Grand Openings, Grand Closings

Westchester's newest beer spot, an anniversary to celebrate, and a big pilsner

One of the lines I hear when people learn that I’ve been to over three thousand breweries is “you’re going to run out of breweries!” But in the U.S., despite all the gloom and doom in the beer industry, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. By the numbers, I’ve been to 2,609 breweries in the U.S. since I started keeping track about 15 years ago. Of those, 322 have closed, or about 12% — not a bad success rate for that long a stretch. Many more have opened over that time. In every year since 2010, brewery openings in the US have outpaced brewery closings. Even in 2020, a year where brewery closings seemed to be a sign of the times, openings outpaced closings since

But in the Brewers Association’s mid-year briefing about the state of independent beer, that trend is looking like it may finally be nearing its end. It hasn’t reversed quite yet, but openings are slowing down and closings are slightly accelerating. The data for the first half of 2023 is preliminary, and even Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson indicated that closings are more difficult to accurately report (breweries, naturally, are far more excited to report their opening than their closing), but the trend lines are getting close.

Even still, more than four hundred breweries could open this year. That’s four hundred more breweries I can put on my to-do list. It may not be the rosiest picture for the future of American breweries, but this industry will still keep me busy for years to come.

Another trend in beer from the Brewers Association’s report that made me happy: the increasing popularity of lagers. While any Untappd Insights data needs to be taken with a grain of salt (Untappd users obviously don’t represent the beer-drinking populace as a whole), the four fastest-growing beer styles for check-ins on the app over the past twelve months were all lagers: Light Lager, Pilsner, European Amber Lager, and Dark Lager. Yes, IPA is still very much king (nearly 40% of all check-ins on Untappd are IPAs), but after years of beer writers proclaiming every year to be “the Year of the Lager” in their New Year predictions, maybe — just maybe — it’s finally getting the respect it deserves among the nerdiest, most haze-crazed subset of beer drinkers.

New York Craft Coalition opens in Mamaroneck

It’s been a winding road for Marlowe Artisanal Ales — first a tenant brewer, then a Rockland County-based brewpub, then back to tenant brewing, and now back in a brick-and-mortar space, where they’ve teamed up with Barclay Brewing to open Westchester’s newest beer spot, New York Craft Coalition in Mamaroneck.

The two breweries will operate out of the new brewpub, which is in the space formerly occupied by Decadent Ales, adjacent to Half Time Beverage and just a short walk from the Mamaroneck Metro-North station. Their grand opening is this Saturday starting at 11am, and will feature beers from both breweries along with guest taps from The Seed, North Park, and Phase Three as well. Food like pickle dip, burgers, hot chicken sandwiches, wings, and tacos will come from the on-site kitchen to pair with the beer. Beers to-go will also be available.

The space at 139 Hoyt Avenue in Mamaroneck will be open Wednesday and Thursday from 2-10pm, Friday and Saturday from 11am-11pm, and Sunday from 11am-9pm.

Exciting Thing of the Week #1

This weekend is Carmine Street Beers’ Tenth Anniversary. From its humble beginnings as a bottle shop in the West Village to its place today as both a neighborhood hangout and beer nerd paradise, the narrow storefront at 52A Carmine Street has become a favorite of mine, both before my day job brought me to the neighborhood and now when I pass by nearly every weekday. On Saturday, they’ll be celebrating the milestone with a lineup of big beers from the cellar, draft favorites from the likes of Halfway Crooks, Fidens, and Casey, and bottle pours of a special anniversary beer, Eudaimonia, made with Wild East: a Flanders Red Ale aged in Pinot Noir barrels for over three years. The celebration runs all day Saturday, starting when they open at noon.

Exciting Thing of the Week #2

19.2 ounce cans of Threes Brewing Vliet are here. Whomever is writing their marketing e-mails knows their audience quite well, because this announcement noted that this “makes a great train beer.” Keep this in mind if you’re departing from the Moynihan Train Hall, as Threes has a retail location there.

The Weekly Reader

• Biggie is on the latest cans of Brooklyn Lager [Christina Izzo, Time Out]

• Schoharie’s Wayward Lane Brewing and their connection to New York’s hop history [Kevin Kain, Pellicle]

• A day in the life of a rural New York brewery [Kevin Hayes, Spectrum News 1]

• Get to know North Dakota’s Drekker Brewing [Noah Lederman, Good Beer Hunting]

One More Thing

I’m headed to Minneapolis and St. Paul this weekend to revisit one of my favorite summer experiences: the Minnesota State Fair. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been there, so if you have any beery recommendations for the Twin Cities that might be new to me, I’d love to hear them! Leave them in the comments.

Cheers,
Chris