SERIOUS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

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HOWES CAVE, NEW YORK

Just down the slope from Howe Caverns inside a pale-yellowed roadside dive posing as a Wild West outpost in the foothills of Schoharie County, SERIOUS BREWING COMPANY opened up springtime 2016.

A proud farmhouse brewery utilizing local ingredients, Serious has a small covered deck leading to the entrance of the diminutive oak-walled pipe-exposed pub.

Robin Butts BBQ serves food to go alongside the handcrafted suds. Ciders, spirits, wines and original cocktails were also available.

Though I missed out on Merlot-barreled Anniversary 1 (also aged in whiskey barrels) and Anniversary 2, there were six stylishly modeled brews worthy of attention this March ’19 afternoon. Each beer is meant to showcase “New York places and events.”

Caramel-spiced toasted barley malts sprung from Running Coat Red Ale, picking up a small coffee nip at the fruity finish.

Sweet orange peel, grains of paradise and coriander settled atop Schoharie Burning Wheat Ale, leaving gooseberry-soured tartness and herbal fungi Belgian yeast funk upon its fragile white wheat base.

Sulfite-infused experimental beer, Amber Waves Of Grain, let sweet honey-grained mango receive a mild habanero burn, retaining a light pilsner mouthfeel that relegated its peppered mango heat.

Spicy citrus sweetness contrasted herbal-peppered Belgian yeast and ethyl alcohol burn for feisty Bine Of My Existence IPA, serenading juicy grapefruit, orange and tangerine tanginess with sugared pale malting.

Sweet brown chocolate and bitter Madagascar vanilla enriched delightful George The Inventor Winter Porter, allowing coconut, marshmallow and hazelnut illusions to permeate the sugared mocha continuance.

Black chocolate, mild coffee and raw molasses enveloped bittersweet ALCO Oatmeal Milk Stout, a smoothly milk-sugared dark ale with musty earthen hop resin.

seriousbrewingco.com

WOLF HOLLOW BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

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GLENVILLE, NEW YORK

Inside a pale blue aluminum shed sidling a patio-furnished, bulb-lit gazebo, Glenville’s shanty-like WOLF HOLLOW BREWING COMPANY is tucked into the hilly Mohawk River-bound terrain that provides a perfectly rustic agrarian setting.

Despite its limited interior space, the cavernous ceiling and oak wood elegance give Wolf Hollow a temple-like prominence. Black aluminum furnishings, a wood portico and fire pit mark the slate-floored open air patio. Buzzards Bay Barbeque’s right side open kitchen serves terrific pub fare and a sixteen tap serving station slings suds for the local minions crowding the interior seating this sunny Saturday afternoon, March ’19.

My wife and I set up outside on the patio to sample eleven draughts with Roscoe the dog in tow.

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Cereal-grained flaked corn flanked light lager, Nun The Wiser, a bready easy drinker for mass consumption.

Musky straw grass astringency pervaded floral lemon perfuming of Czech-styled Foothills Pils, picking up grassy hemp-oiled hop herbage to close out its dry wet-grained finish.

Sweet orange-peeled coriander tartness regaled light-bodied White’s Wit, leaving herbal fungi salting at the back end to contrast its slowly fading citric-spiced sugaring.

Bruised banana, brown pear and apple rot dotted Dunkel On My Mind, a moderate caramel-spiced dunkelweizen with a tartly sweet ‘n sour split.

Syrupy pineapple-juiced orange peel and lemon zest guided District 6 West Coast IPA, allowing lightly pined hop resin and mild floral-spiced nuances to penetrate the tropical surface.

German-styled Lenten seasonal, Look Bock And Laugh, provided spicy sour fruiting for mossy dewiness and caramelized chocolate malting.

Sweet candi-sugared Belgian dubbel, Prior’s Conviction, brought banana bubblegum, green raisin, fig and spiciness to the fore.

Dry cocoa-powdered black malts injected robust Lock 9 Porter, maintaining a bitter ashen nuttiness and chewing tobacco snip.

Coffee and vanilla adjuncts redirect its fine offshoot, Lock 9 AM Porter, where smoky black peppering seems to subsume the dark-roast coffee, vanilla bean and cocoa influences.

Mildly creamed dark chocolatey black malting fortifies Campout Dry Irish Stout, a spunky dark ale with coffee-stained bittering and earthen hop char.

At 10.4% ABV, sensational David’s Goliath Imperial Saison gave a rum-soaked ethyl alcohol burn to sweet cantaloupe, melon and orange fruiting as well as musky cologne perfumed citrus conviction.

wolfhollowbrewing.com

S & S FARM BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

NASSAU, NEW YORK

A fifth generation agrarian, multifaceted entrepreneurial brewer, Matt Sanford, takes pride utilizing sustainable agricultural methods and local ingredients to craft traditional homemade fare under the familial handle, S & S FARM BREWERY. Open since spring 2016, the affable barnyard tap house deep in the rural Rensselaer County woods features a large umbrella-lined patio with two grain silos for extra seating.

Inside the cement-floored country store outpost, its wood-beamed lanterns and a few small café-styled community tables lead to the small serving station. Party lights line the entire wall.

On this pleasant Friday evening in March ’19, a tight folk-blues acoustic duo plays while my wife and I sample nine tapped beers.

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Sour lemondrop-candied raspberry tartness saddled charmingly light-bodied Raspberry Wheat, picking up raw grained rusticity and dry citrus licks for extra kicks.

A tidy Irish Red Ale, Rhode Island Red provided stylish caramelized barley roast, mild fruit spicing and iced tea-like splendor, leaving polite rye, toffee and bruised apple imprints upon the dainty finish.

Dewy Old 82, an ESB-like pre-Prohibition-styled golden ale, brought leafy hop moisture and crisp barley-roasted malts to the fore as dried fig nuances wavered.

Sly sour saison, S & S Farmhouse Ale, sneaks in pear, banana and quince tones as well as wispy clove spicing to counter the more pronounced straw-dried acidulated lactose malting.

Zesty citrus stormed tropical delight, Eternal Sunshine IPA, splashing lemony grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and sweet tangerine tanginess atop sugar-spiced pale malting.

Spackled red-orange-yellow fruits adorned Luna Red IPA, a modest rye-spiced, leafy-hopped welterweight.

Dry wood tones deepened the sharp grapefruit bittering and bright lemony orange sunshine of Lame Llama Imperial IPA, receiving a floral-herbed juniper nip to heighten its citric-pined hop pungency.

A light nut char came thru for blackened malt-induced Brown Chicken Brown Ale, contrasting its seared walnut thrash with molasses-sapped pecan, hazelnut and almond sweetener.

Treacly maple molasses draped toffee-sweet Maple Stout, contrasting its earthy hop-oiled nuttiness.

sandsbrewery.com

EMPORIUM FARM BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

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RENSSELAER, NEW YORK

Inside a small mini-mall, savvy craft brewer, Roger Savoy, creates a goodly amount of finely attuned Brit Isle-styled brews for Rensselaer’s EMPORIUM FARM BREWERY. A small nano operation soon able to expand within its mall-bound confines, Emporium started as a homebrewing and winemaking store.

Featuring three windowed tables and a pristinely yellow-pined 20-stool L-shaped serving station, the low-ceilinged one room setting resembles a family kitchen more than a genuinely reliable brewpub.

Opened August ’18, the casually intimate farm brewery endears its local community with low key elegance. On my Friday evening visit in late March ’19, I sampled eight well-defined brews.

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Dewy peat malts, earthen leafy hops and truffle-like fungi guided many of these British-styled offerings, especially Wet-Hopped Harvest Ale, rye-spiced moderation with wispy apricot and fig nuances.

Mossy ESB also stayed dewy-soft and fungi-sidled, bringing a creamy cereal grained malt resilience to the fore.

Light and fluffy 80 Shilling Scottish Ale generated mild wood smoked pleasantries for raw-honeyed rye malts and mossy hop resin.

Dry earthen herbage seeped into proper English IPA, inducing a dried-fruited spicing out of the midst.

Going on hiatus from the Brit stylings, easygoing West Coast Session IPA brought desiccated grapefruit, tangerine and orange tones to wet-wooded Chinook hops and vegetal cucumber earthiness.

The other hop-centric Americanized brew, orange-dried Hoppy Amber let resinous hop oils lubricate its dry pale malt graining.

Chalky chocolate malts gained a scorched earth hop char for Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, a dryer black malted take on an oats-sugared dark ale.

My personal favourite, debonair Christmastime nightcap, Holiday Winter Warmer, blended brown-sugared Mexican chocolate with nutmeg holiday seasoning, sweet orange peel zest, fern-like evergreen minting and tingly cinnamon-cumin-clove spicing.

emporiumfarmbrewery.com