WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY
In the heart of Westfield, LIONS ROAR BREWING COMPANY became the “Pride of the South Side” when co-owning spouses, Tim and Corrine Grant, opened this rustic cement-floored warehouse nanobrewery during February ’21 as a friendly street-cornered neighborhood pub. Beginning as party-throwing home brewers, their love for Euro-styled beers and beyond proved inspirational as the local community supported the couple’s efforts from the humble beginning.
Fun-loving carnivalesque windowed caricatures line the frontage of this white brick-topped industrial edifice. A large black and white-meshed mural blazes the back wall. The steam pipe-fitted draught lines drawn from the stainless steel brew tanks pour handcrafted product from the right side serving station. The yellow pallet ceiling, low air-duct ceiling and warehouse atmosphere provide a perfect blue collar tavern setting.
A backyard wood-covered beer garden tent with plastic furnishings offered plenty of outside seating as we grabbed all five available beers this sunny Saturday afternoon, September ’21.
Effervescent light body, La Patria Italian Pilsner, plied honeyed amber graining to lightly lemon-soured herbal Saaz-hopped florality over its mild doughy bread bottom for a smoothly clean finish.
Dryly raw-honeyed phenols secured Where’s The Babysitter Blonde Honey Pale Ale, picking up grassy Noble hop herbage above milled grain flouring.
Brisk lemony orange tanginess and candied tangerine lingered sharply for How Great! Hazy Strong Pale Ale, placating its pale malt sugared base.
Ambitious Fallin’ For Her Autumn Brown Ale bettered its staid stylistic rivals with vanilla-beaned ginger, clove, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg pleating crisp hop foliage and mild toffee sweetness for a French Toast-like dessert.
Not to be outdone, Sleep’s For Losers Cold Brew Coffee Ale utilized creamily milk-sugared Sumatrian coffee to amplify its brown chocolate, espresso and hazelnut influence, leaving mild peppery heat at the mocha-induced finish.
During late September ’25, revisited LIONS ROAR, downing nine easygoing midrange pale-bodied suds as Giants played Chargers in football on big-screen TV in cubby-holed red-bricked right side cavern.
Delicate lemon-limed grapefruit bittering and Nelson Sauvin-hopped guava/gooseberry tartness picked up light pine tones for Bucket Lister New Zealand Pilsner, a smoothly dry tropical refresher.
Fizzy lemon salting and mandarin orange snips peppered pale malted Maddie Bo Lager, a traditional American light body.
Lightly salted mango puree swayed First To Arrive Mango Wheat, a white wheat-backed light-to-moderate body with slight guava tartness, green grape esters and wispy perfumed musk.
Corn sugary honeyed pale malts saddled How The Helles Are Ya?, a basic German-styled lager with mild Noble hop herbage.
Deep amber-glazed Toolbox Day American IPA placed dry Citra-Mosaic-hopped yellow fruiting next to lightly pined Simcoe hops, gaining light herbal spicing and candied orange snips atop ample honeyed amber graining.
Waxy fruited Never Stop In The Circle NEIPA, slid tangy orange, sour guava, salted mango, dry grapefruit and dainty floral sweetness across dry oated pale malts.
Fluffy soft-toned tropical delight, We Need This White IPA, combined traditional Belgian witbiers’ orange-peeled coriander and grains of paradise sweetness with lemony grapefruit bittering and barren pining of a moderate-bodied West Coast IPA.
Semi-sharp lemon peeled raspberry tartness softly soaked approachable Pucker Up And Pivot Raspberry Sour, leaving behind blanched white wheat breading.
Typical autumnal Oktoberfest, Late To The Party Marzen, a toasty amber-grained moderation, left subtle brown leafed Noble-hopped herbage upon dewy malts.