Two well-respected local breweries are putting their beer in cans for the first time this spring, just in time for your summer barbecues, picnics, beach days, and hiking trips. Peekskill Brewery will debut two offerings in cans this Friday, and Threes Brewing will release two of their brews in cans next Friday.
New arrivals to New York’s cavalcade of beer options will leave your head spinning. Or worse, it’ll leave you scratching your head, wondering “who the hell makes that beer?” We’ve got your answers right here, as we introduce you to four breweries that made their NYC debuts this month: New Belgium, Urban Chestnut, von Trapp,and Duclaw.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) makes remarks yesterday at Three Heads Brewery’s ribbon cutting in Rochester (Photo: Governor’s Office)
The push by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration to support the state’s small beer makers continued this week, as the governor announced new legislation to roll out a host of reforms to New York’s liquor laws. The proposal was expected after a Working Group made recommendations to modernize the state’s Blue Laws to better reflect thes state’s growing beer, wine, and spirits industry and challenges that have arisen as a result. For consumers, the most significant change would finally allow Sunday sales of alcohol before noon at on-premise license holders like bars and restaurants.
Brooklyn Breweryannounced today that they will construct a new location in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The brewery will be housed in Building 77, a future food manufacturing hub that is currently undergoing a major renovation. The ground-floor brewery will be accompanied by a rooftop beer garden sixteen stories above that the brewery calls “truly massive,” and will be close to their recently-announced barrel-aging facility at the Yard.
Queens has come a long way from having exactly zero breweries and a handful of beer bars five years ago. The borough now boasts eight breweries and a plethora of options for drinking local beer from Bayside to Astoria. So it’s no surprise that people there are finding a reason to celebrate the borough’s beer scene… Queens Beer Week is back for a third year, kicking off Friday and running through May 22nd.
There’s a whole host of events to celebrate beer in the borough, including a kickoff party along the East River on Saturday with all proceeds going to Hunters Point Parks Conservancy (tickets are available here), a party and beer release to celebrate Finback Brewery’s second anniversary on Sunday, a reading of lousy Untappd reviews by local brewers at
Crescent and Vine on Thursday, and a party marking Singlecut Beersmiths’ housewarming (they just bought the building their brewery is housed in) to close out the week.
And since Queens Beer Week is a great time to explore the borough’s breweries, there’s a Passport you can pick up at any brewery that – if stamped at 7 of the 10 locations – will get you entered to win a host of different beer-related prizes.
This year, there’s also a few collaboration beers to celebrate the occasion. Singlecut and Transmitter made two goses (the QBW Gose brewed at Singlecut, the QBW1 brewed at Transmitter), Rockaway and Bridge & Tunnel whipped up a smoked cream ale, and Finback and Big Alice made an American Sour called Cabana Shirt. Look for those at venues throughout the week, including all of them at Forest Hills Station House on Tuesday night.
Here comes the list of events… for more details on all the events, just click on through to our calendar.
Yesterday, news spread like a plague through mainstream media that Budweiser would relabel its cans as “America” through Election Day. The news dominated the beer Twitterverse, was peppered in newscasts, and even made it into a interview with a presidential candidate within 24 hours. It’s the latest in a long line of attempts to direct attention to a dying brand that’s lost a third of its market share in the last decade and continued to suffer this year in spite of an aggressive ad campaign that painted Budweiser as a bold, “not backing down” brand.
But if a small brewery sees ABInbev products as a threat, here’s the best thing they can do to respond to this latest publicity ploy: ignore it.