Off the beaten path of Pawcatuck, CT sits Cottrell Brewing Company, one of the oldest breweries in CT. As you enter the industrial space, you immediately begin to feel like a part of the brewing process: the brewhouse towers over the tasting bar, and pallets stacked high with kegs and beer loom behind you, waiting to be shipped out to destinations all over the east coast. The tasting bar itself takes up only a fraction of Cottrell: a larger, second room features the monolithic fermenters, and an ancient, bottling line that would be at home in a WWII-era factory montage.

Cottrell brews four beers for year-round distribution: their flagship Old Yankee Amber Ale, a traditional IPA called Mystic Bridge, Stonington Glory, a summery pilsner, and the rich Perry’s Revenge, a scotch ale. All four of these beers are available on draft or in bottles. The tasting at Cottrell is complimentary, and patrons sample the year-round offerings, as well as a weekly guest beer and a one-off, experimental brew-of-the-week. The guest beer comes from one of the many breweries that Cottrell contract brews for: another brewery’s recipe, produced in large quantity for distribution at Cottrell.

In addition to selling howler and growler fills (starting at $4 and $7, respectively), Cottrell sells cases and six packs, as well as hand-bottled, 22oz “bombers” of their barrel-aged brews.

www.cottrellbrewing.com.