On tap at Taphouse 15, lightly lactic Earl Grey tea knockoff is stylishly blurry, ill-defined and unassuming. Supposed Belgian influence lacks focus and buttery almond adjunct fades fast as herb-tinged bergamot orange oiling seems misplaced or underused.
Tart iridescently pink Torico banana ice cream knockoff may not fulfill potential sundry flavor profile but retains spirited fruiting. Creamily milk-sugared Laffy Taffy-candied tartness fades into pineapple-salted orange zesting and subtle Sangria wining for spritzy fruited Berliner Weisse.
Vinous kettle-soured Berliner weisse lets tart tangerine, peach, papaya and pink guava adjuncts gain salty lemon-squeezed acidity before concentrated orange juicing enters the fray. Serve to devoted sour heads.
Tart ginger-spiced blood orange zesting and herbal Belgian yeast combine for mildly divergent witbier. Lemony orange-candied piquancy and orange-oiled grassy hop astringency pick up wispy lemongrass minting over daintily vanilla-creamed wheat base of dryer-than-stylish moderation.
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, mellow white wheat-based moderation conditioned on watermelon stays crisp as celery-watered cucumber cleanness pleats watermelon rind earthiness. A bit unassuming but not bad.
On tap at River Of Beer, waveringly ‘modified’ hefeweizen scoffs usual banana-clove insistence for lemon-soured herbal fungi and doughy wheat mold.
On tap at River Of Beer, robust Czech pilsner brings dewy peat sweetness to dried orange tartness and leafy hop astringency over pasty wheat malts.
SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY
Launched in December ’20, Summit’s BULL N BEAR BREWERY holds its own with formidable local competitors Trap Rock, Twin Elephant, Untied and Lions Roar. Utilizing a rear-stationed 10-barrel steam system with a reverse osmosis water filter adding a clean finish to each tidy elixir, this tavern-like downtown pub creates crushable stylistic fare.
Founding owner Will Dodge, a Belgian beer lover, teamed up with head brewer Mike Formisano, a nationally recognized award-winning home brewer leaning towards traditional German and English styled brews, to solidify the menu at this cozy gray-walled Central Jersey hotspot.
An inconspicuous glass-doored, wood-floored workshop with left side serving station countering a few wood chairs, Bull N Bear’s stainless steel brewing tanks create the superbly stylistic varietal selections, some with an added twist.
My wife and I enjoyed ten sundry selections on a sunny Saturday at noon, September ’21.
Earthen amber-grained minerality surfaced softly for dryly dewy California Common Stock, a traditional steam beer utilizing herbal Goldings hops for a mild English-styled bittering.
Crisply autumnal Von Albrecht Oktoberfest let dewy foliage sweeten its compost-like field graining and brisk red-orange fruiting for simple seasonal splendor.
Raw honeyed spicing slid into mildly embittered hop astringency for Investment Grade Honey Blonde, an easygoing off-dry moderation.
Lemony banana, clove and coriander graced Hedge Fund Hefe, leaving salty Noble-hopped herbal remnant upon its sourdough bottom.
Slightly sweet coriander-spiced orange zesting faded into mild banana tartness and teasing lemongrass-chamomile herbage to set up Wit-Collar Crime, a dryer than usual Belgian-styled witbier.
Sweet ‘n sour orange pureed spicing and Belgian candi-sugared yeast hid musky herbage for Tranche Saison, an efficient farmhouse ale with mild barnyard acridity.
Dryer stylishly, Saint Alphonsus Dubbel plied raisin, plum and prune expectancy to tea-like tobacco roasting and starchy plantain tartness, limiting its candi-sugared tingle.
Sprightly Pyramid Pale Ale tossed dry orange, tangy tangerine, tart cherry and sweet peach at rich caramelized malts, gaining a mild wood parch (reminiscent of West Coast IPA’s).
Sharply spiced tropical fruiting embraced Mango Contango IPA, regaling its tangy mango entry with lemon-limed grapefruit and pineapple tartness as well as wispy peach-papaya snips above turpentined pine sapping.
Wood-burnt dark chocolate, dry hop-charred coffee nuttiness and dark-roast barley malts secured Mackey’s Nitro Irish Stout, a smoothly creamed soft-tongued delight.
WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY
In the heart of Westfield, LIONS ROAR BREWING COMPANY became the “Pride of the South Side” when co-owning spouses, Tim and Corrine Grant, opened this rustic cement-floored warehouse nanobrewery during February ’21 as a friendly street-cornered neighborhood pub. Beginning as party-throwing home brewers, their love for Euro-styled beers and beyond proved inspirational as the local community supported the couple’s efforts from the humble beginning.
Fun-loving carnivalesque windowed caricatures line the frontage of this white brick-topped industrial edifice. A large black and white-meshed mural blazes the back wall. The steam pipe-fitted draught lines drawn from the stainless steel brew tanks pour handcrafted product from the right side serving station. The yellow pallet ceiling, low air-duct ceiling and warehouse atmosphere provide a perfect blue collar tavern setting.
A backyard wood-covered beer garden tent with plastic furnishings offered plenty of outside seating as we grabbed all five available beers this sunny Saturday afternoon, September ’21.
Effervescent light body, La Patria Italian Pilsner, plied honeyed amber graining to lightly lemon-soured herbal Saaz-hopped florality over its mild doughy bread bottom for a smoothly clean finish.
Dryly raw-honeyed phenols secured Where’s The Babysitter Blonde Honey Pale Ale, picking up grassy Noble hop herbage above milled grain flouring.
Brisk lemony orange tanginess and candied tangerine lingered sharply for How Great! Hazy Strong Pale Ale, placating its pale malt sugared base.
Ambitious Fallin’ For Her Autumn Brown Ale bettered its staid stylistic rivals with vanilla-beaned ginger, clove, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg pleating crisp hop foliage and mild toffee sweetness for a French Toast-like dessert.
Not to be outdone, Sleep’s For Losers Cold Brew Coffee Ale utilized creamily milk-sugared Sumatrian coffee to amplify its brown chocolate, espresso and hazelnut influence, leaving mild peppery heat at the mocha-induced finish.
During late September ’25, revisited LIONS ROAR, downing nine easygoing midrange pale-bodied suds as Giants played Chargers in football on big-screen TV in cubby-holed red-bricked right side cavern.
Delicate lemon-limed grapefruit bittering and Nelson Sauvin-hopped guava/gooseberry tartness picked up light pine tones for Bucket Lister New Zealand Pilsner, a smoothly dry tropical refresher.
Fizzy lemon salting and mandarin orange snips peppered pale malted Maddie Bo Lager, a traditional American light body.
Lightly salted mango puree swayed First To Arrive Mango Wheat, a white wheat-backed light-to-moderate body with slight guava tartness, green grape esters and wispy perfumed musk.
Corn sugary honeyed pale malts saddled How The Helles Are Ya?, a basic German-styled lager with mild Noble hop herbage.
Deep amber-glazed Toolbox Day American IPA placed dry Citra-Mosaic-hopped yellow fruiting next to lightly pined Simcoe hops, gaining light herbal spicing and candied orange snips atop ample honeyed amber graining.
Waxy fruited Never Stop In The Circle NEIPA, slid tangy orange, sour guava, salted mango, dry grapefruit and dainty floral sweetness across dry oated pale malts.
Fluffy soft-toned tropical delight, We Need This White IPA, combined traditional Belgian witbiers’ orange-peeled coriander and grains of paradise sweetness with lemony grapefruit bittering and barren pining of a moderate-bodied West Coast IPA.
Semi-sharp lemon peeled raspberry tartness softly soaked approachable Pucker Up And Pivot Raspberry Sour, leaving behind blanched white wheat breading.
Typical autumnal Oktoberfest, Late To The Party Marzen, a toasty amber-grained moderation, left subtle brown leafed Noble-hopped herbage upon dewy malts.
MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY
Meeting out in Denver while touring Colorado brewpubs, the husband-wife team of Steven and Donna Ashton soon settled in Jersey to open a worthy brewery near the heart of Middlesex. Occupying a gray brick Industrial space, ASHTON BREWING COMPANY had its soft opening March ’20 (before Covid hit) but marked its Grand Opening September 18, 2021 (and closed November ’24).
An Ashton Brewing emblem above the overhead door welcomes patrons to the cozy red brick-walled interior (and a neon Taproom sign sits atop the main entrance). The epoxy-floored pub features a six-seat wood-topped serving station and small couched lounge area. A white awning covered the community-tabled front deck.
A cement-floored, back-spaced storage facility included stainless steel brewtanks, a canning line and large cooler. Ashton’s brews ran the gamut from sessionably traditionalist fare to richly creamed nightcaps to Euro-styled lagers.
On Labor Day ’21 weekend stopover, my wife and I imbibed fourteen niftily diversified libations.
Efficient Czech-styled pilsner, Jersey Dreamin,’ let mild dewy mossing seep into orange-oiled lemon musk and floral-spiced Saaz-hopped herbage to its honeyed biscuit spine.
Dewy copper-toned Czech dark lager, Beach Badges, retained a wattle-seeded chocolate roast for its lightly beechwood-smoked barleymalts.
Mossy maize-dried, leafy-hopped, bread-crusted Festus Haggen, an Octoberfest-styled golden lager, stayed crisply clean.
Easygoing That’s How Love Gose activated lemon-twisted Himalayan sea salting for floral-tinged key lime tartness above its straw wheat bottom.
“Mellow’ hazy yellow-glowed Take 5 Pale Ale had Citra-hopped yellow grapefruit, orange and pineapple zesting rise above herb-tinged pine tones contrasting mildly creamed crystal malts.
Toasted amber-grained tobacco roast crisping secured Scarlet Red Ale, leaving red-orange fruiting upon its earthen truffle rusticity.
Tart strawberry candied piquancy gained spritzy lemondrop spark for dry cream ale, Strawberry Alarm Clock, a citric-splashed daquiri knockoff with a cracked wheat base.
Sweetish ‘pink saison,’ La Vie En Rose, provided ginger-backed hibiscus florality for white-wined Zinfandel tannins and distant white peppered blackberry snips.
Butterfly pea flowering provided mild green tea bittering for uniquely hybridized dry-hopped blue velvety farmhouse ale, Stella Blue, caressing white-peppered lavender, floral-spiced blueberry and tart pomegranate over damp barnyard acridity.
An IPA collaboration with nearby Trap Rock, dry beige-hazed moderation, Ash Rock, brought dry Sauvignon grape esters, Hallertau Blanc-hopped white wining and mild grapefruit zesting to delicate oats base.
Brut champagne bubbled IPA, The Other One – Brut, allowed lemony grapefruit-orange zesting to reach the sparkling wine surface above acidulated maize-flaked malts.
Enthusiastic flagship IPA, Your Lips…Are Juicy, plied brisk orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess, buoyant papaya-pineapple tropicalia and spritzy lemon liming to honeyed pale malts.
Offshoot blood orange-doused NEIPA, Your Lips…Are Bloody!, worked zesty grapefruit, orange, pineapple and papaya tanginess and spiced tangerine licks into its earthen pale malt graining.
Chalky chocolate-dried nuttiness provoked Billy 2 Hats, an extra dark mild English brown ale with caramel-burnt coffee staining.
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
On the northern outskirts of town five miles from Yale Bowl or the inner city, New Haven’s EAST ROCK BREWING COMPANY opened in July 2018 and quickly became a splendid cafeteria-like family friendly neighborhood beer hall specializing in traditional German-inspired beers. Inside a cavernous terra cotta-bricked light Industrial warehouse, East Rock’s ample community-tabled 12-draught tap room features a rounded 20-seat bar on an epoxy cement floor with a right-walled “Rediscover Lager” wood emblem celebrating their time-honored Bavarian craft brews.
Co-founding head brewer, Tim Wilson (former quality controller for Jack’s Abby), operates the enormous windowed brewing space at the rear. Serving all of Connecticut since before my initial August ’21 visit, East Rock’s upcoming Octoberfest’s already sold out.
A wood-paneled front deck expands on both sides of the glass-enclosed front entrance. My wife and I grab a few seats outdoors to down four straightforward prospects. I’d already consumed Hopfen Lager and Black Lager two years back (see Beer Index).
Dry Helles-styled lightweight, Lager, a cumulous-headed yellow body, let herb-tinged lemon musk, celery-watered fennel seeding and doughy raw-honeyed malts coalesce.
Crisp dewy mossing sideswipes pasty Vienna malt pasting and musky fungi retreat for Vienna Lager, leaving orange-rotted tangerine tang upon its damp-grained truffle earthiness.
Sweet tea-leafed cereal grain crisping, toasted caramel malting and mild orange oiling paced Oktoberfest, an amiable amber lager.
Bright ‘n lively India Pale Lager, Goat Herder, let sharply spiced lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering, zesty orange peel tang and distant passionfruit-pear-watermelon snips gain peaty compost-tinged resinous pining for pungently hop-dried, citrus-dominated medium body.
MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT
In the heart of Manchester, coolly rustic neighborhood pub, URBAN LODGE BREWING COMPANY, opened its doors August, 2019 and quickly helped revitalize this former silk haven. Reworking a dilapidated building, head brewing co-owner Ryan Fagan enjoys crafting “crushable” beers easy to consume in the totally relaxing ‘lodge’ atmosphere.
Metal furnishings line the linoleum floor leading back to its earthen flat-bricked wood-topped serving station with eighteen draught handles and scenic Hartford landscape canvas at the rear.
There are three individual turf-grounded sofa lounge sections amongst the family-friendly interior and a large black metal-gated backyard deck with marbled pavers, a central fire pit and ample plant life recalls an English garden. Brewtanks are stationed in the wood-shingled kiosk.
The beautiful graffiti-styled mountain-ranged cityscape painting sprawled across the deck serves as a breathtaking landmark.
My wife and I downed five of the thirteen available brews on our pre-dinner August ’21 Sunday afternoon trip.
“Gateway” lawnmower fodder, light-bodied golden ale, Morning Mist, provided lemony orange-grapefruit sunshine to honey-spiced pale malting.
Dewy Irish Ale, Emerald Shores, yielded honeyed caraway sweetness, prune-licked dried fruiting and tobacco roast crisping.
Dry floral-spiced tropical fruiting generated vibrant pineapple tartness, orange peel sweetness, yellow grapefruit bittering, lemon zesting and peach candying for bark-like resinous pining of Maui, a juicily rewarding NEIPA with starchy amber grained base.
Sweet anise-dipped vanilla stickiness doused the smoked wood bittering of Fireside, a heavy vanilla porter with sugared coffee, milk chocolate, hazelnut cake and spiced toffee undertones.
Dry coffee-stained dark chocolate bittering consumed Pop’s Milk Stout, leaving hazelnut-glazed sweetness upon its cola nutty backend.