* Remember to bring cash to tip when visiting smaller breweries!

Today I added Black Pond Brew to the list of breweries I’ve visited, and I realized that make 30 breweries on my map! I plan to add 31 to the map this afternoon when I use my Whalers Brewing Groupon. 2015 has been a good year!

Here’s a recap of this month’s additions:

Cold Creek Brewery – Ellington, CT New Brewery!

What a great place! CCB opened in August 2015, and it looks like they are quickly developing a following! Because of zoning laws, they cannot sell pints, but they offer free samples of all of the beers they have on growler or “crowler” (32oz can). Most notable was their white stout called Shelby. It was a mind twister! I had trouble smelling it and looking at it at the same time… smells like a stout, but looks like a pale ale. If you like cocoa powder finish, this beer’s for you. I’ll be going back soon!

Cold Creek has around 10 beers to choose from. They offer free samples (no pints), and you can purchase 32oz “crowlers” or 64oz growlers. I found their English ale to be a very smooth 6% beer. They also have an altbier similar to 6 Balls, but a little bit sweeter. Most notable, they have an interesting white stout called Shelby, which looks just like the English ale! Although it’s a strange twist, it’s a pretty good stout to boot.

Black Pond Brew – Danielson/Killingly, CT

Cool location (though a little industrial, and no seats), nice people, and decent beers. I used the Black Pond Groupon deal to try their sampler. The Israel Putnam brown ale was pretty good, and Monk Juice was good. I’m not a trappist-style lover, but my husband thought it was fairly worthy. Intolerance was not a bad stout, but I did not like Cogito Ergo Sum (the one that donates to Paris). It was just too sour for me. Machu Picchu is their unique jalapeno beer. I liked the hint of jalapeno more than expected, but I’m not a big fan of odd beer. My husband hated it. You have to like raw jalapenos to appreciate it more, I guess. The Whistling Train Saloon (walking distance) also has Black Pond’s IPA on tap and was gracious to provide a sample of this as well. The crew there was friendly. In addition to sharing their knowledge of beers, we learned that most people guess the building is an old train station, but really it was originally a photography studio.