Suarez Family Brewing (2018)

Been up to the Catskills tons over the years (rented a house there in June and went to Suarez, loved it)

But last time I properly camped (a little over three years ago) we (my wife and I, along with a friend and his wife) hiked round Kaaterskill Mountain and camped for the night mid-hike. My friend (who likes to think of himself as Bear Grylls) forced the rest of us to camp down in the forest rather than up at the campsite by North Lake where all the normal people go. Needless to say a bear walked past our tent just as it was getting dark and we were eating dinner. Spent the night shitting it (understood those aren't grizzlies but when you're actually there it's hard to think super rationally). Another bear walked between our tents during the night. Fun times

 

Yeah for sure. Stand by it! Suarez and HF (unsurprisingly) - only two breweries where I would truly make a completely blind purchase

 

Based on experience... get at least twice as much beer as you originally wanted. You can never have enough Suarez and that's a pretty long drive.

 

This. Think to yourself how much you would buy, and then double it. Suarez is just that good and you will be saying to yourself “damn, I should have bought more” no matter how much you brought back.

 

We just got back yesterday. What a fantastic weekend. I stopped by Suarez on Friday afternoon in fear of epic lines on Saturday, there were only like 6 dudes visiting from Sweden there. That's it. I picked up a couple four packs of Qualify Pils and 2 bottles of each that they offered (Backroads, Call to Mind, Proclivity).

You guys are right, it was easily some of the best beer I've had in America. Pretzels were excellent as well. Saunter (english dark mild) was the sleeper hit for me, I love milds and this was probably the best I've had. I loved all of the beer so much I returned the very next day (I happened to be in the area) for just a bit more beer (y'all were right....when you think you got enough go buy more) and an awesome .2l mini-mug. Dan was kind enough to hold the door open for me on the way in; I felt giddy like a school girl. I wanted to give him the 'ol Wayne's World "we're not worthy!!!" but I restrained myself. Seriously though, the fact they made a pilsner the apex of brewing, along with world class Belgiums....I just can't praise them enough, and I haven't even cracked a bottle yet! Very worthy of the all praise they've received.

Thanks again, folks, hope I can make the trip up again someday soon

 

Oh man I am jealous as f**k about that mild!

Glad you had a good time - how was the camping?

 

The mild is on tap at a few bars in BK as of today. May try to get some after work tonight.

 

Thanks, man.

I should've clarified earlier, my mistake....it wasn't true hiking/camping more like "glamping". I was feeling lazy AF so we used a pretty cool site/app called Tentrr where you can rent out a prefab tent. It's sorta like Airbnb but with tents on people's private property (which is pretty cool in and of itself, because sometimes the best places to camp are located on private property lol). They basically come out to people's land and make sure it's secluded enough, setup a campsite and people can just rent it out for a period (it worked out well, probably headed up north to PA/NY for October foliage). Anyway, to answer your question it turned out to be awesome; there was a nice creek going right behind the camp site which was great. No bears at night thankfully, just a few Barred Owls woke us up at 3AM hooting at each other (being a birder, I didn't complain)

Also I snapped a couple cool pics of Qualify Pils by the creekside (sorry for the crappy pour...I was distracted by not-eating-shit onto the rocks).



This one shows the creek a bit more....I left out the deeper wading pools to my right. It was a blast.



Cheers!

 

Curious, what's everyone's favorite non-bottle Suarez beer? I'm thinking Crispy Little and Hecto for me....

 

Palatine?

 

If you’re not excluding cans, it’s Palatine.

If you are, then likely hecto.

 

Not canned or bottled: Bones Shirt or While.

 

Hecto, with Round the Bend a close 2nd

 

Palatine is one of the best beers I've ever had. Period. Hecto and Ms. Frank are amazing too.

 

Bones Shirt is so, so good. For sure it's my favorite offering from them that hasn't been bottled or canned.

 

Any idea how long previous Merkels have lasted?

 

Should be fine within two weeks, and maybe a stretch longer…maybe

+ canning run of Palatine this week

 

I think you just gave me reason enough to make my first trip up there!