Hudson Valley Craft Breweries

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

by Peter Barrett and photographs by Jennifer May, January 27, 2010

Beer is as old as civilization, and has a long history in New York, too. Matthew Vassar, founder of Vassar College, was a brewer, and by the middle of the 19th century, New York grew 85 percent of the hops in America. Over time, blight and mildew became big problems and production moved west to drier states; the Pacific Northwest now grows most domestic hops. Hops produced in New York today are grown by small farmers and home brewers, which may be fitting; there’s a real craft-beer renaissance brewing in the Hudson Valley, and everyone responsible turned pro after learning the craft at home. Instead of the impersonal and oft-bewildering wall of options—many industrially made, or from far away—that confronts us in the supermarket aisle, the local brewery offers comfort, quality, and community. And beer.


Take a growler

At the end of a short alley off Main Street in Chatham lies the Old Chatham Brewery, co-owned by Tom Crowell and Jake Cunningham since 2006. This is the punk rock end of the microbrewing spectrum; in a 20-by-30-foot garage crammed with fermenters, kegs, and hoses, brewer Matt Perry produces 500 barrels per year of five “flavors” of beer from their 3 1⁄2-barrel system (a barrel is 31 1⁄2 gallons). Loyal customers line up in the alley every Saturday to chat, taste the offerings, and fill growlers. A growler is a half-gallon jug, which works out to eight ounces shy of a six pack; they’re best consumed fairly soon after opening, since the carbonation will escape in a partly empty bottle. Because of that, Crowell and Cunningham plan to introduce 22-ounce labeled “bomber bottles”—at two glasses, a more manageable size than a growler for weeknights or lightweights.

Their ales range from a Belgian-inflected blond, lightly spiced with orange and coriander, through a well-balanced, satisfying amber to a porter with a big, dark flavor and a light body. An IPA (India Pale Ale, named for the British beer developed for long ocean voyages to the colonies; extra hops acted as a preservative) makes a regular appearance, as do seasonal brews. Currently on tap is a very maple-flavored amber ale that’s best suited for drinking with pancakes on a Sunday morning. In addition to selling from the brewery, Chatham is carried by bars and restaurants throughout the area and in New York City. Crowell also sees growler-filling stands at farmers’ markets as a possibility in the near future.

On the macro end of the micro scene sits Kingston’s Keegan Ales. The biggest producer in the valley, at 2,500 barrels per year, Keegan is also the only brewery to bottle its product. For this reason, 99 percent of what they make is their three well-loved brands, which neatly trisect the spectrum into yellow, red, and black. Old Capital, their golden ale, is a good choice for those who fear opacity in their beverages but who want a far more yeasty complexity than mass-market brands. Hurricane Kitty, named for owner Tom Keegan’s speed-demon grandmother, is an über-IPA: a rich, tangy, hopped-up reminder that hops are close relatives of marijuana. Mother’s Milk, a stout that Keegan describes as an “homage to Guinness,” is a bittersweet espresso smoothie of a beer that flirts with the edge of burnt and has a luscious creamy texture from the lactose used in the brew (hence the name).

Keegan also makes a tiny run of two specialty beers, each a turbocharged version of his darker offerings: Super Kitty, the IPA re-fermented with local honey and aged in bourbon barrels, and Joe Mama’s Milk, the Stout re-fermented with brown sugar and fortified further with a shot of coffee from Monkey Joe Roasting Co. just down the road, making it another excellent breakfast beer. The extra steps boost the alcohol and add more layers of flavor, but Keegan’s style is so assertive to begin with that the normal versions have character to spare, offering sustained pleasure over multiple glasses. Keegan’s beers won top honors at the TAP festival last year for Best Craft Brewery in both the Hudson Valley and New York State, and he has plans to expand over the next few years by either enlarging his facility or outsourcing some of the production with an eye toward increasing production by about 1,500 barrels a year. Despite the growth, Keegan estimates that he’s on a first-name basis with about 80 percent of his customers.