It seems as if I have been spending a lot of time on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) recently.
I am of the opinion that two return trips in a fortnight counts as a lot of time, the regular commuters may disagree, unless they don’t.
The second of those trips was this past weekend, and I would certainly consider it to be inside of the commutable zone; zone 4 according to my ticket.
It was surprisingly painless for me, with a direct train from Grand Central Station to Stewart Manor and back, no changing at Jamaica for this one; forty-five minutes each way, almost a doddle.
I did have to get to Grand Central in the first place, but that is a lot closer to home than Penn would have been.
And I did have to walk a mile at the other end to get to Plattduetsche Park in Franklin Square, but that was also well within my structural limits.
The other trip “out east” required a little more effort and patience.
My destination two weekends ago was Po’Boy Brewery out by Port Jefferson station (or is it Port Jefferson Station?) which apparently is in zone 10.
It came with an easy two block walk at the far end, but a trek to Penn Station in the city and a change of trains at Huntington; over two hours each way on the train alone.
But you have to admire my dedication and my stamina, don’t you?
They tell me that there are folks who commute daily into the city from there.
Poor sods.
So what would persuade the Cask Whisperer to venture out onto the island in the first place?
It is not like a hotbed of beer engines out there, although I did discover one (hidden away and possibly now unused) at Po’Boy.
Let’s start with that earlier trip, shall we?
May the Cask be with You
The official title of the event at Po’Boy was the 7th Annual Cask Ales Fundraiser to benefit The Barton Center for Diabetes Education; a bit of a mouthful.
But as the event occurred on May 4th, some wag had printed up a poster proclaiming, “May the Cask be with You”; much more like it.
Who is going to turn their nose up to an offer like that?
Not me.
I knew what to expect, having attended the 5th and 6th iterations of the event at The Brewers Collective (TBC) in Bay Shore; sadly, TBC is due to close very soon, I wish them all the best going forward.
And what to expect, is an eclectic collection of beer styles with all manner of sugary adjuncts as befits the beneficiaries of the event.
Folks who may have come across my earlier postings will know that I am not a purist when it comes to enjoying a cask in the wild; adulterated or unadulterated, I will try them all, once (alright, maybe twice if I don’t have to rush for the train home).
As mentioned above, there is a real deficit of cask ale in the pubs and breweries of Long Island, so for the independents and home brewing clubs to get together once or twice a year to hold cask festivals, is alright by me, and they can decorate their casks anyway they want.
They have been holding this event now for seven years, and they have been holding the Independent Brewers cask event for just as long.
Unfortunately they have been holding these events at the aforementioned TBC, so who knows where they go from here.
I was happy to see Po’Boy pick up the slack with this one, and really hope that they or some other Long Island brewery continues to keep these festivals going.
Po’Boy is a chill place with definite island vibes (and Long Island vibes too), and they had the front taproom space separated from the event space by, essentially, a police tape which made for an interesting dynamic when both sides of the “barrier” started to fill up with patrons.
But it was all good fun, and it actually worked pretty seamlessly.
Upon entering and getting my tasting glass, I grabbed a pour of the first cask that I encountered, which happened to be a peach blonde ale from local outfit, and apparent Glasgow Celtic fans, The Synergy Project, the first of what would be a succession of sweetened American style brews.
Nothing wrong with it at all, it almost made my top-5, and I did go back and have another towards the end of the event to cleanse my palate.
There were thirteen casks at the event, and a couple of coolerator tables occupied by the homebrewing clubs; as usual, the homebrewers came with the more recognizable, and for the most part, untouched beer styles.
Of the casks, there were two blondes, two stouts, two IPAs, two lagers, three sours, a cider, and a cream ale.
The cider from Motion Craft Brewing was described as green apple, which all sounded pretty harmless until poured into the glass, when it became obvious that it should have been tagged as luminous green apple.
It was really good though, so much so that it made my top-5, and I made sure to finish the session with another larger pour of it for the road (he means rail).
My other favorites were the Dark Sunshine golden stout (coffee) from North Fork Brewing, the Cosmic Juice NEIPA (hopped with Galaxy and Comet) from Great South Bay, and the Margarita Gose from Ghost Brewing.
Rounding out the top-5 and my overall favorite was the Darkness Inside barrel-aged imperial stout from Blue Point Brewing, which was a monster at 12.6%, especially when compared to everything else that averaged out to 5.5%.
The margarita gose proved to be the perfect antidote.
It was a lively event, and I thoroughly enjoyed the three plus hours that I attended.
I reconnected with a couple of folks that I had met elsewhere, and was introduced to several other attendees, it was all very welcoming.
I just hope that this event and the Independent Brewers event find a new home soon.
Das Bock!
This one has been on my curiosity list for several years now, and this year there was a large enough gap in my busy beer calendar to finally attend.
Run by the New York State Brewers Association, this is essentially a lager festival and celebration of German beer drinking culture.
Nope, it is not a cask ale festival.
But my Spidey senses were tingling this year, and I decided to drop by on the off-chance.
Full disclosure, I knew that Eckhart were bringing along a couple of gravity kegs (they actually brought three), and with the likes of Strong Rope and Fifth Hammer attending, I thought that there may be the possibility of an additional cask or two.
And there was, but not from the usual suspects.
Walking over to the Eckhart tent with my first beer in hand (Wild East L’ultima Moda Italian pilsner), I spotted a pin out of the corner of my eye under the canopy of Mill House Brewing from Poughkeepsie NY.
It was a real powerhouse too, a 7% Dunkel Bock named Bock to the Future; deep opaque black/brown, sweet roasty nose, and massive roasty molasses taste.
Just awesome.
I was recommending it to everybody that would listen to me during the event, but made sure to get back for a second pour before it ran out.
I washed it down with a Czech Pale Lager from Eckhart and then hung around with the Eckhart folks for a while when I found out that they had brought along their latest brew, a Kellerbier Kolsch, in their third wooden cask.
The kolsch also got a lot of mentions from me during the afternoon.
It was a toss-up between the two for my favorite, and I still haven’t made up my mind.
The contrast between the two lagers (yeah, I know that kolsch is technically not a lager) really shows the extraordinary range of tastes and styles in what is normally considered (mea culpa) to be a one-dimensional beer, only good for lawnmowing and barbecuing.
To be fair to myself, I have a growing appreciation of the humble lager, although I do find it so much easier to drink when it is gently carbonated; easy drinking, isn’t that the point?
Of course I did not limit myself to the cask offerings, and I made sure that I did the rounds of the NYC breweries, sampling lagers and chatting with the good folks of Strong Rope, Fifth Hammer, Gun Hill and Endless Life, and introducing myself to the crew of Bright Eye Beer Company of Long Beach NY; I saw that they had put a pin on at their taproom a few weeks ago, and wanted to see how it turned out, and to encourage them to do it more often.
And I did all of the festy things that I could manage at this absolutely amazing biergarten, which for me meant listening to the band(s) and eating; bratwurst bun and potato pancakes.
I also watched, but did not participate in, the stein holding competition and the beer puppet challenge; my elbows and knees are a little dicey these days.
What a great event, and if my calendar remains open next year, I would sign up again in an instant, cask or not!
New York State British Real Ale Festival
Yes folks, it is that time of year again.
This weekend, my darling wife and I will be heading back up to Seneca Lake Brewing for a fun-filled weekend of ales, ciders, cheese and goats (not Bock goats).
Scorecard w/e 5/20/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks, alongside a great selection of draft and canned lagers at Das Bock! at Plattduetsche Biergarten in Franklin Square NY:
- Bock to the Future Dunkel Bock from Mill House Brewing (Poughkeepsie NY)
- Czech Amber Lager from Eckhart Beer Co. (Brooklyn NY)
- Kellerbier Kolsch from Eckhart Beer Co. (Brooklyn NY)
And a couple of weeks ago, the Cask Whisperer sampled the following casks at the 7th Annual Cask Ales Fundraiser to benefit The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, held at Po’Boy Brewing in Port Jefferson Station NY:
Brewed by | Brew | Style |
The Synergy Brew Project | Peachy Keen and Slightly Unstable | American Blonde: Peach Bellini |
ubergeek Brewing | Pineapple Vanilla Casualty | American IPA |
North Fork Brewing Co. | Dark Sunshine | Golden Stout: Coffee |
Greenport Harbor | Sami Rose | Cream Ale: Pina Colada |
Great South Bay Brewing | Cosmic Juice: Galaxy and Comet | New England IPA |
Ghost Brewing | These are not the Margaritas You are Looking For | Goze: Margarita |
Motion Craft Brewed | From Suck to Blow | Fruited Cider: Green Apple |
Sand City | Blueberry Mint Julep | Golden Ale: Blueberry Mint |
Stay Green Brewing | Lush | American Sour: Guava and Skittles |
Blue Point | Darkness Inside | Barrel-aged Imperial Stout |
Take Two Brewery | Spicy Blue Mexican | Vienna Lager: Blueberry Jalapeno |
South Shore Brewing | Puckered Up | American Sour: Black Cherry |
Secatogue Brewery | Kashyyyk Kooler | Kellerbier: Mango, Fennel, Coconut |
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
5/24/25: New York State British Real Ale Festival @ Seneca Lake Brewing, Rock Stream NY
6/7/25: Log Jammin’ V @ Human Robot Beer, Philadelphia PA
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- Nothing on the horizon, but I have it on good notice that the beer engine at Drop-off Service could well be serving Strong Rope Burton right now.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
- The Owl Farm
Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA Train
Metro-North Hudson Line
- Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Happy Valley Arcade Bar, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North Harlem Line
- The Ambleside Pub, Mt. Kisco NY (four handpumps, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North New Haven Line
- Marlowe Artisanal Ales, Mamaroneck NY (one handpump, Marlowe beer range)
- Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
