Hoyt Avenue is Hit. Again.

Hoyt Avenue in Mamaroneck, New York flooded yesterday. Again. The street is the current home to Half Time Beverage and New York Craft Coalition (NYCC) (a new venture that includes Marlowe Ales and Barclay Brewing.) Without change, this won’t be the last time it floods.

But what level of change is needed and who is responsible? Do they need to install some detention basins to capture the water on the Hoyt Avenue property? Does the region need to implement green infrastructure measures to naturally cope with stormwater runoff? Does the world need to take actions that will meaningfully fight climate change? For a small brewery, there’s a lot that you simply cannot control.

One might say you can choose where to open your business, including areas not prone to flooding, but that’s easier said than done. For starters, there are local zoning regulations that dictate where land uses can be located. That immediately eliminates a substantial amount of land, and in areas that developed before the advent of rail and truck shipping, it often means being near a waterbody where industrial development was historically located.

Flooding in front of Half Time/NYCC September 29, 2023 (Image: Reuters).

In the case of Halftime and NYCC, it’s in the floodplain of the Sheldrake River. Not surprisingly, it has flooded in the past, including the four feet of water it brought into the space in September of 2021 thanks to Hurricane Ida. Back then, Decadent Ales occupied the NYCC space.  

The recent storm didn’t bring as much flooding to the Sheldrake floodplain. And while other places in the area like Brooklyn were hit hard, to my knowledge, Strong Rope and Wild East in the low-lying Gowanus neighborhood were the only breweries that reported flooding.  

Marlowe Ales hasn’t had it easy lately. After contract brewing with Twelve Percent Beer Project, the business found a home in Nyack, New York, but it was short-lived after one of the oddest closings the industry has likely seen. In the middle of service one night, the landlord had the business shut down after just six months of being open, leaving them without a home. But that’s another story.

Marlowe Ales posted these images on their Instagram account showing the clean up after the flooding.

A new opportunity sprung up with Barclay Brewing to take over the Decadent Ales space in Mamaroneck and the New York Craft Coalition was born. It’s in a location carved out of Half Time, which is a retail beer emporium with another location in Poughkeepsie, New York. The two breweries share the space, which includes a small brewhouse, as well as a taproom with a restaurant.

Securing space for a small brewery that is affordable and allowed by zoning is not easy. Just like when people search for their personal home, there are some tradeoffs. Half Time’s space has a lot of positives going for it. The flooding was likely something NYCC was aware of, but accepted knowing that you will never find the perfect location.  

It’s unclear what’s next for Half Time and NYCC. Half Time has already reopened, but what are long-term measures they are thinking about to avoid future flooding on the site? Marlowe noted on their social media that the flooding damaged equipment, finished products, and raw ingredients. They’re closed until further notice, except for sales of products to go. For the time being, support for them/NYCC can be given by buying their beer and merchandise. You can do that here.

An earlier post had me flipping through an old book that brings up memories that are a bit nostalgic now. And though I’ve had Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide for around twenty years, it still fascinates me. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite drinkware from the book.   

Published in 2000, the Great Beer Guide is a fantastic book and offers a nice snapshot of what the beer world was like at the time. It does this by offering a brief overview of 500 beers from around the world.

While many think of the United States beer culture as still being in the dark ages in the year 2000, there’s an impressive number of beers from the States represented in the book. Though Jackson may have been a bit polite in some cases, there are many that are or were, excellent.

In addition to the 500 brews, the book also provides some other thoughts about beer that he explores in greater detail in some of his other works like Ultimate Beer. This sharing of similar content may be because both of these books in particular were published by DK.

Though there are many iconic vessels in the book that I appreciate (Tripel Karmeliet, for example), I decided to share some less obvious examples here.

Enough of the background. Here they are.

Berliner Bürgerbräu and Dock Street

With their colored handles, these glasses give a little flair to glassware that you don’t find these days in the beer world. Though there are very slight differences, these two are incredibly similar in shape, which is also something I appreciate.  

Jackson explains that in the case of Bürgerbräu, the red handle was used for their Export lager, and customers would order a “robin redbreast” (Rotkehlchen, in German, which is actually the name of this particular beer.)

It would be cool to see breweries/manufacturers experimenting with colored glassware again. Perhaps gold or silver handles with a matching rim.

Fraoch And Grozet

Though these are not my favorite looking vessels, I greatly appreciate the use of materials (ceramic and leather) and forms that were in widespread use before the proliferation of glass. Outside of Bavaria, few beer drinking cultures were still using non-glass drinking vessels once glass became cheap and readily available.

Both of these brands are produced by Williams Bros. Brewing Company in Scotland (Alba Scots Pine Ale is another beer of theirs featured in the book.)

Fullers and Jennings

These mugs have a presence that are at the same time sophisticated and substantial. They just seem to command respect. Though the lack of curvature is not ideal, there’s something about them that draws me in.

Guinness

There’s nothing wrong with the classic tulip Guinness pint glass, but this stout pokal/goblet is a bit cooler looking and is a little more unique, which an iconic beer deserves. Guinness still sells a glass in a similar design, but I like the one in Jackson’s book better.

Hoepfner

I like the artwork on this glass and also the nonic-ish bump.

Königsbacher

Having a first and last name beginning with a K, I’m drawn in by this glass’ K stem. It’s surprising we don’t see stuff like this more often.

Mitchell’s

I don’t know why, but I was always fascinated by these plastic bottles in my early years of beer nerdom. And yes, this post is about drinkware, but I feel this is worth mentioning here.

I always kept an eye out for these bottles not realizing that there was zero chance of me ever finding them in a store where I lived. Though that’s the main reason I’m mentioning Mitchell’s, the branded glassware depicted with the beer is very nice.

Okocim

This Polish beer is depicted with the book’s only Tübinger. Not just any old Tübinger, but one with a lid (called a Zinndeckel in German). Not sure we need more of these, but still pretty cool.

St. Georgen Bräu

I’m admittedly a sucker for St. Georgen Bräu, and I love drinking it out of a stein in particular.  In this case, the shape and artwork all click for me. I’d love to get my hands on one of these.

Other observationS From the book

-        Black Sheep of the UK and Domus of Belgium have beers depicted in Weizen glasses.

-        The book is short on dimple mugs, particularly the Czech-style Tübinger (there’s just the Okocim) and British Dimple pots (there are none).

-        Despite the American notion that nonics are the ubiquitous UK beer glass, there are very few in the book. They include Fuller’s (for a different beer than above) and Woodforde (though there are a couple other nonics that are unbranded).

 Most UK/Irish glasses are presented in tulip pints and shakers (aka, conicals.) This includes Adnams, Bank’s, Beamish, Cobbold, Greene King, Murphy’s, Pitfields, Sam Smiths, and Ushers for the former, and Bass, Batemans, Cain’s, Caledonian (Scotland), Charles Wells, Eldridge Pope, Highgate & Walsall, Hopback, King and Barnes, Marston’s, Shepherd Neame, Youngs for the latter.

 -        Of course, a significant number of US breweries are presented in shakers including the following: Alaskan, Anchor, Bert Grants, Fish Tale Ales, Geary’s, Great Lakes, Hale’s, Independence, Magic Hat, North Coast, Odell, Oliver, Portland, Pyramid, Red Hook, Rogue, Sierra Nevada, Southampton, and Tabernash.

 -        Malt Shovel from Australia is in a shaker as is Haecht from Belgium. Though it may seem odd for a Belgian brewery to be featured in a shaker, it is classed up with a gold rim.

-        There are a good amount of pokals in the book, including Ayinger, Bacchus, Bitburger, and Harvey’s.

 -        There are also lots of Willibechers, including Alfa and Brand from the Netherlands, Cristal from Belgium, Flatlanders, Gordon Biersch and Penn from the US, and Gambrinus from Czechia.

I’m curious what a 2023 edition of this book would look like. Probably a lot more British and Czech-style dimple mugs, Tekus, and snifter/tulip style glasses. What are some of your favorite examples of brewery drinkware past or present?  

Image courtesy of Stiegl.

It’s surprising that Stiegl Goldbräu hasn’t caught on with all the hype over lager the last few years. Austria as a whole seems off the radar for most beer drinkers. But the landlocked central European country makes world-class beer and ranks second in per capita beer consumption next to Czechia.  

I doubt many Austrians are bothered by this oversight. It seems they’re content to keep their beer to themselves (this is total speculation).

By and large, the beer style they drink is their version of Märzen, a version that differs from brews that bear that name in Germany. It’s an Austrian pale lager, and Goldbräu is one example that is available in the States.

Pale lager? That’s right. If you think Austrians are drinking amber Vienna Lager, they’re not. Not much, anyway. It’s an anomaly there.  

(For more reading on Austrian beer culture past and present, I recommend this post by Adrian Tierney-Jones and this one by Jeff Alworth.)

Tasting Goldbräu, one familiar with pale Czech or German lager will not find something vastly unfamiliar. Though proximity is no guarantee for similarity, the resemblance shouldn’t come as a surprise as Salzburg, where Stiegl is based, is just a few hours from Munich and Pilsen. There are subtle differences though.

Austrian Märzen is not Helles. It has a little more oomph. It’s not Czech pale lager. It lacks the character of Czech hops and likely has not undergone as much decoction. It’s also not a Maibock, lacking that deep malt character. It’s perhaps most like a modern Festbier, just a little lower in ABV.

Austrians love to use Austrian-grown ingredients, which helps distinguish their beer a bit. Goldbräu is no exception. The beer has been in production since 1912 and it features hops from the Mühlviertel region and barley from the Weinviertel region. Water is from the mountains around Salzburg.

It’s an all-Pilsner malt beer that is accentuated with a decoction mash. These days, that makes it different than most German pale lagers. Not the Czechs, though.

The beer is hopped with Magnum, Aurora and Hallertauer Tradition hops. Sure, these aren’t landrace varieties, which were decimated long ago, but as we all know, ingredients vary when grown in different regions.

The 12-degree beer (5-percent ABV) is spunded for natural carbonation and has an aroma with a touch of spice and citrus/lime. These carry through to the taste that’s supported by a pleasant bready/straw flavor. It’s crystal clear and has a nice bitter finish.

It’s worthwhile to note that Stiegl beers bear the “Slow Brewing” quality seal from the Slow Brewing Institute. The institute promotes properly brewed beer and breweries that incorporate sustainable business practices. The institute’s website states “the Slow Brewing seal of approval begins where the Purity Law ends” adding, “slow brewers are committed to slow fermentation and gentle maturation.” Cool.

Stiegl Pokal. Image source Stiegl.

Aside from the fact that all this adds up to Goldbräu being a fantastic beer, I’m drawn in by the brewery’s whole aesthetic. It feels timelessly cool. In particular, I love the brewery’s typography and its glassware. Especially its pokal-style Pilsner glass (see immediately above). However, the brewery would recommend you enjoy Goldbräu with their Stiegl Becher (see the top photo above), which is essentially the same glass. Still footed, but with no stem.

I’ve wanted the stemmed glass for a while, and my birthday is next month. Just saying.

The shaker pint and the Teku are two of the most despised beer glasses, and besides both being glass vessels used for drinking, they have nearly nothing in common. One is an incredibly basic shape; a conical tumbler that has been around forever for all kinds of uses. The other is a modern creation. An angular, stemmed glass made specifically for beer.

Neither are worthy of much loathing (I mean, they’re just glasses, people), yet beer nerds have very strong opinions on them. I find them interesting as they are so different, and, at the same time, so debated in the contemporary beer world. (I think. Probably. Right? Is this just my perception? Probably the shaker more than the Teku.)

Shakers have been part of beer culture for much longer than Tekus. Some are better than others due to their manufacturing. Countless breweries in the United States have used them. Many breweries that sell/use more interesting glassware will still sell/use shaker pints.

The term “pints” is used loosely here. They can come in varying sizes, which is part of the reason some don’t care for it. The unpredictability of what a “pint” is when you order one. That’s a matter that is formally regulated in other beer-drinking cultures.

Do they add much to your drinking experience? No, not really. But do they really detract to the level that they deserve the hatred they receive? No, not really. Knocking others for using them is a little gatekeepy. I was probably like this at one point. I also shunned Nirvana when I was a kid because they were on a major label. I grew up. Shaker haters can too. They’re not that bad.

Some of the criticisms are that they lack features that elevate the drinking experience (aroma, e.g.) and that their thick composition creates issues with temperature. An argument is that the thicker glass retains the heat from one’s hand more so than thinner glass. This assumes people hold their beer the entire time they drink it and will cradle the beer long enough for this to become an issue.  

Tekus were created in 2006 in Italy and are produced by the German glassware company Rastal. Technically, the name is spelled TeKu, representing the names of the two creators, Teo Musso and Lorenzo “Kuaska” Dabove. Musso is the brewer/owner of the Italian brewery Birra Baladin.

The websites for both Rastal and Baladin include fluffy language about how great the Teku glass is. It’s pretty. It has a modern look and works well if you like/want a stemmed glass. I like that it was specifically designed for beer and the way the curve at the top hugs the lip. Beyond that, I don’t think there are any major differences between it and most other stemmed beer/wine glasses with a decent bowl shape. This may be the reason why others gripe about it. Is it really necessary? The main complaint people seem to have about the Teku is its shape, which many people find a bit pompous, or simply unattactive.

Some of the content in this table might appear a little contradictory. But I suppose it’s possible that, for example, the Teku can be elegant and showy at the same time. Likewise, the shaker has a simple design that can be beneficial and dull at the same time. Yes, it’s basic, but sometimes basic is cool too. Tekus may help concentrate aroma, but if you have an already aromatic beer, you will still get a great sense of that if you hover your beak over a shaker.

This post is by no means a call for beer bars to start making use of either of these glasses. There are plenty of other options that are better suited for most. But if a beer bar were to use a shaker pint, it’s worthwhile to invest in a quality product. For example, Rastal makes Tekus, but they also offer a variety of shaker-style glasses that are high quality.

And just like all other glassware, once you’ve made the investment, you need to properly care for it even if it’s a shaker (i.e. no stacking, properly cleaning, etc.) Most importantly, as a customer, try not to let glassware style preferences get you bent out of shape when you’re served a beer. If you can put your feelings aside, there’s a pretty good chance you can still enjoy your beer no matter what the glass is. With all the challenges we face in life, glassware styles are something to enjoy and celebrate, but never something that should cause an uptick in our blood pressure. Except for those goddamn cheap UK-style dimple mugs everyone uses for lager.

It’s highly unlikely that anyone thinks 2023 is going to be the year cask beer makes a comeback. That said, I continue clutching to any signs of hope. And there are some. Before getting to the glass half full, lets get the bad news out of the way.

In October of last year, Seattle’s Machine House Brewery announced its future was up in the air. With their lease up in June of ’23, their new landlord is using the opportunity to jack up the rent. The unaffordable increase is forcing the brewery to look elsewhere or consider closing up shop.

Machine House Brewery, Seattle.

I’m grateful I was able to make it there last year. The beer was great, and Seattle has been incredibly lucky to have them. The bad news is making me very anxious to see what their next move is.   

Speaking of closures, the last few months have been grim for breweries in cask beer’s homeland. It seems we don’t go more than a few days without hearing another UK brewery is closing.

And cask beer continues to struggle there. This was stressed in a September 2022 blog post on the subject by Pete Brown where he said, “it’s time to cauterise the wound that’s bleeding out.”   

A key point he makes is that there are too many pints being served that are in bad form. This is in many ways due to a lack of turnover, which is crucial for a beer style that only has a few days after the cask is tapped before starting to go bad. Greedy or uneducated pubs will ignore or overlook this issue.

This is problematic because the bad beer will send cask enthusiasts away from a pub. Likely not to return. At least not for cask beer. They’re also likely to spread the word to other customers. And for those new to cask, well, there’s never a second chance to make a first impression.

Brown suggests the pubs with low turnover should stop selling cask. Take out the hand pumps. He says, “once you’ve stopped the rot, you can start the recovery. Once you can be sure that curious, younger drinkers will be served a pint that won’t put them off for life, you can feel safe giving them good reasons to try it.” It’s too soon to tell whether these words have resonated in an enduring way.

Now to the optimistic bit. Despite all the bad news, there continues to be great brewers making cask beer and great pubs that serve them in the UK. Older breweries including Fuller’s, Timothy Taylor’s, Greene King, and Harvey’s continue to crank out well-received casks. Others like Black Sheep, Titanic, Abbeydale, Marble, and Coniston do as well. But what is perhaps most promising is that a younger generation of brewers are carrying on the tradition, putting their spin on cask beer and breathing life into this traditional format. This includes breweries like Thornbridge, Five Points, Fyne Ales, and RedWillow.

Further, there are still iconic pubs that have the knowledge to properly care for and serve these beers. Places like The Southampton Arms, The Marble Arch, and The Rutland Arms.

Full disclosure, I say all this as someone who has never set foot on the island (if anyone wants to sponsor a trip there for me to find out what’s happening firsthand, my DMs are open.)

Speaking of Black Sheep, they’re holding their ‘Drink Cask Beer’ festival in late April. It’s being held in support of their broader campaign launched last year with the same name as the festival. Find out more info about the fest here, and the campaign here. Watch the video. It’s great.

Bulls Head Public House, Lititz, Pennsylvania

Stateside, there has been no noticeable shift in cask beer consumption. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s not getting better, but it's also not getting worse.

Bulls Head Public House in Lititz, Pennsylvania is still pulling cask pints in tip-top shape. In addition to having casks from brewers in the region that excel in making cask beer, they’re fortunate to get casks from overseas as well. On my recent pass through there, they had Harviestoun’s Ola Dubh 12 Year Special Reserve Imperial Porter and Forest and Main’s pub ale called ‘Stone Flower’. The latter is a British-style beer but brewed with Munich malt.

Not too far away from Bulls Head, Bethlehem’s Bonn Place Brewing Company is also holding steady with its mix of traditional ales and contemporary beers. Bonn has a good approach to their cask program. They tap just one cask each week on Wednesday or Thursday, and it usually goes within two to three days. Perfect timing for cask beer. Not perfect for me as I stopped by recently on a Saturday night and their pub ale called ‘Mooey’ had just kicked from the hand pull. They still had it on nitro though, which was lovely.  

Bonn Place Brewing Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Though not the cask version, this nitro draft of their Bitter ‘Mooey’ was tasting good.

Dutchess Ales recently tapped a cask of ‘Mizmaze’, their ESB, at The Grand Delancey in New York City. This is one of my favorites from them, so I stopped in for a couple. Owner Mike Messenie was around for the event and promptly asked the staff to remove the sparklers from the hand pull. Though I don’t have strong feelings on this issue, I get a kick out of those that do. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this article by Lily Waite.

I’m really happy to see that Dutchess is still in the cask game, still incredibly passionate about their beer, and still ensuring the places that serve them are doing so in a way that meets their standards. This is critical to the success of cask sales.

‘Mizmaze’, and ESB by Dutchess Ales.

On the other side of the East River, Brooklyn, New York’s Strong Rope Brewery held its 7th Caskiversary on February 4th.  The event featured local breweries, and this year’s lineup seemed to have less messing around with styles than last year. To me, that’s a great thing. I get the urge to want to do something unique, a one-off, but honestly, a pint of cask Bitter is unique. It’s a rare opportunity to simply have traditional, or contemporary style beer, from a cask. No need to add gummy bears, or whatever. I tasted a couple of very good Bitters, a Stout, a Dubbel, and even a couple of good lagers.

There were some carbonation and clarity issues here and there, but overall, the beer was good. Two standouts for me that I hadn’t had before were KCBC’s ESB and Kills Boro’s Vienna Lager.

Looking ahead, this year brings great news for cask fans in the Northeast. In March, the New England Real Ale Exhibition returns after a Covid hiatus. The event will take place March 29-April 1 in Boston and will include over 100 cask-conditioned beers and ciders from the US and the UK. I highly doubt I will be able to make it, but I’m going to try my best.  

Also in the Northeast, on March 26th Connecticut’s Nod Hill will hold ‘An Afternoon of Casks’ and in New Hampshire, there will be ‘Cask.On’. Connecticut’s Two Roads Brewing will host the ‘Two Roads Cask Festival: Now Streaming’ on March 31st. Down in Jersey, River Horse Brewing Company is having its ‘Cask Fest 2023’ on February 25th.  

You may have noticed that I’ve been referring to “cask beer” instead of “cask ale”. That is intentional because there are several folks making delicious cask lager. I think there’s something to this, and I’m working on something that you will hopefully see later this year. Stay tuned.