Often wort’s journey is a short one, moving from one nearby tank to another. But it can be a complicated journey, too, from snaking through a 328-foot, creek-crossing pipeline at Industrial Arts Brewing to a second life in a “small” beer made from its second runnings.
The distance between Peekskill’s old and new homes is only two-tenths of a mile, but their differences are dramatic. The latter features a 15-barrel brewhouse and a 16-draft taproom on the first floor, with a 65-seat restaurant and another 16 drafts pouring on the second floor.
Jeff O’Neil and the Berardi family are transforming a four-story stone building into an artisan brewer’s dream-workshop, complete with a gravity-fed system, a “gnarly” cellar, a “spider-filled, Old-World approach to barrel aging” and—wait for it—maybe even a coolship.
Allagash’s Rob Tod recalls visiting spontaneous Belgian breweries with a group of American brewers, and wondering whether their techniques could be imported to the US.
A decade ago, Jeff O’Neil was drinking Racer 5, growing hops in his backyard and sending résumés to every brewery in the Bay Area. Now he’s brewing West Coast-leaning ales out east, at the ever-expanding Ithaca Beer Company.