Buried Acorn Brewing Company

Having done a Prison (City) break less than an hour before and made our way back east undetected, we know we have limited time before Syracuse goes into shutdown lockdown (which is like 9pm for most places and that was pre-Covid, wait, what?) Don’t have a lot of time so must make the most of the fleeting hours. I def want to look in on that place Spuyten Matty put us onto, what was the name of it again? Oh, yeah, ‘Acornface’; or so it’s called by the local voices in my head, ‘cause none of them could remember the name…

On the side of the road at the intersection of something and otherthing west, this standalone brewery be. A deceivingly long & deep building, the tasting room itself is a forward big box room to the brewery hiding behind. The walls hold horizontal plank wood trim lowers all the way around, below uppers done pale green to the front & rear, and black with some elaborate chalk drawings action on both ends of the room. Concrete floors, and a blackish ceiling with recessed spots & ductwork running across the room. Tall narrow vertical windows shuttered on the front & side walls.

Straight bowling lane topped shorty straight bar, horizontal plank base, & piping foot rail to the left rear corner; seating for 10 on cushy swivel chairs. Pieced wood inlay on the barback wall with a long row of non-descript black handled taps, 31 of ‘em in all (it’s an odd number, I had to count it out 4 times to be sure). Only 30 of them currently occupied due to obvious slacking. Draft selections are printed on slat pieces in alt colored chalkings above the bar mounted on a large plank board; the offerings split between ‘On Draft’ (21) & ‘Barrel Aged Draft’ (9).

Cans & bottles 3 door coolered to one side of the taps with bottles shelved in the corner, and more bottles shelved on the other side. Mounted crates vertically & horizontally displaying glassware, growls, bottles, hats further along, and down on the end holding games, games, & games. Flats in all corners; we are watching 1st season Star Trek episodes (I’m talking like episodes 2 & 3). Baby spots on the draft boards and holiday icicle lighting all around. Xmas stockings hang over the taps, it being the season, and all, or nearly so. Regarding the street signs they’ve decorated with; Hey, you know the highway department is going to want them back, right?

Long raised barrel base shared table off the bar with a few hightop 2’s stooled fronting to one side, and roughly a dozen+ square & rectables on the other side of the room. And there is additional seating in the outdoor space around the side of the building. Nothing really going on out there just now ‘cept some people drinking beer, you know, outside.

Slight gripe; it’s kind of hard to tell what’s going on here as the printed menu does not match the draft board so it’s questionable as to what’s up. Being beer blind barside is not my favorite thing. I can, however, speak to things drinked.

Pucker Powder, dry hopped sour, 5%, excellent!; Karaliene Dark Saison, 7.3%, collab with Prison City, I felt like it was more Dubbel-y than Saisonlike. It did not suck; Waddya Saison, 5.4%, also, not so Saison-y, but pleasant enough; Sword Fiddle Army, wine barrel aged mixed fermentation golden sour, 7.4%, it’s really good, Vaccaro-esque, even, which is a compliment in the bestest of ways. I’m talking Cuvee de Castleton/Golden Delicious-like; Calyces, wine barrel aged golden sour aged on Hibiscus, 6.8%, good, but not like that last one; Stoutland, Tropical Stout, 4.8%, chocolatey low ABV easy drinker. Am thinking Sword Fiddle Army for the easy WIN, and Pucker Powder & Karaliene Dark Saison up there, too.

Lady Lindsee dealt us out and Matty took an assist. As Acornface was going to be open later than most others this evening, we left for a bit to hit another place nearby that had earlier closing hours and was somewhat in between low and high in its ages. We told them we’d be back and I think they were surprised when we actually returned, but the beers were good, so yeah, we did. You know, just another Tuesday drinking Ferm & Farmhouse in Syracuse watching old Star Trek.

this place totally impressed me. before stopping in last weekend, i had only had a couple of their hoppy beers, but i was shocked and stoked to see so many funky and fermentation forward beers in here, they seem to be doing some pretty special stuff, and i liked all the beer i drank while i was in here. the space is modest and mellow, looks and feels like just about any other taproom, comfortable, no frills, a simple structure near the mall built for this purpose it seems. we found a high top table in the corner and posted up on a snowy windy night. they had an impressive list of beers on here, a little bit of everything really, but it was the wild ales that i was most interested in. i loved a dark sour in wine barrels with all kinds of botanicals, and my brother and i were both gushing over the apricotville, but it was the spruce tip mixed fermentation beer that was life changing, couldnt believe something of such quality and uniqueness, and it made me an instant fan of this place if i wasnt already. the service here was fine, the vibe was cool, but the beer is what stood out to me. we sat there and played games and drank beers and time just flew by here. they have some pretty bottles to go as well that were fairly priced, and i will make a point to seek out more of their stuff in the future. syracuse is lucky to have this place, they must be making some of the best beers in the city. definitely the beer highlight of our beer trip around town!

Pretty glad I dropped in here. Top notch beer all around.
What was on tap was a lot of sours and farmhouse style beers. I enjoyed everything I tried.
Service was good, bartender was attentive and nice. Selection overall was varied enough so you could switch it up, but you could tell what the breweries focus was. As for the quality of the beers, they were really well done. The sours were certainly something I’ll be back for again

Great experience. The beers were fantastic. I tried four different IPAs. Each one had their own distinct taste. The two gentlemen behind the bar were very knowledgeable about the beers and were willing to describe the differences. Awesome outdoor patio with plenty of seating. Stash Hero was my favorite.

 

Brand new brewery. I went to this brewery 4 days after they opened, that being said I see a great future for this brewery. Taproom is a decent size with a large room in the back for brewing.Someone gave us a free tour of the brewing area in the back (I believe his name was Tim) this room is huge with multiple tanks, kegs, & barrels. He seemed very knowledgeable and he said he brewing experience in Chicago. The service was great, you could tell they were new but, they were very friendly and somewhat knowledgeable. They had a total of 8 beers on tap 4 of which were house beers and 4 guest taps. unfortunately they did not do flights when I went but they soon will do them. They had a solid IPA, a very good nitro oatmeal stout, the same oatmeal stout (non-nitro) and something else I do not remember. I believe they had 3 ciders on tap and a porter from a cider company. Overall this place was very good for being less than a week old and I see great things to come for this brewery. Good luck and cheers!


[Update]
So I have returned to this brewery and they now have about 10 or 11 house beers on tap and 4 guest beers/ciders. Their beer has most certainly improved! Very tasty ipa and pale ale that were both along the New England style feel. Unfortunately they still don’t accommodate flights in their menu. It’s also great to find their product in beer stores. Excellent beer! Cheers!