“Aggressively Laid Back”
I’ll be honest…when I told my fiance that we were driving 90 minutes the day before he had to leave for a work trip so I could get some camera practice in while also getting blissfully (fake) high on aromatherapy fumes, he was less than thrilled. BUT he played along & therefore deserved to be rewarded with a new installation to our favorite type of day trip collection: a visit to a new brewery.
*Spoiler Alert: There will be a LOT of brewery adventures featured on here. Relatively cheap, delicious, & dog-friendly? 100% in!
There are plenty of breweries in CT, but the brew stop of the day was Stony Creek Brewery. Truth be told, I’ve never been a fan & this opinion was based strictly off of my severe hatred for their Sun Juice. I tried it years ago, wanted to love it, but couldn’t even stomach more than two sips.
“But Jenn, if you hate it so much, why would you willingly go to their brewery???”
Two reasons:
1.) It was the closest brewery to the lavender farm.
2.) I’m a firm believer in the idea that you need to try something twice in order to truly know whether or not you like it. Would I try Sun Juice again? Absolutely not. But one beer does not define an entire brewery. (I’m going to go ahead & put a made up copyright on that statement because that was pure literary gold right there!)
I can sum up our Stony Creek experience in one sentence:
Even if all of their beer was absolute crap, I would still go back time and time again.
But, lucky for me, the rest of their beer options are actually delightful!
History
Here’s a little background for ya (all learned from the tour I went on, so I may omit some details to make sure I don’t say something that isn’t actually true):
Stony Creek was founded by the Crowley family and opened its doors to the public in 2015 in Branford, CT. Unlike a lot of craft breweries today, it is still family owned and run. Its current home sits right on the Branford River & the rocks around the waters edge were requisitioned from the same quarry as the rocks by the Statue of Liberty.
Stony Creek bottles and cans their beers & distribute all across New England (possibly the country but again, I don’t want to say something that isn’t true so I’ll just play it safe for now). The super cool thing though? They have a contract with Foxwoods Casino & brew a special beer just for them! I have not been to Foxwoods since turning 21, but I think I’ll have to take a trip now…
The other interesting thing I learned is that due to the laws in Connecticut, Stony Creek cannot actually sell their own kegs due to volume limits. That being said, they basically need to buy back their own beer from distributers in order to sell it on tap at Foxwoods. And if you think you can just stop by the brewery, have a quick pint, & pick up a keg for your cookout later? You are unfortunately very wrong. Pint? Yes. Cans or bottles up to a certain amount? Sure. But kegs? Nope, you’ll have to go to your local liquor store for that one.
Now that we’ve gotten all the history & quick facts out of the way, let’s move onto the fun stuff.
Beer
A little bit about me & the kind of beer I enjoy:
My fiance tells me that I am “all over the place” when it comes to beer (I guess that means you could call me the vagarious drinker as well). My top beer types are as follows:
1.) Brown Ales
2.) Belgian Wheats
3.) Porters
I absolutely despise hoppy beers; the higher the IBUs, the more likely I am to spit it out in your face. I like my beers one of two ways: super malty or kinda fruity (think Blue Moon, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, or Crooked Current’s Strawberry Blonde).
My fiance on the other hand, hates malty beers & is all about those double dry-hopped IPAs. Safe to say that finding craft breweries we both enjoy is pretty difficult.
I also typically enjoy beers brewed with coffee, but for me that is a winter pleasure, & since the day turned out to be beautiful I didn’t have too much of the Stony Joe. I did, however, get it in the flight I got and it was delicious & surprisingly light. I’m sure I’ll have a better review as things cool down around here.
What I did fall in love with was Dock Time and La Garza.
Dock Time is an amber lager and perfect for exactly what the name implies: hanging out by a dock. It is smooth & light yet full-bodied in flavor. At only 4.8% you could definitely throw back a few of these as you laugh at the dads making their kids drive the boat up to the dock so that they can get a drink without mom knowing (yes, this is a real thing that I actually watched happen).
La Garza was described to me as “basically just like a Corona”. I HATE Corona, but for some reason my gut told me to try this beer described as a mexicali lager. This beer was delicious! Super light, super smooth, it is definitely the perfect beach beer. I would compare it to more of a Landshark (yes, I know most people think Corona & Landshark are essentially the same but I 100% disagree. Sorry not sorry). Just like Dock Time, La Garza is another 4.8% beer that would even be great just sitting outside on your back deck wondering why you need to go back to the office Monday morning.
The Atmosphere
I did not know that I could get the island vibe feel anywhere in New England. I thought I had to fly to Key West or somewhere in California for that.
Well I was wrong because you get that vibe in good ol’ Branford, CT.
The motto/slogan of Stony Creek is Aggressively Laid Back, and let me tell you…the atmosphere they’ve created is exactly that. The inside is a huge open room with a massive fireplace & an entire wall of windows looking over the river.
Those windows are actually a bunch of doors that go out to a deck…but that’s not all! If you walk out & look up, you’ll see another deck off of the upstairs that can be reserved for private parties & in front of you is a lower portion right on the water where you can play games (corn hole or bocce anyone?) or sit at their tiki bar sipping beers as you watch boats float by or kids jump into the river from the bridge nearby.
Stony Creek truly has something for everyone. Not a beer fan? That’s fine, they also sell wine! Have kids? Also fine, there’s plenty of things to keep them busy, even if it is just looking at all of the beautifully colored artwork they have for their beers.
My only negative: I would not recommend paying for the tour. You get a couple beer samples, but they’re both IPAs, and you really just stand in one room and listen to someone talk the whole time. If you like IPAs and don’t mind just standing for an hour, then by all means go ahead and spend the $5. It just wasn’t for me.