PLATFORM CITY BOY BERLINER WEISSE
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, tart hard-candied raspberry pureeing soaks up salty carbolic spritz of light-bodied Berliner weisse. Lemony red currant seeps into soured raspberry tannins, perfumed green grape esters and mild balsamic vinegaring midway. Lightly acidic finish recalls sourer raspberry currant jam.
CHATHAM RASPBERRY WHEAT
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, tartly bittersweet sour-candied raspberry rasp fades above frail white wheat base. Dulled-out raspberry tartness gets soapy and murkily lemon-cranberried souring falters beneath. Candied raspberry Sweet-Tart fizziness lingers.
BENT WATER PEARL WHEAT ALE
BENT WATER LYNN LIGHT EXTRA PALE ALE
Sessionable moderation tidily blends polite floral-spiced lemon tang with mild corn-flaked sourdough breading and grassy hop astringency in mainstream manner.
ASPETUCK BREW LAB
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT
Grabbing local headlines as the first brewery in Bridgeport since 1940, ASPETUCK BREW LABS take a scientific journey thru zymurgy. Just a few minutes off Route 95 in the southwestern Black Rock district, the spotless white-roomed ‘lab’ creates some distinct beverages.
Borrowing its Aspetuck moniker from ‘a river originating at the high place,’ the 2017-established pub resides inside a gray-bricked warehouse (closing November ’24).
Upon entering the orange door, its plastic-furnished setting featured a ten-stool serving table with eight taps and plain pendant lighting. An acrylic black-lettered brewery insignia stationed atop the draught handles adds tasteful simplicity.
Brew tanks in the rear served seven well-designed and delightfully quaffable brews this Sunday afternoon in April ’18.
Smoothly sessionable lightweight, Pt. 78 Blonde Ale, draped mild lemony orange spicing over minor wood tones and bready pilsner malts.
Gentle Belgian-styled farmhouse ale, Gray Matter Grisette, laced mildly spiced lemon-seeded juniper bittering with herbal black-peppered rosemary, thyme and jasmine whims above dry wheat backbone.
Yellow grapefruit pith, rind and peel dominated 06605 Pale Ale, a salty-bottomed moderation with lightly spiced mandarin orange, tangelo and tangerine tanginess.
Indelibly mainstream Cosmic Siesta IPA let grassy-hopped tropical fruiting graze lightly pine-sapped Mosaic lupulin powder with a breezy sway as candied orange, pineapple, peach and mango tanginess usurps tart lemon notions.
Just as easygoing, lupulin-powdered Turbidity Lucidity IPA (double dry-hopped) seeped honeyed fruits into syrupy sugared malts as tropical pineapple-grapefruit-orange briskness and fig-dried licks contrasted grassy hop astringency.
Arguably Aspetuck’s finest: halfway aggressive Empirical Evidence Imperial IPA doused juicy lemony orange spicing with perfumed dry hops over buttered biscuit malting in a splendid manner.
For dessert, cautiously rich Chocolate Stout brought dry cocoa-powdered dark chocolate malting to cedar-burnt coffee roasting, picking up toffee sweetness at the finish for contrast.
www.aspetuckbrewlab.com
BREWPORT
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT
Once a thriving brewing community prior to prohibition, Bridgeport’s white-bricked pizza/alehouse, BREWPORT, led by former Bru RM@Bar brewmeister, Jeff Browning, does well paying homage to the glorious past with a new line of original craft beers.
Open during the autumn of 2016 (and just off Route 95 within walking distance of Harbor Yard Stadium), Brewport’s spacious epoxy-floored red brick interior includes a central 30-seat oval bar with metal tap handles surrounded by several bronze-tinned mosaic tables and chairs. Exposed pipes, tin lights and metallic fixtures capture Bridgeport’s steel town history.
Illuminated Elysian, Firestone Walker, Dogfish Head and Boulveard brewery signs hang from a yellow-walled area. Oversized checkers and chess games adorn the separate high ceiling left side room while five booths sit beneath a mezzanine section and a wood-benched enclosed patio exists outside the overhead doorway.
Specialty pizzas all hit the spot with the crowded masses and the draught-bottled beer selection includes several wonderful local and national brands to go alongside Brewport’s nine house beers.
Large brew tanks in the back serve sensational suds this sunny Sunday afternoon, April ’18.
First up, best-selling Blood Orange Blonde brought raw-honeyed astringency to tart lemon-snipped blood orange juicing above fennel-like rye malts.
Next, orange-dried South End Pale Ale utilized lightly pined Chinook hops to embitter the back end.
‘Modest’ Arnold’s Vienna Cream Ale threw dry pale malts at grassy hops and citric-licked maize.
Dry Citra hops informed Seventh Inning SIPA, a tangy lemon-orange-tangerine-juiced medium body with fresh-cut grass astringency.
Perfumed orange peel pervaded intensely hopped beauty, Old News Double IPA, leaving herbal honeyed residue upon its honeyed citrus finish.
Lactic wild ale, Border Walls Blackberry Sour, let juicy blackberry acidity influence puckered oaken cherry, vinous green grape and raspberry vinaigrette tartness.
Dry rye malts picked up wispy whiskey tones and mild orange-spiced tartness for The Rye Who Loved Me, a 007 martini-like knockoff.
Caramelized cocoa malts led the way for Hartmann Dark Ale, revealing English Brown Ale trademarks such as dark-roasted nuttiness, bittersweet chocolate musk and subdued dried fruiting.
For dessert, dry black-malted Dr. Porter’s Stout regaled chalky dark chocolate, day-old coffee, peat-smoked truffle and charred walnut tones in an English-styled manner.
Revisited mod Industrial pub March ’25 to drain three diversified India Pale Ale’s, one dark beer and an updated Brewport staple.
A popular year-rounder, the slightly remodeled Arnold’s Vienna Cream Ale retained a frothy vanilla-fluffed (seemingly nitrogenated) Brit pale ale smoothness, caressing sweet Vienna-malted corn starching and grassy hop astringency with whipped-creamed eclair seduction.
Dry Midnight Black Lager let chalky dark chocolate resin and nutty day-old coffee roast merge above mild hop char.
As for this afternoon’s India Pale Ales, easygoing The Roadie, a session IPA, pasted lightly embittered pine resin to sharp lemony grapefruit zesting and latent tangerine tanginess, picking up a vegetal tinge near the pale malt bottom.
Next, piney lemony grapefruit bittering also penetrated High Tide, a dry West Coast IPA with mild orange rind musk and dainty floral-spiced cologne perfuming.
Bold (9% ABV) Imperial IPA, King’s Tide, let brisk Citra-hopped tropicalia meet Sabro-hopped guava, tangerine and white peach tartness plus wispy red apple ripeness atop dry-spiced pale malting.
brewportct.com
CLIFFSIDE BREWING
WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT
Founding brewer, David Durant, opened his friendly neighborhood nano operation October 2017 (and closed May ’23). A pet project, diminutive pub CLIFFSIDE BREWING successfully dabbled with many well-known styles.
Inside a beautiful marble-stoned cornershop, the small open space features six front-roomed wooden tables and an eight-stooled serving table towards the rear (with ten-plus draughts and free popcorn).
My wife and I visit on a drizzling Friday eve in April ’18, trying all eight brews on tap while losing at trivia.
First up, Mesmerized Witbier layered raw-honeyed sap atop mild orange-bruised banana, clove and bubblegum sugaring as well as sweet Cahllah breading and wispy tobacco crisping.
Next, clover-honeyed(?) Soft Landing gained orange-dried tartness to contrast mild caramel malts.
Soft-toned Enlightenment Fruit Ale brought tangy apricot juicing and mild peach-tangerine tartness to sugar-wafered pale malts and subtle hop astringency.
Tidy moderate-to-medium body, Stonewall Red, offered toasted amber graining to orange-dried apple souring, mild tobacco roast and timidly musky hop astringency.
Springtime comforter, Graceful Shutdown Maibock, upended lemony mandarin orange, clementine and tangerine modesty with soapy pale-malted hop acridity.
Maybe the finest choice on this seasonally cold night, hazily chartreuse-hued Synaptic Misfire Northeast IPA, a creamily malted medium body, gained juicy orange-peeled grapefruit, tangerine and pomelo tanginess.
Sedate Rockslide Brown Ale coalesced caramelized chocolate malting with earthen nuttiness.
For dessert, dry Pinky Out Stout embellished its crisp barley-roasted Bakers chocolate entry and cocoa-powdered tartness with bitter charred hop restraint.
cliffsidebrewing.com
FRONT PORCH BREWING
WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT
Residing at an inconspicuous aluminum-sided industrial mall, FRONT PORCH BREWING opened a month after Wallingford’s first brewery, Cliffside (now defunct), during November 2017 (and closed brewing ops February ’23).
As usual with the Constitution State’s current brewing climate, this independent nano occupies rustic warehouse space. Co-owning home brewer, Jay Flynn, crafts interestingly experimental concoctions ranging from several sour ales to a pale ale, IPA and English dark mild on this Friday eve, April ’18.
Going through the side door, Front Porch’s small white-walled, cement-floored, overhead-doored, community-tabled area features a serving station with eight draught lines, a colorful black-boarded beer list and several outside spirits (whiskey, tequila, cider, wine). There’s also a tiny porch area with video games.
During my hour-long perusal, quaffed six satisfyingly soft-toned suds.
Approachable moderation, Hand Cannons Imperial Sour Ale, let grapefruit-soured lemon tartness gain light woody hop astringency. Equally affable, Try All & Error American Pale Ale, contrasted dried orange tartness against mild wood-toned Chinook hops, briskly zestful Citra hops and lightly sugared pale malts.
Murkily chartreuse-hued Berliner Weiss, Parti Gal #3, brought salty lemon-limed cantaloupe rind, honeydew-pureed tartness, vinous green grape tannins and mandarin orange subtleties to its delicate white wheat spine.
Durably pleasurable Reverse Mermaid IPA surrounded moderate grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering with grassy hop astringency and pale malt sugaring.
Mildly bittersweet English dark ale, Albedo Mild, winningly combined dark chocolate roast with dewy peat earthiness, black grape tartness and dried nuttiness.
Interesting night cap, I’m Too Cold To Care Imperial Sour Stout saddled Black patent malt bittering with sour coffee-chocolate tones and mildly acidic grape tannins above sourdough rye dryness.
frontporchbrewing.co
ELI CANNON’S TAP ROOM
MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT
One of the most bohemian campus-styled beer halls in the whole Northeast, ELI CANNON’S TAP ROOM serves Wesleyan College and the whole free-spirited Middletown community with its lively frathouse appeal , antique memorabilia, graffiti-clattered walls, eclectic curiosities, local paraphernalia and well-selected revolving draughts.
In the heart of Connecticut just south of Hartford at Middletown’s North End, the recently renovated red brick tavern co-owned by beer-centric entrepreneur, Phil Ouellette, will appeal to any seasoned brew hound. In business since ’94, its offbeat dive bar appearance never obstructs the fantastic pub fare (burgers, sandwiches, snacks).
Mugs hang from the 35-tap bar and several brewery signposts decorate the walls alongside bikes, fire engines, skeletons, motorcycles and a mummy poster.
My wife and I grab a table at the cramped right side dining area where several college kids tip glasses. It’s a stormy Friday in April ’18 when I consume local Connecticut fare such as Back East Crosby Stills & Smash Pale Ale and New England Kewl Beans Stout plus Cali’s Anderson Valley Framboise Rose Gose (all reviewed in Beer Index).
elicannons.com
ANGRY ERIK BREWING
HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY
In the rural northwestern Jersey village of Hampton Township, ANGRY ERIK moved from nearby Lafayette to now occupy a maroon aluminum-sided barnhouse at a newish industrial mall area during 2019.
A high ceilinged cement-floored open space with 14-seat wood-topped serving station, stooled tables and random barrels, Angry Erik’s pristine yellow-walled interior also features a massive bar-centered brewery banner, cool end-of-bar serpent and at least 12 tap handles.
A maroon-umbrellaed, slate-pavered side deck with plastic furnishings offers plenty of outside seating along the hillside.
A host of patrons greet my dog Roscoe upon my initial August ’19 sojourn. My wife and I will quaff five previously untried suds while grabbing a few seats on the deck midafternoon.
Dryer than expected, Belgian Abbey singel, Hand Of Tyr, brought mild raw honeyed bittering and tart fig-date-apricot dried fruiting to its relegated beet-sugared pecan glaze.
Honey-spiced tripel, H2 Ale with Honey & Hibiscus Tripel, reeled in its unassuming 10% ABV to reveal vibrant citrus tanginess, gentle hibiscus tropicalia and subtle floral herbage.
Hybridized Belgian-styled India Pale Ale, Fjord Crosser, retained a dryer wood-toned citrus bittering as lemony grapefruit-seeded desiccation and grainy pine rusticity picked up sweet honeydew, tart lychee and sour gooseberry undertones.
An interesting black ale/ Maxwell Heavy Scotch Ale blend, Shady Max coalesced its dewy Scotch-fruited tobacco leafing with cocoa-dried black patent malts in a well-conceived manner.
Best bet: glorious Bourbon Barrel-aged Vangandr, a 2019 version of Belgian brown ale aged in sweet bourbon, regaled sharp-spiced cherry, banana, toffee, raisin and coconut luster as well as peated whiskey persistence.
EARLY ANGRY ERIK ARTICLE PRIOR TO HAMPTON MOVE
LAFAYETTE, NEW JERSEY
Directly off Route 94 in the rural Western Jersey town of Lafayette, ANGRY ERIK BREWING is a small, successful, independent business ready for imminent expansion. Since opening in 2014, the entrepreneurial husband-wife tandem of Erik & Heide Hassing have taken their steady offering of one-off beers and seasonal repeats statewide and beyond.
Relishing the cool “Don’t Get Mad, Get Angry” slogan and utilizing a thrasher-wielding dragon Viking insignia, Angry Erik boasts a “constant variety of beers to quench every craft beer lover. Inside a red-tanned light Industrial complex, its eight-seat bar features several tap handles and a blackboard listing draught selections while three wood tables line the left side. In the back brew room are two plastic picnic tables for further seating.
Just ten miles away from Sparta’s beer-centric Krogh’s Brewpub and Mohawk House Restaurant, Angry Erik’s ever-changing beer menu moves faster than a speeding bullet.
On my celebratory 4-20 visit during 2018, the entire menu changed from a mere two weeks hence. I got to quaff five previously untried suds before heading East at sundown.
First up, Angry Erik’s easygoing Belgian What? Belgian Blonde let spritzy orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and lime zest gain moderate Amarillo piney hop bittering above oats-dried wheat malts.
Next, ‘seductive’ elderflower-enhanced The Dainty Viking Blonde Ale brought tart citrus-spiced Chardonnay buttering to subdued pale malting, though its rustic dried flowering seemed overwhelmed.
Tidy IPA, To Taste (Hoppy Heide #4), spread moderate yellow grapefruit bittering across spritzy pineapple, peach, orange and tangerine tanginess above crystal malt sugaring.
Politely hop-headed IPA, Hop The Fence, brought sweet ‘n sour grapefruit tones to ashen pine resin and plasticine-grouted clay hops, gaining tertiary peach, pineapple and orange juiciness at the moderately bitter citrus finish.
For silken Valentines Day-inspired dessert, Cordially, Cupid Porter regaled prominent Black Forest cake sweetness thanks to tartly sweet ‘n sour black cherries and sugary chocolate-cocoa fudging.
www.angryerik.com
ANGRY ERIK THE DAINTY VIKING PINK LEMONADE HERB
On tap at Mohawk House, unique herbal potion with dried flowers, light pink lemonade influence and fungi-like Belgian yeast funk is truly an acquired taste. Minty citrus zestiness disrupted by floral hibiscus, saffron and rosemary snips.
