RIVERHEAD, NEW YORK
At North Fork Brewing, entrepreneurial brewmaster Rob Raffa began gypsy brewing after a stint at Patchogue’s Brickhouse Brewery and Riverhead’s now defunct Moustache Brewing. When the latter company stopped operations, local Long Island denizen Raffa decided to take up the space his former employers left behind.
Since January 2020, UBERGEEK BREWING COMPANY proudly boasts using “unconventional ingredients” and the “confluence of art and science” to craft “unique beers for newcomers and eccentric misfits.”
Stylistically on the mark and never as deliberately offbeat as advertised, Raffa’s elixirs certainly suit a range of thirsts.
Inside a 6,000 square-foot tan aluminum warehouse with brown awnings, Ubergeek’s tile floored, plastic-seated tasting room features a beautiful mosaic of modern cubist wall art, pendant-lit ten-seat black wood bar and twenty white-tiled draught handles. There’s even a backroom for special events. Angled crossbars along the high wood beam ceiling offer a resounding prominence.
A few front benches and a white picnic tabled side area add more seating.
My wife and I grabbed a seat at the bar to down a dozen delectable suds during September ’23.
Crisply dry Rockets Don’t Fuel Themselves, a mild clear aluminum yellowed bohemian pilsner, let spritzy lemon zest and sweet floral daubs tickle its light mineral graining.
Rustic amber lager, None Of The Things None Of The Time, combined tangerine spicing, dry barnyard acridity buttery Vienna malting and wispy cologne perfuming.
Light beechwood smoked (?) Mexican lager, And Now For Something Completely Different, grazed floral-spiced lemon spritz against delicate pilsner malting.
Dewy fungi, orange pekoe tea and dried fruit scampered thru Only When We Suffer Can We Be Great, a lightly caramelized marzen.
Herbal pumpkin-spiced autumnal moderation, I Have An Issue With The Force, nearly allowed soapiness to hamper its brown-sugared pumpkin pie seasoning.
Sessionable ‘summer IPA,’ I Thought You Liked A Challenge, placed Nelson Sauvin-hopped guava, gooseberry and white grape souring alongside tart lemondropped green mango salting and slight pine resin.
Tropical East Coast IPA, Space Age Times, Stone Age Minds, let orange-peeled pineapple, mango and tangerine tanginess reach sweet pale malt sugaring.
Another East Coast IPA, A Casualty Of Circumstances, retained mild lemony white grapefruit bittering and salty guava souring above lightly acidulated wheat malts.
Eccentric mahogany-browned ‘dark tart,’ Dealing With Dissonance, spread ginger-candied sweetness inside date-like tamarind tartness, tannic red grape esters and dry lime bittering.
A nifty peach sour collaboration with nearby North Fork Brewery, I Thought You Liked To Get Funky, invited lemon peel bittering, mandarin orange tartness, guava souring, mango salting and white grapefruit zesting to the fruitful tropical party.
Plummy dobbelbock, You Call That A Calculator, picked up date, raisin and plum snips above a peaty tobacco-roasted chocolate-y caramel base.
Richly creamed peanut butter porter, All These Quarters, Still No Dollars, caressed its dry nuttiness with dark chocolate and dark-roast coffee, leaving a vanilla-centered ice cream sandwich finish.
