Woodstock Rises Again – Hudson Valley 118

Woodstock Rises Again – Hudson Valley 118

By Mark A Marnell

markmarnell@yahoo.com

 The Woodstock Brewing Co. opened their taps to patrons on Friday, Jan. 5 on Route 28 in Phoenicia. The brewery has no connection with the former similarly named Kingston brewery founded by Nat Collins in 1989. Washington State native Scott Shimomura and partner Long Island native Rick Shobin officially opened the 15-bbl brewhouse with a beer slate that consists of 5.9% Simcoe heavy Parabolic Pale Ale, 6% Between Two Points Saison, 7.5% Permanent Midnight Nitro Porter, Rhetoric IPA hopped with the three Cs of Cascades, Columbus and Centennial and Entropy DIPA made with some wheat and oats and hopped with Cascade, Simcoe, Mandarina Bavaria and Galaxy. They also have a SMSH Barley Wine made with Maris Otter malt and Cascade hops that will be aged for a year in Heaven Hills Bourbon Barrels.

Feb. 1, Indian Ladder Farms and Brewery in Altamont will welcome new head brewer Scot Veltman. Scot comes to them as the former Head Brewer of C.H. Evans in Albany and will also eventually oversee the installation of a new 15-bbl system made by Fronhofer Designs in Cossayuna, NY. So it is fitting that ILF just released bottles of a collaboration made with Scot called Naughty Farmer Blueberry Barrel-Aged Wild Ale. It is a 6.5% Lambic made in much the same way that the Belgian’s do it in the Seine Valley. The ingredients were all estate grown on ILF’s farm and they include Conlon malt (sent to Hudson Valley Malt in Germantown for malting), malted oats, and a mixture of various farm-grown whole leaf hops and blueberries that were caramelized over apple wood. The turbid mash was boiled for four hours, inoculated with local microflora in a coolship, fermented for a month and then transferred to barrels with the added fruit for eight months. February 17, ILF will host their Fat Tire Bike Rally that runs a course of on-farm nature trails.

With Veltman’s exit CH Evans Brewing in Albany welcomes back Sam Pagano as their new Head Brewer. Sam returns to the Hudson Valley from Head Brewer duties at City Steam Brewery in Hartford Connecticut but he formerly worked at both Mad Jack Brewing in Schenectady and C.H. Evans at the Albany Pump Station. Belgians are the current king and queen of the brewpub in the form of 8.4% Dubbel and the 2018th version of award winning 9.7% Union Station Quad. Rip Van Winkle Brewing in Catskill is expanding its local territory by adding new accounts for their Rip Van Wit and Mountain House Helles. Their latest beer is 6% India Pale Lager hopped with 55 IBUs of Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook and Zythos. In February, they plan on releasing a new Belgian Pale Ale.

Veltman was also involved in a s a new 3-way Hudson Valley collaboration brew – a 6.4% IPL called Dr. Paul Is Not A Poodle. The three breweries involved were C.H. Evans Brewing (at The Albany Pump Station) in Albany, Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery in Altamont and Kings County Brewers Collective or KCBC in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. All of the malt was NY State grown at West Wind Farms in Schaghticoke and NY malted by Convergence Malt in Albany. The lager was singly hopped with Experimental hop 10419, obtained from Hopsteiner with a pedigree of Bravo, Serebrianka (Silver) and Wye-Target. According to Scot Veltman, the name comes ultimately from a conversation where one of the brewers thought that Dr. Paul was a poodle. Actually, Dr. Paul in the conversation referred to Hopsteiner’s hop scientist, Dr. Paul Matthews. The beer is on tap at all three brewery taprooms right now.

Keegan Ales in Kingston is selling 750-ml bottles of 4.5% Framboise and 12.5% Super Kitty Strong Ale. The 10% Double Chocolate Bourbon Barrel Aged Mothers Milk, brewed with cocoa husks and aged in Widow Jane Distillery Bourbon Barrels, is currently pouring in the taproom. The Brewery at The Culinary Institute Of America in Hyde Park will host their annual Beefsteak Dinner Feb. 3. As the name implies, look for lots of meat paired with in-house beers like their German-style Kölsch and Beefsteak Blonde. Their pop-up Post Road Brew House gastropub will open Friday and Saturdays starting in February featuring pub only CIA beers that include an imperial stout brewed with Crossroads using coffee and toasted coconut, a milk stout brewed with Paradox using raspberry and cocoa nibs and their latest class project, Tripel Crown (Belgian Tripel) brewed with Crown Maple syrup.

Brown’s Brewing turns 25 years old on Feb. 23. That’s a quarter century of independent brewing starting out in the Troy Brewpub location and their company grew to include an additional production brewery in Hoosick Falls. This is a big year for them and they plan on a flurry of new specialty beer releases throughout the year that will include bi-monthly 4-packs of 16-oz cans of variously hopped hazy and juicy IPAs in its Hashtag series; another series features 750-ml bottles of wild aged ales, released in four iterations of 1,000 bottles each, the return of Intonation DIPA and Burst IPA and the addition of Krush Golden Lager to be out in 12-oz 12 packs year round. In February, Newburgh Brewing releases a barrel-aged iteration of 11% Conspiracy Russian Imperial Stout that was aged for a year in local Hillrock Estate Distillery bourbon barrels and a 6.5% Milk Stout that is made with its second runnings.

Move over Wine and Painting Classes, Glenmere Brewing in Florida is hosting some events where you can sample a flight of their beers and make some jewelry. The events take place on the 15th of Jan. and Feb. New GBC beers include juniper infused Nordic Wood (Traditional Norwegian Farmhouse) and Dragon Fly IPA. Feb 10, the Great Nor’easter Winter Beer Fest takes place in Schenectady’s Renaissance Hall. From The Ground Brewery at Migliorelli Farms in Red Hook has a new 7.5% Are You Happy Now? IPA available now in 16-oz bottles. Look for it locally at Beer World and at local farm stands. The Beer Diviner Brewery in Cherry Plain is now serving up food like pizza, gourmet grilled sandwiches and spent grain fed local beef burgers to go with some of their new beers like 4.5% Mostly Mosaic Session IPA, 4.5% Hop Recusal Session Ale and a guest tap for local made East Hollow Cider.

Rare Form Brewing in Troy rang in the New Year with a new, bi-monthly big bottle release series. The first two out of the gate are Raw Beats IPA and Freshy Hoppy Lager to be followed by Moxie DIPA and Conflict of Brilliance Wheat Lager. Old Klaverack Brewery in Hudson has a 5.7% single barrel malt aged Coffee Brown Ale and a new 7.5% Roxbury Hollow DIPA hopped with NY Cascade, Azacca and Mosaic. Westtown Brew Works is now self distributing to select establishments in Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties. Look for their signature Farm Hand Session IPA and its stronger cousin, Farm Hand Imperial IPA. New Paltz Brewing just released its latest Teutonic themed beer: 5.4% Rauchweizen is a Hefeweizen with smoky notes and is available in their Wawarsing taproom.

Crossroads Brewing just released a limited amount of cans of their award winning Outrage IPA, made at their new Catskill production brewery. The Athens Brewpub kicked off the New Year with a visit from Hutch Kugeman from the Brewery At The CIA in Hyde Park to make a collaboration Imperial Coconut and Coffee Stout with Adam Krawczak. In February, expect a flourish of Belgian beers that include a Dubbel and a Quad. Pine Island Brewing is releasing their very first bottles of bourbon barrel aged beers: 7% Knight King is a strong ale brewed with honey and ginger and bourbon barrel aged Vanilla Bean Porter. At Hyde Park Brewing, their latest Barrel Nine specialty beer is an Oatmeal Stout and in February a new Irish Cream Lager will be on through St Patty’s Day.

Mill House Brewing in Poughkeepsie is releasing bottles of their 11% Pandemonium Imperial Russian Stout and they are in the process of buying a new labeling system. Look for HUBAR to come out in 16-oz cans followed by Citra Bridges. Hop Barn Brewing in Greenville just added a red ale and a Saaz hopped pilsner to their in-house taps and also dedicated a guest tap to Scrumpy Ewe’s Farm House Cider out of Charlotteville. The Bull and Barrel Brewpub in Brewster has released new cans of its new seasonal, 5.2% Coconut Cream Ale. Look for the first beer in a new 16-oz hoppy series of beers to be a 6.2% hazy New England IPA hopped with Galena, Chinook, Amarillo and Citra Hops. Helderberg Mountain Brewing in East Berne will be open Thursday thru Saturday during the winter with new beers including CK’s Baltic Porter, an English Old Ale and a Scottish 60 Shilling Ale. Arrowwood Farms Brewery in Accord has opened their New Paltz taproom selling all of their current beers as well as farm raised organic meat, veggies, honey and duck eggs. Yard Owl Brewing will stay open Friday-Sunday through the winter and will be serving up their latest beer, 10% NY oak barrel aged Casa Diablo. It is a Belgian Dark Strong Ale made with local Mudd Puddle cold brewed coffee.