The Beer Time Machine
A pizza party awaits and I finally give in to beer peer pressure
When I run out of topics to open my newsletter with, I often fall back on something that never fails: good old nostalgia. So I hopped into the beer time machine to find this July beer event preview that I wrote ten years ago this month. Among the finds:
July Good Beer Month, a long-running tradition by Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy’s No. 43, perhaps local beer’s biggest cheerleader at the time
Yoga at the now-shuttered LIC Beer Project, back before we had hit Peak Yoga at Breweries
Hair of the Dog Brewing Company’s Alan Sprints was in town with some extra-rare bottles, before he retired and closed his brewery for good in 2022
I called Grimm, still brewing in Virginia at the time, “everyone’s favorite New York City-based cult brewery,” and I can say with confidence this was true at the time
Of course, this sent me further down a rabbit hole, uncovering this article I wrote that same month that details the New York City beer bars in Draft Magazine’s Top 100 U.S. Beer Bars list (RIP to the magazine and several of the bars listed). Then I went to look back at my photos in my phone from July 2016 and found some other beer-related gems:
I drank a Canadian craft beer (from Steamworks in Vancouver) at a Canada Day celebration at The Well in East Williamsburg (RIP)
I visited Sand City’s original location in Northport, Long Island for the first time.
I went to Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia.
And this was the tap list at Hops Hill’s second anniversary party. Coincidentally, tonight is their twelfth anniversary!
Anyway, thanks for indulging me in a trip down memory lane.
Sampler Tray: A flight of NYC beer news
Want to try a few beers? Let’s have them in small portions with a roundup of some local beer news.
A Reminder for Pizza Party
Just nine days until Kills Boro’s Pizza Party returns to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden on Staten Island. The fundraiser and celebration of beer and pizza, next Saturday, July 25th, features 25 breweries from across the region like New Jersey’s Alternate Ending and Skinny Flowers and New York’s Finback and Wayward Lane, and slices from a lineup of pizzerias, including a true Staten Island classic in Lee’s Tavern. The four-hour outdoor event, starting at noon, is one of my personal favorite beer events in town, and it’s well worth the ferry trip if you’re coming from elsewhere in the city. Tickets are available now.
A Neighborly Beer and Sake Collab
In the latest example of collaboration across beer and other alcoholic beverages, Bushwick’s Kato Sake Works has a new offering out called Bareru. The Junmai was aged in oak barrels that had previously contained a Belgian Witbier from Kato’s next-door neighbors, Kings County Brewers Collective. I’ll leave the important details up to the tasting notes:
During extended barrel aging, ambient microflora in the wood encouraged gentle secondary fermentation and natural lactic development, with a subtle influence from Brettanomyces, creating bright, white wine-like acidity and a delicate lambic-like character.
If that tickles your fancy, you can find bottles of Bareru at Kato’s tasting room on Troutman Street in Bushwick.
A Beer and Whiskey Watch Party
New York Distilling Company, makers of Jaywalk Rye, have opened a bar at their distillery in a neighborhood already teeming with alcohol producers. Jaywalker Bar opened in late June on Johnson Avenue in East Williamsburg, near the Jefferson Street L Train stop. In an area with breweries (heck, Eckhart Beer is practically next door), the bar is trying to get beer drinkers through its doors this Sunday for their World Cup Final watch party by partnering up with Brooklyn Brewery. They’ll have a special menu of boilermakers, brewery swag, giveaways, and more. Oh, and there’s a soccer match on. Doors open at 2pm on Sunday.
Upcoming Beer Events of Note
Brooklyn: 12 Year Anniversary at Hops Hill, Thursday 7/16 from noon to close, free entry
Brooklyn: Pipeworks Tap Takeover at Covenhoven, Thursday 7/16 from 6pm, free entry
Brooklyn: Belgian National Day at 4th Avenue Pub, Tuesday 7/21 from 4pm, free entry
Staten Island: Kills Boro Pizza Party at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Saturday 7/25 from noon-4pm, tickets start at $72
Queens: Queens Botanical Garden Beer, Wine, and Spirits Fest at Queens Botanical Garden, Saturday 7/25 from 1-4:30pm, tickets $60
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 4,010
Total breweries visited in 2026: 87
Total breweries visited in Connecticut: 60
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #4009, Tree House Farm Brewery, Woodstock, Connecticut [Visited 14-Jul-2026]
I am a Tree House contrarian. I think they’re a little too precious about only selling their beer on-site. I was burned by an incredibly bad experience at their Charlton location in 2017. For a time, the sheer number of rules and guidelines listed on their website to simply buy a pint of beer to drink at their brewery locations was bordering on comical. I’m not a fanboy of Tree House by any means. But dammit, their farm brewery in the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut is a stunning place to drink beer.
It is indeed a working farm and brewery, with apple orchards and vegetable patches and hop trellises spanning the hundred-acre property. Cider and beer are both made here, with a pared-down list of Woodstock-specific offerings on tap and in cans to-go. A well-worn barn houses the taproom, where you can find that cider and beer for sale, some produce for sale from the farm, and respite from the heat in air-conditioned comfort. Outside, the property is yours to wander, with seating in Adirondack chairs in nooks and crannies throughout the area around the brewery, in a wooded setting or overlooking the pond on the property. It’s everything that the more-polished Charlton location is not: casual, relaxed, and rustic. Admittedly, I visited on a Tuesday, which might be the best day of the week to get the entire place to yourself, even if just for a few minutes. If this had been my first exposure to Tree House, perhaps I would’ve become a fanboy.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 5 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure in the past week:
Brewery #49, Union Station Brewery, Providence, Rhode Island [Visited 21-May-2010]
Brewery #775, Banded Brewing Company, Biddeford, Maine [Visited 18-Feb-2017]
Brewery #1295, Atwater Brewery in Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Michigan [Visited 13-Oct-2018]
Brewery #1994, Drifa Brewing Company, Marquette, Michigan [Visited 21-Aug-2020]
Brewery #3268, Durty Bull Brewing Company, Durham, North Carolina [Visited 10-Dec-2023]
The Weekly Reader
The World Cup is good for business, locally [Carol Chen and Greg David, The City Reporter]
The World Cup is good for business, nationally [Jessica Mason, The Drinks Business]
Discontinued beers are reappearing [Joshua Bernstein, VinePair]
Keep this handy for a trip to Munich [Franz Hofer, A Tempest in a Tankard]
One Last Thing
Just got back from a couple weeks up in New England, visiting some old haunts and exploring some new ones. Which reminds me, do you follow me on Instagram? You can keep tabs on my recent adventures and help me plan my next one. Enjoy the weekend and hope you can avoid the smoke.
Cheers,
Chris
One of those times where two of the closings i have been to. Banded was a big place and I went there after Sacred Profane and Lucky Pigeon, a good day in Biddeford. Atwater I was at after Mitten and before Arvon. Always sad seeing places close.