Metro North’s Hudson Line extends some 75 miles north of New York City. It leaves from Grand Central Station on 42nd Street and an hour and forty-seven minutes later arrives in Poughkeepsie. It’s a beautiful ride, hugging the Hudson River, passing through the cities and towns that dot the map just beyond its rails. One of the stops along the line, about forty-five minutes outside of the city, is Peekskill. After a short, scenic journey, you step off the train and find yourself at the edge of Riverfront Green Park with the Hudson River just beyond a large swath of green grass. A short walk beyond the station and just up Water Street is Peekskill Brewery.
Peekskill, though not an old brewery, has been building quite the reputation, both locally in the NYC/Westchester area and nationwide. Last year they caught the attention of many when Higher Standard, their imperial IPA, not only won at the TAP New York Craft Beer and Food Festival, but walked away with the biggest award, the Governor’s Cup, honoring the best craft beer in New York State. They followed that up with a silver medal at 2013′s Great American Beer Festival, winning in the InternationalStyle Pale Ale category for Amazeballs.
« It does limit us to how much we can produce, but we don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity. »
All of this from a brewery that began distributing locally less than a year ago. “We launched the PB brand in the market Valentine’s Day of last year” Mike Benz explains. “We had this really forwardthinking bicycle company out of Beacon, New York, put a keg on a bicycle and pedaled it from here, 30 miles to Beacon…which is mostly uphill.” With this, a pattern begins to emerge, a commitment Peekskill makes to working with other local businesses in the Hudson River Valley.
It’s gray and cold as I arrive at the brewery, snow still on the ground from the previous week’s winter storm. Mike Benz (who prefers to go by “Benz”) is the brewery ambassador and as such has some loose ends to tie up before we sit down and talk. I agree to start photographing the brewpub while he tends to his tasks. “Can I get you a coffee? A beer? How about a beer with coffee in it?”
It’s the latter offer I take him up on. WakeUp Call is a pale ale brewed with ten pounds of coarse ground coffee added at the end of fermentation. He tells me the coffee was sourced by friends of theirs at Coffee Labs in Tarrytown, just south of Peekskill. Kurt Balogh, their roaster and ambassador, suggested Peekskill use Ethiopia Limu beans because they are fermented on the cherry, rather than washed, which highlights the ripe red berry notes. The result is wonderful . It’s perhaps atypical in the sense that you generally see coffee used in stouts and porters, but it’s no less successful. There’s a lightness to the hop presence paired with plenty of coffee aroma and flavor. It’s quite possibly the perfect “before noon” beer. He pours me a glass and we sit down to talk.
What is the main focus of what Peekskill is trying to do with its beers?
We are trying to make the best beer we can, with the best ingredients responsibly sourced. There’s only so many hops, especially the Grade A hops. It does limit us to how much we can produce, but we don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity. The quantity is under control, so all we have to do is focus on quality. We hang our hat on the fact that we can only make so much beer and that beer is going to be very fresh, all the time. We’re making what I think are the freshest IPAs in the city. The kegs get filled when the truck shows up, they get put on a truck, they get sent to the city, and they get distributed. That’s when it tastes best. There are some great IPAs out there from other coasts and other countries, but if you want to drink a really fresh IPA, it helps that it’s made right here.
« … you focus on the joy of having other great beer in this area and seeing people have success, you know you’re doing the right thing. »
We’re also committed to playing host to customers…we’re so accessible, with the train right here. We’re creating a situation where, when a bartender or server puts a beer in front of you, it’s so important to us for that person to say “Here’s your Peekskill beer. Hey, you should go there, it’s a great place, everyone is friendly, the beer and food are excellent,” as opposed to “Here’s your seven dollar beer,” and walk away. It’s a pretty easy destination from the city or most parts in the Hudson Valley.
How long have you been with Peekskill Brewery and how long has it been around?
April marks two years here. The brewery itself is about five and a half years old. We were first in a small space just across the street. We were brewing there on a small, three-and-a-half barrel system. That system made Peekskill one of the smaller breweries in New York, and with our expansion, we’re now one of the larger brewpubs on the East Coast.
Give us a general rundown of your staple beers.
Jeff “Chief” O’neil hangs his hat on IPAs and sours. The core brands are the house IPA which is called Eastern Standard, the amber lager Hop Common, and Simple Sour. We thought that those three brands would cover the territory of different styles of beer. Those create the structure and foundation, but outside of that, we’re going nuts with IPAs and Pale Ales. We just did a pale ale called NYPA, and we have a house favorite called Shotgun Willie, which is a rye IPA. Shotgun Willie is entirely hopped with Nelson Sauvin and has really light malts to showcase the hops.
Will you only find some of those beers here at the brewery?
We make those beers in very small batches, although, our model is to have tap events in the city and the Hudson Valley once a month, so that’s a time that you’ll see the oneoff, small batch beers. That’s our teaser to say “Hey, if you haven’t been to the brewery, we’ll bring the brewery to you.” For a full day, we’ll bring as many beers as we can, as many staff members as we can, and flood the place with warm, welcoming Peekskill Brewery love.
Do you have a favorite Peekskill beer?
I think it depends on my mood…sometimes the answer is wine. The NYPA stood out to me as one of the more drinkable beers we’ve done. My other favorite is Amazeballs. I really like sessionable easy drinking beers that pair well with food.
You’re located just outside of New York City…is that where you focus your efforts?
We’re new to the world of distribution and we’re still figuring out where best to put our, and specifically my, efforts. It seems like my presence is most felt in the city. I can hit five or six bars in the city in one day and create relationships. Hudson Valley region is much more spread out. Our allocation looks like eighty percent of our beer goes to the city, the other twenty goes here in the Hudson Valley region.
Are there plans to bottle or can Peekskill beers?
We have a little four head champagne filler and we have plans getting that up and running with the goal to create a library experience for the brewery. We want to reward folks who are making a trip to the brewery. We want to have a library, a vintage series, of ageable beers, the beers with some heft, to see what happens to them when we hide them. The idea would be to dedicate a certain portion of a very small batch of beer, put it through the bottling line, and then hide it. To create a library for years to come.
So this wouldn’t be for mass distribution?
Correct, we really want to create a way to take something special home.
You recently did a collaboration with Other Half Brewing in Brooklyn. How did that come about?
Good bunch of guys, Sam and Matt, great guys that we’ve known for years. I think we were drinking and eating together and he said “Hey we should do a beer together.” The beer was called Nuggy Num Num…the name came from the use of Nugget, Magnum, and Ahtanum hops (NUGget magNUM ahtaNUM). That collaboration effort embodies what craft beer is all about. We were celebrating the addition of another small, amazing brewery. That could easily go down the path of competition, but if you don’t focus on that, you focus on the joy of having other great beers in this area and seeing good people have success, you know you’re doing the right thing.
« Every drop counts here and we’re not going to put a beer that we’re not 100% excited about through those taps. »
While your beers receive accolades, your restaurant also receives praise. How do you balance making great beers as well as great food?
From day one, the focus was the best possible beer we can make sourcing responsible ingredients, the same idea was mirrored with the food. Our head chef, Sean Corcoran, is always coming up with great locally sourced specials. There’s a focus on cooking with the beer in mind, and brewing with the dining aspect in mind. We have meetings every day here with our staff about house beers and what to pair them with, and then as soon as a special is brought up, we’re tasting the special and tasting the beers that would go best with it. We just launched the new spring menu which now features a cheese board from Murray’s Cheese NYC, a meat board which consists of house-cured charcuterie, and a sausage board…I recommend the rabbit! This puts a bit more pressure on our prep line, being that we don’t have a freezer and create our dishes daily. Sean really shines on this new menu.
There’s a number of breweries along the Hudson. How’s the community among the breweries here, is it friendly?
We’re really blessed to have Captain Lawrence in our backyard. They’ve been there every step of the way, since before Jeff and I even got here. Scott Vaccaro stepped up on multiple occasions to make sure these guys were set up. He’s gone out of his way, even while building his own brewery, to help these guys out. We have the guys from Newburgh right up the road who are constantly in contact with us. The guys from Keegan’s as well, really good folks. And as you might have seen downstairs, we have guest drafts, we try to focus those on our relationships, our friends. So we’ll have Ommegang on as often as possible, Lagunitas on as often as possible, we’ll even throw Captain Lawrence on.
Are there any beers that you’re coming out with in 2014 that you’re looking forward to?
Once it gets warmer, we’ll start getting back to our beers that sit in the coolship a little longer. It’s a fun vessel up there…it’s one of the the things that sets us apart from any other brewery, not only the fact that we have one, but that we’re using it for every batch of beer.
We’re really excited for your guys to have NYPA when it comes out. We’re doing an all New York State beer, a saison. That’s cool on so many levels because it’s a challenge. We don’t want to do it at the sacrifice of our beer. Every drop counts here and we’re not going to put a beer that we’re not 100% excited about through those taps.
We end the interview with a glass of Shotgun Willie and an assortment of light snacks from the restaurant. Though I’ve not yet left, I immediately begin thinking about my next visit.