TAP NY Recap- New York Breweries to Keep an Eye on!

Of all the years I’ve loved beer, this was my very first time at TAP NY

If you don’t know what TAP NY is, it’s an all NY brewery festival. With New York now being in 7th place of all the United States for amount of breweries, this is one massive festival. It’s like having almost every local brewery in one place for the day! 

So this year I made it a point to get to this festival and to get a nice little Airbnb room for the night (a must)! 

The festival is in beautiful Hunter Mountain. I was seriously sad we didn’t have more time to stay there. It was absolutely gorgeous and perfect weather for hiking and any other outdoor activity. There was so much outdoor fun to be had!

Being that I’ve been to a bunch of beer festivals now, I prepared properly. Hydrated, ate a nice large protein and complex carb rich breakfast, and I had a plan. I know I wanted to remember what I drank…unlike most festival of past. So I brought along a digital recorder and took audio notes along the ways 

The audio notes don’t just document the beer, they also document my various layers of drunkeness. 

Back to the later… 

I wanted to spread the good word of great beer from TAP NY

Breweries I was blown away by, the new and noteworthy as well as my local breweries that saw some success.

Breweries I was blown away by… 

The North Brewery in Endicott, NY

You create some seriously creative flavor combinations and you totally got my attention! Every beer was a flavor explosion!! The dudes were chill, the beers were totally creative and I was blown AWAY!

Beers I tried (their entire line-up):
God Complex- Chili Hazelnut Stout
Sunday- Maple Coffee Stout
White King- Chocolate Chai Stout

My two faves were the God Complex and Sunday. I liked White King, but I just didn’t taste much chai and I wanted to badly! God Complex was just spicy enough that you knew it was spiced with some heat, but not so spicy that you wouldn’t want to drink an entire pint. Sunday was like breakfast in a glass, what is not to LOVE about these flavors together? So yes, I was all OMG-ing over their beers.

Farmhouse Brewery in Owego, NY

I am a SUCKER for farm to table, eating local and drinking local, so this brewery was a revelation to me! Not only do they support other local farmers and business, they care so deeply about the quality of their product they even malt their own grains. Malting basically means that you immerse the grains in water until they are about to sprout and then you dry them just as the sprouting will begin with hot air.

That shit just impresses me. They’re doing more work on their part to make sure their final product is perfect. Being the control freak I am, I totally love it! They also make sure to use locally sourced fruits and vegetables in their beers. LOVE it!

Beers I tried (the whole line-up):

Don’t Miss a Beet- Beer Saison
Crazy Daizy- Belgian Tripel
Barn Burner- Belgian Dubbel
Sour Evangelist- Tomatillo Gose

I loved EVERYTHING! The Crazy Daizy Tripel really capturel those candy sugar flavors that you expect in a trpiel. The Barn Burner dubbel was also better than I expected, sweet and malty goodness all around. Don’t Miss a Beet was a nice crisp saison with a sweet beet overtone, plus it was pink…. so SUPER CUTE! Lastly the Sour Evangelist was a Gose I would drink a pint of an enjoy. It was not too salty, but overall the salt totally worked with tomatillos, it tasted a little like a salsa verde or some chilled tomatillo soup. The flavors just worked beautifully together. 

Needless to say they are now on my list of breweries I MUST visit! 

Horseheads Brewing Company in Horseheads, NY

I already heard of Horseheads, the word about their excellent pumpkin beer. So I went in with high expectations and they met them. A bunch of really down to earth dudes that just brew great fucking beer. So now, even though the drive is long, I must make a pilgrimage.

The beers I tried (entire line-up):
Horseheads Double IPA- Double IPA
Pumpkin Ale- Pumpkin Ale
OMFG- Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter
Beer with a Bite- Chili Beer

The double IPA was amazing, sweet and hoppy, great for anyone that likes hops, but not the bitter IPAs. The Pumpkin from this year was a lot sweeter and more spiced on tap than I remember it being last year when I tried it in the bottle. Seriously amazing pumpkin beer and you need not sugar the rim, it would be too much with this beer. The OMFG was sooooo damn fucking good, like the name implies. It was a full bodied porter with chocolate and peanut butter, soooo it tasted like a peanut butter cup without too much sweet that it will give you a stomach ache. Lastly the beer with a bite, did have bite for sure. It was crisp, refreshing and spicy. A nice heat, not overbearing, but I was starting to get pretty drunk at this point, so my palette may not have been the best.

Stoneyard Brewing Company in Brockport, NY ( A Brewpub)

They had some weird shit and I LOOOOVE me some weird shit! Go ahead, call me a hipster, but I have tried many beers and many foods, so I LOVE discovering new flavor combinations! I was starting to enter my “I love the entire world” phase of drunken-ness. But I was super impressed and made not to definitely go for a visit.

Beers I tried (entire line-up)
Lilac Wheat
Imperial Quince Ale
Toasted Coconut Cream Ale

They didn’t have actual names as I recall (drunk Sophia loves the world and cares not for names). I really liked the creativity here. Not too many lilac or herbal beers, so this stuck out. Just enough lilac to be like, hmmmmmm interesting. Not enough that you feel like you’re sucking in a funeral home. The Imperial Quince was pretty sweet, but I like sweet. Quince is kinda sorta a pear, but not really. You can’t eat them raw since they are usually quite hard and not very sweet. They are usually made into a jelly and this beer definitely tasted like quince jam, YUM! Lastly the Toasted Coconut Cream Ale totally delivered on the toasted coconut flavor in a delicate cream ale. Just enough malt to help to toasted coconut stand up in the beer and not overtake it.

So yes, definitely worth a visit, though since they are more of a brewpub I worry what seasonal beers they will have and the website only shows their main stays. So you may want to call ahead to make sure you get your money’s worth for a long trip.

Broken Bow Brewery in Tuckahoe, NY

I have wanted to visit Broken Bow for a while now. They’re a farm brewery and I love me some farm breweries. If you don’t know, like Farmhouse Brewing, a farm brewery has to use at least 20% locally grown ingredients, but by 2019 no less than 60% of all ingredients and by 2014 90% of all ingredients must be locally sourced! I am pretty sure they have committed to more than the standard 20%. I heard about them on Beer Sessions Radio with Jimmy Carbone and I recall the brewer being committed to almost ALL local ingredients. To some that may be limiting, but he has a commitment to sustainable brewing and I LOOOOVE that! Also the beers were inventive.

Beer I tried…
Barley Wine Aged in Whiskey Barrels
Weize Guy IPA
Broken Bow Coffee Stout

Hot damn all of them were good! (Hoping to plan a Beer and Yoga there sometime soon.) Anyways the Barleywine of theirs was super full bodied, tons of flavor and ballsy as hell. Best barleywine of the day! The Weize Guy IPA is like a weizen and an IPA had a baby. It was hoppy in a floral, not a grassy way. Easy drinking for a spring or summer day. Lastly the coffee stout was good, but not my favorite of the three.  

Wagner Valley Brewing Company Lodi, NY

Never heard of these guys, there were not even on my radar, and they are interesting, but not like OMG best place ever. But all three of their beers were true to style and delicious!

Beers I tried:
Hop Tropic IPA
Sled Dog Doppelbock
Maple Porter

The Hop Tropic was hoppy, but citrusy hoppy and that is what I really love. Doppelbock was great, full of that malty sweetness that I love about this style. Lots of caramel notes. The Maple Porter was a little sweet, but easy to drink and great for any day.

Breweries that Failed to Impress

The larger breweries went FAR TOO SAFE. Nothing special brewed from several of the larger breweries. Ommegang, went with only 2 beers and chose to bring their IPA which is really not good for serious IPA drinkers, it’s like an intro to IPA’s. Same with Brooklyn, they brought their Defender IPA, choosing not to spotlight their really different shit that they run in 22’s. How about that Old Fashioned Beer, the one that tastes like an Old Fashioned (the drink). Show us what you guys got. If what they brought was all I knew about Brooklyn, then I would be bored. 

I was excited to go to Kuka Brewing and Southern Tier, because they both have some beers I love. Kuka did have a decent cask, but nothing new from Southern Tier, nothing too nano or craft forward for me.

Defiant was another let down. Heard great things about their beers, the IPA was okay, but didn’t stand out. Their DIPA is something I would drink again, but not obsessed and get too psyched about when I got just as good DIPAs here closer to home.

Sixpoint had nothing exciting on tap, but I did find out why they haven’t opened the tasting room. They just don’t have enough space to be open to the public. They need it all to brew. Made me sad since I would love the experience of drinking in their tasting room.

Keegan Ales had some nice balance, the mainstays and some weird shit thrown in. They had their Cereal Series IPA with fruit loops and it didn’t taste bad like it sounds. It was actually pretty good. An IPA with the bitter edge taken off with some sweetness from the fruit loops. It wasn’t overly fruit loopy. I also liked their White Stout, they jumped on the Faux Stout bandwagon with a cream ale that tastes like a stout with the addition of coffee and chocolate. I like this trend so I was digging it.

Captain Lawrence bored me too. Nothing new or notable.

Fun Moments

I was far too drunk to remember what I drank at Kelso Brewing, but I did get to see the super fun and knowledgeable Chris Cuzme and his super amazing partner in crime Mary Izett, author or Speed Brewing and both are hosts to another one of my favorite beer podcasts, Fuhmentaboutit. I know it is stilly, but I got a little star struck, I really love their show and the contribution they make so it was SUPER AWESOME I finally got to meet Mary too. She is like the most knowledgable woman in beer that I know.