Watkins Glen, NY - Rooster Fish Brewery

This brewery was hard to find since we were looking for the 'Rooster Fish Brewing' and not the 'The Wildflower Cafe' or 'The Crooked Rooster Brewpub'. We were making our way through the Finger Lakes and were unable to hit this brewery at 11:30 as it was closed, but yet they served lunch... Not the brew's fault, but the location where we were trying to buy it.

After a day of hitting the wineries in the Finger Lakes (I'm a big enophile), we hit up the brewery we were not able to hit before hitting these wineries. They had a sampler of 8. I was surprised such a small/new brewery had an imperial IPA. I had over a 90+IBU which was pretty good. I'd put it up with a Ruination. Not near as hoppy as the Superfly at Greenwood's Oaken Barrel, but pretty damn hoppy. Loved it.

They had a Dunkelweizen which reminded me of college. It is like a dark version of a Hefeweizen which is a very approachable way of introducing people into dark beers who only like light or wheat beers. Their hefeweizen was bananas as that is exactly what it tasted like. Yes... Bananas.

They have Reason.tv behind them talking about how buying microbrews promotes choice in America. VIDEO I would totally agree. BUY LOCAL!!!! Reason.TV is awesome, btw. Go Drew Carey Project.

The atmosphere was pretty cool. It was in a small New Englandish town than seemed to be built in the 1900's. The beer was good. They were too small to bottle as they started in 2007 and they are woking to grow larger in the not so distant future so there was no artwork outside of the initial logo.

Artwork: NA
Beer: A-
Atmosphere: B
Food: B+

http://www.roosterfishbrewing.com/index.php
301 North Franklin Street
Watkins Glen, NY 14891
Ph: 607.535.9797

Buffalo, NY - Pearl Street Grill & Brewery

On my way to Ontario Canada, I had to make my way through Buffalo, NY. The Brewery was right by the highway so it was very convenient. One of the unique features of the brewery was the belt driven fans on the ceiling. There was a lot of history to the location and you could request to take a tour of the 4 different floors. If you are in Buffalo for the night, you can enjoy the multi-tiered patios from the 4 floors. Looked fun, but we weren't able to stay.

The beer was pretty good. I would give the brewery a B for the beer and an A- for location as it was a cool atmosphere. The labels had great artwork (A) and I am a sucker for people who pay attention to these kinds of details. I feel like the art gave me a feeling of what Buffalo was about in not only its history, but its attitude. Very cool.

Recommended Beers: Double Hopped Ale (Palatte killer) or the Cherry Wheat (a little thin, but good).

Images for this coming later.


http://www.pearlstreetgrill.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=117