On tap at 3.14 Pi, decadent Reese’s Pieces peanut butter candy bar likeness is uncanny. Richly bittersweet dark chocolate syruping coats creamy peanut buttering as minor hop char subsides. A superfine nutty chocolate dessert.
FORT MYERS FAIRWAY FINDER SESSION IPA
On tap at 3.14 Pi, easygoing clear golden moderation places serene grapefruit, pineapple and orange tang alongside resinous grassy hop astringency and dry pale malts. A pleasant, if slight, crossover for pale ale imbibers.
FORT MYERS SAND LOAFER PALE WHEAT ALE
On tap at 3.14 Pi, soft-toned citric vanilla sweetness hovers above sugared wheat malting. Caramelized citrus zesting picks up Graham Crackered vanilla wafer splurge at brisk finish.
TWO HENRYS JALAPENO BLUEBERRY PORTER
On tap at 3.14 Pi, creamy dark chocolate syruping drapes tartly pureed blueberry sweetness before mild jalapeno peppering gains slight assertion. Latent cocoa, coffee and crème brulee undertones strengthen mocha authority alongside raspy blueberry decisiveness for richly textured dessert treat.
3 DAUGHTERS BIMINI TWIST IPA
Unbalanced and nebulous taste-wise, sour-honeyed apricot and orange staleness greets equally mired glutenous cheese-clothed wet grain pungency, dankly resinous pine musk and deadened dark floral snips.
SIERRA NEVADA HAZY LITTLE THING IPA
Sunnily hazed medium-bodied India Pale Ale brings zesty grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering to resinous grassy hop astringency, crystal malt sugaring and floral hibiscus wisps. Tertiary mango, guava and papaya tropicalia adds further zestful charm.
7VENTH SUN GRAFFITI ORANGE WHEAT ALE
Creamsicle-styled wheat ale coalesces lemony orange zest with vanilla-sugared cream soda sweetness and honeyed wheat malts, leaving wispy peach-pineapple fruiting in the back end. Minor milk-soured lactic acidity contrasts orange-candied vanilla creaming. A tad less convincing than stylishly similar Bolero Snort OVB or Bonesaw Double Vanilla Cream.
VINYL BREWING COMPANY
HAMMONTON, NEW JERSEY
Inspired by the spirit of rock ‘n roll, VINYL BREWING COMPANY opened for business autumn ’17. One of three newly established breweries gracing the blueberry capital of Hammonton, halfway between Philly and Atlantic City, Vinyl is headed by entrepreneurial punk rockin’ head brewer, Jim Sacco, a former homebrewer who started crafting elixirs at nearby Three 3’s Brewing.
Inside a centrally located tan-bricked garage house with two glass overhead doors, the cement-floored open space features a 20-stooled serving station, a few surrounding tables, two blue brick-walled TV’s, various exposed pipes, the famous NYC-shirted John Lennon poster, walled album covers and a hard-to-find bottle and can beer collection at the middle metal beam.
Sacco’s suds are a fine array of limited edition one-offs and a few seasonal to year-round staples pulled from a small-batch three-barrel system. I settled in one rainy Friday evening in April ’19 to sample ten fine samples.
Delectable flagship, creamily soft-tongued MRE Belgian Blonde, kicked things off with spritzy candi-sugared lemon zest and clove-spiced orange peel sweetness embellishing its dewy Vienna-malted oats base.
Next, dryly passionfruit-imbued saison, What Happened To The Passion, let limey lemon-juiced passionfruit, guava and gooseberry tartness infiltrate its leathery barnyard acridity.
Sweet lemon-dropped tartness picked up herbal residue for Fully Actualized Saison.
Sea-salted coriander spicing received puckering lime souring and lactic lemon yogurt caking to engage dry gose, Dag.
Lemon-juiced grapefruit bittering and light wood dryness scoured Citra-Amarillo-hopped cream ale, He Wears T-Shirts Sometimes.
Sunnily soft-toned DDH Advances Citra Pale Ale placed lemony grapefruit, mandarin orange and blood orange zest above bready malts.
Just as briskly easygoing, Souvenir IPA let lingered grapefruit bittering and wispy melon snips gain minor pine resin above sugared oats malting.
Stylishly straightforward Razor Burn IPA brought mild grapefruit-orange-tangerine tanginess to the fore above lightly spiced oats-wheat malting in a clean-watered setting.
Dry rye-malted Element 115 Honey Rye Porter soaked chalky cocoa-chocolate bittering in sinewy dark honey.
Milk-sugared brown chocolate contrasted dry cocoa powdering for VP The Punk Milk Stout, a lovely dark ale with fudged brownie undertones.
The ever-popular double dry-hopped Advances In Modern Technology went undiscovered.
www.vinylbrewingnj.com
DEATH OF THE FOX BREWING COMPANY
CLARKSBORO, NEW JERSEY
New Jersey’s first coffee-beer brewhouse opened at the Villages of Whisky Mill in Clarksboro during August 2017. Playing tribute to the first hunting club in America, homebrewers Chuck Garrity and Dan Natkin initially partnered up because they liked German and Brit styled beers, leading to the creation of humble café-styled pub, DEATH OF THE FOX BREWING COMPANY.
An L-shaped 18 stool bar services three front-windowed tables, three mid-room tables, one community table and plush left side living room furnishings. Caged Edison lights hang from the high pipe-exposed aluminum ceiling and an emblematic Death of The Fox crest highlights the bright red right wall above six historic hunting portraits.
While the backroom brewery creates rangy regularly rotated fare and engaging one-off limited edition beers for the sixteen draught lines, a full menu of flavored coffees are also brewed here.
During my two-hour Friday afternoon visit, April ’19, I consumed ten original elixirs with my wife before heading to Renault Winery & Golf Club for further relaxation.
Lemon-peeled coriander spiced up modest flagship witbier, Sunshine Patriot, a casual off-dry summertime refresher with wheat-cracked sugared wafer spine.
Another fine flagship offering, New England-styled IPA, Hazy Crazy Diamond, grazed lactic milk-souring barley flouring against lemon-dropped grapefruit, peach and mango tanginess over groaty rolled oats.
Straight-up citrus moderation, Overflow Double IPA, stayed stylishly conforming as its grapefruit-peeled orange tang and zesty lemon spritz picked up herbal piney hop resin.
Goose-berried Huell Melon hops provided mild guava, passionfruit and pomegranate tartness for Dual Hop -Sterling Melon IPA, leaving unexpected pastry-caked donut residual upon deceptive cinnamon sugaring in a happily offbeat manner.
Easygoing dry-bodied Hessian Session Kolsch brought sour lemon-rotted grape esters to crisp spelt-grained pale malting.
Brown-sugared dried fruiting remained low key for caramel-spiced Reynard’s Last Chance Doppelbock, a sedately plum-date-induced moderation with mossy earthen dewiness.
Roasted caramel malting picked up dry earthen nuttiness for middling Hulda’s Black Forest Schwarzbier.
Hazelnut-glazed brown chocolate sweetness absorbed delectable English brown ale, Hazelnut Hound, leaving cocoa-powdered dried fruiting on its nutty mocha resonation.
Smoky milk chocolate creaminess defined the nitrogenated version of Stout Heard Round The World.
My fave was wonderful winter warmer, Spruce Wintersteen, where spruce-tipped fern minting sidled milk chocolate richness and juniper berry bittering in a most refreshingly unconventional way.
www.deathofthefoxbrewing.com
TOMFOOLERY BREWING COMPANY
HAMMONTON, NEW JERSEY
A half-mile from Vinyl Brewing at an old red brick warehouse down the block from residential housing in a bleak industrial setting, Hammonton’s TOMFOOLERY BREWING COMPANY came to fruition, December 2015 (and closed 2024).
The former bottling home of defunct Eastern Brewing Company, this rustic cement-floored high-ceilinged warehouse pub features a front-walled purple Tomfoolery banner, large backroom 7-barrel brew system and a separate right side room still being developed. The 12-stool U-shaped silver top bar holds sixteen-plus draught taps and six metal-leather tables furnish the spacious interior. A fridge carries canned product.
Traditionalist brewers Shawn Grigus (a former Egg Harbor brewing supplier) and his electrical engineering ‘alewife,’ Gayle D’Abate, have won many accolades for their well-defined standard fare.
I spent an hour-and-a-half happily perusing Tomfoolery’s cheekily self-defined ‘serious beers’ in late April ’19.
Dry pilsner-malted oats lied beside herbal Saaz hops, spritzy citric licks and mild barnyard acridity for light-bodied Not So Old Bohemian Pilsner.
Sour-candied lemon drops indulged dryly pale-malted moderation, A.C Lager, a politely straightforward, highly sessionable flagship.
Seltzer-like lemon briskness and tangy orange spurts remained subtle above pleasant perfume-spiced herbal whims for cagey Kanoe Kolsch.
Mustily lemon-soured banana and clove tartness overrode the cracked wheat dryness of Orbit The Sun Hefeweizen, gaining sweet vanilla undertones.
A gentle pilsner malt base softened expressive Crack Concrete Belgian Tripel, leaving tingly lemon-sugared banana bubblegum sweetness and pithy grapefruit zest to contrast herbal fungi mustiness.
Out of the three IPA’s tried, each had its own simple distinctions. Easygoing New England IPA, Eastie Boys, placed tangy lemon-licked mandarin orange and navel orange juicing above light dry wood tones.
Brisk Citra-Mosaic-hopped Sun Grown IPA brought blood orange, grapefruit rind and lemon zest passion to astringent hop resin.
Sorta blending the two, Take Flight Double IPA left floral citrus spicing upon mellow piney hop bittering.
Dewy dried fruiting subsumed Bob’s Bottle House Bock, keeping its sweet caramel malting subtle.
Nutty espresso dryness countered milk-sugared chocolate malting for smoothly creamed Feck Off! Irish Stout.
Peat-smoked brown chocolate fronted S.M. Alder Imperial Smoked Porter, a cocoa-milked dark ale with sedate coffee roast.
Though it’s only limited edition, Tomfoolery’s second version of Wee Bit O’ Milis (2019) utilized honey-glazed Irish potato candies to sweeten doughy sugar cookie, vanilla bean, cinnamon and coconut subtleties in a most mellow way.
BONESAW BREWING CO.
GLASSBORO, NEW JERSEY
In a large brown aluminum fortress near Glassboro’s Rowan University, BONESAW BREWING CO. offers bucolic splendor for the former glass manufacturing borough. Opened June 2018, this family friendly brewing lodge spreads across 20,000 square feet and its patio-benched front porch leads directly to its overhead-doored interior.
Bonesaw’s capacious A-framed high ceiling features exposed pipes and fancy overhead lighting while the windowed rear brew tanks provide sudsy fare for the 33 draught taps at the 20-stooled left bar (with two TV’s and a blackboard beer menu). Metal furnishings and lacquered wood tables fill out the right side.
As my wife and I grab seats at the patio this sunny Good Friday afternoon, April ’19, I sample twelve fine offerings.
For starters, wet-grained light body, Pummel German Pilsner, retained a musky herb-snipped lemon spritz and dry fennel snip.
Sweet Vienna malts, frisky dried fruiting and light biscuit-y breading defined Crimson Skull Vienna Lager.
Musky corn-dried moderation, Silver Queen Cream Ale, also suited blue collar thirsts with its quaint yellow fruiting and lightly sugared pale malting proving inoffensively easygoing.
A fine hybrid, Irish coffee-inspired Irish Queen Cream Ale saddled its cold-brewed coffee entry with whiskeyed vanilla sugaring to contrast the lactic milk souring and whimsical black peppering.
Better still, smoothly creamed éclair-headed Double Vanilla Cream – Nitro retained sweet orange-peeled vanilla caking and sugared pale malting for a dainty Creamsickle dessert.
Delightful Belgian witbier, Demon Blanc, laced wheat-honeyed banana sweetness thru lemony mandarin orange tartness, mild coriander-clove spicing and wispy herbal snips.
Stylishly dryer with light barnyard-leathered fungi herbage, Le Petit Demon Belgian Blonde let white-peppered lemon zest pep up its sweet banana continuance, tart mandarin orange spritz, sour guava tease and mild floral spicing.
Off-dry Amputator Doppelbock let brown-sugared dried fruiting seep into its dewy malt setting.
A juicy grapefruit-forward IPA, Swoosh maintained brisk lemon-zested orange rind bittering and slight herbal peppering to contrast tangy mango-peach-cantaloupe sweetness.
Dry cocoa nuttiness enamored Lone Squirrel Brown Ale, leaving black chocolate syruping upon its hop-charred walnut bittering.
Sweet milk chocolate gave Mr. Hanks Extra Stout a candied Milk Duds likeness embellished by coconut, bourbon and burnt caramel illusions to buttress its mildly embittered Blackstrap molasses-dipped coffee roast.
Serene espresso-milked coffee roast anchored creamy éclair-headed St. Bridget’s Dry Irish Stout, a St. Patrick’s Day favorite with a nutty reserve.
bonesawbrewing.com
GRIMM COFFEE COCONUT ICING ON THE CAKE IMPERIAL MILK STOUT
Luxuriously detailed ‘Icing’ offshoot unites rich milk-sugared coffee creaming with toasted coconut sweetness and vanilla bean bittering. Chewy cookie-doughed black chocolate syrup drapes engaging coffee-coconut-vanilla conflux, leaving ancillary fudged brownie, Black Forest cake, molasses toffee and bourbon illusions in its wake alongside latent anise spicing.