On tap at Jealous Monk, candied tangerine and goose-berried blackcurrant tartness tread lightly to stylish sea-salted coriander spicing of crisply well-balanced gose variant.
EAST ROCK BLACK CURRANT & TANGERINE GOSE
ZERO GRAVITY OKTOBERFEST MARZEN
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, common Bavarian-styled marzen lets subtle floral-spiced lemon licks engage leafy Saaz hop astringency above lightly caramelized biscuit base.
HANGING HILLS BAYERN HARTFORD OKTOBERFEST
On tap at Jealous Monk, wavering Bavarian festbier utilizes raw-honeyed melanoiden malts to add sour edge to mild orange oiling and musky barnyard grains, finishing with a slight pilsner malt-tweaked sourdough swagger.
VON TRAPP RADLER WITH GRAPEFRUIT
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, summery radler plies juicy red grapefruit zest to tart lemonade sugaring and lightly salted soda fizz. Serve to fruited light lager fans.
ARMADA SORCERER’S TEMPLE DUNKEL LAGER
Frothy dark cocoa-powdered chocolate roast lightly tethered to dewy salted caramelization and mild cola-hazelnut-chestnut snips. Betters less mocha-induced American dunkels though many German originals have richer body and compare favorably.
ARMADA SACRED THRONE HELLES LAGER
Decent helles lager with dewy tobacco-roasted barley crisping segueing to lemony orange-candied Grand Marnier pleasantry as musky earthen hops counter gluey wheat malts down low.
BAD SONS LIGHT RIDER LAGER
Stylishly robust, yet perfectly centrist, light lager succeeds on all levels. Creamy eclair-like eggy yeast breading brings doughy sweetness to lemony orange spicing, wispy champagne sparkle and buttery Chardonnay snip. Floral-daubed Noble hop herbage stays moderated. Dried maize onrush contrasts corn-sugared cereal graining at the busy finish.
TWO ROADS TWOCONN EASY ALE
On tap at Jealous Monk, easygoing golden ale celebrates UConn basketball’s back-to-back championships with salty lemon-dried yellow grapefruit, orange rind bittering and light pine musk up top and soft white breading down below. Mild citric pining reminiscent of lighter bodied West Coast IPA.
JEALOUS MONK PILS
On tap at Jealous Monk, proprietary German pilsner plies musty mineral graining and dank herbal hops to musky lemon bittering, picking up slight brininess towards the rustic finish.
JACK’S ABBY PUB LITE LAGER
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, dry aluminum yellowed light lager with crisp lemony hop herbage greeting dried maize over delicate barley-roasted sourdough white breading. Beats Miller-Coors Lite by a pint.
SALTY TURTLE BEER COMPANY
Becoming the first commercial brewery in oceanic Pender County, Surf City’s SALTY TURTLE BEER COMPANY opened its doors during Christmastime, 2017. Inside a tan aluminum-sided cabin on popular Highway 50, the cement-floored Salty Turtle features a copper plexiglass resin L-shaped 12-seat bar (with aqua blue draught board), wood tables, covered front deck and small turfed benches plus sidling slate-floored patio.
A veteran-owned establishment ‘dedicated to serving the local community with artisan-crafted beers,’ the seven-barrel facility is one mile from Topsail Beach. Described as a ‘beach-themed Cheers,’ Salty Turtle grew out of the spirit of homebrewing and their Coastline Kolsch has reached a high level of local popularity.
My wife and I hit the pub on a hot, sticky Thursday evening, late August ’24, to enjoy nine stylishly proper, conservatively streamlined brews.
Flagship Coastline Kolsch saddled its brisk floral-perfumed lemon musk with grassy hop astringency and white peppered herbage contrasting wheat-flaked pilsner malts.
Palest golden Kojima Rice Lager plied sweet rice-flaked pilsner malting to lemon lime-prickled yellow grape esters and dried floral wisps.
Pleasurable summertime Gose, Hwy 50 Tangerine Vanilla, let sea-salted dried coriander, briny lemon souring and Hallertau Blanc-hopped green grape esters reach tart powdered candy midst as oaken vanilla contrasts sugared vanilla over white wheated sourdough base.
Likable iced latte knockoff, Betio Coffee Blonde, burst forth with whole bean coffee overtones, creamy milk-sugared vanilla sweetness and dark nutty splurge, relegating its spritzy citrus splash.
Then came the India Pale Ales. Sessionable aluminum-cleared West Coast-styled Run It Back let floral-daubed lemony orange tanginess, mild grapefruit bittering and piney herbage merge while bolder West Coast IPA, Meticulous, combined lemony grapefruit sugaring with ascending pine tones anchored by honeyed Vienna malts.
The most straightforward IPA, Alligator Bay, sunk lemon musk, grapefruit zest and orange bittering into crystal malt sugaring, profiling tropical Cascade hops against woody Centennial-Columbus hops.
Slight roasted coffee nuttiness and caramelized Maris Otter malting set the stage for Barnicle Bill’s Brown Ale, leaving mossy earthen residue upon its biscuity bottom.
Roasted chocolate-coffee gained milk-sugared vanilla sweetness to contrast the nutty espresso reminder of Swingbridge Breakfast Stout, a relaxing mocha bound digestif.
LOST COLONY BREWING – WATERFRONT
MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA
Inside a canary yellow sea shanty along the Nags Head Causeway on Pimlico Bay, LOST COLONY BREWING at the waterfront began as a small restaurant in 1995. Started by Paul and Sharon Charron, the colonial-styled downtown Manteo pub, Blue Moon Cafe, added a brewing production facility in 2016. As the newly coined Lost Colony Brewing, the cafe was sold but the facility they acquired along Pimlico Bay remains.
Initially concentrating on British-styled beers, Lost Colony branched out to include a small selection of varied styles. Beside the cozy waterfront, its large brown-benched dock overlooks the bay and sidles Benny Tesoros Pizza and a bakery. There are eight draught handles at the small six-seat, sea-shelled wood bar.
While my wife and I previously consumed some Lost Colony elixirs at the now-defunct downtown location about a decade hence, I discovered a fine dark ale on my August ’24 Outer Banks trip.
Simply named Manteo Porter retained mildly creamed black coffee bittering and charred walnut sear contrasting maple molasses sugaring and dewy peat sneak.