Delicate straw clear hefe stays thin as spritzy lemon licks prickle sweet banana-clove seduction over soft sourdough wheat base, picking up mild herbage, green grape tannins and phenol hop blurb.
SCHILLING KVET 12
On tap at The Local Taphouse of Nyack. Stylishly richer ‘Czech amber lager’ tosses raw-honeyed cracked barley at lightly cherrywood-smoked pumpernickel, rye and wattleseed midst as leafy hop astringency penetrates dried cocoa bottom.
WIDOWMAKER HOW THE GODS CHILL AMBER LAGER
Dry clear golden light lager lets lemon lime musk and slight grapefruit pith bittering sidle dry Chinook-hopped herbage as skunky pale malting ruins fragile white bread base.
KILLS BORO KILLSNER
On tap at The Local Taphouse of Nyack, musky raw-grained pilsner malting and herbal Tettnang-Perle hops embed traditional German styled moderation. But addition of dry Hallertau Blanc hops provides mild tannic green grape esters at the musty barnyard finish.
KC BIER MUNICH STYLE BROWN LAGER
Boring bronze moderation with bread crusted pilsner malts providing dull bed for phenol Perle hop spicing, leafy autumnal earthiness, raw molasses dreck, undefined herbage and musty orange oiling.
KC BIER MUNICH STYLE GOLDEN LAGER
Smoothly cold conditioned helles lager suffuses brisk lemon musk with grassy herbage and raw-honeyed graining. Mild sweet bread base sops up hay-like barnyard acridity.
MICHAEL PLANK DUNKLER WEIZENBOCK
Lacking body, thin made-for-the-masses dark wheat bock lets delicate toffee-caramel sweetness pick up mild black peppered smokiness as distant cola nuttiness whimpers. Worst German brewer award.
MICHAEL PLANK GRANDPA PLANK’S WEISSBIER
Offbeat pink-labeled hefeweizen lets tingly lemon spritz overwhelm meager banana-clove-coriander combo and coconut-watered honeyed wheat base.
MICHAEL PLANK HEFEWEIZEN
Sad excuse for a German-made hefeweizen. Spritzy sour lemon musk, hard cider vinegaring and white grape tannins disrupt stylish banana-clove sweetness and sourdough base of phenolic copper crud.
MICHELOB ULTRA PURE GOLD
Boringly organic lo-cal light lager spinoff sucks. Complacent barley crisping and Seltzer-like lemon fizz reach arid hop astringency.
ICARUS BREWING – BRICK
BRICK TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY
ICARUS BREWING has become one of Jersey’s largest and most successful microbreweries since its Lakewood inception, November 2015. Crafting at least 100 different beer recipes and now canning a large batch of best-known fare, Icarus moved into its capaciously monumental new digs during 2024. A dedicated glass-encased barrel aging room creates a fabulous spirits-derived lineup.
Inside a cavernous high-ceilinged freestanding building (shared with an established burger joint), Icarus’ cement-floored interior features 40-plus draughts at its expansive right side bar. There are several wood tables and seats surrounded by multiple TV’s. Exposed ducts complete the 5,000 square-foot open space. A front patio supplies another hundred seats.
On my July ’25 journey, I take my son, Chris, to discover three worthy Heaven Hill bourbon barreled elixirs and one delectably fruited Berliner Weiss.
As a delightful aperitif, lactose-free Berliner Weiss variant, Drinking Bellinis For Breakfast – Oat Fluffed, let sour lemon curd intensify lightly marshmallow-fluffed cara cara orange and toasted coconut adjuncts in heavily oated creaming.
Conditioned on Heaven Hill bourbon, barrel-aged dessert stout, Crunchy Drippie, soaked its milk chocolatey bourbon vanilla with caramelized granola and walnut as well as molasses-sapped pecan, hazelnut coffee, sweet cedar, nutmeg and pine nut illusions.
Superfine Heaven Hill bourbon-aged Baltic Porter, Eastern Horizons, a collaborative variant with Abomination, rushed mellow chocolate sweetness thru Madagascar vanilla beans, picking up molasses, glazed hazelnut, peanut butter, anise and blackcurrant snips in a dry debittered black malt setting.
Finally, luscious nightcap, Life Unraveled Barleywine, also aged in Heaven Hill bourbon, placed Maris Otter-malted rye and ‘aggressive’ Chinook hops atop subtly smoked dark chocolate, gaining sweet caramel, toffee and dried fruit serenity.
THE LOCAL TAPHOUSE OF NYACK
NYACK, NEW YORK
Just across the Tappan Zee Bridge in the hilly village of Nyack, THE LOCAL TAPHOUSE OF NYACK has been pouring local craft beer and fine spirits for a decade. Visited June ’25 on a hot, sticky Friday at noon, entrepreneurial owner Travis is running the cozy bronze tile-ceilinged Prohibition-styled saloon.
A 12-seat oak top bar with centralized liquor station and 10-plus tap handles saddle the left side pub while a front window booth, a few tabled chairs and backroom tables fill out the small interior. A right-side patio with a few benches provides outside seating. There are hot dogs onsite but outside food’s also welcome.
Quality bourbons and whiskeys are featured alongside the ten draughts available during my initial two-hour perusal. I found five untried New York suds (reviewed in Beer Index): Kills Boro Killsner German Pilsner; Schilling Kvet 12 Czech Amber Lager; Round Table Encuentro Argentinian Lager; Industrial Arts Party Flavors NEIPA (with mango-blueberry); Tin Barn Pineapple Downside Up Cake Sour Ale.