Friday Froth- Coming Back To Back East Brewery

In October of 2019 I sat down with Tony Karlowicz at Back East to visit the brewery and talk about the 2017 gold medal won by his porter at the world's largest beer competition, the 2018 expansion that nearly tripled his brewing capacity, and the giant new taproom he'd hired an architectural firm to design and build for the spring of 2020. We shook hands and said we'd see each other again when I could write the article about the grand opening in April. Ten months and a global disaster later I looked at the glass in my hand as I sat, finally, for the first time, in that tasting room. Printed just above my thumb were the words "Find Your Way Back."

That new tasting room can host about 300 people between the indoor space and outdoor patio, plus a few more under a big tent set up in the brewery's parking lot. The sun which used to roast the old tasting room in the front of the building now slants pleasantly overhead in the afternoon, above 20 or so guests, well distanced on their tabletop islands outdoors and in, past the wide open glass garage doors. The taproom (about 4,500sq. ft., 36 taps, a stand up Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga arcade game, foosball, and a bar about twice the size of the old tap room) was created by Austin Design, who also did the spaces housing Tree House, The Alchemist, Lawson's Finest, and Fox Farm breweries. There's a line just for take-out purchases, but more guests showed up to drink tap beers and relax the longer I stayed.

Maybe things can be normal again, yeah, yeah, but we're all here for the beer. Back East's porter won the aforementioned gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest, had three of their beers named in DRAFT magazine's "50 Best IPAs In America," was named the best brewery in the state by Connecticut Magazine, and still somehow flies under most people's radar. I sat down and eased my way into a pint of Heftones hefeweizen.

A good hefeweizen is like humid sunlight in a glass, and this one from BE is a harvest of wheat and aromatic yeast to the nose. The name keeps with the Back East tradition of naming beers after music (Misty Mountain, Ice Cream Man, Suzy Greenberg...), hence Deftones/Heftones. The robust wheat character is shot through with subtle banana and spiky clove accents. About a gram too heavy for a purely hot weather slam can, this hefe is just the right heft to make it a good year-round option for whenever hops aren't the momentary go-to. You know what pants you're putting on with a hefeweizen, so no real surprises here: just a very good example of the genus.

The Porter, which has won both the gold and bronze medals at GABF iin different years, sells itself. If I can steal a line from another of CT's great breweries, I'll just say drink it, it's good. Back East's IPAs start with Misty Mountain (a West Coast style example I'd recommend), Ice Cream Man (rated #5 in the country by DRAFT) draws lines of hop-pilgrims a quarter mile long on release days, and Rakautra (#21 on DRAFT's list) was the People's Choice winner at the 2016 Blind Beer Awards. If you'd prefer your hops well rested in lager, Czech Mix pilsner is always on hand, and Oktoberfest has just landed from its yearly orbital re-entry.

If I was to suggest just one beer to try at Back East, it would be the Porter; but if I were to recommend *two* beers, the second would be Suzy Greenberg IPA. Phish's weekly Tuesday night live shows streamed by the band throughout the pandemic have been sanity boosters to me, and this beer - with the pink donuts of the band's logo, and references to two Phish sings on the label - is a similarly mood-altering substance. Consult your neurologist and see if mango-infused IPA is right for you.

Walking out of Back East early on a Friday evening when most guests were walking in created a gentle tug on my brain to head back in, the old Fear Of Missing Out. The smile remained on my face as I drove away, though. I had just missed *going* out. I was glad we all get a chance to find our ways back.

Back East Brewing, 1296 Blue Hills Ave., Bloomfield; 860 242 1793; backeastbrewing.com