Transcend Beer Crafters

Translucence at Transcend? Transcendent!
Transcend Beer Crafters, Plainville
December 2025

Lots of people love what Transcend is famous for. I would go so far as to say that Transcend is probably good at what they are famous for doing. I have strong opinions on this thing that they do, but they are just that: my opinions.

I’m just a middle-aged guy who appreciates good beer. I pretty closely followed the Connecticut craft beer industry from the days when Hooker, NEBCO, City Steam, and WilliBrew were pretty much it. Back then you could get a stout, and amber, a blonde, a bitter IPA, and a porter. The old homebrew standard lineup.

Next came the explosion of breweries and styles and brewing methods that came in the 2010’s. That was super fun.

Then, like a lot of people, it lost me. You could say it passed me by I guess. When IPA’s got stupid and opaque and when stouts became pastry stouts was when I realized I was kind of done with all of this.

Then came the “fruited sours” and the exploding cans and the “smoothies” and I was truly out of the game.

Enter: Transcend Beer Crafters. (Among others.). The brewery got its start as Skygazer Brewing in Southington in 2019. After a year, the guys with the Skygazer name took it to contract at Twelve Percent Brewing like a lot of others have successfully done. The guy behind the Transcend name stuck it out in Southington, even though they never had an actual taproom.

He would just make crazy concoctions, can it, and people would come and buy it. Which… awesome.

After four or five years of that, he moved to this space in Plainville which is an entirely different universe from the Southington spot – which was occupied by Vue Brewing after Transcend left.

This place is huge. There’s a full service kitchen. Rows and rows of brewing equipment. Outdoor space and a meeting room. It’s all very nice.

Nestled in the center of Connecticut Transcend Beer Crafters located in the heart of Plainville, CT, is a proudly independent, family-owned craft brewery dedicated to creating exceptional small-batch beers. Our taproom showcases a rotating selection of artisanal brews, from hoppy IPAs to crisp lagers and refreshing sours, each meticulously crafted to blend tradition with bold innovation.

I’m sorry that I have to do this, but it is not in “the heart of Plainville.” In fact, it is so not in the “heart of Plainville,” that I believe the back half of the brewery is in Farmington. It is more or less along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail and right next to the Robertson Airport, which are both cooler than being in the middle of Plainville.

What strikes me even more in that paragraph above is “crisp lagers” and “refreshing sours.” You’re telling me the brewery (in)famous for (this is real) Cranberry Pina Creamlada Smoothie Sour beers makes crisp lagers? And that any of these “sours” are “refreshing?” I’m not even sure fans of them would use that adjective to describe them.

Well, I’m pleased to report that yes, they absolutely do have lagers on the menu here. I excitedly ordered two of them, as well as a Chicken Ceasar “foldie.” The woman behind the bar was super nice, which is always appreciated.

I got half pours of the Killer High Five “premium pale lager” and Fuego “honey jalepeno American lager.” They also had a Kolsch and a Czech lager on tap. Okay, Transcend, okay. I was (kind of) wrong about you.

Both were pretty good! I really enjoyed the Feugo! For a place known for dumping buckets of glop and fruit and junk into every beer, I was shocked. The beers were translucent for one, but the “honey jalepeno” was subtle and quite nice. Moreover, I LOVE half pours!

This experience put me in a wonderful mood. But I was also here to prove to myself that Transcend will always be Transcend. Let’s do it. Small pours from hell…

While I was sitting there, I took notice of people coming in to buy cans. They were all buying cheesecake “beers” and gloppy fruit puree alco-smoothies. A guy called on the phone to be sure his drive would not be, ahem, fruitless, as he was hoping for some strawberry-guava-cherry-vanilla beer drink stuff. People were ordering pints of opaque purple drank.

I honestly don’t know if these “beers” are hard or easy to make. I assume easy; like what even are they? Do they have y’know, beer? I honestly don’t know. But they sell- and they still sell going in to 2026, which is much longer than I would have bet that this particular “beer” fad would last.

I ordered the Citracalifragilisticexpialidocious. This was billed as an IPA. It looks like this:

See that amount drunk above? That’s all I drank in the end. Now, it didn’t suffer from the flaws these opaque, soupy IPA’s of 2019 suffered from; it wasn’t burny or “green” or full of hap particulate. I don’t know why Transcend IPAs look like this, nor do I care really. I just know they’re not for me.

Also not for me? The Pistachio Cherry Swirl. The first of two “smoothies” I ordered. This was in Transcends “Chill” series of smoothie beer things and this is what it looks like:

Hm. Now you’re asking, “what is that?” Why it’s an “ice cream cone inspired Fruit Smoothie Sour ale brewed with Pistachio Soft Serve Ice Cream, Sweet Cherry, Apricot, and our house vanilla & milk sugar treatment!”

I just saw the movie Bugonia last night. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but the ending of that movie sounds pretty good right about now.

One more. That’s right, I ordered three of these things I assumed I wouldn’t enjoy. It’s what I do, unfair as it may be to the brewery. I did truly think they’d be more or less drinkable though. I’m not sure why I thought that, especially when I was served my “Blackout.” This is what that looks like:

“Gee, Steve, it looks like something went terribly wrong there.” Well, I can’t know for sure. “Crafted for Black Friday, this fruit smoothie sour blends blackcurrants and blackberries into a deep, velvety base, layered with a touch of dark chocolate and activated charcoal for an inky richness. Bold, tart fruit meets smooth cocoa depth, creating a dark, lush, and quietly indulgent pour made for the year’s darkest day.”

Cute concept? I guess? Totally stupid and gag-inducing result? Absolutely.

I wasn’t mad. I ordered these last three knowing I wouldn’t love them – but had to experience them for myself. And there are many, many more on the Transcend taplist.

Okay, I was a little mad – but not at the beer. My food took forever and I had things to do. And here’s the crazy thing about the chicken Caesar – it had zero flavor. No seasoning, nothing. For a brewery that dumps industrial-sized vats of “flavor” and adjuncts into its “beers,” how in the world was my food so bland?

The chips were fantastic though.

In the end, Transcend is a nice space and they have enough variety on tap to remain viable in today’s market. I’m left wondering, though, how they brew decent lagers here – that just seems so completely opposite of their entire mission. And how in the world do they clean their lines and tanks and taps? That must be a full-time job on its own.

I appreciate mavericks and uniqueness. And I appreciate that a lot of what makes brewers unique just isn’t for me. I don’t even think this stuff is beer, but I’m in my 50’s so all of you who love this stuff, go ahead and call me “Unc” and go about your day. I accept it.

Transcend Beer Crafters
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