On tap at Seven Lakes Station, dry cold-conditioned autumnal moderation brings a tannic quality to the usual marzen-styled seasonal. Desiccated fig spicing upends lager-kilned toffee sedation. Tertiary wattle seed, cocoa powder and chestnut remnants found below the mild surface.
Well-balanced autumnal offering laces spritzy cinnamon-spiced caramel malting with leafy hop foliage and wispy pecan nuttiness over mildly earthen bottom. Easygoing seasonal fare for the masses.
Fairly distinguished collaboration with masterful German brewery stays crisply clean as balanced blend of sweetly caramelized Vienna malts, leafy Sterling hop foliage and wet-papered autumnal spices leave rounded mouthfeel.
Lively blonde moderation brewed with lime and orange zest bursts forth with citric resilience. Limey orange-peeled grapefruit pith bite receives light piney hop bittering and dry pale malting. Brisk, clean, citrus-forward delight outdoes its usually nebulous stylistic competitors.
“Infinitely drinkable” moderation. Easygoing floral-daubed lemon zing gains mild straw-dried buttered corn salting and biscuit-honeyed pilsner malt breading. Too modest even for its light-bodied style.
Fine dry moderation blends IPA-like citrus sharpness with cold-conditioned lager yeast. Floral-spiced lemony grapefruit tang gains light pine resin before tea-honeyed pale malts conquer earthen wood respite.
Subtle Grand Marnier barrel aging provides light orange-candied liqueur syruping for buttery oak-toasted barleywine (with incredibly unassuming 13.1% ABV). Delicate white wine esters and cognac brandy sweetening penetrate the pilsner malted bottom.
Summery citrus sheen outlasts understated tart pear adjunct contrasting grassy hop astringency. Citric-doused pear subtlety gains wispy white-wined cider snip above light doughy malts.
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, crisply clean yellow-cleared moderation brings polite bread-like pilsner malting to effervescent lemon zest and musky floral-nipped herbage. Brisk carbolic spritz enlivens simple pleasure.
Simple lawnmower fare. Spritzy lemon spicing easily glides into buttery cereal-grained biscuit malts and floral-wafted grassy hop astringency.
FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY
Just down from Flemington’s bustling Liberty Village near the railroad station at a gray 5,000 square foot building out in rural western Jersey (fifteen minutes from Princeton), LONE EAGLE BREWING began operations July ’16. The brainchild of local homebrewers Todd Becker and Bob King, Lone Eagle gained instant attention by local denizens.
A quaint spot with a fenced-in family-styled patio, its white-walled high ceiling interior features right side silver brew tanks, a wood lacquered central bar and four yellow-wooded community tables. A loft above the serving station hosts private events when not seating patrons.
Along the left wall is a beautiful Brewing Process mural with a TV hanging above.
As my wife and I visit during a rainy Friday, October ’18, we sample nearly a dozen homebrews.
Impressive West Coast-styled flagship offering, Maiden Flight IPA, placed juicy yellow grapefruit, tangerine and pineapple tropicalia alongside lightly embittered orange rind as honeyed pale malt sweetness gained attention, leaving fusel 8% alcohol acidity upon its pine-toned black tea musk.
Equally fine yellow-hazed medium body, New England Chowdah India Pale Ale, stayed brightly refreshing as spritzy lemon zest, yellow grapefruit bittering, sour pineapple juicing and white peach tartness glazed citric hop dusting with minimal pale malt intrusion. In the recess, herbal snips, gin whims and phenol astringency reside.
Less complex Spelt Wrong IPA, a hazy New England-styled double dry-hopped brew, suited milder tastes as gentle spelt graining softened tart lemon, sour grapefruit and juicy orange subtleties above mild pine resin (and light alcohol esters).
Straightforward Local Pale Ale brought delicate orange-peach-tangerine tanginess to grassy hop astringency above frisky crystal malts.
Splendid beige-yellow hazed Return Of The Juice let lightly spiced lemondrop tartness dance on the tongue while grassy celery vegetalia provided an earthen backdrop.
Leafy autumnal foliage and sweetly soured fig led dry-spiced Marzen Oktoberfest Lager, retaining dewy Noble-hopped earthiness and navel orange rot above its baked bread bottom.
Subtle nuttiness imbued dewy Hunterdon Wet-Hop Brown Ale, a caramel-malted moderation with roasted tobacco hints and resinous hop bittering.
Sharp ashen hop-charred nuttiness and dark chocolate roast leavened Turkey Trot Porter, as its dry raw molasses bittering upended any sweet hazelnut propensity.
Stylishly thin rum barrel-aged Dowton Abbey Dubbel brought dark Belgian candi sugar to spiced rum, dry bourbon, sparkling champagne and Scotch spirits, drizzling oaken vanilla upon tertiary green grape esters and soured fig nuances.
Aged in rum-soaked oak chips, Belgian Dark Strong Ale relied on candi-sugared toffee sweetness and sweet fig-plum-prune-raisin dried fruiting to contrast its mossy earthiness.
Dryly complex English-styled Bourbon Barrel-aged Wheat Wine left whiskeyed bourbon-burgundy warmth upon gin-soaked raisin, prune and fig as well as caramelized toffee buttering and oaken vanilla sedation.
loneeaglebrewing.com
“Simpler version of golden coffee cream ale” finished with espresso-roasted blend of Sumatran, Columbian and Ethipian coffee beans picks up sharp cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cardamom and mace spicing as well as brisk orange zest. Ancillary cappuccino, caramel latte, vanilla latte and maple-syruped French Toast illusions abound. Carton’s Regular Coffee base – utilized previously for fabulous offshoots like Irish Coffee, Kaffee and Kuchen and Café Corretto – proves magnanimous again.
