Please Prepare the Cabin for Arrival
Two new NYC openings and five brewery visits that defined 2023
I’ve just landed at JFK after my last trip of the year, where I traveled to Belfast and Dublin to celebrate my birthday and settle into a few pubs over a pint of Guinness and some live music. After over 118,000 miles logged this year to 11 countries, 21 US States, and 3 Canadian Provinces, I’m getting a few days of quality time at home for the holidays and spending some time in the city.
So now it’s time to start to look back at the year, my adventures, and the 383 breweries I visited for the first time this year. Each time I travel, someone asks me about my favorite breweries. It’s always tough to respond, but usually I just toss out a few that I really enjoy. But for the sake of getting some of those down on paper and looking back on the past year, I present to you my five favorite new-to-me brewery visits in 2023:
Banished Brewing, Paradise, NL, Canada
A lot of my experiences go beyond just the beer and are indicative of the people I come across in my travels. In what seemed like an unending wait for a taxi, I ended up trying nearly the entire beer list at this wonderful brewery while the staff sympathized. When I left my credit card at the brewery as a result, the brewery’s owner personally drove to deliver it to my hotel, twenty kilometers away — an act of kindness that made me a lifelong fan.
Mountain Culture Beer Co., Katoomba, NSW, Australia
This was the site of my very first beer in Australia on my very first day in Australia, after a hike in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. It was also where Finback had just brewed a collaboration two weeks prior, which I ended up tasting right off the tanks. A truly wonderful experience that made the beer world feel so small, even when I’m ten thousand miles from home.
Rhyme x Reason Brewery, Wānaka, New Zealand
On invitation from the brewery, I took a bus from Queenstown up to Wānaka to visit this absolute gem of a spot nestled into an industrial park in one of the world’s most beautiful places. Kate, the brewery’s sales and marketing lead, immediately made me feel right at home and the lineup of fresh hop beers they were pouring were downright incredible — like I was tasting New Zealand-hopped beers again for the first time.
Scratch Brewing Company, Ava, Illinois
Few breweries this small are on my bucket list, but having tried Scratch’s beer at Great American Beer Festival a few times and being astounded by their unique appreciation to celebrating the land around them, using the trees, plants, roots, and fruits that grow in this part of Southern Illinois. I loved getting to finally visit them in a rustic, wooded setting that feels truly connected to the land. Sitting outside here on a raw spring day by a fire with a good friend was truly special.
Beak Brewery, Lewes, England
There are more than a few breweries I’ve visited that have not lived up to my expectations, perhaps because I’ve put them on a pedestal. Beak, despite my high expectations, exceeded them. On a sunny late Friday afternoon late in the summer, the taproom was bustling, but the staff took time to guide me through these beautiful beers, I made several memorable connections, and I pledged to come back for their beer festival next June — which I’m already excited for.
Here’s to more memorable visits in the coming year. Onto the news!
Finback debuts new Long Island City location
Finback Brewery has opened its second location in Queens and its third location in the city, this time in Queens Plaza. The new taproom and “mixed-fermentation studio,” as they’re calling it, is at 29-37 41st Avenue, just steps from the Queens Plaza E/F/R subway stop. The corner storefront on the ground level of The Sven features a spacious bar, retail area, and brewery that will produce mixed-fermentation beers — “agriculture-driven” sours and wild ales that use New York-sourced fruits and other ingredients in a variety of fermentation vessels (a pair of amphorae are among the first things you see in the production space from the bar).
The taproom will also serve cocktails featuring Halftone Spirits, coffee from Invisible Force, and food from Dumpling Up — all consumables imported from their Gowanus, Brooklyn taproom. The space was bustling last night, its first night of operation, and offers plenty of low-top tables for congregating with friends along the floor-to-ceiling windows of the space.
Finback LIC will be open Monday and Tuesday from 2-10pm, Wednesday from Noon-11pm, Thursday from Noon-Midnight, Friday and Saturday from Noon-1am, and Sunday from Noon-9pm.
TALEA opens fourth taproom, second in Manhattan
Brooklyn-based TALEA Beer Co. has continued their expansion into Manhattan with their second taproom in the borough, this time in Midtown on 40th Street across from Bryant Park. The all-day taproom (open seven days a week from 9am-10pm) will feature coffee, light snacks, soft drinks, and their eclectic lineup of beers — all the things you’d expect if you’ve visited TALEA’s other locations. The taproom is a bright, airy space with views of the park and New York Public Library across the street. It officially opened on Tuesday and will even be open on Christmas Eve (9am-10pm) and Christmas Day (Noon-8pm).
The taproom is located at 22 West 40th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,278
Total breweries visited in 2023: 383
Total breweries visited in Ireland: 17
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #3277, Wicklow Wolf Brewery, Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, Ireland (Visited 17-Dec-2023)
I remember coming across bottles of Wicklow Wolf’s beers on previous trips to Ireland, but they were barely a blip on my radar. Finding their cans in early 2020 and some slick branding made me reconsider them on my last trip pre-Covid, which was just after they had moved to a sleek new facility in Newtownmountkennedy, a town in County Wicklow that’s about twenty miles south of Dublin. That new facility has a taproom — a rarity for breweries in Ireland for a variety of reasons (not surprisingly, the Pub Lobby is strong in the country). I visited it on Sunday, trekking out by bus and passing some horse pastures with views of the Wicklow Mountains on the walk up to the industrial estate where their brewery stands. The building is a bit imposing, but the mantra of Wicklow Wolf is about being a stewart of the land around it — they own a hop farm nearby and focus on sustainability and using local ingredients whenever they can.
The taproom had a friendly, mellow vibe, with a handful of groups sipping on beers and eating pizza. I enjoyed a Wildfire Hoppy Red, a core beer of theirs made with Sorachi Ace hops that was a lovely pairing with my pizza (which, as much as I enjoyed the beers, really stole the show — if you go to Wicklow Wolf, get there on a weekend for the pizza trailer outside). The Tropical Tundra IPA was one of those quintessential cheater-hop hazies with Citra, Mosaic, Idaho 7, and Sabro that had some lovely grapefruit notes with hardly a hint of bitterness. I nerded out about beer with a few locals here, who upon leaving told me, “if you come to a beer festival in Ireland, we’ll probably be there.” Meeting folks in Ireland, it’s never been “goodbye,” it’s always been “see ya later.” Then I started my trek back, taking in the scenery of this special corner of the world.
The Weekly Reader
Nostalgia beers are so hot right now [Josh Bernstein, Vinepair]
A roundup of Hudson Valley brewery news from the fall [Marc Ferris, Chronogram]
When even the Brewers Association can’t spin this year’s news as anything great [Brewers Assocation Press Release]
Brewing in Buenos Aires with one of my favorite breweries [Robyn Gilmour, Ferment]
One Last Thing
Hope you all enjoy the holidays! I’ll be back next week for the annual year-end wrap-up of the year in beer in New York City.
Cheers,
Chris
I'm surprised but delighted to see where Beak came in - one of the best breweries in the UK and a great place to visit. Their beer festival this year, on a beautiful sunny evening, was a highlight of the year for me. (The previous year it was hit by an electrical storm, so I hope you are lucky next summer.)
- Paul