Author: Mr. CTBeer

Not everything is what is seems to be in seemingly placid Wallingford, a town just a short drive up I-91 or the Wilbur Cross Parkway from New Haven. For example, this is not the place you’d expect the last witchcraft trial in New England to have been held, but it was back in 1697. It also happens to be home to a hoppy-ning craft beer scene with three breweries and a pioneering hard cider maker all within two miles of each other.

So strap on your best walking shoes, let’s go exploring!

We’ll start in downtown at Center Street Brewing Co. (24 Wallace Ave., Wallingford — https://www.centerstreetbrewing.com/), which is not actually on Center Street – so there’s your first bit of “expect the unexpected” in this one-time city of silver- and pewter-ware manufacturing.

Center Street Brewing welcomed its first customers in March 2019, and the friendly atmosphere and tasty brews have been bringing them back regularly. Its red cinderblock with white trim building may be small, but it holds a lot of local love along with a pretty nice award from a state builders association.

The inside features lots of bright, white wood on the walls, long tables for friendly gatherings, and a cool split pine drinking rail all around the perimeter – the remnants of trees felled by a 2018 tornado in Sleeping Giant State Park in nearby Hamden. A roll-up garage door, a nod to the building’s one-time use as an auto repair shop, slides up in nice weather so you can sit in a  small, informal seating area. All this work earned the owners and their builder a top honor for commercial rehabilitation in 2019.

Center Street Brewing may be small, producing 1,500 barrels of beer annually, but its creations are big on flavor and wide in style. They produce they expected range of popular IPAs, of course, but they also have Lucky #19 – a nice malt-forward brown sugar EBS; a chocolate malt rich brown ale (Brown Eyed Girl) and a host of other liquid treats, some of which you can take home in cans.

While Center Street Brewing doesn’t make its own food, it’s cool with BYOF (grab some of the award-winning wings at the Archie Moore’s right around the corner, for example) or you can order from one of the local eateries for delivery to the taproom.

Now, head seven blocks west on the actual Center Street. Take a few minutes to explore the Center Street Cemetery, a nationally registered historic spot. Here you will find memorials to Declaration of Independence signer Lyman Hall, Associated Press founder Moses Yale Beach, and Joseph Benham, the father of those accused witches were mentioned (they were all found not guilty, by the way).

Just before the main intersection with Route 5/North Colony Road, you’ll find Cliffside Brewing Company (16B Center St., Wallingford — http://cliffsidebrewing.com/), which is – naturally — not even close to a cliff. Nonetheless, it is Wallingford’s first “nano brewery,” according to its owner, and home of Enlightenment, a 5% ABV apricot flavored refresher that won Best Ale of 2018, according to the CT Brew Cup judges that year.

The care that went into that award-winning brew also went into creating the brewery and taproom itself, which opened in October 2017. Cliffside’s founder and brewer did most of the work himself renovating the storefront, installing the brewing system and even building his own walk-in refrigerator, according to the brewery’s active Instagram page.

The result is a clean, bright and open space perfect for hanging with friends over a pint or two. Go there to tip back while participating in Cliffside Brewing’s popular trivia or bingo nights. Feeling hungry? Order up a “freshly baked on the premises” 10-inch bar pizzas, provided courtesy of the very CT brewery friendly Harry’s Pizzeria and Tavern in West Hartford Center. Not into pizza? No problem! Cliffside Brewing is BYO food friendly, and carries a selection of menus from local restaurants that will deliver to the brewery. If you’re not up for a whole meal, there’s plenty of free popcorn to chomp on.

Along with its award-winning apricot ale, Cliffside Brewing usually serves about five or six of its own handcrafted beers – each a different style from malty to hoppy from sweet to dry. Variety – it’s the spice of flights, my friends.

Front Porch Brewing Company (226 N Plains Industrial Rd #4, Wallingford — https://www.frontporchbrewing.org/) resides about a mile and a quarter north, just off Route 5 inside an industrial park. And – you guessed it – they don’t have a front porch. But don’t let that sour you – let their specialty sour beers do that!

Front Porch Brewing takes its name from the vibe it hopes to instill: one of just chilling with your amigos, playing some old-school video or arcade games, and bonding over a well-crafted drink or three. And that’s exactly what you can do in this intimate, 1,250-square-foot, one-barrel brewery that opened in late 2017. Belly up to the gray, concrete bar top (note the picket fence under it first), order a flight and have some fun. If the weather is nice, step outside the open garage door and drink in the fresh air with your fresh brew.

Despite the small space, Front Porch Brewing usually offers a wide and eclectic tap and cans-to-go list, thanks to collaborations and off-site contract arrangements with other local breweries. In addition to the previously mentioned sours, you’ll find its popular Reverse Mermaid, a double dry hopped hazy and juicy IPA, along with a mix of traditional and more adventurous styles. Bar snacks, local cider and even whiskey is also available for your pleasure.

That local cider comes from just half a mile up the road at our final stop, the New England Cider Company (110 North Plains Industrial Rd., Suite A, Wallingford — https://www.newenglandcider.com/), the state’s first brewery-style taproom for hard cider and the one exception to our “inaccuracy in naming” theme.

New England Cider prides itself on using almost exclusively ingredients from New England – Connecticut in particular. They’ve cultivated deals with several area farms and orchards so you’ll be happy to know you are supporting many local businesses whenever you stop in to take a sip there or a growler home. It’s no wonder New England Cider often appears on the guest tap list of many CT breweries.

Inspired by a trip to Vermont, the two homebrewing owners/friends started experimenting with hard ciders in 2009 and – viola – history was made in their garage, fitting because the owners are also both car mechanics. The two opened its cider business in 2013, producing flavorful styles that will change any preconceived notions you may have that hard ciders resembles that overly sweet, cloudy brew mom made you have at a harvest fest when you were 8 years old.

New England Cider produces a range of fruited hard ciders, hopped ciders, herb and spied ciders, single-apple variety ciders (think “single-hop IPAs,” beer drinkers), and even ones that are barrel aged in former liquor casks. How you like dem apples, huh? Well, Connecticut magazine liked them pretty well, naming its flagship Fresh Blend one to definitely try in 2018, noting it is “apple-forward, eminently drinkable and refreshing. There’s a reason this is one of the most widely distributed ciders in Connecticut.”

New England Cider’s taproom space is quite limited, so they discourage bringing the kiddies inside. No dogs allowed, either. However, outside food is welcome and food trucks are often on hand. Or you can nibble on the cheese and cracker options they offer while you play a board game while enjoying the fruits of a true CT brewing pioneer.

When you think of Connecticut do you think “silk”? You might have if you lived here about 100 years ago.

The town of Manchester, just east of Hartford, served as home for many major U.S. manufacturing facilities over the years, the most well-known being Cheney Brothers Mills, once the largest and most innovative silk manufacturing factory complexes in the world. Starting in 1832 when it first harnessed the power of the Hockanum River, the mill operated here for more than a century. When synthetics started replacing silk and other natural materials around World War II, it pivoted to making nylon – even creating the first nylon parachute ever used by a human.

That, friends, is why Manchester, CT, earned the nickname “Silk City” and this is the Silk City Suds Tour!

Elict Brewing Company

Elict Brewing Company (https://www.elicitbrewing.com/), just off I-84 in western Manchester, is also along the Hockanum River. You find it in an enormous wood-beam filled 19^th-century building that at one time housed one the country’s most successful paper mills, Adams Mills.

As the Elicit owners say on their web page, they are “restauranteurs are heart and beer drinkers at liver.” They also believe in providing an experience at their roughly 20,000-square-foot venue (told you it was enormous). They serve a hearty selection of upscale pub food, offer 50 local and regional crafts on tap, a full wine and cocktail bar, a beer garden with a fire pit and games, an old-school arcade and a karaoke lounge. Phew – after that you will need a drink.

Elicit Brewing, which opened in November 2019, uses a seven-barrel brewing system to conjure up to a dozen beers they offer on tap and to-go at any time. Recent offerings have included such intriguingly named beers as Botched Face Life (a blood orange sour), Marriage Counseling (a double IPA), Tree Like Symptoms (American pale ale) and Yodeling Cherubs (a pineapple hefe).

Wander just 10 minutes south and you’ll find yourself at 2^nd Bridge Brewing Company (https://2ndbridgebrewing.com/). They are one of several tenants occupying Hilliard Mills, a nationally listed historic site once home to the United States’ oldest woolen mill. So what, you say? So, Hilliard Mills wool was used for the suit President George Washington wore to his inauguration and the material used for blankets for solders in the War of 1812 came from this very spot. So there!

2^nd Bridge Brewing prides itself on having an English pub vibe – and it should. The family owners are fans of English football (uh, “soccer” to us Americans) and they founded this funky little rathskeller in 2015 specifically so they and their footie-loving friends had a friendly spot to grab a pint and watch the game, toss some darts and enjoy a good chat while having a nice pint.

2^nd Bridge Brewing naturally has an affinity for making English style ales. You’re almost always sure to find a brown, an oatmeal stout or an Irish cream ale (or maybe all of them) on tap along with the ever-popular variations of IPAs and seasonal brew like a summer shandy.

2^nd Bridge Brewing offers no food so they encourage visitors to BYO or have one of the local restaurants deliver to their door.

Now, go take a hike

If you need a beer break, want to make room for more brews or just love the outdoors, take a side trip to the Cheney Rail Trail. Hop in your car, head about 5 minutes east on Hillard Street and park at 2 Main Street – the northern most point of the trail.

The gravel-covered trail follows the old South Manchester Railroad line, a 2.5 mile spur off the main tracks between Hartford; Providence, R.I.; and Fishkill, N.Y. The Cheneys built the rail line in 1869 to carry raw materials, finished goods and even some of its workers to and from their silk mills. It operated until the 1980s, and held the distinction of being the shortest passenger-and-freight line in the United States but also the longest privately owned one.

The Manchester Land Conservation Trust now looks after the nearly six acres of rail bed and converted it into a roughly two-mile long trail. It’s mostly flat and shaded and, if you are ambitious, its southern-most end puts you only a 20-minute walk away from our next brewery. (Or you can double back and drive there – no judgement here.)

Village people, er, beers

Labyrinth Brewing Company (https://labyrinthbrewingcompany.com/) opened in August 2018 in one of the many historic buildings of what was the thriving Cheney factory village complex. This one, a former warehouse used for storing waste silk, has been repurposed into the Lofts at the Mill residential/retail/commercial complex.

Labyrinth Brewing does an exquisite job of honoring this 1885 building’s past. The brick, wood and copper-accented interior give off a cool industrial yet woodsy vibe. Much of the décor and functional pieces inside are either salvaged or repurposed from others parts of the Cheney complex or old area businesses. For example, the tables and bar top are made from the oak trees that were removed to create the brewery’s parking lot. You can even find parts of an original Cheney shipping crate adorning one wall in a loving nod to the firs family that make this place possible.

Labyrinth Brewing took its name from 2006 Guillermo del Toro’s movie Pan’s Labyrinth so you will find a few, but not all, of their beers are named with a sci-fi/fantasy/mythical things of yore theme. Don’t let your lack of knowledge in those fields prevent you from tipping back a glass of Theseus DIPA or Kuato imperial red ale, or make you stick only to the delectably sweet Maize (think it over – you’ll get it) cream ale or Turbo Love Juice IPA. Go out of your comfort zone and sample one of their in-house brewed ciders or fruity sours, too. You’ll be glad you did.

Labyrinth Brewing doesn’t serve food but they encourage BYO items or visit when it brings in one of the areas many food trucks and nosh inside or on the patio. Curbside pickup and weekly home delivery service is also an option if you are nearby.

Urban Lodge Brewing Company (https://www.urbanlodgebrewing.com/) is your last stop in Silk City, just about a half mile southwest on Purnell Place. While it just opened in August 2019, the minute you step inside (or out on its patio), you’ll this place will feel as familiar as home.

But first, Urban Lodge is a fitting name on multiple levels. It’s in a converted downtown warehouse of which one entire outside wall has been painted over into an impressive mural that quickly became the talk of the town. The indoor and outdoor seating areas have a definitely ski lodge feel with fireplaces/pits, long tables and comfy nooks with table games, trivia night and bands providing regular entertainment. And the wives of the owners are sisters with the maiden name of Lodge. Perfection.

Urban Lodge has been doing brisk business since opening not only because of its friendly atmosphere but also because of its efforts to build strong community ties. For example, rather than prepare food on site, they have arrangements with several nearby restaurants who offer up their menus to patrons. And then – of course – there are Urban Lodge’s awesome brews. The five-barrel brewery regularly offers a good mix of beer styles, including a golden ale, milk stout and porter, for example, along with a range of trendy and traditional IPAs. And, yes, they have also have a fruity sour or two.

Want to do some CT brewery hopping this weekend? Of course, you do!

To help, we’re putting together some regional “ale trails” to make decision-making and traveling easier so you can enjoy more beers and less time arguing with Waze.

Let’s start in the northwestern part of our great state in Litchfield County, where Route 7 and Route 44 meet near the Massachusetts border. The following four breweries make up with is called the “Northwest Connecticut Ale Trail” – you can pick up a “beer passport” for it in any of them and get it stamped when you arrive. Get all four and you get a special sticker for your car.

Great Falls Brewing Company (1 Railroad Plaza, Canaan —https://www.greatfallsbrews.com/) in Canaan only opened in December 2018 but it is truly historic. A fully renovated and restored 19^th century train station houses this gorgeous brewery and taproom that produces trendy New England IPAs and sours alongside traditional and tasty stouts, porters and lagers.

The Historic Canaan Union Depot, built in 1872, served for many decades as a crossroads waypoint for freight and passengers traveling between Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Hartford (east-west) or Danbury and Pittsfield, Mass. (north-south). You can still watch trains roll by these days, but with a freshly brewed pint in hand and a homemade bar munchie in front of you, both from locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. Great Falls Brewing became the first business to occupy this beautiful yellow L-shaped building since a fire gutted it fire in 2001.

Great Falls Brewery maintains a rotating 14-tap draft list that includes weekly cask tappings and a nitro line plus its own house-made draft root beer for your littlest craft lovers.

Norbrook Farm Brewery (204 Stillman Hill, Colebrook — https://www.norbrookfarm.com/) resides less than a dozen miles down US-44 on 450 rustic acres straddling the Norfolk/Colebrook border — hence the name. Before you indulge in its awesomely eclectic array of beers, check out the incredible surroundings known as the Norbrook Farm Trail.

The Trail is perfect for outdoorspeople of any season. Already in place are nearly 10 miles of paths for walkers, snowshoers and cross-country skiers plus an almost 11-mile single-track mountain biking trail. For those who like to use their wrists for more than just tilting a mug, grab a Frisbee and try the three-mile long disc golf course.

After all that play, head to the 5,300-square-foot brewery. You can take a seat at the richly inviting copper bar or in a nook in the taproom, or grab some more rays out on the spacious patio on enjoy the view and a brew. You’ll always find something to love on tap as Norbrook Farm Brewery maintains a wonderfully wide range of beer styles. Its six mainstay signature beers alone include a kolsch, saison, brown ale and American porter as with two IPAs – a well-balance American style and a rotating hop-forward brew. Stouts, wits, Belgium black ales and other delights regularly round out the list.

Norbrook Farm Brewery has been perfecting growing its own hop crop and plans to start growing its own grains in hope of being a truly CT Craft Beer by using purely local ingredients in its process.

Little Red Barn Brewery (32 Lake St., Winsted — https://lrbbrewers.com/) is a quick, 10 minutes away (via backroads) in Winsted, or as the brewery’s owners call it “the gateway to both the Litchfield Hills and the Berkshires.” While not located in an actual barn – the name comes from an old horse barn where one of the founder’s parents let them brew their initial batches – there’s a little barn, a little church, a little schoolhouse and a whole lot of community heart in this place.

Two brothers and a friend who turned their homebrewing hobby into a career opened Little Red Barn Brewery in summer 2019 after years of honing their craft. Realizing that opening a business downtown required local support, the owners ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to help fix up an abandoned tool manufacturing factory in a way that celebrated the history and people of Winsted and its neighbors. The money helped purchase and craft repurposed wood taken from old structures from around the area into the taproom’s bar, tables and chairs. Loads of local memorabilia round out the décor of this truly cool and cozy spot.

Little Red Barn Brewery made its mark with its Everyman’s Porter, a robust American style brew, and it’s still a star of its lineup which runs from kolsches and cream ales to sours and imperial stouts. Come at a time where you can nosh on the specialties offered by a local food truck while listening to local musicians play their hearts out for a memorable good time.

Brewery Legitimus (283 Main Street, New Hartford — http://www.brewerylegitimus.com/) is the last stop, less than 15 minutes straight down US-44 in New Hartford. Don’t be too impressed by the 3,500 square foot facility, housed in a former Waring appliance factory, and its spacious and lush beer garden … because they are in the process more than doubling that space. While the original plan was adding room to host larger or private events, the extra elbow room will be welcome in this age of social distancing.

Opening in 2016 right across from the Farmington River, Brewery Legitimus has a perfect location. The seven-barrel facility is not only perfectly situated right by one the region’s best fly fishing spots, it’s also just minutes from Ski Sundown so it a great place for the sun and snow crowds to unwind. More importantly, though, it is an active member in a local Community Supported Agricultural program, working with nearby farms and growers in the area to bring fresh tastes, scents and experiences to the people through festivals, famers’ markets and other events. During the recent COVID-19 crisis, it also helped raise money for local food banks and fund free beers for health care workers and first responders!

Speaking of beer, Brewery Legitimus specializes in Belgian and American style beers with an eye (or is it taste bud) out for innovation. New England IPA fans as well as those who love more traditional German styles like bocks and pilsners will always find something to love on tap here.

BONUS BREWERY!!

If you’re already up in this section of the state and have the time, go off label and visit Kent Falls Brewing Co. (33 Camps Road, Kent — https://kentfallsbrewing.com/). It’s about 45 to 60 minutes away from these other breweries but well worth the side trip!

Kent Falls Brewing is located on the 50-acre Camps Road Farm, which has been in operation as agricultural land for more than 250 years. In addition to growing hops for the brewery and apples for its Port Chester, N.Y.-based Neversink Distillery, the farm is known for its plentiful vegetables and pasture-raised poultry and pork. You can take a free tour of the entire place on certain days and learn about its many sustainable farming and brewing practices (all the brew waste, for example, is composted into crop fertilizer and solar panels help provide the bulk of the brewery’s electrical supply).

Kent Falls Brewing started distributing its beers in early 2015, making it the first licensed farm brewery in the state. It quickly gained critical acclaim, leading to the opening of the family-friendly public taproom a year later. (Clarification: it’s KID-friendly. It is a working farm with live animals around so please leave your pup at home). While you’re in the tap room, take note of the beer tap handles. They were once chain links from a mechanical conveyor in the farm’s dairy barn.

Cool place, right? It gets even better with beer – but then what doesn’t, right? Kent Falls Brewing first gained fame for its farmhouse ales (naturally!) but that’s a pretty broad term that the brewers like to stretch and shape to their tastiest whims. IPAs, wild ales, stouts, gozes – oh, my – these folks offer them all at one time or another in can, bottle or growler fills. The only thing you won’t find on site right now are food trucks. However, they do a have a farm store where, in addition to beer, you can purchase fresh-from-the-farm eggs and meat, produce, flour, cheese and more items made from their crops. “Barnside” pickup is even available.