What Might Have Been
NYC breweries that never were, a visit to the state's Brewery of the Year, and a hot poker
A good friend of mine is getting married this weekend, and it brings up something that I’ve been approached about many times: when your wedding party likes good beer, how do you choose the beer to serve at the wedding? In many cases, the venues drive that selection and the options leave much to be desired. I’ve been to more than a few nuptials where someone smuggled in some outside beer — something that could very much be against the rules of the venue’s license. Some have worked with a venue to ensure that they special-ordered beer for the occasion. Others have even brought homebrewed beer to serve along with the commercially-made stuff the venue had on offer (one friend of mine purpose-brewed a wedding beer that was meant to age properly for the couple to cellar and drink on future anniversaries).
I’ve been asked by friends and strangers about the right beer for the occasion, but the more I’ve pondered the question, the more I’ve become jaded about it. Honestly, is anyone going to remember what beer they drank at a wedding years later? No. They’re going to remember the good times they had celebrating. So if you’re planning your nuptials and you’re a beer nerd, don’t sweat it. Nobody’s going to care if you’re pouring Coors Light or an Other Half DDH Citra Daydream a decade from now when they’re reminiscing about your special day. Especially not if you have an open bar. After all, the best-tasting beer is a free beer.
Canceled by Covid: the NYC brewery plans shelved by the pandemic
Before the pandemic, there were several breweries waiting in the wings in New York City, some I had even written about back in early 2020. But when the entire world stopped for Covid-19, it changed the trajectory of many things, including our city’s beer scene. Whether because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, a downturn in the economy, or simply a changing world, some breweries shelved their plans to open new venues in New York City over the past two years. Here’s a look at what could’ve been:
Collective Arts Brooklyn: remember noticing before the pandemic how much beer from Hamilton, Ontario’s Collective Arts you saw around town? That was them creating buzz for a 15,000 square foot brewery, restaurant, and performance space in Gowanus that had been first announced in 2018 and was first slated for a mid-year opening in 2019. As happens with nearly all brewery projects in New York City, project delays lasted until 2020, and the pandemic put an ultimate end to this project when the license application was pulled later that year.
Sixpoint Brewery Gowanus: when we went into lockdown, construction was already underway on a new home for Sixpoint under the F and G Train at Smith-9th Streets in Brooklyn. The plans included an on-site brewery, kitchen, and rooftop bar, plus a coolship and foeders for wild fermentation. Brooklynites won’t walk away from this loss completely empty-handed — a new taproom at City Point in downtown Brooklyn is well under construction and is slated to open later this year, and the brewery has tease a larger
Long Haul Brewery: when Braven Brewing closed their short-lived East Williamsburg outpost in early 2019, the space remained vacant for a few months before a new tenant took over the space and the brewhouse. Long Haul briefly opened in late 2019 for coffee and breakfast while it awaited its license from the State Liquor Authority, but closed its doors in January of 2020 and never reopened as a brewery. These days, you won’t find beer making in the space — you’ll find tortilla making, as it’s where Sobre Masa opened in 2021.
The Hull by Blue Point: even a brewery with the backing of Anheuser-Busch wasn’t immune to the pandemic. This subterranean space in Brooklyn was set to open in the basement of Seamore’s on Water Street in DUMBO. It was so close to opening that press — myself included — previewed the space, which was nearly complete, in late 2019. The tasting room would’ve poured beers from their electric three-barrel brewing system alongside Blue Point’s larger batches from outside the city. The license application was ultimately pulled in 2020.
Despite these losses, one brewery project from that 2020 list is still coming to fruition: Gun Hill Publick House, a new space in Industry City, Brooklyn that’s an offshoot of their brewery up in the Bronx. You can follow them on Instagram for updates as construction progresses, and I’ll let you know when it’s open here, too.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,808
Total breweries visited in 2022: 279
Total breweries visited in New York State: 266
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2808, Strangebird Brewery, Rochester, New York (Visited 18-Sep-2022)
When you walk in, you might almost think Strangebird feels a bit out of place for a quiet, tree-lined block in downtown Rochester. It’s so polished and shiny, so you might think the venue is a bit out of place for a brewery, even. Its food is as big of a draw as the beer, based on every local’s insistence that I get pizza there. But despite all that it’s got going on, the beer is still the star of the show at Strangebird, and that shouldn’t be a huge surprise. When you have a brewery with a star-studded lineup of staff, you expect big things. Founder Micah Krichinsky previously spent five years brewing at Dogfish Head. And their Director of Wood Aged Beers is Eric Salazar, who pioneered the trend of wood-aged sour beers in the U.S. in his role at Colorado’s New Belgium.
So yeah, based on those resumes, you’d expect the beer to be pretty damn good. And it is. Barely into its second year, Strangebird tied in the New York State Beer Competition for Brewery of the Year with Brooklyn’s Grimm Artisanal Ales. They off to the races from the start, and when I sat down at the bar, I was off to the races, too, when it came to trying their beer lineup. I started with the clean, thirst-quenching Birdy Cream, a “Rochestarian Cream Ale” that’s an homage to the style that defines a brewery a few blocks north of here. The Gouden Boom, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, was a style I hadn’t seen at an American brewery in a long while, and it was reminiscent of the strong ales on my visit to Belgium earlier this month. The Displaced Moon, a dark Brett IPA, bowled me over with subtlety. It wasn’t too sweet or too bitter, and the Brett character was very restrained. New York State ingredients were featured prominently on the menu, too, including in their New York Wet Hop IPA and 2022 Summer Artisanal saison, which featured New York malt and even yeast harvested from the Finger Lakes region.
There are plenty of reasons to visit Rochester for beer (with old-school spots like Genesee and Rohrbach and new-wave standouts like Fifth Frame and Roc Brewing), but if you haven’t been, Strangebird may finally be the motivation you need to get up there. Just hurry up. It’s probably only a few weeks before the first snow moves in.
Social Post of the Week
I found a way to turn yesterday’s meme into a beer history lesson.
What’s a Bierstachel? Weihenstephan, the world’s oldest brewery, has a good explainer.
Long Read of the Week
Always great to see some national press for Brooklyn and Queens bar BierWax, and Courtney Iseman (of the great Hugging the Bar newsletter) pens a profile of the bar in Good Beer Hunting that includes co-owner Chris Maestro’s own beer journey, where we crossed paths many times along the way to the fulfilling of his dream.
One Last Thing
Closing on some picks for the weekends ahead: Torch and Crown hosts their Oktoberfest and Five Boroughs celebrates their fifth anniversary on Saturday. And make sure you snap up tickets for the NYC Brewers Guild’s annual Blocktoberfest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, happening next Saturday, October 1st.
Cheers,
Chris
We had a solid range of beer choices at our wedding, Brooklyn Lager, Sam Adams, and Coors Light for the non-beer nerds, maybe some others. But, I did think of having a specific beer for the occasion since my wife's name is Colette and Great Divide makes a good saison by the same name. Of course, the venue didn't have it but they could special order it.
When I tell you that weddings are shams to gouge you because 'it's your special day,' this is example No. 1. They could get the beer. It would be $150. Dear reader, this woman was offering to sell me *one* case of beer for $150 that retails for $25. I relented and went with a case. It was a splurge. Does anyone remember? Not likely. Was it fun? Sure. Weddings are like buying a house, in that by the time you're securing a 6-figure mortgage, haggling over a few $1000 on the final price is probably pocket change on the monthly payment. Once you're in on the venue, what's another $150 -- and they probably know it :)