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The 9 Best Breweries to Visit in Connecticut
Re-writing the history of craft beer.
Photography courtesy of Kent Falls Brewing Co.
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Full disclosure: When we sat down to make a list of the best breweries in Connecticut, we thought we might choose five great ones. Fast-forward an hour, and we’re still trimming down the lineup!
In other words, we realized that some of our favorite breweries in the Northeast came from our fifth state. Nicknamed the “Constitution State,” Connecticut is pushing the historical vanguard of craft beer. Fun fact: Did you know this state’s nickname comes from the notion that our country’s foundational document derived from the first constitution of Connecticut?
But enough with the history lessons.
From a repurposed 1960s dairy barn on a thirty-acre farm to a brewery making its own yeast-foraging ingredients, Connecticut’s breweries are a cut above the rest.
Here are Hop Culture’s Best Breweries to Visit in Connecticut
Fox Farm Brewery
62 Music Vale Rd, Salem, CT 06420
Photography courtesy of John A. Paradiso
A perennial favorite at our retired Juicy Brews and Spooky Brews festivals, Fox Farm Brewery consistently wows us.
Head to their taproom and drink their beers from an Adirondack chair on a bucolic, pastoral thirty-acre farm in Salem, CT. Housed in a gorgeous restored 1960s dairy barn, Fox Farm is one of those gems like Jester King or Scratch Brewing (I still count a visit here with my dad as one of my most memorable beer excursions) that you’ll remember for long after you leave.
Fox Farm is a brewery with a beating heart and a sense of place. However, it helps that the beer is fantastic, too.
In the past, we named Fox Farm’s Hearthbound porter one of our top 20 beers to drink in the fall.
But it’s the brewery’s lagers that consistently score highest.
For instance, you’ll find Tines on “Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Marzens,” Quiet Night on “Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Dark Lagers,” and Quiet Life on “Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Czech Pilsners.”
Plus, we consider The Cottage one of “The 29 Most Iconic Beers to Drink in Summer.” Fox Farm Founder and Brewer Zac Adams once told us jokingly, “The Cottage is the beer we would make if we could only make one!” Bingo. The Cottage is a fantastic, subtle, beautiful representation of the helles lager. And, while we love the diverse offerings at Fox Farm, we’d understand if they became strictly “The Cottage Brewery.”
If you’re in Connecticut, skipping Fox Farm might be the worst mistake of your life!
Counter Weight Brewing Co.
7 Diana Ct, Cheshire, CT 06410 | (203) 806-1477
Photography courtesy of John A. Paradiso
From wild yeast and wood-aged beauties to time-honored German lagers and modern hoppy American IPAs, Counter Weight Brewing Co. covers the craft beer gamut.
We gushed over the Ein Helles when we wrote about helles lagers.
In addition, we recently enjoyed their core Crucial Mass American DIPA with both Northern and Southern Hemisphere hops.
What’s remarkable about Counter Weight is that they put the same passion into their helles as their IPAs, spontaneous fermentations, and barrel-aged farmhouse ales, making for a varied and well-balanced tap list.
OEC Brewing
7 Fox Hollow Road, Oxford, CT 06478 | (203) 295-2831
OEC Brewing is part of an exclusive club whose members include breweries that primarily produce spontaneously fermented sour beer. Other members of this group include some of the most popular names in the country: De Garde in Tillamook, OR, The Ale Apothecary in Bend, OR, and Primitive Beer in Longmont, CO.
Standing for Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores or Order of the Eccentric Boilers, OEC opened in July 2014 as one of the strangest and most interesting operations we’ve ever seen.
In the past half-decade, when breweries have focused on IPAs, OEC has turned a blind eye-PA (zing!). Instead, they’ve mainly brewed wild ales, sours, unfiltered and unpasteurized ales, and blended beers. Leveraging housemade yeast and ingredients grown on-site, OEC is known for its innovative and wild beers.
The brewery strives to bring lost brewing traditions from North Germany, Belgium, England, and Czechia to the States.
For instance, Rocket Science, an American pale ale with Simcoe and Centennial hops.
Or Dapple, a British dark mild with Maris Otter Pale Ale and Crystal malts, roasted barley, and East Kent Goldings hops.
Or Coolship Lager Czech pale lager with a traditional double decoction and European noble hops.
Tree House Farm Brewery
54 Joy Rd, Woodstock, CT 06281
In 2019, this Massachusetts-based brewery known the country over for its picture-perfect hoppy ales bought a $1.6M farm in Connecticut. Tree House Farm & Fermentory features one hundred acres of organically farmed produce and fruit trees that have “a hypnotizing effect on the soul,” according to the website.
In this little corner of Connecticut, on some of the most beautiful properties in the state, you can enjoy farm-made ciders and beers from one of the country’s most well-respected breweries. If that doesn’t sound like the perfect afternoon, we don’t know what does.
Kent Falls Brewing Co.
33 Camps Rd, Kent, CT 06757 | (860) 398-9645
Photography courtesy of Kent Falls Brewing Co.
Considered Connecticut’s first farm brewery, Kent Falls paved the way for the state’s Farm Brewery Manufacturer’s permit and has committed itself to maintaining Camp Roads Farm by minimizing waste through composting spent grain, fruits, and hop and yeast trub and maximizing renewable energy sources through a photovoltaic solar panel.
The brewery sits on a small portion of the fifty-acre Camp Roads Farm in Kent, CT. Camp Roads is a diverse farm dedicated to growing various veggies and raising pigs and poultry. They also have a one-acre plot devoted to hops as well as an acre and a half of cider apples reserved for Neversink Spirits, Kent Falls’ distillery located in Port Chester, NY.
On tap, you’ll find ubiquitous hoppy ales as well as more esoteric styles like a Gratzer, a Polish-smoked wheat beer, and a golden mild.
New Park Brewing
485 New Park Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110 | (860) 232-2033
From juicy IPAs to full-bodied triple IPAs to immensely fruited sours, New Park Brewing has been pumping out well-crafted styles since opening its doors in March 2017.
We heard pre-COVID that this taproom consistently attracted people from all over the state and beyond. Co-Founder John Doyle likes to experiment with his IPAs.
For instance, recent beers include Tres, an American IPA with soft red wheat flakes and malted white wheat and Citra and Motueka hops.
Two Roads Brewing & Area Two Experimental Brewing
1700 Stratford Ave, Stratford, CT 06615 / 1526 Stratford Ave, Stratford, CT 06615 | (203) 335-2010
Photography courtesy of Two Roads Brewing Company
We love Two Roads and Area Two Experimental Brewing. When I still lived in New York, I took a trip up to Stratford, CT, and the amazing Two Roads crew took me out for a night of beer and New Haven pizza. It’s an evening I won’t soon forget.
While I may be biased, I’m not the only one who drools over Two Roads. Our entire team named the brewery one of our best breweries of 2020. And their Peach Jam hit our list of the best beers to drink in spring 2021.
Following the unbeaten path, Two Roads likes to take the road less traveled. With that ethos in mind, the brewery opened its innovation hub, Area Two Experimental Brewing, several years ago. The $15 million state-of-the-art sour facility incorporates a koelschip, botanical garden, and wetlands restoration. The good news? Area Two is a quick stroll away from the original Two Roads taproom. You can pop over to Two Roads for a Peach Jam (if it’s on tap—this is a seasonal beer) or Juicy Hazy IPA. Afterward, sidle to Area Two for quirky, experimental recipes like Pineapple Sour D, a hazy, juicy IPA brewed with pineapple, hemp hearts, and terpene extracts.
Our advice: Take the road less traveled right now and visit Two Roads and Area Two.
Rhythm Brewing Co.
Check here to find Rhythm beer
Photography courtesy of Rhythm Brewing Co.
Rhythm Brewing Co. Founder Alisa Bowens-Mercado has always moved to the beat of her own drum.
A professional salsa dancer, Bowens-Mercado, came up with Rhythm Brewing while traveling to weekend beer festivals. A woman of color, Bowens-Mercado quickly realized she saw very few people who looked like her at these events. So she decided to change that.
Founded as the first BIPOC-owned craft brewery in Connecticut, Rhythm Brewing makes one type of beer: lager!
Bowens-Mercado hits the nail on the head with her Rhythm Unfiltered Lager and Blue Unfiltered Light Lager. Both styles are smooth, crisp, and oh-so-clean on the finish.
At the time of publication, Rhythm Brewing doesn’t have a physical brick-and-mortar, but if you’re in the state, you should definitely pick up one of these stellar lagers from the lady of lager herself. Check out the Rhythm Finder to find one of Rhythm’s lagers near you!
New England Brewing Co.
175 Amity Rd, Woodbridge, CT 06525 | (203) 387-2222
Photography courtesy of New England Brewing Co.
On an episode of Untappd’s Drinking Socially podcast, host Harrison Hickok recommended we try G-Bot. This Imperial IPA from New England Brewing Co. (NEBCO) has a pretty incredible story.
After seeking out G-Bot, we’re glad we listened to Harrison! An iconic DIPA, the beer is a citrusy, dank juice bomb that makes the hop heads go crazy. In other words, it’s a gem from a brewery that—quite frankly—we’ve probably overlooked.
Why? Because the brewery has been around forever. Since 2001, NEBCO has been making beer, and we’ll happily admit that we’ve been a bit ageist in not taking the brewery more seriously. But change requires acceptance, right? Consider us changed. Hit up this historic spot and try this historic beer.
About The Author
Grace Lee-Weitz
Currently Drinking:
Fort Point Beer Co. KSA
Grace is the Senior Content Editor for Hop Culture and Untappd. She also organizes and produces the largest weeklong women, femme-identifying, and non-binary folx in craft beer festival in the country, Beers With(out) Beards, and the first-ever festival celebrating the colorful, vibrant voices in the queer community in craft beer, Queer Beer. An avid craft beer nerd Grace always found a way to work with beer. After graduating with a journalism degree from Northwestern University, she attended culinary school before working in restaurant management. She moonlighted as a brand ambassador at 3 Sheeps Brewing Co. on the weekends before moving into the beer industry full-time as an account coordinator at 5 Rabbit Cerveceria. Grace holds her Masters degree in the Food Studies program at NYU.
