Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

FARMERS’ CABINET

United States Brewpubs,

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Streets were filled with Mummers regaled in stage getup who’d finished their Broad Street parade route when I got to the FARMERS’ CABINET, a new Walnut Street saloon (opened St. Patrick’s Day, 2011) named in honor of an ancient agriculture handbook. A uniquely gothic gastropub, it serves “the most diverse collection of European craft beer in Philly” alongside a few indigenously “primitive field” beers emulating from an urban farmhouse nanobrewery down in Arlington, Virginia.

The brainchild of Lehigh University graduate Matt Scheller and married couple Matt and Colleen Swartz, Farmers’ Cabinet also boasts a tremendously original cocktail selection and creative farm fresh menu that includes cured meats and bread made in-house. Originally, the three Pennsylvania-based entrepreneurs had varied success with similarly schemed endeavors initiated by Emmaus’ gothic candlelit Euro pub, Tap & Table, and its twin offspring, Bethlehem’s beer-intense Bookstore Speakeasy cocktail lounge and East Falls’ two-storied Old World-styled Fork & Barrel.

“All those places were steppingstones and building blocks to get into Philadelphia with an equally intense cocktail program with great beer and food fused to the former concepts,” Kutztown native Scheller explains. “We were going for a 19th century Victorian saloon feel with the sparks of elegance – yet ruggedly rustic.”

Heavy curtains drape the burlap-sapped wood planks of Farmers’ Cabinet, where the left side European Beer Hall-influenced communal table welcomes interaction and its opposing cocktail room recalls Prohibition Era speakeasies. A vast array of European beers handpicked by Scheller on international travels age in a temperature controlled cellar storage area. Snooty beer geeks and curious ale hounds will be knocked out by the large amount of hard-to-find one-off brews originating from Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England and all points between.

“The goal is to provide topnotch obscure beers from small European breweries,” Scheller says. “The biggest concern is spoilage. The health of the beer is important. There’s concern for delicate moderate-bodied beers. Bigger, more robust beers, such as stouts, could sit for awhile and it’s not a major concern. If I think a beer’s been sitting too long, I’ll try it myself. However, most beer’s made to be consumed fresh. There’s a whole different pay scale for several rare bottles, like with fine wines, but they seem to go pretty fast.”

During August ’11, Farmers’ Cabinet hooked up with meritorious brewer, Terry Hawbaker, whose phenomenal craft beers at Williamsport’s Bullfrog cannot be understated. Now working out of a 5-barrel urban farmhouse nanobrewery in Alexandria, Virginia, the talented brewmeister’s trend-setting adjunct saisons have become all the rage in Philly.

“Terry’s currently working on developing a beautiful house yeast to cultivate a really cool sour ale base for blending with other beers. We’ve also gotten invited to Copenhagen’s Beer Celebration in May. Top American brewers will include Port, Hoppin’ Frog, Jolly Pumpkin, and Hill Farmstead alongside many heavy-hitting Europeans,” Scheller revels.

Upon my mid-afternoon sojourn, four worthy saison house beers were available to peruse while sipping a delicious bowl of creamy squash soup. Suitable Ragtime, Delta Blues and Cabaret music played in the distance of this Classical pub as I dug into soft-tongued Autumnal Saison. Utilizing seasonal pumpkin to lacquer lemon-soured citric hops in an unobtrusive manner, the contrarily spice-less libation went well with the delectable gourd broth.

Lively perfumed citrus hops enlivened the earthen barnyard rusticity of smoothly soothing session beer, Field Hop Grisette, where herbaceous white peppering surrounds lemony fig-dried melon wisps. Essentially a lighter saison with impulsive Extra Special Bitter properties, its not far removed from Farmers’ Cabinet’s regular grisette, a lightly tart Berliner Wiess hybrid.

Moving on to the two dark ales, soft-flowing Imperial Holiday Porter dumps 50 pounds of pumpkin and sweet potatoes upon hop-oiled coffee acridity and musty chocolate chalking, gaining cherry-dried pumpkin puree illusions over time.

Labeled a hybrid Belgian dark ale, D-Rye Field Stout brought marble-breaded chocolate rye, coarse cola nuttiness, funky earthen musk and pine-burnt wood char to tart dried fruiting. Scheller acknowledges the first batch was not nearly as wood seared and the second batch “got a lot dryer.”

To further experiment with house beers, Hawbaker’s Virginia brewing facility recently installed eight separate 10-gallon vessels in order to test different hops, flowers and woods in certain saisons.

Those who are looking for an abundance of rare European beers or well-crafted specialty house beers will embrace this dimly lit antediluvian public house.

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Upon my second stopover at caberet-styled speakeasy, THE FARMERS MARKET, my wife and I stick forks into syrupy Farmers French Toast (with cinnamon, vanilla, honeydew and cantaloupe) for brunch on this blustery December ’12 winter’s day. Sitting amongst the community tables behind the main left side beer bar, we get entertained by aged-in-the-wool bluesman Shaky Lymon, who goes thru four generations of tunes from Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Buddy Holly and Jackson Browne (a snickeringly deranged cover of “Cocaine”).
The pamphlet-like Winter 2012 menu features fascinating cellar-aged beers by renowned gypsy brewers as well as worthy tapped selections from Belhaven, Bells, Founders, Haandbryggeriet,  Porterhouse, Pretty Things, Sly Fox and Weihenstephaner.
Attentive barman Dave Winward quickly hooks me up with a fascinating collaboration between Europe’s St. Feuillien and America’s Green Flash called Biere De L’Amitie, a Belgian strong pale ale bringing herbal citric-peeled sour fruiting to rye-smoked black chocolate malting. On tap, its lemony orange-peeled bittering sidles tart kumquat, papaya, crabapple and pineapple illusions above pine-nutty fern leafing.
Next up, Het Sas Christmas Leroy lacked seasonal specifity, but not character. On tap, the hybridized Scotch Ale brought vague Christmas spicing to a Belgian dark ale styling, padding its wayward brown-sugared cookie dough center with pallid grape, cherry and cola nut illusions. But a better selection was just ’round the corner.
At this point, brunch is done and I choose one of the finer international bottled selections. Renaissance Elemental Porter, a dark, rich and mellow dry-bodied New Zealander chock full of black chocolate-smoked malts, roasted coffee bean bittering, sour-milked cocoa powdering and peppery-hopped Baker’s chocolate tartness really hit the spot as a dryish dessert.
Ancient cocktail recipes from London’s Ritz Hotel and Harry’s Bar in Paris (circa 1920’s) and NYC’s Holland House Hotel via 1880’s will get boozers going. And the fine wine selection’s aimed towards true connoisseurs.

www.thefarmerscabinet.com

TRIUMPH BREWING – PHILADELPHIA

United States Brewpubs,

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

To start off New Years Day, 2012, visited Philadelphia’s TRIUMPH BREWING ‘round noon (closed in 2014 and sold to 2nd Story Brewing). Located at the Olde City district just up the street from Penn’s Landing near the banks of the Delaware River in a former paper mill, this pleasantly rustic restaurant-bar had a looser atmosphere than Triumph’s New Hope and Princeton franchises.

Opened April 2007, the red-bricked neighborhood bar (with beige window frames and door) features a 15-seat right side bar, private white-walled booth, small rear stage and left side dining area with neo-mod ‘60s wood furnishings. Upstairs, the wood-floored space has a banquet room, glass-encased business room, 8-seat metal bar and silver brew tanks.

Both TV’s at the bar had the Eagles-Redskins football readied as I consumed a few previously untried libations. Winter Bock, a higher octane version of Old City Lager, scattered sourdough yeast atop herbal-tinged lemon rot, clover-honeyed orange tartness and boozy Courvoisier illusions, receiving an ancillary Extra Special Bitter-like fig-date astringency after a few sips.

Dry-bodied Holiday Ale- Cask brought wafting peat to soft fig-cherry acridity and hop-oiled roasted chocolate.

Briskly carbolic Unfiltered Helles layered mildly astringent corn-soaked yellow fruiting over soft grained breading.

Seasoned beer drinkers may lean towards Rauchbier, a perfume-wafted, beechwood-smoked German-styled dry body topped with a sharply hop-spiced pepperoni pizza crusting that’s perfect complementing barbecued meat dishes.

Others may reach for the less astringent Irish Red, with its stoned-fruited orange tang overlaying wheat-husked cereal graining and recessive caramel nuttiness.

www.triumphbrewing.com

DOCK STREET BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside a historic West Philly firehouse one mile south of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School lies DOCK STREET BREWERY, opened in 2007 and initially visited January 2nd, 2012. Formerly located at Logan Circle with a bottling plant nearby, Dock Street has been transformed into a vibrant brewpub taking up the entire first floor of a marble-pillared three-story red brick building (with a second floor bicycle shop and third floor acupuncturist).

Two black awnings welcome customers to the cement-floored pub, where glass-encased brew kettles, exposed ducts, several black tables and a 10-seat bar fill out the yellow tile-walled facility. An open wood-burning fire pit cooks 20 pizza varieties and the menu also features char-grilled burgers, sandwiches, wraps and calzones.

Owned by Sicilian-bred Rosemarie Certo and head-brewed by Scott Morrison (formerly of Mc Kenzie’s and New Haven Brewery), Dock Street maintains a casual café atmosphere.

The Flyers and Rangers faced off for an outdoor hockey game on the right side TV as I dabbled with six previously untried libations this cold mid-afternoon. Easygoing lemon-soured Kolsch pitted wheat-husked astringency and wood-dried undertones against tingly honey-sugared hop spices.

OMG Pale Ale placed Cascade-hopped wood dryness atop floral red and orange fruiting.

But those were merely reliable moderate-bodied preliminaries for champagne yeast-soured Bubbly Wit, a Belgian-styled double witbier with lemony banana-clove frontage, vanilla-honeyed midst, mild coffee roast, toffee hint and white-peppered chamomile-lemongrass-basil conflux.

Best selling Rye IPA was an approachable dry-bodied moderation gaining resinous earthiness above light rye breading, lemon-seeded grapefruit zest and molasses-honeyed black tea mildness.

Also retaining a viscous honeyed sweetness, Old Ale (traditional English altbier) plied brown-sugared caramel malting to a mild coffee roast and crisp tobacco-peat nuances.

For dessert, I enjoyed sessionable London-styled Man Of Trouble Porter, an espresso-milked relaxant pleating oats-toasted black chocolate with black-breaded pumpernickel and ashen hop-charred mineral grains. Too bad the highly regarded Prince Myshkin’s Russian Imperial Stout was temporarily out.

Upon revisiting Dock Street Brewery nearly a year hence during post-Christmas December ’12, I imbibed five previously untried libations alongside Alsatian-styled Flammenkuche Pizza (packed with creme fraiche, caramelized onions, applewood smoked bacon and gruyere cheese) and the busy Vegetarian Pizza (artichoke hearts, spinach and creme fraiche).
This time around, the place was packed at 8 PM so my wife and I were seated at the left side cafe table away from the TV (where a college bowl game is shown). We consumed the stylistically robust Royal Bohemian Pilsner, a Czech-like pils with efficient maize-husked astringency and dry alfalfa graining reinforcing its lemony floral-perfumed hop bittering.
Then, sociable entrepreneur, Certo, started making the rounds and saying hi to many local customers. She stops by and tells us she’s very proud of Nino’s Prickly Pear, an interestingly peculiar Sicilian-bred moderate-bodied Biere De Garde combining subtle prickly pear overtones with equally refined fig-dried plum, kiwi, mango, raspberry, watermelon and papaya illusions skirting alcohol burnt bittering.
Another Euro-styled tropical-fruited delight, Black IPA, brought chocolate-spiced Belgian yeast and malt-roasted black rye to fig-sugared pineapple, kiwi and mango undertones, finishing with lingered licorice licks.
Tonight’s dark ale choice, approachable medium-bodied Little Prince Stout, packed oats-charred black coffee bittering and dark cocoa powdering onto dry stone-fruited citric nuances.
As dinner concluded, the courteous Certo gave me a bottle of elegantly sessionable, floral-citric, herbal-hopped La Biere Des Amis Saison to take home (reviewed in the Beer Index).
Before hitting the road, I settled into the ‘deceptively strong’ and devastatingly beautiful Barleywine, a velvety smooth 10% strong ale with an oaken vanilla soothe highlighting cherry-bruised banana, cantaloupe and honeydew sweetness while gaining vibrant sherry, brandy and cognac tonality.

www.dockstreetbeer.com

RIVER HOUSE BREWPUB

United States Brewpubs,

MILTON, PENNSYLVANIA

The most unique place my wife and I sojourned on our April ’11 Susquehanna Valley journey was across a bridge from Bucknell University next to the banks of the Susquehanna in a portico villa backing up to a farm. To say Milton-based RIVER HOUSE BREWPUB is a veritable godsend is an understatement. Beautiful Italian statues bedeck the outside perimeter of the multi-sectional green-trimmed gray stucco building. Operating since March 2010 (and closed in 2019), owner Larry Mancini’s excellent Italian cuisine complemented prime handcrafted beers by Bart Rieppel (formerly of Abbey Wright).

Formerly the Italian Terrace, River Houses’ flowered open patio, water fountain, banquet rooms, and fireplace dining are exquisite. We got seated at the rear section’s rectangular bar (with multi-TV’s and glass ceiling) and indulged in delightful antipasto and risotto pescatore (marinara-sauced seafood with tomato-rice). Brew tanks to the far right served a diverse cornucopia.

Starting with dry banana-cloved Highwater Hefeweizen, astringent raw-honeyed cereal grain-sugared Street Light Wheat and caramelized gourd-like Suzy’s ESB (with fig-candied sugar plum wisp), I stepped it up a notch with crystal-malted, caramel-centered, fungi-bottomed Irish Red Ale, Buggy Town Red.

But these were merely appetizers to whet my thirst for dry blueberry-fronted, raspberry-soured, blackberry-ripened, cranberry-limed Blueberry Wheat as well as soft-focus Black Velvet Oatmeal Stout, an offbeat peculiarity placing black cherry, blackberry, and black licorice before expectant mocha malting (and ashen cigarette-charcoal bittering).

While Raging River India Black Ale efficiently blended dark chocolate into IPA-like hop-charred cherry-berry nuances, the creamier Alpha Deuce IPA lacquered cotton-candied apricot, pineapple, and mango to iodine-addled orange peel bittering perfectly.

Luckily, I was able to salvage the last drops of a superb Belgian-styled ale in a growler for the ride home. A robustly malt-creamed alcohol-smitten fruit snack, Hat Trick Tripel scored high with its candi-sugared banana liqueur sweetness, cotton-candied tropical fruiting, and sinewy Scotch whir.

Finally got to revisit capacious chateau once more during Sunday night dinner stopover in May ’13.

Alongside pub clams (topped with cannellini beans, pancetta, leeks and ham), enjoyed soft-toned Pumpkin Love, a gourd-dried moderation gathering tingly coriander-cinnamon spicing and perfumed hop sedation.

Shared excellent cheese ravioli (with lemon-juiced green pea cilantro-saucing and sun-dried tomato) with wife before moving on to two dessert beers.

Though lacking expectant Belgian candi-sugared spicing, medium-bodied Cherry Dubbel worked tart cherry puree into its honeyed wheat spine, picking up cranberry, raspberry and rhubarb undertones.

Tonight’s best bet, elegant Black Knight Bourbonov N2, a full-bodied slow-sipping Imperial Stout, brought torrential brown chocolate and vanilla swells to sweet cherry-backed bourbon whiskey warmth.    

www.riverhousebrewpub.com

OLD FORGE BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

DANVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA

After signing out of our Bloomsburg hotel Saturday morn (April ’11), my wife and I ventured ten miles west to downtown Danville, spending an hour at OLD FORGE BREWING (opened for business December 5th, 2008). Described as a ‘fun, casual, comfy pub,’ this narrow bi-level saloon benefited from local farm-grown ingredients integrating brewer Damien Malfara’s healthy pub fare. Bending stylistic guidelines in his favor, the former Philadelphia chemist showed off an expressive array of suds emanating from downstairs fermenting tanks.

Upon entering, a small silver brewing system fronts this brick-walled pink lady-like structure. Eight seats crowd the left bar (with colorful parasol, uniquely carved tap handles, and pottery-made beer mugs) situated across three right side tables and antique oaken-framed mirror. Handcrafted wood and metal fixtures bedecked this ground level space. The similarly styled upstairs lounge backed up against an outside deck colorfully splashed with Old Forge insignias and the like. A short menu included burgers, sandwiches, and quesadillas.

Old Blues music played as I inspected my seven sturdy samples. On the moderate end, mildly bitter, smoothly dewy Egan’s Best Bitter, draped caramelized fig across apricot-dried fungi bottom.

Perched between the brewers’ Bellows Brown Ale and Underbite IPA, Falling Down India Brown opposed leafy dry-hopped tranquility with brown-sugared caramel-chocolate malting.

Light-bodied Kolsch, Endless Summer Ale, spice-hopped lemon-rotted citric fizzing.

Lager-aged, mocha-dried, fig-sugared, prune-strewn Old Forge Alt nearly outdid superb orange-peeled, lemon-limed, juniper-embittered T-Rail Pale Ale (deviously replicating an IPA).

Candi-sugared Slightly Rood Belgian Pale Ale countered biscuit-y caramel toasting, dried fig spicing, and date nut breading with earthen clay hop bounty.

Slack Tub Stout fused dry espresso, dark chocolate, and molasses to flaked oatmeal.

www.oldforgebrewing.com

MARLEY’S BREWERY & GRILLE

United States Brewpubs,

MARLEY'S BREWERY AND GRILLE, Bloomsburg - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

(above picture is new location since 2018/ bottom picture is original)

BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

Situated east of Danville and west of Berwick along the Susquehanna River, Bloomsburg may be Columbia County’s most industrialized town. Tucked into a midsize red-bricked space on Main Street’s downtown stretch with maroon awning, green interior, Classical molding, and separate right side dining area stands MARLEY’S BREWERY & GRILLE, visited April ’11.  Sitting at the left side bar across from a beautiful mirrored mural with Marley’s insignia, I enjoyed fruity ales, a porter, and stout alongside humus and prime beef sandwich while watching Philadelphia Flyers playoff hockey with my wife.

Marley's Brewery And Grille | Bloomsburg, PA | Beers | BeerAdvocate

Silly dog-related names christened each well-balanced delight brewer Mark Brunwarth concocted in the basement tanks. Two fine white-peppered Belgian-styled ales led the way. Candi-sugared, plum-dried, prune-stewed, herbal-hopped Choke Collar Trippel bested sweeter fruit-spiced Dirty Dog Dubbel.

Another two Euro-fashioned offerings of German heritage fared well. Bitch In Heat Hefe layered banana-breaded clove-coriander spicing and lemony orange tartness above honeyed wheat.

An abundant plum-soaked fig-spiced sharpness enveloped Dock Jumper Dunkel, subduing bruised banana sweetness and dried mocha malts. Dog Runner Ale, a mild Irish Red Ale, needed deeper crystal malting, riper black cherry fruiting, and better tea-like midst.

On the dark side, oats-toasted, chocolate-spiced, coffee-burnt, espresso-bent Guard Dog Porter gave chocolate-bound barley roaster Leg Humper Oatmeal Stout a run for the money.

Though soft-hopped, Droopy Ear Alt retained loud raisin-pureed cherry prompting and molasses-sapped overture to earthy bottom. Dry-bodied pine-fruited Tire Chaser IPA gained woody-hopped grapefruit-peeled black currant bittering to contrast zesty orange, pineapple, peach, and apple.

Crisp citric-fizzed Kong Kolsch was least memorable, placing nasty corn-oiled astringency aloft pungent vegetal graining.

Overall, a nice showing on a rainy Friday eve from a cordial neighborhood pub opened February 2010.

www.marleysbrewery.com

SHAWNEE CRAFT BREWERY @ THE GEM AND KEYSTONE

United States Brewpubs

SHAWNEE-ON-DELAWARE, PENNSYLVANIA

So I left the three kids at home alone, jumped in the car with my wife, Karen, and headed west to the Pocono Mountains and beyond for a two-day excursion on Good Friday, April ’11. Our trip began at Shawnee-On-Delaware’s bucolic Gem & Keystone Restaurant, a maroon three-story Colonial edifice perfectly in tune with the surrounding wooded countryside. Located at the Shawnee Inn & Gold Resort alongside a rolling stream in easternmost part of the Poconos, this fabulous eatery served beers crafted at SHAWNEE CRAFT BREWERY by Leo Bongiorno. As if to prove winter still had one last breath, I spotted a few leftover snowflakes before entering.

Earning a solid rep since opening September 2010, Shawnee’s uses locally grown ingredients for its fine organic beers and vegetarian-friendly food. Featuring an upstairs banquet area, main level dining and two back decks, the capacious hunter green-walled wood-furnished lodge also housed a larger downstairs bar with big screen TV’s, billiards, darts, and firepit. Sitting at the diminutive low-ceiling left side main bar (with 2 TV’s), friendly bartender Shawn Copeman hung out while I quaffed eight well-rounded beer samplers with outstanding crab cakes plus oak-grilled crostini bread chock-full of fresh mozzarella, roasted garlic, basil, and tomato.

Crisply soft-toned ‘Green Drinks’ (sans chemical preservatives) included subtle nitro-injected Session Porter, a nutty chocolate nicety gathering advertised ‘black currant overtones’ amidst ashen mineral grains.

Refreshingly clean Biere Blanche witbier brought hard candied lemon souring to white-peppered curacao orange sedation and tertiary banana-clove-coriander reminder.

Even better, Raspberry Blanche (a hopped-up Biere Blanche adjunct) saddled its tart raspberry rasp with limed brimstone pucker, oaken cherry pungency, green grape tannins, champagne-like Chambord desiccation, and sour ale-like brettanomyces acidity.

Approachable Barrel Aged Double Pale (based on Old World IPA recipe) retained smooth nitro-injected creaminess atop citric honeyed peach.

Elaborate Belgian-styled farmhouse ale, 2010 Pumpkin Saison Cuvee II dropped ‘pie sweet’ pumpkins into cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice conflux contrasting earthen fungi underside.

Indifferent lager heads might regale astringent yellow-fruited corn-dried pungency, Gold Lager. Neophytes may give the nod to corn-sweet, wheat-cracked, malt-soured, vegetal-dried American Blonde Ale or musty honey-soured mocha-spiced Stock Ale.

Upon my May 2012 lunchtime revisit, I sat at the downstairs bar in the light green-walled Lower Level Tavern getting drinks from bartender Nicole Chinnici. Hand-carved wood furnishings decorated the exquisite mahogany bar while five tables, several TV’s and a billiard table filled out the room. I consumed three previously untried beers during the one-hour stay.

Closer to a hybridized porter, mocha-malted Belgian Dubbel brought Belgian chocolate spicing to its toasted cola-hazelnut-praline conflux and dried tobacco roast.

Despite a heightened 10.5% alcohol volume, Kentucky bourbon-aged Nitro Bourbon Barrel Porter retained a soft flow as subtle brown chocolate creaminess worked its way into chocolate liqueur, sherry and port illusions.

Less intriguing, Brown Ale layered its pastry-caked brown sugar malting with soapy peanut-shelled walnut bittering.

Got back to Shawnee on way to Poconos, November ’18, quaffing Kirkwood Kolsch, a crisply clean moderation with Noble-hopped herbal spicing, lemon-rotted green grape tannins and floral-bound hardwood dryness.

Also, tried barley-roasted, caramel-spiced Will Rogers Red Ale, a prim centrist moderation.

www.shawneecraftbrewingcompany.com

ROCK BOTTOM –BOSTON

United States Brewpubs,

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

In the heart of Beantown, this re-renovated chain restaurant-brewery opened as ROCK BOTTOM in 2001 and got renovated April 2011. Formerly Brew Moon, Rock Bottom bought out the company, merged with Gordon Biersch, and is owned as of this December 2011 trip by large conglomerate, CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries. This eloquent red brick-walled, wood-furnished space attracts vacationing families, businessmen and theatregoers. Special tap tables at right side booths allowed beer drinkers to pour by the ounce each house beer (brewed in Pittsburgh for this faux-pub).

I sat at the blue-slated central bar (with 3 TV’s per side) to taste each stylistically efficient ale. My wife settled on a bottled Wachusett Blueberry while I delved into the lighter fare this late afternoon session (after hitting Faneuil Hall’s shopping district).

Kolsch-Style Ale brought floral-hopped citric spicing to a phenol hop prickle, finishing like bark-dried lemon rot (but ain’t as unpleasant as that seems).

White Ale’s white-peppered, lemon-candied, orange-peeled coriander spicing suited its light effervescence.

IPA’s surprisingly soft tone contrasted wispy peach, apple and tangerine illusions against negligible hop pining.

Caramel-spiced orange and red fruits smudged grassy dry-hopped Red Ale.

The two seasonals on hand had less obvious stylistic guidelines so each benefited from being less regimentally specific. Holiday-styled Winter Wheat brought a nifty peppermint twist to orange-dried coriander-nutmeg-cinnamon spicing.

Better still, Snow Moon Belgian Trippel layered creamy cotton-candied banana over molasses gingerbread cookie sweetness, finishing with pastry-like banana-clove illusions resembling German hefeweizens.

Rock Bottom’s bottled beer selection included Lagunitas, Troegs, Left Hand, Magic Hat, Cisco and several well-known Belgians. Guest draughts were Victory Prima Pils, Ommegang Hennepin, Boulder Mojo IPA and local fave, Mayflower Porter.

www.rockbottom.com/boston

NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY

United States Brewpubs,

BOLTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Up a narrow rural road in rustic Bolton at an early Americana compound a few miles outside Worchester, NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY opened for business in 2004. Besides its estate-type vineyards and olden wood edifices, the winery also brews its own beers in one of its on-site dwellings. Visited post-Thanksgiving 2011, this multi-acre site also features several apple and peach trees plus an exquisite food menu paired with Nashoba Valley’s homemade wine and beer.

Past the weather-shaken gray farmhouse (with back deck) and open-air pavilion right down the beaten dirt path lies a manmade lake and the flag-smitten green ranch that houses the winery and restaurant. Samples of beer and wine were available at the back desk and bottles-to-go were available. I bought five different 22-ounce bottles of each available Nashoba Valley brew (reviewed in Beer Index). For those seeking a provocatively cloistered New England manor with debonair elegance and Old World charm, this vintage hilltop farm is king.

Nashoba Valley’s beers ran the gamut from styptic German-styled Bolt 117 (where citric juniper bittering overruns raw-grained herbal spicing); wavering alcohol-burnt Heron Ale (an OK ESB with singed mineral grains and wood-dried herbal tea respite); tart lemon-soured banana-clove hefeweizen Wattaquadock Wheat; oaken maple syrupy autumnal seasonal Oaktoberfest; vibrant pine-needled grapefruit rind-embittered IPA and viscous mocha-bound hop-charred Imperial Stout. Full reviews of these beers are found at Beer Index.

www.nashobawinery.com

CARTON BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for CARTON BREWING

CARTON BREWING STORMS OUT OF THE GATE

Two investigative white-collar relatives and a respected musician friend with a crappy home brew kit yearned to create the beer of their dreams. Soon, the triumphant triumvirate would perfect a session beer that’d be the calling card for their ambitious new project. Run by Augie Carton (a stockbroker), his cousin Chris Carton (a Newark defense attorney), and Jesse Ferguson (famed Def Jux producer), Carton Brewery opened its doors, August 2011.

Just a block away from the largest eastern seaboard marina at Sandy Hook (inside an unassuming lavender domicile), Atlantic Highlands’ upstart Carton Brewery shocked local Jersey competitors by winning the People’s Choice Award at the First Annual Asbury Beer Fest. Utilizing a 5,000 square foot, 2-storey structure built circa 1890 to house Methodist summer tents, the newly wood-floored space was adapted to a legitimate brewery after a year of preparation.

While Chris Carton admittedly admired the beer crafting skills of local Red Bank celebrity Gretchen Schmidhausler (formerly of Basil T’s), Augie’s been genuinely impressed by New York brewers Southern Tier and California’s Firestone Walker. Amongst Carton Brewery’s pristine first floor equipment is a sterling stainless steel baby fermenter used during early experimental phases. Holding 20 gallons of beer, this virtual ‘flavor finder’ allows for four separate five gallon batches to be created to find out which hop variety or yeast strain works better for each individual recipe. A Red Rye is being readied for the larger tanks as we speak. And last weekend, the Carton’s made a pilsner-styled beer with blue agave syrup.

“We’re high hop guys,” Augie insists. “The red rye is our comfort beer. Whatever hop we want to play with we jam into the recipe and see how it’s gonna come out. We may fool around with four different yeast strains the first time we do a wildcard brew. Then we’ll settle on one yeast for the full 20-gallon fermenter.”

After cracking some jokes, we gathered at the red-bricked second floor taproom, a pristinely rustic lounge with two ‘70s-styled leather couches, sturdy wood bar, flatscreen TV, and the three-tiered trophy won at Asbury’s beerfest.

Augie settles under the taps, pouring briskly lemon-seeded, grapefruit-sugared Carton Boat Beer, an instantly popular conventionality with curried peppercorn-tarragon herbage and weedy purple kush aromatics.

“The job of any session beer is to taste good cold and clear up a thirst,” Augie opines as angry Irish fiddle music plays in the background and the sun gleams through two skylights. “When you’re no longer gunning them down and you need the beer to warm up a bit – unlike macrobrewed lagers that go to hell at 40 degrees – we want Boat to stay interesting. As it warms, citric fruits turn to white stone fruits – peach, pear, apricot. What starts off super-piney becomes more mossy and chill and evolves. We chose Kolsch yeast because it stays out of the way of the iron-rich salty brined Jersey mineral water.”

Homegrown hero Bruce Springsteen blares from the speakers as we dip into zip-coded 077XX East Coast IPA, an expressive citric-candied medium body veering stylistically away from clean-watered West Coast rivals.

“We focus on harmony between bitterness and sugaring playing to our water source,” Augie shares as the all-important Saturday tasting crowd arrives. “We’re anti-type, but 077XX’s an India Pale Ale. It has a saltier eastern watering we’re not hiding or correcting except to take chlorine out with a carbon filter. There’s super-American floral tropical hops.”

Though he’s not with the Carton’s today, partner Jesse Ferguson grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, moved to New York to run the dopest indie hip-hop label (Def Jux), then married Augie’s wife’s best friend. Practicing zymurgy was initially difficult for the apprenticing Carton-Ferguson connection, but the curious trio just wouldn’t give up.

“Jesse was a super-helpful cool cat I gave a homebrewer kit to as a thank you present and he went ahead and brewed a terrible beer,” Augie laughs as we dip into headily approachable Carton BDG, a nut-charred, black-peppered, coffee-roasted dry body evoking French bread crust. “He started making better beers and Chris and I were drinking a lot. If we could get Russian River’s Pliney The Elder, we’d drink it as a session beer. So Jesse attempted to make a session beer. After five attempts, we were getting closer to what we truly wanted. We sent Jesse off on a year of internships to Georgia’s Terrapin Brewery and Kelso in Brooklyn.”

For mid-afternoon dessert, I try the pilot version of an unsweetened session stout exhibiting acridly swampy earthen soiling and chocolate-soured coffee oiling. According to Chris, it’s the world’s only dried milk stout. A finalized version will be available in January 2012.

“Ultimately, our plan was to expand beyond kegs,” Augie says. “We want to stay this size until we could bottle or can our own beer instead of using a contract brewer. As beach bums, we don’t necessarily want to bottle because boaters handle cans easier. Drinkability is a priority.”

Augie then elucidates about ‘loving the provocative interplay between beer, wine and food.’ Before long, the loquacious host displays a solid appreciation for ‘the difference certain hop spices and yeast batches make upon discovery.’

A week later, Augie shows up at Little Fall’s 381 Main to pour Come Out & Play, a one-time ‘common lager’ bringing chocolate-spiced dried fruiting to resinous Warrior-hopped nuttiness.

He concludes, “Last time we were here, 381 sold-out our Pumpkin Cream Ale in 30 minutes. So we thought we’d bring up something special again.”

During a March 2012 stopover, got to try a few new Carton beverages alongside the wife. While conversing with Carton brewmaster, Jesse Ferguson, at the first floor brewing area, he pours me a just-finished version of his latest concoction, Red Rye Returning. Served right from the tank, its caressing brown-sugared chocolate malting and dainty fig-sugared dalliance sit atop a serene peat-y rye base tingled by mild Simcoe hop bittering.

Then it’s off to the second floor bar where a few dozen brew hounds sample Carton’s sessionable Boat Beer and toast its brisk citric lure. Ferguson’s partners, Augie and Chris Carton, greet me and break out a pilot version of Honey Porter, a sensational newly tapped libation bringing uppity rum-spiced illusions to smoked maple molasses, black chocolate, honeyed pecan, purple grape, hickory and chicory illusions. Augie then gives me a shot of a fantastic Caribbean rum called Shipwreck that he’s trying to emulate with future piloted renditions.

As we get set to leave, I meet Dan Hitchcock, a young brewer whose Rushing Duck Brewing is due to open June ’12 in Chester, New York. The former Weyerbacher brewer (and American Brewers Guild grad) promises year-rounds such as Coffee Porter, Strong Ale and West Coast Pale Ale.

www.cartonbrewing.com

WORMTOWN BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

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WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

WORMTOWN BREWERY represents the second largest New England city, Worcester, an industrial and manufacturing community that’s home to Holy Cross University 30 miles west of Boston. Speedy expansion allowed Wormtown to move into its own 10,000 square foot downtown space (open St. Patrick’s Day 2015 in an old Buick dealership) after being housed at Peppercorns Grille for five years.

Brewer Ben Roesch offers “a piece of Massachusetts in every glass” thanks to locally sourced grains and hops. A fabulous Underground Ale Series is due sometime in 2016. A new bottling line allows flagship offerings such as the increasingly popular Be Hoppy, Bottle Rocket Pale Ale and Pumpkin Ale to be sold at liquor stores for deeper commercial exposure.

A backyard grain silo and stone-slated side patio mark Wormtown’s exterior while 10 tap handles grace the terrazzo-floored tasting room bar (with nifty front-walled beer name canvas, high ceilings, exposed pipes, Gruber growler filler and windowed brew tanks).

I stopped in after lunch at Brew City Grill – a few doors down – during January ’16, exploring seven previously untried libations.

Easygoing Fresh Patch Pumpkin got things going with its sweet pumpkin pie spicing contrasting dry pumpkin-roasted vegetalia, leaving a light ginger-nutmeg-allspice trail.

Described as a “liquid fueled rocket” dedicated to pioneering engineer Doctor Robert Goddard, Bottle Rocket Pale Ale loads citric-peeled tropicalia onto rye malt graining and grassy hop astringency.

Next, outstanding mainstay Hopulence DIPA, a sharply embittered citric-pined full body, brought a large yellow grapefruit peel contingent to orange-peeled pineapple, papaya, guava and passionfruit tropicalia (above the delicate French bread base).

Classic English brown ale, Blizzard Of ’78, utilized local roasted coffee beans from Acoustic Jam for its intriguing blend as cocoa dryness, charred nuttiness and dark-roasted hop bittering seeped into the reedy cherrywood bottom.

Combining subtle peat-smoked malts with cocoa-powdered brown chocolate sweetness and sugary dried fruiting, hybridized Slow Burn Rauch Bock retained a light bourbon lilt.

Just as interesting, Snafu Rye Wine combined dry rye malts with sweet IPA fruiting, bringing its tangy lemon-candied pineapple, peach, orange and tangerine glaze to the fore.

Arguably Wormtown’s finest offering this cold day was Sweet Tats, a robust breakfast-styled oatmeal stout surging forth with sugared coffee overtones backed by maple molasses oats, brown chocolate, espresso and vanilla richness.    

WORMTOWN’S FORMER BREWERY AT PEPPERCORNS:

Now occupied by Dave Richardson’s Flying Dreams Brewery, Peppercorns hosted Wormtown originally.

Connected to Peppercorns Grille & Tavern on Park Avenue in a freestanding tan edifice (with bright red Peppercorns sign), Wormtown has made fabulous inroads since opening its doors in 2010, winning a few Great International Beer Festival awards for a few well-regarded offerings.

On my initial post-Thanksgiving ’11 trip, my wife and I settled in for dinner at Peppercorns, seated across the pristine 10-stool wood bar near the slate gray side wall. Exposed pipes, multiple TV’s, several tables and local sports memorabilia bedeck the crowded bar while the equally busy wood-furnished backspace offered family dining. Wormtown’s glass-encased brew room sidles the right side next to the parking area.

Besides Wormtown’s ten efficient selections, Peppercorns serves bottled beers by Magic Hat, Abita, Dogfish Head, Bear Republic and Smuttynose (plus the tapped version of Berkshire Steel Rail) as well as extensive wine choices. Drink of the Week, Liquid Marijuana, blended Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum with Blue Curacao, Malibu Madori Pineapple Juice and sour mix. Hearty Italian dishes, burgers, seafood, and Neapolitan pizza crowded a large menu.

As the New England Patriots spanked the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday eve, I delved into a rich lobster corn soup and Bolognese Pasta (with beef, pork, tomatoes and herbs) to go with my ample sampler trays. One of the most impressive beers available this autumnal twilight was enchanting Wormtown Birthday Brew #1, a celebratory 1st anniversary ale placing woody Amarillo hops beside piney grapefruit-pineapple-peach-apple-mango fruiting and creamy corn-sugared caramel malts.

Lighter thirsts would be wise to start with mild red-orange-fruited Elm Park Amber Ale, a straightforward cereal-grained, caramel-toasted, peppery-spiced, beechwood-seared concoction just amiable enough to suit amateurs and aficionados alike.

Sweet-corned honeyed wheat lined the front end of fall seasonal, Wormtown Oktoberfest, a phenol-spiced mid-ranger carrying citric Noble hops to a back-tongued vegetal simmer.

Diacetyl lemon-rotted light body, Seven Hills Pale Ale, will provoke hop-heads with its grassy-hopped lemon rind bittering, dry bark acridity, and solvent-like alkaline acidity. And the washed-out Turtle Boy Blueberry Ale gives its astringent blueberry souring, slick hop phenols and nitro-like cream ale mouthfeel only a modicum of space to roam above the light white wheat backdrop.

Brewer Ben Roesch’s best offerings were right around the corner. On the dry side, The Buk Rye Pale Ale (brewed exclusively for Boston’s famed Bukowski Tavern) slipped pumpernickel rye breading into Citra-hopped grapefruit-lemon-pineapple-mango fruiting, toasted mineral graining and peppery herbage.

Even drier, Be Hoppy IPA matched dry grapefruit-juiced juniper bittering and pine-resinous floral spices to brisk orange-lemon-peach overtones layered atop creamy crystal malting.

Richer than its initial 2010 version, Mass Hole boasts ‘crystallized barley and zesty citrus,’ picking up wood-smoked malts, ample hop spicing and sharp nuttiness atop unripe orange, dried fig and grape esters. A nuttier find, Wormtown Wintah Brown Ale, allowed smoky cocoa, Brazil nut, walnut, hazelnut and tobacco illusions to infiltrate roasted hop-charred spices to its toasted brown breaded finish.

Tonight’s after dinner treat, Woosta Weizenbock, pleated chocolate-spiced smoked malts with sweet banana, cherry, apple and grape illusions as well as tertiary fig-sugared stewed prune, raisin puree, and date dalliances.

On half-hour pop-in during March 2012, tried Worcester’s Bravest Wheat Ale. Its herbal-spiced yellow fruiting, prickly hop fizz and candied crystal malting allowed mild lemon-limed orange peel tartness to reach menthol-freshened salty bottom.

www.wormtownbrewery.com

10 miles south of Worcester in the rural confines of Sturbridge, YANKEE SPIRITS (376 Route 20) had one of the best beer selections on the East Coast, comparing favorably to poughkeepsie’s Half Time and Manhattan’s New Beer Distributors.

CRICKET HILL BREWERY – RICK REED

United States Brewpubs, ,

CRICKET HILL BOASTS ‘BEST BEER ON EARTH’

It’s truly fitting that Grateful Dead’s “Built To Last” would be playing on the radio as I make my initial visitation to Cricket Hill Brewing Company. Just a few weeks earlier, the Fairfield-based microbrewery had been temporarily shutdown due to the nasty flooding Hurricane Irene brought to the area. Happily, the decade-old warehouse housing Cricket Hill was spared from water damage.

“God must love beer,” owner Rick Reed proclaims over the phone just days earlier. “Everybody else got flooded so there’s this Fairfield camaraderie now. We’re creating beer energy.”

Nevertheless, there were some early problems to overcome when Cricket Hill tried opening its doors May 15th, 2001. The first major concern was almost a showstopper. Reed bought brewing equipment, set up operations and filed for a federal brewer’s permit, but the disastrous events of 9-11 slowed the filing process and Reed didn’t receive a permit until 2002. Meanwhile, he’s struggling to pay rent and electricity to no avail.

“My brewer at the time told me as long as we have all this downtime, let’s brew a lager instead of an ale. So we made East Coast Lager,” Reed recalls. “Most microbreweries won’t do lagers because it takes too long and uses up too much space. Flying Fish doesn’t do any, but we do three now.”

Before getting involved in the brewing game, Reed worked in the computer services industry finding help for companies hiring cheaper overseas labor. On his 10th wedding anniversary, he and wife Patti headed to Bermuda. While driving around on a scooter, they came across now-defunct Triangle Brewery.

“Triangle had some wonderful beers,” Reed admits. “We left there knowing I had to get involved with brewing. The owner was a New Jersey accountant and the brewer left Chicago when his wife dumped him. I got a nice severance package from my old company and never looked back.”

At the time, there were only five breweries in Jersey. And Reed believed he could help Coors-Bud-Miller swiggers make the transition to better easy-to-drink beers.

Reed contends, “We didn’t want to scare away macrobrew drinkers. Our philosophy was to create Step One beers. Our four flagship beers – East Coast Lager, Hopnotic I.P.A., Colonel Blides Altbier and Breakfast Ale were definitely approachable. We also felt Jersey may be a fickle market, but when it turns it’ll do so with a vengeance. We’re a huge market.”

By 2007, Reed received additional capital from retired financier, John Watts, whose self-proclaimed job description, ‘Reserve and Small Batch Inspector,’ barely scrapes the surface. His monetary contribution helped Cricket Hill acquire fermenters and packaging supplies. And yes, he did help expand the specialty line and Reserve Series.

Presently, Cricket Hill is the third largest state brewery behind Flying Fish and River Horse, brewing 2,000 barrels and 13,000 cases of beer per year. A Pittsburgh native weaned on Iron City Beer (a ho-hum libation nearly as metallic as its namesake), Reed got into Ballantine Ale in the early ‘70s. At the time, he was a hard-nosed American refusing to try imported beers. Many years later, New Jersey’s Waterloo Beerfest had some great beers and he wondered why everyone was not “drinking this stuff.” Though he can’t remember which beers he enjoyed, Reed soon attended the American Brewers Guild for online testing and a one-week training session in Sacramento. In fact, Reed started a recent 25-day intern program for novice brewers at Cricket Hill.

“It exposes apprentices to every angle of a little brewery, from filtering to cleanup. So far, we’ve had a dozen guys come and ten now have jobs in the industry. Two are at Magic Hat and some others are at Brooklyn, Dogfish Head, Weyerbacher and Alaska breweries. They leave here with such a wonderful foundation of knowledge people hire them as cellar men and assistant brewers. It’s not as intense training as the Brewers Guild, but we take on three people per month for direct training. Presently, we’re writing a course curriculum,” he acknowledges.

Though Cricket Hill doesn’t necessarily make designer beers, head brewer, Mehmet Kadiev (who left for J.J. Bittings during 2013), has definitely enlarged the palate of his aged-in-the-wool boss. Kadiev made his mark at Fayetteville, Arkansas’ respectable Hog House Brewing Company. But he pined to move back to his home state and soon took on head duties for Reed.

“I got the opportunity and was happy,” Kadiev tells me as I sample Cricket Hill Nocturne Dark Lager, a brown-sugared, cocoa-seeded, coffee-roasted delight with bitter hops submerging malt sweetness. “A huge part of brewing is consistency. Hop varieties change from season to season. I’m a Hophead who loves Imperial I.P.A.’s. I also enjoy Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous 11th Anniversary Ale. It’s a supposed black I.P.A., which is an oxymoron to call a pale beer ‘black.’ I’d rather call them India Black Ales.”

Besides crafting batches of best selling East Coast Lager, Kadiev’s brewing a Russian Imperial Stout and Porter set for the winter, both of which will also come in limited edition bourbon barrel versions.

While Reed may not have an overly expansive palate, he admits being pleasantly surprised by how well the Reserve Series has been.

“The bourbon barleywine I could drink all night long. I love bourbon.” He adds, “You learn to have this appreciation for home brewers. It’s a lot of fun and a big adventure. The craft beer industry is truly a blast. I don’t have a very good critical palate. I just go by flavors without picking up certain illusions. Do I like or dislike it?”

So far, all Reed’s beers are made to the strict specifications of Germany’s purity law, which states only water, barley, hops, and yeast are used.

“I’m a purist,” Reed insists. “That’s not to say we won’t add seasoning. We never have. But one of our small batches may utilize that.”

Draft-only small batch brews such as Cricket Hill Belgian Dubbel have already knocked the sox off some Asbury Park Beerfest patrons I drank with in early October.

As we leave Reed’s office and return to the brew room, the two of us settle into a bottled version of Cricket Hill Bourbon Barleywine, the 500th brew made here at their busy 3,000 square foot facility. A heavenly elixir a tad softer than typical oak-aged barleywines, its chewy caramel malting and prickled hop spicing lead a parade of vanilla, pecan pie, chocolate cake, butterscotch, marzipan and coconut illusions.

Like a rugged old codger, Reed likes to tell tall tales to unsuspecting customers. If you’re speculating about Cricket Hill’s chirpy moniker, he’ll tell you one of three stories.

“I tell ‘em when the Germans came over the first commercial hop farm in Saranac was named Cricket Hill. That’s a lie.” He continues, “The second is Australians drink more beer per capita than any country and the game of cricket could last for days and the blokes drinking blue collar beers sit on Cricket Hill. That’s true. But the real story is my Boonton-based 1753 farmhouse had a barn we wanted to convert into a tavern but got denied permission.”

Furthermore, Reed’s Hilarious Brew Plant Tour Speech on Youtube (given at most Friday night 5 to 7 PM tasting tours) is extremely entertaining. Amongst other goodies, Reed defiantly alleges, “You have been brainwashed since you were children to believe there’s nothing else to drink than Miller-Coors. They think we’re stupid!”

On my second sojourn to Cricket Hill on Veteran’s Day in November, Reed gives a different rant at the tasting tour, one that salutes our brave armed forces. After toasting the vets on hand, he then rails against the music industry’s archaic royalty rules, which state that he has to ‘supposedly’ pay $500 for any copyrighted songs the local instrumental Jazz combo plays.

As an extended jam of Van Morrison’s seductive “Moondance” plays in the background, the line for beer goes out the backdoor. But patient customers have no trouble reaching the serving station within a few minutes. On tap, Cricket Hill’s Paymaster Porter retains a deeper prune hue, richer mocha malting, more pronounced dried fruiting, and mossier earthen dewiness.

Even better, the newly unveiled Trappist India Pale Ale displays a wonderful musty Belgian yeast funkiness to contrast affluent raisin, prune, and fig notes above feisty sharp-hopped black peppering and creamy caramel malting. It’s a splendid addition to Cricket Hill’s increasingly illuminating elixirs.

Best of all, Reed’s enthusiastic disposition and jovial personality make the Friday tasting sessions the perfect retreat for hardened beer nuts. And the love he shows for his sanctified minions extends to the beer Cricket Hill serves. Cheers!