Beerventurers Take on Long Island Day 2
Continuing on from our last post, we’ve got more beer to drink and places to see while on Long Island for the weekend. Specifically breweries in Patchogue, Holbrook and Riverhead. But first Andrew needs to run 10 miles in the cold because apparently that’s a good time. I’ll stick to the beer, thank you.
Sayville Running Company 10 Mile Run to the Blue Point Brewery – Race Recap
Start and Finish: Blue Point Brewery in Patchogue, NY
Amenities: Long sleeve tech tee’s, finishers medal (also a bottle opener), discounts at the Sayville Running Company store, Porta-potties, heated tent, food, unlimited beer during the festival, and live music.
Weather: Fucking cold, but sunny.
Average Pace: 7:52. We took the first five miles out at an ~8:50 pace and at mile 2 I had to take a quick pitstop… And I’m pretty happy with a 7:52 considering the amount of beer I consumed the night before.
Status of Kait: Slept in, didn’t race. Still got the tech shirt and lots of beer. 1st place in Best 3rd wheel category.
Blue Point Brewing Company, Patchogue, NY
So everyone has heard of and probably had a Blue Point beer if you live in the north east. Founded in 1998, this now behemoth of a brewery distributes in 20 states. It’s in the awkward size between a regional and a macro at the moment but it will probably look more like a macro after its next expansion.
Since its post-race, and breweries are starting to open we decided just to get the complimentary post-race brews (pictured) and bail out instead of enjoying the festivities. We’re beerventurers, we cant lounge around all day. It was also fucking cold even in the heated tent.
Toasted Lager and Mosaic Session IPA. Both of these beers are very well constructed and rank above average in our opinion. The Toasted Lager is their flagship, and if you’ve ever had a BP beer chances are this is the one you’ve had. Its smooth, malty and consumable year round. Mosaic Session is considered a “west coast” session IPA and features mosaic, simcoe and centennial. But lets be real, it’s a strong mosaic through and through. It sits at a low 4.8% and is a little dry for many peoples tastes.
Blue Point has a culture of its own. All the employees there clearly enjoy their job and their involvement in the community appears unparalleled. Even when looking to expand, leaving Patchogue was not an option according to our friend and Blue Point Wholesale coordinator Alan. Sadly we were going to miss the firkin that weekend, which we’re told are always amazing and kick fast. If you find yourself on the Island and are in need of a drink, Blue Point Brewery of Patchogue, NY is a good stop and earns a should visit 3.75 out of 5. If you need to skip it, you can always grab a 6-pack of the toasted lager in any gas station or grocery store.
BrickHouse Brewery and Restaurant, Patchogue, NY
Just down the road from Blue Point is the BrickHouse Brewery and Restaurant. This large and well-manicured brewpub has the feel of a chain brewpub but this is apparently not the case. It’s a standalone brewery with 12 taps pouring a combination of their house brews and guest taps. Their menu is massive and all the food we ordered was superb.
The beer from least favorite to most: Ron’s Burgundy Scotch ale, Nitro Boom Stout, Ginger Me Timbers wheat ale, White Girl Wasted IPA, and Breakfast Brown ale. Ron’s Burgundy was the BrickHouse attempt at scotch ale, which we were not really fond of. It was bitter all around and really stiff considering it was only a 6.2% abv. Nitro Boom Stout is your average, well balanced milk stout that was probably greatly improved by the nitro tap. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was good. Ginger Me Timbers was “full on ginger” according to our tasting notes. Gingered beer is always going to have a sweet spot as the ginger flavor dissipates; this keg must have been a fresh batch because it certainly gingered our timbers. While neither of us are ginger fans, we give the beer high marks because it certainly came as advertised.
White Girl Wasted was a white wine IPA collaboration with Barrage Brewing. It was delicious and Melissas highest rated beer from BrickHouse. Wine is not really our area of expertise but we’re confident in our recommendation that “more white wines should resemble this collab beer.” At 7.2% and 50 IBUs, its sure to impress both the wine fans and hopheads alike. My favorite beer was their Breakfast Brown. I’m sure you’re wondering how the hell a brown made the top of our list and I have two words; Maple Pecan. Most breweries do a breakfast stout, but BrickHouse did a breakfast brown and it had overwhelming maple and pecan notes. This sweet ale also has a sneaky alcohol content; 8.4 “where the hell is that hidden and it cannot possibly be that high” percent.
BrickHouse Brewery and Restaurant makes some average beer, some good beer and one particularly great beer. The food is top notch and the fact they collab with several different breweries often is also a welcomed sight to see. Two brew masters, one kettle? If you’re around the Patchogue area, and in need of food, BrickHouse earns a should visit 4 wasted white girls out of 5.
Spider Bite Beer Company, Holbrook, NY
Located in Holbrook, NY, Spider Bite Beer Company is a micro-brewery with an impressive array of beer styles. With nine brews available, there is something for everyone in this extremely crowded, tiny industrial park taproom. Our group had six people, and the group of military vets that came in behind us had eight, at this point it the taproom was already pushed to capacity; and then the third group came in.
The beer: Fundur Session IPA, First Bite Pale Ale, Melba’s Toasted Brown Ale, Boris the Spider, No Love Porter, Doppel Dunken Weizenbock, LI to Me, Cran it in your Mouth, IDK IPA. The first six beers on the list were average, and nothing to really write home about. LI to Me, Cran it and IDK on the other hand were worth the trip and are certainly the better brews we had from Spider. LI to Me is a California Common style collaboration beer with BrickHouse. California Commons are more currently referred to as “Steam beer” and were historically considered the working man’s cheap, low quality beer. If you’ve ever had Anchor Steam you’ve had a California Common. Unlike Anchor Steam, there was nothing common or California about this 8.25% ale aged on cherry wood.
Cran it in your Mouth is no other than a cranberry fruit beer. Unlike the cranberry fruit beers we’ve sampled before, this beer actually tasted like cranberry and wasn’t too tart or bitter (looking at your Two Roads Bog Wild). It was sweet and refreshing and should be served chilled on a summer day. It certainly felt a little out of season; which is a mild timing complaint and not a critique of the beer itself. Lastly, the IDK is a 6.7% citra and Nelson Sauvin hazy IPA that was a nearly perfect IPA. It had a floral/earthy nose and a buttery smooth finish. It was delicious and only at 39 IBU. It’s hard to describe this brew so I suggest you check it out for yourself when its next on draft.
Spider Bite Beer Company has a wide offering of brew styles but only a handful of solid, wow type beers which appear to be one-offs according to untapped. While we do encourage you to visit this micro-brewery we cannot recommend this as a must stop. This is another maybe stop LI brewery with 3.3 scratchy spider bites out of 5.
1940’s Brewing Company, Holbrook, NY
So the 1940’s had some cool stuff going on like the invention of the slinky, dominance of floral pattern dresses (Melissa’s favorite), and quantum theory was developed. But there was some bad stuff going on too; like a world war. Thankfully, America took some names and kicked some ass. However, in a parallel reality, the Axis powers won and the US resistances only hope was the man in high castle.
Just down the road from Spider Bite is 1940’s Brewing Company. This is a 5 barrel brewhouse had an offering of 11 carbonated beers, 1 nitro tap and 1 root beer available on draft. This is an impressive array for a small brewery. So we had 7 beers and the 1 root beer of course.
Sinners Mass Milk Stout on Nitro, Wicked Chowdah IPA, Hefie Injustice, Bhoemia Blond, Michele Jean Saison, Airfield IPA, 838 Roggenbier. Hefie, Bhoemia, Michele, and airfield were average representations of their given styles. No harm, no foul. Roggenbiers are hearty German rye beers that are fermented using hefeweizen yeast and produce a sweet, slightly fruity and slightly spicy brew. 838 won’t be for everyone but if you enjoy a chewier beer this will be for you.
The Sinners Mass Milk Stout on Nitro and Wicked Chowdah are the two 1940’s beers to look out for. Melissa and I do enjoy stacking up nitro and regularly carbonated beers next to each other, however we didn’t have the option this time around. Nitro always wins hands down. The Chowdah was the superior IPA we tried. It’s a citra and amarillo northeast IPA that clocks in at casual 6.7% with 73 IBU.
Obviously the root beer received 5 out of 5 because we’re suckers for homemade soda.
1940’s has plenty of space for large groups so bring some friends. On weekends they have food trucks so you might also want to bring an appetite while you’re supporting your local brewery or passing through on a beerventure. 1940’s earns 3.7 tangled Slinky’s out of 5.
At this point we lost 2 group members, but picked up Alan, Wholesale Coordinator at Blue Point Brewery to help us continue on our LI Beerventure.
Moustache Brewing Co., Riverhead, NY
I moustache ask you a question. Do you like beard? I wasn’t always a fan until it grew on me. Now that’s out of the way, Moustache Brewing Co. of Riverhead, NY is located in a residential area and just down the street from the train station. And if you answered yes to liking beer; well you’re in for a treat because this brewery scored one of our few 5 star untapped brews of the weekend.
This small micro-brewery also had a wide array of beers available for patrons that evening; 10 beers in 9 different styles. In order from least to most favorite we had Life of Leisure Pale Ale, Sailor Mouth IPA, Wanderlust ESB, You’ll Shoot ‘Yo Rye Out Scotch Ale, Everyman’s Porter, Milk + Honey brown ale, Winter Coat Winter Warmer and Champagne Showers. Life, Sailor, Wanderlust were basic but very well rounded beers; great fridge beer. You’ll Shoot ‘Yo Rye Out has a great name, is quote “brewed with a sh*t ton of rye” but it was also just a good fridge beer.
Everyman’s, Milk + Honey, and Winter Coat were extremely well made and we noted they were certainly more flavorful than the previous samples mentioned above but they did not compare to Champagne Showers. Labeled as a Fruit beer, Champagne Showers is a literal interpretation of a ale and a Chardonnay having a baby. This ale is brewed with Chardonnay musk and topped off with Champagne yeast; making it one of the most distinct flavors we’ve found on the island. Its sneaky 10.6% abv is also extremely surprising and it wouldn’t be too hard to get white girl wasted on this Great Gatsby class beer.
Moustache Brewing feels like an upscale, hipster bar in Dumbo and that’s a compliment. Aesthetics aside, the actual taproom was rather small and would only cater to a few small groups at most. Much of the beer would not be interesting to a beerventurer, but if you were to venture out of your way for one beer on the island we cannot stress enough that it should be Champagne Showers. Moustache earns a well-deserved 4 out of 5.
Long Ireland Beer Company, Riverhead, NY
A little further down the road from Moustache is Crooked Ladder Brewing Company and apparently, Ireland. Long Ireland of Riverhead, NY to be exact. Not really the country of Ireland, but they certainly share some of the craic. No, not the drug.
This lively pub was packed on a cold Saturday night, during a blizzard. Aside from some of the artwork on the walls, this brewery didn’t feel like the Ireland I had visited. University College Cork, 2009. Those were some good, drunken times. Also UCC is probably the only college in the world where you could pick up 4 credits for a solid 6 hours’ worth of bird watching broken up over the semester.
Beoir: Baylor IPA, Celtic Ale, Hooligan Stout, Chocolate Porter, 2016 Black Friday Imperial Stout, Raspberry Wheat and Grandma Kisses Raspberry Sour. In an unusual turn of events, the IPA was actually our least favorite beoir on the menu. This citra IPA came highly recommended by the bartender, but we thought it lacked in flavor and sophistication which landed it well behind the ale, stout and porter.
The favorites here were the Black Friday Imp Stout, Raspberry Wheat and Grandma Kisses. The Black Friday Imp Stout had a modest 9.5% abv and the body closer to a porter. It was a little smoky and thin for a stout. We normally like ours a bit… chewier? I think that’s the proper term. We would have liked to see this thickened up and maybe aged a little longer. Perhaps served on nitro ☺
Raspberry Wheat, like Spider Bites Cran it in Yo Mouth, was out of season. This sweet fruit beer was super light, like macro beer light, with a very un-macro splash of raspberry. Unlike many raspberry wheat’s we’ve had previously there is a good amount of flavor and not a whole lot of bitter past-its-prime notes. The Grandma Kisses Raspberry Sour was the real winner of Long Ireland. It was a little too sour for my taste, but Melissa certainly appreciated it.
Long Ireland had a large space but kind of lacked in the atmosphere department. The beer for the most part was on point. As mentioned above, the Kisses were the go to and according to untapped there is also a blueberry version which I’m sure is no less delicious. Long Ireland earns a solid 3.8 out of 5. Erin go Bragh.
Crooked Ladder Brewing Company, Riverhead, NY
Finally, we’ve reached the end of our Saturday night and made it just in time for last call at Crooked Ladder; also in Riverhead, NY. By last call, I mean we walked in as the bartender was cleaning up and she gave us the “please hurry up my shift ends in 20 minutes” smile. We weren’t the only patrons at the bar though; there were several drunks at the end of the counter literally falling over. So I think we were ok to get a flight and bail.
The brewery is a dimly lit, narrow taproom with the brew system in the back. The counter is large enough to accommodate 10 people give or take, with a couple of small tables near the system and a beer rail on the wall opposite the bar. We ordered our two flights and had to make quick work of them. Also note that the flight was in the form of samples in a pint glass, one at a time.
70 West IPA, The Brewhouse Lager Beer, Pipe Burst Winter Warmer, Kolsch, Gypsy Red Ale, Ponquogue Porter, and It Was all a Dream IPA. 70 West was the second disappointing IPA of the day. It’s a west coast style and used 4-different hops in a blend that in our opinion just didn’t mash well. The nose was excellent, but there was little follow through for the pallet. The lager, winter warmer and kolsch were also par brews and not much to note. The Gypsy red was a nicely colored malty red. Usually we dislike red ales, but this one had a particularly smooth caramel note all the way through; not just in the color. Ponquogue, still can’t pronounce it, Porter was one of our favorite porters of the trip. There was no mysteriously delicious secret ingredient here; just a smooth, delicious porter.
The best brew of the house was the Dream IPA. Was it a dream? No, surely not because we checked it in. This was a lighter IPA that is probably more kin to session than traditional American IPA. There is definitely citra in it, as well as some malt character. Its untapped score at the time of writing this is an underappreciated 3.64 and in our opinion should be considerably higher.
Crooked Ladder makes some solid brews, and is ideally located in a downtown space with two other breweries within uber distance. While there wasn’t anything unusual, Crooked Ladder should be on your list if you’re headed to this area for work or play or the two other breweries in town. Crooked Ladder earned 3.4 rungs out of 5.
After our long day, it’s time to drop Alan back home and get back to our hotel. We still have a long trip home to NJ tomorrow and a few more stops on Long Island along the way.
