Lost Bags and Lost Breweries
Two new outposts for NYC breweries and a damn water pipe brings down a decades-old brewpub
Good afternoon from Bristol, England. I’ve been asked many times how I manage traveling so much, with people I know and meet wondering how I don’t find myself exhausted from all the flights and walking and exploring new places and crawling between breweries. “It exhilarates me,” I usually say. “Travel energizes me.”
This week, friends, has been the exception to that rule. It’s proof that when one thing goes wrong in your travel, it can suck the joy out of it completely. An airline lost my luggage this week for the second time this year (I’ll still chalk it up to just being unlucky after nine years of checking a bag without a single incident like this). While I wanted to spend my first day in England getting some work done and grabbing a pint or two at a pub, I spent most of it stressing over whether or not my bag would turn up, where I would find clothes to wear for my second day (I did and always do pack a change of clothes in my carry-on — a word to the wise), and whether the curt staff in my hotel would manage accepting my missing bag if I wasn’t there. These are mostly things out of my control, but I needlessly stressed about them anyway, instead of enjoying the cozy surroundings of a pub on a raw spring day in Bristol.
Thankfully, my bag is now in transit to my hotel, and I can get on with this trip. Now, on to the news.
Wild East announces upstate expansion with new location in Canandaigua
Brooklyn’s Wild East Brewing will open a new location in the Finger Lakes Region next year, the next milestone for the four year-old brewery. The news was reported by Cleveland Prost. The location will sit in a former Post Office in Canandaigua, a town that’s already buzzing with local beer, including a forthcoming Other Half location and six other breweries across town.
Wild East will hold a full liquor license for the location, so they’ll serve wine and spirits in addition to their own beers and beers from other breweries. The space won’t have a brewery of its town, so all production of Wild East beers will continue to come out of their Gowanus facility. The space will, however, sport a kitchen that they’re seeking a chef to partner with. Some other features that will be familiar to patrons of their Brooklyn location: a U-shaped bar and lots of Lukr taps — a whole lager bar dedicated to them, in fact.
The project is still in the planning stages, but Wild East expects it to be open in the first half of next year.
Alewife Pops-Up on Long Island for the Summer
For those headed east this summer, Sunnyside’s Alewife Brewing has announced that they’re popping up on the North Fork of Long Island with a space in Southold that will open just in time for Memorial Day Weekend. Their new beer garden will be at The Shoals Suites and Slips, on Main Road between Southold and Greenport, in a spot overlooking Peconic Bay. The pop-up will feature a menu that’s seafood-focused to pair with a lineup of Alewife Beers. It will soft-open this weekend, with an official opening next Friday, May 31st.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,422
Total breweries visited in 2024: 138
Total breweries visited in the New Hampshire: 7
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #97, The Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Visited 3-Sep-2010)
I was saddened to learn of the permanent closure of The Portsmouth Brewery this week. They’ve been a fixture of the New England beer scene for a generation, and I’m really going to miss my visits there on drives up to Maine. Portsmouth was a part of the 1990s wave of brewpubs, but it managed to stay relevant in a way that many other brewpubs couldn’t, keeping up with beer trends but still serving some of their mainstays. They grew a cult following in the 2000s for their Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout — an annual release for more than half a decade that brought lines to the brewpub before “line culture” really became a thing in beer. Its creator, Tod Mott, left Portsmouth in 2012 to start Tributary Brewing across the river in Kittery, Maine.
Portsmouth carried on even as Kate the Great became a memory, and its high-traffic location meant it was always buzzing, especially during the summer when tourist traffic was at its peak. I was among those who’d pass through the brewpub every chance I got, as it was a welcome respite from the traffic along I-95 on busy summer weekends. Unfortunately, last June, the brewery experienced a “catastrophic” flood from a sprinkler pipe in the building, which resulted in thousands of gallons of water spilling into the brewery and bar below, and this week, owners Peter Egelston and Joanne Francis announced that the brewery’s insurance will not cover the needed repairs to bring the space up to code, so it will not reopen and its assets will be sold. It’s a gut-wrenching loss for the beer industry, especially at a time when breweries are closing for mismanagement, cost increases, and a general decline in beer’s popularity. A damn water pipe brought down a 33-year old brewery. I’m going to miss Portsmouth Brewery dearly.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 1 brewery I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:
Brewery #97, The Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Visited 3-Sep-2010)
The Weekly Reader
More coverage of Gun Hill’s Bronx exit [Matthew Euzarraga, PIX 11, Jason Cohen, Bronx Times]
No, Hazy IPA didn’t kill craft beer [Andy Crouch, All About Beer]
Why is France such a beer wasteland? [Brett Cortelletti, VinePair]
One Last Thing
As much as the lost luggage has been a drag, I’m still really looking forward to checking off a bucket-list brewery for me — the one that was the impetus to this trip: Verdant Brewing in Penryn, a town in Cornwall, the southwesternmost county in England. If the name rings a bell, it might be because they’re been brewing collaborations with New York City brewers for years: Other Half, Finback, and KCBC have all partnered with them on beer releases. It’s going to be nice to finally see the other end of those collaborations — and see a part of England I’ve never seen before, but have been told is truly special. I’ll report back next week. Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Cheers,
Chris
Wow! Portsmouth Brewing is gone. When my wife and I were first married we lived in Kittery, ME (been married 30 years) and we used to go to Portsmouth Brewery every Wednesday, and we'd always get a seat by the front windows. It was a great spot! Regrettably, we never went back after we moved away. But we did get a chance to visit Tributary after they opened. I guess I'm a Portsmouth OG? BTW, when you're in Denver next LMK, we'll hit up Milieu Fermentation.
Correction TIA