Mid-Atlantic Breweries in planning (2023)

Forgot to mention the beers haha. My wife and I had different wheat beers and they were both fantastic.

 

Well out of some bad news (Seven Story Brewing’s piece of shit landlords jacking rent to the point where they are shutting down the brewery) comes some good: Same owners will be opening Preservation Brewing in Fairport by the end of summer.

5,400 square foot facility, much more brewing capacity than SS and the digital renderings of the taproom look beautiful.

 

Well this is turning out to be a net positive: Seven Story owners get to continue in a new and larger space and a great brewery gets another taproom closer to where I stay in the summer because Aurora Brewing is taking over the Seven Story spot.

The location is turnkey so IDK how long the transition will take but I can’t imagine it’ll be lengthy.

 

In fairness, 2 Way is really, really bad so as far as I’m concerned they’ll be only the second brewery on that drag.

Also the rent is certainly an issue but I don’t think they’ll need to worry much about over saturation. Downtown Troy is a similar size to Beacon and has two breweries (about to be a third) and everywhere you can drink (even wine bars and cocktail bars) has a good beer list. Hasn’t seemed to have hurt anyone.

 

Yeah I don't like to dump on breweries, but 2 Way is just... they shouldn't be making beer.

I find a really good litmus test for breweries is look at their IG, and look at their pours. Do the pours entirely lack head? That brewery isn't going to be worth your time. And that's the case with Two Way. Contrast their IG with -- just to pick a couple random high-quality places out -- that of Grimm and Drowned Lands and you'll see what I mean.

Because it means they either A) Don't know how to pour a beer and/or B) Don't care enough to make their shit visually appealing on social media and those are both reallllllly bad signs.

FWIW the new spot in Beacon passes the test. They do have a few pics on there of bad pours but those all look to be their beer at random bars that had their shit on tap so that's obviously not their fault.

 

Some more notes:

- Watershed Brewing on Seneca looks to be up and running. Will try to check it out when I head out that way in a few weeks.

- Southpaw Brewing opened up in Yaphank last week. Had to look up where that was and it's pretty far onto LI, south shore. Based on an IG video they posted the place looks more upscale gastropub than brewery and their IG also does not make one single mention of beer. Like to the point where I don't even know if they make their own beer.

Not over here praying on anyone's downfall but based on all that it's for sure not a place I would be making it a point to go to.

- New spot in the works in Rome NY. Parachute Brewing just got a $1.8M grant to revitalize in old parachute-drying buiding (I don't fuckin' know), but no social media or website or anything yet so probably a long way out.

- Aspire Brewing in Walkill (super close to Middletown) set to open soon. 8,000 square feet, gonna have golf simulating and axe-throwing too.

- Lucky Hare opening a taproom in Owego.

 

Some notes and travels:

1) Aspire is open. Looks gorgeous, will I'm sure check it out sometime over the summer.

2) Union Street in Hudson opens July 12.

3) Fidens looking at an early July opening as well.


- Checked out Return Brewing and Upper Depot Brewing in Hudson. Both really solid spaces (Return's inside doesn't look like it'll open anytime soon tho) and while Return for sure had the better beer, I see no reason to hit one and not the other if you're down there.

- Went to Pillow & Oats in Hudson -- really dug the beers, though an IPA-heavy menu. Space was fine. New and nice but felt more like an interchangable coffee shop than a brewery, though they had just opened nine days prior so I'm sure they'll spruce it up in there.

- Hopped over to HVB's new space while I was there, outside is gorgeous, inside was similarly eh to P&O. Nice and new and shiny but felt a bit like a wish.com version of Drowned Lands' taproom. Beers are still stellar obviously and absolutely grab a few and sit outside.

- This doesn't happen to me often, but I went to a new spot and had a truly revolting beer. Kingston Railyard Brewing (which I THINK is in the space Great Life used to occupy but not sure) had a kolsch on and I couldn't drink more than 10% of it. Just wretched. Which stinks because the bartender (owner?) was super super nice and there's a ton of well-used outdoor real estate. I'll try the place again I'm sure since I'm in Kingston often but I can't in good conscience recommend going right now.

 

Honestly yeah it probably was the darkness that bothered me most. I was there mid-afternoon on a super sunny day but it sure as shit didn't feel like it.

Contrast that with (again) Drowned Lands and how they've got one of the brightest, most light-filled taprooms possible.

 

1) Fidens opens tomorrow. Ticketed events (all sold out I believe) from now-Sunday, and then next Weds at 3p they open to the general public for business as usual. Will likely check it out then.

2) Thin Man very sadly closing their Elmwood Ave taproom citing lack of traffic returning to pre-covid days. They're keeping the newer taproom on Chandler open and keeping Elmwood as production space but still a huge bummer.

3) Something called Van Hassler Brewing in the works. Only social media is a few posts by a homebrewer from 2020 and Googling gets you a kind-of Google Maps result in Syracuse? More on this one if I see it.

 

Caught wind of a little rumor that Marlowe and another New England brewery are looking at opening a joint space somewhere in the lower HV in the next couple months.

VERY stoked on who the other brewery is and just the fact that they’ll have a physical space again.

More when I’ve got anything more concrete.

 

Hit the first day of the new Fidens spot and here are my thoughts:

1) Huge, gorgeous space. Plenty of bar seating, plenty of tables, seating for large parties and for couples or families. Just a lot of different areas.

2) Great variance on the taplist. IPAs, DIPAs, TIPAs, pales, lagers, stouts, fruited sours. Bit of something for most everyone.

3) Super well organized. Defined spaces to order food, get cans, or drink drafts.

4) Staff — PLENTY of staff and if you’ve been to Fidens before it will not surprised to know that they’re all super friendly and accommodating.

Man, they did this shit so right. Every aspect of this seems thoughtful and well-planned. Hats off to these guys, they deserve all the success they’ve achieved and more.

 

Can't fathom too many of you will ever find yourselves near Whitehall NY but Cigar Brothers Brewing is opening next month. Small but nice, inviting space, initial taplist sounds varied and very solid, should be a cool spot.