Well selected dozen from one of Boston’s finest brewers, Clown Shoes, a company that started as gypsy brewers utilizing nearby Mercury Brewing before gaining massive East Coast publicity and beginning their own separate brewing venture. Here’s the nine newest Christmastime celebrators I recently quaffed during college football Saturday ’21.
CLOWN SHOES LIL’ CRISPY CRISP ALE
Easygoing yellow-cleared cumulous-headed blonde provides spry yellow grapefruit-seeded lemon spritz and wispy lime zesting for grassy hop stead over caramelized pale malt spicing. Crisply clean sedation.
CLOWN SHOES ROYAL STANDARD WEE HEAVY ALE
Sweet peated malts and earthen truffle dewing secure mild nutty dried fruiting of wee heavy Scotch ale. Desiccated orange, fig and date ride alongside sweet butternut-chestnut conflux and herbal tea respite above cereal-grained Golden Promise barley malting.
CLOWN SHOES REINDEER GAMES BAVARIAN IPA
Slightly offbeat IPA relies on pasty Bavarian malt spicing and earthen Noble hops to engage caramelized dried fruiting (pear-apricot-fig), leaving dryer-than-expected grapefruit and orange influence and resinous pine tones in the lurch. Rich German IPA at Christmastime anyone?
CLOWN SHOES MANGO FARM IPA
Bright mango salted bittering outdoes any sweet tropical fruited influence as brisk lemony orange-peeled yellow grapefruit zesting and mild passionfruit-guava souring reach dry piney bottom. Could use sturdier mango thrust at the sharp citric-spiced finish.
CLOWN SHOES SPACE CUPCAKE INDIA PALE ALE
Mild Mosiac-hopped lemony orange-grapefruit tang turns dry as pasty pale malt sugaring brings gluey paper starching to floral-daubed pine resin.
CLOWN SHOES GALACTICAKE DOUBLE IPA
Mildly embittered grapefruit-peeled orange pith dryness lingers above pasty pale malt spicing as subtle vanilla creaming soaks up ethyl vodka whir. Tertiary pineapple, mango and peach illusions serenade the delicate citrus finish.
CLOWN SHOES ONE MAN HOLIDAY BELGIAN-STYLE QUADRUPEL
Just a tad underwhelming taste-wise. Subtle candi-sugared raisin, plum and fig sweetness plus glazed pecan nuttiness receive lightly creamed molasses toffee buttering as spiced orange snip and wispy white peppered herbage stay back in dewy tobacco-roasted peat setting.
CLOWN SHOES THE EXORCIST DRY-HOPPED STOUT
Frothy coffee-roasted Blackstrap molasses bittering picks up tarry pine-charred hop sear to reinforce dry cocoa center contrasting less intense burnt caramel sugaring. Mild espresso, walnut, cola and tobacco chaw illusions surface latently.
CLOWN SHOES ADVENT PARTY CRASHER IMPERIAL STOUT
Undead Party Crasher Stout given subtle mandarin orange twist outpaced by caramel coffee goodness. Java sway gains light vanilla influence as well as walnut, pecan and honey nut smidge nudging tarry-hopped peaty compost bottom.
FOX FARM BREWERY
SALEM, CONNECTICUT
Open 2018 in the remote rural bedroom community of Salem, Connecticut, FOX FARM BREWERY incorporates two distinct refurbished farmhouses with plenty of outside seating along the agrarian homestead.
The expansive grain-siloed maroon and white complex (shown above) houses the pristinely open-aired natural wide plank pine-walled pub. Its majestic gable ceiling and dazzling wood interior are reminiscent of a town church. A wood top serving station features twelve tap handles while a few tables, counters and Edison lights fill out the raw space. The large rear area contains many standard stainless silver brew tanks. A slate side deck adds further seating.
Going around back, the separate white-columned farmhouse with beautiful earth-toned stone frontage stores the sour and spontaneous ale tanks.
My wife and I grab a table at the pub’s mezzanine, November ’21, to down a few pints on a brisk Sunday.
Many Fox Farms brews have a rustic, reserved feel and various European styles are respectfully well crafted.
Musky raw-grained Saaz hop herbage, celery-watered lemon oiling and delicate floral spicing refined German-style pilsner, Gather, a stylistically robust Bavarian Kellerbier.
Spritzy sour lemon herbage, orange-dried champagne esters and mild white peppered floral spicing paced dry kolsch, Bower, softly rising above its doughy bread crusting.
Tidy pale ale, Amble, let piney lemongrass-herbed Columbus hop musk seep inside perky grapefruit-orange spicing.
Sedate blonde ale, Little Brook, allowed sunshiny yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange, peach and tangelo tanginess reach its grassy hop stead as mild pine resin and slight herbage stay distant.
Straightforward easygoing India Pale Ale, Burst, maintained a crisply clean citrus spritz as tangy orange, tartly sour lemon and zesty grapefruit laced mildly bitter pine hops.
Mild unfiltered IPA, Tideline, took mellow grapefruit rind bittering and subtle mandarin orange, pineapple and mango tanginess to juniper-licked grassy hops.
Another soothingly soft-toned IPA, Alta, brought floral-spiced yellow grapefruit, orange rind, pineapple, peach and tangerine tanginess plus spritzy lemon zesting to piney hop resin above spelt-like wet graining.
Brisk orange-peeled grapefruit zesting fronted bold Imperial IPA, Burrow, pushing lemon-candied peach, pineapple and tangelo tartness forward alongside mild piney hop bittering topping crystal malt sugaring. Arguably Fox Farm’s best elixir.
Perfectly re-creating a German rauchbier, The Camp Smoked Lager let beechwood-seared peat malts pick up meat-cured salami, pastrami and bacon fat above dried cocoa malts, leaving stylish soap-stoned Band-aid-like astringency upon the smoky finish.
Dry waddle-seeded pumpernickel rye breading soaks up lightly embittered dark cocoa and black chocolate malting above dewy peat earthiness for English-styled Dark Mild, Tiddly, a frothily creamed nitrogenated charmer.
For a true turnabout, exquisitely vinous Foeder-aged Biere De Garde, punctuated its mildly puckered white wine tannins and lemon-lime-squeezed green apple cider souring with leathery barnyard acridity, leaving earthy sawgrass, heart of palm, alfalfa and horseblanket whims on the funky farmhouse ale’s tail end.
BEER’D BREWING COMPANY (THE SILO) – GROTON
GROTON, CONNECTICUT
Following the success of its Stonington pub at American Velvet Mill, BEER’D BREWING COMPANY opened “The Silo” in nearby Groton’s Airport Business Park during January, 2020. Inside a gray aluminum cement-floored warehouse with large beige silo and casual front deck, the pristine black-walled Industrial art deco pub features a slate top, 12-seat, slate top bar containing 24 tap handles and black pendant lighting.
There are several tables and chairs fronting the bar and a few cool canvassed mod art designs hanging sparsely along the walls. The distinct Beer’d insignia sits across from the bar.
Producing 6,000 gallons of beer yearly at Groton’s 12,000 square-foot operation will increase production threefold for convivial entrepreneurial partners, Aaren Simoncini and Precious Putnam.
My wife and I stumbled upon four previously untried beers on my initial November ’21 stopover.
Stylishly offbeat, quirkily fruited, Huell Melon/ Mandarina Bavaria-hopped pilsner, Connecticut Casual, plied salty grapefruit-pineapple bittering to lemony sour-candied Gummy Bear tartness above its straw-dried bohemian pilsner malt floor.
Dry Imperial IPA, Riff, let floral grapefruit-peeled orange pith bittering and lacquered pineapple-passionfruit-mango tropicalia pick up musky herbal pining and slight grassy hop astringency above glass-candied crystal malting.
Cold-brewed coffee infiltrated P^2 (with Coffee), a full-bodied java-based cold one with cocoa-smoked roasted chocolate grazing tobacco-chawed bittering.
Nutty roasted espresso beaning led Russian Imperial Stout, Roulette, a rich nightcap with dark cocoa and black coffee riffs settling above tarry hop-charred oats.