On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, dry golden-paled Polish-styled light body lets raw honeyed pilsner malting leaven doughy white bread sweetness while mild lemony herbal bittering buttresses grassy hop astringency.
UNTIED ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN MILK STOUT
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, dry burnt coffee roast entry receives bittersweet chocolate, burnt caramel and charred walnut backup as distant cherry-plum snips waver.
UNTIED UNCHARTED DEPTHS BELGIAN DARK ALE
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, fine Belgian strong ale lets candi-sugared fig, date and plum spicing glaze chocolate-malted caramelized rye base. At the midst, spritzy orange zesting soaks wintry ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon seasoning.
UNTIED PIONEER AMBER ALE
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, dewy Extra Special Bitter leaves earthen nuttiness and cocoa powder upon Maris Otter-malted caramelized rye base.
CLOWN SHOES BLAECORN YULEDRAGON SPICED IMPERIAL STOUT
Christmas-spiced version of exuberant stout throws brown-sugared dry spicing into the creamily frothed dark chocolate midst, leaving vanilla-daubed nutmeg, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and coconut illusions to contrast less prominent nut charred bittering.
CLOWN SHOES COCONUT SOMBRERO MEXICAN STOUT
Verstatile Mexican stout with fluffy tan head rising above its mahogany body lets toasted coconut sugaring tease the creamily vanilla-daubed black chocolate surface and wintry cayenne-peppered nutmeg, cinnamon and cumin seasoning. Light caramel-burnt maple sapping and slight gingerbread snap counter nut-charred cocoa powdering beneath.
CLOWN SHOES BURNT CARAMEL AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Restricted dark candi-syruped burnt caramel adjunct washed out as light maple molasses sweetness falters alongside distant fig, chestnut and acorn illusions dulled further by dreary apple-skinned orange musk.
CLOWN SHOES COSMIC WAFFLE BELGIAN-STYLE IPA
Rich rummy ethanol boozing penetrates white-peppered Belgian yeast funk (reminiscent of Orval/ Saison Dupont) plugged into vodka-smoothed, Cryo-hopped tropical fruiting. Juicy pineapple, zesty lemon, tangy orange, pink grapefruit, mango and cherry burst forth as mild floral spicing and slight wood tones reach honeyed wheat base.
CLOWN SHOES AURORA ORANGEALIS INDIA PALE ALE
Tangy orange peel adjunct stays bittersweet above doughy baguette base, picking up mildly spiced grapefruit-pineapple wisps and phenol hop astringency before fading at the dry finish.
CLOWN SHOES BAKED GOODS PALE ALE
Zesty tropical fruited ‘hoppy’ pale ale stays sessionable as mild pine resin soaks up sharply dry pineapple, grapefruit and orange rind bittering and peachy mango tang, leaving phenol hop astringency to contrast its daintily spiced crystal sugaring.
CLOWN SHOES LUCHA CERVEZA
OK Mexican-styled pale lager brings lightly salted corn chipped spelt graining to the fore as lightly creamed Scotch malting soothes lemon-sugared herbal nips.
KEUKA BREWING COMPANY
HAMMONDSPORT, NEW YORK
Residing at an inconspicuous Industrial styled farmhouse with insulated white roof in the vineyard-lined Steuben County village of Hammondsport, KEUKA BREWING COMPANY opened in 2008. By 2010, Mark Musso took over the brew tanks and began drifting into barrel aging, mixed fermentation and offbeat traditional beer recipes. Many of his limited edition one-offs have become Musso’s most cherished offerings while longstanding faves such as Afterburner Habanero Ale and Ghost of Rita Gose prove both experimental and highly welcoming.
A benched front deck with picnic tables and firepit welcomes patrons to the agrarian hillside pub. The overhead doored, cement-floored tasting room features a ten-seat wood-lacquered bar with wainscoting-paneled aluminum siding, pendant lights and central octagon tiled draught station. Two narrow wood benched community tables with metal pipe fit crossbars and a few barreled tables front the bar. Brew tanks are stored in the rear.
Alongside Keuka’s house beers were Southern Tier vodkas and local wines on my early December ’23 noontime journey. I took home a few brews reviewed in Beer Index.
Dry light lager, Dock Beer, spread spritzy lemon fizz atop salty pretzeled doughy pilsner malts and spicy hop smidge.
Mild habanero peppering glides thru floral-daubed mango salting and tangy pineapple juicing of brisk Tropical Afterburner Light Ale, gaining lemony respite.
Waxy floral fruiting embraced dry Keuka Pale Ale, leaving lemony grapefruit bittering and light gin-tinged juniper botanicals upon its buttered biscuit base.
Powdered sugaring and wispy vanilla maple creaming saddled the cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice autumnal seasoning of Pumpkin Cream Ale, picking up a candied apple glaze.
Bittersweet blueberry caking gains doughy wheat sugared glaze and mildly brisk lemon zesting for lactic vanilla creamed wheat ale, Blueberry Cake Donut, a fruity pastry-like dessert.
Sharply spiced lemony grapefruit spritz picked up mild floral herbage and woody Chinook hop dryness for Polymorphic #27, the latest in a series of mixed hopped NEIPA’s.
Closer to a milkshake IPA, Polymorphic #28 retained vanilla-sugared marshmallow fluff and oated wheat creaming for its zestful lemony grapefruit, orange, tangelo and guava heist.
Ice pop-derived fruited sour, Sticky Drips – Bomb Pop, had its limey cherry and blue raspberry tartness receive dry bourbon wisps, sneaky green grape tannins and lemon-dropped orange snips.
Medium roast coffee bean entry gained milk-sugared vanilla creaming and dark chocolate bittering for Local Mocha Stout, a relaxing full-bodied digestif.
Decadent lactose-aided milk stout, Cookies And Cream, let its chocolate cookie richness rise above creamy vanilla sugaring for blissful luxuriant dessert.
Barrel aged in 4 Roses bourbon for eight months, Fat Stack Maple Pecan Porter stayed smooth as thick maple syruping coats pecan pie sweetness as well as dry vanilla tannins contrasting latent whiskeyed brown chocolate, cola nut, almond and caramel illusions.