Calm moderate-bodied English-styled pale ale brings dainty citrus spicing to mild vanilla honeyed creaminess. Soft peppery hops prickle zesty lemon fizz, honeysuckle orange blossom snip and abrupt herbal tea nip to doughy almond-pasted backend. Fine summertime session beer perfect with mixed nuts and varied cheeses.
EPIC PFEIFFERHORN LAGER
Sessionable straw-paled light lager betters most stylistically similar moderations. Mineral-grained hop spicing and lemony spritz contrast rugged Eastern Euro-like corn-sugared maize-dried malt liquor smudge. An astringent bittering and tertiary grassy hay earthiness counter its backend doughy lightness.
ITHACA THIRTEEN ANNIVERSARY ALE
Strong limited edition (2012) wheat wine brings citric splendor to weedy green-hopped black peppering and musty earthen leathering. Lemon-peeled grapefruit rind bittering seeps into mild orange zest as well as tertiary white peach, mango, pineapple and pear illusions. Gin-soaked juniper bite soaks dry wooded midst to wheat-breaded backbone.
KNEE DEEP BEAUTIFUL BLONDE
Self-proclaimed ‘easy drinking ale’ is actually a sidewinding sessionable summertime salutation corruptively balancing bitter with the sweet. Stylistically bold raw-honeyed medium body develops weirdly. Glutinous honeyed wheat astringency attacks corn-oiled diacetyl buttering and tempered fungi musk up-front. Soapy midst disturbs ancillary Scotch-rye notch, musty peat blotch and rotted cantaloupe-melon-banana splotch. Soured honey musk retains nasty bitterness, overriding gluey beeswax sweetness. Confusingly inconsistent flavor profile undermines medium-bodied dog.
NEWPORT STORM SABRINA
Splendidly designed and well-balanced limited edition (2012) Belgian-styled pale ale counters sour lemon-seeded hop bittering with candied crystal sugaring. Bubblegummy banana-clove sweetness and lemony orange zest perk up tertiary basil-thyme herbage. Musty black tea peppering seeps into dank Belgian yeast fungi below citric regalia.
(SOLAN) OLD MONK 10000 SUPER BEER
Disgusting straw pale malt liquor places sour yeast pungency above cloying corn-sugared malts, spoiled lemon skunking and acrid maize-oiled sinew. Buttery dimethyl sulfide nastiness infects cabbage-smeared cat urine follow-up and cheap vodka reminder. Offensive mass produced India brew gains nasty cider-soured burnt rubber splotch at scabrous finish.
TROUBADOUR MAGMA
On tap at Mews, winningly efficient Belgo-American hybrid combines tangy fruited bittering of an India Pale Ale with the candi-sugared white peppering of a Belgian tripel for a booze-lacquered strong ale. Scotch-licked corn sugaring elevates tropical melon, cantaloupe, pineapple and apricot tang contrasting heightened ethanol-like 9% alcohol whir.
BRECKENRIDGE REGAL DOUBLE PILSNER
Ethereal Imperial pilsner (small batch series 2012) is well moderated. Mild peat-y rye influence slips inside citric daintiness and doughy baguette snip. Polite honeyed malt sugaring contrasts tranquil grassy hop salting. Fresh-watered mineral grains underscore subtle grapefruit, orange and cherry illusions. Delicate sessionable lawnmower fare.
RJ ROCKERS BELL RINGER
Tamer strong ale (with quieted high gravity 8.5% alcohol volume) brings citric-spiced sweetness to grassy-hopped pining contrasting honey-roasted malting. Lemony pineapple, cherry, orange and grapefruit illusions get scattered through polite moderation. Oaken vanilla pinch wavers. A crisply approachable changeup differentiated from stereotypically stylish ethanol-fueled fare.
RELIC BREWING
PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT
Just a few short miles south of Hartford lies garage-like RELIC BREWING, a tiny nanobrewery centering an industrial mall in Plainville, Connecticut. Opened around February 2012 by entrepreneurial spirit, Mark Sigman, Relic typically serves samplers and fills growlers on site during Friday evenings from 5 to 7 PM. And that’s when I stopped in for a quick May sojourn.
A dozen local denizens wait on line as Sigman and two female assistants keep busy pouring some well-done Anglo-American ales. These slightly hybridized elixirs have been making the rounds across the Constitution State in recent days and several regional festivals have featured Relic’s burgeoning lineup.
Arguably Relic’s best brew, Antiquity Old Ale brought molasses-sapped maple sugaring to fig-spiced raisin and plum illusions, leaving peat-y chocolate malts in its wake.
Nearly as worthy, Houndstooth Traditional English Mild gathered similar dried fruiting (raisin, plum, fig) and peat malting for a softer toned alternative with light hazelnut and almond influences.
Approachable Shipwright British Strong Ale sweetened its candied IPA-derived peach, pineapple, grapefruit and tangerine tang with pastry-like caramel malting.
A supposed adjunct lager, Whiting Street proved to be a brusque medium body contrasting its fizzy grassy-hopped prickle, tart lemon-peeled bittering and herbaceous vegetal tinge against pleasant sugary malts.
Look for 22 ounce bottles in local stores and tapped versions at various statewide gastropubs.
AVERY OUT OF SIGHT STOUT
On tap at Copper Mine, astounding dry-bodied stout maintains extraordinary Malawi coffee roast, embittering and overpowering ancillary dark chocolate creaminess and peppery hop char. Espresso notes abound, enhancing all-encompassing coffee theme. An undeniable after dinner relaxer.
TROEGS SPRING FEST LAGER – SCRATCH SERIES
Well balanced, but ill-defined, springtime moderation (with generic label) crosses biscuit-y wheat-cracked helles lager with citric-spiced maibock. Glutinous baked bread flouring picks up lemon-soured grapefruit, cherry, orange and cherry tartness above tertiary honey nut, pralin eand pecan illusions. On tap, smoother dried citrus fruiting pervades.