HUMAN VILLAGE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

TAPROOM — Human Village Brewing Co.

PITMAN, NEW JERSEY

Formerly housing the Bus Stop Cafe, Pitman-based HUMAN VILLAGE BREWING COMPANY kept a lot of the nifty walled motifs when they opened up in November 2016 (closed 2024). Sundry vinyl albums dot the walls of this boutique downtown nanobrewery with the intimate feel of a cozy public house hosting live speaking events and musical acts.

Head brewer Rich Myers served easygoing, approachable and soft-toned brews at the rear serving station while my wife and I grabbed a small table at the unfinished pergo vinyl-floored venue. However, we missed out on flagship Harlem Shake Singel, inspired by the creamily oats-sugared Belgian-styled Haarlem Bock, which was one of Myers’ earliest inspirations.

Maize-dried moderation, Walking On Sunshine Cream Ale, picked up green peppered lemon spicing and mildly smoked pale malting.

Easygoing Belgian pale ale, Beers & The Bees, brought raw-honeyed Scotch licks to spritzy lemon drop tartness and green grape esters.

That same raw-honeyed graining showed up in Brass Monkey Winter Ale, a mildly spiced white wine-licked moderation with brittle banana-bread base.

Crisply clean Kviek yeast subsumed From The Midnight Sun, a Scandinavian farmhouse ale with barley-smoked toasted breading sopping up dried orange tartness, dehydrated apple musk, juniper-licked hop bittering and soured Vienna lagering.

Perfumed citrus spicing graced Abbey Road IPA, leaving mild juniper-embittered lemony grapefruit zest on its dry plantain bottom.

Sour-nutted chocolate roast nearly hid the lemon-pitted bittering, tart blackberry pucker and rustic leathery bottom scouring Bet On Black Saison.

Coffee-burnt chocolate roast guarded tobacco-soured walnut bittering to the brown toast foundation of Brown Eyed Girl, a middling brown ale.

Brown chocolate-spiced burnt coffee tones gain wood-seared hop char for Cole’s Porter, a lightly roasted moderate-medium body.

Sly chocolate rye malting held oily nut souring in check for Rye Of The Tiger, a slightly vinous stout.

GARY’S 38-75 BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Gary's Dewey Beach Grill / 38° -75° Brewing - Picture of Gary's Dewey Beach Grill - Tripadvisor

DEWEY, DELAWARE

On the bustling corner of New Orleans Street and Coastal Highway, Dewey Beach landmark Gary’s Beach Grill started crafting homemade suds under the latitude/ longitude handle 38-75 BREWING in 2017. Homebrewing owner Gary Cannon has operated this summertime hotspot for thirty years.

A crowded, low-ceilinged, wraparound joint with a cornucopia of cool beer bottles and cans lining the wall (near loads of pop culture memorabilia, beer label stickers, cartoon snippets and surfing regalia), Gary’s also features a covered wooden side deck with multiple neon-lit beer insignias plus a nifty green T-Rex model and aquamarine turtle mural.

An L-shaped railroad tie-sided bar stretches across the front end to the rear where the pale blue walls melt into grey sky walls. Five tables snake around the multi-draught stationed bar and two rear tables offer more seating.

My wife and I with Roscoe the dog grabbed one of those back tables to sample all four available house brews this seasonably warm Saturday in early January ’21. Cannon’s appealing midrange fare went well with my yellowfin tuna sushi. But all the sandwiches, wraps, apps and ‘seafood pasta’ health-oriented dishes looked great.

Gary's Dewey Beach Grill /38° -75° Brewing - Gary's Dewey Beach Grill / 38-75 Brewing

Three of Gary’s blue collar offerings this mid-afternoon were interconnected by rye wheat. Traditional farmhouse ale, For Your Ryes Only, allowed saison-like herbal lemon zesting to ride above mild rye spicing while Malt-forward ESB, Bucket O’ Parts, let buttered rye breading pickup subtle spiced orange zesting as its whimsical sweet potato adjunct faded.

Grassy citrus-juiced Comet hops fortified the rye-spiced black tea sedation and chocolate-daubed carapils malting of Holly’s Comet, a casual dry-hopped India Pale Ale.

Soaked in Jim Beam for three days, mild Scotch-licked dark chocolate malting delicately paced Cleveland Beamer, an oak-chipped brown ale with nutty toffee spicing and drifting perfume-hopped pekoe tea snips.