam-It, retained a dry squash vegetalia that receded its spiced pumpkin pie sweetness.

Spritzy clear-yellowed wheat ale, Witty Remark, engaged its orange-peeled coriander spicing with cidery lemon souring and mild green grape vinegaring.

Dryly soft-tongued Imperial IPA, Empires Key, placed lemon-licked pining and musty floral daubs inside lightly embittered hop resin.

Stark black IPA, Nightfall, ignored its stylish Cascadian dark ale black malt roasting for understated orange-apple spicing, missing the mark.

Dark-roast dried coffee saturated East Coast Roast, a mellow coffee stout with rich dark chocolate creaming, musty earthen soiling and dried fruited wisps given a lemon rind twist.

BEEROCRACY @ SENECA LAKE BREWING

United States Brewpubs, ,

THE BEEROCRACY | Seneca Lake BrewingBeerocracy (@Beerocracycorp) / X

ROCK STREAM, NEW YORK

Born in England, brewmeister Bradley Gillette formed SENECA LAKE BREWING COMPANY in 2014, utilizing an 8 barrel system from the British town of Lancashire to create soft-toned cask conditioned ales. Undergoing a secondary fermentation when hand-pump dispensed, these ‘real ales’ forgo extraneous gassing for natural carbonation, retaining a delicate mouthfeel served at room temperature.

Located at the main Seneca Lake brewery in the tiny waterfront hamlet of Rock Stream, BEEROCRACY re-creates a tradition low-ceilinged Brit pub. Its diminutive 12-seat L-shaped bar serves liquor, wine and snacks alongside wood-handled draught beers. There are eight rounded three-seat tables fronting the bar. Behind the streetside main bar house is The Snug, a light brown lakefront barnhouse perfect for live events and parties.

Sitting at the bar on a cold Friday eve early November ’23, my wife and I tried all six subtly designed suds (surprisingly two Americanized IPA’s but not an English version). Though specializing in daintily-hopped English cask ales, Beerocracy’s website listed a few Specialty Ales available occasionally, including a Belgian-styled dubbel and saison plus German hefeweizen.

Sessionable straw-cleared Golden Ale tied mellow yellow fruiting to mild herbal spicing and cereal grained pilsner malts, leaving distant mustard seed, dill and onion snips.

Mossy truffle earthiness, light brown tea musk, nutty fungi and dried florality draped The Dunmore ESB, picking up mild toffee sweetness.

A delicate Irish red ale, Kill Kenny With Kindness retained dewy peat sweetness and wispy hop herbage.

Dewy soft-toned Bertie’s English Brown Ale plied chestnut, walnut and hazelnut subtleties to its caramelized biscuit base.

As for the India Pale Ales, muted perfumed citrus spicing softly embellished American IPA as lightly embittered yellow grapefruit, tart mandarin orange and tangy white peach gathered above dry pale malts.

Meanwhile, easygoing casked New England IPA, The Colonial, brought dewy fungi musk and sweet tea wisps to musty citrus oiling.

 

ICARUS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Tour + Taplist - Icarus Brewing

LAKEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

Inside a grey warehouse just past Lakewood’s Post Office, ICARUS BREWING came to fruition November 2015. Head brewer Jason Goldstein, an Ohio State University food science major, trained under the staffs of stalwart breweries Heineken and Newcastle, setting up Rinn Duin (now Toms River Brewing) thereafter.

Icarus has crafted a myriad of wide-ranging one-off elixirs and a few recurring offerings since its inception, taking great care in providing interesting flavor profiles for a legion of fans crowding this venue as soon as it opened on my premier visit on a sunny Thursday afternoon in August ’19.

At the lacquered wood serving station are 24 tap handles, a red and black beer list and small refrigerator with to-go brews. Five barreled tables with block seats fill out the epoxy-floored interior and a Led Zeppelin poster across an Icarus insignia.

The bartender plays vinyl records as I devour ten samplers of superfine Jersey suds. For more info, check Beer Index for 30-plus more Icarus reviews.Image result for icarus brewing

Reliable flagship pale ale, Go Flight, expedited juicy lupulin-powdered grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess plus limey gooseberry tartness for ‘heavily wheated’ dry malting.

Aussie summertime hoppy pilsner, Extinguish, brought lightly soured apple, pear and grape tannins as well as sweet cantaloupe and honeydew illusions to lightly pungent grain musk.

Oak-barreled Belgian farmhouse yeast left tart pineapple salting, mellow grapefruit tanginess and dry barnyard funk on dry saison, Wax Wings.

Conditioning Icarus’ Yacht Juice base on lime, toasted coconut and habanero peppering, dry North East IPA, It’s Getting Yacht In Here, left a bit of peppery heat upon its lightly vanilla creamed tropical fruit spicing.

Waxy lupulin-powdered Mosaic hop fruiting and heavily wheated oats consumed New England Imperial IPA, Drinking Crayons, leaving lemony tangerine, mango and apricot illusions in its wake.

Lactic triple IPA, Touching The Sun, combined sweetly sour citrus fruiting with mild oats-flaked wheat malts, spreading orange-juiced pineapple, green grape and gooseberry tartness across its lupulin-powdered surface.

Lovely fruitful dry-hopped Abomination collaboration, The Long Fall, a powdered pastry-like Milkshake Triple IPA, tossed creamy Madagascar vanilla beaning at orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess, sour gooseberry-guava licks and lactic milk-sugared barley flouring.

Perfumed coconut water and mild lime bittering serenaded laidback NEIPA, You Put The Yacht In The Coconut, bringing waxy floral citrus tones to the mix.

Clover-honeyed toasted coconut and macadamia usurped AK47, an easygoing Russian Imperial Stout conditioned on Guatemalan coffee and nearly as great as a nightcap as fabulous dessert stout, Smooshing Sweet Parts.

Brewed with marshmallow, hazelnut and chocolate, Smooshing’s rich sweet-toothed template also included spiced cherry, blackberry and raspberry fruiting to fortify its astounding nutty mocha resilience.

During my midafternoon sojourn, October ’23, enjoyed five more wholly inviting suds (and a boozy seltzer) while punk rockers, The Misfits, played on the stereo and head brewer Dave Menges greeted guests.

Impressive Imperial pilsner, Pound Of Nectaron Feathers, let Huell Melon-hopped guava, passionfruit and pineapple tartness plus peachy orange, grapefruit and tangerine spicing (as well as plummy apricot snips) reach light pilsner malt muskiness while maintaining a mildly creamed vanilla sugaring.

Pungent detergent-like lemon oiling and sour lime juicing diluted the cara cara orange, pineapple and coconut adjuncts underlying Smoothie-like Berliner Weisse, Juice Is Worth The Squeeze: Lemon Meringue Pie, letting its sharp lactic acidity amplify latent white grape vinegaring.

Conditioned on tangerine and Madagascar vanilla beans, Orangina-like soda pop sendup, Power Shaker (Orange Cream Pop) : Oat Fluffed, plied lemony pineapple tanginess to the candied orange sugaring tingling the creamily wheated oats base.

Fudgy milkshake-inspired ‘malted milk’ knockoff, Margaret’s Wings, a barrel-aged Imperial Stout, draped Knob Creek bourbon over bittersweet cocoa nibs.

Meanwhile, Heaven Hill bourbon gave double barrel aged barleywine, Life Unraveled, its Maris Otter-malted caramelized toffee sweetness, drifting into dry rye tones, plummy raisin graze and shaved coconut nips.

Even the gluten-free hard seltzer, Labyrinth Pog & Coconut, retained sustainable depth and rangy flavonoids as limey lemon souring pickled coconut-watered passionfruit, guava and mandarin orange tropicalia.

STONY POINT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Stony Point Brewing Co. - Brewery, Craft Beer

WEST HAVERSTRAW, NEW YORK

Since Memorial Day ’22, STONY POINT BREWING COMPANY at Bricktown Bierhaus has served its thirsty minions well-crafted, highly approachable suds. Inside a red brick right side cornershop in the Hudson River village of West Haverstraw, Stony Point’s brewmeister, Dave Ludwig, a former homebrewer, not only handles the brew tanks, but also mans the short German-inspired pub menu.

A grassy, side-decked, metal-furnished biergarden leads to the side entrance. The faux-wood floored pub features twelve-plus tap handles at the small bar and several small brew tanks in the back sidling the kitchen. There are five tables near the windowed frontage and the black tile ceiling nicely contrasts the white-tiled side walls.

Offering splendid Bavarian-styled food such as bratwurst, knockwurst, frankfurters, potato pancakes, horseradish-cheesed pretzels and Belgian waffles to go alongside Ludwig’s charming liquid fare, this diminutive nanobrewery retains a cozily relaxing neighborhood feel.

During my initial October ’23 visit, I discovered one crisp flagship and five easygoing, recurring beers while chatting with the bustling Ludwig.

Smoothly clean flagship, Tomkins Kolsch, tendered white-breaded lager malting for brisk lemongrass herbage, candied lemondrop tartness, mild green grape esters and salted guava daubs, leaving a fizzy lemon spritz upon the tongue.

Casual traditional marzen, Bricktoberfest, placed brown-leafed herbal hops and mild orange oiling above buttery breaded Vienna/ Munich malting.

Another sessionable moderation, Kanawauke Wheat, let lemony mandarin orange tartness and lightly spiced herbage reach its delicate white wheat base.

A demure collaboration with fellow Rockland County breweries, Gentle Giant and Two Ladders, modest floral-spiced agave herbage, dry lime juicing and raw-honeyed lemon souring gathered for Dos Piedras Gigantes, a slightly eccentric Mexican lager utilizing Modelo yeast and citric-graped Motueka hops.

Pureed apricot picked up lemon-seeded bittering for Beaver Pond Apricot Blonde, a simple grassy-hopped, pale-malted light body.

Dry juniper-perfumed gin spirits soaked the moderate pine-lacquered grapefruit, orange and pineapple bittering of Aye Be You, a boozy West Coast-styled IPA with terse turpentine licks suited for hardcore hop heads.

 

PO’BOY BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Port Jefferson Station's Po'Boy Brewery Wins 3 Best Of LI Awards | Port Jefferson, NY Patch

PORT JEFFERSON, NEW YORK

Founding brewmaster Bob Rodriguez setup shop as PO’BOY BREWERY in Port Jefferson during January 2017. Inside a red brick-fronted 2,200 square-foot Industrial space, its loose New Orleans vibe gets reinforced by all the greenery, gazebos and decorative ephemera complementing the cement-floored nanobrewery. A gorgeous side-walled forest mural adds to the bayou splendor and caged Edison lights hang from the ceiling.

The wooden kiosk-like front bar, recalling a nifty backwoods shack, features a dozen-plus tree-branched tap handles. Silver tanks fill out the backroom brewing section. Most of Po’Boy’s delectable beer fare are one-offs, but a few recurrent brews have scratched the surface of an IPA-heavy lineup.

There were also a host of sour ales from the rear “Experimental Room” I didn’t get to try, including Miss Granny Smith Sour Golden, Sour Mash-Up (a marshmallowed kettle-sour with raspberry, blackberry and blueberry tartness), black tea-based Prickly Pear-Adox Sour Blonde, coconut creamed Coco-Stoutin’ To Impress and cask conditioned Shadow Of A Stout. Hard ciders are also available. A pub menu with pizzas and nachos sufficed.

Sweet millet-grained rice stayed soft for Ricey Business Lager, a pleasant lemon-fizzed light body perfect for casual tastes.

Tropical fruited IPA yeast and delicate hop spicing embraced My Cousin Kelly Blonde Ale, another soft-toned lightweight.

Dewy peat guided the mild raisin-date conflux, sweet autumn spicing and chalky chocolate parch of The Dark Schwartz Rises, a lightly barley-roasted German schwarzbier.

Molasses-draped cinnamon and nutmeg seasoned ‘yammy’ Pumpkin Out, picking up dry gourd earthiness over caramelized crystal malts.

Spiced orange, sweet cider and white peppered herbs nabbed Saison Rollin’ On, leaving a crystalline citric vodka kick.

Dry Irish stout, Shadow Of A Stout, coalesced black chocolate bittering with black licorice sweetness, gaining musty cellar funk along the way.

Easygoing IPA, East Coast State Of Mind, plied sweet navel orange, bitter yellow grapefruit and tangy pineapple to dry pine tones.

Delicate West Coast IPA, Just Peel It, let mildly spiced grapefruit-peeled orange tanginess and wispy pine resin ride atop dry pale malting.

Lightly honey-glazed Let’s IPA And Chill wrangled tangerine tanginess out of the misty tropical fruiting.

Bittersweet orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess allowed mild perfume spicing and dry piney hops to sidle Citrus Squeezebox IPA, another tropical delight.

Crisply clean lager yeast-induced One Hoppy Ending Cold IPA retained lemony grapefruit, orange and peach niceties above sweet white-riced amber graining.

 

UBERGEEK BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Everitt Design - Übergeek

RIVERHEAD, NEW YORK

At North Fork Brewing, entrepreneurial brewmaster Rob Raffa began gypsy brewing after a stint at Patchogue’s Brickhouse Brewery and Riverhead’s now defunct Moustache Brewing. When the latter company stopped operations, local Long Island denizen Raffa decided to take up the space his former employers left behind.

Since January 2020, UBERGEEK BREWING COMPANY proudly boasts using “unconventional ingredients” and the “confluence of art and science” to craft “unique beers for newcomers and eccentric misfits.”

Stylistically on the mark and never as deliberately offbeat as advertised, Raffa’s elixirs certainly suit a range of thirsts.

Inside a 6,000 square-foot tan aluminum warehouse with brown awnings, Ubergeek’s tile floored, plastic-seated tasting room features a beautiful mosaic of modern cubist wall art, pendant-lit ten-seat black wood bar and twenty white-tiled draught handles. There’s even a backroom for special events. Angled crossbars along the high wood beam ceiling offer a resounding prominence.

A few front benches and a white picnic tabled side area add more seating.

My wife and I grabbed a seat at the bar to down a dozen delectable suds during September ’23.

Crisply dry Rockets Don’t Fuel Themselves, a mild clear aluminum yellowed bohemian pilsner, let spritzy lemon zest and sweet floral daubs tickle its light mineral graining.

Rustic amber lager, None Of The Things None Of The Time, combined tangerine spicing, dry barnyard acridity buttery Vienna malting and wispy cologne perfuming.

Light beechwood smoked (?) Mexican lager, And Now For Something Completely Different, grazed floral-spiced lemon spritz against delicate pilsner malting.

Dewy fungi, orange pekoe tea and dried fruit scampered thru Only When We Suffer Can We Be Great, a lightly caramelized marzen.

Herbal pumpkin-spiced autumnal moderation, I Have An Issue With The Force, nearly allowed soapiness to hamper its brown-sugared pumpkin pie seasoning.

Sessionable ‘summer IPA,’ I Thought You Liked A Challenge, placed Nelson Sauvin-hopped guava, gooseberry and white grape souring alongside tart lemondropped green mango salting and slight pine resin.

Tropical East Coast IPA, Space Age Times, Stone Age Minds, let orange-peeled pineapple, mango and tangerine tanginess reach sweet pale malt sugaring.

Another East Coast IPA, A Casualty Of Circumstances, retained mild lemony white grapefruit bittering and salty guava souring above lightly acidulated wheat malts.

Eccentric mahogany-browned ‘dark tart,’ Dealing With Dissonance, spread ginger-candied sweetness inside date-like tamarind tartness, tannic red grape esters and dry lime bittering.

A nifty peach sour collaboration with nearby North Fork Brewery, I Thought You Liked To Get Funky, invited lemon peel bittering, mandarin orange tartness, guava souring, mango salting and white grapefruit zesting to the fruitful tropical party.

Plummy dobbelbock, You Call That A Calculator, picked up date, raisin and plum snips above a peaty tobacco-roasted chocolate-y caramel base.

Richly creamed peanut butter porter, All These Quarters, Still No Dollars, caressed its dry nuttiness with dark chocolate and dark-roast coffee, leaving a vanilla-centered ice cream sandwich finish.

 

NORTH FORK BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

North Fork Brewing Company: Newbie Joins the Riverhead Clan February 17, 2019 | NoFo Wineaux

RIVERHEAD, NEW YORK

Inside a former firehouse two blocks from Riverhead’s Main Street, NORTH FORK BREWING COMPANY opened for business June 2018. Tucked into a tree-lined residential neighborhood, the white overhead-doored red brick station provides a diverse array of brews utilizing different hops and malts for each stylistically ambitious elixir.

Being a proud local farm brewery, North Fork utilizes many local hops (Nugget and Chinook) and grains to formulate their recipes. In five years, they’ve crafted at least fifty different one-off and recurring brews.

A lovely yellow and white bird/ eyed pyramid insignia near several plastic chairs and tables guards the green cement floored interior and a benched porch area outback adds extra seating. The plain white walls contrast well with the black ceiling. The black wood-topped, white-paneled, U-shaped bar with twelve tap handles distributes the nine available beers (including four divergent India Pale Ales) on my pleasant Friday afternoon journey, September ’23.

Brisk German-styled moderation, Hold Me Closer Tiny Lager, brought musky millet-grained pilsner malting to sharply soured lemondrop misting and dark floral nuances.

Smoothly crisp Ancho Chili Pils remitted a mild ancho pepper burn to lemony grain musk.

Lacquered peach sweetness guided honeyed wheat-fortified Lewin Amber Ale, picking up latent apricot, nectarine and pear illusions.

Spritzy spiced squash ale, Butternut The Hutt, allowed hand-roasted butternut squash to influence the mild crystal malt sugared pumpkin pie spicing.

Zesty dry-hopped NEIPA, Run The Juice, let salty yellow grapefruit juicing infiltrate pine needled minting and peppery herbage, gaining light mandarin orange licks.

Conditioned on OG Kush terpines, sticky cannabis-derived Da Can-Abyss NEIPA Version 2 retained a pineapple vodka kick and orange-peeled grapefruit tang to counter its light resinous pine bittering.

Spectral NEIPA, Juicy In The Sky With Paradigm, rushed Pina Colada-like coconut toasting and pineapple zesting thru peachy grapefruit tanginess, white-graped gooseberry souring and perfumed hop musk in a crystalline setting.

Mild lemony orange bittering contrasted peachy pineapple and tangerine tanginess for Shaolin Shadowboxer, an approachable Imperial IPA with humble herbal hops and dry pale malts digging into its tropical fruiting.

Maple syrup-infused Dark Side Of The Maple Porter secured a dry Irish stout template to sidle its molasses-like frontage, leaving dark roast coffee, black chocolate and hop-charred nuttiness in its wake.       

TWIN FORK BEER CO.

United States Brewpubs,

East End Full Show: Wickham's Fruit Farm, Twin Fork Beer Co., The Naked Farm

RIVERHEAD, NEW YORK

Owned by twin brothers, Dan and Pete Chekihian, Riverhead’s TWIN FORK BEER CO. opened October 2020 – six years beyond doing minor contract brewing. Now producing a steady lineup of year-round brews in a spacious gray aluminum facility, the arts-loving duo name each of their consistent beers after music language.

A front-benched glass frontage leads to Twin Fork’s overhead-doored pub area. The sparingly decorated interior includes black and white metal chaired barreled seating, wood tables and community benches – a pristinely embellished warehouse pub further galvanized by its colossal pipe-exposed aluminum ceiling. Stainless steel aluminum tanks tower thru the huge backspace.

Twin Fork’s relaxing outdoor setup includes a well-groomed gravel-stoned deck with Adirondack chairs, wicker furniture and a wooden bench.

The small stooled serving station slung two IPA’s, a pale ale, kolsch, marzen and pils to my wife and I during our sunny Saturday afternoon stopover, September ’23.

Lemony grapefruit zest glanced dry pilsner malting for Prelude, a sessionable pils.

Sharply citrus-spiced pale ale, Chromatic, countered dark-roast hop bittering with crispy amber graining.

Orange-rotted lemon herbage initiated lightly soured kolsch, Sonata, picking up contrastive floral-daubed apple-pear snips desiccated by oats-dried barnyard acridity.

Sessionable Mosaic-hopped IPA, Minuet, allowed tangy orange-peeled grapefruit bittering to contrast reluctant candied peachy mango sweetness over dry pale malts.

Piney citrus sharpness bestowed West Coast-styled IPA, Crescendo, leaving oily pine residue upon orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and reclining peachy pineapple tang.

As for the autumnal seasonal, pumpkin-spiced Harvest Notes let reclining ginger-cinnamon-nutmeg spicing speckle light vanilla creaming.