On tap at Taphouse Grille – Wayne, cleanly dry clear golden saison takes raw-honeyed fruit spicing to celery-watered fennel herbage and leathery barnyard acridity over dainty pilsner malts in slightly offbeat stylistic manner.
UNTIED BOOS PUMPKIN ALE
On tap at Taphouse Grille – Wayne – 2021, chewy Madagascar vanilla bean prominence and dark cocoa syruping nearly overwhelm brown-sugared cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and clove seasoning as well as gingery mace peppering, light burnt wood chafe and teasing cola nuttiness. In the can ’24, boozy bourbonized gingerbread presence consumes bittersweet Madagascar vanilla bean creaminess guarding wintry cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and mase spicing as well as rum-dried minty pine snips.
BUTTZVILLE CEMETERY HILL PUMPKIN ALE
On tap at Taphouse Grille – Wayne, sharp gingered cinnamon spicing seeps into brown-sugared pureed pumpkin as mild saffron-perfumed nutmeg, allspice and clove seasoning peppers dryer than expected tannic vanilla-daubed butternut squash base.
JERSEY GIRL ELDER MAGIC WHEAT BEER
On tap at Taphouse Grille – Wayne, nearly cloy lemon-sugared elderberry tartness contrasts slightly soured white wine esters, picking up a vodka-nipped orange twist over sweet cereal wheat base for ancient 12th century ElderLemonWeizen recipe revisited.
DU CLAW SOUR ME STRAWBERRY FRENCH TOAST SOUR ALE
On tap at Hoover’s Tavern, lactic breakfast sour drapes dark maple syrup over strawberry pureed vanilla beaning and cinnamon-swirled French Toast sweetness contrasting curdled yogurt milking and lemon-soured gourd sway.
HOFBRAU HEFEWEIZEN
Mildly creamed vanilla licks peruse banana-clove sweetness and fizzy lemon-seeded prickle over sugared wheat base. Distant plantain tartness, snippy grassy hop astringency and a tiny metallic shard fill out the casual backdrop.
14TH STAR RASPBERRY VERMONTER WEISS
Easygoing pink-glowed ‘sour wheat’ leaves subtle salted raspberry tartness upon mild yogurt-milked oaken vanilla tannins and rosé, white zinfandel and pink blush wining as well as distant grapefruit-cranberry souring for spritzy fruited seltzer-like Berliner Weiss.
FAT ORANGE CAT WHO LET THE BOOMERS OUT? PALE ALE
On tap at Jealous Monk, crushable hazy golden bronzed Citra-Mosaic-hopped pale ale collaboration with nearby Willimantic retains easygoing grapefruit, orange and pineapple tang above grassy pine resin and spicy crystal malts. A softer, less bitter India Pale Ale.
COUNTER WEIGHT SMOKED EIN HELLES LAGER
On tap at Jealous Monk, mild beechwood smoke permeates desolate smoked meat wisp and slight herbal Hallertau-hopped pilsner malting of one-year anniversary smoked helles posing as a light-bodied, less flavorful rauchbier.
STONE BUENAVEZA SALT & LIME LAGER
On tap at Jealous Monk, crisply easygoing Baja-inspired Mexican lager places sea-salted lime zesting next to peppery agave perfuming in dry corn malt setting. In the can, briny citric zesting lacks resolve as papery pilsner malts and stale breading ground sea-salted lime adjunct and cologned agave snap.
HOPPIN’ FROG CRANBERRY TURBO SHANDY CITRUS ALE
On tap at Hoover’s Tavern, tart cranberry adjunct given candied apple-glazed red grape, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry subtleties in lightly syruped soda-like shandy. Spritzy lemon zesting sinks into sweet-tart berry merriment.
CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY – MIDDLETOWN
MIDDLETOWN, DELAWARE
A funky aluminum-topped farmhouse shack with rounded tin grain roof silo, Middletown’s CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY became the franchise’s third location autumn 2019. The rustic 7,000 square-foot pub boasts a hammock-packed backyard and slightly upscale pub menu to go alongside the varied proprietary beer.
A family friendly brew-centric sportsbar, its cement-floored multi-roomed interior features a separate left side dining area and tree bark-enclosed backspace. Large exposed pipes cover the low ceiling and an overhead door leads to the large turf-grounded back deck (with strung Edison lights, covered tiki bar, bocce court, horseshoe pit, cornhole boards and a tiled sequoia firepit lounge).
Plastic chaired tables crowd the outside deck area where my wife and I (plus Roscoe the dog) grab a cranberry pumpkin ricotta dip to go alongside nine delicious brews, November ’21.
Vintage clear purple-bronzed Delaware Punch sour ale knockoff, Wonder Punch, offered sweet-tart grape soda sugaring to just a hint of lemon lime souring.
Salty strawberry toaster pastry, Tardy Pass, an Imperial Sour Ale, hoisted lemon-limed brining and oaken vanilla into tart orange-juiced strawberry rhubarb.
Arguably the best fruited sour, pink magenta-hued FrankenBooBerry let milk-sugared blueberry-strawberry tartness gain aspirin-like cherry buffer, wispy cranberry-guava souring and mild oaken vanilla tannins.
Lactose-heavy Berliner Weiss, Brand New Day: Pomegranate Plum Vanilla, coalesced lime-salted pomegranate with plummy guava souring to contrast sweet vanilla resilience.
Crisp cucumber-salted watermelon rind earthiness contrasted lesser cantaloupe sweetness for fruited kolsch, One In A Melon, leaving cologne-wafted floral spicing on the dry finish.
“Bright” hazy pale ale, Sultana Sun, let mild juniper hop bittering affect juicy pineapple tang and mixed berry tartness over subdued pine resin dankness.
Juicy pink guava picked up grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and dank wood tones for briskly clean tropical IPA, Bless Up – Pink Guava, combining hard-candied El Dorado, citric-acidic Cashmere and passionfruit-tinged Zappa hops.
Floral-daubed citrus zesting paced Party In The Back, an earthen-bottomed Imperial IPA plying yellow grapefruit bittering and lemon sourness to orange peel sweetness.
Cherrywood-smoked pumpkin salting seeped into the freshly ground black coffee entry of autumnal Jav-O-Lantern, a peppery soy-sauced dry body.