Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [42]
Arriving at our inn after dinner, Sandra and I turned to each other and asked, “How about one more beer?” “You bet!” We snuck off to the inn’s bar for a nightcap before retiring. It was biting cold outside; snow covered the ground in moonstruck patches. We entered to the warmth of a fire in the hearth. A sense of something special filled the air. Here the low wood-beamed ceilings and antique floors captured the ambience of 250 years past. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and other revolutionary forefathers of America congregated in this very space and enjoyed locally made porters and other ales—I’m certain of that. The walls told me. The cold winter unchanged from that time to now.
It was quiet—well, almost quiet. Sitting in a wooden booth, we were the last two customers in the bar. The bartender and waitress were finalizing their evening’s work. The floors creaked, the air was filled with the faint smell of smoke and the candles’ flickering flames engraved their memorable glow upon us. The atmosphere was just as it must have been in 1766. But I couldn’t quite connect with the lack of beer choice. I settled on an imported British ale but drank it with disappointment. It had lost its edge, just as the British had in 1776, suffering from the ravages of age and staling. Spice Girls and En Vogue hip-hop music thumped in the background…Old George Washington, I wonder how he would’ve handled it. He probably could have taken the hip hop, but stale English ale? No bloody way! George knew better. He made his own homebrew; this is well known. Beer passion inspires revolution as needed. I am glad to be part of the current American Revolution, a revolution championing beer flavor and diversity.
One small five-gallon batch at a time. Times a million American homebrewers inspiring the spirit of local microbrewed beer.
The next day, we visit the Gilded Otter Brewpub in nearby New Paltz. I am captivated by the spectacular $2 million view of the Hudson Valley countryside. Now this is a place that singularly made the revolution worth fighting for.
Day 3: I have an early-morning telephone interview with Lee Graves, a beer columnist for the Richmond Times Dispatch about my Northeast tour. “When are you coming to Virginia, Charlie?” (I would tour New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas the very next year.)
It’s still cold cold cold.
We are picked up by local homebrewer Bill Woodring, Dean of Students at the Culinary Institute; Ken Turow; and John Eccles, brewer at Hyde Park Brewery. We travel through the countryside and visit Gloria and Bruce Franconia’s Party Creations Homebrew Supply Shop in Red Hook, New York, a small homebrew shop in a converted barn situated in an all-too-pleasant and relaxing backyard forest. It is a comforting destination as well as a great place to buy supplies from knowledgeable and passionate people. Nat Collins, brewmaster at the Woodstock Brewery in Kingston, drops by as we begin enjoying an imperial stout and a big-brew barley wine to the accompaniment of Gloria’s praline-drizzled chocolate cream cake. A killer combination!!! We leave with both the imperial stout and the cake recipe.
As I am leaving, a new customer comes in. At my encouragement he confides, “Well, my mother’s brother had a brewery and so I have brewing in my blood.” His grandmother’s brother was F. X. Matt of the F. X. Matt Brewing Company in Utica, New York. He had discovered homebrewing through my book in a library when he was in high school.
Nat Collins, Bruce and Gloria Franconia, Woodstock/Redhook,