On tap at Hoover’s Tavern, bitter lime-salted pomegranate puree gains mildly tart strawberry-boysenberry-cranberry-raspberry rasp as well as oaken cherry-laced green grape esters for brisk kettle-soured moderation.
HUDSON VALLEY KINDS OF LIGHT SOUR FARMHOUSE ALE
On tap at Ambulance, delightful oak-aged sour saison refermented in Albarino grape skins reaches heavenly nirvana. Polite white grape must gleefully seeps into tart lemon spritz and hard cider reminder, leaving lactic souring upon acrid barnyard leathering for mildly acidic white wine-like tartness. Elegant.
OXBOW FIRST FRUITS 2018
On tap at Ambulance, vinous ultra-dry pinkish amber barrel-age blended farmhouse ale unites Kriek-like oaken cherry tartness with puckered raspberry vinaigrette souring and woodruff-syruped raspberry rasp. Leathery farmhouse funk seeps into the mix alongside a hint of champagne lemonade.
ALLAGASH VIOLETTE SAISON
Underwhelming sour blueberry adjunct gains herbal lemongrass-basil tease, light floral accent and tart pink guava flutter in rustic barnyard setting, lacking proper blueberry thrust and resonating saison styling.
WHITE BIRCH BLUEBERRY BERLINER WEISS
Flattish lemon spritz glides into woodruff-syruped blueberry souring with mildly acidic lactobacillus souring. Fizzy blueberry seltzer finish falters taste-wise.
SAMUEL ADAMS OCTOBERFEST – 2019
Commonplace limited edition ’19 Octoberfest (marzen) places tart orange oiling across from wet leafed hop foliage and dewy pale malts.
BITBURGER / SIERRA NEVADA TRIPLE HOP’D LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, collaborative German-American India Pale Lager coaxes floral-bound grapefruit bittering and lemony orange zesting out of highly hopped lager. Mild grassy hopped herbage lingers softly.
TWO VILLAINS BREWING
NYACK, NEW YORK
Right in the heart of Nyack’s Main Street neighborhood village, TWO VILLAINS BREWING turned on its lights during November ’19 to become part of the Hudson Valley’s flourishing gastropub scene. On Valentine’s Day ’20, the narrow downtown brewpub added a light pub menu (with a Southern twist) to go alongside its promising liquid fare.
Upon entering the cozy wood-furnished joint, there’s a certain antiquity to the red brick and plank wood interior walls. The silver-tiled ceiling and small decorative mirrors add archaic charm and the plank-sided bar’s pendant lighting brings rustic elegance to the elongated one-room setup. Central fans hover over the right side high-chaired tables and a few windowed tables round out the front end.
A silver-handled tap station pours the suds emanating from the back-staged silver brew tanks. There’s also a fine selection of top shelf liquor available.
My wife and I gobbled down Candied Bacon Salad, Mac & Cheese and chicken wings during our 90-minute stopover late August ’20.
Casual soft-tongued light body, Harmonic Resonance, retained straw-like pilsner malting, corn husked barnyard acridity and mild herbal whims to embrace its salted lemon spritz.
Soft-watered Kveik yeast provided ultra-clean mouthfeel for A Drifter’s Gambit, a ‘Norwegian pseudo lager’ with brisk lemon zest brightening modest Nelson Sauvin-hopped mandarin orange, white peach, guava, melon and papaya lacquer over light pilsner-Vienna malts.
Lactic milk-sugared New England-style Imperial IPA, Moo’d Ring: Green, a juiced-up collaboration with Bolero Snort, maintained a splendidly sweet-tart tropical fruitiness as advertised Peach Smoothie and Orange Creamsicle succulence absorbed floral-bound mango, passionfruit, guava and gooseberry illusions lightly embittered by dank pine resin over mild oats malting.
Another lactic NEIPA, the hazily copper-marbled A Monument To All Your Sins, plied tangy grapefruit-peeled orange zest and subtle papaya, mango, green grape, guava and melon souring to floral-spiced orange blossom perfuming above oats-flaked wheat malts -‘finishing like an orange sherbet.’
On friendly June ’22 stopover, consumed four more worthy suds.
An offbeat dry pilsner collaboration with Port Chester’s Run & Hide, Don’t Front, smeared stylistic boundaries as mild herbal perfumed hops and acrid barnyard musk saturated straw-dried rye breading.
Rye-dried tobacco crisping anchored toffee-spiced English mild, Thinks And Thoughts, allowing the slightest smoked hickory wisp to suck up the dewy mist.
Semi-sharp golden hazed NEIPA, Doomsday, plugged lightly embittered grapefruit zesting into waxy guava, pineapple and gooseberry tartness plus sugar-spiced peach, tangerine and clementine riffs as salty herbal nuances spread above the soft oated wheat base.
Tartly brined Sus’ Juice: Blend 3 (Tangerine + Peach + Mango) brought concentrated orange juicing to moderately acidic tangerine and mango souring plus milder tangy peach sweetness in a hazily glazed tropical design.
STICKMAN BREWS
ROYERSFORD, PENNSYLVANIA
Inside a raw open-spaced yellow brick warehouse down the alley from Dollar General at a highway-bound Royersford shopping center, STICKMAN BREWS (with a second location at nearby Chester Springs) started up its small-batch operation during December 2015 (and closed October 2023). Occupying Sly Fox’s former production facility, Stickman crafts “American ales with a Belgian twist” as well as British and German-influenced potions.
Its slate-topped, eight-seat, twelve draught central serving station (with overhead round metal Stickman insignia) gets its looming rustic appeal from the old exposed pipes, high aluminum ceiling, black pendant lighting and cement-floored antiquity.
Head brewer Brendan Breslin (hired by owner/ brewmaster Ethan Buckman) enjoyed Dogfish Head’s concept of utilizing different adjuncts for off-centered, style-bending, hand-crafted ales and many of his finest creative offerings benefit from that dynamic philosophy. Originally a home brewer, Breslin interned at Philly’s Manayunk Brewing in 2015 before leading the troops at Pottstown United Brewing – joining Stickman thereafter.
Stickman’s silver-tanked brew room spreads across the right side alongside bottling-canning operations. A musky mash tun aroma hits me quick as I enter thru the inconspicuous stair-cased back door.
Since Stickman was not open for on-site consumption this Wednesday afternoon in August ’20, I bought several cans for the road. Reviews below.
Young People Fun Party Pilsner – Effervescent floral-perfumed lemon spicing engaged grassy herbal hops and dry hay-like pilsner malting in simply refined fashion.
Mauger’s Lager – Dewy amber-grained lager pasting picked up orange-oiled tangerine tartness, rotted lemon smear and raw honeyed snip for brown-toasted Vienna lager.
General Merriment Marzen Lager – Multi-grained honeyed biscuit sweetness gained slim Scotch notch and mild orange spicing.
Swill Maibock Lager – Tart orange-red fruiting faded alongside desolate floral spicing above sourdough breading for a pedestrian springtime moderation.
Minor Digression Hefeweizen – Unstylistic white-wined cider sharpness and spritzy orange spicing defied banana-clove expectancy while corn-whiskeyed boozing and banana daquiri reminder wavered.
Plain Chicken Nuggets Pale Ale – Zestful sunshine-hazed pale ale with IPA-sharp grapefruit juicing, brisk orange tang and subtle sugared spicing galvanizing mild citric hop bittering over white bread base.
Binns Motor Inn Gose – Weirdly sequenced salted gose peculiarity with corn sugared honey malts buttressing sour lemon candied pucker and acrid barnyard leathering in mushy mix, gaining unexpected cinnamon spicing when warmed.
Captialism Belgian Blonde with Cherry – Calm crimson-glowed Kriek-like maibock spin-off relegated its sedate salt-pinched cherry tartness as green grape esters, candied pineapple souring and blood orange rasping emitted cotton-candied lollipop dollop to thin sweet-tart cherry blonde.
Arming The Rebels India Pale Ale – Dry grapefruit-peeled lemon spritz exerted sunny thrust and tart orange-candied respite for resinous pine needling contrasting back-ended sweet cereal graining of efficient hazy yellowed moderate-medium body.
Heavy C.R.E.A.M. (with Vanilla and Milk Sugar) – Milk-sugared vanilla creaminess guides lactic Double IPA as lemon-soured grapefruit and orange rind bittering soaks dry pine resin to contrast less prominent cotton-candied coconut and pineapple tropicalia as well as salted mango, guava and banana illusions.
Store Bought Is Fine Double India Pale Ale – Despite generic white label, fluffy white-headed yellow-hazed summertime fodder proved exhilarating as sunny lupulin-powdered lemon zesting, juicy yellow grapefruit insurgence and piquant candied citrus tartness gained lactic yogurt souring before reaching its lightly creamed oats-flaked crystal malt base.
Hotline Bling Double IPA with Blueberries/ Roasted Vanilla – Murkily prune-hued full body brings lactic milk-sugared souring to ultra-creamy alcohol-spiked vanilla pasting and lightly glazed blueberry tartness. Drifting blueberry vanilla syruping gains abrupt green grape, guava and gooseberry tartness as well as ascending tangerine juicing sharpened by sly hop-embittered pine lacquering. Endlessly expressive.
Naked Lunch Imperial Stout – Mild oaken bourbon influence spreads thru bitter molasses-licked dark chocolate syruping and oaken vanilla splurge reinforced by hop-charred wood sear of rich cream-fluffed mahogany body.
Proto Hipster Barleywine – Luxuriously creamed brown chocolate syruping richly drapes sturdy prune-stewed raisin resolve as hazelnut-glazed chestnut, pecan and cola auxiliary and mild cinnamon-toasted coffee milking knock on the chewy caramel malt base.
OYSTER CREEK BREWING CO.
WARETOWN, NEW JERSEY
Celebrating their second anniversary in May ’20, rustic nanobrewery, OYSTER CREEK BREWING CO. is tucked away in the middle of a small mall in the unincorporated Jersey Shore hamlet of Waretown.
Its cozy, concrete-floored, crimson-walled 24-seat barroom offers a few signature beers (cream ale/ stout/ IPA) alongside many rangy one-off delights.
Entrepreneurial brewer, Kris Lewis, a former homebrewer, initially enjoyed Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, Guinness Stout, Yuengling Lager and Brooklyn Chocolate Stout during his developing years.
On my early August ’20 journey, I consumed a diverse menu of sampled libations under the makeshift covered tent in the rear.
Oyster Creek’s “gateway” beer, macro-lagered Yellow Cake Cream Ale, rendered maize-dried flaked corn graining, dried orange spicing and sour vegetal notions in a light-bodied setting.
Fizzy Seltzer-like Halflife Hefeweizen (Blueberry) let mild blueberry tartness sink slowly into its delicate honeyed wheat spine.
Bitter Clover honeyed malts seeped into black tea musk, mossy fungi-cellared earthen truffle pungency and Lemondrop-hopped oaken cherry snips for Skyshine Honey Beer.
Tangy blood orange goodness lavished Beta Particle Blood Orange Wheat Ale, picking up clementine, tangerine and tangelo illusions above its mild white wheat base.
A straightforward traditional Irish Red Ale, Heavy Water Irish Ale left amber-grained sugaring upon leafy cigarette-roasted dewy peat.
Citric-bound Huell Melon hops gave Nautilus New England IPA an ester-y green grape souring embraced by lemon meringue tartness above flaked wheat malts.
Hybridized Nauti But Nice Milkshake IPA plied tangy mango juicing to pastry-sugared vanilla eclair creaming with a light lemon-soured grapefruit twist. Its cotton-candied Orange Creamsickle finish retained a bubblegummy Tutti-Frutti resolve.
Lemony orange tanginess picked up lactose-soured vanilla milkiness and sweet floral accents above oats-flaked mineral graining for Critical Mass, a bountiful New England-styled IPA utilizing Citra and Mandarina Bavaria hops.
Moderate chili heat endowed Meltdown Habanero IPA, a habanero peppered hop-header with sweet green pepper reminder and lacquered varnish residue settling above its dry-hopped pale malting.
Dark candi-sugared Belgian pilsner malts sweetened Tihange Dubbel, a rich black coffee-stained Belgian ale with ample dried fruiting.
One of my faves, kettle-soured Berliner Weiss, Singularity Sour (Blackcurrant), spread citric lactobacillus acidity all over mango-salted blackcurrant perkiness and lemon-limed kiwi, guava and gooseberry tropicalia (as well as tart pomegranate-cranberry-boysenberry illusions).
Infused with vanilla, luxurious DarkMatter Vanilla Porter reached heavenly heights as molasses-sugared spiced rum sweetness girded coffee-milked dark chocolate bittering and toasted cinnamon niceties while vanilla white-caked frosting sealed the deal.
Light roast coffee led soft-toned Coldfusion Coffee Milk Stout, spreading its cold-steeped coffee extract over milk-sugared rolled oats groating.
During June ’23 two-hour stop off, enjoyed six more previously untried suds, plus the updated Nauti But Nice Mango Milkshake IPA – a sharply zestier upgrade with juicy mango tanginess breaching brisk grapefruit peel bittering, lacquered pine tones and honeyed pale malts.
A nifty variant, Halflife (Cranberry) kept sugared cranberry sauciness atop Hallertau hop herbage and honeyed wheat malting – finishing like a cranberry vodka.
Gooey Swedish fish candy sendup, 3 Eyed Fish Lime Gose, combined salty lime juicing with sugary lemonade and dry cherry.
Black grape tartness spread into mild charred hop bittering for Plutonium 94 Black IPA, hiding its hefty 10% ABV behind blackened mocha malts.
Tarry black chocolate and dark-roast coffee fronted Atomsmasher Irish Stout, leaving black-peppered smidge on its barley-flaked Maris Otter malt bottom.
Lovely fruited mocha nightcap, Nuclear Attraction Chocolate Cherry Stout, knocked off a cherry chocolate cake with its bruised dark cherry tartness draped by dark chocolate syrup and given dry burgundy-bourbon binge and molasses oatmeal whims.
Soft-toned English barleywine, Ceresfavor, retained elegant whiskeyed cherry warmth as well as raspberry-pureed cherry pie tartness and wispy floral perfuming.
On a Friday evening in August ’23, two delectable dessert treats, one West Coat-inspired IPA and a fruited wheat beer caught my attention.
Mannered Betaport Blood Orange Wheat Ale took its tangy blood orange adjunct to orange-powdered tangerine tartness atop honeyed white wheated crystal malting.
Re-creating a Pina Colada cocktail, coconut-toasted pineapple sweetness endured for offshoot Halflife (Pineapple-Coconut), a richly vanilla creamed wheat ale with cake-like buttercream frosting.
Tartly fruited Marie Currie Blueberry Cheesecake Cream Ale crammed blueberry pie goodness into marshmallow vanilla creaming as cinnamon-spiced strawberry pureeing ascended.
Soft-toned May the 4th India Pale Ale brought murkily perfumed citrus musk to Simcoe-hopped pine lacquer and juniper-embittered currant daubs.
On early July ’25 stopover with wife, plowed down another four cosmic Oyster Creek creatures.
Tidily herbal Skyshine Black Tea Honey Ale spread raw-honeyed chai tea spicing above sweet pale malting.
Dessert variant, Marie Curie Strawberry Cheesecake Cream Ale, placed powder-sugared strawberry tartness inside vanilla yogurt creaming, picking up baking soda residue (and slight menthol perfuming).
Sensational Smoothie-like sour ale, Cosmicoddity, sprung forth with tart pink guava, passionfruit and pineapple tanginess given banana-pureed blood orange juicing in a chewy marshmallow setting (with pencil shavings snip).
Capacious cocoa nibs influence gains mild chipotle heat for bold Coldfusion Chocolate Chipotle Stout, picking up sweet toffee, Nutella and hazelnut chocolate illusions.
PHOENIXVILLE BREWPUB TOUR SCORES BIG
CROWDED CASTLE BREWING COMPANY
PHOENIXVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA
Perched between Root Down and Stable 12 on Phoenixville’s fabulous beer-centric downtown strip, CROWDED CASTLE was formed by a few homebrewing friends doing small social events to show off their brewing prowess before beginning contract brewing. Adventurous beer designer, Mark Sofio, one of Crowded Castle’s main craftsmen, continually concentrates on delighting local patrons and traveling beer seekers with a fine array of style-bending concoctions – refining recipes if need be to come up with better elixirs.
“I don’t need to make the only beer you drink, I just wanna be in your repertoire,” former stay-at-home dad Sofio claims.
Open during Memorial Day 2017 (and closed June ’21) at a former Elks Club lounge, Crowded Castle’s front-windowed Prohibition Era-styled pub features art deco-styled bronze ceiling tiles, three hanging pendant lights, exposed black pipes, earthtone brick walls and a glazed cement floor.
An L-shaped, wood-beamed, slate-top bar services the right side lounge area and surrounding high-chaired tables. The backroom’s seven-and-a-half barrel brew tanks and six fermenters provide the liquid fun and an executive chef was recently hired to run the small kitchen.
While hanging out with Sofio on an early Wednesday afternoon in August ’20, I quaffed all eleven available brews.
Soft-toned lemony grapefruit perfuming and sweet floral-spiced herbage picked up earthen Saaz hop mustiness for mildly crystal malt-creamed Koning Gambrinus Pilsner, a solid light-bodied opener.
An orange-rotted lemon twist and tannic green grape wining rode above corn-husked pale malt spicing for cider-licked Castle Lager, a durable musty-grained moderation.
Dewy peat moss and grassy hop rusticity grazed citric-dried grape esters for Gilded Kolsch, a resolute straw-yellowed pilsner-malted easygoer with delicate floral juniper snips.
Mellow rice-wined French yeast provided a champagne spritz for Meyer lemon-salted farmhouse ale, Ble Saison, leaving lemongrass herbage on the back end.
Candi-sugared Belgian yeast advanced pastry-like tripel, Peace Ale, letting spiced apricot sail alongside rum raisin sweetness.
An interesting combination of British golden ale malts fermented with Belgian yeast, Ovolo placed candied mandarin orange spicing alongside floral-perfumed amber graining.
Date-sugared plum spicing crystallized Mod Quad, a creamily molasses-dipped medium-full body with auxiliary rum raisin, banana bubblegum and bruised orange sweetness.
Murkily yellow-hazed Fog U IPA utilized tart Huell Melon hops, bringing salted gooseberry-guava souring and grapefruit rind bittering to mild lemon meringue vanilla creaming.
Lemon-juiced grapefruit zest, salted mango bittering and spiced orange tartness lingered for Juice My Imagination NEIPA, a lightly lactic yellow-glazed medium body perfect for expansive hop-heads.
Spritzy sour-candied raspberry tartness provided mouth-puckered goodness for Sour Notes (Raspberry), punctuated by musky yellow grape, cranberry, huckleberry, strawberry and cherry rhubarb piquancy.
Mild coffee-roasted dark chocolate malting anchored maple oats-sugared Midnight Stout, a nut-charred mocha-bound nightcap.