Excellent spot , close to Gillette Castle, with a wonderful backyard…read more Honey Crisp and the Blueberry were SUPER delicious. About $9 a cider. Totally fair. Will definitely come back.

Located on a dark road. Parking is across the street. We couldn't choose which cider to pick so we…read moredid all 12 for $36! Tip the bartenders via venmo. ALL the ciders were delicious from dry ti sweet.

Not too long ago I experienced my first beer with Front Porch Brewing and really enjoyed it!…read moreI had Neil's Samoa Donut Stout. This is categorized as a pastry stout and I really like those but have to be in the right mood for one. Preferably during the colder months out of the year. Apparently there are a few variations with the donut stout but as the name implies I got the Samoa version. What makes up in the flavor and texture profile is a sweet, smooth, chocolate, creamy and rich beer that Steve and I shared. A whole pint of this might have been too much for me but Steve and I shared it which made it proportioned quite well. A wonderful start with this brewery and would love to try the other donut versions of this stout! I saw a French Toast one that also caught my eye!

Front Porch Brewing Company is a craft brewery that opened in Wallingford, Connecticut in November…read more2017. It was founded by business partners James Flynn, Drew Peccerillo, Tiffany Ulrich and Ryan Voytek. Flynn began home brewing about five years earlier in a friend's backyard and eventually moved to brewing on his front porch (hence the name of the brewery). After he started getting better at home brewing, he decided to turn his hobby into a business. The small brewery brews a variety of different styles but mainly brews different kinds of IPAs and Sours. The small brewery and taproom has a one-barrel system and can only brew a small amount of beer at a time. They occasionally enlist the help of brewery collectives such as The Beeracks in East Haven or Twelve Percent Beer Project in North Haven in order to produce and distribute beer on a much larger scale. I've been visiting Front Porch Brewing since not long after they first opened. On my first visit, I ordered a flight which consisted of a Belgian Dubbel, a Session IPA, a Sour IPA, and a Pale Ale. The latter (named "Devil Children") was my favorite and the ABV appropriately clocked in at 6.66%. My most recent visit was this weekend to pick up some new cans that they released. Both new beers were brewed on a larger scale at Twelve Percent Beer Project and were available at both Twelve Percent and Front Porch's taproom. The first offering was a Double IPA called "Leaving So Soon?" It's aggressively brewed with Citra, Strata, Galaxy, and El Dorado hops. It had some lovely tropical notes from all of the different hops. It clocks in at 8% ABV and each can features alternating artwork that sort of resembles tarot cards. The second offering is an Imperial Pastry Stout called "Neil's French Toast Donut Stout". It was brewed in collaboration with Neil's Donuts (with locations in Wallingford and Middletown) and made with a generous amount of their French Toast donuts. It clocks in at 10% ABV and has a delicious aroma of donuts. I later stopped at Neil's to get some donuts to dunk into the beer! Delicious!! Well done everyone!

Spoke + Spy Ciderworks is a craft cidery that opened in Middletown, Connecticut in March 2018. It…read morewas founded by husband and wife Ronald and Kimberly Sansone. Ronald lived in London, England for a time and worked as a graphic designer. While in London, he saw how popular hard ciders were and it sparked his interest in the beverage. After returning to the states, he began making his own cider at home and enrolled in programs at Cornell and Oregan State Universities. He won numerous accolades over the years from his homemade ciders. Eventually, the Sansones decided to open their own cidery that featured hard ciders made from locally sourced apples. The cidery officially opened to the public in 2016 inside Middletown's old Remington Rand building. The historic building complex opened in 1896 as the Keating Bicycle Factory. Throughout the decades, motorcycles, automobiles, typewriters and even military missile parts were manufactured there. The building closed its doors in the early 1970s and fell into disrepair. The city later took it over and by 2009 it had been refurbished with several new tenants renting space inside. Sansone named the cidery 'Spoke & Spy' as a reference to the building's history as a bicycle factory as well as the Northern Spy Apple (one of Sansone's favorite varieties). I first visited Spoke + Spy in August 2019. I was training for the upcoming Closer To Free ride, so I decided to cycle from my home in North Haven all the way to Middletown (21 miles). By the time I made it to the cidery, I was very thirsty. The taproom is decorated with all sorts of bicycle memorabilia. I decided to order a sampler flight that consisted of six ciders ranging in flavors from pear to grape. I liked them all, but my favorite was a tart, semi-dry strawberry-rhubarb cider called "Love Shouldn't Hurt". I ended up purchasing a growler of it to bring back home. If you plan on visiting the cidery in Middletown, I must recommend making it a craft beer afternoon because the Remington Rand building is also home to Stubborn Beauty Brewing and Forest City Brewing.

Cool place. I guess new thing in CT is touring breweries…read more We did 3 brewery tour while we were visiting CT. This place is located right next to Forest City Brewery. I never tasted cider as beer, but liked them a lot. We tried a flight with 8 different ciders. Some tasted like apple juice with bubbles, but pretty good. It was 20F below out side, in side of this old factory converted brewery was not much warmer, but extremely good ambience. Definitely we will visit here again whenever we are in CT.

We got there around 1:15 on a Saturday and the weather was beautiful. Found a table around a…read morebarrel and that was home for a couple of hours. I tried 2 different beers, a stout and a Red Lager and boy were delicious. They did get crowded and had a couple of parties going on. We brought my dog seeing online that they were dog friendly and I think my dog had a better time than we did. They had a guy singing country and that too added to make the day special. I recommend this place highly

Great venue. Good beer but no gluten free options. Customer service needs major improvement.read more

Never had Meade before and I'm kicking myself now. I'm not a fan of "hoppy" drinks, BUT the hoppy…read moreMeade I will drink and actually got me to venture down other "hoppy" lanes, like beer. Especially for someone who likes cider and wine, the Meade has a nice, refreshing flavor. The different flavor nodes of the honey make it sweeter and not bitter (personal preference). Awesome sit in areas with TONS of games for socialization with friends. In this order are my favorites!! Wally, Whip, Lemon, Bouchot, Ginga, Cherry, Hoppy, Pecan

Bergen House is a craft meadery that opened in Middletown, Connecticut in September 2020. It was…read morefounded by army veteran Talon Bergen. He first began experimenting with homebrewing when his brother-in-law gifted him a Mr. Beer kit. The first batch of Bergen's homebrew was awful, but the kit came with an interesting book that he read over and over again. He soon became fascinated with the science behind brewing and fermentation. Later on, a friend gifted him a bottle of homemade mead. Bergen's wife Emilie liked it much more than any beer she ever tried, so he decided to try his hand at crafting mead. Mead is a fermented beverage made from a mixture of honey, water and yeast. It is the oldest fermented beverage known to man (predating beer, wine and cider). Like his first batch of beer, Bergen's first batch of mead was also awful. After several months, Bergen finally began making mead that was drinkable. The Bergens later had an idea to open their own brewery. After seeing how many breweries that Connecticut already had, they instead decided to open a meadery. The Bergens found a space in Middletown's old trolley barn building to house their meadery and taproom. Although not the state's only meadery, Bergen House is the only one to have its own taproom for on-site consumption. I recently visited Bergen House for the first time after going for a long bike ride on the nearby Air Line State Park Trail. I was greeted by Emilie Bergen who was very friendly and talked to me about the different meads. There were eight different meads on tap during my visit. Each one has different spices and fruits added for flavoring. I ordered a sampler flight which featured "Crime Scene" (Rye Bourbon Barrel-Aged Sweet & Sour Cherry Mead), "Local Buzz" (Dry Mead made with local honey from Hilltop Apiaries), "Wally" (Off-Dry Mead made with wildflower honey, green tea and Citra hops), and "Grapefruit Meads Business" (Wildflower Mead flavored with rosemary, grapefruit & ginger). The latter two were my favorites! Emilie also gave me a small sample of "Bochet": a traditional French Mead made with wildflower honey caramelized before fermentation. I ended up taking home a growlito of "Wally", which tasted a lot like a honey-infused New England IPA. I had a great experience at Bergen House and I look forward to returning!

My friends and I checked out a winery while visiting New Haven. This was a nice spot that had ample…read moreselection. We ordered the wine at the cash register and found a spot outside. There were a lot of tables out in the sun or under the tent (for a hot day under the tent was best!) We also bought snacks of crackers and cheese that they had, although they were a bit pricey altogether. There was also a selection of chocolate and cigars at the front. Depending where your facing, there are nice views of the vineyard. There was also a graduation party that reserved half the tent space. This vineyard had humble views and hands-off service (every time we wanted a new bottle we went inside to ring it up, and we brought our bottle back outside with us). Come here for no-frills winery and good wine. I'd recommend bringing your own snacks to accompany their wine!

First time trying a Connecticut winery and I was pleasantly surprised. The winery initially seems…read moreoddly placed because you enter it in a subdivision but when you arrive to the winery it feels very secluded and peaceful. Very good vibe at Paradise Hills; tranquil is the right word. My husband and I accidentally arrived on a day where they were also having a craft fair which was super cool! The winery was busy but not so busy we couldn't sit down. We got to sip wine under the shade of the grape vines. The winery was also very enjoyable! I was skeptical having only been to vineyards in Illinois where the wine is subpar but this wine was really good! The whites are a bit stronger than the reds but the reds were honestly pretty good too! Overall, I really loved everything about the experience!!

I recent did farewell gathering to my son, which he going to the USAF. My families, friends and my…read moreson was very happy with everything. The service, bartenders and workers were great overall... I also want to thank uncommon Grill for Catering our food it was so delicious. Compliment to cooker and those that work on getting our foods set up. For those that were drinking wines, they told me, it was delicious and they enjoy it very much. The family and friends that travel from New York, enjoy the ambiance of the place. I gave my people recommendation to do their party or outing here you can't go wrong...

Beautiful winery ! Lots of outdoor space , I got the wine slushy . I tried The monthly special the…read morered white and blue which was really good. I also tried one of the other flavors which was good too And outdoors is dog friendly which I loved . And there's a bar and food menu to order from outside . Overall good service , great atmosphere perfect place to spend a day outside drinking wine

Ambiance was best!! We were here on a Sunday afternoon, sitting outside there was a great…read moreentertainer to listen to and we had a great combo from Groupon. We were able to get two cider flights, two glasses of cider, two actual glasses to take home and a 32 ounce growler full of our choice of cider. It was really a great deal for both of us. Oh I forgot we also had a charcuterie board which was nice to have and munch on while listening to great music. All in all a great experience.

I've enjoyed coming here for years, but sadly, the appeal has started to fade. What hasn't changed…read moreis the beautiful scenery. There's plenty of seating--both out in the field and on the higher deck overlooking the wide fields bordered by thick woods. They often have live music, which for me is the saving grace. I've tried the wine, but we usually go for the sangria. Unfortunately, the cost for even half a plastic carafe feels very expensive, and I'm just not a fan of using plastic glasses. In my opinion, the place has gone downhill over time, and that's disappointing to see.