Refreshing yellow grapefruit-peeled bittering overwhelms piney citra-hop stead. Mild lemon-seeded rasp and wispy peach juicing provide tertiary undertones. Crisp mineral watered briskness well-attuned to unending citric pleasantries. Never overbearingly bitter like stylistically stronger IPA’s, yet hopheads will be delighted and grapefruit lovers pleased.
Eccentric herb-spiced blonde stays approachable. Honeyed green tea sweetness, floral citric respite and soft malt backbone lighten over time. Rose-petaled jasmine, dandelion and lavender undertones add delicate complexity.
Rapturous ‘hoppy oatmeal stout’ with pronounced dark-roasted coffee bittering above oats-roasted black chocolate and vanilla illusions. Dark rye breaded bottom secures dry hop charred mocha theme. More bitter than sweet.
Casual light-bodied fruit ale brings washed-out raspberry tartness to the fore above mild lemony grapefruit bittering and soured olfactory farmhouse yeast. Salty carbolic fizz drenches tertiary oaken cherry, estery white grape and strawberry nuances.
Moderate dry-bodied farmhouse ale in a can utilizes ‘assertive’ cardamom pod spicing to placate sour citrus entry and herb-roasted follow-up. White-peppered lemon verbena, yellow grapefruit and banana bread illusions settle alongside ginger-rooted green and black tea nuances. On further inspection, herbaceous chamomile, basil and peppermint notions pick up steam.
WAYNE, NEW JERSEY
In a haunted colonial-style edifice given landmark status as the French Hill Inn, Wayne, New Jersey’s tan-blocked TAPHOUSE GRILLE opened as a casual upscale gastropub-sportsbar during 2010. Nowhere near as beer-centric as Shepherd & Knucklehead’s, Andy’s Corner Bar, Cloverleaf or Copper Mine, its more trend-conscious, family-friendly, and classically decorated, concentrating on good pub fare but not at the expense of a well-selected tap selection. Visited during a vibrant Friday evening Happy Hour on a snowy January (2013), the comforting warmth of the low ceiling bar area gave it the neighborhood feel of a British tavern as I soaked up five previously untried brews.
At the cozily intimate 10-stooled left side bar there are three tap reservoirs stationing 24 tap handles that serve mostly limited edition microbrews. Multiple TV’s keep sports fans entertained. To the right and rear, quaint dining areas seat large and small parties. Up the central staircase, a private party room and lounge area exist. 5-ounce 4-beer sampler trays are available for those trying to pick ‘n choose their poison.
Tonight’s rare choices included lemon-aided IPA Stone 16th Anniversary; slow sippin’ whiskey-barreled chocolate-charred Epic Smoked & Oaked; nutty dried-fruited peculiarity Anchor Zymaster #2 Mark’s Mild Dark Ale; piney citric IPA-derived winter warmer Fish Tale Winterfish; fruit-musked Dieu Du Ciel Corne Du Diable and chocolate-draped holiday fruitcake Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper.
The following Friday, I revisit the Taphouse Grille before heading to a Hasbrouck Heights Beefsteak Dinner. I converse with house zymurgist, Matt Cinotti, the bar’s beer buyer, who generously gives me two tickets for tomorrow’s New Jersey Beer Expo at the Meadowlands (where I’ll try over a dozen new beers). At this one-hour jettison, soothing India Pale Ale, Captain Lawrence Re-Intro NJ, captures my attention. Its grassy-hopped perfume musk and zippy citric sparkle wake up the senses (full review at Beer Index).
During a brisk March ’13 Happy Hour session on Burgers ‘N Beer Tuesday, enjoyed excellent Crispy Fried Eggplant appetizer with three rangy IPA’s, an epic stout and a nutty chocolate-fruited strong ale. Kane Empower boasted a bitterer orange-peeled grapefruit rind prominence than wood-lacquered citric-pined Thomas Creek Class 5 IPA and marzipan-sweetened melon-fruited Speakeasy Double Daddy. Soft-toned bourbon-whirred chocolate-browned Goose Island Big John Imperial Stout nicely contrasted creamy peanut, raisin and black chocolate-affixed Carton G.O.R.P. (full reviews in Beer Index).
Serving great burgers and appetizers to go alongside finely hand selected beers and well-made cocktails, this multi-faceted pub challenges the area’s best beer bars. And there are plenty of specials to excite a wide variety of clientele.
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
Plopped into a light industrial complex right off major corridor, Route 95, Stamford’s HALF FULL BREWERY was the brainchild of entrepreneurial zymurgist, Conor Horrigan. Open for business, September ’12, Half Full’s raw white-walled space (with exposed pipes and metal fixtures) offers enough square footage for future expansion.
As I enter through the inconspicuous front door in early January ’13 for a one-hour stopover, the rustic interior where the tasting room resides is completely empty except for a wall-bound brewery insignia, blackboard with flagship beers listed, Tap Map (instructing customers where to get the brewery’s suds), silver stooled tables and two wood community tables.
Down the hall lies the high ceiling brewing space, an unassuming echo-drenched room with silver brew tanks across the temporary serving table. My wife chats with two post-collegiate femmes as I try Half Full’s four fine offerings.
Next to newfound mega-brewery, Two Roads, and decades-old standby, Cottrell’s, this fully-formed operation stands as the third biggest Connecticut brewery.
“We didn’t want to have to scale up immediately,” multi-faceted chief beer organizer Jordan Giles explains. “We have four 40-barrel tanks and room for at least eight more 40-barrels or 60-barrel tanks.”
While Two Roads, twenty miles north, is a multi-million dollar operation with large East Coast distribution, Half Full serves the local community with kegs and growlers to go.
“It’s Conor’s baby,” Giles admits. “He wasn’t happy in his Wall Street job and found it unfulfilling. He wanted to bring people together. After being a home brewer, he worked at New England Brewing for one year with Rob Leonard. Then, he got an MBA and wrote our business plan.”
One of their best clients is Coalhouse Pizza – a beer-centric pizzeria a few miles west. Word is spreading quickly.
As we converse, I settle into the splendidly easygoing sessionable flagship blonde ale, Bright Ale, a pilsner-evoking Vienna-malted moderation with grassy-hopped lemony grapefruit florality and honeyed grain sublimity caressing the soft white-breaded spine.
Next up, simply named fellow flagship, India Pale Ale, utilized dry rye malts to deepen the piney citric profile, earthen peat dewiness and juicy Cascade hop-oiled orange and grapefruit bittering (as well as ancillary pineapple, peach, mango and passion fruit tropicalia).
As a collective, Half Full’s handful of employees all brew. Test batches are made on a half-barrel nanosystem.
“When I heard Conor was interested in brewing, we went for a run and grabbed a brew at (local hotspot) Brennan’s. It’s a famous hole-in-the-wall tavern from the 1800′s. Conor had investment money and just got this space. They were installing tanks when I arrived. We did three months of construction before brewing began,” Giles confides.
A sessionable seasonal from an “unplanned batch” gets poured post-haste. Not far removed from a toasted lager, the one-time InAugur Ale, blends sourdough breaded Vienna malting with grassy-hopped mineral graining and airborne whey-alfalfa-wheatgrass, gaining lemony orange tartness down the stretch.
“All our beers are slightly hybridized. Bright Ale’s a blonde ale hybrid. The IPA’s rye malts taste different than the stylistic standard. We’re doing an amber ale tasting tomorrow to see which recipe is best. Plus, our chocolate coffee brown’s not a stout or porter,” Giles says as he smiles.
Before heading to dinner at nearby SBC, I sample the above-mentioned Chocolate Coffee Brown Ale, a nifty collaboration with a local Darien coffeeshop. Its mild ground coffee roast brings sourness to brown, dark and Baker’s chocolate malting as well as molasses-sapped Brazil nut, hazelnut and walnut illusions (plus dark toffee snips).
“Our work is still not done,” Giles concludes as he fills a few growlers. “The front space will become the main tap space soon. Then, we’ll fill out the back.”
Solid medium-bodied India Pale Ale brings sharply resinous El Dorado hop oiling to brisk grapefruit-peeled blood orange bittering and sugar-caned pineapple juicing. Dry-spiced rye malts envelop citric freshness above mild biscuit-y spine.
Reserved draught-only reintroduction to New Jersey market, via 2013, takes soothing approach. Perfume-musked pine oils and grassy hops merge with zippy citric sparkle. Serene grapefruit-peeled lemon juicing careens off black currant bittering.
