Upstate NY in September

Suarez!!!

Their spot is beautiful, the beer is incredible, and the releases have little fuss.

 

X2, add Sloop as they are only a few minutes from Suarez.

 

+1 to Suarez for sure. That would be my number one spot on the list

 

Keep in mind that Hunter is in Greene County (west of Hudson River), whereas many of the breweries mentioned above are east of the River (Columbia County, Rensselaer Co., et al). There are bridges, of course, but you should take note of where they are, as you make your plans.

 

I've been to these 5.

Mill House, Roots and Newburgh are all great places that serve decent beers and food, but these are all pretty far from Hunter and there are better places that are closer. I have a real soft spot for Roots since I had the best grilled cheese I've ever had there, but I don't remember much about the beers.

Equilibrium is probably making the best hazy IPAs in the area outside of NYC, but they don't have a taproom yet so that's a pretty obvious skip.

Hudson Valley are worth the trip if you're into sours and sour IPAs. They do that style very well.

Also, I would just +1 what everyone else said and just do Sloop and Suarez.

@IGaveYouPower and @cavedave probably have some good advice too.

 

West Kill Brewing is one town west of Hunter. Cool spot and nice beers. That should be first on your list in terms of accessibility.

 

My wife tried their creeping thyme saisson at brunch today in Albany... she said it wasn't thyme-y enough !! Umm, ok, lady, whatever you say. That was the only West Kill on the menu, I don't care for spiced beer but I hope to try some other styles from them.


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Also for the OP: there is Crossroads Brewing, now with 2 locations in Greene County: Athens and Catskill. That's about a 1/2 drive from Hunter, I think. The Athens location is a full-service restaurant/brewpub, w/ excellent food. The Catskill location is production brewery w/ taproom.

 

West Kill is flat-out incredible. That should absolutely be stop no. 1. Phenomenal IPAs and sours, a great porter, great pilsners, they do it all well. And they've got a very nice taproom at the foot of the mountain.

Of the others you mentioned:

1) To echo others, yes, Suarez and Sloop should be must-stops. They're doing very different things but both very well and I don't think I'd get much opposition in saying that if you're looking for lower-ABV, flavorful-as-you-can-imagine farmhouse ales, nobody in the country is doing it better than Suarez right now. Least not that I'm aware of.

2) Hudson Valley and Newburgh. Hudson Valley is putting out unique sour IPAs that nobody else is really touching as well as super creative fruited sours. Definitely more than worth your time. Newburgh covers a bit wider range of styles but they do a lot well. Good IPAs, good farmhouse ales, a nice cream ale, an imperial milk stout, etc. Their taproom is fuckin' huge and beautiful and overlooks the Hudson.

3) If you come all the way up to Albany, Rare Form and Browns are the two to hit. Rare Form does a lot of styles (they have two IPAs, a cream ale, an india cream ale, an altbier, a brown and a pils on right now just as an example) and a lot of them are very good but nothing that'll blow you away. Browns, though, has come out of nowhere in the last two years or so with one of the best sour programs around and some very impressive IPAs and pales. Good food there too.

Millhouse and Druthers are very similar; great food, pretty good beer and taprooms where the restaurant is more the focal point than the bar. Nothing you'd go out of your way for.

Haven't been to 2 Way, Roots or Hunter Mountain.

Equilibrium, as was mentioned, doesn't have a taproom right now so don't bother.

New Paltz is also an option w/ Bacchus and Arrowood Farms' outpost. Bacchus is great, but the danger there is they may only have a couple of their own beers on at a time depending on what they have brewed. The rest of their list, though, always has great beer on it. Hill Farmstead, Equilibrium, Finback, etc. Haven't had Arrowood's beer but have heard good things.

 

I wouldn't make 2 Way a stop...nothing special imo.

 

From one North Carolinian to another....I’ll give yet another vote to both Suarez and Sloop. Just got back with a cooler load from both. My girlfriend’s family lives in Columbia county (east side of river across from Hunter) and we frequent those when in town. Sloop’s new location may be open by the time you go, but the Elizaville farm location is so nice. I’ll also second the vote for Crossroads in Athens. You can even ferry across the river into downtown Hudson from just across the street of Crossroads and hit up the Hudson Brewing Company right behind the train station (only if you have ample time, it’s not really that spectacular compared to all of your other possibilities). I also really like going a little further east to Chatham Brewing. Lastly, if you can swing by Hudson Valley, do it! But if people with you can’t do sours then give them a heads up. Have a great trip!!

 

I have to admit, as a lifelong Upstater, I find it pretty cool that, thanks to beer, people all over the country are developing a familiarity with other parts of the state besides just NYC ! This, after years of trying to get people to believe that, yes, NY actually does have more cows than skyscrapers.

 

Suarez and Sloop. They're such great compliments to each other.

 

Having spent most of the last decade living in downtown Manhattan I think Captain Lawrence deserves a lot of credit for putting upstate NY on the map, even if they’re not hot anymore

 

In absolutely no way, shape or form is Captain Lawrence 'upstate.' It's in Westchester county!

 

Anything over the Throgs Neck is upstate. End of discussion.

 

Yeah was a joke. How people in NYC consider upstate to be anything north of the city (or even north of certain streets haha)

 

CL is pretty solid if you're in the area and they're keeping up with current trends ie putting hazy ipas into cans. They have a nice big space and tons of beer available.

I've been working in the city for so long that I just tell people that I live upstate to make it easy on myself when people ask me where I'm from. Upstate should be anything north of the Hudson valley. Called shot.

 

Albany is where upstate starts imo as well, or anything west of Oneonta or so

 

In college I loaded trucks for UPS... Upstate for a company that specializes in getting shit to your door in a timely matter considers zip codes of 12500+ not the metro area... That's mostly true bc Metro North ends about there and Stewart's start showing up.

CL's also has a pils named the 6th Borough, seems about right to me.

 

I never knew when I did pub crawls in Bronkers I was doing a dual City and Upstate drinking in the same night.

 

OP what kind of history are you into?

I would say West Point is a must... along with Saratoga and Fort Ticonderoga those three places are three most important places in NY State in regards to the Revolution.

You also not far from Martin Van Buren house, he's largely forgotten to history, bc we tend to gloss over the period between the founders and the civil war. FDR house is also in the area.

 

Anything south of the Bear Mountain Bridge is the City.

 

Yeah the Saratoga Battlefield is awesome. In Albany there's also the Capitol Building, the U.S.S. Slater and Schuyler Mansion.

The Hudson Valley has Olana, Bannerman's Castle, Washington's Headquarters, Boscobel, etc.

 

I love Olana. Maybe it’s the eastern NC in me, or just the fact that my gf years ago quickly taught me the “more cows than skyscrapers” fact, but being up on the grounds of Olana and looking down on to rip van winkle bridge, the Hudson River, and the Catskills, it’s literally one of my favorite places when I visit. If only there was beer up there.

OP, since Oneonta made your original list, if you’ll be in that area at all, might as well hop over to Cooperstown and check out Ommegang. Their house made cheeses that use different beers almost warrant a trip in themselves. Other than that, eat at Brooks BBQ Chicken!

 

Just be careful of the Van Buren boys gang in the area.

 

Have you seen the facial hair in craft breweries, Van Buren Boys are everywhere where you find fine beer.

 

Hudson valley brewery and Newburgh brewery are 15 minutes apart so they are def. Stops in the area.
Millhouse has awesome food and a good tap list, but if you are short on time hit the first two.

 

If you're driving and looking to bring back a selection of local/regional you could also stop at a couple of shops.

If you go to Newburgh there's Party Beverages a couple of miles away. They have a nice selection, sell singles and seam to have the fairest prices.

You could also stop along the way in NJ for a selection from there. I'm occasionally in NJ for work and usually stop at the Joe Canal's in Woodbridge. It's right off the Parkway and close to 95.

 

Word, party beverages flies under the radar, really great store. In New Paltz K and E discount beverage is excellent too. Just stay away from overpriced and overrated Half time Beverage. They used to be a real beer destination, now I'd be happy to never walk through their doors again.

A note about Equilibrium, if you're near(ish) and it's not a Saturday release morning I think they're definitely worth a stop for beer to go. I went last Friday for the first time, around 5pm, and there was no wait, choice of three excellent canned DIPAs and a bottled sour and some nice glassware. Oh and maybe a half dozen Crowley choices too. Basically out of a garage bay door, nowhere to hang out, but I've been enjoying many a can of hoppy goodness since.

 

If you do check out West Point ( the military museum is great) a few miles south is Ft Montgomery. Ft Montgomery would be high water mark for the British invasion... until I Want To Hold Your Hand.

 

Near West Point is also:

New Windsor Cantonment/Purple Heart Hall:
https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/22/details.aspx
https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/38/details.aspx

Knox's Headquarters:
https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/5/details.aspx

Washington's Headquarters:
https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/17/details.aspx