Dry hazy golden moderate-medium body lets stylish piney grapefruit bittering occupy mild oats-flaked pale malting. Candied lemon glaze, scurried orange rind musk and salted pineapple zesting gather at the finish.
TAYLOR BROOKE SHANTAY YOU STAY SOUR ALE WITH PEACH
Utilizing sourdough yeast thickens the peach-pureed tartness of vanilla-creamed kettle sour ale. Slightly acidic peach spritz acquires lemon-dropped pear and cider subtleties.
TAYLOR BROOKE NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS RED ALE
Dewy earthen mossing frontloads English brown ale-like cocoa-dried bittering, nut-roasted hop astringency and brown-leafed tobacco roast, drowning out its amber grain-sweetened red and orange fruited expectancy.
TAYLOR BROOKE BREWERY
WOODSTOCK, CONNECTICUT
A unique family-owned homestead featuring a full-scale brewery and winery, TAYLOR BROOKE BREWERY & WINERY occupies two separate farmhouses up a hill in the historic town of Woodstock.
Inside a maroon aluminum barn with towering brew tanks behind a wood top serving station, Taylor Brooke’s cement-floored main pub space placed community tables underneath glass-cylindered Edison lights and exposed pipes hanging from the high ceiling. A mezzanine area stations the original pilot system.
During March ’22 sojourn, my wife and I discovered nine TB brews and brought a few for the road (reviewed in Beer Index).
Locally grown flaked corn gave light lager, Height Of Luxury, its buttered popcorn pep as spritzy lemon fizz crackled beyond its wispily mossy vegetal souring.
Cocoa-dried Czech dark lager, Throes Of Winter, plied sedate honeyed nuttiness to woody Saaz hop astringency.
Vanilla creamed banana and clove sweetness draped bitter orange peel, grains of paradise tartness and white-peppered lemongrass herbage for Bulrush, a fulsome witbier with a sturdy sugared wheat base.
Easygoing Strawberry Milkshake IPA spread milk-sugared lactose all over mildly tart pureed strawberry, tangy ruby red grapefruit and tertiarily sour passionfruit-guava-kiwi tropicalia.
Mixed fermentation farmhouse ale, Woodstock Veraison, pushed brettanomyces acidity and sour wine yeast into apple-juiced petit Sirah, Frontenac and cayuga must plus dry plum whim. A mouth puckering sour saison.
Fermented on proprietary Corot Noir wine and lightened further by spelt-flaked pilsner malts, Harvest Berliner Weiss gained mild lemon souring, vinous red-green grape esters and briny pinot snips.
Another Harvest Berliner Weiss, influenced by Wild Fox Concord-like grapes and sumac, stayed sharply acidic as salty lemon tartness coalesced with tannic grape-plum dryness above earthen leathering.
Smooth dark-roast chocolate malting led lactic nitro milk stout, Stoggy Hollow, picking up molasses-sapped cinnamon bark resin and latent hazelnut, cola and macadamia illusions.
Creamy vanilla sweetness amplified Bigelow Hollow, letting black coffee-dried cocoa and black malt bittering reach the vanilla frontage above oats-flaked caramel malts and distant walnut-shelled pistachio and macadamia snips.
BLACK POND BREWS
DAYVILLE, CONNECTICUT
Next to farmland in the tiny village of Dayville, BLACK POND BREWS currently occupies a red brick-fronted warehouse with a white brick rear entrance and plastic-benched back porch. Named after a local Woodstock, Connecticut party spot, its original pub was in nearby Killington. The new space offers 500% more capacity for the increased beer volume now produced.
Co-owners Mike Tweed and Coby Smith got together in 2010 and soon won a contest with their Machu Pichu Jalapeno Saison. By 2014, they guided a popular local taproom and got serious about expanding operations, moving the tap house in 2021.
Inside a gray cement-floored storehouse, Black Pond’s wood-topped ten-seat back bar is fronted by plastic benches, creating a splendid casual homey feel. The expansive brew tank area actually takes up the anterior space.
Now equipped with a full kitchen, sandwiches, flatbread pizza, weinerschnitzel and bratwurst join the soft-watered suds and serious spirits menu.
My wife and I tried all six available draughts on our March ’22 Sunday lunchtime stopover. Remarkably, when I perused Black Pond’s website Feb. ’24, all eight draughts were different.
Part of Black Pond’s rotating sour series, lactose-bound Alice Scooper Fruited Smoothie, let its mildly milk-sugared vanilla creaming pick up confectionery cotton-candied strawberry puree to contrast the briny acidulated wheat base.
Tart passionfruit-juiced light body, Captain Misbehavior Gose, allowed lemon-oiled pomegranate salting and mild guava-kiwi tropicalia to sit atop its pale straw white wheat base.
Easygoing Baby Tears, a West Coast IPA, brought mildly perfumed lemony grapefruit zesting and tart green grape esters to corn-dried pale malts.
Delicately fruited It’s Fun To Do Bad Things, a hazy New England IPA, placed subtle grapefruit, mandarin and clementine tanginess next to honeyed peach sweetness and mild piney hop bittering above polite vanilla-creamed crystal malting.
Smoky black malts embittered Pond Factory, a coffee-stained dark ale with dry nut-shelled earthiness.
Sweet-toothed dessert ale, Snack River (Red Velvet Cake), plied sweet brown chocolate fudging to mild vanilla-daubed buttercream frosting.
BEAR HANDS BREWING COMPANY
PUTNAM, CONNECTICUT
Residing in the old New England mill town of Putnam, Connecticut’s BEAR HANDS BREWING COMPANY set up shop during February 2020. A bustling tavern near the historic former railroad station, its friendly neighborhood bohemian feel gets captured by ex-homebrewing married couple, Justion and Kayla Trant. Their compact lantern-lit taproom emulates a cozy streetside low-ceilinged English pub. A metal-furnished gated front patio offers further seating as does the lower-level Prohibition Era-styled Speakeasy.
The wood-floored pub features a few four-seat tables. Glass-encased brew tanks are behind the diminutive, eight-stooled, twelve-draught, rear wood bar. Downstairs at the loungy Speakeasy, an L-shaped, wood cabinet-adorned bar with brass draught board services a couched lounge area (with widescreen TV).
Interestingly, alongside the fine food fare and good beers are flights of whiskey, Scotch and mini martinis.
My wife and I had wings and pizza while downing ten fine offerings in the dungeon-like Speakeasy.
Sourdough-grained pilsner malts and corn-dried vegetal whims soothed The Light Kellerbier, a pale malt-lagered moderation with mild cellar musk.
Sweet rice-caked corn entry gained (9% ABV) malt liquored boozing for Imperial Bohemian Pilsner, Czeching Up, leaving spicy lemon licks on the biscuity bottom.
Dewy amber grains sweetened Irish Red Ale, Drunken Leprechaun Rave, letting melanoidin barleycorn scour its murky red-orange fruiting.
Purplish blue-hued Violet Beauregard’s Revenge Blueberry Ale brought tart blueberry puree essence to spritzy lemon zesting and waxy fruit lacquering over a sugary wheat base.
Jolly Rancher-like Crashing The Party (Oh Yeah!) – part of the Juice Box Sour Series – let lemon-limed candied cherry, watermelon, orange and boysenberry tartness form a lollipop guild.
Limey white peach tang and mild orange juicing set up New England IPA, Show Me Triumph, picking up light pine comb bittering to contrast latent saffron-spiced lemongrass daubs.
Zestful orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and dry piney insurgence anchored NEIPA, King DIPHA, placating peach, pineapple and papaya tropicalia.
Creamy brown chocolate and vanilla sweetness upped the toffee-spiced goodness of Jingers Brown Ale, a sweet-toothed sensation.
Nutty black chocolate resilience guarded Dessert, a rich Imperial Vanilla Coconut Porter with sweet vanilla-teased coconut milking and burnt coffee reminder.
Confectionery peanut butter cup knockoff, Ermegerd, saddled its bittersweet dark cocoa powdering with oily nuttiness and sweet soy saucing for a full-bodied mocha stout.
SHUNOCK RIVER BREWERY
NORTH STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT
Inside a historic maroon-shingled Colonial edifice above North Stonington’s riverside rapids, SHUNOCK RIVER BREWERY & VILLAGE CAFE is stationed at an inconspicuous intersection merging residential neighborhoods.
Opening its doors November 29, 2019, Shunock Brewery added a wood-fired pizza oven a year hence. A cozy nanobrewery with small left side brew tank section across the diminutive six draught bar, its windowed frontage features several barrel-top tables while the waterside covered deck provides Edison-lit wood benches for further capacity.
An old hardware store converted into a friendly local cafe, SRB offers casual rustic Americana. Vintage mushroom boarding consumes the chestnut-columned interior and olden wood cabinets adorn the bar.
During my March ’22 one-hour journey, ate green peppered onion-topped pizza with wife while imbibing six approachable suds.
Dry citrus-spiced Eldorado Pale Ale let subtle lemon rind and yellow grapefruit bittering contrast tangy tangerine and mandarin orange misting above musky wood-toned herbage.
Utilizing local pumpkins, moderately maple syrupy North Stonington Pumpkin Ale picked up daintily autumnal cinnamon-sugared nutmeg seasoning for its brown-sugared pumpkin pie dalliance.
Easygoing IPA, River Monster Bitch, brought mild Mosaic-hopped lemony yellow grapefruit bittering to lightly pined Simcoe hops and dry pale malting.
Lactose-laden milkshake IPA confection, Orange Creamsickle, hid its vanilla-creamed orange tartness and lemon meringue piquancy behind dry hop astringency.
Local honey paraded thru lightly maple molasses-sapped Honey Maple Brown Ale, leaving nutty mocha remnants.
Dark chocolate glazed dewy English-styled Cocoa Nib Stout, picking up faded maple walnut coffee tones and sweet hazelnut snips.
SOUTHERN TIER NITRO CREME BRULEE IMPERIAL MILK STOUT
On tap at Ambulance, embraceable lactose-sugared nitro variant of fab creme brulee dessert stout promotes eggy chocolate custard milkiness for vanilla-beaned caramel latte splendor, fudged toffee spicing and toasted coconut tag. Along the way, tertiary Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish Cream, sarsaparilla, cappuccino, Black Forest cake and hazelnut cream cake illusions help fortify cascading mahogany-bodied sensation.
UNTITLED ART MEXICAN STYLE CHOCOLATE POT DE CREME STOUT
On tap at Taphouse 15, remarkably complex sea-salted Mexican chocolate-loaded full body retains fudgy cocoa nibs stead as cinnamon, macadamia nut and brownie batter adjuncts bounce off vanilla bean creaminess. Caramelized peanut buttering, chocolate cake frosting, cookie dough chewiness and confectionery Reese’s Pieces candy sweetness amass bold sweet-toothed nightcap.
DROWNED LANDS BOURBON BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT
On tap at Ambulance, luxurious bourbon-aged vanilla creaming, dark chocolate syrup and maple molasses drape richly spirited, velvety smooth nightcap. Rangy chocolate, black and crystal malting deepens bourbon whir as tawny port, cognac and sherry illusions make cameos.
ABOMINATION PEANUT BUTTER PIE MIDNIGHT SNACK STOUT
On tap at Taphouse 15, creamily smooth peanut buttering and fudgy dark chocolate syrup drape caramelized Snickers-like pastry stout. Chewy chocolate nougat center picks up brownie-battered toasted coconut, glazed hazelnut and spiced toffee sweetness.
TIMBER COSM OF DARKNESS
On tap at Taphouse 15, rich cassia-barked Imperial Stout lets spicy cinnamon contingent and smoky vanilla beaning get draped by dark chocolate syrup as hazelnut-glazed coconut toasting and light bourbon influence help propel moderately creamed mocha-spiced finish of blustery nightcap.
