Cloying raspberry shandy never hits the spot like Susquehanna’s Blueberry Thrill does. Saccharine-like raspberry sweetness gains wavered cherry-orange-peach-tangerine conflux, lemony rosé tinge and medicinal cherry whim riddled by gummy glutinous gunk.
On tap at Beef Trust, tartly brined Margarita spinoff stays refreshingly clean, effervescent and light-bodied. Limey salt-rimmed tequila cocktail substitute usurps sour lactose acidity above meager flaked rye malting.
Atlantic sea salt adds briny piquancy to lively lemon spritz of crisply dry gose-like blonde ale. Vinous white grape souring deepens lemon pucker over mineral grain-watered salted cracker base.
Random amber ale pleasantry contrasts mild caramel toasting against citric-soured phenol spicing and musty grain resin. Fading caramel-sugared honey nut sweetness restrained by latent alkaline astringency.
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
Just minutes from Rivers Casino & Resort in the light industrial Adirondack-bound city of Schenectady, GREAT FLATS BREWING opened March 2017 (and closed 2024). The work of former homebrewer, Tom Owens, this nifty garage-doored, cement-floored pub serves a wide range of ambitious stylistic pleasantries and varied one-offs.
Six metal tables and one community table lead to the central 12-tap serving station. Brew tanks are stored to the right and the high aluminum ceiling has exposed pipes.
An English and Belgian ale fan, Owens was partially inspired by early ’90s craft brewery’s such as Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head.
During my one-hour sojourn in August ’18, tasted nine fine draught samples.
Demure German pilsner malts gave Pining For Pils its musky herbal graining while grassy hop astringency ascended beside lickety-split lemon snips.
Dry-hopped Summernight American Pale Lager developed a sour lemon wedge for pureed tangerine and tart orange illusions.
Dry wood tones saddled dewy pilsner malts for Extra Pale Crescent Ale, a mossy moderation with unripe fig notions.
Mellow pink-hued Raspberry IPA retained easygoing lactose-soured raspberry tartness that drifted into mild Cascade-hopped pink grapefruit bittering as well as slightly vinous green grapes esters and oaken cherry piquancy.
Fruitful West Coast-styled delight, Bad Manners IPA, merged tangy grapefruit, pineapple, orange, peach and mango juicing with sharp piney hop bittering and sugary pale malts.
Piney orange-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering endured for Old Dorp Double IPA, an herbal-spiced citrus-laced medium body with latent rustic hop astringency.
Peanut-shelled Brown Chicken Brown Ale brought dry walnut and sweet hazelnut together over murky mocha malts.
Electric City Roasters Coffee and brown-sugared molasses oats inundated Super Brunch Stout, an easygoing dark ale with milky espresso tones and, quite uniquely, wispy raw-sugared peach and tangerine adjuncts.
The most askew hybrid, complex Cabernet Sauvignon-barreled Smoked Belgian Amber Ale revealed peat-smoked pale malting for its phenol wine-perfumed red grape, date and fig tartness – losing much of the kiln-smoked Rauchbier likeness by the musty dried fruited finish.
www.greatflatsbrewing.com
ALBANY, NEW YORK
In a garage-doored red brick building at Albany’s warehouse-loaded waterfront (within walking distance of Druthers Brewing), no-frills beer haven, FORT ORANGE BREWING, opened for biz, October ’17. Local homebrewers John Westcott, Jim Eaton and Craig Johnson are the entrepreneurial spirits heading this creative venture, crafting well-balanced conventional fare for State Capitol natives and beyond.
Party string lights hang from the aluminum ceiling and the epoxy-poured marble floor adds surreal elegance to the community-tabled one room spot. The 12-stooled serving table features ten tap handles, an aquamarine-hued backdrop with blackboard beer list, one widescreen TV and several rear brew tanks.
The black-furnished outdoor picnic area fills up on a hot Saturday afternoon, August ’18, as my wife and I enter the echoed brick wall venue to sample nine dandy selections.
Juicy-fruited flagship, Fort Orange IPA, carried wood-dried tropical hops to pasty honeyed malts, leaving lemony grapefruit, mango and orange illusions on the tongue.
Smoothly sessionable Pearl Street India Pale Ale let tangy orange, grapefruit and tangerine juiciness pick up mild wood tones above dry pale malts.
Tart blueberry pureeing saturated Blueberry Blonde, utilizing The General Blonde Ale’s pilsner-like malt base to soften the berry -soaked grapefruit-orange rind bittering.
Lemony herbal flowering gained musky earthiness over advertised tangerine-papaya-blueberry fruiting and wavered caramel malts for Mo-mentum Pale Ale.
Caramelized rye tones left a sweet mark on dewy Where’d Bob Go? Rye Pale Ale, a toffee-malted moderation lagerheads will enjoy.
Spicier and sharper than its style anticipates, brisk Whistle Stopper Red Ale contrasted piney citrus bittering with dewy fig-dried chocolate malts.
Grapefruit-forward New England-styled Stress Away Double IPA brought orange rind bittering to resinous piney hop oiling in a sticky manner.
“Lively” Nipper IPA had a resoundingly botanical tropical fruited nature as melon rind, guava, kiwi and pineapple illusions leave an understated off-dry impression.
Robust Super Local Imperial Stout saddled coffee-stained black chocolate bittering with cedar-smoked sweetness and ashen cocoa-dried charcoal singe.
www.fortorangebrewing.com
EXETER, RHODE ISLAND
Crafting some of the finest New England-styled India Pale Ales imaginable, Exeter’s bucolic hideaway, TILTED BARN BREWERY, became Rhode Island’s first farmhouse brewery in 2016 and now thrives as a well-respected hop-head haven. Down an unpaved country road in a wood-furnished, gray-shingled, cement-floored barn (with an olden metal stove and mezzanine seating), Tilted Barn’s got a long line forming for bottled-canned fare during my initial 1-hour August ’18 sojourn.
On this sunny Friday afternoon, each IPA (and one pale ale) available featured a billowy soft-tongued gentleness and well-balanced flavor profile. Fear not dark ale lovers, they sometimes dabble in stouts.
For starters, buoyant yellow glaze-hazed Peeptoad Pale Ale will please gentler palates with its zesty lemon punch, bittersweet peach-apricot-tangerine conflux, earthen floral herbage and mildly creamed pale malting.
Four popular IPA’s then caught my attention. Another soft-toned yellow-clouded winner, dry-hopped Milo’s Phoenix IPA allowed lemony grapefruit-clementine tanginess to saturate resinous pine, picking up juicy mango, guava, cantaloupe, honeydew and kiwi undertones above its pilsner malt base.
Effervescent citrus zest guarded amber golden-fogged Fermented #2 Double IPA (with Galaxy and Nelson hops), leaving lightly pungent pine oiling in its wake.
Resiliently soothing golden-hazed medium body, The Other One Double IPA, let mild spruce-tipped citrus hop bittering gain subtle caramel malt sugaring as its zesty mango, orange, grapefruit and pineapple tropicalia strengthens.
Arguably the best choice, masterfully designed Cactus, a bold Imperial IPA, tempered its pungent pine resin, grassy-hopped musk and peppery floral perk with orange-juiced pineapple-mango-peach-guava tropicalia, candy-glazed caramel malts and kiwi-like cactus snips.
So make the journey down the old dusty trail to Tilted Barn and take your taste buds for a whirl.
www.tiltedbarnbrewery.com
WAKEFIELD, RHODE ISLAND
A fun-loving no-frills venue allowing dogs to wallow and kids to play, Wakefield-based WHALERS BREWING COMPANY features family fun games such as billiards, board games and corn hole alongside some of Rhode Island’s best suds. Inside a spacious stone-fronted, green-windowed, cement-floored warehouse complex, its friendly all-inclusive atmosphere got reinforced by the bustling community tables, wood booths, stooled barrels and couch area scattered just beyond the reclaimed wood-framed back bar.
A blackboard beer list, growler-filled refrigerator and large blue marlin don the serving station whereas the brew tanks, in a separate nearby space, get maintained by brewers’ Josh Dunlap and Wes Staschke, partners at Whalers since opening, 2011.
My wife and I visit on a crowded Thursday evening in August 2018 while an art exhibit was going on. I quaffed six previously untried brews during my one-hour jaunt.
Locally renowned pale ale flagship, Rise, brought lemon-spiced grapefruit, orange and tangerine tanginess to delicate piney hop bittering and coniferous spruce tones above mildly creamed pale malt sugaring.
Tropical Berliner Weiss, Sirius, let tart passionfruit and mango ride alongside lemon-salted lactic yogurt sourness.
Salty lime-juiced raspberry sour ale, Supernova, a mouth-puckering pinkish amber moderation, retained tart raspberry resonance and vinous white wining.
A hint of cannabis resin seeps into Special Spliff, a Northeast IPA collaboration with nearby Mew’s Tavern. Its lemony grapefruit zesting gained passionfruit-mango-pineapple tropicalia atop light crystal malting.
Approachable Imperial IPA, Lazarette, led with tangy orange juicing before serene papaya, pineapple and tangerine illusions came aboard to saddle the creamy crystal malting.
For dessert, Pretender, doused sweet blueberry and tart raspberry with dark cocoa, chocolate and coffee tones for a rich fruited stout.
whalers.com
WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND
Currently residing at a diminutive gray shed in a Route 7 Woonsocket auto shop facility, RAVENOUS BREWING CO. came to fruition in 2012 when head brewer, Dorian Rave, garnered favorable exposure for his ambitious Coffee Milk Stout. Though a move to larger space is imminent, Ravenous’ current August ’18 digs include a gorgeous granite bar top inlaid with broken beer bottles fronted by a wood-meshed American flag, six handcrafted draught taps, refrigerator with bottles-cans to go, four-stooled table and cement floor.
Each thirst-quenching brew captured its style well, starting with refreshingly crisp staple, Blackstone Pale Ale, a mild dry body with mildly herbal Chinook hop woodiness and grapefruit rind-embittered Cascade hop grassiness sugared by caramelized pale malts.
Next, brisk Seltzer-spritzed Summer Kolsch led lightly white-peppered lemon rot souring into musty white-wined grape esters and straw-grassed barnyard funk, picking up a glancing floral-daubed orange marmalade respite.
Easygoing Bienvenu French Quarter Red Ale brought sugar-caned plum, fig and date fruiting to the fore in a mild manner.
Wood-lacquered juniper bittering soaked up yellow grapefruit bitterness and melon rind phenols for Cogswell Tower IPA, a fine pale-malted dry body hopheads will likely regale.
Coffee-grounded cocoa nibs delighted Cocoa Plouffes Mocha Porter, an off-dry medium body contrasting caramelized black chocolate malts with sour-creamed yogurt milking.
Milk-sugared coffee, sweet brown chocolate and brown-sugared oats coalesced to make Coffee Milk Stout the perfect dessert (reviewed fully in Beer Index).
www.ravenousbrew.com
MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT
At Olde Mistick Village just off Route 95 in the maritime hamlet of Mystic, JEALOUS MONK SOCIAL HALL & BEER GARDEN re-creates a German beer hall with its multi-purpose beergarden, community dining and general spirit.
The spacious outdoor area includes an overhang-decked section with wooden tables plus a few Adirondack-chaired fire pits. Inside, medieval chandeliers hang from the arched ceiling at the left bar (with 32 draughts, 4 TV’s and electronic beer menu) while the beautiful gray-tiled floor adds class.
During a lovely Thursday afternoon, August ’18, my wife and I plus youngest son visit on the way to Newport. Of the 32 tapped selections, four are basic proprietary brews crafted at Pittsburgh’s Penn Brewing. Griddled cornbread is recommended alongside German schnitzel and bratwurst dishes.
As for the four Penn brews, simple Bavarian-styled Penn Pilsner brought lemony pleasantries to musky Hallertau hop herbage, desolate caramelized malting and lightly perfumed wheat respite.
Soapy Hefewiezen let stylish banana-clove-bubblegum conflux become tarter than expected, but lacked resilience.
Sharply citrus-pined India Pale Ale retained yellow grapefruit tanginess and musty earthiness. Mossy dried fruiting relegated understated Dunkel.
I also quaffed two tremendous dark ales, Outer Light Libation Propaganda Stout and Revival White Electric Coffee Stout (reviewed fully in Beer Index).
On tap at Jealous Monk, firm medium-roast coffee bittering contrasts creamy chocolate-vanilla sweetness and cinnamon-spiced Irish coffee sugaring. Mild hop char soaks treacly Blackstrap molasses in the backdrop while tertiary blackberry, black cherry and black grape notions file thru slowly. Electrifying stuff!
