Talking Cursive Brewing Company

 

In Syracuse for a 2 day work thing, and out and about as I’ve rolled into town early enough for play the night before. You can’t park here, or so say the signs, kind of (fool me once). I must say, this makes for an easy one-two after Middle Ages (which closed already). In a strip on Erie, the other side of the mighty Onondaga…

Trivia night going on tonight so, excuse me, excuse me, and excuse me, as I wade through to available seating at the bar; ‘L’ shaped pieced wood topped with a lip, vertical wood plank base, & a piping foot rail. Seating for 10 on brown leather stools, and another 2 more down low on a shorty piece at the end of the bar. 15 logo TCBC wood handles in a row on a barback center copper panel, with screw in pieces sitting above the taps holding beer name identifiers. Light boozings and wine shelved to both sides. 2 flats above; one, an Untapped board, lists tap selections (beer, style, ABV, IBU, origin (this being a very odd thing as they’re your beers, and they’re all from here, so to write ‘Syracuse, NY’ next to them seems completely unnecessary), and pricing for the 4oz shorty & 12oz or 16oz full pour, and for crowler or 4 pack if applicable. The other one shows hours, events (winter concert series & Thursday Karaoke), wine options, & swag. A single shelf runs atop with display glassware, trays, bottles, & cans, and general use glassware shelved down below.

Burgundy walls with windows to the front and side, concrete pebbled floorings, and a black ceiling with ducts & spots. Drop cylinder caged single filament bulbs tracing the bar, circular 8 filament bulb chandeliers over the floor, lanterns over the forwards seating, & wall mounts. Nearly a dozen tables between bar counter length, hightops shared, rec & round, and shorty square. Brewery to the rear there (me, pointing), and another flat screen in the corner near where the trivia guy set up.

15 taps (Brianna Rouge Oenobeer, Italian Grape Ale, 5.5%; Spirit of Light, Pilsner, 4.1%; Blueberry Coffee Cake, Fruited Sour, 4.2%; Meerschaum, Winter Warmer, 5.7%; Hop Flash, IPA, 6%; Nicholas Nikolaievich, Smoked Tea Stout, 7%; Zero Dark Thirty, Schwarzbier, 5.1%; Cinaed, Scottish Export Ale, 6.2%; Don’t Blame Me, I Drank the Brown Ale, 5.2%; Dubbel Kubal, Belgian Dubbel, 7%; SMaSH 1, Pale Ale, 4.6%; Wit Willie, Wit, 6%; Joshua, ESB, 5.8%; Stolen Keys 3D, NEIPA, 7%; Limestone Cowboy, Smoked Beer, 6%).

Samples or shortied through 8 of the 15 beers (Dubbel Kubal, Belgian Dubbel, dates, figs, yes, seemingly pleasant, and done with coffee you don’t get until it warms; Meerschaum, Winter Warmer, described as ‘bursts of peppermint, cranberry, & pipe tobacco’, but it all gets lost behind the peppermint; Spirit of Light, Pilsner, no, there’s something off about it; Joshua, ESB, pretty good for style; Cinaed, Scottish Export Ale, phenolic; Nicholas Nikolaievich, Smoked Tea Stout, also phenolic; Zero Dark Thirty, Schwarzbier, not bad; Don’t Blame Me, I Drank the Brown Ale, hands down, best of show).

Good selection with some interesting direction. As to execution, sometimes it works and sometimes it misses. They do food albeit not at the close to closing time at which I arrived. Tunes, yes, they were being played when trivia wasn’t in action. Good crowd, I suppose. And although posted as such, they didn’t throw me out at 9, which was nice. Would like to take this one in again.

this place is awesome! its great to see the brewery scene growing like this across central new york, and this was a really fun place to check out, definitely some of the more ambitious beers i have seen in the area. they have a cool space downtown, right next to kubal coffee. its got kind of a basic taproom feel, minimal decor, high tables all around, a long bar, and the production area visible in the back, a small kitchen, some tvs with sports on, and a downright impressive beer selection. a lot of their beers have some cool ingredients in them, a grape ale, a porter with figs and graham crackers, a rhubarb and raspberry sour, and a dubbel with the coffee roasted next door, i liked pretty much all we drank, and appreciated the wide range of styles and unique flavors on the list, a new brewery with a focus on something other than hazy ipa is a welcome addition! there were really no beer misses for me, and i think its neat they are focusing on using locally grown ingredients in their recipes. the service was fine but we didnt chat with them much, the space was comfortable, and the snacks we had were tasty, but we didnt get into the menu too much. i was stoked on this place overall, a great beer list and some real innovation, i expect big things from them moving forward, and i love the name! definitely recommended.

Clean, modern vibe.
Twelve beers on tap in a wide variety, including three smoked beers. Limited varieties available in 16oz 4-packs or 32oz crowlers. Also serves NYS wines & liquor.
Food consists of hotdogs & a couple of sandwiches, good but not a real meal.
Convenient on-street paid parking. Very clean restrooms.
Well worth a visit.

 

Located about a half block down from Dinosaur BBQ is this medium sized brewery named Talking Cursive. They had 15 house beers on tap varying from all sorts of styles including a sour, smoked beer, Belgian dubbel, esb, IPA, brown ale, apricot wheat ale, NE IPA, along with some other beers I cannot recall. Friendly bartender and very friendly brewmasters Andrew and Billy. All their beers were solid the only beer that really stood out to me was their raspberry rhubarb sour ale other than that nothing wowwed me. Very comfy bar seats by the way. Their food was good if you don’t mind simple food. You had a choice of baked potatoes with a ton of different toppings to add, different bratwurst dishes, and a few loaded hot dog options with a choice of a side featuring Mac and cheese, coleslaw, or pasta salad. I had the Mac and cheese and the Amarillo dog and both were great! Overall a solid brewery that’s worth another stop if near the establishment.