Opulent ‘Double Extreme Imperial Stout’ brings indeterminable wheat influence to molasses-smoked dark-roasted malting and peaty hop-charred nuttiness. Well-balanced black chocolate, black licorice, black coffee and vanilla conflux defines creamy mahogany-hued full body. Rum-spiced bourbon-burgundy wining, sweetly soured raisin-prune-cherry niche and soy-sauced espresso milking found beneath thick mocha surface.
NORREBROS JULEBRYG
Ornate Danish-styled Christmas Ale offers fig-sugared raisin sweetness to molasses-sapped caramelized rye malting and mildly coarsened earthy hop astringency. Ginger-spiced clove, cinnamon and nutmeg seasoning provide mild wintry warmth alongside subdued bourbon-burgundy wining. But fruit-caked cherry, prune and plum illusions need deeper penetration.
EMELISSE RAUCHBIER
Amazingly approachable Bamberg-styled smoked beer offers serene smoked beechwood pleasantry to sweet-spiced chocolate malts. Sooty campfire char deepens oncoming Canadian bacon and cured meat illusions. Sweeter than less defined rauchbiers that suffer from getting washed-out and losing initial smoked pleasantry.
CARTON HARVEST 2012 RYE PALE ALE
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, smooth moderate-bodied autumn seasonal allows caraway-seeded rye spicing to inform wet-hopped grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and bark-dried lemon pit pungency. Ancillary peach, apple and tangerine fruiting seeps in.
SHIPYARD IMPERIAL PORTER (PUGSLEY’S SIGNATURE SERIES)
Straightahead Baltic-styled strong porter anchored by Blackstrap molasses-embittered mocha dryness. Pine-sapped ashen wood tones, fudgy chocolate caking and dark caramel shading drape vinous port-wined dried fruited cavern to resinous earthen bottom. A tad thin by the carob-powdered Baker’s chocolate-like finish.
(TRI-CITY) HELL’S HALF MILE GERMAN-STYLE HELLES LAGER
Nebulous blue collar fodder lacks true Munich-styled helles lagering as phenol astringency nearly buries raw-honeyed dried wheat scouring and prickly grassy-hopped citric-quince stint to weak doughy bottom. Buttery malting turns diacetyl right away.
EVIL TWIN FREUDIAN SLIP BARLEYWINE
Tenacious strong ale reaches rich dried fruited pinnacle, though boozy sherry-brandy whir and listerine-like ethanol burn may turn off lighter thirsts. Ripe red cherry, dried prune, raisin, fig and grape illusions enhance caramelized molasses malting. Resinous piney hops contrastively enhance syrupy maple-sugared chocolate cake sweetness.
EVIL TWIN HOP FLOOD
Ironically, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast while I consumed this hybridized ‘hop-flooded’ amber-hazed brown ale. Grapefruit-peeled pine resin leads the way for citric-laden medium body. Fruited hop spicing heightens subsidiary toffee malting. Tertiary pineapple, prune and raisin illusions abound.
BOSS GREEN BEER
Disgustingly cloy and artificially colored green-hued malt beverage tastes like perfunctory ginger ale or drab malt liquor. Glutenous gummy sugaring, slick lime soda reminder and lemon-candied barley malting reduced to nasty carbolic astingency. Stink…stank…stunk. Trash.
NEWBURGH BREWING COMPANY
NEWBURGH, NEW YORK
Located in a spacious 19th century fourth floor loft across from historical Washington Headquarters at a former box company, NEWBURGH BREWING COMPANY opened April 2012. Selling only tap and keg beer for now, this Newburgh-situated brewhouse also serves fabulous cuisine to the local minions that’ve called this rustic place home.
Large jalacy windows provide beautiful Hudson River views from three sides. Salvaged furniture, exposed ducts, plank floors, old beams, a ping pong table, two vintage arcade games and a lathe table near the wide bar fill out the cavernous warehouse.
On a sunny afternoon in October 2012, my wife and I grab a seat at one of the dozen German-style community tables to try former Brooklyn Brewer zymurgist Chris Basso’s reliably sessionable libations. Basso’s four staples include light-bodied Cream Ale, a dry wheat-husked easygoer gathering hay-horsehide earthiness, popcorn buttering and vegetal herbage.
Then there’s herbaceous farmhouse-styled Saison, a sweet ‘n sour yellow-fruited Belgian knockoff with dried rye-oats backing its lemony white grape and orange briskness as well as white-peppered lemongrass, basil, oregano, rosemary and clove spicing.
On the dark side were beechwood-charred Peat Smoked Stout (a traditional Irish dry body with German rauchbier-like wood-burnt chocolate malting, coffee bean roasting and light Band-aid waft) and rich English-styled Brown Ale (with its stove-burnt coffee overtones, hazelnut chocolate mellowing, Blackstrap molasses bittering and black-breaded walnut char).
Basso’s “Brew with Heart Series” included New Burton IPA, a traditional English-styled medium body welcoming peppered orange-yellow fruiting to mild raw-honeyed bitterness. Its perfumed lemon, peach, pineapple and quince tones maintained a well-rounded fruiting.
Next up, Sterk Aal van Hoodie Belgian Strong Ale provided a lemony candi-sugared banana-clove-coriander flux above creamy honey-spiced malts and a subtle alcohol bite.
Then, dry-hopped Bitter English retained a crisp yellow-fruited bark-dried promenade, musky black tea bittering and wood-parched earthen minerality.
Two women a few tables over enjoyed Von Stuben’s Gose, a citric-fizzed Radler-like German wheat beer with soft-tongued briny salting, lemon zest, limey orange souring and withered coriander tinge.
While consuming the fine beer offerings, we munched on soft pretzels (with sweet and spicy mustard), a powder-sugared liege-style waffle and butternut squash apple soup.
A few weeks later, I hit Newburgh Brewing for dinner with my wife, son Christopher, pal Dennis and his wife, Dee Dee. My wife enjoyed the Artisan Grilled Cheese (with smoked bacon, caramelized onions and dijon mustard) alongside a Cream Ale and Christopher grabbed the bratwurst with sauerkraut while Dennis and I tackled two orders of delicious garlic-herbed Saison mussels.
Train horns blasted in the background as I began sipping the newly crafted Menditto-Madura 2012 Harvest Ale. Its leafy hop spicing endured above lemon rind bittering and buttered French breading (recalling Cream Ale’s earthy graining).
Anyone who has a hankering for approachable beers with a slight kick (despite the low alcohol) should get their butt to Newburgh and get a few highly quaffable brews.
During April ’13, tried extremely rich Newburgh Conspiracy, with its lactic maltose sugaring, hazelnut-oiled pine sapping, burnt caramel sweetness and mild black cherry souring blanketed by gooey anise directly above oats-toasted cedar char.
On tap at Growler & Gill, hybridized Belgian pale ale, Newburgh Squashtoberfest, brought baked butternut squash restraint to salty pumpkin-seeded rye spicing, picking up dried orange-fig nuances as well as acrid acetone snip.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, hybridized Baltic porter, Newburgh Winter Spruce Porter brought minty dark-roasted chocolate malting to evergreen–fresh piney spruce tips, picking up resinous-hopped pine nut, basil, sage and cinnamon snips.
On tap at Shoreline Beverage, hybridized white wine-soured dry body, Niagara Magnanini Tripel, let musty green grape esters (from local Magnanini Winery) and raw-honeyed yellow fruiting seep thru barnyard-desiccated brettanomyces yeast, affecting faded white-peppered apricot-peach-apple tartness as well as distant cotton-candied bubblegum sweetness.
On tap at Copper Mine, hybridized doppelbock/ dubbel Doppio Doppelbock worked chestnut into sour yellow-fruited tartness and peaty pale malt soiling. Lemon-peeled dried fig and white grape nuances waver.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, mild Rodeo Wild Sour brought delicate pinot-like white wine vinegaring to limey lemon zest tingle as brettanomyces-affected saison yeast enhanced tart citric finish.
TRACK 84
WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND
FOREWARD: This ultimate dive bar closed August 2015. RIP
In a gray shanty-like roadhouse with maroon trim, Warwick, Rhode Island’s rustic TRACK 84 most certainly does serve “World Class Beers at Small Town Prices.” Parking in the rear lot on a rainy Friday afternoon, October 2012, a large smoke pit and a plaque with varied beer insignias (Bear Republic, Mayflower, Peak Organic, Sebago, Stoudt’s and Wachusetts) welcome my wife, son Christopher and I into the comfy one-room wood-furnished bar.
At the 12-seat left side bar, there are a Baker’s dozen tap handles plus one dedicated pink elephant-emblazed Delirium Tremens center tap and one gargoyle-handled Gulden Draak tap. Many beer banners and signs plus various license plates line the walls alongside several cool hard-to-find emptied beer bottles. We sit at one of the six tables across from the bar and enjoy two meatball-eggplant sandwiches while I quaff four previously untried libations.
As a train passes by, I dip into Newport Storm India Point IPA, a dry woody-hopped medium body with grapefruit rind, lemon peel and leathery floral illusions. That was bettered by Shmaltz He’Brew Hop Manna IPA, a soothingly medium-bodied alacrity gathering peach, pear and pineapple sweetness to contrast pine-needled grapefruit bittering.
After downing the soft-tongued, black chocolate-spiced Breckenridge Thunder Stout Nitro, I discover the absolute splendor of Grey Sail Stargazer Russian Imperial Stout. Its up-front chocolate-vanilla malting, roasted coffee bitterness and bourbon-whiskey snip informed the hop-charred nutty bottom. (Full beer reviews are in Beer Index).
Just off the beaten track, Track 84 must be Warwick’s best craft beer joint. Before leaving, two sojourning couples drinking Grey Sail Stargazer and Newport Storm IPA’s boasted about this dingy hole in the wall while playing darts prior to flying out of nearby T.F. Green Airport, proving Track 84’s definitely a destination hotspot.
******************************************************************
The last thing I thought possible was getting into Rhode Island’s highly respected craft beer haven, TRACK 84, on Monday at noon considering the wooden railroad-bound roadhouse doesn’t open ’til 4 PM (and was closed for St. Patrick’s Day while the rest of Warwick’s drinking populace partied up the street at Shannon View Inn or a mile down at Dave’s Bar & Grill).
Nevertheless, through sheer persistence I kept calling the shanty-styled shack until owner Dave Longiaru finally was caught off-guard and made a mistake and forgot Monday’s are the only weekday he starts serving beverages at 4. So as my wife and I head up the few stairs leading to Track 84’s entrance, Longiaru is there to unlock the door and let us in as the noon whistle blew.
Always one step ahead of the local competition, Track 84’s limited edition ales, hard-to-find seasonals and indigenous nanobrews have piqued the interest of craft brew aficionados for most of the last decade.
“I had 3 Floyds beers on tap when the closest place serving it was Chicago,” Longiaru proudly boasts. “Then we got Loose Cannon from Heavy Seas in Maryland eight years ago when they were Clipper City. Whereas some brewers think they’re rock stars, their owner never forgot where he came from.”
As Longiaru pours me Black Diamond Fracas (an elegant California-based Imperial Red Ale placing grapefruit-pined stewed prune, ripe raisin, black cherry and nectar fruiting above delicate caramel-malted hop spicing), he relishes the fact Budweiser no longer gets served at his fine establishment.
“My father bought this building in ’81 and opened in ’82. He had no beers I wanted to drink. It was a Bud bar. He liked beer but I doubt he’d understand bringing in Belgian kegs. He might’ve liked them, but he’d wonder who’d buy ’em,” he says.
As the popcorn maker churns out buttered kernels for my wife to snack on while we talk, Dave’s sister, who runs Sandwich Junction next door, stops by for a sec. She supplies hungry beer enthusiasts with very affordable subs, deli meats and homemade desserts. It’s strictly a family business in this little corner of New England.
“My father passed away before I started doing craft beers,” Longiaru recalls. “I was one of the first guys to send back my Budweiser tap handle. I gave it to the salesman and he asked how I’d make a living. I said if I have to make a living selling Bud, I’d rather be out of business. My taste profile had matured.”
Next up, the cordial entrepreneurial barman pours Stone Enjoy By 04-01 IPA, another subtly strong citrus-pined California brew draping grapefruit-peeled orange, peach, pear, apple, watermelon and honeydew illusions across dry-wooded hops to contrast the sugary caramel malt backend.
“I started Track 84 out of selfishness. But that being said, it was good timing since I met someone who had a beer distributorship selling obtuse beer, wine and liquor – all this ethnic stuff from overseas. He grabbed as much stuff as he could find in Massachusetts and I said whatever you grab I’ll put on tap.”
His loose strategy and firm conviction have served Track 84 well as its everchanging tapped selection gets rave reviews by fellow beer geeks. And with the competition nipping at his heels, Longiaru appears to be one of the Ocean State’s premier elder statesman in the revolutionary craft beer industry.
SAMICHLAUS HELLES
Another winningly complex ‘Big Beer’ from fab Austrian brewhouse. Startling 14% alcohol resonance displays cognac-drenched cherry puree frontage, brandy-soaked sherry midst, whiskeyed cherry climax and golden raisin inference before vodka-tinged buttered rum finish takes off. Capacious candied caramel malting enlivens ancillary armagnac wining as well as molasses-honeyed medicinal cherry alcohol burn. Casual vanilla, toffee and butterscotch swirls pick up tertiary nectar, peach and pear illusions to serenade latent Chardonnay, Sauvoinier, Grand Monet, Almondine and barleywine undertones.