Balancing “dank and fruity” hop varieties, unfiltered 9.4% ABV India Pale Ale maintains lightly creamed caramelization for intensified lemony grapefruit-orange tang and candied peach-pineapple-tangerine sweetness, leaving mild alcohol warmth on the smoothly clean mineral grained back end.
Serviceable soft-toned light body brings lemony grapefruit-orange zesting to the surface as resinously pined grassy hop astringency politely contrasts pale malt sugaring. Tertiary mango, pineapple and guava tropicalia stays subtle.
On tap at Kitchen And Beer Bar, sweet orange-peeled coriander spicing resonates lightly alongside fried banana sugaring and dried plantain tartness as oncoming juniper-berried Meyer lemon bittering and herbal snips subsume mild honeyed wheat base.
Fermented on tangerine and orange, Mimosa-inspired champagne novelty seems off-balance as musky pale malt lagering and dull herbal respite never fully integrate with citric-wined champale sparkle.
On tap at Ambulance, mildly tropical fruited yellow-cleared Japanese rice lager brings Vic Secret-hopped passionfruit, pineapple and guava tartness to ricey corn-starched grain husk – gaining grassy astringency at the dry finish.
BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA
Inside a detached garage at a rural residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Bethlehem lies fledging Lehigh Valley nanobrewery CAVE BREWING COMPANY. Taking a temporary step back from its original 3,400 square-foot South Mall locale (opened November 2018), Cave decided to scale down in the interim due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
An “underground under radar” small batch brewery created by Jeff Bonner, Cave’s future success will be guaranteed thanks to its well-crafted (usually one-off) fare. Inside his crowded two-room garage, a respectable can-bottle collection surrounds the above-head shelving and a beautiful hand-crafted wood top serving station sits in the midst.
I got to try four Cave brews at home afterwards and all were rewarding. Though I missed Blind Eye Barleywine for now, there was a hefeweizen, Imperial IPA, oatmeal stout and strong ale to enjoy during December ’20 football games two days hence.
One step beyond a simply sweet hefeweizen, El Heffe Wheat stayed tart as lemon-rotted plantain, tannic green grape and dry cider illusions relegated its stylish banana-clove sweetness.
Smoothly crystalline New England India Pale Ale, HAF 5.0, a bold dry body, brought vodka-nipped tropical fruiting to juniper-embittered pine resin and mild whiskey-soured lemon juicing, leaving musky alcohol esters upon its ancillary black tea earthiness.
Muskier still, ethanol-grained 9.5% ABV strong ale, Blurred Vision, let bittersweet hard cider tartness and orange-rotted souring whither to peated Scotch-malted sweetness.
Inspired by one of Bonner’s s favorite brews – Bert Grant’s Imperial Stout, Bert’s Imperial Oatmeal Stout placed mellow dark chocolate-roasted coffee creaming alongside molasses-sugared oats and fudged toffee to contrast its peaty hop-roasted earthiness, picking up tertiary cola, hazelnut, vanilla and dark cherry snips. Splendid!
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Inside a gothic dormer-windowed Victorian homestead, Allentown’s charmingly wood-furnished beer cafe, MC CALL COLLECTIVE BREWING COMPANY, opened August 29, 2020 and soon moved to nearby Breinigsville -see photo above. Family-owned and operated by Kaitlin, Chris and Matthew Mc Call, whose colorfully designed array of beers flow from two 12-tap draught stations, this homey neighborhood street-cornered brewhouse also features fine traditional pub fare, local wines and craft spirits.
Detailing Mc Call Collective’s parlor-like ambience are the standard cafeteria tables, low exposed pipes, steel-framed studio lights, hanging pendant lamps and light Industrial sway. Right side silver brew tanks and a few windowed seats take up the rest of this cozily refined first floor space.
Gathering at the gray L-shaped marble top bar, my wife and I grab eleven brews early in the afternoon during December ’20 at the original site pictured below.
Mild light lager, the spitefully snickering Lyte Done Ryte, offered a devious alternative to superficial Miller-Coors-Bud fodder. Its pleasantly spiced lemon-sugared spritz picked up wispy white wine esters and grassy hop musk over casual oats flaked graining.
Easygoing autumnal marzen, Better Call Fall, let dewy leafy-hopped foliage settle alongside crisp amber-grained toasting as spicy dried fruiting wavered below.
Lemon-peeled orange tanginess brightened Collective Contributions Wheat Ale, a brisk Mosaic/ El Dorado-hopped moderation hiding bready biscuit malts.
A fleeting corn-malted lemon spurt received resinous Nugget hop herbage and spicy floral accents for traditional cream ale, Shucksquehanna.
Spruce-tipped double dry-hopped West Coast Pale Ale, I Voted Today, contrasted its juniper-nipped hop pining with orange cotton-candied sugaring and wafting floral sweetness above gentle wheat wafer flouring.
Knocking off a cinnamon donut pastry, adjunct blonde ale, Cinnablonde, crossed its initial sugary dough spicing with lactose-soured lemon tartness and delicate citric-hopped astringency.
Tart peach goodness soaked up lemon-soured green grape esters for Berliner Weiss, Peach Hittin’ Dingers, leaving wispy apricot, tangerine and lime nips.
Sessionable Little Lehigh India Pale Ale stayed smooth as lemony grapefruit briskness and mandarin orange tartness invited modest piney hop astringency.
Juicily tropical-fruited ‘hazy’ NEIPA, Lehigh IPA, stepped forward with its tangy pineapple, mango and orange glaze gaining sweet nectarine and tart plantain illusions to push back the resinous piney hop pungency.
Coffee-roasted amber graining embedded caramelized toffee malts for Roast Malone, an adjunct red ale with red and orange fruiting nipping at the mild mocha influence.
Decadent stroop-waffled cookie wafer knockoff, Stroop Kid Imperial Stroopwafel Stout, added dark chocolate syrup to pastry-sugared cinnamon raisin breading, molasses cookie sweetness and mild vanilla creaming.
BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA
Occupying a spacious 8,500 square-foot converted garage, SEVEN SIRENS BREWING COMPANY came to fruition Valentine’s Day 2020. The Bethlehem-based beer hall’s rustic simplicity gets reinforced by its beautiful antique oak-mantled bar (with old fashion subway tiles and 20-plus draught handles), wagon wheel light fixtures, round metal tables, epoxy floor and exposed pipes.
A sturdy blue-stained concrete bar top complements the ocean blue-lit art display at the aquamarine-walled right side (with skeeball game). A few window seats and community tables fill out the front while brew tanks crowd the rear section. The rooftop beergarden adds extra seating and the Sirens Lair above the brewhouse is available for overnight visitors. A mid-floor open space shows off kegs assembled as a Christmas tree for the upcoming holiday.
Head brewer Joshua Divers was a former Sam Adams Longshot Homebrew competitor whose beers range far and wide from hazy IPA’s to a smoked red ale to a nitro stout and lactic sour on my initial perusal.
Though Seven Sirens is out of its best-selling mainstays, Stargazer IPA, and Hands-Free Satchel Milkshake IPA, my wife and I tried a dozen fab elixirs during our two-hour Friday night stay, early December ’20.
Sweet oats sugaring picked up leafy Chinook-hopped oiling for soft-toned Harvey’s Tale, an autumnal harvest ale with desolate orange fruiting slipping into amber-grained Maris Otter malting.
Another fall seasonal, Where’s My Uggs, a pumpkin-spiced pale ale soaked in rum oak staves, let perfumed ginger cologne upstage cinnamon-nutmeg sweetness and syrupy yam snips.
Cherrywood-smoked maple syruping sweetened alongside bacon-fatty cured meatiness for Liquid Breakfast Smoked Red Ale, a rauchbier-inspired moderation with earthen amber graining and light rye tones.
Wayward wintry-spiced saison, Pardon My French, let candied orange spicing, dry cherry licks and crystal-malted caramelized Scotch licks lay atop biscuit flouring.
Lactic tropical fruit waxing guided Dor Ray Doe, a Session IPA with wafting lemon cologne, delicate white wheated minerality and dry El Dorado/Azacca-hopped sour-candied tartness.
Another sessionable IPA, Smashin’ Passion, spread tart passionfruit goodness all over salted green grape-guava-kiwi tropicalia and grassy pine wisps.
Soft-toned, double dry-hopped Full Battle Rattle IPA brought perfumed citrus alacrity to earthen pine resin that seeped into pilsner-malted white wheat.
Mellow New England IPA, Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, permitted yellow Pez-candied tartness to saturate mandarin orange, dry gin and herbal licks in a grassy hop setting.
Smoothly creamed lactose sugaring guarded beige yellow-hazed double dry-hopped NEIPA, Please Scroll Up, allowing juniper-embittered grapefruit juicing to mingle with sour lemon liming and modest peppery spicing.
Yet another hazy NEIPA, Not So Silent Night, a tartly sour ale conditioned on banana, passionfruit and strawberry, put limey pomegranate acidity into its celery-watered herbage while its three adjunct fruits meandered.
Sweet-tart Zangerine Sour, a lactose-aided ale conditioned on tangerine-peeled cranberry, gained lightly salted citrus acidity and Pez-like powder-candied tartness.
Fascinating Irish Car Bomb knockoff, Cormac’s Revenge Nitro Stout, brought fudgy brown and white chocolate creaminess to the fore as caramelized vanilla, dry cocoa, caffe latte, chocolate eclair, creme brulee and black cherry notions circulated.
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Inside an elongated red brick Speakeasy built during 1849, BRU DADDY’S BREWING CO. opened for biz November ’19. Its antique art deco tin ceiling, chalky brick-walled interior and authentic Italian-tiled pizza oven provide perfect Prohibition Era relics while the gated right side beer garden with black metal trellis adds picnic-tabled seating.
Entrepreneurial owner Kevin Ryan, whose high school research project concerned beer fermentation, became a home brewer before handling the large-scale operation at this regal downtown Allentown spot (one block from Fegley’s Brew Works).
Recently, Ryan handed head brewing duties to Todd Reinhart, who’d worked at Free Will and Two Rivers breweries. Using Oxford, Ohio’s Steinkeller Bavarian Bier Hall as its interior design model, Bru Daddy’s liquid fare runs the gamut from German styled creations (a marzen and schwarzbier during this stopover) to Americanized IPA’s, a Belgian quad, porter, nitro cream ale, wheat ale and sour ale.
As I sit at the white marbled bar early December ’20, there are 30-plus tap handles (at two separate stations), a big blackboard beer listing and several TV’s. Near the front window are a few tables and down a narrow hall past the kitchen is the silver tank-laden, cement-floored brew room. A metal staircase leads to the loft dining space.
My wife and I loved the Rocket Root Prosciutto Pizza while consuming eleven delightful elixirs.
Silken nitrogenated moderation, Oh Jenny Jenny Cream Ale, let muted maize-dried oats pick up sour lemon rot, tart rhubarb and earthen root veg notions.
Traditional German marzen, Vaterfest, stayed subtle as sweet peat mossing, leafy hop foliage and tart orange-rotted fig placate mild vegetal fungi earthiness over Blackstrap molasses-dipped Vienna malting.
Stylishly hybridized wheat ale, American Harmony, lent lime-salted bittering to musky honey blossom perfuming, sweet clover honey mildness and dark floral notions atop wild oats flouring.
‘Beautifully complex’ Odd Quad of Todd, a candi-sugared Belgian dark ale conditioned on Iraqi date syrup, brought crystal malt-spiced raisin, plum and fig to caramelized date in a soothingly dried fruited glaze.
Tropical fruited New England Pale Ale, Soldiers & Sailors, unloaded orange-juiced mango, guava and pineapple tanginess all over grassy hop astringency.
Flagship double dry-hopped NEIPA, Haze Daddy, retained a mellow grapefruit-juiced orange rind bittering, pine-licked grassy hop astringency and spicy crystal malt tingle.
Zestful Imperial IPA, Grandaddy Haze: 2nd Edition, let candied orange, salted mango and tangy pineapple reach tropical effervescence above its gentle wheated oats base.
Lactic Imperial IPA, Center Square “State Of Mind”, engaged yogurt-milked souring with low-key peach and mango pureed adjuncts, gaining citrus-juiced piney hop resin at the brisk finish.
Tart oaken cherry-pureed cranberry juicing graced mildly lactic Sour Senorita: Cran-Cherry, an effervescent sour-candied sucker with hard cider hints.
Dark-lagered bittersweet chocolate malts and roasted hop char combined with withered dried fruiting for satisfying schwarzbier, Black Sheep, leaving day-old coffee tones upon the chalky mocha backend.
S’mores-like lactose porter, Camp Sandwich, conditioned on Madagascar vanilla and cocoa nibs, wedged marshmallow-toasted chocolate sweetness into its honeyed Graham Cracker base for a decadent vanilla mocha dessert treat.
On tap at Beef Trust, decadent Kentucky Breakfast Stout offshoot regales richly fudged brown chocolate syruping and milk-sugared coffee tones to secure rummy maple-sapped bourbon oak-barreled sweetness. Creamy mocha fudging gains dried fruited spurt, espresso snip and cocoa nip for complex full-bodied tenacity.
On tap at Beef Trust, creamy chocolate syruping sopped up by lactose cocoa nibs, brown-sugared pecan adjunct and confectionary marshmallow over sturdy cookie dough base. Rich mocha dominance reinforced by Sugar Daddy-like candy sweetness as well as mudcake, milk-sugared coffee, bourbon molasses and spiced toffee auxiliary while tertiary burgundy, black cherry liqueur and almondine illusions deepen luxurious dessert treat.
Creamily fudged milk-sugared French vanilla sweetens silken espresso-roasted coffee serenity over rich molasses-baked cookie dough malting of ‘velvety’ lactose-aided dessert decadence. In the background, dark cocoa powdering and mild hop char never subsume vanilla latte pleasantry.
