On tap at Seven Lakes Station, hazy straw yellowed hefeweizen retains lighter mouthfeel despite stylishly higher 6% ABV. Subtle brown-sugared banana bread sweetness and mild clove spicing allow lemon-soured dried plantain stint and wispy herbal tinge to contrast vanilla wafer flouring at its sourdough bottom.
Brisk English-styled pale ale from Ireland coalesces amber grained cereal malt sweetness, dewy peat mossing and toasted bread crusting, recalling an Irish Red Ale in many aspects. Ascending East Kent Golding hop herbage brings snappy bitterness to slightly caramelized barley roast finish.
Summery American wheat beer with “coriander and citrus” and puffy white head embraces sunshiny lemon zesting and dried mandarin orange snip above pallid white wheat bed. Lemon juice continuance brings mild acidity and candied lemon tartness adds slight mouth pucker, but coriander spicing lacks.
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, ‘zesty lemon lavender lager’ stays sunny as limey lemonade frontage picks up sweet lavender florality. Tart lemon juicing ultimately wins out.
On tap at Ambulance, dry Lemondrop-hopped pale lager needs zestier lemony grapefruit splash. Lemon pit bittering consumes mandarin orange lilt, green tea tannins and herbal respite.
On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, dry helles lager attaches corny rice sugaring to contrastive musty barnyard rusticity and muskily dark floral Noble hops, leaving gluey malt pasting.
On tap at Pompton Craft House, ’24 updated German-styled light pilsner retains fizzy lemon spritz, maize-dried minerality, grassy hop astringency and sugary pilsner malt base.
Crisply dry German-styled pils retains musty barnyard rusticity, maize-dried mineral graining, musky herbal lemon fizziness and dark floral whims, bettering less solid-bodied moderations.
Debonairly mellow Makers Mark bourbon influence could use a push – but caramelized whiskey warmth, candied butterscotch serenity, leathery oaken vanilla tannins and dewy cellar funk stay elegantly subtle upfront atop lightly spiced brown chocolate base. Mild Amaretto, plum wine, prune pudding, dried cherry and roasted chestnut illusions waver. Confectionery fruit-pasted Fig Newton finish seals deal.
FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS
Inside a beige professional building at the coastal Cape Cod town of Falmouth on Main Street, AQUATIC BREWING CO. opened November ’20. The casually intimate brewpub was started by local MIT-grad residents Greg Horning and Alex Bergman, two homebrew hobbyists serious enough to take their ambitions to a higher level of prosperity.
A sterling operation, Aquatic Brewing’s porcelain-floored brewroom features an oak top serving station, five community tables, hanging pendant lights and rear brew tanks. A wood-boarded Aquatic insignia hangs above the silver tap handles.
My wife and I showed up on a Thursday eve in April ’24 prior to visiting Martha’s Vineyard for trivia night, downing five of Aquatic’s well-rounded offerings.
A fine yeast-lagered steam beer, Highly Common California Common gave its honeyed amber grain toastiness, lightly smoked peat malting and rustic hop earthiness a spritzy lemon pep as gluey paper pasting ensued.
Tart lemon souring overrode herbal hibiscus adjunct and light black peppering for muskily leathered saison, Hibiscus Shrewd, leaving a candied lemon peel bittering on the waxy crayon-like citrus finish.
A Northeast/West Coast IPA-styled pale ale, Defendable Draft placed dry grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering across spruce-tipped pine resin as candied papaya-mango-pineapple tropicalia seeped below.
Dark chocolatey light roast coffee and Madagascar vanilla headed rich Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Faint Glimmer, picking up ancillary espresso, mochaccino, caramel latte and burnt marshmallow banter over Black patent malt(?) bittering.
Cold-brewed milk-sugared coffee overtones ruled debonair Oatmeal Stout, Pie In The Sky, sweetened by toffee-candied burnt caramel malting.
During late September Cape Cod trip, discovered three more Aquatic draughts while taking home another eight new offerings (see Beer Index for reviews).
Brisk summery helles lager, Supergeil, a cold conditioned pilsner-malted light body, brought dewy orange oiling, sour lemon musk and dank leafy hop herbage.
Vibrant tropical fruited NEIPA, Planktos, spread zesty orange peel sweetness and yellow grapefruit bittering across light pine resin as lively pineapple salting, peachy papaya tanginess and guava souring emerge.
Nitro version of Woods Hole Stout retained light frothy head, dark-roast nutty coffee tones, dark chocolate bittering and powdered cocoa tartness as well as mild soy breading.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS
Occupying a weathered shingled shack in the Martha’s Vineyard town of Edgartown, BAD MARTHA FARMER’S BREWERY opened in 2014 as the flagship site (with a Falmouth location in Cape Cod since September 2019). An inconspicuous Bad Martha sign at Donaroma’s Nursery leads patrons to the flower-bound pub originally built by Amish settlers years hence.
A rustic back patio and wood furnished side patio surround the cement-floored, pitched-ceilinged, wood-walled barnhouse. Bad Martha’s beautiful bronze bar top and huge windowed copper kettle add to the antiquated homespun elegance. Each tap handle features a sexy blue mermaid. Artisan pizza ovens are stored in the mezzanine.
“All Bad Martha Beer is uniquely brewed with hand-picked wild grape leaves grown on Martha’s Vineyard, so there is a piece of the Island’s soul infused in every sip,” goes the brewery’s organic motto.
My wife and I enjoyed the Beer Bacon Pizza alongside all eight available brews on our sunny Saturday afternoon stopover, April ’24.
Flagship Extra Special Bitter, Martha’s Vineyard Ale, maintained a soft buttery caramel spread for sedate floral-daubed dark honey, desiccated orange and dried grape illusions above its moist earthen peat moss bed.
Wild vineyard grape leaf crisping, mildly floral Bartlett pear sweetness and mineral grained pilsner malting gave mild blonde ale, Vineyard Summer, its casual dry splendor.
Festive mulling-spiced amber lager, Spiced (Yule), retained a lightly smoked Vienna malt sweetness and dried orange-apricot respite but its cinnamon-clove-cardamom pinch lacked resilience.
Dried fruited spicing and mild herbal pining sparked appeasing moderation, Patio IPA, utilizing locally grown hops and sugary pale-crystal malts.
Dry Mosaic/Centennial-hopped 508 IPA secured its pine lacquered grapefruit rind bittering and shifty orange-tangerine tang with baked breaded caramelized malts.
Plummy beet-sugared Belgian ale, Beach Plum Dubbel, gained subtle cherry, banana and fig snips to engage mild fruited hop esters and caramelized pilsner malts.
Soft-tongued brown ale, Bad Bad Pecan Brown, relegated its smoked candied pecan adjunct as charred walnut, buttery chestnut and dark cocoa subtleties merged above slightly burnt caramel base.
Dark-roast coffee nuttiness and chicory root earthiness combined for Woodford Reserve-aged Bourbon Street Coffee Porter, a semi-rich dark ale with only subtle bourbon hints.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS
One block from the center of town in Martha’s Vineyard village, Oak Bluffs, OFFSHORE ALE CO. opened in ’97 and remains the island’s only year-round brewery.
Inside a rustic barnhouse built by the Amish, this sizable one-room pub features a half-covered front patio leading into the tile-floored high-ceilinged interior. Brewtanks are stored in the balcony and several local nautical items (steering wheels, buoys, lanterns, rowers) line the walls.
I sat at the oak-topped bar where twelve draught handles reside. A large stone fireplace to the left adds warmth to the booths and tables across from the bar. An open kitchen serves wood-fire pizzas, burgers and casual pub grub.
Long-time head brewer, Neil Atkins, crafts some fine, mostly dry, beers for the local islanders and visiting landlubbers. I sojourned late April ’24 on a crowded Friday evening to down a few previously untried suds.
Lemon-peeled ruby red grapefruit grappled Islander Double IPA, leaving slight grassy astringency upon its dank pine resin.
Blending candi-sugared Belgian ale sweetness with sharp West Coast-styled IPA fruiting, Hop Goddess Belgian IPA let lemony grapefruit and orange rind dryness slip into the mild tea-like midst.
A bold West Coast IPA, Lazy Frog retained a fruitier profile than Hop Goddess as grapefruit peeled orange and tangerine tanginess plus pineapple-guava tropicalia settled alongside juniper-tipped blueberry bittering.
Daintily figgy plum-spiced winter warmer, Miss Behavin,‘ let dry ginger, birch and sarsaparilla niceties reach its chalky cocoa bottom.
Dry Irish stout, Steeprock, melded its dark chocolate bittering to milk-sugared coffee plus walnut, cola and Brazil nut snips.
Dark chocolate penetrated Inkwell Imperial Stout, picking up hop-charred black coffee and Blackstrap molasses bittering.