Abrupt sour fruited cleansing relegates dank rye grain pungency and floral honeysuckle mist. Lemon-dried Valencia orange tartness gains vinous green grape wisp and tingly candied spicing, but light skunking’s hit or miss.
FULTON THE RINGER AMERICAN PALE ALE
Charming caramel-spiced yellow fruiting and resinous earthen grains outduel gooseberry-dried Nelson Sauvin-hopped white wining. Laid-back lemony orange-grapefruit souring contrasts sweet tangerine tang of dependable moderate-medium body.
FULTON LONELY BLONDE
Easygoing blonde slides spicy Saaz-hopped pale malting alongside zesty lemon splurge, creamed corn sugaring and soured citrus musk. Musty straw-grained backdrop picks up buttered white wheat whim beneath the tepid surface. Loud carbolic fizz drowns out a sizable portion of its ‘intimate’ flavor profile.
CISCO SHARK TRACKER LIGHT LAGER
Bland, straw-cleared, billowy white-headed light body ruined by astringent phenol hop desiccation and lack of noticeable sweetness. Instead, maize-dried rice caking, desolate popcorn whimper and unresolved citric souring dissolve atop dull white bread spine. Try Cisco’s Sankaty Light Lager instead.
PLANK PIZZA
SADDLE BROOK, NEW JERSEY
In a pale green-bricked, beige-topped freestanding building just off Market Street in the quaint town of Saddle Brook, PLANK PIZZA BEER PARLOR specializes in thin-crusted sourdough flatbread pizzas while being “purveyors of artisanal ales.” Its classic West Coast brewhouse feel is reinforced by the well-rounded draught selections (listed on a USB-imaged computer screen above the white-tiled tap handles), 300-plus refrigerated beer bottles-cans and roomy interior.
Open July 2015, Plank Pizza’s reclaimed wood and metal furnishings surround a centralized rectangular bar and its high ceilings support keg fixtures, two TV carousels and exposed ducts. A staired mezzanine and cement-floored side deck provide additional seating capacity. During “Hoppy Hour” (3 to 6 PM weekdays) bottled beers for outside consumption are sold at a discount.
The food menu runs the gamut from ricotta-cheesed Bacon White pizza to Alfredo-sauced French Onion And Pepper pizza and mozzarella-cheesed Bacon Clam pizza while appetizers include sourdough pretzel sticks, jalapeno-pickled tater tots, avocado egg rolls and cajun wings.
I found eight previously untried brews on the tap menu (reviewed fully in Beer Index) ranging from local limited edition ales such as Jersey’s Brix City Wet Hop Pale Ale and Kane Deep Rooted Imperial IPA to California’s 21st Amendment He Said Tripel and Hop Concept Lemon & Grassy as well as Washington’s Elysian Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale. Hybridized West Coast dynamo, Stone Chai Spiced Imperial Stout, Georgia’s Sweetwater Hash Brown and Missouri’s Schlafly Tasmanian IPA completed the score.
Perfect for beer aficionados, pizza lovers and dining families, Plank’s pristine industrial rusticity provides the perfect casual setting for sundry individuals.
KANE DEEP ROOTED
On tap at Plank Pizza, murkily wet-hopped Imperial IPA (with 7.1% ABV) contrasts rotted lemony grapefruit pungency with wheat-flaked pilsner malts and sticky sugared spicing. Musky citrus tartness gains light herbal nip, but damp Jersey-hopped acridity may be off-putting to lighter thirsts.
HOP CONCEPT LEMON & GRASSY INDIA PALE ALE
On tap at Plank Pizza, refreshingly summery Imperial IPA (with well-disguised 8.5% ABV) balks at expectant ‘extreme’ hop bittering. Instead, brisk lemon zest and light sugared spicing provide smooth mouthfeel. Floral grapefruit-peeled tangelo, pineapple, orange, mango and peach tang reinforces brisk lemon-dropped Sorachi Ace hop sharpness. Lemon pith souring, fresh-cut grass astringency and faint lemongrass herbage fortify dank citric back end.
SCHLAFLY TASMANIAN INDIA PALE ALE
On tap at Plank Pizza, propulsive dry-hopped IPA (with 7.2% ABV) brings affluent Galaxy-hopped tropical fruiting to resinous pine bittering and earthen floral accents. Bright yellow grapefruit-peeled pineapple, orange, lemon and clementine resilience as well as brisk mango, peach, papaya, tangerine and passionfruit tang overload pithy pale malting. Tremendous clarity, depth and fruitfulness lift engaging medium body.
BRIX CITY WET HOP PALE ALE
On tap at Plank Pizza, sharply embittered medium body given musky dry-hopped pungency and rotted yellow-fruited phenolics that will satisfy manly Czech pilsner imbibers or bolder Bavarian lager quaffers. Dank lemon putridity and tart orange desiccation rise above hay-like acridity of amped-up pale ale.
SWEETWATER HASH BROWN INDIA STYLE BROWN ALE
On tap at Plank Pizza, “hoppy” India Brown Ale contrasts astringent earthen nuttiness and piney citrus resin against intimate black chocolate-malted caramelized wheat. But its murky orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering and barren nut influence never fully materialize, leaving lightly pungent phenolic acridity in its wake.
21ST AMENDMENT/ ELYSIAN HE SAID TRIPEL
On tap at Plank Pizza, exhilarating hybridized pumpkin-spiced tripel (a nifty 2015 Elysian collaboration with well-hidden 8.2% ABV) loads advertised terragon-galangal piquancy to stylish candi-sugared Belgian yeast and white-peppered tropical fruiting, picking up lightly sprinkled ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice seasoning as well as creamy vanilla sweetness. Subtle pumpkin pie influence fades softly as caramel-malted banana, pineapple, peach and lemon fruiting gains momentum.
LIFT BRIDGE COMMANDER BARLEYWINE
“Bonafide” English-styled barleywine (2014 limited edition with well-hidden 12.5% ABV) aged in bourbon barrels spews hefty cardamom spicing inside sweet-toothed dessert treat. Like a rum-spiced Christmas liqueur, its brown-sugared plum, raisin and candied yam illusions as well as gingerbread cookie sweetness, Scotch-dried sherry wining, swerved Drambuie wisp, light almondine snip and vanilla-creamed butternut, pecan and hazelnut conflux guard nutmeg-milked cardamom adjunct. Happy holidays!
