Witchdoctor Brewing Company

When We Went: June 17, 2020

Where: 168 Center Street, Southington, CT 06489

Chris and I are officially back on the CT Beer trail, passport apps in hand!! With breweries taking the recommended steps towards reopening, we decided to travel the Beer Trail to Southington and enjoy a socially distanced, outdoor beer at the one and only, Witchdoctor Brewing Company. Opened only a few years ago, Witchdoctor is located in the original Southington Tool Manufacturing building built in 1883. Today it’s a multi-use retail and office space, but all we really care about is that this building is home to a brewery that prides themselves on having a rotating line of beers on tap. From IPA’s to stouts, Witchdoctor is constantly changing up their ingredients and serving the most unique beers.

Shannon: If you like your breweries with a spacious, semi-dark lighting vibe, Witchdoctor is the place for you. They have great beer, a great space, and tons of seating and other things to do. Chris and I have been coming here for a few years now, and I don’t think there’s ever been a time we haven’t enjoyed ourselves. One of my all time favorite beers from them is their 5.4% Strawberry Malt-Shake NEIPA called Bunny Patch. As they say at Witchdoctor, this brew would make the Nesquik bunny proud. The Bunny Patch isn’t your standard milkshake. It’s a smooth, creamy, sweet beer that’ll leave you with just the right malt and strawberry taste.

Chris: When you walk into Witchdoctor you will get the feeling that the brewery loves music as much as beer.  They have an indoor stage for their many musicians that they bring in, and the walls are covered in photos of concerts from all sorts of different artists (including one of my favorite bands Rammstein.)  Its not just music they have in variety but beer as well; when Shannon and I went they had 19 beers on tap which is an insane number.   The huge assortment of beers and styles makes this a place everyone will enjoy. 

Other Cool Stuff:

  • If you aren’t in a beer mood you can always buy food, wine, Avery’s Soda, hard cider, and some select liquor
  • They often have live music or trivia events
  • Outdoor seating
  • Outdoor games (pre-Covid)
  • Beer-to-go service during Covid-19
  • Currently open for limited, socially distanced indoor and outdoor seating!

What We Drank:

Shannon: Pexto Porter (Vanilla Porter) 5.8% – 4 out of 5

Shannon: Nutter Your Business (Chocolate Peanut Butter Red Ale) 6.2% – 4.5 out of 5

Chris: I am Frut (Fruit Beer) 5% – 4 out of 5

Chris: Papa Chocolate’s Malt-Shake (Milk Stout) 6% – 3.5 out of 5

Brewing Persuasion: 4 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?

Spoke + Spy Ciderworks

When we went: June 6th, 2020

Where: 180 Johnson Street, Middletown, CT 06457

Spoke + Spy Ciderworks opened in Middletown in 2018 but the idea was hatched when owners Ron and Kim were living in England drinking cider in pubs and bars. They decided to start brewing at home and it eventually led them to open up their very own taproom in the R.M. Keating Historical Enterprise Park. This is the same building where Forest City Brewing and Stubborn Beauty Brewing Company are located. You can stop by all three without having to go outside, talk about convenient. Spoke + Spy’s name comes from a combination of the building, which was an old wheel factory, and the northern spy apple which is a favorite of the owners. The taproom itself is quite small but well decorated with thick wooden tables. Plus, no cidery is complete without plenty of apple inspired artwork.

Chris: I first came across Spoke + Spy when I went to Forest City and Stubborn Beauty and saw a cidery sandwiched between them. I have always been a big fan of hard cider so I made sure to check this place out, and let me say, their cider is GREAT! Spoke + Spy is a place that knows what they are doing with not only their cider but also their non-alcoholic brews. The first time I went they had an amazing root beer on tap, and yeah I know root beer doesn’t have any alcohol in it, but if you have never had root beer on tap you are missing out. They seem to have expanded their variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic brews since they are currently rocking 8 ciders and 2 Kombuchas on tap. Last time I went, I had their Middle of the Blueberry which was semi-sweet with a nice refreshing blueberry flavor that did not overpower the drink. I would go here all the time, but unfortunately their hours are pretty limited so make sure to plan out your trip.

Shannon: To me, Spoke + Spy is the definition of a hidden gem. You might have to throw an elbow or two to find a seat since their taproom is pretty small, but with a little luck, you’ll manage to find a space to sit and sip. Whenever I’m at the taproom, I often opt for the flight, that way I get to try everything they have. It’s just so hard to pass up. I’ve come to love every single one of their ciders (with the exception of an 11.1% cider aged in a malt rye barrel for 20 months.) My all time favorite cider made by them is their Pomme L’Orange. This 5.1% sweet, orange and vanilla cider will 100% make you think you’re crushing a bottle of orange Fanta. Go get it. You know you want it.

Other cool things:

  • They brew their own root beer and kombucha
  • Currently filling growlers of cider-to-go from their take-out window!
  • Cider infused chocolates and Kettle Corn!
  • They often have some pretty cool events in the taproom
  • Flights of 6! Yum!
  • Grab an embroidered baseball hat with their logo on it

What we drank:

Chris: Middle of the Blueberry (Semi-sweet) 5.1% – 4.5 out of 5

Chris: Pomme L’Orange (Sweet) 5.1% – 4 out of 5

Shannon: Pomme L’Orange (Sweet) 5.1% – 5 out of 5

Shannon: Tepache Mode (Semi-sweet) 5.4% – 3 out of 5

Brewing Persuasion: 4.5 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?

New Park Brewing

Logo from New Park Brewing’s website.

When Chris went: January 25th, 2020

Where: 485 New Park Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110

New Park Brewing opened their taproom in West Hartford in 2017 and has been a popular spot since. Located in an old industrial building that has been “upcycled,” New Park fits the bill as a stylish brewery. Walking in you immediately feel transported to a Van’s shoe store located in some cool southern California town. The taproom is on the smaller side, but they decorated the space with tons of plants, local art, and skateboards. The boards give it the ultimate skater, hipster vibe. If there isn’t room in the taproom, during the warmer months, New Park has a nice outdoor seating area. They do a really good job of filling the space with greenery to help you forget you are basically in the parking lot near the road.

Chris: I’ve been to New Park a few times, mainly because people won’t stop saying good things about it. Last time I went they had a Grateful Dead tribute band playing and the place was packed! I very much enjoyed my Schwarzbier, which had a nice clean, light, refreshing feel. Unfortunately both times I have gone, their selection has been very limited. Schwarzbier was their only dark available, which I found strange since it was January and that’s prime Stout/Porter season. Every other draft selection was an IPA with the exception of one sour option. They seem to focus in on their IPAs (and I have heard they are amazing) but as someone who only cares for milkshake IPAs, I was clearly out of my element. That is not to say this isn’t a great place, and if you love IPAs definitely head over there. But if you don’t, maybe check their tap-list before you go to see if there is something there for you.

Shannon: I’ve only been to New Park once and it was at least a year ago so bear with me while I try to muster up some sort of contextual review here. I can’t speak much on the interior of the brewery simply because I don’t remember what it looks like, but what I can speak of is their beer thanks to my Untapped beer app! I have apparently only had one of their beers (which was in 2019 so I guess I should really go back to this place sometime). Untapped tells me that I had an IPA called Cloudscape, formerly known as Cloudbreak. Its a 6.5% ABV that I rated a 3.5 out of 5 on the app. Thank god for Untapped, am I right?

Other cool things:

  • Food trucks
  • Live music performances
  • Merchandise available
  • Beer-to-go during COVID-19 and beer delivery to select towns weekly!

What Chris drank:

Chris: Schwarzbier 6% – 4 out of 5

Chris: Blender: Boysenberry (Fruited Berliner Weisse) 5% – 3 out of 5

Brewing Persuasion: 2.5 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?