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CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

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Singing the Blues in Beacon

We finally got a weekend day when I wasn’t feeling too crappy, when the weather was cool but sunny and decent, when we were not responsible for the care and feeding of a four-footed visitor, and when my wife was feeling adventurous.

We didn’t have the full day available to us last Saturday, but we were able to set aside the afternoon and evening to take a lovely rail trip alongside the Hudson to Beacon NY; a little over an hour and a half each way, with five hours free to spend in the town itself.

Those readers with long memories will remember that I have extolled the beery virtues of Beacon before, and those that are new here may notice that Beacon gets three entries in the Scorecard section below.

But on that earlier trip I had to make do with just a single cask ale destination, namely Draught Industries.

Okay, so I did toss in four breweries during that visit, just for research.

So, one of the aims of this little excursion was to check out at least one, possibly both, of the two new Old Glenham outlets in the town.

You might be surprised to hear that the primary reason for the daytrip was only tangentially related to cask ale.

This being the second weekend in the month, we were heading all the way upriver to check out the band in residence at Denning’s Point Distillery in the heart of the town, the Black Coffee Blues Band.

Led by Dmitri Archip and featuring a rolling cast of excellent musicians including, on occasion, guitar god and Old Glenham brewer extraordinaire Ian Hatton, we were looking forward to catching at least part of their evening set before we had to run back to the station to get a train that would return us to NYC before our designated bedtime.

Ian would not be appearing on this occasion, being out of town, but I am so glad that we didn’t call to check beforehand, because we may have postponed our jaunt and missed a truly rollicking performance by the band and the amazing Popa Chubby featured on guitar.

But this would all be in the evening and we had arrived mid-afternoon, finding ourselves with three and a half hours to kill.

We wish we had longer.

Beacon is that kind of place.

We barely scratched the surface.

First stop was the same as last time, Two Way Brewing Company, the closest bathroom to the train station, chill atmosphere, sweet dogs, and their own cider on tap alongside their beers.

It would be the only brewery that we visited this time around.

We stayed long enough to visit the wee room, soak up the atmosphere, say hi to the Frenchie pup at the bar, and down a pint of the Hesperides cider.

And then we finished the climb-out to the west end of Main Street, and began the slow amble.

Our next target was going to be at the eastern end of the main drag, aiming to reach there in time to grab a bite and return to the distillery for the show; it was going to be a toss up between the Yankee Clipper Diner or Coopers although the coin was double-sided because only one of those places had cask ale.

We took our time, saying hi to all of the dogs that we passed on the street, we stared in all of the shop windows, scaring the poor folks who were trying to close up for the day, and we ventured into the thrift store for a while; they had some pretty good vinyl in there.

We eyeballed the cat café but didn’t go in; we didn’t trust ourselves not to pick up another cat to keep Mr. Bagel company.

We somehow strolled right past the diner, oh well.

We did not stroll right past the Howland Cultural Center; the web site states that you can visit on Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm to 5pm “By appointment and or by chance”.

We took the chance.

It was close to 5pm as we were passing, and they were cleaning up before closing for the day.

As we stood outside and admired the distinctive architecture of what was the former Howland Circulating Library, we were invited in and given an extensive personal tour of the ground floor and the current exhibition of paintings of Bannerman Castle.

What a cool place.

We would love to return when they have a music event, the acoustics in the main library hall are amazing.

And just like that, we had reached the east end of Main Street just in time to sit down for a meal.

We took a little detour to see the falls and then headed for East Main Street and Coopers, hoping that it would not be too crowded or too noisy; it was the Saturday before St. Patrick’s day and most of the bars along Main Street were overflowing with groups of young folk out celebrating early.

We got lucky.

It was quite crowded and very noisy in the main bar, but quieter and roomier in the small alcove dining area to the right, where they fortunately sat us.

The food was good, the Old Glenham Weavers Pale Ale cask was excellent, and our timing was perfect; when we were done, we had about twenty minutes to take a slow walk back to the distillery before the band started their first set.

The band were still setting up their equipment when we arrived, but Dmitry graciously took time to greet us as we came in.

He was equally gracious when we told him that we had an “early” train to catch and we would not be staying for both sets.

We grabbed a couple of seats and a barrel, and I grabbed a Black Coffee Manhattan cocktail (it seemed appropriate) before settling in for almost two hours of amazing rock and blues.

We were happy that the Paddy’s Day revelers had decided to congregate elsewhere, leaving the venue and show to be enjoyed by folks who really appreciated it (no, not just old fogies).

We had a ball.

It was so much fun that when we got home, we found ourselves checking our calendars to see when we could next fit in another trip to Beacon.

We ended up doing only the south side of Main Street this time, so we have plenty to occupy ourselves with when we return, including a hike up Beacon Mountain if we have the time and energy.

I also have to check out Happy Valley Arcade Bar in search of the third beer engine; we gave it a miss on this occasion because it was packed out with young folks in green and orange.

But hey, they all seemed to be enjoying themselves, just as we enjoyed ourselves.

Scorecard w/e 03/17/26

In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:

  • Old Glenham Weavers Pale Ale @ Coopers, Beacon.

Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)

Upcoming Random NYC Casks

  • 5/16/26: Das Bock returns to Plattduetsche Biergarten. Again, no promises of a cask but there were several stichfaß and a surprise cask at last year’s festivities.

NYC Cask Venues

Known Operational/Active Beer Engines

  • Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
  • Fifth Hammer
  • Wild East
  • The Shakespeare (x3)
  • Drop-off Service
  • Rough Draft

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
  • City Swiggers

Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA or NJ Transit Train in Under two Hours

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).

NJ Transit NJCL Line

  • Triumph Restaurant and Brewery, Red Bank NJ (one handpump, Triumph beer range).
  • Little Dog Brewing, Bradley Beach NJ (one handpump, Little Dog beer range).
ASK NIGEL

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