Exemplary India-styled red ale coalesces piney fruited IPA-like bittering with rich cookie dough yeast and caramel-spiced biscuit malts. Advertised “strawberry jam mouthfeel” wavers beside spruce-sweetened grapefruit, pineapple, navel orange, mango and peach tang. Below, cotton-candied pastry sugaring and light ginger-cardamom seasoning allow overall flavoring to lean on the sweet side. Recommended.
On tap at One Mile House, lively piney citrus perfuming sweetened by candi-sugared Belgian yeast spicing. Orange-peeled mango, peach, tangerine and tangelo tang juicily contrasts gin-soaked lemon rind bittering, zesty yellow grapefruit pucker and dank bark-dried astringency.
Unspecific centrist fare lacks bright citrus foundation and brisk hop snap of better, busier India Pale Ale rivals. Bland orange-peeled grapefruit, tangerine and lemon tang barely rises above grassy hop astringency, mildly resinous pining, delicate floral spicing and latent caramel malting.
Pleasant lemony grapefruit tang, white-peppered citric hop (Mosaic and Amarillo) bittering, delicate evergreen pining and fresh-cut grass earthiness pick up pithy sugar-spiced sweetness. Orange-peeled pineapple, tangerine and peach illusions barely reach the surface while creamy wheat malts stay safely below. Stylishly slick.
Slick pale-bodied collaboration with Vermont ice cream mavens, Ben & Jerry, allows latent phenol astringency to overwhelm chocolate chip cookie sweetness and cookie dough richness. In the distance, mild mocha creaminess receives brown-sugared molasses snip and light vanilla sugaring to compensate mild hop-charred aridity. A minor confection.
Substantial spruce-infused pale ale contrasts refreshingly pine-needled spruce tip frontage and brisk juniper berry bittering against zesty lemony grapefruit tang and sugary crystal malting. Just below the surface, minty cologne musk and floral marigold-dandelion-lavender-lilac bouquet ride alongside sweet orange peel juicing. Resinous Douglas Fir-like conifer oiling drapes crisply clean citric-spiced finish.
Exemplary updated 2016 version of briskly clean tripel unleashes sunny lemony orange-juiced grapefruit tang and sweet banana-clove goodness onto mildly creamed candi-sugared crystal malting. Recessive lemon meringue, grilled pineapple, peach, mango and papaya undertones as well as wispy floral-spiced herbage deepen conviction. “Americanized” Simcoe, Columbus and Amarillo hops enliven effervescent fruitful nature.
EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA
Established in 1995, Easton’s increasingly popular WEYERBACHER BREWING COMPANY has become one of Pennsylvania’s largest and prestigious microbreweries, competing against long-time stalwarts such as Troegs, Victory and Yards. Under the guidance of master brewer, Dan Weirback, Weyerbacher has produced some of the best malt-heavy brews on the East Coast.
Specializing in richly complex flagship offerings given hilariously ludicrous monikers (Merry Monks Tripel, Old Heathen Imperial Stout and Blithering Idiot Barleywine), this expansive brewing facility concentrates strictly on its uncompromising beer. I’d already tried over fifty different Weyerbacher beers before visiting the brewery on my initial Sunday at noon November ’16 jaunt.
Inside a large tan brick warehouse, Weyerbacher’s unassuming exterior and no-frills atmosphere contrast against the ultra-sophisticated full-bodied elixirs that dominate the Tap Room Menu. Some of my absolute faves (all reviewed in Beer Index) include Heresy, a dry chocolate-y stout with tannic grape-soured cherry tartness; Blasphemy, a cherry kirsch-like quad with brown-sugared molasses saaping and ripe dried fruiting; and Insanity, a caramelized barleywine with endless cognac warmth.
I grab a seat at the U-shaped 30-seat bar and order some samplers emanating from the thirty 6-barrel tanks in the large rear brew room. Six barreled tables provide further seating. The space may be raw, but the colorful chalk-boarded beer insignias, fascinating tap handles, inspiring refrigerated bottle selection and cathedral high ceilings need no extra highlighting. And today’s NFL game keeps the sports fans involved.
Taking in the autumn weather, I begin with Festbier, a traditional German marzen exposing a leafy hop earthiness and peaty malt dewiness offset by light clementine, tangerine and navel orange illusions. Dark-roasted black chocolate malts picked up nut-charred coffee dryness to contrast sugared molasses notions for Easton Brown & Down.
Next, vinous white wining consumed oak-dried Brunicorn, a raspberry-flavored Pinot Noir-barreled sour ale with blush rosé, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay notions amidst green apple tartness overridden by eye-squinting vinaigrette piquancy. A collaboration with nearby Two Rivers Brewing, tannic French oak-barreled Sixth Street Sour brought bittersweet cherry and raspberry fruiting to black-malted coffee tones, sticky anise whims and nutty respites.
Delightful Belgian blonde ale, Mellow Monks, proved to be a sessionable Merry Monk as dry white-peppered hops casually cavorted with sweet banana-clove propensities, subsidiary apple-pear fruiting and herbal lemongrass-chamomile notions. Complex dark saison, Jester’s Choice, enhanced its stylish orange-peeled lemon zest and earthen herbal minerality with a maltier-than-expected wild rice and toasted buckwheat influence (plus latent brandy wining).
Fabulous and far-reaching Imperial Pumpkin Ale invigorated its pumpkin pie spicing with sweet cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and clove spicing as well as tertiary whiskey, raisin and anise notions.
On the dark side, worthy limited edition Sunday Mole Stout used the foundation of Weyerbacher Sunday Morning Imperial Stout for its capacious dark coffee-chocolate expressiveness, adding peppery heat to subtle mocha-spiced bruised black cherry, bourbon, cinnamon and powdered cocoa undertones.
Nitro-only Sunday Mole Stout Pilot Batch #2 swimmingly coalesced black coffee, dark cocoa, cinnamon and chocolate illusions atop light ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle peppering.
Feeling like a nitro with its smoothly watered resolve, dry-bodied Oyster Stout serenaded its briny sea-salted black malting with boggy peat moss.
www.weyerbacher.com
BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT
In a gray industrial mall just north of New Haven in the coastal town of Branford, DU VIG BREWING COMPANY opened for business during 2014 (and closed February 2023). As the story goes, homebrewing neighborhood buddies Kim and Dan Vigliotti decided to hook up with Scott and Darcy Dugas to create a friendly local microbrewery featuring approachable fare that “remain true to style.”
Working with a small 6-barrel system with a hanging TV separating the rear brewing area from the cozy tap room, Du Vig’s sessionable suds reinforce the front-walled motto, Deconstructing Beer.
During my quick October ’16 stopover on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I pick up a few growlers and sample five lively offerings.
Pleasantly off-dry Cream Ale brought sugar-spiced pilsner malting and lemon-limed grassy hops to light earthen graining.
Lactic lemon-seeded sourness gains a bitterly salted coriander edge above its wispy white wheat bed for the soft-tongued Berliner Wiesse.
Stylishly heady Leetes Island Amber Ale balanced citric Cascade-Centennial-Chinook hop pining with peaty mineral grains and toasted caramel malts.
Barley-roasted nuttiness inundated chocolate-malted English Brown Ale, a fine moderation with ample peanut-shelled walnut illusions picking up gentle lemon-soured green raisin, apple and plum notions.
Best bet: illuminating American Pale Ale maintained a crisply clean carbolic mouthfeel as its sunny yellow grapefruit tang and brisk orange rind bittering spread across the oats-dried wheat husk and bark-like wood astringency.
www.duvig.com
Interestingly offbeat Breakfast Stout combines smoky Vermont maple syrup with bittersweet black coffee-chocolate murk, honeyed molasses undertones and sour toffee wisp above recessive hop char, but needs creamier thickness for better resonance. May need better balance of intangible adjuncts.
Creamy milk chocolate richness gains sweet rye whiskey resonance to serenade ample oats-sugared cocoa, vanilla and fudge brownie ascendance. Below the surface, charred cedar chips and plastique grouting affect wispy bourbon subtleties (and a hint of sherry).
Milky black chocolate creaming meets sour-milked dry cocoa swerve and caramelized “Belgian specialty malting” for off-dry Baltic-like porter. Moderate oily hop acidity, dubious vanilla-toffee conflux and murky cocoa nibs snip lean on the sour side. Nutty chicory coffee presence fades fast.
