When: June 18th, 2025
Where: 7 Diana Court, Cheshire, CT
Counterweight Brewing Company was founded in Hamden in 2017 but they outgrew their original location pretty quickly. In 2022, they relocated to their current and much larger facility in Cheshire. The taproom at Counterweight Brewing was one of the largest I had seen with a large outdoor space and two entire floors and bars on the inside. Like many breweries, they seem to focus on IPAs but do have a splattering of other styles like wheats, sours, and an occasional dark beer. The main advantage of this space is how much they can do with it, they have enough space to host multiple events and have food services like Ritual Pizza (previously located inside Labyrinth brewing). This means that if you don’t want to do trivia or get too close to the live music, there are still plenty of places for you to sit inside and out.
Chris: With how large of a facility Counterweight had, I was expecting a wider variety in their styles. I understand that most people are going to want IPAs and light beers, but their other options were more limited than I expected. That being said, there were multiple styles available to us when we visited. I chose to get a wheat ale, Farmhouse ale, and a sour. Of course my favorite was the sour, Crimson Briar with a nice raspberry taste to it with some tart. Other than that, I wasn’t really a fan of the other beers I had but I think that had more to do with the limited variety in styles I like.
Nick: I really liked the Sour Crimson Briar, I think it was both Chris’s and mine favorite. It had a really nice Raspberry and Cherry flavor. I really wanted to like some of their other beers, but the Daybloom and CW Saison were alright, but didn’t stand out to me much. I loved a lot of the guest taps, but I do wish that I liked more of what they had. The location was really nice, though, and I can see why it’s so popular, great downstairs, outside, and upstairs.
Other cool things:
- Merch
- Cans to go
- Lots of events
- Pizza, burgers, and hot dogs available
- Lots of guest taps
What we drank:
Chris: Daybloom (Wheat) 5%- 3 out of 5
Chris: Crimson Briar (Sour) 4.8% – 3.75 out of 5
Nick: Crimson Briar (Sour) 4.8% – 4 out of 5
Nick: CW Saison (Farmhouse Ale) 6.6% – 3 out of 5
Brewing Persuasion
Beer: 3 out of 5
Location: 4 out of 5
Atmosphere: 4 out of 5
Brewing Persuasions 