On tap at Hop Daddy’s, easygoing pilsner-malted/ Saaz-Hallertau-hopped Bavarian-styled golden lager stays delicately dry. Yeasty sourdough breading gains skunky grain-hopped musk (and slight cabbage patch) and mild lemon-seeded grassy hop bittering above biscuity pale malt base.
Classic German lager retains robustness despite light body. Muskily cellared mineral graining, husked maize dryness and floral lemon twist glide over herbal hop astringency with dead-on precision.
Standard Russian pale lager brings corn-sugared pastry malts to honeyed dough spine and fizzy hop phenolics like a cheap pale lager. Its sticky glutenous sweetness skirts being cloy – barely. Still, for caramelized suds, it’s OK.
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Right in the heart of downtown Allentown, ample beer-pizza watering hole HOP DADDY BREWING COMPANY came to life November ’19 (and changed its name to Bru Daddy soon after – see separate entry). Part of Lehigh Valley’s ambitious brewery Renaissance, Hop Daddy had only two of their own handcrafted brews on tap during my December ’19 stopover, but the homemade pizza was fine and so were the local guest brews.
Inside the red brick-fronted public house, a 20-seat slate top bar with two draught stations each serving twelve lines featured three walled TV’s, exposed ceiling pipes and silver tin ceiling tiles. A few Industrial wood-metal dining tables and bar stools crowded the storefront. A back kitchen served authentic wood-fired pizza and a beautiful beer keg mural hovered above the gas-powered oven.
A sterling right side patio (see above) works as a pleasant community-tabled beer garden with outdoor firepit. Furthermore, there was a reverse osmosis brewing filtration in the concrete-floored speakeasy back room and a plush carpeted mezzanine lounge space with couches, tables and foosball table.
As for the proprietary beer, tropical Hop Daddy Batch #1 Pale Ale brought zestful grapefruit tanginess and lemony orange juicing to herbal hop astringency, dry pale malting and crisp mineral graining.
Busy dry porter, Hop Daddy Midnight Rye Der, let raw Blackstrap molasses bittering sink into dark chocolate-buttered pumpernickel rye breading as charcoal hops seared dried black cherry snips.
I also quaffed Sly Fox Helles Lager and Vulpulin IPA plus Bonn Place Mooey ESB (full reviews in Beer Index) while watching college football this cold wintry afternoon.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Tucked into the friendly confines of Boston’s Jamaica Plain section (one-half mile South of Sam Adams Brewery), TURTLE SWAMP BREWING came into existence during May 2017 (and closed 2023). Led by former Harpoon brewer, Nicholas Walther, this L-shaped fortress features a roomy red-bricked patio, overhead-doored tap room (with community tables), rustic left side lounge (with cozy loft) and enormous right side brew room.
Expressionist art lines the tap room walls where several draught lines serve a rounded selection of fine brews utilizing locally sourced ingredients.
I conversed with assistant brewer Tanner Cobb while downing five brews with my wife on an early Saturday afternoon, December ’19.
First up, easygoing All Ears Golen Ale let dry grassy-hopped astringency and tart lemondrop zesting gain corny sourdough malting to its white breaded bottom.
Next, dry herbal lemon spicing perked up 02130 Copper Kolsch, an amber grained moderation with mild dry-hopped bittering.
Cascade-hopped citrus juicing lent a quirky twist to Nik’s (English) Bitter, leaving dry lemony orange illusions upon its dewy earthen mossing and toasted bread spine.
Dry peanut-shelled walnut, sweet hazelnut and caffeination cola imbued black chocolate-fronted JP Porter, picking up tertiary cocoa, coffee and caramel latte tones at the nutty mocha finish.
Sweet brown-sugared molasses dripped over pumpkin pie-spiced butternut squash, acorn squash and sweet potato illusions for Skwashbuckle Imperial Porter, a zanily profuse Halloween treat with dark-fruited cinnamon, ginger and clove illusions as well as mild fern, cocoa and pecan snips.
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
Magnanimously cavernous mall-bound 30-barrel brewhouse, MIGHTY SQUIRREL BREWING CO. opened for biz on December 7th, 2018. A pristine 24,000 square-foot corner space including a 40-draught main bar taproom, 20-draught club-styled stage room and tea-lit and lawn-chaired side deck (with food truck), the glass-windowed, epoxy-floored social drinking establishment may be sizable, but never ostentatiously so.
The massive left side L-shaped main bar (with cornered couch lounge) sidles the glass-encased silver brew tanks and canning line while the ample right side seating towards the stage showcases a glass-enclosed rock climbing wall. At the far left back, bottles-to-go are available beneath the illuminated orange squirrel insignia.
A fine soulful band plays Mighty Squirrel this cold Friday evening, December ’19, on the outskirts of Boston.
I tried six of the twelve tapped offerings while perusing the commodious digs.
Dry grain-husked musk and dark floral Noble-hopped herbage front crisply clean Helles Lager, Munick, leaving lemon licks upon its astringent back end.
Candi-sugared dried fruiting consumed Monk’s Choir Belgian Quad, leaving sweet fig, raisin and date illusions to further sweeten its toffee-spiced caramel malting and subtle rum, bourbon and brandy snips.
‘Vibrant’ Milkshake IPA, Peach Smoovy, brought lactic milk sugaring to abrupt peach juicing and light vanilla bean creaming while contrasting vodka-nipped piney hops and orange-peeled grapefruit bittering over delicate oats-flaked malting.
Pumpkin pie-spiced Gourdgeous Pumpkin, benefited from yam-candied nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom seasoning speckling dry pale malts in fine fashion.
Creamy cocoa nibs and milk-sugared cold brew coffee regale rich mocha stout, Velvet Moon, a soothing full body with wood-seared hop char contrasting tertiary maple oats, vanilla bourbon, anise and tar illusions.
For dessert, splendid Imperial Stout, Mississippi Mud Pie, melded sweet brown chocolate malting to milk-sugared coffee, bourbon vanilla and anise illusions above maple molasses oats to counter wood-burnt hop char at charming mocha finish.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Inside a red brick Industrial warehouse and up a few stairs to its rustic railroad-tied wood bar, BACKLASH BEER CO. opened for biz in 2018. After contract brewing for a few years at Holyoke’s Paper City Brewery and canning at Foolproof, Backlash settled into the historic Roxbury neighborhood at a former piano factory where they stand proud crafting high quality brews in a no-frills atmosphere on the outskirts of Boston.
Reminiscent of a large loft apartment with its double-hung windows, olden columns, exposed pipes and Edison-bulbed free form bar shades, Backlash features a 12-seat, L-shaped, slate top bar with a blackboard beer list and ten white-tiled draught lines guarded by a toy bulldog.
Several community tables fill out the open space across the bar.
My wife and I consumed five fine elixirs during our early December ’19 sojourn.
Rounded Belgian blonde, Groundswell, delivered candi-sugared pilsner malting to sharp orange-peeled coriander spicing, candied banana-clove sweetness and lemony white grape tartness over musty white-peppered herbal hop grassiness.
Rustic basil-minted saison, Basilisk, retained peppery basil-leafed herbage for floral-daubed lemon zest, perfumed coriander spicing and shaving-cologned chamomile restraint.
Succulent India Pale Ale, Bad Decision Juice, brought juicy grapefruit, orange, peach, pineapple and mango tanginess to pale malt sugaring contrasting mild wood tones at the dry citric-induced finish.
Mildly amber-hazed NEIPA, Ricochet, coalesced orange-spiced sweetness with lemony grapefruit tanginess, dry plantain tartness and peppery hop herbage over bready pale malting.
Mocha-spirited Imperial Stout, 10 Hour Nightmare, draped cocoa-sugared brown chocolate syrup over milked coffee bittering, dry cocoa powdering and maple molasses oats as well as tertiary vanilla, toffee and burnt caramel sentiments.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Quaint red-bricked neighborhood bistro in downtown Cambridge maintains cozy corner café appeal with freshly brewed coffee as well as beer. Inside a former auto repair shop, LAMPLIGHTER BREWING COMPANY came to fruition in 2016. Its back kitchen serves locally sourced breakfast items to folks at the 12 white-tiled parlor seats, main community table, right side area and front cove lounge on my early December ’19 trip.
Glass encased silver tanks to the left service the twelve-plus draught taps of the rustically furnished white-walled, cement-floored, pipe-exposed coffeeshop/ microbrewery.
My wife and I try seven lovely suds late Saturday morning prior to the college football conference playoffs.
Musky dry-hopped pale lager, Stupid Seagulls, gained a lemony white grape souring above hay-like grain malts.
Tangy grapefruit-peeled blood orange juicing blitzed Cloud City, a fruitful NEIPA with dry floral herbage, grassy hop astringency and distant guava-mango-melon tropicalia.
Tart NEIPA, Birds Of Paradise, relinquished lemony pineapple, passionfruit and papaya tropicalia for lactic yogurt souring.
A more adventurous NEIPA, Sneaker Wave let arctic thyme salting influence its citric-juiced guava, papaya and pineapple souring and sweet elderflower sideswipe.
Possibly bettering all these NEIPA’s, Tropical Tom retained a cotton-candied toasted coconut sweetness fortified by vanilla-creamed orange, pineapple, mango and peach tones just barely embittered by piney hop resin.
Delightfully candi-spiced Belgian-styled holiday ale, Blitzen, brought cinnamon-toasted Graham Cracker sugaring to caramelized fig, chocolate-covered cherry and nutmeg illusions as well as pumpkin pie, allspice, clove, plum and toffee snips. Luscious dessert fodder.
On the dark side, bittersweet cacao nibs flourished alongside tarry dark chocolate and Turkish coffee sugaring for London Calling, a bold, heady porter.
Joyously mocha-fudged collaboration with Stillwater embellishes ‘punchy’ dark-fruited cocoa nibs creaming and rich dark chocolatey molasses syruping with bitter wood-seared hop char. Thick cocoa entry embraces prune-stewed raisin and dark cherry illusions as well as burgundy-brandy wining, bourbon vanilla alacrity, mint chocolate chip snip and glazed hazelnut sweetness.
Utilizing Speckled Ax cold-brewed coffee roast to rise above moderately hop-charred nuttiness, dark cocoa powdering and Bakers chocolate bittering (while contrasting less effective candi-sugared Belgian yeast spicing), full-bodied stout loses some resilience by flattened java finish.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the disastrous Great Boston molasses flood, tarry black treacle bittering rides above wood-singed hop char. Bitter Blackstrap molasses entry gains fudgy black chocolate thickness and rich dark cocoa powdering. Recessive burnt caramel, seared walnut and gingerbread illusions drown in raw molasses sap.
Fudgy dark chocolate creaming picks up chalky cocoa bittering and latent coffee influx while bitter smoked hop char sinks in. Lactic soy-sauced souring contrasts burnt caramel sweetness beneath the surface.
