Ten Breweries and a Wedding (part 2)

Continuing on from our last post, we still had some beerventuring to do in Mass before heading home.

Opa-Opa Steakhouse & Brewery (Southampton, MA)

After our hotel breakfast buffet we said goodbye to the newlyweds and set off for home… Just kidding. We carved our way through Mass back to CT hitting five more breweries. Opa-Opa Steakhouse & Brewery of Southampton, MA was our first stop on the way home. This crazy mashup of a restaurant was a Texan themed steakhouse, combined with Irish Pride, with a Greek name and . Since we had already eaten breakfast we went straight for the beer, which was a fancy looking flight of six.

In order from least favorite to most we had the Red Rock Red Ale, Citra Hop IPA, King Oat Milk Stout, Honesty 47 Pale Ale, Kix Brew Pale Wheat Ale with a slice of lemon, Berliner Weisse. The first 4 were your average brewpub brews. The Kix and Berliner Weisse on the other hand were great.

The Kix came with a lemon, which is pretty standard for the sudo-crafts wheat ales (lookin’ at you Bluemoon), and it was promptly removed post photo op. The Berliner Weisse was a better than average take on the classic german sour wheat beer. The only thing that would have made this sour better would be a dash of woodruff.

Opa Opa is an unusual brewpub to see in Massachusetts; or anywhere for that matter. But it seems to be working for them. While the beers might not cater to the die-hard beerventurers, we found them to be perfectly palatable Sunday brunch beers. We give them a solid three dinner shattered plates out of five. Opa!

Abandoned Building Brewery (Easthampton, MA)

Abandoned Building Brewery of Easthampton, MA, in the building next to New City Brewery was stop number two on our beercrawl home. It probably would have made sense to hit New City and Abandoned side by side, but we had planned this trip very poorly.

Owner and brewmaster Matt, a civil engineer with engineering degrees from Polytech, tinkered in the homebrewing arts for years before leaving civil engineering behind in pursuit of a life of craft. His 15 barrel system had five drafts for us: Hydra Pale ale, Pennhurst Pale Ale, Lola’s Saison, The Other End Imperial IPA and Nightshade Stout.

The two highlights on our flight were the Other End IPA and the Nightshade. The Other End Imperial IPA, tastes like a full fledged imperial with heavy hop rush and a dry feel. The one drawback of this beer was that it’s a little light on the abv for an imperial. We barely classify 8% as an imp! And it was more surprising that the abv was so low considering its boozy flavor. The Nightshade stout was a deceptively light and I’m not even sure qualified as a stout. It was like a bitter, dry-hopped coffee lager. I can’t quite describe the flavor, but I really enjoyed it. Untappd is also confused, and seems to be a hit or miss in the popularity department.

Abandoned Building was anything but abandoned and it was certainly worth the drive back to Easthampton. Stacking it up side by side to New City, we enjoyed Abandoned beer a lot more, so hit both breweries if you can. Abandoned earns a well deserved 4 out of 5.

Fort Hill Brewery (Easthampton, MA)

Fort Hill Brewery of Easthampton, MA was our last MA brewery before crossing the border back into CT and dropping Melissa’s friends off at the airport. Fort Hill is a gorgeous, classic looking red barn building with a small taproom with live music and plenty of outdoor seating.

There was an impressive line up of beers, so we went with their six most popular according to the bartender. Rauchbier, Doppelbock, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hops Club Band, Love Thy Neighbor spiced beer, G-Fresh IPA and Love Thy Neighbor Barrel Aged winter warmer. Two beers were average; Rauchbier and doppelbock. For those of you who’ve never had a Rauchbier, it’s another German invention that is super smokey; ashtray smokey. There are several variations of Rauchbier, and this one was herbier than most we’ve had and not nearly as ashtray smokey.

The other four beers were fantastic. Quick skim of the details:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hops Club Band: Cascade hopped pale ale that’s fruity and juicy.

Love Thy Neighbor: A tart cranberry doppelbock with an interesting blend of spices. 10% abv, and it went down smooth. It was certainly unique.

G-Fresh: Fruity juice bomb with massive grapefruit flavor.

Love Thy Neighbor Barrel Aged: Same thing as above, but cut with whisky flavor. Turned an already interesting beer into something truly extraordinary.

Fort Hill Brewery has it all. Unique beer, a great location and enough indoor and outdoor space for plenty of patrons. It was truly a farm brewery experience. The only thing it is missing is food.

Fort Hill Brewery earns an impressive 4.5 out of 5.

Hog River Brewing (Hartford, CT)

Finally back in CT to visit a new Hartford city brewery; Hog River Brewing. This industrial brewhouse features an impressive amount of seating and two “turn-of-the-century, 20ft machine presses.” Which are a very impressive sight and excellent homage to historic Hartford’s past.

We had four brews out of their eight offerings; bartenders choice based on popularity. Golden Messenger Kolsch, Elizabeth IPA, Flitter Party DIPA, Black Earth Schwarzbier. The first two were classic, average takes on a kolsch and IPA. Nothing new or exciting. The Glitter Party DIPA had a good nose, and good flavor. It weighed in at a respectable 9.6% abv and didn’t have any real off putting characteristics. You should grab a fresh growler of this for your next beer share.

Lastly, the Black Earth Schwarzbier. Schwarzbier is a dark, malty, and roasty beverage brewed using the cool fermentation method. Cool fermentation is essentially the difference between an ale vs. lager. Black Earth is sold as advertised, and made for a great change from today’s lineup. It was certainly our favorite from the flight.

Hog River is a great space in historic Hartford. While it may not be as overwhelming as City Steam, this brewery certainly has it’s charm and is certainly worth your trip. We pressed 3.75 autoparts out of 5 at Hog River.

Hanging Hills Brewing Company (Hartford, CT)

Our last brewery of the trip, and our 300th brewery was Hanging Hills Brewing Company of Hartford, CT. Thats right, together we’ve hit 300 (over that # by now) breweries in our short few years of beerventuring. This small brewery flaunts an impressive amount of table space, 2 dart boards and a quaint giftshop. The brewery also showcases an impressive array of local art and photography.

There were only four brews available that night: YPA pale ale, Rayn Man ESB, 3 Women saison and Twain blonde. We doubled up on the YPA because that was our favorite to make a flight of five. Twain was an average blonde, something you would see competing for attention from the Coors and Miller crowd; obviously tasting much better of course. 3 Women was an average saison and of course on team Melissa. Rayn Man ESB is a style of beer we rarely see. While malty and hoppy beers are common, ESBs produce a much earthier flavor and are more bitter in flavor than a standard pale ale. It was an average beer, good, but nothing unique. The YPA, again was a solid pale ale, but didn’t possess any characteristics that were super impressive. But, it’s important to note that the beer was so night we added it to the flight twice.

Hanging Hills seems to make a lot well rounded fridge beers, and for this we congratulate them. Obviously if you’re in Hartford CT, there are several breweries you can hit, and Hanging Hills should be one of them. If you’re a beerventurer was a thirsty pallet for the unusual, you will not find it here. For everyone else, definitely worth a stop. We hung with 3.25 out of 5 hills.