Counting Brew Bars
Big Alice skips town, and a visit to a small-town taproom
(Alternate subheading: Tell me all your thoughts on beers, ‘cause I'm on my way to drink them)
“Aren’t you going to run out of breweries to visit?” It’s a question I get asked fairly often when someone learns how many breweries I’ve visited.
“The U.S. has nearly ten thousand breweries,” I’ve often said in response. “I’m not going to run out anytime soon.”
But is that number realistic? Are there really that many? Jeff Alworth suggests the number is closer to seven thousand, based on his assessment of the Brewers Association’s data for his home state of Oregon. That’s because the BA’s figures likely contain breweries that never opened, breweries that have since closed, satellite taprooms that brew, and sometimes satellite taprooms that don’t brew. Questioning that figure raises another question: what counts as a brewery, anyway?
For those who wonder how I keep track of the breweries I’ve visited, I stick to a very simple method of what counts: is beer made there? That’s been how I’ve counted from the beginning. Taprooms without breweries don’t count. Breweries without taprooms do count. “Barrel rooms” where beer might simply be aging don’t count. Blenderies, where new liquids are being produced by combining aging batches of beer that might have been brewed elsewhere, do count (this is probably my most contentious classification, but several beer brands you’d know as “breweries” operate exclusively in this manner — especially ones producing Lambic in Belgium). Dual or rotating proprietorships, where multiple breweries operate within the same space on the same equipment, only count as one brewery. Though multiple breweries operating on the same premises, but in different spaces on different equipment, as is the case at San Diego’s Brewery Igniter, count as multiple breweries.
It’s fair to say that I might not have as many breweries left to visit as I typically say I do, but even by the most conservative estimates, I’m still barely a third of the way through visiting every brewery in the U.S. And as we’ll see later on in the newsletter, there’s always other countries, too.
Big Alice shutters Brooklyn Barrel Room, Gun Hill to move in
The Big aLICe Barrel Room, the brewery’s offshoot taproom at Industry City’s Building 6 that’s been operating since 2019, has closed. The last day in business was last Sunday, but the space itself won’t stay empty long, as it will pass hands to another New York brewery. Big aLICe made the announcement on their Instagram page last Friday:
The closure of Big aLICe’s Barrel Room marks the end of their physical presence in New York City. The brewery, which launched in Long Island City, Queens in 2013, closed their original taproom last fall, shortly after consolidating their brewing operations to their space in the Finger Lakes in Geneva, which they opened back in 2021.
But Big aLICe’s loss is Gun Hill’s gain. The brewery that originated in the Bronx and closed its original location earlier this year is taking over the space. Gun Hill Publick House has been operating in the same building, but upstairs on the second floor in a space adjacent to Fort Hamilton Distillery. The new space on the main floor not only offers a much larger indoor space for hosting guests, but also a larger outdoor space since it’s adjacent to the ground-level courtyard.
Gun Hill expects to have the new space open after Labor Day (and they’ll continue operating in their current space until the move is complete), so you won’t have to wait long to greet them in their new digs. Stay tuned to their Instagram for details on their official opening.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,490
Total breweries visited in 2024: 206
Total breweries visited in Saskatchewan: 13
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #3490, Nokomis Craft Ales, Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Canada (Visited 18-Aug-2024)
On my last day of a trip to one of the most rural Canadian provinces, I made the decision to travel to a town of just 436 people about 75 miles from Saskatchewan’s two largest cities, Saskatoon and Regina. It was, of course, a beer-motivated trip. I had tried some great beer from Nokomis in both cities, and felt obligated to visit the source, as remote as it was. So I traveled down two-lane roads, through small farming communities and wheat fields as far as the eye can see, and pulled into Nokomis Craft Ales, a brewery whose fermentation capacity alone could hold a gallon of beer for every man, woman, and child in town. The small indoor space opened up into a large patio that overlooks a view not different from the one I saw on the way into town: wide open fields, a two-lane highway, and freight rail tracks where a long train rumbled by. It was about as quiet as you’d expect a small-town brewery to be, with most customers being local regulars coming in to get a growler filled (yes, growler fills are still a thing in 2024).
The beer here is just as I expected it to be, with a few surprises. Their Modern IPA is easily the best hazy version of the style I had on this trip, and the Long Lake Lager was a great expression of the brewery’s ability to produce clean beer. But I had those beers around town, so I didn’t know how much Nokomis focuses on mixed-fermentation, bottle-fermented beers, like their Vitamin C (with sea buckthorn), which was a true standout. I also took home their Levitation, a Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout that was dangerously smooth and lacked the cloying sweetness we’ve become so used to in the age of pastry stouts. And their kettle-soured beer with Saskatchewan-grown haskap, a blueberry-like berry, was an absolute delight. Local grain is plentiful in this province, but the use of local fruit really shows how Nokomis is deeply tied to the agriculture-based economy in the town it calls home.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 4 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:
Brewery #33, Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Visited 27-Nov-2009)
Brewery #613, Hoof Hearted Brewery and Kitchen, Columbus, Ohio (Visited 6-Aug-2016)
Brewery #909, Eventide Brewing, Atlanta, Georgia (Visited 20-Aug-2017)
Brewery #2139, McAllister Brewing Company, Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania (Visited 17-Apr-2021)
The Weekly Reader
Monster Energy’s beer business is tanking [Dave Infante, Vinepair]
Where to drink beer at the source (of the grain) [Don Tse, Forbes]
Draw a line in the sand [Laura Hadland, The Drinks Business]
Why does every damn brewery have that chair? [Josh Bernstein, Craftbeer.com]
One Last Thing
There’s another milestone brewery coming up for me this weekend: brewery #3,500. My choice for that milestone has generally elicited surprise from friends who just assumed I’d visited it before — Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles, California. Am I excited to drink a fresh Union Jack and DBA at the source? Hell yes. Anyway, if you have any other brewery recommendations in the Paso Robles or San Luis Obispo areas, would love to hear them! And here’s to the next 500 breweries…
Cheers,
Chris
Cambridge is closing?!