No Lederhosen, No Service
NY snags GABF medals, where to Oktoberfest locally, and a visit to Westchester's newest brewery
If I have a second-favorite hobby behind visiting breweries, it’s probably planning visits to breweries. I’m hoping to get to travel a bit this fall, seeing some old friends and visiting some new places. In the event that I find a good last-minute airfare for a weekend getaway, I want to be ready. So what you see above here is Google Maps, with breweries on my to-do list. In the Northeast, it’s often places I’ve been meaning to get to on a weekend (Soul Brewing, in Pleasantville, was on this map until I visited this weekend). Elsewhere, it’s often a mess of places I’d like to go, places I’d like to return to, and places I have absolutely no plans to go, but with the breweries mapped out there just in case.
Huntsville, Alabama? Sure, I’ve got its 11 breweries mapped out. You never know when I may finally get that invitation to Space Camp. Northwest Arkansas? Those 18 breweries are plotted for whenever Wal-Mart Corporate comes calling. The Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa? The 16 breweries there are ready to serve me when I can actually name the four cities make up the Quad Cities. El Paso, Texas? I recently met a brewer from there who told me quite candidly, “don’t come to El Paso for the beer.” But once he’s changed his mind, I’ve got 7 breweries to visit there.
What’s incredible is that the re-visits to cities can now accommodate an entire weekend of visiting breweries that didn’t even exist on a previous trip there. In the Twin Cities over Labor Day Weekend, nearly every place I checked out had opened since 2017. While openings are slowing down, I’ve got a slew of cities that I haven’t visited in half a decade or more that have entirely different beer scenes now. And when I need to be guided around those beer scenes, this trusty map will be at the ready.
New York breweries pick up five medals at GABF
For the second year in a row, the annual Great American Beer Festival will not be held in-person in Denver, Colorado. This year, however, there was a crowd on-hand for the award ceremony last Friday night, which was held during the Craft Brewers Conference at the Colorado Convention Center. Among the award-winners were four breweries from New York State, including two from New York City.
Grimm Artisanal Ales in Brooklyn picked up their fifth medal in their short history, with Pearly Dewdrops taking a silver in the Brett Beer category. They won two medals in last year’s competition.
Singlecut Beersmiths in Queens picked up their first-ever medal in the competition, a silver in the Contemporary American-Style Lager category for their Frequency Rustic Lager.
Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company in Catskill won gold for their Uncle Tito Mexican Lager in the International-Style Lager category, marking the first medal for the brewpub that first started brewing in 2014.
Finally, Prison City Brewing in Auburn picked up two medals this year. The first was a silver in the Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category for Run Like An Apricot, the other a bronze for their Wit-Ness Protection in the Belgian Fruit Beer category.
Some interesting takeaways this year come in the form of stats about the popularity of particular style categories at GABF. While the two most-entered categories were, as usual, American IPA and Hazy/Juicy IPA, there were some big moves in several lager categories. Munich-Style Helles soared to 203 entries, compared to 136 entries a year ago. Hoppy Lager, a new style introduced to the competition this year, debuted with 127 entries — quite a showing for a brand-new category. Light Lager, a category that was almost exclusively won by Bud, Miller, and Coors products less than a decade ago, had triple-digit entries for the first time (123).
Collectively, entries in the lager categories were up nearly 20% this year compared to 2020 — a sign that more brewers took advantage of the industry’s production slowdown during the pandemic to make more time-intensive beers (lagers can take more than twice as long to fully-ferment as ales).
Where to Oktoberfest in New York City
It’s that time of the year again. Let the Marzens flow and the good times roll — it’s Oktoberfest season.
For a little history, Oktoberfest began in 1810 as a celebration of the wedding of King Ludwig I to his bride Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The celebration grew as years went on, and had ballooned to a two and a half week party that brought millions to Munich each year to feast on copious amounts of food and beer. It stopped for wars, then marched on. Then last year happened and it stopped again. This year, Oktoberfest is once again not happening in Munich due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate here at home, right? Here’s a rundown of some of the breweries celebrating Oktoberfest locally.
Gun Hill Brewing in the Bronx will celebrate Oktoberfest this Saturday, September 18th, and they’re bringing some friends along for the party. They’ll have beers pouring from Endless Life, KCBC, Wild East, and Lock City, a German food pop-up, and a cask of their Festbier, Tried and True. The party runs from 1-6pm. Admission is free, but you can buy drink tickets in advance.
Further south, Bronx Brewery hosts their Oktoberfest celebration in their backyard this Saturday, too. They’ll have two sessions — noon-5pm and 5:30-11:30pm — with plentiful beer, live DJs, and a German-inspired menu from Empanology. Tickets include a pour of their Das Bronx and there’s a ticket option that includes a gorgeous stein you can take home.
If you’d like to venture across the Hudson, Jersey City’s 902 Brewing is also celebrating Oktoberfest this Saturday starting at noon. There will be German food, German music, and their Oktoberfest on tap.
Torch & Crown is hosting Oktoberfest all day on Saturday, September 25th at their Manhattan taproom. Their High Brau and Low Brau will both be flowing, joined by German food and music. They’ll have stein hoisting and keg squatting competitions, too. $55 gets you all the beer you can drink for two hours — you can book your table here.
While not exactly a German-themed celebration, the NYC Brewers Guild’s Blocktoberfest on Saturday, October 2nd will assuredly be serving some Festbiers from the city’s local breweries. Tickets are available now for the event, which gets underway at noon that day in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Brooklyn Brewery will host their Oktoberfest on Tuesday, October 5th at their taproom in Williamsburg from 5-9pm. There will be brats, pretzels, live polka music, and plenty of Brooklyn beer. Entry is free, but a $5 ticket in advance will get you $5 Brooklyn Oktoberfest all evening.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,361
New breweries in 2021: 287
Breweries visited in New York: 235
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2361, Soul Brewing Co., Pleasantville, New York (Visited 11-Sep-2021)
I finally made it to Soul Brewing Co. this past weekend after being a huge procrastinator. After all, they opened just a few days before the March 2020 lockdown. Shame on me. I’ve been missing out. The brewery is just a stone’s throw from the Pleasantville Metro-North station, which is less than an hour from Grand Central. Pleasantville hasn’t had a brewery since Captain Lawrence left their somewhat run-down original digs just south of downtown in 2012, so Soul is a welcome addition to the town.
There was a steady stream of drinkers enjoying the outdoor seating on a sunny Saturday when I visited, but the vibe inside at the long bar is just as relaxed. I started with the enjoyable Sly West Coast IPA (named for Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone), a clean, bitter palate assault with a touch of caramel malt character. The curmudgeonly-named Get Off My Lawn Saison was the first of a couple Belgian-style beers I ordered — something at which I soon found Soul excels. The Soulstice, a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, was the best of the bunch, even if it felt like an inappropriate beer for a late summer day with its 8.5% ABV heft and the addition of figs and cinnamon.
I planned on visiting Soul simply on the premise that they were close and I felt bad for the awful timing of their opening. But I’ll be back again for the beer.
Social Post of the Week
Beer of the Week
Frequency Lager
SingleCut Beersmiths (Astoria, NY)
American-Style Lager
4.7% ABV
After they were victorious at GABF last week, I felt obligated to pay SingleCut’s Queens brewery a visit over the weekend and have a fresh Frequency Lager for the first time in a few months. It’s as deliciously crisp and clean as I remember, with a nice grassy hop bite and a slightly bready finish. A truly refreshing beer, as it was the first time I had it on a brisk day under a barely-working heat lamp outside the brewery in March. With my vax card in hand, this visit and this pint were much more enjoyable.
Long Read of the Week
I missed this one a couple weeks ago: on Good Beer Hunting, Kate Bernot tackles the issue of the legal gray area in which direct-to-consumer beer boxes exist. Not surprisingly, DTC beer is a bizarre mish-mash of state laws and enforcement, much like alcohol regulation in general.
One More Thing
This edition of the newsletter was powered by my last Jack’s Abby Copper Legend in my fridge. I argued in this newsletter about a month ago that there was no bad time for Festbiers, but this… this is the best time for Festbiers.
Prost,
Chris
I'm the same with Google Maps! I have *tons* of breweries and even beer bars pinned, half of which I forget about and wonder WTF I read about them. And ya, even in cities/areas I've never been to nor have any idea when I will -- but if I do, I too will be prepared! :) It's definitely helped find worthy stops on random trips, business or otherwise (and some not-so-worthy...).
Was curious about Soul; definitely looks like a former suburban bank. I'm always curious about the spaces that breweries take over. Looking forward to a visit since it's also not too far from me. I haven't ventured to the east side of the Hudson in awhile (though recently visited Two Villains in Nyack).
true - while there is no bad time for Festbiers...that newly crisp Sept/early Oct air with the crisp edge and malt backbone of these beers is just the best pairing in beer. Well. just as soon as this Summer humidity remnant finally leaves!