Thanks to great homegrown brews coming
out of places like Brewery Ommegang, the empire state may be
the next hot spot for beer tourism. That's right - beer
tourism.
After winding through curvy country roads and gawking at the
splendid hills and lonely Victorian homes, we turn into a driveway
and pass through the center arch of a long, white, European-looking
farmhouse. It's late November, and the trees that scale the hill
behind the parking lot still cling to a bit of autumnal color. The
air is cool, crisp. The sun beams. It's a good day to drink
beer.
We arrive with a mission: to taste Belgian-style ales at Brewery
Ommegang, the first farmstead brewery built in
America in over a
century and a beer geek's mecca. Located on a 140-acre former hop
farm just outside of
Cooperstown,
New York (home to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and where a popular T-shirt reads
"Cooperstown: a Drinking Town with a Baseball Problem"), Ommegang
has earned critical success and a cult following. Here, they create
award-winning, flavorful, effervescent beers that employ Belgian
brewing techniques and rely on European ingredients such as Czech
hops and Belgian specialty malts.
My friend and I wait behind a group of about 20 people (mostly
men), and as we lean against a wall and breathe in the slightly
sweet aroma, about eight more people join us. When our turn comes,
a knowledgeable host walks us through the process, giving us a
history of this hop-growing region, explaining the difference
between lagers and ales, extolling the benefits of the two wells on
the property that are fed by underwater springs, detailing the
process of bottle conditioning (which is similar to that used for
Champagne and which gives the beer its bubble), and sharing some of
the spices used (following the Belgian brewing tradition of adding
flavorings such as coriander, orange peel, ginger, and star anise).
The tour ends at a tasting room with a toasty fireplace, a sampling
of foods to pair with the samples of ales (chocolates and cheeses
and dark mustards to sample with bread), and an educated barkeep
who explains the different brews and logical food pairings.
Ommegang (named after a Belgian festival that commemorates a
returning king; it went on and on for several dawns) distributes
its ales to 34 states (for states with alcohol-content
restrictions, the ales' 5.1 to 9.8 percent might take it out of
contention). But it can't meet the demand for its product - Abbey
Ale, Hennepin Saison Farmhouse
Ale, Rare Vos
Amber Ale, Ommegang
White, and Three Philosophers Quadrupel Belgian Style Ale -
necessitating a quadrupling of its facilities. When the brewery
began production in 1997, they created about 2,800 barrels of ale.
Last year, production stood at 6,500. In three years they hope to
triple that figure to 20,000. "It's incredibly painful not to meet
the demand that's out there," says Randy Thiel, Ommegang's
brewmaster. "It kind of hurts the pride."
There is plenty to be proud of here. Ommegang represents the best
of the craft-beer renaissance, a turn to handmade beers that
benefited from the microbrewery explosion of the '90s, and a prime
example of what's been dubbed "beer tourism," a growing segment of
the traveling population that uses its mug as its travel
planner.
That's why I'm here today. Beyond the diners sitting down to a nice
meal in Manhattan and popping open a $16.50 bottle of Ommegang's
Abbey Rare Vos, a light amber ale that uses a caramel malt and
grains of paradise to achieve its flavor, there are people like me
who want to come and see the place, taste the beers, and witness
the production process. A beer tourist, if you will. Last year,
Ommegang welcomed 15,000 such beer geeks.
Even by national standards, Ommegang is considered a sort of Holy
Grail for beer pilgrims. Press clippings from newspapers all over
the country and from magazines such as
Gourmet, Bon Appétit,
Wine Enthusiast, SmartMoney, Saveur, GQ, and the randy lad mag
Stuff cover one of the entry walls. New York State likely
will feature the brewery prominently in its recently passed
legislation to create an Empire State Brewery Trail program, a
tourism campaign that promotes the state's more than 60 breweries.
With the New York winery trails as its model, the program will fund
signs for brew spots on the trail, vacation itineraries, and a
"brewery passport" booklet with discounts and information on
attractions. And probably a few boxes of "I NY Beer" bumper
stickers.
FOR ONE STATE,
New York offers a world of vastly different vistas and cultural
experiences - the idyllic Finger Lakes; the historic
Leatherstocking region of the Hudson Valley; the craggy,
camp-friendly Adirondacks; the bustling Big Apple; and the posh
Hamptons. And almost all of these areas host a brewery or two.
Which is why it's difficult to predict which breweries will make
the cut and be included on the Empire State Brewery Trail.
Difficult, yes, but not impossible. I called George de Piro, known
as Professor Beer (see professorbeer.com) and the brewmaster for
C.H. Evans Brewing Company's
Albany Pump Station, and he helped me
assemble a pint-size look at the best places to knock back a beer
in this great state (plus one famous inn with an astounding beer
list). Consider it a temporary road map.
-Brewery Ommegang (
www.ommegang.com; 656 County Highway
33, Cooperstown; 800-544-1809): "Everything they do is interesting,
and some of what they make is incredible," says de Piro. "It's
local, and they have a beautiful brewery." The third weekend in
July, the brewery hosts Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, a beer and
food festival with 100-plus beers, camping, food vendors, and live
music.
-C.H. Evans Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station
(
www.evansale.com; 19
Quackenbush Square, Albany; 518-447-9000): Okay, de Piro
makes the beer here, but there's more than just his
award-winning ale, which was twice awarded the Great
American Beer Festival gold medal for the best brown ale in
the
United States. There's also the building itself:
45-foot-high ceilings, original ironwork forged by hand
on-site, and massive cranes hanging around.
-Wagner Vineyards (
www.wagnervineyards.com; 9322
Route 414, Lodi; 607-582-6450): Located on Seneca Lake and in the
heart of the famous Finger Lakes wine region, this winery does an
impressive side business in beer. In fact, its Sled Dog Doppelbock
garnered a silver medal at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival. A
large deck wraps around the winery and offers spectacular views of
the rows of grapevines that lead down to the lake.
-Southampton Publick House (
www.publick.com; 40 Bowden Square,
Southampton; 631-283-2800): "They win a ton of awards, and their
beers are always interesting," says de Piro, who notes the
brewmaster enjoys experimentation and has even made a beer brewed
with edible flowers. "Even in winter, it's beautiful out there."
Which is why supermodels and celebs spend a lot of time at this
posh
Long Island playground.
-Brooklyn Brewery (
www.brooklynbrewery.com; 79
North 11th Street, Brooklyn; 718-486-7422): One hundred years ago,
Brooklyn was home to around 48 breweries. That legacy continues in
this brewery. "Their business model is brilliant. They started out
as a contract brewery," say de Piro. "And they helped revitalize
the neighborhood." Many credit Brooklyn Brewery with helping to
make Williamsburg the hip,
cool place it is today.
-The Country Inn (
www.krumville.com; 1380 County
Road 2, Krumville; 845-657-8956): With a way-out-of-the-way
location, an unassuming building, a decent jukebox, 12 beers
on tap, and about 500 different bottled beers to choose from,
this hideaway is often referred to as "beer camp." "You go in
thinking there would be a lot of [ordinary beer], but
everybody in there is drinking something interesting," says
de Piro. "If you get lost going there, as I did, just stop at
somebody's driveway, as I did, and say, 'Hey, where's the
Country Inn?' "
Will all of these spots make the Empire State Brewery Trail list?
They had better. If not, Governor Pataki and company have some
explaining to do.
FOR THE RECORD,
wine recently surpassed beer as America's alcoholic drink of
choice, and sales of the country's big beer brands (Anheuser-Busch,
Miller, Coors) have been flat for years. The one brewing bright
spot and growing segment of the market has been the craft brewery:
The United States boasts 800 microbreweries, brewpubs, and regional
specialty breweries; in 1976, there were only a few. Craft brewers
account for less than nine percent of the beer market, but this
segment has grown every year for the last 35 years, according to
the Brewers Association.
"For people who know beer, America is probably the best beer
country in the world right now because of the variety of people
brewing and the amount of styles being brewed well," says Mike
Saxton, founder and president of beertrips.com, a
travel company
that organizes outings for small groups. "We're not the big, yellow
brewers we've always been." Saxton cites New York's breweries in
particular as stereotype busters and predicts the day will come
when his beer travels will include many of them on the itinerary.
"Someday there will be a New York State beer bus, or something like
that, and we'll follow the tourist route and stay in cool little
towns," he says.
Saxton says he sees more women on his tours than in the past and
that his clients range from a 23-year-old software designer to a
77-year-old retiree, a church organist, and a space shuttle
engineer - exactly the kind of people we saw at Ommegang. Not a lot
of college kids and no "pounders." Many bring lists of beers they
want to taste, many brew at home, and all approach beer like a
connoisseur approaches wine. He even gets a few beer snobs - "the
people who have three minutes of dialogue before the first sip and
enjoy asking brewmasters questions that they know the answers to."
Beer snobs sound a lot like wine snobs - grasping for the perfect
adjective to describe the flavor, seeking to find the right meal
for the right brew, making a quest out of finding new and
interesting varietals that reflect the season and a person's mood.
Many of them were flocking to the area even before legislation
passed in the New York State Assembly to officially create the
Empire State Beer Trail. "We've got our own little Napa Valley
here,"
Angelica Kofin told the
New York Times in July. Kofin
was a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, who sponsored
the bill. (Lentol, as it happens, drinks very rarely.)
In addition to the legislation, there has been other help for
places like Ommegang along the way, sea changes in the culture. The
artisanal food movement is the biggest supporter; it has bolstered
craft brews by making people aware of how homogenized the offerings
were at the local supermarket and inspiring a little
experimentation. "It's a question of identity," says Ken Turow, a
dean at the
Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York,
and cocreator of the Ale & Lager Educational Society, a student
society at the school that invites craft brewers, beer writers,
importers, and beer experts to the school. "You want to be seen
sporting a ball cap that says 'Woodstock Brewing' because you're
identifying with your region."
Which may explain why I left with several four-packs of Ommegang’s Three Philosophers (a strong dark ale and my favorite of those we sampled), a bar of intense dark chocolate, and one Ommegang hoodie sweatshirt.
Author