CulturAle Press

Surprising Wilmington: Wilmington Brew Works Manual Automation Experimental NEIPA

Date:  April 8, 2019

The Story—  Wilmington Brew Works is the newest addition to Wilmington’s beer scene and shows it.  Signage appears to be temporary and the tables show few signs of wear.

it’s not easy to find and the signage from the road is hard to see if you’re standing next to it. Once you find it, though, it’s a very nice place: long and narrow, well lit with windows along both sides; the brewhouse is hidden at the far end behind the bar.  The main room has 2 rows of long slab-style tables with benches & tin stools.  There’s a cache of games somewhere: almost every table was playing something.  At the opposite end, by the bathrooms, is a long stretch of blackboard on the wall for the kids, with a bushel of chalks.

We’re appreciative of breweries that allow half pours and a variety of sizes of beers.   These Works do well, with a nice range of glass sizes from the 4-oz sampler & flight goblet, through 9, 12, 14, and 16 oz, to crowlers and growlers.

Many if not most breweries in the US today are playing around with experimental hops.   They’re interesting, allow a brewer to produce something that hasn’t been done and sometimes can be obtained at a promotional hops.   We’ve encountered brewers who have received the hops at nearly no charge in return for producing a beer the hop producer can brag about.

We’re not sure what hops are here– or if we’d know much about them even if we did, but we’re fascinated by the variety of flavors the new varieties produce.   For a while new hops just went through the roof with intense and then more intense citrus flavors, but recent additions show spice, grass and lovely dankness.

The New England IPA style is still searching for a clear definition,   In theory it’s big in flavor hops and very low in bitterness, but we’ve run into versions that claim to be New England running to 60 or more IBUs of very evident bitterness.   Here, low bitterness and haziness attest to New England credentials, but a “wild IPA yeast,” whatever the heck that is, is most definitely not standard.   It works though.   The “wildness” in the yeast seems to create an edge that’s a pretty good substitute for the bitterness that’s a required feature of a usual IPA.

The Beer—  Fruity and dry and tangy with increasing citrus into the aftertaste with an edge.  The “wild IPA yeast” seems to give it an edge without a lot of bittering hops.  Interesting in any event, and surprisingly appealing.

Value —  Good.  Four bucks for a 25 cl glass is a good price.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

For the next several weeks we’ll feature fun places to explore beer — and much more–a different destination each week.   Our beers of the day will feature beers from this wonderfully wet destinations.  For the next week we’ll feature some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Wilmington.    A caveat as always: the vast majorities of craft breweries may have a few beers that are usually available, but their most interesting beers are usual season or one-off brews that we may rave about, but you can’t find.   Our specific beer descriptions, can tell you what sorts of beers the brewery does well; if you don’t find the exact beer on tap, you’ll probably find something similar.