All posts by John Fortunato

OLD FACTORY BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

CAIRO, NEW YORK

Inside a former bottling plant alongside Catskill Park in the trout-fishin’ town of Cairo, OLD FACTORY BREWING COMPANY has occupied this red brick walled, cement-floored warehouse space since December 26, 2020. Owned by Tim Cornelison and his son, Old Factory churns out a consistent variety of reliable mainstream fare.

A covered front porch leads patrons to the old Industrial watering hole. Its beautiful epoxy-stained ivory slate bar top with Classical gold trim siding welcomes happy quaffers with twenty seats flowing down a narrow hallway leading to a patio-tabled backspace. There are 24 draught handles stationed at the bar. The restored block wood front wall, strung Edison lights and work lamps add to the small town rusticity.

Sandwiches, wraps, burgers and mac ‘n cheese fit the small pub menu on my dusky November ’24 stopover.

Soft-tongued lemon spicing and subtle floral daubs perked up Brilliant Blonde, despite its dishwater Seltzer phenols.

Mild apple-orange-pear fruiting picked up mild fungi musk for Nutrunner Pale Ale, a honeyed pale malted moderation.

Leafy hop oils soaked the honeyed orange-red-yellow fruiting surfing the lemon Seltzer fizz of seasonal Octoberfest.

Buttery Hogan’s Alley Red retained raw-honeyed astringency for apple, orange and peach fruiting given dewy peat mossing.

Dry NEIPA, Window Bars, placed lemon-soured guava and green grape tartness next to milder orange peel sweetness.

A dark bronze hue stood out for fruitier NEIPA, Cairo Haze, regaling grapefruit, navel orange, peach and mango fruitiness over dry oated wheat.

Juicy Mosaic hopped West Coast IPA, Mosaic, showcased lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering complemented by mild mandarin orange sweetness contrasting lacquered pine resin.

The only dark ale on my autumn visit was Lil Holiday Stout, a wintry celebrator with dry-spiced chocolate roast, light vanilla creaming and pine nut toasting.

UNION STREET BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

HUDSON, NEW YORK

Entering thru a side entrance and up the stairs to a spacious beergarden across the multi-floored blue grey barn house, Hudson’s UNION STREET BREWING COMPANY, a converted 1930’s warehouse, features a black sillstone-topped bar with dual draught stations, high ceilinged wood beams, exposed rafters and piping, porcelain-styled concrete floors, a few community tables and wall-paneled benches.

Opened for biz July, 2023, Union Street spreads to the lower level, where a couched billiards room opposes a light lounge space. Brewer Keir Hamilton (formerly of Sixpoint/ Alewife) and owners Emma & Paul O’Donnell enjoy crafting ‘hop-forward’ ales alongside pleasantly understated beers (many distinctly Euro styled). Light pub cuisine went well with the approachable suds.

At noontime on a Sunday in November ’24, the black patio-furnished beergarden fills up with local families while my wife and I consume ten tidy treats at the plastic-stooled bar.

Floral lemon spicing received brusque IPA-fruited bittering (grapefruit rind, orange peel, pineapple) for sharper-than-expected German pilsner, Ten Days Of Perfect Tunes, countering its grassy hop astringency with biscuity pale malts.

Stylish banana-clove sweetness embraced the oaken vanilla-dried green grape esters of Weizenfelder, a slightly soured hefeweizen.

Zestful dry-hopped Citra-Mosaic combo powered hazy IPA, Planning An Escape, letting sunshiny lemon brighten salty gooseberry-guava tartness, yellow grapefruit bittering and mandarin orange tang atop creamy oats.

Classic West Coast-styled IPA, Tread Lightly, retained dry citric pined identity as grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering gained candied pineapple-tangerine tartness given waxy perfumed pine needling.

Utilizing Simcoe, Amarillo and Cashmere hops, dryer west Coast IPA, Cancelling Plans, sank dank pine resin into lemon-seeded grapefruit bittering over lightly honeyed malts.

Briny lemon pith bittering circled orange peel sweetness in a musky fungi setting for In The Intern, a lightly meringue-creamed saison.

Oaken white wine-barreled ‘mixed’ saison, The Sun Is Getting Heavy, dispensed buttery Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and honey mead wining for its earthen barnyard-dried pilsner malt rusticity.

Zesty orange peeled coriander spicing and grains of gingery paradise paced boozy (9.3% ABV) tripel, Superbier, spiked by rum-sugared banana, buttery Chardonnay, lemon curry and dried cherry.

Casual dark mild, A Winter’s Moon, a classic Brit session ale, let nutty burnt coffee seep into peat-smoked dark-roast hop char.

Dark-roast chicory coffee and dark cocoa enabled embittered black malts to infiltrate dry coffee stout, The Grind Never Stops, today’s final libation.

RETURN BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

HUDSON, NEW YORK

The story goes a New York-based team of brewing industry veterans came together before the autumn of 2021 and formed RETURN BREWING (initially at the former Crossroads brewery in nearby Catskill). Specializing in Eastern European-styled pilsner-lagers plus mixed fermentation ales, honey meads and barrel-aged fodder (some with foraged sources), local businessmen Mikey Lenane (ex-Sixpoint/ Hudson Valley brewer), long time pal JD Linderman and Jack Liakas share a mutual love for adventurous beer.

Across the railroad tracks from Upper Depot Brewing Company, Return’s current Hudson residency began in 2023. Its tan overhead-doored brick garage houses a 12-seat, L-shaped, yellow wood-topped bar with barrel-seated butcher block tables strewn along the rest of the cement floor. Stringed Edison lights and exposed pipes line the walls. Ciders, wines and cocktails are available as well.

My wife and I consumed a fine kolsch and stout at the crowded bar on a Friday twilight, November ’24.

I brought home Return’s Polished Pilsner, Westwhere IPA and Satin Jacket Czech-style Dark Ale (all reviewed in Beer Index).

Rustic kolsch, Come Back, let grassy-hopped lemon musk spread thru dry champagne-sparkled green apple tartness and white grape esters.

Commodious stout, Shadow Line, combined coffee-milked dark chocolate with dark caramel, bonfire toffee and maple molasses contrasted by hop-roasted oats char.

UPPER DEPOT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

HUDSON, NEW YORK

Directly across the street from Return Brewing, Hudson-based UPPER DEPOT BREWING COMPANY maintains a renovated 19th Century train station. Set in a charmingly V-shape roofed brick railroad depot with a gray wraparound deck, its post-mod Industrial wood-floored, steel-designed interior includes a 12-seat L-shaped bar featuring centralized draught handles (and 4 TV’s) plus several wood tables and a snazzy mezzanine.

Long-time friends Monty Bopp and Aaron Maas combined their love of brewing after getting established in the local culinary industry, opening Upper Depot December 28, 2022.

A Western-clad couple danced to an excellent Country bluegrass band playing along the back wall space.

My wife and I visited Upper Depot after our Return stopover to try six sound suds emanating from the sunken, stage left, wood paneled brew tanks.

Classic German pilsner, 80/20, let honeyed lemon sweetness pick up musky Hallertau hop herbage and mild grassy astringency atop cereal grained pilsner malting.

Dry lemon-peeled grassy hop musk suited flagship kolsch, Common Crossing, a dry malted moderation with slight floral herbage and sly sparkling champagne spritz.

Bitterly dry West Coast IPA, Wandering Ollie, placed zesty grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and tangy pineapple zing across pine lacquered hops over pale malt sugaring.

Juicy-fruited NEIPA, Oakdale, regaled tangy mango-pineapple-guava tropicalia and zestful orange-peeled grapefruit pith bittering seeped in mild pine resin above softly creamed wheated oats.

Brown-sugared maple molasses countered dry black chocolate for maple brown ale, Sugar Shack, a toffee-candied Tootsie Roll.

Maple-glazed dark chocolate syruping coated the dry nutty coffee tones and setback vanilla snips surfacing for sweet stout, Shop The Cooler, a fine nightcap for my post-dusk getaway.

WEST KILL BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

WEST KILL, NEW YORK

Located on a 127-acre historic dairy farm, WEST KILL BREWING utilizes locally grown and foraged ingredients to give many of its proprietary brews a slightly unique nature. Up a rickety unpaved road in the Catskill Mountains at the Devils Path hamlet of West Kill, this cozy porched barnhouse pub (with connected pergo-protected lounge area and separate merchandise/beer-to-go cabana) sits perfectly along hilly rustic tree-lined terrain.

Inside, the casual slate-floored roadhouse features eight elk-racked tap handles at the small eight-seat bar. There are several round and square tables strewn about. Outside, the fire-pitted front deck fills up at noon on a warm Friday in November ’24.

My wife and I sat in the enclosed porch at one of the benches with a friendly Newfoundland pup, quaffing West Kill’s entire mountain-watered liquid entourage.

Utilizing local Iroquois white corn for crisply roughhewn Brookie American Lager, its earthen barnyard graining, raw-honeyed lemon rot and dark floral whims added further musky rusticity to the maize-dried frontage.

Spritzy lemony orange fizziness welcomed mild Perch Golden Ale, a pale malt sugared easygoer.

Dry-hopped Kaaterskill IPA (Citra-Mosiac-Azacca-Columbus) escorted dank pine and cannabis resin to mild citrus bittering underscored by botanical gin-licked peach, tangerine, cantaloupe and honeydew snips.

Breezy floral citrus-bound Hazy IPA, Duck Camp, placed mild orange-peeled yellow grapefruit and pineapple tanginess plus light pining above honeyed pale malting.

An interesting dark mild variant with oak and maple leaves, Leave It To Be (a collab with Maine’s Bunker Brewing) draped maple syrup upon toasted maple and oak bark, picking up subtle cocoa-dried chestnut, almond and cola conflux.

“Velvety” cocoa nibs-aged chocolate porter, Dark Hollow, let its nutty dark chocolate roast and dry coffee tones reach mossy soy-milked dewiness for a pleasant nightcap.

YARD HOUSE – WEST NYACK

BEER PUB,

WEST NYACK, NEW YORK

On the fourth floor of Palisades Center in West Nyack, YARD HOUSE is part of a beer-chained franchise originally founded in Long Beach, California during 1996. Providing six conventional mainstay brews alongside dozens of guest craft beers and fine pub cuisine, Yard House captures the sportsbar crowd, heady beer enthusiasts and families alike.

During November ’24, my wife and I perused the spacious malled pub house.

Classic Golden Pilsner let sour lemon musk and astringent herbage join hay-like barnyard acridity.

Succinct House Lager 125 seeped red-orange fruiting into musky floral hops and dry pale malts.

Yard House’s Honey Blonde seeped orange blossom sweetness into mild grassy hop bittering that lingered into the vanilla-daubed creaming.

Laidback orange-peeled coriander sweetened Belgian White, bringing zesty lemon, mild herbage and light creaming to the surface.

Bronze-hued India Pale Ale placed lightly embittered lemony grapefruit and orange rind bittering across juniper-licked pine and cedar woodiness.

Dry-hopped Hazy IPA, a streamlined yellow-hazed moderation with mellow yellow grapefruit, navel orange, pineapple and peach zesting reached mild oated wheat creaming.

SEAN’S BAR & KITCHEN

BEER PUB,

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

In the heart of Manhattan within walking distance to Broadway shows and Rockefeller Center, SEAN’S BAR & RESTAURANT opened during September 2016. Offering fine pub cuisine alongside 54 rotating draughts beers and a large booze selection, Sean’s quickly gained an audience with local beer and spirits goblins.

Sean’s long marble top bar features 3 large TV’s for sportsbar enthusiasts and across the way is right side dining. The resilient tile floor, olden wood furnishings and beer paraphernalia secure the black art deco walled NYC pub.

Though Sean’s does not brew on premise, there were five reliably conservative proprietary beers on hand during my October ’24 visit prior to hitting fabulous Broadway show, Hadestown.

Dry pilsner malt graining surfaced near hay-like barnyard astringency and lemony licks of Sean’s Pils, light-bodied German fodder.

Crisp pale wheat-malted Sean’s Lager brought mild IPA-like citrus bittering to the fore.

Dried red and orange fruiting laced Sean’s Irish Red, a standard amber grained moderation with phenol hops.

Summery Sean’s Golden Wheat allowed white wheat breading to reach yellow fruited sunshine in a lightly creamed froth.

Dark chocolate and maple molasses posted gains for milky sweet Sean’s Porter, a casually nutty medium body.

8 WIRED RENDITION OF THE DEVIL GOLDEN STRONG ALE

Beers A-Z, ,

Wonderful New Zealand-crafted Belgian strong blonde ale lets spritzy lemon sparkle prickle rum-spiced banana sweetness, botanical orange musk and buttery Chardonnay wining as fungi yeast herbage spreads thru vanilla creamed ginger, clove and coriander spicing. Dainty on the tongue yet understatedly intense. A perfect Belgian styled rendition from Down Under.