Mild English-styled brown ale blurs powdered cocoa, sour chocolate, and sweet caramel nuances into muted hazelnut-pecan-almond quagmire, causing subdued barley-hop roast to squander tenuous malt smudge.
NEW GLARUS EDEL-PILS
Shabby soured wheat bounty and putrid cabbage nose flaw citric domain. Mild lemony hop flow slides under carbolic spume. Bavarian yeast, brought in for Edel styling, does nothing to counter buttery astringency or sulfuric sniff.
(NEW ENGLAND) SEA HAG INDIA PALE ALE
Despite black-canned packaging, there’s no tinny metallic prompting diverting estimable IPA. Sugar-caned cereal-grained honeycombed malts invite tangy red apple, pear, apricot, nectarine, tangerine, and mango fruiting to brighten rosy floral zest countering lemony orange-peeled sourness. Muted piney bitterness may upset zealous hop-heads, but sweetly approachable nature will win over the rest.
NEW ENGLAND OATMEAL STOUT
Sticky lactic stout with tan-headed bronzed-mahogany hue compensates coffee-roasted maple mocha buttress with barley-roasted pale oats sugaring and sour-malted dried fruiting. A shade beneath stiff competition from comparative oatmeal stouts.
NEW ENGLAND HOLIDAY ALE
Jaunty prune-hued tan-headed seasonal treat with sweet yeast waft, chewy plum flavoring and spicy clove backdrop brightened by oncoming berry brightness to efficient malted barley finish.
NEW ENGLAND GOLD STOCK ALE
Unobtrusive premium ale is safe bet for soft pilsner and light ale drinkers alike. Toasted graining, lemony grapefruit bittering, and zippy apricot-orange tang confront musty diacetyl backend. Cotton-candied floral-spiced carbolic fizz dissipates at wispy fruited malt finish. A safe bet for soft drinkers.
NEW ENGLAND ELM CITY LAGER
By 2007, New England Brewery had relocated outside inceptive Norwalk site. Tinny green-canned straw-hued light-bodied German-styled pilsner yields to defective metallic astringency and slobbered malt liquor mustiness. Mild lemon-curried grapefruit-pitted bittering and rotten orange-peach sourness debilitate white-breaded rye wheat base, but mineral watered crispness ups the ante a bit for crisply clean session beer.
NEW ENGLAND ATLANTIC AMBER
(NEW CENTURY) MOONSHOT ’69 LAGER
Easygoing light lager contract brewed by Matt Brewery (makers of Saranac) christened after ’69 lunar landing to coincide with amount of caffeine used (69 grams) – same as a cup of coffee. Glutinous sour candied lemon drop opening overrides meagerly toasted cardboard-like barley-oats bottom, dry cocoa tease, and sweet corn smidgen.
(NEW CENTURY) EDISON LIGHT PILSNER
Supposedly the original ‘light beer,’ this soft-bodied pale pils isn’t processed, chemically altered ‘lite’ fare a la Miller or Butt Lite. However, sudsy washed-out fizz undermines garbled barley-hop presence. Mild bittersweet grain palate too passe to challenge dedicated drinkers.
NEWCASTLE BROWN ALE
Buttery barley-roasted caramel malting saddles delicate yeast sinew and mild tea backdrop. Ticklish spice hop fizz simmers to almond wine seduction. On tap, silken nut-spiced subtleties combine better for more relaxed elegance and near perfect rating.
NEW BELGIUM 2 BELOW ALE
Sweet-grained ‘tawny roasted’ malts broaden orange-pineapple tang of harvest gold seasonal. But nary one dry-hopped spice comes forth despite wintry appellation.