Emphatic lambic-styled sour ale given spontaneous yeast fermentation in oak barrel. Bubbly champagne sparkle, black-peppered red wine vinegaring and oaken cherry acridity pick up musky barnyard leathering. Ancillary cider, crab apple, green grape, plum, apricot and pear illusions sweeten over time.
Fine Galaxy-hopped version of brettanomyces-soured India Pale Ale offers lemony pineapple-grapefruit-orange tang and juicy mango-peach-passionfruit sweetness to sharp juniper-hopped bittering. Though bacterial brettanomyces influence remains uninvolving or merely secondary, pronounced fruitiness will appease sweeter thirsts dissuaded by acrid sour ales.
Captivating IPA-derived medium body with rocky-headed nickel hue brings dry piney fruiting to the fore. Bitter Citra-Amarillo hops combine sharp wood-toned acridity with bright grapefruit-peeled orange rind resilience and ancillary pineapple-mango-peach-nectarine tropicalia. At crisply brisk finish, feisty juniper bittering ascends above zesty fruited plain.
Obliging tangerine-juiced moderation, reminiscent of a tart lollipop, retains tangy citrus tenacity. Sweet tangerine adjunct allows withered orange peel, mandarin orange, clementine and grapefruit fruiting to blossom above grassy hop astringency, resinous pine reminder, herbal lemongrass snip and light medicinal acridity.
Peerless pumpkin-flavored dunkelweizen brings luxurious brown-sugared pumpkin pie spicing to ripened dried fruiting, chewy caramel malting and pie-crusted honey wheat base. Sweet gingerbread midst sweetened by allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and clove seasoning while banana-breaded green raisin, fig and date nuances deepen its overall flavor profile.
Sweet coriander-spiced peach tartness fades as lemony hops turn phenol. Proprietary Blue Moon yeast supplies herbal citric rusticity to artificial peach flavoring and dried fig-apricot conflux.
Thin, uninvolving fruit ale aged in oaken bourbon barrels needs deeper peach penetration. Sweet bourbon influence, light maple sugaring and wispy vanilla daub dissipate above honeyed wheat spine while fuzzy carbolic spritz waters down entirety.
Fine 2015-originated Vermont brewer crafts strictly lagers and pilsners (as of May 2016). Endearing ‘golden lager’ brings spicy lemon tang to doughy cereal-grained biscuit malts and grassy hops for easygoing, sessionable moderation.
Apprehensive ‘classic bohemian pils’ in a can stays mild as soured lemon spicing recedes above tentative grassy hop astringency and buttery biscuit malts. Slight diacetyl acidity lowers its appeal. On tap at Pennings Farm, easygoing moderate body combines lightly toasted mineral graining, mild earthen hop pungency, grassy citric herbage and raw-honeyed pale malting.
BRONX, NEW YORK
Veteran brewmaster Chris Sheehan built a solid reputation at now-defunct Manhattan hotbed, Chelsea Brewing, then Newark’s Port 44 and Woodbridge mainstay JJ Bitting before hooking up with entrepreneurial New Yorkers Kieran Farrell and Dave Lopez to devise GUN HILL BREWING COMPANY. One of the guiding lights leading the charge for the resurgence of Bronx borough breweries (alongside Bronx Brewery), Gun Hill began operations May 22, 2014 (and closed May ’24).
Located inside an industrial warehouse space on Laconia Avenue between an auto shop and plaster caster, the ambitious one-room brewery takes its name from nearby Van Cortlandt Park’s Revolutionary War battle.
An unpretentious neighborhood joint with a large garage door entrance, high ceilings, cement floors, three picnic tables, three community tables and a large backroom brewing area, Gun Hill Brewing immediately grabbed hold. A 12-seat bar with several taps services walk-in customers while hundreds of kegs generate appreciable beer pub action throughout the Empire State.
On a warm March ’16 evening, I get to try six well-designed elixirs with a few friendly locals.
Sessionable flagship, Gold, an easygoing golden ale, plied pilsner-like pale malts and earthy bark-dried Noble hops to floral-perfumed lemon tones, picked up French-breaded toasting along the way. Though it’s descriptively oxymoronic, mild English strong ale, Who Spelt It, Dealt It, brought oats-dried spelt wheat flouring to sugar-spiced crystal(?) malting and grassy hops.
Endearing Simcoe-Citra-hopped mainstay, India Pale Ale, elevated its brisk lemon-dried grapefruit peel and orange rind bittering to dry pine lacquer in a crisply clean-watered setting.
Another charming medium body, Cherry Tree Red Ale gained a resilient red cherry-candied tartness above sweet honeyed wheat malts and mellow fruit-spiced hops.
Cascadian dark ale lovers will want to quaff Black Waves IPA, a mocha-doused medium-full body draping day-old coffee, dark chocolate and dry cocoa above oats-charred ashen hops while dried-fruited fig, apricot, brown pear and quince illusions stabilized beneath the surface.
For dessert, Void Of Light Foreign-style Stout emitted dry dark chocolate malting and cocoa-powdered coffee roast above moderate wood-charred hop bittering.
Right off the main thoroughfare of Gun Hill Road, this unassuming Bronx oasis will satisfy a wide range of beer enthusiasts with its sanguinely seductive sedatives.
gunhillbrewing.com
Heavy dark-roasted mocha malt influence raises fudgy black cocoa and black chocolate creaming above black licorice adjunct, oats-charred Saaz hop bittering and wood-scorched earthiness. Distant black cherry undertones enjoin vanilla bean, espresso and carafa reminders at the back end.
Relegated chipotle burn gains strength at mocha-doused finish, penetrating chicory-rooted rye dryness, toasted oak smokiness, roasted chocolate malting and wispy citric nip. Light poblano, chili and jalapeno heat reinforces mild chipotle adjunct.
