Tag Archives: PATCHOGUE NY

PATCHOGUE BEER PROJECT

United States Brewpubs,
Image result for patchogue beer projectImage result for patchogue beer project PATCHOGUE, NEW YORK Just around the corner from Main Street's established Brick House Brewery & Restaurant in Patchogue's bustling nightlife community, PATCHOGUE BEER PROJECT opened up January 2019 (and closed 2022). Brewer Ritchie Italiano and attentive assistant, Ryan Dispirito, create rangy flavor profiles for stylistically enhanced, well polished pub fare at this sparsely furnished small space. The white subway-tiled siding of the L-shaped quartz topped serving station matches the backdrop scheme holding the twelve central-barred tap handles. Two TV's sidle the bar and a colorful blackboard displays the current beer list. Its right side blue wall features a yellow-painted Patchogue Indian Chief insignia protecting the windowed brew tanks. Interestingly, the serving station contains an active beer silo in its belly. And the rear mezzanine area stores a few active stainless silver brew tanks. My wife and I settle in the midst of the 15-seat bar to consume nine fine brews while the front overhead door stays open for this sunny Saturday afternoon, August '19. Image result for patchogue beer project OUTSIDE Soft-toned light body, Pipe Dream Golden Ale, let mild citrus spicing sit atop dainty pilsner malting, allowing spritzy lemon carbolics to tease its sweet orange peel briskness. Sour lemon-wedged Copper Beech Kolsch brought grassy hopped herbage and soapy orange tartness to its white bread base. Lemony banana-clove insistence guided Hugh Hefeweizen, a delectable éclair-headed moderation with vanilla-wafered Graham Cracker sweetness contrasting herbal restraint. Tangy tangerine sweetness dominated Meandering Blonde Ale with Tangerine, a citrus-centric one-off with spritzy lemon briskness, mandarin orange subtleties and slight phenol hop astringency. Hazy amber yellow-marbled EZ Swezey New England IPA placed tangy yellow grapefruit juicing just ahead of lemon rind bittering, melon rind earthiness, clementine sweetness and guava-mango-passionfruit tropicalia, picking up recessive pine tones in the wake. Combining unheralded Waiti, Loral and Falconers Flight hops, Patrick Swhazy IPA eked out sugar-malted clementine, mandarin orange, tangerine and navel orange niceties. Dewy English-styled IPA, Hop Tonic, brought mossy dried fruited honey malting to earthen gourd, fennel and tobacco illusions. Dry black chocolatey dextrin malting and molasses oats inundated South Ocean Stout, a creamily silken dark ale with dark toffee, black licorice and tarry coal snips. Totally delectable autumnal dessert, Pumpkin Patch-ogie, armored its rich brown-sugared pumpkin pie spicing with cinnamon-toasted wheat sweetness, leaving nutmeg-allspice and cardamom illusions all over the place. patchoguebeerproject.com

BLUE POINT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,
   PATCHOGUE, NEW YORK Located in Patchogue's industrial section one mile southeast of Brickhouse Brewery on River Street lies medium-scale craft beer operation, BLUE POINT BREWING COMPANY. Proving to be 'way cool' with their free Saturday afternoon 3-sampler offerings and covered outdoor deck, Blue Point was founded in 1997 by avid home brewers Mark Burford and Peter Cotter. Besides having an expansive bottling line, these motivated craftsmen aim to please the local minions that put 'em on the map. Inside a pale blue garage-like shack, Blue Point's green-walled tasting room features eighteen tap handles on three fountain heads plus a gorgeously tiled bar top (with sketches of ancient Middle East zymurgists, Abbey monks and brewing regalia), two pews and one large refrigerator (with bottled selections to go). Joining the casual atmosphere amongst cousins and friends, April 2013, my wife and I order our samples and grab the table across from the bar. Served from the large silver vats located in two separate adjoining rooms, each tapped offering found its own pleasant niche. First, fruit-dried Spring Fling picked up bitter grapefruit-orange tones and sugared fig-date illusions atop a firm wood-hopped base. Next, citric-bound Mosaic IPA brought lemon-pitted navel orange, mandarin orange, tangerine and marmalade fruiting to brisk piney-hopped bittering. As our clan moved outside to the deck area, I reached for the robust Oatmeal Stout, with its oats-flaked toasting and smoked chocolate malts contrasting coffe-roasted hop charred bitterness. Molasses-glazed walnut and hazelnut as well as sour black cherry undertones filled out the backend. For an amazing pre-dinner closer, sipped Old Howling Bastard (2013 limited edition). A 10% alcohol barleywine based on No Apologies Imperial IPA, its cherry-pureed dried fruiting and creamy caramel malting sweetened rum raisin, sugar plum and honey nut undertones. www.bluepointbrewing.com

BRICK HOUSE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK Serving as a brewpub since 1996, Patchogue’s red-bricked Main Street landmark, BRICK HOUSE BREWERY, a half-hour East of Farmingdale's Black Forest Brew Haus, was initially visited February '07. The former hardware store with U-shaped left bar, upstairs banquet room, back dining area, rear beer garden, exposed ducts, and tin-tiled ceiling offered adequate menu (appetizers, light fare, Zuppa di Pesce, ribeye, chicken, pork) alongside reliable beers. Its rustic Bohemian brewing system at the front window served initial brewmaster Mark Burford's varied fare. Smooth-yet-pasty wheat-dried maize-husked citric-hopped astringency Main Street Light Ale and raw-honeyed cream-corned citric-tinged Honey Buzz were soothing openers. Sharp Cascade hopped, fig-date-soured, faintly red-fruited Hurricane Kitty Pale Ale will suffice veritable hop-heads. Better were butternut-hazelnut-fused chocolate-roasted nutmeat-bound grapefruit-tingled Paul Brown Ale and dry alcohol-burned barley-roasted floral-accented pear-apple-grape-draped Brickhouse Red. Cappuccino-coffee-fronted, walnut-Brazilian nut-centered, black cherry-pureed, dark chocolate-backed Nitro Stout proved fine as lunchtime dessert.
I revisited Brickhouse with wife, cousins and friends in tow April '13, getting a large community table upstairs in the family dining section behind the banquet room. A comfy space with TV's along the wall showing the Yankees and Mets ballgames, it serves private local functions well. At this juncture, brewmeister Charles Noll and associate brewer Paul Komsci have taken over duties.
Alongside the delicious crabcakes, I order Anarchy Ale, an in-your-face hop blaster based on an India Pale Ale. Its spicy grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and creamy crystal malting stayed above the biscuit-y wheat base. My wife went with flagship session beer, Main Street Light, a mild grassy-hopped pilsner with dirty earthen mineral graining and reedy wood tones.
After dinner, soft-toned lemony orange-rotted Mother Chugga brought grassy hops and crystal malts to dewy vegetal earthiness.
Then, before leaving, I enjoyed Boewulf IPA, a wood-toned full body with lemon-dried grapefruit and orange peel bittering overriding peppery herbal hops.
www.brickhousebrewery.com