The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Beer Tree
A new Upstate import, Shmaltz bids farewell, and beer from a car mechanic
In a few days, for the first time in 624 days, I will visit a brewery outside of the United States. I’m extremely excited to visit a country I’ve never visited before and explore it through its beer culture. I feel completely out of my element after spending all this time traveling domestically — whether “domestically” means within my apartment or within this country.
Anyway, because of this, and the holiday, don’t expect a newsletter next Thursday. But don’t worry, I’ll be back with plenty of stories from my journey.
Beer Tree Brew Co. launches in NYC
The newest Upstate import to New York City is Beer Tree Brew Co. Beer Tree opened back in 2017 in Port Crane, just a few miles north of Binghamton, on an expansive piece of wide open land in a lovely post-and-beam building. It’s a part like drinking on a farm (they call it “The Farm”), part like drinking in a hunting lodge. Beer Tree has become sought-after by beer nerds in the Southern Tier and Central New York for their hazy IPAs and Fruited Sours. Their success in that space drew big crowds to their outdoor space when I visited in the summer of 2020, and it’s led them to expand to a second location that they’re calling “The Factory” that opened in Johnson City, west of Binghamton. The huge new space opened late last year in a former Sears department store at the Oakdale Mall. It’s bringing their beer closer to civilization, but it’s also home to a larger production space.
The result of that growth? An expansion of their distribution to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and… right here in New York City, beginning this week. They launched in the city last night at Alphabet City Beer Co., and you’ll find their beer around the city in cans and kegs by next week. They’re being distributed by Sarene Craft Beer.
Shmaltz calls it quits with a closing celebration
For 25 years, Shmaltz Brewing Company has been a long-standing beer brand with ties to the New York scene. Founder Jeremy Cowan was a fixture in New York beer, and founded another brand, Coney Island Brewing, that still makes beer here today. After a quarter of a century of beer, Shmaltz is calling it quits, closing things out with one last beer — Exodus 2021, a barleywine with date, fig, pomegranate, and grape to celebrate their 25th anniversary — and a party in the city on Saturday, December 4th with a familiar theme.
That day at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg (from 2-4pm) and Barcade NYC in Chelsea (from 4-7pm), Shmaltz will be part of one last “Hanukkah vs. Christmas: The Battle Royale of Beers,” a long-standing event that’s been hosted by Shmaltz and other breweries throughout the years.
Cowan will still maintain his role running Alphabet City Brewing Company and his 518 Craft tasting room in Troy.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,484
New breweries in 2021: 410
Breweries visited in Missouri: 41
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2478, Wind Shift Brewing, Blue Springs, Missouri (Visited 13-Nov-2021)
If there’s anything I’ve learned in my brewery travels, it’s that sometimes, good things come in small packages. Wind Shift Brewing was one of those small packages – it’s a narrow taproom that manages to wedge in a 3.5-barrel brewhouse in the corner of a building that houses a car repair shop. That’s not the result of a brewery desperately seeking an opportunity for an industrial space to open, though. Wind Shift was founded Tony Diplacito, a mechanic by day and brewer by night. He’s the chief mechanic at the Jefferson Service Center, a corner of which is the home of his dream brewery.
The beers were creative and delicious, the place was busy, and Tony was at the helm of the brewhouse in back making a batch of beer on a Saturday afternoon. I also got to meet Nigel Woodberry, host of Beers with Nigel and fellow all-around beer nerd, who was tending bar at the taproom while I sipped on a Lost in the Clouds Hazy Pale Ale and an absolutely ridiculous Birthday Cake, a sour ale made for a friend of the brewery’s birthday that tasted like cake in a glass. The Happy Little Accident Altbier was also a standout, and was the result of an incorrect order of malt. Much like finding a place for a brewery, Tony knows how to improvise beer, too.
Geographic Nerdity of the Week
Carla Lauter, a fellow beer scribe who is very much worth a follow on Twitter, pointed out that her husband was visiting a brewery in Caribou, Maine yesterday. That reminded me of a bizarre sign that used to be posted just over the New Hampshire-Maine state line on the Maine Turnpike:
If Your Business Were in Maine, You Would Be Home By Now
Even when I saw this sign from the backseat of my parents’ car as a kid, I was boggled by this. What if your business was in Caribou? Or Fort Kent (home of, as Carla pointed out, Maine’s northernmost brewery)? You’re still a five or six-hour drive from home.
Which brings me to the nerdy part of this. Maine is a much bigger state than most people realize. It gets grouped in with all the small New England states, but Maine is nearly as large as Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined. So here’s the nerdy fact: if you’re crossing the border into Maine on I-95, at that point, you are closer by road to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania than you are to Fort Kent, Maine.
Social Post of the Week
Roll out the barrel… from across the alley.
Beer of the Week
Farm Bier
Tonewood Brewing (Oaklyn, New Jersey)
Pilsner
5% ABV
I passed through Tonewood Brewing in South Jersey last weekend, and my friend and I split a four-pack of this crispy boi. I didn’t get around to cracking one open until last night, and bloody hell, this is a damn good lager. It’s light and snappy and crackery and just a touch sweet. It’s made entirely with Jersey-grown wheat and pilsner malt from Rabbit Hill Malthouse. Farm Bier is adding beer to the list of things that are Jersey Fresh.
Long Read of the Week
A certain segment of beer nerds (myself included) are obsessed with Sierra Nevada Celebration this time of year. At Pellicle, David Nilsen has its origin story this week. It’s come a long way from that first 90-case batch forty years ago.
One Last Thing
Oh, I finally settled on what brewery will be #2500 for me: Birds Fly South Ale Project in Greenville, South Carolina. See you there on December 18th.
Cheers,
Chris