My wife and I are going to be up in Gardiner this weekend, and I noticed there's a brewery there called Yard Owl. Does anyone have any information on them and is it worth making time to stop by? Big space? Good/bad for kids? Their website and facebook page are pretty lacking in information in terms of beers. I see they have a citra saison, but not much else that was recently posted. Also, I did a search on BA and saw some mentions from hudson valley BAs, but nothing too specific. Thanks in advance.
One of the very few spots in that area I haven't hit. Never really heard anything about them one way or another. My advice (if possible) is to drive 10 minutes north to New Paltz and hit Bacchus and Arrowood Outpost.
We started the day off in Gardiner. The town was doing a craft market walk, with Yard Owl being one of the stops. There were a lot of out of towners like ourselves in the town and the brewery. The brewery itself is quite large with a lot of tables and open space. The staff were all friendly despite the huge crowd of people. I had their 540 IPA and Farmhouse Ale. Both were decent. I'd probably stop by again if I was in the area to sample more of their beers when they are not as slammed. Thanks to @IGaveYouPower 's suggestion we then drove up to New Paltz. Arrowood Outpost is down a flight of stairs and not easily seen from the road. The place is pretty small, but really nice. We were the only ones there for a while, so we chatted with the staff for a bit. They gave us a lot of suggestions of things to do in the area. They suggested we go to Huckleberry for dinner, but we were set on Bacchus. I had all of the beers they currently had on tap, and their wild ale Porch Beer was far and away my and my wife's favorite. It was very tart and perfect for the hot day. Bacchus is a bit of a dive, but they had a really impressive taplist. I definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area. They seemed to slant towards sours and wild beers which was perfect for my wife. She really enjoyed their house sour States of Mind.
@Xerlic You better watch out with that dive comment, Bacchus was my stomping ground my last few semesters at NP.
No disrespect meant to bacchus. I say dive in the best way with so many craft beer bars wanting to be gastropubs. The food and beers were both great.
When I was in college, and mind you, this is the late 90s they used to have a special...$3 Optimators. When you’re a college kid with a drinking problem, that’s a hell of a bargain. They didn’t make beer when I was living there, but their selection (all imports back then) was top notch. Their black bean soup was always tits too.
Yeah I got turned on to Bacchus a few years ago when the now-Hudson Valley Brewing guys were there. I had Pirouette, a stone fruit wild ale, and it was one of those you-remember-exactly-where-you-were-when-you-first-tried-it beers. Just stunning. And they're still pumping out great house beers with the new brewer.
