8 Simple Rules for Visiting My Local Brewery
Whales resurface, Bridge & Tunnel crosses the bridge, and a roll of the dice
I have stupidly stringent rules for counting a brewery as visited and marking it on the dizzyingly large spreadsheet of breweries that I keep. They’re actually fairly simple, but I’m a stickler for them. Satellite taprooms of breweries without brewhouses don’t count, even if their production brewery isn’t open to the public. Simply stepping into a brewery doesn’t count, unless I’m purchasing beer. And if that beer I bought isn’t made on-premise where I am, that doesn’t count, either. Basically, it all boils down to: a brewery counts when I’m at a brewery buying beer from that brewery.
So hilariously, despite the fact that Endless Life Brewing in Crown Heights has been open for more than two years, it didn’t count as a brewery visit to me for most of that time, since the beers were brewed elsewhere in the city. That changed last fall when founder/brewer Jeff Lyons secured what is probably the smallest commercial brewhouse in the five boroughs: a little system that’s wedged into the corner of the taproom. These days, thanks to that system, there’s a lot more variety in the beer list there, and last Friday night, I finally had a beer brewed there over some rounds of Drag Bingo, and marked it down as brewery #2966. Get back there if you haven’t been in a while — the beers are tasting great.
Anyway, this week’s newsletter is all about things that are New York City-adjacent. Beer news with ties to New York City, but not beer news about New York City. So, for all you suburbanites, road-trippers, and rail-riders, these headlines are for you!
Finback Whale Watching surfaces for second year
Queens-based Finback Brewery is hosting their second invitational beer festival in May — once again, not in New York, but in Rhode Island. The fest, on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Saturday, May 20th. Tickets are on sale now.
The fest will feature over 60 different breweries — like Atlanta’s Halfway Crooks, San Diego’s North Park, Jupiter, Florida’s Civil Society, and Richmond, Virginia’s The Veil. Some of the breweries are pouring in Rhode Island for the first time, including the first addition of international breweries to the lineup: Dublin, Ireland’s Whiplash Beer and Manchester, England’s Track Brewing Co. The “Whale Watching” name isn’t just a play on Finback’s name — throughout the festival, rare beers will appear in timed releases during the day. From my experience last year, it’s quite a surprise what you’ll come across.
Why a festival in Rhode Island, you might ask? Well, Finback co-founder Basil Lee grew up there. “Rhode Island is my home state and where I first fell in love with craft beer,” he said in a press release, “so it feels exciting and inspiring to once again hold Whale Watching here in the Ocean State.” Indeed, that Ocean State pride was strong at last year’s fest, with several Rhode Island breweries in attendance and a surprise appearance by the state’s governor who came to take in the festivities.
Bridge and Tunnel opens new Liberty taproom
Ridgewood, Queens-based Bridge and Tunnel Brewing has opened a second taproom, worlds away from the bustle of Decatur Street. The new space is in Liberty, New York, about a two-hour drive from from closest parts of Queens. The taproom was years in the making — much like Bridge and Tunnel founder Rich Castagna’s original space and brewery, it was built from the ground up, with lots of salvaged materials giving the space tons of character. You’ll see some familiar touches in Liberty if you’re familiar with the Ridgewood space, like colorful glass panels on the ceiling and chalkboard menus full of 20 tap lines of their own beers.
Bridge and Tunnel Liberty is located at 50 Lake Street in Liberty and is open Saturdays from 1-9pm and Sundays from 1-6pm. The space is kid and dog-friendly.
Query: what’s the largest city in New York without a brewery?
I’ve answered this question about the U.S. before (the answer is Moreno Valley, California), but I’d never even pondered it about New York. Turns out, you don’t have to go very far to find the Empire State’s largest brewery-less city. It’s New Rochelle in Westchester County, the state’s seventh largest city.
The good news is that despite lacking a brewery of its own, New Rochelle has a satellite taproom for Brooklyn’s 18th Ward Brewing — a fact I have neglected to mention in this newsletter since it opened last fall. The space is just two blocks from the city’s Metro-North/Amtrak station on Division Street and is open Wednesday through Sunday.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,971
Total breweries visited in 2023: 76
Total breweries visited in Connecticut: 49
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2970, Berlinetta Brewing Co., Bridgeport, Connecticut (Visited 12-Mar-2023)
On a Sunday afternoon moving down the Connecticut coast and visiting new breweries, I hit this absolute gem that’s a few blocks from the Bridgeport train station. I hadn’t heard much about Berlinetta, so I was happy as a lager lout to walk into a menu consisting of three different lagers — a pilsner, an amber lager, and a Czech-style dark lager — plus a Belgian-style Tripel and a hard seltzer. The leafy taproom doubled as a vinyl listening space and record shop, with stacks and stacks of old records to flip thorough and even a rack of old cassettes, some of which were definitely in my parents’ 80s-era music collection. The vibe was stellar, the beer was tasty, and the staff was welcoming, dealing me into a game of Uno with some regulars at the bar when things got slow. It was a lovely way to cap off an afternoon brewery crawl, and I’ll definitely stop in again next time I’m passing through Bridgeport.
Long Read of the Week
In Vinepair, Mandy Naglich highlights no-boil beers, including Southern Tier’s Nu Haze IPA. Could skipping the most heat-intensive part of the brewing process bring us good beer with less carbon output?
One Last Thing
Here’s a fun idea from Armada Brewing in New Haven, Connecticut: are you someone who likes a little of everything and you’re not sure which beers you want in your flight? Roll the dice!
Cheers,
Chris