Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

IRONCLAD BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

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WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

A few blocks from Wilmington’s waterfront lies the Medieval-inspired IRONCLAD BREWERY. Open February ’15 and visited pre-dinner June ’16, Ironclad’s a jumbo-sized public house with a spacious ground level and barn-topped loft area (with elegantly elongated wood-stained L-shaped bars and multiple tap handles).

Preserving the original structure of the brick-walled pub, previously an auto body repair shop, was essential to maintaining its historic integrity.

Upon entering the stone castle-designed edifice (with oversized Chamber-styled wooden front door), customers are welcome to the rustic Old World ambiance of the low-ceilinged, cement-floored, Industrial-styled ground floor. Upstairs, a balcony lounge area with vast seating (sometimes used for banquets and weddings) surround the classic 25-seat bar.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar and get the hummus with crackers (also available were chicken wraps, sandwiches, pretzels and popcorn). New brewer Laren Avery will bring his own recipes to the expansive beer menu that included ten well-rounded house brews and a few excellent local microbrews upon my springtime perusal.

Sweet honeyed Lydia’s Lager brought Helles-like pilsner malting to Noble hop spicing and a snickering lemon lick. Nearly as light-bodied, honey-spiced Old Baldy Golden Ale retained a laid-back lemony orange tang.

Fine English-styled moderation, Fish Tale Pale Ale, coalesced sweet orange peel, dried cherry and caramel apple over light dry hop bittering. Earthen amber grains picked up cherry, fig and apricot tones for Nash’s Irish Red Ale.

Easygoing Cape Fear Defender IPA let lemon-dried grapefruit peel tartness contrast sweet crystal-malted melon and honeydew snips above soft piney hop astringency. Spicier and pinier than the aforementioned Defender, Teddy Hopper Double IPA placed lemony orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering above syrupy peach sweetness and white-sugared barley malts.

Girardelli white chocolate infused White Squall White Chocolate Brown Ale, a sweet, soft-toned, sessionable dessert treat with subtle fig-dried spicing.

Nutty mocha-fronted India Brown Ale contrasted glazed pecan and hazelnut sweetness against seared walnut astringency as mild mocha malting reached the surface and subtle perfumed hops wafted beneath. Cask-conditioned India Brown Ale, regaled with peach, plum and date adjuncts, retained the original version’s perfumed nuttiness and a more definitive fruited flavor profile.

Brewer Avery’s newest elixir, Laren’s Black IPA, lifted dried cocoa, black chocolate and coffee tones above charcoal-hopped black grape and blackberry rasps.      

www.ironcladbrewery.com

FLYTRAP BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

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WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Everyone should have a true blue neighborhood brewery as friendly, convenient and cozy as Wilmington’s inconspicuous FLYTRAP BREWING. About a half-mile up the hill from the waterfront at the Brooklyn Arts District and “specializing in small-batch Belgian and American ales,” Flytrap’s entrepreneurial brewer, Mike Barlas, opened this kind boutique pub in October 2014.

Tucked into a residential community, its white stucco brick exterior and white brick interior provide a clean sheen. The raw space features an aluminum ceiling with heavy metal girds.  The brewtanks behind the centralized 16-seat wooden bar serves eight tables with twelve tapped selections (four home brews were available for my June ’16 late-afternoon sojourn). Eight outside picnic tables provide plenty of room on this clear blue-skied Saturday.

Flytrap’s best selling flagship, an approachable moderation called Rehders Red, brought lightly spiced orange and apple fruiting to caramel-roasted sweetness, providing dry yellow-wooded hop astringency for contrast.

Dry-bodied Saison draped lemon meringue, orange marmalade, white grape esters and sour lemon onto its buttery Chardonnay finish, picking up mild banana daiquiri tones as well.

Atypical Rye Pale Ale weaved dry rye and spiced fig into unexpected pine lacquering and wispy herbal gestures.

Bittersweet dark-fruited mocha malting inundated lightly embittered Stout, a medium-bodied dark ale with blackberry, black cherry and black grape snips as well as dry plank wood reminders.

www.flytrapbrewing.com

PERSIMMONS WATERFRONT RESTAURANT

United States Brewpubs,

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NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA

Along the pristine Neuse River in an exquisite seaside setting at historic Colonial town, New Bern, PERSIMMONS WATERFRONT RESTAURANT offers some of Carolina’s finest draught beer. Its 12-seat central bar services a luxurious indoor dining space, large outdoor deck and upstairs banquet room.

At the tiger wood-topped bar, my wife and I enjoy a few new Carolina brews during our one-hour stopover on the way to Wilmington during June ’16. I’d been dying to try the excellent Foothills Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout for years and finally got the chance on this sunny weekday afternoon. Nearly as worthy was Double Barley Thrilla In Manila Porter (both are reviewed in Beer Index).

Persimmons’ local tapped ales, fine wines, liquors and creatively upscale food will suit seasoned connoisseurs, gastropub enthusiasts, casual seafaring folks and young families alike.

www.persimmonsrestaurant.net

 

ALEMENTARY BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs, ,

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HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY

In a raw tongue-n-grooved warehouse with aluminum fixings just off Route 4 in Hackensack, ALEMENTARY BREWING COMPANY let those cranky conservative Bergen County folks understand what fresh quality ales have to offer the washed and unwashed masses.

Featuring two community tables, ten-seat hardwood bar, side garage doors and windowed stainless steel brew tanks as of May 2016 (expansion is imminent and bottling seems forthcoming), the ‘rustic-chic’ Alementary is owned and operated by former chemical engineer, Blake Crawford, and molecular biologist, Dr. Mike Roosevelt.

On draught today are four crisply clean light-hued ales, three interrelated dark-hued ones and a contrastive Cascadian Dark. Interesting gose-styled initiation, Let’s Begin, brought salty lemon-dropped lime parch to dry ginger tones before warming up and allowing its Graham Cracker sweetness to cut thru the gentle Seltzer fizz and proved to be a nice aperitif.

A sturdy followup, The Kolsch tossed lemon-limed tartness at lemongrass herbage and dried fig-apricot nuances. Easygoing IPA, 1st Session, provided soft-toned piney grapefruit bittering as well as lemon-pitted pineapple and orange tones above moderate hop resin.

Refreshing flagship beer, A-Game, a sharply rounded IPA, retained its piney orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and peach tang atop lightly sprinkled sugar-spiced crystal malts.

On the dark side, Vindication succinctly blended black patent malt bittering with tart yellow grapefruit and black grape tones over dark-roasted ashen hop pungency and charred pine remnants.

Mild Dark English Ale, Mr. Stevens, engaged light-roast coffee nuttiness with wispy black chocolate tones.

Two similarly mocha-forward dark ales, The Porter, and its even smoother nitro version, placed nutty coffee, black chocolate and dried cocoa illusions atop laid-back dark-roasted hops, but the nitro porter never amassed a sinewy maple molasses sweetness.

At Shepherd & Knucklehead – Hoboken, quaffed Alementary 1st Session, a sessionable IPA with zesty grapefruit, orange, lemon and pineapple tang receiving wispy ‘strawberry, mango and melon’ illusions as well as grassy-hopped herbal snips.

My wife and I revisited Alementary on Boxing Day, 2021, sitting at the barreled seat closest to the lacquered wood serving station. Surveying the electronic beer menu, I spotted four more previously untried suds to swallow.

Interesting dry-hopped, Italian-styled, light-bodied pilsner, Rock Opera, imparted a more floral-herbed citric aspect than its Czech-German rivals, bringing adjunctive lemon-limed Bergamot orange tartness to sweet-corned oats base.

Dedicated to pioneering microbrew enthusiast and Cloverleaf founder, George Dorchak, George’s Pre-Prohibition Lager, a rustic straw-yellowed moderation, coalesced maize-flaked barley malt crisping with a wispily orange-rotted dry champagne spritz, peppery herbal snip and leafy hop astringency.

Soft-tongued, smoothly creamed English mild ale, Doris, a cask conditioned ESB, brought subtle musky cellar fungi to earthen truffle, dewy peat and powdered cocoa illusions above bread-crusted barley graining.

A superfine mocha-induced nightcap, Arecibo, a blended Imperial Stout, ‘amplified’ coffee coconut-fused Porterico and milk-sugared Launchpad Oatmeal Stout, allowing caramel latte, cappuccino, espresso, Bakers chocolate and Black Forest cake richness to reach its gingerbread-spiced Graham Cracker spine (with dwindling bourbon vanilla-daubed coconut toasting).

During sunshiny June ’22 one-hour afternoon visit, found four more previously untried brews.

Honeyed banana wheat breading, mild coriander-clove spicing and white-peppered plantain dryness festooned Reizendbier, a durable hefeweizen with sugared wheat wafer base.

Dryer than most Belgian pale ales, Tune Up brought candied lemon tartness and peppery herb-tinged phenols to lightly vanilla-creamed banana spicing sweeping its gentle pilsner-malted white wheat sugaring.

Another dryer-than-expected Belgian styled brew, High Visibility Saison, let lemon-licked orange peel tartness pick up mild black peppering contrasted by bubble-gummy banana sugaring.

As its fluffy cream head subsided, briny Philippine lime tartness took over Island Life Fruited Gose, leaving subtle coriander seeded minting upon distant tangerine, kumquat and white grapefruit illusions.  

Limey strawberry rhubarb salting guided pinkish amber-hued Vast And Terrible Magic (Strawberry Rhubarb), a slightly vinous sour ale with wispy oaken vanilla tannins.   

www.alementary.com

THESE GUYS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs

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NORWICH, CONNECTICUT

Just off Main Street in the olden harbor-bound merchant town of Norwich, Connecticut (a.k.a. The Rose of New England), THESE GUYS BREWING COMPANY opened August ’15. Tucked into a red-bricked urban setting with a black-framed window frontage and oval hop-designed signpost, this homey establishment has the interior appearance of a Prohibition Era Speakeasy with its stamp-tinned copper tile bar walls, starburst Edison light bulbs and winding exposed pipes.

A sterling red brick-walled beer garden atrium (shown above) adds a greenhouse affect separating the front pub from the backroom brewing area (formerly used as grain storage for a Revolutionary Wartime hotel) where seven stainless steel tanks store brewer Rebecca Alberts’ well-rounded craft beer offerings.

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Working under the tutelage of famed Willimantic brewmaster, David Wollner, Alberts (currently Connecticut’s only female head brewer) claims she brews what she likes to drink, adding that “creative people like creative beer.”

Though I didn’t get to sample the food on my initial May ’16 stopover, the varied menu features splendid dishes such as Braised Short Ribs over stout onion risotto, Lobster-stuffed Mac & Cheese, Tuna Tartar and other well-designed main courses.

My wife and I grab seats directly across the central beer draughts at the bar to consume seven diverse homemade elixirs. There are also a few draughts set aside for outside brews such as Outer Light Ninja Trail Green Tea, Relic Flaven Foal Double Dry-Hopped IPA and Black Hog Citra (reviewed in Beer Index).

First up, tartly fruited moderation, Jeanne’s Dream Apricot Wheat, brought hop-dried apricot puree subtlety to orange-candied red apple, peach and tangerine tones – like a liquified Fruit Roll-Ups.

Next, brusquely crisp Hop Sense Pale Ale showed lots of depth as its lightly pined orange-peeled grapefruit bittering contrasted lightly creamed pale malt sugaring over the buttered biscuit base.

Tantalizingly centrist caramel-spiced Thames River Red will please lighter thirsts as well as bolder palates with its toasted oats sweetness, glazed red fruiting and earthen dewiness.

Brisk West Coast-styled Hop Spring IPA let yellow grapefruit-juiced orange rind bittering receive wood-dried Centennial-Columbus hop resin to contrast floral mango, peach and pineapple tropicalia over clean celery watering. Tangy Against The Grain IPA competed favorably with its tangerine, clementine and navel orange fruiting picking up lightly embittered grassy hop insistence and sedate pine underbrush.

On the dark side, wonderfully rich Kaiser Willy Imperial Stout draped creamy black chocolate malting and coffee-roasted bittering over ashen hops, gaining ancillary cocoa nibs, espresso, cappuccino and vanilla tones at the bulky mocha finish.

The intriguingly serene cask conditioned Kaiser Willy maintained soft-toned splendor as the coffee-roasted black chocolate creaming gained black cherry illusions and oats-charred sedation.        

www.theseguysbrewing.com

PROCLAMATION ALE COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

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WEST KINGSTON, RHODE ISLAND

At a West Kingston-based stone quarry inside an unassuming tan aluminum warehouse lies one of Rhode Island’s most promising breweries, PROCLAMATION ALE COMPANY. Opened for business since January, 2014, the rapidly expanding alehouse, headed by brewmaster Dave Witham, gained immediate attention for its ‘Big Beer from a Small State’ and now bottles several of its exquisite elixirs.

An amber Proclamation sign (below the arched entrance) leads lucky patrons thru a long hallway to a tongue-and-groove wooded tasting room with pine-lacquered bar top, community table, barrel staves, sofa and exposed pipes.

Upon my initial 4 PM May ’16 visit, the small space packs up as several locals stop by to pick up screw-topped jug handled growlers of their favorite brews and a few out-of-towners sample all five available draught selections before deciding on which ones to carryout.

Knowledgeable tasting room manager, Tom Pereira, provides goblets of two fascinating pale ale ‘derivatives,’ one collaborative rye-spiced IPA and a sessionable German-styled pilsner. I’d already tried excellent citric-embittered IPA, Proclamation Tendril (reviewed in Beer Index), at now-defunct Track 84 a year hence.

For starters, Flummox, a traditional Bavarian-styled pilsner, brought crisply clean spelt-dried Vienna malting to its soft grassy-hopped floral citrus sheen, leaving subtle lemon traces in the recess.

Then, two of the best full-flavored East Coast pale ales caught my attention. Sunny fruited spritzer, Derivative: Mosaic Pale Ale, retained a subdued yellow grapefruit tang, zesty lemon brightener and ancillary pineapple-peach-mango-orange juicing above mild dry-hopped pungency.

Even better, modestly complex Derivative: Galaxy Pale Ale had a dryer, danker profile, spreading Galaxy-Citra-hopped tropicalia all over grassy pine resin and fresh celery watering. Its tangy tangerine ripeness picked up lemony pineapple, mango and grapefruit zest.

In collaboration with nearby Tilted Barn Brewery, Rype IPA provided peppery rye malting for its apricot-pureed tartness, fig-dried tangerine snips and teasing herbal lilt.

http://www.proclamationaleco.com/

PINELANDS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs, ,

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LITTLE EGG HARBOR, NEW JERSEY

At Little Egg Harbor’s Great Bay Business Park in a beige aluminum warehouse with red awning lies PINELANDS BREWING COMPANY,  a nanobrewery looking to expand to a 7-barrel brew system by May 2016. Presently, Pinelands raw space contains an office area, brew tank room and tap room (with slate-topped bar, picnic table, small community table and green-walled beer bottles).

Brewmaster Jason Chapman utilizes exquisite locally sourced water to craft an ever-changing lineup of well-rounded brews. As of my April ’16 one-hour stopover, Chapman’s already created 30-plus elixirs in a few months.

Two fine flagship beers initially caught my senses. Easygoing Pitch Pine Pale Ale brought lemony orange tang to mild leafy hop pungency, subtle pine resin and wispy herbal restraint. Bright ‘n lively Evergreen IPA bettered Pitch Pine with its crisper clean-watered minerality underlining juicy grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and woody dry-hopped astringency.

Smoked rye malts and peppery nuances gave Rye Nugget Pale Ale a certain uniqueness as its carbolic spritz tickled the nose while the diacetyl vegetal tinge never seemed out of place. Coming on like a beefed-up amber ale, perhaps, Sharpshooter IPA provided an apricot tea-like sweetness for caramel malts, leafy hops, dewy peat and dried fig.

Gathering spiced yellow fruiting, caramelized pilsner malts and grassy hops, Bueno Con Taco (a moderate-bodied lager) must’ve been made to go alongside simple Mexican dishes since it’s light flavor doesn’t overwhelm snack foods.

Great Bay IRA (Imperial Red Ale) softened its sharp grapefruit-seeded orange rind hop pining and black tea-like bittering with caramel-roasted amber malt sweetness, tangy peach-apple-grape conflux and crisp tobacco respite.

Perhaps my personal fave, Evan John Porter, let toffee-spiced vanilla bean sweetness pick up sugared coffee, Kahlua, caramel latte, hazelnut, cappuccino and Coca-Cola tones above its dewy earthen base.

Not to be outdone, Zero Shuck Oyster Stout provided creamy oyster-shelled sinew for its black patent-malted dark chocolate, cocoa bean and vanilla overtones and bitter French-roast coffee sedation.

On early March ’22 stopover, snow came down as I indulged in a few more Pinelands libations.

Thin cream ale, Raspberry Jam, found soapy raspberry chalkiness lingering lightly in salty lemon-hopped astringency.

Juicy tropical fruited floral spicing and dry pine resin indulged Imperial IPA, Tucker’s Beacon, unfurling sunny grapefruit, pineapple, peach, orange and tangerine tanginess upon sugared pale malting.

Nitrogenated Evan John Porter added coffee-roasted cocoa bittering to tarry chocolate malting and molasses-draped toffee spicing.

Milk-sugared coffee and dark chocolate syrup graced Cockeyed Milk Stout, leaving wood-seared hops to buttress its molasses oats bottom.

Bettering all of ‘em, Gnarly Pine Barrel-Aged Barleywine let caramelized bourbon vanilla drape brown chocolate sweetness, whiskeyed Scotch warmth and toffee-spiced dried fruiting.

www.pinelandsbrewing.com

BIG OYSTER BREWERY – REHOBOTH BEACH

United States Brewpubs, ,

Image result for fins big oyster brewery Image result for fins big oyster brewery

REHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE

Right along Route 1 Coastal Highway at the mall-bound Rehoboth Beach strip lies BIG OYSTER BREWERY, a collaboration teaming Fins Ale House & Raw Bar with brewer Andrew Harton’s equally worthy pub. Inside a Wild West-styled Main Street re-creation, this seafood-related beer joint brings the best of both worlds since Big Oyster joined the fold June ’15.

Broken up into six sections, Fins controls the left side barroom (with wood-top counters, 20 bar stools, 10 taps, tin ceiling and beer-bottled refrigerator) and beautiful brick-enclosed outdoor deck (with 10 tap lines). Meanwhile, Big Oyster runs the far right gift shop, adjoining dining area and rear silver-tanked brew room.

Customizing wide-ranging beer recipes, Harton got his start after college brewing at three different Iron Hill breweries (West Chester, Wilmington and Voorhees).

Fresh oysters were being shucked when I visited late-morning May 1, 2016.

On the light side, easygoing Kolsch brought zesty lemon, mandarin orange tartness and light herbal nuances to its gentle white-breaded spine. Using freshly-chopped ginger, the herb-enhanced Daywalker Kolsch gained a minty tingle to accent citric-perfumed hops and dainty pale malts.

Juicy fruited Session 5 – Pineapple ably combined its sweet-tart pineapple adjunct with yellow grapefruit pith bittering and steadily mild Mosaic hop tropicalia.

Utilizing Ardennes Belgian yeast to gain its barnyard-dried fruit spicing, Solar Power Belgian Blonde stayed crisply clean, letting coriander-spiced yellow grapefruit, peach and pineapple tones receive a brisk Seltzer-like spritz.

Bitterest selection, Hammerhead IPA, a West Coast-styled dry body, allowed yellow grapefruit, orange rind and pineapple to embitter moderated piney hops and mild herbal snips. Another West Coast-inspired medium body, Resistentialism (Imperial IPA) surrendered intense tropical fruiting for lightly creamed crystal malting, leaving grapefruit, mango, pineapple and sweet orange peel illusions on the tongue.

Creamy Big Oyster Stout conveyed a syrupy oyster-stewed brown chocolate richness and bitter dark-roast coffee streak over dried oats (with wavered black cherry nuances).

Best bet: Classic Belgian Tripel, Noir Et Bleu, a limited edition full body strewn with bittersweet blueberry lacquering, banana liqueur splendor, lemony peach tartness and dried apricot snips residing above its recessive black tea adjunct (and finishing with a fusel vodka-licked 9.2% alcohol whir).

On a windy November ’21 Saturday afternoon, revisited Rehoboth’s Big Oyster to enjoy six new libations at the newly furnished red brick-walled side deck.

Musky orange-oiled lemon souring softly settled into crisp Captain Kolsch, a mildly herbed light body.

Tart ‘coconut lime yeast-raised donuts’ were mashed into Donut Kill My Vibe, a kettle sour with coconut-watered Margarita liming and recessive glazed donut sugaring.

Heavily fruited lactose sour, Soft Serve Cherry Vanilla, brought sweet ‘n sour cherry puree to tart cranberry-strawberry musk in a creamy vanilla marshmallow setting.

Briskly sharp hazy IPA, Craig’s Secret, let tangy grapefruit, orange, mango and peach zesting reach creamy vanilla sugaring to contrast herbaceous pine resin.

Waxy floral fruiting coated double dry-hopped West Coast-styled IPA, Big Oyster Boom!, contrasting lemony passionfruit-gooseberry tartness and zesty yellow grapefruit bittering with peachy tangerine tanginess and candied orange licks as resinous pine seeped inside.

Sourly embittered NEIPA, Nectar From the Stars, provided grape wine tannins for Nelson Sauvin-hopped passionfruit tartness and Galaxy-hopped orange pith/ grapefruit rind bittering above soft wood tones.

www.bigoysterbrewery.com

 

 

CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY – LEWES

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for crooked hammock Image result for crooked hammock

LEWES, DELAWARE

Along Kings Highway in the historic sea village of Lewes lies eclectic beach-themed pub, CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY, an adventurously fun-filled facility whose ‘perfectly crooked craft brew’ slogan pokes fun at Dogfish Head’s ‘off-center’ catchphrase. In a spacious barn-like complex, this ever-expanding venue serves as a spiffy beer joint as well as a nifty family dining hole. At its gray-shingled entrance, a sand-duned jeep, wood chairs and a hammock capture the proper easygoing beach atmosphere.

Inside Crooked Hammock, the central 30-seat bar services surrounding tables, a separate family dining space and screened-in porch. Along the duct-lined high ceiling, beach buckets and colored ring toss growlers provide further summertime serenity. At the enclosed left side picnic area, a well-groomed garden, rustic patio furnishings and a band shelter capture the eye.

During April ’16, my wife and I grab a table next to the garage-doored picnic access under a wooden American flag to enjoy the Turkey Wrap with seven dulcet homemade brews.

First up, summery ‘signature beer,’ Hammock Saison, shook salty white pepper all over zesty lemon brightener and leathery barnyard funk. Meanwhile, Shoobie Belgian Blonde draped black and white pepper onto lemon-soured orange and tangerine illusions as well as honeyed pale malting and a dainty floral bouquet.

A few more easy drinkin’ suds were next. Mild summer lager, Active Fishing, meshed toasted grain malts with tangy lemon-dried grapefruit, orange and tangerine briskness. Dry earthen peat guided Drive On ESB as caramelized fig and dark floral nuances faded. 

Sedate Backyard Brown (an English Brown Ale) loaded creamy molasses sugaring atop caramel nuttiness and dark fruiting.

Moving into the medium-bodied selections, delightful flagship India Pale Ale, Mootzy’s Treasure, brought dry lacquered wood tones to floral-perfumed grapefruit peel, orange rind, mango and peach tropicalia.

Amiable Haulin’ Oats Milk Stout maintained a creamy milk chocolate sweetness spread across oats-sugared cocoa, vanilla and cappuccino subtleties.

www.crookedhammockbrewery.com

DEWEY BEER COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

DEWEY BEACH, DELAWARE

Nothing like a rustic shack-like saloon to get thirsty beachcombers and surfers happy. Just a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and one mile south of Rehoboth Beach, DEWEY BEER COMPANY keeps this tiny beach community rockin’ with its well-balanced small batch beers. Opened May ’15, this metal and wood furnished pub serves specialized seafood, sandwiches and salads to go alongside its likable liquid fare.

Dewey Beer Company’s low ceilings, small open kitchen, cozy cafe-styled seating, long community table and wood-lacquered bar (with silver brew tanks directly behind) provides relief from the summer heat and a much-needed off-season watering hole for the few hundred townsfolk.

My wife and I settled into Chick Pea Hummus and Plantain Nachos (sour-creamed Cuban picadillo beef, jalapeno, tomato and cheese dip scooped up by fried plantains) while downing nine distinctly varied homemade beers.

One of the first beers crafted at Dewey, sessionable American Pale Ale forwarded floral-perfumed sweetness to tangy citrus subtleties and contrasted dry wood tones.

‘Crushable’ light pilsner, Blonde’s Blonde brought lemon-limed grapefruit zest and light melon hints to clean-watered mineral graining, utilizing tropical Sorachi, Citra and Galaxy hops to increase its easygoing citric nature.

The more pungent Imperial Blonde’s Blonde picked up dry piney hop resin to embitter its lemony orange tang and sugar-spiced malts, staying just as crisp and clean as its aforementioned lighter version.

Hybridized Amber Batch 2 balanced pale-malted toasted caramel sweetness with dry-wooded IPA-like fruiting without getting too bitter.

Exhilarating Tripel Belgian strong ale laced candi-sugar sweetness thru lemon-spiced banana esters, zesty orange seltzer spritzing, floral hop resilience and peppery yeast herbage.

Easygoing Brown Ale imbued roasted chocolate sweetness with brown-sugared dried fruiting and wispy spicily-perfumed Cascade hops.

Bringing rye-grained Black patent malts to the fore, Do What’s Rye’d (Black IPA) overrides its spicy dried fruiting with coffee-dried dark chocolate tones.

Mocha-bound wintry farmhouse ale, Chocolate Cherry Saison, relied upon spicy French saison yeast to awaken its dry cherry tartness, sweet banana subsidy and chocolate malt backbone.

Cold-infused Sumatra coffee invigorates Mo’s Joe Stout, a smoothly subdued mocha-blackened digestif with light cocoa, chocolate and espresso tones settling above its sugary toasted oats spine.

www.deweybeerco.com

MISPILLION RIVER BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for MISPILLION RIVER BREWING Image result for MISPILLION RIVER BREWING

MILFORD, DELAWARE

At the back of an industrial mall zone in a silver aluminum building, MISPILLION RIVER BREWING came into existence in the autumn of 2013 when married Delaware natives and co-founders Eric and Megan Williams hooked up with a few interested partners and brewmaster Ryan Maloney to spread their passion for well-crafted homemade beer.

Just beyond Milford’s quaint downtown, this unadorned (as of April 2016) brewery utilizes a rustic cement-floored tap room with 10 bar seats, wood tables, 2 TV’s, Christmas tree lighting, high barn-like ceiling and refrigerator with beer-to-go. Three 15-barrel stainless steel brew tanks are windowed behind the tap room and a few patio tables adorn the adjoining caged yard connected by overhead doors.

Developing over 100 small batch recipes since its inauguration, Mispillion River has continued to beat expectations by keeping the quality of varied suds at a high level. Expect fast expansion for the brewery since its most popular brews (Reach Around IPA, Holy Crap! Imperial Red Ale and Black Tie IPA) have started getting canned on-site and are widely available locally (and reviewed in full at Beer Index).

The lightest draft offerings on my April ’16 rendezvous were citric-splashed Space Otter Pale Ale, a tropical delight with lemony orange zest and light guava-melon-apricot illusions sprinkled atop dank piney hop bittering. Then there was spritzy Diddy Kong, a mild hefeweizen with lemony banana-clove sweetness grazing its oaks-flaked white wheat spine.

Nearly as polite, Reach Around IPA stayed stylistically moderate with its lemony grapefruit-orange bittering and Seltzer-like spritz softened by clean mineral-watered crisping.

A welcome hybrid, winter-spiced Sentman Apple Pie Apple doused its cinnamon apple piquancy with a lightly minted grapefruit-pineapple-orange tang.

Just a tad stronger, ESD Double IPA delivered floral-spiced citrus crisping to pungent pine needling, becoming sugarier as tangy lemon, grapefruit, orange, mango and clementine illusions ascend.

Maybe the finest offering, holiday-seasoned Miss Betty, an easygoing brown-sugared spice ale, gathered subtle vanilla bean, maple syrup and candied pecan adjuncts as well as wispy sweet potato hints.

Made for breakfast, Rise Or Shine Coffee Stout brought coffee-creamed espresso pungency and black-malted dark chocolate bittering to its sugary oats-flaked spine.

For dessert, milk chocolate-y Poundtown Imperial Porter sweetened over time as barley-flaked black malts drifted away to expose the delicious caramel nougat center.

Becoming the first onsite customers at Mispillion River since Covid-19 closed down the state for a few months, my noontime June ’20 venture with wife and dog would lead us to sunny Rehoboth Beach afterwards. But not before trying eight more sassy homemade suds at the rustic covered side deck (with stringed party lights, nautical metal art sculpture and   salvaged furnishings).

Dry corn-buttered pale malts, raw-grained wheat straw rusticity and mild barnyard acridity ushered in pungently earthen Yard Bird, a Euro-styled light lager with hints of musky dried floral herbage.

Briskly floral rosé lager, Ladybug, a quirky hybrid enjoining mild raspberry-pureed rose hips to lemony sparkling champagne spritz, maintained its confectionery sweet-tart snap.

Sweet ‘n sour strawberry zing received hard-candied citric souring and lactic vanilla milkshake creaming for frosty cellar-funked Strawberry Jacuzzi Wild Ale.

A dryer take on a Belgian tripel, Deathly Hallows relegated candi-sugared banana-clove sweetness and peachy quince snips for black-white peppered herbage and musty Belgian yeast funk.

Sharp floral-tinged grapefruit rind bittering and zesty orange peel perfuming rubbed against pungently resinous piney hops for Z-J, a creamy crystal-malted Imperial India Pale Ale hopheads will devour.

Lemon-wedged coffee roast gained creamy vanilla spicing for Seven Swords, an amber-cleared white stout with latent dark-roast hop char crowding cocoa-nibbed dark chocolate malting.

A tad dryer stylistically, Hagrid Imperial Stout let milk-sugared coffee tones infiltrate dark chocolate, espresso and anise whims over maple-sapped oats.

Tarry Blackstrap molasses deepened the dark chocolate, medium-roast coffee and black licorice montage guiding oats-sugared Wonka Bar, a decadent milk stout evoking the toffee-nutted mocha candy bar its named after.

www.mispillionriverbrewing.com

3RD WAVE BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for third wave brewing co. Image result for third wave brewing co.

DELMAR, DELAWARE

A few miles from the Maryland border just off Route 13 in a nondescript brown aluminum double-wide trailer, 3RD WAVE BREWING took over the space previously occupied by Evolution Brewery (before its great expansion) during September 2012. A cozy cubbyhole-like pub with 8-seat tasting bar, a few stool tables, glass-encased brew tanks, low drop ceiling and wall-strewn surfboards, 3rd Wave concentrates on providing stylishly efficient and well-rounded brews covering a wide spectrum of flavors. And a makeshift patio with picnic benches and cheap party lights attracts the summer beach crowd. My initial visit came in April ’16.

Ostensibly a flagship offering also available in bottles, 3rd Wave 1st Wave IPA tendered a sharp citric-spiced Cascade hop bittering and subsidiary floral-fruited frolic above its crisp barley base. A tad more aggressive, Bombora Double IPA brought its brisk yellow grapefruit tang to the piney hop bitterness contrasting sugary crystal malts.

Sour champagne wining embraced North Bay Sour IPA, a lightly pungent brettanomyces yeast-infected wild ale with lemony grapefruit tartness cresting over acidulated malts.

Like a tart cherry lollipop, More Cherry Lager retained its moderate red cherry sweetness above astringent hop spicing and wheat-honeyed spine.

Sinewy honey sweetened Shoreline Honey Ginger Cream Ale, a delicate ginger-spiced moderation, gained spritzy orange tartness.

Using Big Barrel Bourbon Belgian Quad as its base, 3rd Wave 136 Strong Ale, aged in Cruzen rum barrels, let its lemony orange marmalade tang absorb crystal malt sugaring.

Charcoal-smoked dark roast coffee and dark chocolate syruping received bittersweet blueberry puree lacquering to create the rich ‘n creamy Blue Balls Blueberry Porter.

Dark-roast coffee affluence also pervaded Dawn Patrol Coffee And Cream Stout, a full-bodied mocha dessert for hearty thirsts.

During June ’16 revisit, found five more previously untried libations.

First up, soft-toned light body, Beach Juice Berliner, brought stylishly salty lemon-limed tartness to woodruff syruping, leaving a mouth-puckering lactobacillus sourness at the finish.

Mild Beachbreak Apricot Wheat allowed polite apricot sweetness to pick up fig-dried hop astringency above its honeyed Graham Cracker base. A powdered orange tang reinforced crisp Gibson Orange Wheat, a spritzy seltzer-like moderation with navel orange, clementine and tangerine influence.

Lovely Sandstorm Belgian Tripel coalesced tangy orange sweetness with rum-spiced banana daiquiri boozing and candi-sugared pineapple-mango-cantaloupe juicing to contrast mustily sharp resinous hop bittering as well as salty black-peppered herbage.

Just a tad stronger (at 8.6% ABV), Upstream Strong Ale’s brisk IPA fruiting and bark-dried hop bittering picked up sugared spicing to rally its pineapple, grapefruit, orange, peach and lemon illusions.

 www.3rdwavebrewingco.com