Saison is Dead (is Delicious)

A visit to brewery #2500, a Krispy boi, and seeking your Beer of the Year nominations

Well, here we go again. A couple months ago, we thought we had turned a corner with Covid, but we’re now in the heat of the worst outbreak yet in New York City. Thankfully, with vaccination rates high, there’s hope this may wash through quickly, but in the near-term, it’s going to be challenging for businesses trying to keep their doors open when so employees and customers are infected.

Some bars and breweries have opted to close temporarily because of potential Covid exposures, hoping to wait out the holidays and return to lower case numbers in January. Others have moved business back outside, expanding their outdoor spaces again or eliminating indoor dining altogether. And while the state’s guidelines still allow unmasked customers in New York City where vaccinations are mandatory for indoor dining, some venues are going a step further and returning to a mask-up-when-standing policy.

Meanwhile, businesses face the choice of either losing needed revenue during the holidays or potentially exposing their employees to Covid. With no financial support or stimulus money in sight, the choice becomes even more difficult. And without the loosened restrictions on to-go alcohol and delivery that were unceremoniously ended last spring when the disgraced former Governor’s executive order expired, restaurants and bars are feeling the pain. There is hope that to-go alcohol may return next year with a bill in the state Assembly, but the state legislature does not return to session until after the New Year.

Other Half opens permanent Rock Center location

OH’s new Rock Center taproom, via Instagram

Other Half Brewing has been operating a temporary outdoor beer garden in Rockefeller Plaza since last summer, but it was just a tease of what’s to come: a permanent taproom in Rockefeller Center that opened this week. The indoor space includes a wide selection of their drafts in a neat, clean space on the north side of 48th Street just west of 5th Avenue. The outdoor space in the Plaza on 48th and 49th between 5th and 6th Avenues remains open as well, for those who prefer to drink outdoors in the shadow of the iconic Christmas tree. Follow along on Instagram for more details.

And now, the NYC Beer of the Year nominees…

As part of my annual Beer Superlatives that will drop next week, I’m asking for your nominees for Beer of the Year. Let’s see if we can find a crowd favorite. The rules: it had to be released this year, and it had to be brewed in New York City. Leave a comment with your suggestions!

Brewery Tracker

Total brewery count: 2,512
New breweries in 2021: 438
Breweries visited in South Carolina: 34

Brewery Visit of the Week

Brewery #2500, Birds Fly South Ale Project, Greenville, South Carolina (Visited 18-Dec-2021)

The planning for this brewery visit started long before the visit itself. Approaching a milestone number typically involves some coordination, a few friends in tow, and a destination where I can visit a few other breweries along the way. Greenville, South Carolina checked all the boxes — easy to get to (a direct flight from New York), full of breweries (15 in total, by my count, though I didn’t get to them all), and home to a brewery I love and respect: Birds Fly South.

I first had their beer in 2017 at The Festival in Atlanta, when they were just a year old. That’s where I was blown away by their Rustic Sunday, a mixed-fermentation rye saison with Hallertau Blanc hops aged in Sauvignon Blanc barrels. That beer later won a bronze medal at GABF in 2018, and it put Birds Fly South on my map as a must-visit. Since then, plenty of other breweries have opened in Greenville, so there seemed to be no better destination for a combination birthday and 2,500th brewery than this town and this brewery.

My first beer on my visit was Saison is Dead, their flagship Mosaic-hopped Saison that was such a pleasant start to the visit. Their strength in that style was proved again with the ISM: Calypso, another hop-forward Saison. Sea & Rhythm was another noteworthy series I enjoyed, with the Syrah-aged version of the foeder lager on tap, plus a Sauvignon Blanc version in bottles that truly shined. On the lighter side, the Days Like This Kolsch was lovely, and the Cygnus Dortmunder Lager collab with The Eighth State kept me around for one last beer. Sure, the barrel-aged stuff is great here. But truly, everything is great here.

Social Post of the Week

Chicago’s Off Color Brewing, in response to a criticism of its vaccination requirement for entry:

Off Color Brewing @OffcolorBrewing

Remember it. Write it down. Take a picture. We don’t give a fuck.

jojo bean @rayortz

@OffcolorBrewing @ocmousetrap We will remember this. You jumped on the wrong bandwagon. Dont come crying later.

Beer of the Week

Rice Crispy Boi
The Eighth State Brewing Company (Greenville, South Carolina) in collaboration with Westbrook Brewing Company (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina) and The Community Tap (Greenville, South Carolina)
Rice Lager with marshmallow added
5% ABV

Two days before my trip to Greenville, I casually noticed this beer on the tap list at The Eighth State, and I decided then and there that I absolutely had to it.

Side note: The Eighth State might be one of the most unexpectedly small breweries for it’s notoriety. They’ve done collabs with a host of well-known, larger breweries, but they’re brewing in a space where you can touch the ceilings — and the fermenters practically touch the ceilings, too.

Anyway, Rice Crispy Boi is exactly what you’d expect from the description: it’s way too sweet for the style, but it’s a fun gimmick: crisp enough and marshmallowy enough to remind you of PTA bake sales. I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t drink more than one of these, because I came back to have a second one two days later.

Long Read of the Week

A lot has been made of the threat that legal weed poses to the beer industry, though it definitely seems to be overblown (Colorado’s mature legal weed scene hasn’t significantly slowed the growth of beer there relative to other states). But still, I’m keeping an eye on retail weed here after its legalization by Albany last year. It appears New York City may still be more than a year away from having its first retail location, though, as The City’s Rachel Holliday Smith details.

One Last Thing

I’ll be on The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM POTUS this morning at 10:45am ET to talk about the state of beer and the 2,500 breweries I’ve visited. It’s Channel 124 on SiriusXM.

Cheers,
Chris