Calming fresh-watered briskness crisply soothes black-roasted coffee bittering and vanilla-sweetened creme brulee sugaring. Filmy coffee grounds deepen chocolate-covered cherry puree, maple walnut ice cream, tierra mousse, brown-sugared molasses, blackberry, cola nut, pecan and praline illusions over mossy earthiness.
Well-balanced full-bodied IPA spinoff contrasts bright pineapple, grapefruit and orange sweetness against bitterly pungent piney hop oiling and dry yellow wood acridity. Ancillary brown pear, red cherry, apricot and tangerine sugaring receives honeyed rye malting as well as ginger-snapped herbal wisp. Brusque alcohol burn provides medicinal cherry coughdrop background.
Upstart Michigan nanobrewer’s auburn-cleared red lager places honey-spiced citrus zest above leafy hops and pale malts. Flour-powdered cereal grains soak up lemony tangerine juicing, orange-rotted souring and red cherry sugaring.
Smooth creme brulee sugaring leads the way for ‘dark chocolate malt beverage.’ Fudgy vanilla sweetens tertiary chocolate truffle, Ghirardelli chocolate, cocoa bean, espresso, toffee and oily coffee resonance. Minimal hop char embitters mocha tendencies, but soft creamy froth relegated by acrid carbolic aridity and coarsely astringent nuttiness.
Disappointingly overrated golden-hazed English pale ale with under-utilized New Zealand-bound Nelson Sauvin hop astringency feigns unspecific tropical fruiting (kiwi, grapefruit, passion fruit, papaya, guava, pineapple) as simple carbolic lemon spritz covers up bland stylistic moderation. Forget any intended Sauvignon Blanc white wining. Instead, its minor grassy hop spicing tingles the senses but leaves very few citric pleasantries.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, bold full-bodied Imperial IPA (limited ’14 edition with high hop resin) drapes rye-honeyed fructose tropicalia over tangy grapefruit-orange ripeness, but rigid 11.1% alcohol burn, massive 111 IBU hop bittering and chewy caramel malting completely overload fruity onrush. In skinny 12-ounce can, clay-hopped pine needling sharpens syrupy cotton-candied pineapple, peach, nectarine, tangerine and mango tang.
Gimmicky peanut-buttered brown chocolate theme suffices, if not totally entices (recalling Reese’s peanut butter cup), before picking up astringently distracting hop-oiled bittering. Salty dark-roasted peanut buttering allows ancillary hazelnut, walnut, almond and cola illusions to deepen hard-shelled legume influence above rich vanilla-sweetened mocha malting. Sugary jellybean undertones contrast recessive espresso snip. A fine dessert alternative to nutty brownies.
Novel full-bodied peculiarity enhances creamy dark chocolate malt richness with spearmint-leafed herbal freshness. But its minty influence gets emphasized above meandering mocha mantra and dark-roasted barley flakes. Wavered black licorice, black coffee, dark cocoa, vanilla bean and raw molasses illusions get depleted by creme de menthe and peppermint pattie prods. Spruce-tipped fern and evergreen tea nuances further promote chocolate mint theme.
Smoothly crisp-watered dry Irish stout tosses smoky mocha malts and barley-roasted earthen peat at acrid hop char. Cocoa-powdered Baker’s chocolate, toffee, cacao nibs, day-old coffee, Irish coffee, black tea and burgundy nuances struggle to properly surface. Stylistically murky.
WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT
Established as a master wine sommelier, cultured Portuguese entrepreneur, Nelson Veiga, opened upscale bistro 1249 Winebar and its neighboring The Good Life Wine & Spirit shop in Waterbury during January 2012. Beguiled by the onslaught of craft beverages and authentic foods inducing health-conscious post-millenial savants, Veiga totally embraced the bourgeoning spirits and culinary revolution. Besides 1249 Winebar’s exquisite wine menu and locally sourced cuisine, the heavenly hotspot also serves many of Connecticut’s best microbrews on tap or in bottle.
Residing at the fifth largest industrial city in the Constitution State, this fabulous earth-toned gastropub (southwest of Hartford) features a tucked-in 8-seat main bar, elegant dining room (with slate-walled panel, leather-backed booths and wine racks), quaint second-floor Sky Bar martini lounge and black-trellised front patio.
On my initial post-noon February ’14 visit, my wife and I grab a booth near the pristine maroon-hued left wall to try a few previously untried ales alongside wonderful hand-prepared food. Cicerone-certified beer manager, Liz Pliska, comes by to offer her services while lounge Jazz plays in the background. Six upstairs taps and three downstairs taps provide fresh local suds to the growing crowd of families, friends and aged hipsters. Homemade pasta and burgers, bakery-fresh bread, a raw bar, Echo Farms veggies and artisanal desserts satiate a wide variety of good tastes.
We share the 1249 Frittata (eggs with mushrooms, peppers, onions and bacon) and Bita A Portuguesa (steak with poached egg, potatoes, prosciutto ham and wine-sauced burgundy reduction) while getting acquainted with a few hungry destination-bound out-of-towners.
On tap, Greenwich-based 1757 GW Beer (based on George Washington’s original pale ale recipe) brought light caramel toasting to honey-spiced grassy hops for a light-bodied opener. Afterwards, I settle into Narragansett Autocrat Coffee Milk Stout (which combines Natty’s bittersweet stout with Autocrat coffee). Its brusque barley-roasted hop char embitters lactose-sugared black chocolate and cappuccino coffee tones quite efficiently.
Before leaving, I stop next store at The Good Life to pick up more local brews for home consumption.
www.1249winebar.com
MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT
Located at historic Hilliard Mills in the rustic eastern Hartford suburb of Manchester, TOP SHELF BREWING COMPANY opened its doors during August 2013 – right in the midst of Connecticut’s booming microbrew renaissance (and closed 2014). Distributing product all over the state from a 2,000 square foot warehouse, the three-barrel nanaobrewery has room for expansion.
Taking up the space Onyx moonshine distillery once occupied (and picking up the slack left by the closing of Tullycross Brewery), Top Shelf came into existence when three nearby UConn alumni (home brewer Mike Boney and fellow co-owners TJ Lavery and Joe Frost) gained inspiration from local New England and Back East breweries and decided “it was time to get involved” with brewing on a professional scale.
On my initial one-hour February ’14 Saturday afternoon exploit, the inconspicuous cement-floored tasting room featured samples of various limited edition ales and one winter seasonal as well as three flagship beers (bought for home consumption). Behind the tap room in a seperate space, the immaculate brewhouse puts out the well-rounded selection of generically-named American, Belgian and Irish styled ales.
I reach for Smoked Belgian Ale, an alternate to the regular Belgian, upon entering. Its lightly smoked peat malting, toasted caramel spicing and earthen musk pick up meager orange fruiting. But a lack of true Belgian yeast character hurts.
Three more limited edition brews hit my lips thereafter. Snowed In Imperial Stout brought chocolate-chipped molasses malting to caramel-burnt toffee-cocoa-coconut restraint, creme brulee sweetness and compost-wafted winter spicing.
Village Charm IPA gained floral-perfumed citrus prominence as lemony grapefruit rind and Chinook-hopped resin subtly embittered creamy crystal malts.
Interestingly experimental hybrid, You Be The Judge, an unclassified one-off (?) offered raw-honeyed cider souring to saison-like lemony orange tartness, vinous green grape esters, kiwi-mango-guava tropicalia, fig-dried acridity and sourdough wheat (retaining a crisp watered freshness).
My only problem was that Top Shelf’s Belgian- Style Ale surprisingly had a similar pungent yeast profile as their Irish Style Ale.
For the former, an astringent cider solvency seems to outdo the apple-soured green grape tartness and herbal-peppered guava-kiwi-pitaya tropicalia. As for the latter, a blatantly acrid cider souring overruns the peated molasses malting.
Bottled versions are listed in Beer Index.
