Friday Froth: Berlinetta Brewing Opens in Bridgeport with A Focus On Classic European Beer

James Gribbon August 27, 2021

The bright white space drips with psychedelic funk as I step into Berlinetta Brewing this summer. A few decades of listening to Georges Collinet's "Afropop Worldwide," I recognize Hugh Masekela and am beaming, not just at that, but at the racks of books (actual paper books!) in reach of tables lit by huge windows. This is a very, very promising start for the downtown Bridgeport brewery.

Step up through the back doorway the tasting room shares with lofts in the newly refurbished building and you'll enter a mini in-brewery record store. Racks of LPs beside a twin turntable setup are for sale or maybe trade if you're feeling barter-y. Co-owner (co-brother), and head brewer Rich Ruggiero has also crafted a tube amp powered reel-to-reel Hi-Fi stereo which can drive the sound system at the click of a toggle switch. Walk in the front door, and you'll see it (and likely him) behind the taproom bar.

Above that bar is one of the prettier tap lists in recent memory. Rich's wife is Czech, and having spent time in said Republic soaking up both beer and culture, he brings classic styles - Czech pilsner, kolsch, Vienna lager - along with hoppier options, to the Park City.

The Westphal Kolsch (4.5% abv) is a darker amber than usual and so crystal clear I could weep. The rich malt felt a little heavy for a kolsch and slightly bready, but still managed to be crisp and slightly dry. The name is a tribute to Ruggiero grandfather Sylvester Westphal, and this Cologne-style "ale that drinks like a lager" is a great hot weather beer with almost no IBUs. A pint went down in a hurry.

The Berlinetta Rosso Vienna Lager (5.25% abv) wafts a sweet malt candy nose over a body the color of maple syrup. Viennas are made to be a bit deeper than lagers this side of a marzen, and Rosso has plenty of body, efficiently clipped off at the end of each sip by that tight lager yeast, but somehow lacking the satisfying oomph of others in the category. An unusual spicy flavor of cloves was a bit of a surprise on the first few sips.

A trip back to the bar allows me to scan the wolf logo tees and Berlinetta Discs bags of the brewery's little merch component. The logo reminds me a bit of the six-legged, fire-breathing wolf of Italy's Agip petroleum, and co-owner/brother Chris Ruggiero tells me they're all a bit car crazy, leading to the Roman wolf and Modena-inspired "berlinetta" name. They just thought it was cool. The hoppy, Citra-fied Gold Coast Lager is named for Chris' former recording studio, just across the Pequonnock River.

Chris talks a bit about the spirit of Berlinetta, and says they wanted it to be a place for the developing Golden Hill/Bijou Square neighborhood to hang out as much as it was about the beer. In a few trips, I've seen coworkers having beers on a Friday, local DJs meeting to hear each other play sets of jazz, funk, whatever fit the moment, and heard a brand-new reel recorded when WPKN general manager Steve di Costanzo hosted a night of local reggae bands at the brewery. The Bridgeport local artist flavor continues with the town's own John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin "the patron saint of beer" painted on one wall in the style of a religious icon. Visitors much on chips and pretzels from Poland between sips of beer or Mexican cokes.

On a return trip I grabbed a coffee table book on the Art Deco movement and ordered a pint of Velvet Pilsner (5.5% abv). The pils was a very clear golden straw color under a bright white head of almost invisible bubbles. There's just a bit of biscuit on the nose, but much more past the lips on the way down. It's a crispy boi, light on its feet and very nimble - just a well made lager good for hot weather or anytime you're due for a cold one.

Lagers aren't the only species on tap at Berlinetta, there's a nod to hard seltzer, and the Tropical Stout is made in the Jamaican fashion, with a bit of molasses added at the end of the brew to jack flavor and ABV up to 7.9%. It's poured in regular can-size servings at 12oz.

With Black Rock firmly established as a cultural center of Connecticut's largest city on the west end, the downtown center's revitalization is well underway. Theaters and lofts are coming online in venerable buildings, an empty lot in view across the street from Berlinetta's front door could be the home for live music events, and the 6,000-seat amphitheater a mile away on Bridgeport harbor is selling out once a week. There's every reason to believe Berlinetta will become a regular stop for in- and out-of-towners alike.

Berlinetta Brewing; 90 Golden Hill St., Bridgeport; berlinettabrewing.com; open Wed. - Sun.

@berlinettabrewing