Following in the Northeast’s tradition of flavorful, full-bodied, distinctly American beer and passionate microbreweries, local legend Water Street Brewing Co. will be joining this year’s Binghamton Restaurant Week, showcasing their famous brews and pairing them with their revamped pub dishes. Their distinct atmosphere retains a hometown tavern feel while giving it a refreshing, modern twist that feels at once avant-garde and like your favorite mom and pop restaurant.

The Water Street Brewing Co. can often be found packed with local aficionados partaking in the brewery’s surprisingly diverse array of beers; their styles range from British bitters and milds and their clever American counterparts to a great selection of pale ales to the affectionately smooth German style brews. Whether you are looking for a smooth, crisp and refreshing pick-me-up in these lingering days of summer, a robust, darkly malty beer to fight off the coming autumn chill, or just want to kick back with a good old American pale ale over a good conversation with good friends, the Water Street Brewing Co. will meet your needs.

But, this is restaurant week, and as much pride as the Brewing Co. places in their beer, it is met with equal fervor in their creatively contemporary spins on classic pub dishes. Perhaps most astonishingly, their excellent vegan and vegetarian selections appeals to a modern audience largely abandoned by the even the trendiest microbreweries and cafes.

From Tuesday, Sept. 18 to Thursday, Sept. 27, the Water Street Brewing Co. will be featuring a special menu of a “warm-up,” entrée and dessert. You can get any combination of three items — one from each category — for a total of $20. Or, if you visit and love it so much that you want to venture off the given restaurant week menu, the standard menu is still available.

For the warm-up, customers can choose between one of the long list of beers on tap, a wide selection of wines from New York, California, Argentina or Spain, or simply any soft drink, coupled with either the harvest pumpkin soup or the autumn salad, made with pears, mixed greens, cranberries and pecans, topped with the Brewing Co.’s own maple dressing.

For an entrée, customers will be able to choose from a delicious roasted and sautéed chicken breast with hunter’s sauce, a succulent grilled pork tenderloin encrusted with herbs and peppercorn, or the vegetarian option, acorn squash stuffed with veggies, cheddar cheese and autumnal spices, an excellent seasonal classic sure to pair well with a cool, malty beer.

Finally, there is the all-important dessert, chosen from the archives of the timeless fall specials that so many of us find ourselves waiting for every year. There is the cranberry apple crisp, an oatmeal-crusted blend of baked apples and cranberries, the cinnamon ginger brownie, a molasses brownie enhanced with a hint of ginger and topped with a cinnamon brown sugar frosting, or the chocolate cherry brownie, a rich, chocolatey favorite coated with a rum cherry sauce.

Co-owner Michele Bleichert said that she and her husband, with whom she runs the Brewing Co., have been looking forward to restaurant week ever since the previous one in March.

“The last restaurant week fell on the week that we opened the Brewing Co. to business, so unfortunately it just was not possible to participate,” Bleichert said. This year, however, the Water Street Brewing Co. is excited to be part of the “great local restaurant scene” participating in Binghamton’s Restaurant Week. They will be showcasing the Brewing Co. to an eager crowd and, most importantly, helping local charities and bringing business to the great area enterprises that consistently go against the norm and provide us all with great food.

Visitors to the Water Street Brewing Co. this restaurant week are bound to have a great time in the clean, cozy, but firmly 21st century atmosphere, sipping great local brews and sampling a palate-pleasing selection of fall favorites and updated classics. The Water Street Brewing Co. is located at 168 Water St., Binghamton, N.Y/ 13901 and its kitchen hours are Tuesday through Thursday 4-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12-10 p.m., and Sunday 12-6 p.m. More information on the Water Street Brewing Co. and Binghamton Restaurant Week can be found at http://binghamtonrestaurantweek.com.