95 Amity Rd.
New Haven, Connecticut, 06515
(203) 397-9463
Real good beer stores are hard to find in Connecticut. This site is located just off the Merritt Parkway at the foot of the West Rock Tunnel. A big aisle of American micros, healthy on New England and Mid-Atlantic regionals (Dogfish Head, Victory, Brooklyn, Smuttynose, Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Cisco Brewers, Harpoon, Allegash, Sea Dog, Gritty's, Atlantic brewing Co. and on and on) and then the import, imports, imports. A good Belgian collection and Gremans, English, all that. It's a 4 on quality because they have some questionably dated beers. There's a shopping cart wagon with singles that you need to avoid. But the selection's good all around. The selection used to be bigger but they've consolidated the american micros and squoze them into a smaller area to make room for malternatives and the like but I'm still very happy having recently scored a bunch of 22 ounce Magic Hat Ravell's (with which I will ruuule the world). And just yesterday, I found one Magic Hat HI.P.A. on the shelf. Well I wanted more. They opened up every Magic Hat bomber box they had stacked up and then hunted around out back. Having come up empty, they made a call to the other store in Hamden and put a bunch of them on hold for me. Now that's service!!
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Gaslight Brewery & Restaurant
15 South Orange Ave
South Orange, New Jersey, 07079
(973) 762-7077
I went to visit a friends who had just moved to South Orange and they were within walking distance, a big 2 blocks away, from Gaslight. I'm thinking "Cool, I guess I'll be down here to see you guys all the time". I think I'll need to revisit that thought. They have a bar area and a side room with a few tables with some tv's which we opted for. I started with the Oatmeal Stout and pretty much stayed there. It was a good creamy beer with a nice bite. And then it all went downhill from there. The aps were fine, but I ordered some southwestern chicken ravioli concotion that ran me $15 and had 5 (count them 5) actual raviolis in it. It also had 4 bread stick pieces, one on each side of the inside of the really big bowl this was served in, each one pointing inwards towards the slight amount of food provided. The 4 bread stick pieces forged a target to show you where your miniscule amount of food was. $15, for 5 frickin' raviolis. I would get more out of a can of Chef Boyardee. Putting the food thing aside, the server knew absolutely nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada, not a dang thang, about the beers. Sure he could recite the names of them, but you know what? I'm perfectly able to read them off the blackboard on the walls too but they have cutesy names like "prince of darkness", what does that mean to me? Can-you-tell-me-about-your-beers?? Telling me that this one is a darker color than the other ones doesn't actually qualify. I had to call this "owner looking guy" over to give me the lowdown on the beers, which are a variety of English style beers (a mild, a strong ale, etc). And then my server is giving me an attitude for having had to call the owner over to describe the beer varities that he could not do himself. Not a great experience.
South Orange, New Jersey, 07079
(973) 762-7077
I went to visit a friends who had just moved to South Orange and they were within walking distance, a big 2 blocks away, from Gaslight. I'm thinking "Cool, I guess I'll be down here to see you guys all the time". I think I'll need to revisit that thought. They have a bar area and a side room with a few tables with some tv's which we opted for. I started with the Oatmeal Stout and pretty much stayed there. It was a good creamy beer with a nice bite. And then it all went downhill from there. The aps were fine, but I ordered some southwestern chicken ravioli concotion that ran me $15 and had 5 (count them 5) actual raviolis in it. It also had 4 bread stick pieces, one on each side of the inside of the really big bowl this was served in, each one pointing inwards towards the slight amount of food provided. The 4 bread stick pieces forged a target to show you where your miniscule amount of food was. $15, for 5 frickin' raviolis. I would get more out of a can of Chef Boyardee. Putting the food thing aside, the server knew absolutely nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada, not a dang thang, about the beers. Sure he could recite the names of them, but you know what? I'm perfectly able to read them off the blackboard on the walls too but they have cutesy names like "prince of darkness", what does that mean to me? Can-you-tell-me-about-your-beers?? Telling me that this one is a darker color than the other ones doesn't actually qualify. I had to call this "owner looking guy" over to give me the lowdown on the beers, which are a variety of English style beers (a mild, a strong ale, etc). And then my server is giving me an attitude for having had to call the owner over to describe the beer varities that he could not do himself. Not a great experience.
Thursday, January 2, 2003
Ramapo Valley Brewery
122 Orange Avenue
Suffern, New York, 10901
(845) 369-7827
Man, I was hoping you guys had it all wrong. I've been there before, both fairly recently (last February) and back in the day (when it was the Mountain Valley Brew Pub) and I've read the recent reviews so I figured I'd stop in to see if it's really all that. It's all that. What can I say? The copper sheet bar was sticky with beer that wasn't my own. The place is very poorly lit, and there doesn't seem to be any good reason why. So, right off the bat it's like an "anti clean, well lit place". They had 4 beers on tap. A light beer that I don't even want to talk about, an uninspiring Winter, a so-so lager, and the copper ale which was the best of the lot of them and still nothing to write home about. Nobody could tell us when this imperial stout was coming. I've got to wonder if it even really exists. In February, me and Jed did lunch. He had a very unflattering bowl of chili which he deemed to be "canned" and I got soggy motzarella sticks. I won't do the food there again. So, from the top... 1) You need to lose the cave motif. It looks unclean and makes me think "unclean". You know why?? Because a cave is a dirty rock wall. 2) You need to light the joint up. When the bar is dim, you can't see if it the bar is clean (it isn't. turn on the lights) 3) You need to always have that Ruffian Porter flowing (I remember that it won the best porter at the GABF in '94, why don't you??) 4) You need to fix the food scene. Look, I'm a Rockland kid so I know the layout of the land. If you want a seedy Suffern bar, then you've got it. But you can be so much more. Word is that you've got a great brewer. You've got a big dining area. To be a successful brewpub, you need good beer and good food. I'm amazed in the contrast between RVB and the Gilded Otter just an hour away.
Suffern, New York, 10901
(845) 369-7827
Man, I was hoping you guys had it all wrong. I've been there before, both fairly recently (last February) and back in the day (when it was the Mountain Valley Brew Pub) and I've read the recent reviews so I figured I'd stop in to see if it's really all that. It's all that. What can I say? The copper sheet bar was sticky with beer that wasn't my own. The place is very poorly lit, and there doesn't seem to be any good reason why. So, right off the bat it's like an "anti clean, well lit place". They had 4 beers on tap. A light beer that I don't even want to talk about, an uninspiring Winter, a so-so lager, and the copper ale which was the best of the lot of them and still nothing to write home about. Nobody could tell us when this imperial stout was coming. I've got to wonder if it even really exists. In February, me and Jed did lunch. He had a very unflattering bowl of chili which he deemed to be "canned" and I got soggy motzarella sticks. I won't do the food there again. So, from the top... 1) You need to lose the cave motif. It looks unclean and makes me think "unclean". You know why?? Because a cave is a dirty rock wall. 2) You need to light the joint up. When the bar is dim, you can't see if it the bar is clean (it isn't. turn on the lights) 3) You need to always have that Ruffian Porter flowing (I remember that it won the best porter at the GABF in '94, why don't you??) 4) You need to fix the food scene. Look, I'm a Rockland kid so I know the layout of the land. If you want a seedy Suffern bar, then you've got it. But you can be so much more. Word is that you've got a great brewer. You've got a big dining area. To be a successful brewpub, you need good beer and good food. I'm amazed in the contrast between RVB and the Gilded Otter just an hour away.
Gilded Otter Brewing Company
3 Main St
New Paltz, New York, 12561
(845) 256-1700
Davo & myself hit this joint on the way back from Half Time a few months ago. This brewpub fits quite well in the cool little artsy college town they call New Paltz. You drive through the town, past the rows of shops and there she is just before you hit the bridge to absolutely nowhere. "A clean, well lit place". It's like a ski lodge. The bar seats upwards of 2 dozen. It starts straight but then hooks around an octogon shaped corner piece with tables riddling the perimeter. Beyond the bar area is the main dining room housing a few dozen tables running adjacent to a staircase and a handful of fermenters. Upstairs lies a perch with access to the Tax Determination Tanks and Milling room, a dozen tables, a small pool table, that table bowling game and a Pac-Man machine. That's right, you heard me, Pac-Man. Not Ms. Pac-Man, not the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga hybrid machine, no... we're talkin' an old weathered original Pac-Man machine, pasturized and homoginized (woka woka woka woka, bwiiiiuuu). From the perch, you get a good view of the place. Lots of bright colorful nature pictures on all the walls. A handful of TV's over the bar and that trivia game. The food is good. I'm always good for a bowl of the Jambalaya and they make a good brew. Usually 7 or 8 taps running, some regulars, some seasonals. The Smoked Porter, the Imperial Stout, the Winter Wassail, the IPA, nice stuff. They've got a listing on the wall of everything they've brewed in the last year's time. It's a most impressive list, offering up a wide variety of year round beers and seasonals. Bartender did us a buyback after 3 beers (which does not suck). and they've got growlers to go.--
New Paltz, New York, 12561
(845) 256-1700
Davo & myself hit this joint on the way back from Half Time a few months ago. This brewpub fits quite well in the cool little artsy college town they call New Paltz. You drive through the town, past the rows of shops and there she is just before you hit the bridge to absolutely nowhere. "A clean, well lit place". It's like a ski lodge. The bar seats upwards of 2 dozen. It starts straight but then hooks around an octogon shaped corner piece with tables riddling the perimeter. Beyond the bar area is the main dining room housing a few dozen tables running adjacent to a staircase and a handful of fermenters. Upstairs lies a perch with access to the Tax Determination Tanks and Milling room, a dozen tables, a small pool table, that table bowling game and a Pac-Man machine. That's right, you heard me, Pac-Man. Not Ms. Pac-Man, not the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga hybrid machine, no... we're talkin' an old weathered original Pac-Man machine, pasturized and homoginized (woka woka woka woka, bwiiiiuuu). From the perch, you get a good view of the place. Lots of bright colorful nature pictures on all the walls. A handful of TV's over the bar and that trivia game. The food is good. I'm always good for a bowl of the Jambalaya and they make a good brew. Usually 7 or 8 taps running, some regulars, some seasonals. The Smoked Porter, the Imperial Stout, the Winter Wassail, the IPA, nice stuff. They've got a listing on the wall of everything they've brewed in the last year's time. It's a most impressive list, offering up a wide variety of year round beers and seasonals. Bartender did us a buyback after 3 beers (which does not suck). and they've got growlers to go.--
Andy's Corner Bar
257 Queen Anne Road
Bogota, New Jersey, 07603
(201) 342-9887
I should have ventured by here a long damn time ago. So much time wasted at shitty bars when Andy's was nestled practically right under my nose. Oh, dear boy, the pain, the pain.
Andy's is the deal. What more can I say? 8-10 rotating taps of great beers and a cask or two to boot, and let me tell you, you don't see cask anywhere out here in Bergen County. Andy's is a place where you'll see good regional breweries represented. Heavyweight, Flying Fish, Climax, Victory, Dogfish Head, Crooked River, Weyerbacher, Cricket Hill, Ramstein, and on and on and on and on.
Promos?? Sure they do promos. Breweries will come on out and showcase a handful of their beers, maybe something you haven't tried before, maybe something on cask, maybe something different you won't see elsewhere, and certainly you'll regret having missed it if you couldn't make it out there that night. I like seeing the brewers from the breweries come out and talk to us consumers about their wares. Pint glass giveaways and shirt raffles and the like.
A couple of coolers in the back housing a few dozen beers. Everything from American micros to good german Weisses to fine Belgian lambics. I'm like a kid in a candy store. "Ooooh, I want that, ooooh, gots to try that, but ooooh, I need that right now".
And undoubtably the most hospitable of folks. George, Tommy, Chris, Barbara, Joe, Skip...always a friendly, knowledgable face behind the bar. These are people who know their beer. I get greeted by name, I get a pretzel with my beer, and I get some great conversation.
Just a fantastic place to be. A great place to watch the game and a kickin' juke box too.
Bogota, New Jersey, 07603
(201) 342-9887
I should have ventured by here a long damn time ago. So much time wasted at shitty bars when Andy's was nestled practically right under my nose. Oh, dear boy, the pain, the pain.
Andy's is the deal. What more can I say? 8-10 rotating taps of great beers and a cask or two to boot, and let me tell you, you don't see cask anywhere out here in Bergen County. Andy's is a place where you'll see good regional breweries represented. Heavyweight, Flying Fish, Climax, Victory, Dogfish Head, Crooked River, Weyerbacher, Cricket Hill, Ramstein, and on and on and on and on.
Promos?? Sure they do promos. Breweries will come on out and showcase a handful of their beers, maybe something you haven't tried before, maybe something on cask, maybe something different you won't see elsewhere, and certainly you'll regret having missed it if you couldn't make it out there that night. I like seeing the brewers from the breweries come out and talk to us consumers about their wares. Pint glass giveaways and shirt raffles and the like.
A couple of coolers in the back housing a few dozen beers. Everything from American micros to good german Weisses to fine Belgian lambics. I'm like a kid in a candy store. "Ooooh, I want that, ooooh, gots to try that, but ooooh, I need that right now".
And undoubtably the most hospitable of folks. George, Tommy, Chris, Barbara, Joe, Skip...always a friendly, knowledgable face behind the bar. These are people who know their beer. I get greeted by name, I get a pretzel with my beer, and I get some great conversation.
Just a fantastic place to be. A great place to watch the game and a kickin' juke box too.
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