Dearly Departed
Endless Life relocates and Midtown beer stalwart shuts its doors
I’ve spent a lot of time documenting the economic challenges for breweries these days, but the realities of diminishing sales and rising costs aren’t the only problems that breweries face — and one threat reared its head in a very ugly way this week in one of the nation’s biggest cities for beer: more severe weather as a result of climate change.
Asheville, North Carolina is one of my favorite cities to visit for beer. Heck, the very first issue of this newsletter was written in Asheville. It’s a place full of stellar breweries, fantastic food to pair, and great vistas to take in, and today, its struggling to recover from deadly floods last weekend that have left many parts of the city in ruins. By far, the loss of life and the damage that has left thousands homeless is by far the most tragic part of the weekend’s events, but the economic damages to the beer industry in the city is immense and will have impacts on Asheville for years to come. The flooding was so intense that breweries aren’t just dealing with mold and equipment floating around — they’re dealing with complete destruction, with buildings wiped away, tanks miles downstream, and untold damage to what’s left. It’s going to take years to recovery, if there’s ever a full recovery.
I’m a big fan of Zillicoah Beer Co., one of the breweries that was wiped off the map by the swollen banks of the French Broad River, and I’ve really appreciated their messaging on social media since the flood. They’ve been transparent about their own future and needs while focusing on what can be done to help a city and region that suffered utter devastation. Tragically, not only did much of the Asheville brewery community lose its capacity to make beer (or even clean water, which is very helpful during events like this), but it also lost friends — and the human toll is still being measured in the cleanup.
If you have the ability to give, several folks in the beer community have shared links to MANNA FoodBank and Be Loved Asheville, who are on the ground distributing food and supplies to victims of the flood. A full list of ways to donate money, time, and resources is on Blue Ridge Public Radio’s website. Wishing the best to Asheville, a city I truly love, for a speedy recovery.
On the Move: Endless Life Relocates to Industry City
Brooklyn’s Endless Life Brewing, which has been brewing on a small half-barrel system in their storefront space in Crown Heights since 2020, is bidding their original space adieu and moving to Industry City. The Crown Heights taproom shuttered after service last Sunday. The small brewhouse will relocate to Gun Hill Publick House’s Industry City space, where brewer Jeff Lyons’ beers have already been pouring on tap — in addition to his own Endless Life beers, he also brews for Gun Hill.
Gun Hill Publick House relocated to the first floor of Building 6 at Industry City last month, taking over the space that was vacated by Big Alice when they closed their Barrel Room over the summer. Now, the complex is home to two brewers once again. Endless Life will continue to source their beers from all New York State ingredients — one of three breweries in New York City to do so. You can enjoy Endless Life’s beers during Gun Hill’s normal business hours — Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday from 1pm to 9pm, and Friday and Saturday from 1pm to 10pm.
Midtown Stalwart The Three Monkeys Will Close Tomorrow
The Three Monkeys, a midtown safe-haven from lousy, generic beer on 54th Street for fourteen years, has announced it is closing its doors. Its last day in business will be tomorrow, October 4th. The building was sold, resulting in the bar being forced out. The bar was a rare bright spot for craft beer in a neighborhood teeming with generic Irish pubs and chain restaurants that primarily cater to tourists. Several breweries hosted launch events at the multi-level bar and the screens filled with live sports often drew watch parties, including the bar being a regular hangout for the city’s Boston sports fans after the demise of the infamous Professor Thom’s in the East Village.
More personally, this spot was one of my go-tos for almost a decade, as I worked just two blocks away. The rotating taps always had something interesting, even if the ambiance didn’t match more high-end beer bars in other parts of the city. It was all you could ask for in a Midtown pub that didn’t just fill pitchers of Bud Light.
The bar left a parting note on Instagram:
To all our Monkeys,
Due to our building being sold we are being forced to close our doors.
We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for all the love & support since we landed on 54th st in 2010!
To all our friends in our NYC neighborhood and beyond Thank You!
Bruins, Sox, Pats & Celtics; We’ve witnessed you all become Champions! Thank you fans for allowing us to be your home away from home for almost 15 years!
It’s been one hell of a ride!
This may not be the end for The Three Monkeys — the same post also teases that there will be forthcoming news on a new spot. Stay tuned.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,539
Total breweries visited in 2024: 255
Total breweries visited in New Jersey: 81
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #455, Departed Soles Brewing Co., Jersey City, New Jersey (Visited 10-Oct-2015)
This week, I’m featuring another nearby brewery that’s just minutes outside of New York City but doesn’t get mentioned here nearly enough. Departed Soles has been churning beer out of their space just across the Hudson in Jersey City for nine years now. Their beers don’t make it to this side of the river that much, but they’re noteworthy in that they’re one of the only breweries in the New York City area making a regular line of gluten-free beers (though they also have beers with the gluten, using their hashtag #DefinitelyNotGlutenFree), and they’ve been honing their craft for a long time.
Not only is the beer noteworthy, but so is the taproom. The brewery has always preached a mantra of being engaged with the community. They’ve got constant events at the taproom (something that was not possible before this year, thanks to New Jersey’s archaic brewery laws) from singles mixers to run clubs to community health seminars. It’s easy to engage with locals when you’re in the heart of several different residential neighborhoods, and the place is regularly busy with their neighbors. It’s nice that a steady stream of fans in the area keep coming back.
If you want to hop across the river to visit Departed Soles, just take the PATH from Manhattan to Grove Street. It’s just a three-minute walk from there.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 3 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:
Brewery #2160, Busted Sandal Brewing Company, San Antonio, Texas (Visited 28-Apr-2021)
Brewery #2642, Slackwater Brewing, Penticton, British Columbia, Canada (Visited 20-Apr-2022)
Brewery #2849, Vanessa House Brewing Company, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Visited 19-Nov-2022)
The Weekly Reader
News and reaction on the Bronx Brewery-Captain Lawrence merger [Emily Swanson, Bronx Times]
How Brooklyn’s Talea Beer Co. is zigging while others zag [Nick Hawkins, Inc.com]
An Oktoberfest beer primer [Courtney Iseman, Punch]
Can you split the G? [Evan Rail, VinePair]
One Last Thing
This last thing has nothing to do with beer, but it’s just something uplifting that happened to me this week that I felt like sharing. Back in July 2023, my Apple Watch was stolen, literally off my wrist, at a busy pub in Nottingham, England. I combed through the pub the next day in the event it was lost, but I assumed it was long gone.
Fast forward to this week, when I received a text from a UK phone number asking me if I had lost an Apple Watch — a stranger had found it on the floor of a shopping center just steps from the pub where I lost it (and presumably where the thief tossed it after realizing it was locked), charged it up, and saw my phone number on the watch face that activated once I locked it. Not only did they reach out to me, this stranger is sending the watch to a friend in London, since I’ll be back there in two weeks. I’m always surprised by the kindness of strangers in a world where there’s so much hurt and hatred these days, and I’ll definitely be paying this forward.
Cheers,
Chris
Damn, bad 365 days for NYC area crafty restaurants with “monkey” as a name. Jersey City’s Iron Monkey shuttered around New Year’s.