Thankful for Beer

Another NYC taproom announces closure and a word (or several) of thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday and spending time with family or friends — and hope you’re able to enjoy a beer or two, too.

Craft Beer & Brewing’s annual readers’ poll came out earlier this month, and the list of top beers and breweries is always a fun list to peruse. Given the effort I’ve put into visiting over 3,900 breweries, the number of breweries appearing in the poll results that get added to my “to-visit” list each year dwindles a little more each year. But it’s intriguing to crunch the numbers and see what’s left for me. While this newsletter is for you, the reader, I’m putting this down for my own reference — the breweries across all categories that I have not yet visited:

Small Breweries (fewer than 5,000 barrels per year) - Visited 15 out of 20

7. Absolution (Torrance, California)
9. Floodland (Seattle)
12. Triptych (Savoy, Illinois)
18. Gold Dot & Heater Allen (McMinnville, Oregon)
19. Wondrous (Emeryville, California)

15 out of 20 is pretty good for a category that’s often populated by small up-and-comers. I managed to make good work of this category in the past year, visiting Sacramento’s Geisthaus (#8, shooting up to that rank in just its first full year), Brujos in Portland, Oregon (#10), and Lumen Beer in Omaha (#14). As for what’s left, it’s going to be hard to clear the board. Triptych is about a two and a half hour train ride from Chicago. Floodland doesn’t have a taproom and only releases bottles occasionally, so that will likely remain a challenge for the foreseeable future. Heater Allen has been on my to-visit list for a while, but McMinnville isn’t particularly easy to get to, even from Portland. I’m long overdue for a visit to the Bay Area, so Wondrous, just across the Bay from San Francisco, may potentially be the next of these I get to.

Small Regional (5,000–25,000 barrels per year) - Visited 16 out of 20

5. Outer Range (Frisco, Colorado)
7. Ghost Town (Oakland, California)
9. Westbound & Down (Erie, Colorado)
11. Block 15 (Corvallis, Oregon)

Yes, despite having been to over 250 breweries in the state of Colorado, I haven’t visited two of its most popular these days. In fact, it’s entirely possible I get to Outer Range’s location in the French Alps before I get to their location in the Rockies. Meanwhile, Ghost Town is low-hanging fruit on that aforementioned Bay Area trip, and while I’ve hopped between Portland and Eugene before, a day trip to Corvallis might be in my future.

Midsize Regional (25,000–100,000 barrels per year) - Visited 16 out of 20

8. Toppling Goliath (Decorah, Iowa)
17. North Coast (Fort Bragg, California)
18. Real Ale (Blanco, Texas)
20. Big Grove (Solon, Iowa)

I actually managed to visit 7 breweries in Iowa this year, but Solon and Decorah are a bit off the beaten path. I’m still searching for an opportunity to go further north in California than Windsor (home of Russian River, but far from North Coast) and further west in the Texas Hill Country than Dripping Springs (home of Acopon, but far from Real Ale).

Large (100,000+ barrels per year) - Visited 18 out of 20

2. New Glarus (New Glarus, Wisconsin)
16. Three Floyds (Munster, Indiana)

Not much work left to do here! New Glarus’ taproom was closed for renovations when I was in nearby Madison in 2021 and I should wait until their expansion is complete before visiting at this point, and Three Floyds’ taproom has been closed since 2020, and the new one they’ve been planning hasn’t come to fruition yet.

Last year, I had 18 breweries on the lists I had yet to visit, but I’ve managed to whittle that down to 15, but I had to visit 345 breweries over that time just to get there. To all of you who keep joking, “you’re going to run out of breweries to visit,” see? I’m nowhere close to running out.

By the way, for those who didn’t click through to these lists: there are two New York breweries included this year. Not surprisingly, Other Half is ranked #6 in the Midsize Regional category, but Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown also managed to break in, ranking #20 in the Large category this year.

Five Boroughs to close Brooklyn taproom next month

After an eight-year run in their Sunset Park space on 47th Street, Five Boroughs announced this week that they will close their taproom in Brooklyn. The last day of operations will be December 21st.

Five Boroughs opened their taproom in 2017, bringing a large, airy taproom to their production brewery that was among the largest in New York City at the time. The expansion of their brand and broad distribution across the city over the years made them attractive for acquisition, and in 2023, Finestkind Brewing, parent company of Smuttynose Brewing, acquired Five Boroughs and transferred production of their core beers to their facility in Hampton, New Hampshire. Early this year, Finestkind itself merged with Mass Bay Brewing, parent company of Harpoon Brewing in Boston, to form the Barrel One Collective. Five Boroughs is now sister to more than a dozen other beverage brands today, including Long Trail, Wachusett, Greater Good, Clown Shoes, and The Shed.

The brewery says the taproom is closing as a result of their lease ending, which shouldn’t come as a huge surprise since the cost of such a large production space likely wasn’t justified by the taproom. In a social media post announcing the closure, they claim to be seeking a space to host a Five Boroughs taproom elsewhere in the city.

Upcoming Beer Events of Note

• Brooklyn: Bourbon County Brooklyn Event at Queue Beer, Friday 11/28 through Sunday 11/30, free entry

• Manhattan: Sopp Opera NY Debut at Blind Tiger Alehouse, Wednesday 12/3 at 5pm, free entry

• Manhattan: Mad Scientists Beer Dinner at Sixpoint Brewery at Brookfield Place, Friday 12/5 at 6pm, $75

• Brooklyn: Stout Season 2025 at Other Half Brewing Gowanus, Saturday 12/6 from noon-4pm, tickets start at $70

• Brooklyn: Fury Fest at Sound & Fury Brewing, Saturday 12/6 from 6pm-close, free entry

• Brooklyn: Gun Hill Barrel Aged Beer Festival at Gun Hill Publick House, Saturday 1/24 from noon-5pm, tickets start at $60

Brewery Tracker

Total brewery count: 3,906
Total breweries visited in 2025: 280
Total breweries visited in U.S.: 3,113

Brewery Visit of the Week

This week, in honor of Thanksgiving, I’d like to call out some breweries I’ve visited in the past year that I’m particularly thankful for:

• Lazy Days Brewing and Commensal Fermentation in Portland, Oregon, who gratefully opened on an unexpectedly wintery day in the Pacific Northwest and kept their taprooms running while most of the city was fearful of stepping out in the snow.

• Good Word Brewing in Duluth, Georgia, where I finally got to attend one of their epic festivals and hang out in the company of some of my favorite people in beer

• Queer Brewing in London, England, who are making great beer and breaking boundaries to make beer more inclusive, as exemplified by their fifth birthday party in May when they welcomed me in with open arms.

• Thirty Eight O Six Brewing in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, who were genuinely as excited as I was about making them brewery #3806 in June and offered great hospitality and great beer.

• Browar Stu Mostow in Wroclaw, Poland, whose mild obsession with American beer made me feel less like a stranger in a strange land on the weekend of their 10th birthday party in August.

• Nebraska Brewing Company in La Vista, Nebraska, who welcomed me and treated me like part of their family on their final days in business in October.

But really, thanks to everyone I’ve met in my travels in the last twelve months and everyone who subscribes and reads this newsletter — you’re what keep me going and make this newsletter worth writing every week.

The Doom and Gloom Tracker

At least 4 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:

• Brewery #584, Port Jeff Brewing Company, Port Jefferson, New York [Visited 9-July-2016]

• Brewery #851, Five Boroughs Brewing Co., Brooklyn, New York [Visited 31-Jul-2017]

• Brewery #1203, Scotty’s Bierwerks, Cape Coral, Florida [Visited 29-Jul-2018]

• Brewery #2513, HUDL Brewing, Las Vegas, Nevada [Visited 22-Dec-2021]

The Weekly Reader

• Cask ale is hard to find at U.S. breweries, but good to find [Evan Rail, VinePair]

• The marketing myth behind Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout [Andy Crouch, All About Beer]

• Meet the women that make Michigan’s hop industry tick [Brenda Marshall, CraftBeer.com]

• Some perspective on Rogue’s closing, by the numbers [Stan Hieronymus, Appellation Beer]

One Last Thing

I attended the New York State Craft Brewers Festival in Syracuse last weekend. It was a great opportunity to discover some up-and-coming breweries Upstate and have beers from some of my favorites. But by far the highlight of the event was the venue itself: the historic and beautifully ornate Landmark Theatre. Please enjoy a few snapshots from the event, and pencil in next November for the next edition, if you are intrigued…

Cheers,
Chris