Casual light-bodied witbier hastily gets watery as faltering sweet ‘n soured orange peel entry picks up ginger-honeyed orange blossom perfuming and mild grassy hop acridity over soft white wheat bed. Lemon-candied raspberry tartness, latent coriander spicing, tangy tangerine respite and wispy curacao orange smidge drowned out by phenol carbolic fizz. Faded fruit-spiced finish lacks sugary punch.
Despite dropping roasted bull testicles into the mash tun, creamily rich stout retains lovely dark and brown chocolate sweetness. Fudgy chocolate-kissed Nestles Quik cocoa powdering deepened by chocolate mousse caking and oily anise spicing to contrast ashen nuttiness. Tertiary espresso coffee, black cherry and hazelnut undertones fade away. Forget about the advertised bovine nuts, this one’s way closer in taste to malt balls.
Sweet cinnamon apple-spiced pumpkin pie sugaring contrasts less prevalent vegetal gourd acridity. Honey-glazed yam, gingerbread and nutmeg undertones add casual splendor. Creamy vanilla snip further sweetens medium-bodied fall seasonal.
Inside a rustic saltbox-styled tan edifice with earthen stone base, East Rutherford-based ROCKAFELLA’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL came into existence during ’97. By 2012, the well-established Paterson Avenue pub (with windowed neon signs featuring Yards, Flying Fish and Dogfish Head) expanded its tap selection to include a host of recognizable craft beers sidling blue-collar Bud-Coors-Miller fare.
During a two-hour October ’13 dinnertime perusal with the wife, we also discovered the delightful pub fare – which included the loaded cheese nachos and garlic chicken wings devoured alongside two previously untried brews originating from Virginia’s Old Dominion and California’s Stone.
Sitting at the left side of the rectangular bar, long-time bartender, Jessica, keeps patrons happy serving pub fare while a dozen TV’s capture the eye at every possible angle. A drop ceiling hovers above the bar area. Bead board paneling covers the side walls and exposed pipes bedeck the ceiling. A dartboard at the entrance keeps a few folks busy.
The mixed crowd consumes a wide range of beers going from macrobrewed faves such as Blue Moon to micros from Ballast Point, Founders, Lagunitas and Southern Tier.
Dominion Gigi Farmhouse Ale (an herbal sour-fruited saison with white-peppered perfumed hops guiding banana-clove wisps) and Stone Farking Wheat WootStout (a bourbon-aged Imperial with oaken vanilla serenading chocolate-spiced toffee, molasses and hazelnut) appeal to both ends of the sweet-sour spectrum.
Behind the bar area lies an open kitchen with ample dining space, one billiard table and 11 more TV’s. All in all, it’s an unassuming neighborhood joint that keeps ’em comin’ back for moderately rotated craft draughts, light food fare and friendly atmosphere.
On a busy downtown corner at the 16th Street Mall, Denver’s ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY is one of the large chains’ busiest and roomiest franchised restaurant-pubs. A large railed patio at its entrance provides beautiful views of the city and a wonderful outside dining experience. Dark wood furnishings get scattered throughout the multi-section interior. Large glass-encased copper brewtanks spread across the large expanse.
A casual sportsbar atmosphere (multiple TV’s; three billiard tables) keeps the general bar customers happy. The menu serves typical pub fare. A private banquet room is available for special events.
My friend, Dennis, brought back to Jersey two fine specialty beers October ’13. The first one tried, Rock Bottom Double Down Double India Pale Ale, attached perfumed fruiting to resinous pine hops. Its gin-like juniper bite and yellow grapefruit rind bittering mellowed to a sweet orange peel misting before reaching its floral citric-sugared finish.
On deck, ambitious Rock Bottom The Gnome Baltic Porter went beyond the usual stodgy stylistic souring most Baltic dark ales mistake for mocha sweetness. Its fudgy brown chocolate and maple molasses overtones allow less obvious black grape, black cherry and blackberry illusions to emerge alongside sharp hop toasting (causing less discriminate tasters to compare the rich suds to a Black IPA).
www.rockbottom.com
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, richly creamed Belgian dark ale (part of limited edition Game of Thrones series) brings brown chocolate spicing to bitter hop-charred tarring. Molasses-sapped anise and fennel influence deepens dark-roasted mocha malting. Tertiary cocoa, coffee and cola nut illusions override subtle black-peppered dried fruiting and faded whiskey nip.
On tap at Julian’s Restaurant, highly impressive Double Trouble IPA gets aged in bourbon barrels and gains whiskey-daubed oaken vanilla warmth to elevate juicier fruited frontage. Resinous piney hop oiling embitters lemony grapefruit-orange peel briskness while contrasting tropical pineapple, mango, melon, tangerine, peach and apricot tang. Marmalade custard, coconut, almond and butterscotch nuances as well as maple-sugared spruce sapping enhance sweet caramel malting. Corn-sugared bourbon warmth pleasantly infiltrates the bright citric finish.
Utilizing brewers’ Finest Kind IPA recipe for a rich rye malted (instead of wheat) base while amping up the dry-hopped IBU’s, fine hophead delight retains juicy pineapple-peach-mango-cantaloupe-melon tang and bitter grapefruit-peeled orange rind succulence over crisply clean mineral water. Resinous pine-needled juniper berry bite contrasts ancillary perfumed floral sweetness at the honeyed rye spine.
