On tap at Ambulance, well-designed green tea-infused lager with zesty lemon verbena tartness gains lightly spiced lavender, fern, sage and clove influence. An offbeat herbal lemon tea alternative.
ICARUS EXTINGUISH PILSNER
On tap at Morris Tap & Grill, expansive dry-hopped pilsner brings summery Australian hops forward, leaving grape-soured pear, honeydew and cantaloupe fruiting upon its dark floral fennel herbage and mildly acrid hay-seeded barnyard leathering.
PIPEWORKS PREMIUM PILSNER
On tap at Ambulance, musky maize-dried lemon oiling perfectly re-creates crisp old styled premium pilsner styling. Straw-dried grain malts gain plain cracker breading as perkily citric carbolic briskness cuts down mildest sulfuric smidge of well-designed light-bodied pils.
ARMADA TOMB OF THE PHAROAHS
Mild aluminum-cleared, cumulous pearly-headed, German-styled pilsner brings desiccated lemon tartness and herbal perfumed hop musk to acrid barnyard graining. Dry barleycorn bottom lightly anchors easygoing gypsy brew.
LIQUID STATE BREWING COMPANY – ITHACA
ITHACA, NEW YORK
Inside a white brick warehouse in Ithaca’s West End District just a half mile down the street from Lucky Hare, LIQUID STATE BREWING COMPANY came to fruition October 2017. Taking the space of an old laundry facility, Liquid State’s entrepreneurial brewsters, Ben Brotman and James Tielens (former Cornell Lab biologists) craft comforting New England-styled IPA’s and Euro-styled pilsner-lagers as well as sundry stylistic one-offs at their windowed backroom brewing station.
A family friendly pub with Skee-ball plus video and board games, Liquid State’s ten bench tables recall a high school cafeteria. Its pristine 15-seat wood lacquer-topped bar features 20 draught handles and many growlers.
After swimming at Buttermilk State Park, my wife and I (with Roscoe the dog) head to the covered cement-floored back patio to consume five of the fifteen available draughts this hot July afternoon, 2019.
First up, effervescent straw-paled moderation, Yard Lion Hefeweizen coalesced lemony clover-honeyed banana tartness with mild coriander-clove spicing and herbal lemongrass snips.
Sedate Daypack Saison cushioned its lightly soured lemony grapefruit-orange bittering with black-peppered coriander spicing and salted mango tartness above sugary pale malts.
Caramelized plum sweetness anchored rich La Trapeze Dubbel, a creamily mocha-malted medium body with dewy peat earthiness contrasting latent candied fig-date sugaring.
Juicy fruited Liquid Crush New England IPA, a milky beige yellow-hazed beauty, brought lightly vinous grape acidity and lactic gooseberry yogurt souring to tangy grapefruit, orange, tangerine and cantaloupe serenity.
As for the one dark ale (besides the untried light-bodied Stache Black Lager), robust Stray Dog Porter placed toffee-sugared brown chocolate sweetness alongside hop-charred coffee roast, leaving subsidiary cola, walnut and hazelnut illusions plus dried prune swoon on the nutty mocha molasses tail end.
LUCKY HARE BREWING COMPANY
ITHACA, NEW YORK
In the newly renovated Press Bay Alley micro-retail center in downtown Ithaca, LUCKY HARE BREWING COMPANY began operations at this second location (the first is in nearby Hector) during April ’19.
A humbly pristine, white-walled, 200 square-foot tasting room with only four taps and no seats, its charming elegance lies in its immaculate petite splendor. Red plastic furnishings are set up in the cement-floored alley just outside the tap house’s overhead door for sunny day relief.
Entrepreneurial head brewer Ian Conboy, a marine scientist by trade, loves exploring the full range of beer styles and this sunny Saturday in July ’19 he had on hand one juicy IPA, a coffee-smitten Blonde Ale, a champagned IPA and a milk stout.
Juicy tropical-fruited year round West Coast IPA, Falcon Punch, a sunshiny dry-hopped moderation, brought zesty lemon pith bittering plus tangy orange-peeled grapefruit, peach and mango resilience to lightly lingered resinous pine above caramelized pale malting.
Dryly effervescent Brut champagne-styled IPA, Golden Pony, let green grape esters relay lightly vinous tongue-tingling sparkling wine illusions to kettle-soured citrus tones.
Roasted Ethiopian coffee mellowness engaged medium-bodied blonde ale, Blonde Moment, leaving espresso tones on its distant yellow-orange fruiting and bitter hop-charred singe.
Lactic cocoa-powdered milk stout, Milk Milk, retained dry Baker’s chocolate and black coffee tones to contrast fudgy mocha molasses syruping at the thin finish.
www.luckyharebrewing.com
HOPSHIRE FARM & BREWERY
FREEVILLE, NEW YORK
A few miles northeast from Ithaca in an agrarian pale green vinyl-sided farmhouse, family-owned HOPSHIRE FARM & BREWERY opened in 2013. One of New York’s first farm breweries, Hopshire’s roadside hop bines lead to its front-doored central bar. Co-owners Randy Lacey and Diane Gerhart also grow their own barley and make honey on the orchard-laden land.
The L-shaped serving station features twelve draught handles and the left-side brew tanks mingle with bench seating. A green and white right-side tent offers splendid pastoral outside seating.
A new marbleized vinyl-floored right room with A-framed Cathedral-like ceiling and seven cafeteria tables gets used for special events and music specials. On this initial July ’19 visitation, we grab a seat in this stately room to try all seven draughts available while our dog, Roscoe, plays with a friendly mutt.
Lemon-wedged banana and clove fortified mild herb-backed Love Inn Ale Hefeweizen, a pleasurable lightweight ‘channeling the Summer Of Love’ in winsome fashion.
Tart raspberry puree regaled Brambles Raspberry Wheat Ale, leaving mild lingered hop astringency upon the soft wheat bed.
Raw-honeyed astringency mellowly pasted Beehave Honey Ale, a treacly blonde ale with bready barley base.
A sharp yellow grapefruit tang provoked heady beige yellow-hazed New England IPA, Haze In The Hollow, a fizzy spritzer with sunshiny citrus spunk coming from its brisk Citra-Mosaic-Galaxy hop rasp.
Dewy springtime moderation, Shire Scottish Ale, a nutty brown ale hybrid, brought roasted tobacco crisping and mossy peat earthiness to honeyed dark chocolate malting.
Another ‘hearty brown ale,’ Abbey Normale, utilized dark Belgian candi syrup to sweeten its caramelized raisin tartness and mild licorice tones against sedate peppercorn pungency.
Milk-sugared dark roast coffee serenaded blonde coffee stout, Beautiful Buzz, a Maris Otter malt-sweetened mocha dessert beer with a slight lemon twist.
THE NORTH BREWERY
ENDICOTT, NEW YORK
Ten miles west of Binghamton, Endicott’s THE NORTH BREWERY opened in 2013, one year after Water Street Brewing became the area’s first modern brewpub (and closed 2024). Owner Zach Pedley’s a serious stout aficionado crafting some ‘extreme ales,’ winning Best of Tap New York’s statewide competition in 2017 with heavenly richly God Complex Cerrano Pepper Mocha Hazelnut Coffee Stout.
A makeshift caged-in black metal-furnished Washington Avenue patio leads into the small two-room pub. Edison lights adorn the concrete slate-topped bar with eight red brick-walled draught handles and the white-tiled floor contrasts the raw wood furnishings and reclaimed palate wood right wall. The bronze tiled ceiling features solid mahogany columns while a few windowed tables and sundry TV’s sprawl across the front room. A crazed lunatic and black & white octopus adorn the right side and back wall.
The current 5-barrel brew system and a canning line inundate the back room.
Zach’s got the Blues on the radio while I consume six well-designed draught beers slightly stretching the experimental spectrum during July ’19.
Soft-toned The Mexican Smoked Wit (with Lime) brought cologne-perfumed oiling and smoked Cherrywood acridity to subtle orange-peeled coriander, picking up tart lime resilience.
Lightly acidic Nelson Sauvin-hopped Taddy Mason IPA plied green grape esters and sour gooseberry tartness to floral-daubed wood tones before brisk yellow grapefruit tanginess ascends above the fray with a latent mandarin orange twist.
Milk-sugared mango and coconut perked up Bikini Tops NEIPA, leaving mild grapefruit bittering, zesty pineapple tanginess and lemondrop tartness at the bright tropical fruited finish.
Coffee-roasted nuttiness anchored hop-charred Ink Coffee Stout, inducing espresso macchiato and milk-steamed latte tones as well as tertiary black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant wisps.
In its indelible nitro version, Ink’s softer éclair-creamed mouthfeel relinquished windswept espresso, dark chocolate and mochaccino elegance.
Creamily rich ‘pastry stout,’ Lil Klouds, draped black chocolate syrup upon milk-sugared coconut, vanilla and marshmallow adjuncts with profound intensity. Its dried cocoa finish reinforced the dramatic mocha sway. Excellent nightcap!
Stopped back at North Brewery, June ’24, to down six more satisfying suds on the way to Ithaca.
Wolves Pale Wheat Ale variant, Wolves With Rind, tossed dry briny lime rinds into the white wheat mix, affixing mild agave-daubed tequila licks to the zesty citric spritz.
Offbeat India Pale Ale, Tarlow & Tarlow, skirted convention, furrowing herb-spiced vermouth botanicals thru perfumed orange oil musk, green grape esters and white grapefruit tang.
Dewy soft-toned amber graining rode atop smoky chocolate malting of wee heavy Deathclaw Scotch Ale, picking up subtle black plum, almond, chestnut, toffee and cigar leaf restraint.
Dry nutty coffee and dark chocolate imbued nitrogenated Indigo Irish Stout, leaving tarry wood-burnt hop roast and recessive dried cherry tartness upon weedy moss backdrop.
Though its honeyed Graham Cracker influence stayed recessive, assertive vanilla bean bittering lingered by the nutty espresso-dried coffee ground bluster of Sicko Mode, a luxurious vanilla stout.
Black coffee creaming and dark milk chocolate syruping settled atop nutty cocoa resilience of Furiosa Imperial Stout, a bold full-bodied nightcap.
northbrewery.com
WATER STREET BREWING COMPANY
BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK
Around the corner from Galaxy Brewing in a metal-welded Industrial building with steel-doored storefront, WATER STREET BREWING COMPANY began operations in 2011 – approximately one year before nearby Galaxy and Binghamton breweries opened (and closed 2024). Homebrewing couple John and Michele Bleichert currently run a 7 barrel system spread between glass-encased bronze tanks and a few right side silver tanks.
An intimate bistro-like pub, Water Street’s linoleum-floored wood tables are scattered along the front and left side with Edison lights lining the long wooden bar where two tap stations with eight draught handles each disperse the sassy suds. Fine homemade pub fare goes well with the rounded beer selections. I sojourned to Water Street July ’19.
Receding banana-clove sweetness confronted lemon-rotted mandarin orange souring and herbal whims above sugary Graham Cracker wheat malts for generic-named moderation, Hefeweizen, a slightly more adventurous stylistic changeup.
Dry English mild ale, Lucky Corbie, brought raw-honeyed grassy hop acridity, horse-blanketed hay astringency and mild herbal perfuming to toasted caramel malting.
Stylishly bold India Pale Ale, Smash And Grab, let brisk Mosaic-hopped grapefruit, orange peel, mango and peach tanginess saturate its moderate grassy pine bittering above caramelized Vienna malts.
Sour gooseberry and white grape tannins plus mild grapefruit rind bittering bumrushed Triple Trouble NEIPA, a lactic juicy fruited medium body with subtle sugar-spiced lemony orange tang.
As for the dark ales, dry hop-charred walnut bittering lightly counters sweet hazelnut-macadamia-almond triage for Hellcat Brown Ale.
Roasted chocolate and caramelized nuttiness anchored Thousand Year Porter, receiving a dewy peat mustiness at the finish.
Mildly fudged chocolate milk stout, Slugworth’s Revenge, gained vanilla, dried cocoa and brownie tones above molasses oats malting.
waterstreetbrewingco.com
BINGHAMTON BREWING CO.
JOHNSON CITY, NEW YORK
Just across the Chenango River from Binghamton, Johnson City’s BINGHAMTON BREWING CO. opened for business during 2014. Owners Kristen Lyons and Jason Gardner, beer loving engineers inspired by esteemed Belgian-styled brewery, Ommegang, decided to open a farm brewery using locally grown ingredients and soon hired home brewing anthropologist teacher Kasey Agiser.
Due for imminent expansion, Lyons tells me the current two barrel brewing operation will be “kept as a pilot system” when they expand to 10 or 15 barrels.
A makeshift two-benched entrance patio leads to the diminutive yellow-walled pub space. A left side hearth, a few serving station seats, five small tables and a TV fill out the interior. An electronic draught board lists current homebrews available and beautiful grey-tiled draught handles release the eleven sudsy delights I’ll experience this Saturday afternoon in July ’19.
Mild soft-tongued Hoppy Pilsner let herbal lemon-oiled black tea musk engulf lightly lingered lemony grapefruit rind bittering and mild grassy astringency above delicate oats-dried pilsner malts.
Easygoing cologne-perfumed lemongrass herbage picked up lemony mandarin orange tartness, kaffir lime oiling and spicy coriander sugaring for Far East Lemongrass Wit, leaving soapy residue on its wispy apricot-fig respite.
Tea-like American Mild (Nitro) did a twist on an English styled mild with its éclair-creamed head, dewy peat mossing, reserved nutty cocoa whims and toasted baguette snip.
Dry SS Great Britain Pale Ale brought brown tea earthiness to fennel, cocoa, waddle seed, toffee and biscuit illusions as well as lemony orange desiccation.
Tart Concord grape esters gained Himalayan sea salting for Purple Rain Gose, a Sweet-tart candied dry body with lightly vinous green grape residue and puckering gooseberry-cranberry remnant.
Well-honed flagship beer, Citra Pale Ale, walked on sunshine as its bright yellow-orange-fruited tang, grassy herbal tones and spicy tingle usurped syrupy caramelized pale malts in straightforward fashion.
Soft-toned New England-styled Spa Day Pale Ale saddled perky yellow grapefruit, navel orange and pineapple juicing with earthy herbal spicing, gaining sour melon rind and sweet nectarine illusions at the gently tanged finish.
Sweet dark Belgian candi sugaring brought casual caramelized pleasantry to recessive dried fruiting for dewy-malted Belgian Strong Ale, leaving date, fig, banana and dried cherry illusions at the sweet finish.
Pine comb-honeyed Golden Nugget Wheat Wine relegated tobacco-roasted peat mossing, bruised black cherry tartness and glazed date-fig snips above its rye-like red wheat base.
Lightly spiced brown chocolate prospered for easygoing Sweet Milk Stout, a toffee-teased mocha dessert.
My absolute fave: semi-rich Mexican chocolate cake-like Xocokhan Porter let cayenne peppering seep into cinnamon-spiced vanilla bean alacrity and cocoa-dried Bakers chocolate bittering.
bingbrew.com
www.bingbrew.com
BOULEVARD WHISKEY BARREL STOUT – 2019
Richly creamed whiskey-barreled Imperial Stout (2019 version) drapes brown chocolate syruping upon molasses-sapped bourbon vanilla thickness, leaving oak-charred dark whiskey sentiment for bold nutty mocha finish. Ashen hop bittering counters sweet chocolate nougat, stewed prune, pureed raisin and gooey anise crescendos. A superior chocolate whiskeyed confection.
JACKIE O’S DARK APPARITION STOUT WITH VANILLA & COFFEE BEAN AGED IN BOURBON BARRELS
Luxuriously rich bourbon-barreled Russian Imperial Stout gives desirable coffee-beaned vanilla adjunct a fudgy dark chocolate creaminess underscored by oaken hop-charred nuttiness. Caramel-burnt bourbon sweetness escalates marvelous mocha chewiness, allowing coconut, marshmallow, anise, black cherry and blackberry illusions to enter the decadent full-bodied fray.
