Bacchus in New Paltz, NY

by Mike

Over the Labor Day weekend, my wife, Doreen, and I visited New Paltz, NY with the intention of trying some of the great food, wine and beer available in that area.  The full write up will be forth coming.  For now, let me make you aware of one of the best beer bars in the Hudson Valley. 

Bacchus sits just off the main drag in downtown New Paltz.  It was opened by a self-proclaimed hippie in 1974 who, along with his wife Linda, still runs it today.  Linda met us with a smile when we walked in and made us feel as though we were sitting down in her own home.  The décor is funky like the rest of this college town with sharks and moose heads hanging from the walls. 

Bacchus was the Roman god of wine, but here beer rules. The beer list is endless.  I have never seen such an extensive menu of craft and foreign beers; almost 500 in all.

The bar maid, Kate, took our orders: a flight of 4 different tap beers for me and a Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat for Doreen.  The Sea Dog brewed in Maine had a crisp sweet taste.  I would put it up there with the best fruit beers I’ve tried this summer. My flight consisted of: Blue point’s Rasta Rye, Smuttynose Brown Ale, Sierra Nevada Porter and Lake Placid Ubu Ale.  My goal was to experience the local flavors of the area so I ordered a pint of the Ubu as my pre-lunch beverage.  Ubu is named after a dog the brewer kept as a pet in the Adirondack brewery. This English strong ale pours dark red and has a nice caramel aroma.  Doreen and I both agreed that the maltiness of this brew hid the 7% abv very well. 

Kate is an energetic grad student at the SUNY college right down the road.  Doreen commented on her stylish, short haircut and Kate explained that she recently shaved her head bald for St. Baldrick’s day.  This fund raiser, which I have taken part in for 6 years, raises money for research into childhood cancers.  I am usually accompanied by hundreds of other guys who don’t mind shaving their heads for a good cause.  It is rare to find a woman who is brave enough to take it all off.  When asked what it was like Kate said, “It was freeing. I felt like a weight was taken off my head. Even the sensation of feeling the air on my scalp was a rush”.

We had lunch on the outdoor patio off the back of the building.  After the huge breakfast at our B & B that morning, our appetites were minimal. So I ordered a bowl of chili and Doreen got the black bean soup.  The beans in the soup were pureed, which took a little getting used to.  The beans in the chili, on the other hand, were hearty and accompanied by ample meat, cheese, sour cream and chives.  It was such a large, filling meal that I had to take half the bowl to go.

I found room though to order one more local beer from their list.  Keegan’s Old Capital Ale is brewed in nearby Kingston, NY.  Kingston is the old capital of New York.  This American blond ale was flavorful with just the right amount of bitterness. I could taste lemon up front and it had a crisp, clean taste that was perfect for session drinking on a summer day.  I drank it as I walked around the bar, which has another outdoor eating area off the front of the building and a large pool hall adjacent to the main bar room.

This is a “must see” for any beerophile.  It would be have been fun, had we been there for a longer stay, to work our way through their long list of craft beers.  As it is, I’ll have to settle for a taste of Bacchus and a commitment to return soon. 

The Ship Inn - Oldest Brew Pub in New Jersey

“After .2 miles you have arrived at your destination”.  “What did she say?” asked Doc, referring to the female voice of our GPS.  “She says we’re here”, replied Rich with less confidence than the voice. You couldn’t blame us for questioning.  We had been driving the country roads of Hunterdon County, NJ for about a half hour looking for the The Ship Inn, the oldest brew pub in the state. 

Doc and Rich are two retirees who make it their life’s work to find the best food and drink in this part of the country.  For example, they have been driving down to Maryland on what they call the “crab train” for 35 years to dine on the tasty crustaceans.  So when they invited me to join them on this brewery visit I couldn’t say no.

Our drive took us past farms and rolling hills that looked more like neighboring Penn than the most populated state in the country.  But our GPS girl was right; we drove into Milford, NJ and back about 100 years in time.  The Victorian homes, white steepled church and clapboard barns reminded me of a colonial New England Town. 

The brewery was built in the1860’s and has gone through a series of incarnations including a bowling alley and a speak easy in the 1920’s.  Ann and David Hall purchased the building in 1985 where they served fish and chips and John Courage Beer.  Ten years later they installed a seven vat brewing system and became the first to brew beer for consumption on premises since Prohibition. 

We got out of the car and walked the length of the town in about 5 minutes and crossed the foot bridge over the Delaware River into Penn.  The River looked silty from the recent rain and we wondered if the brewery tapped into the river to make their beer.  Sure enough, the menu described “Muddy Waters” made from Delaware River water.

Upon entering this establishment we had to side step a piano that must make this pub come to life on weekend nights.  We visited on a weekday for lunch, but the dark wood walls made the pub feel warm and cozy.  We sat in a sunken dining area which overlooked a creek that surely flowed into the Delaware.  Over the bar, which is made from the floor of the old bowling alley, hung dozens of pewter mugs that only added to the Victorian feel of the place.

We started with flights consisting of 6 oz glasses of the 6 beers on tap.  The chocolate stout had a strong coffee taste and the Golden wheat was light and drinkable.  But the hands-down winner was the Killer Bee Ale made with local honey.  All their beers have a 5%ABV or lower so it was easy to try them all and still have a pint of my favorite.  Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who loves this brew.  The waitress said that we just killed the keg with our samples. 

We later received a tour from Brew master Lea Rumbolo who said that she uses 65 gallons of honey in order to produce 210 gals of this popular beer but it lasts only about 2 weeks on tap.

The Ship Inn brews beer in the English tradition using barley malt and Kent Golding’s hops.  The brewing system was designed and built by Alan Pugsley of Maine who imported this brewing style from Great Britain.  Lea uses finicky Ringwood  yeast which top ferments and along with the toasted malt adds a hint of caramel flavor to their beers.  At the end of the brewing process the spent grain is fed to cows at the surrounding dairy farms.

I have been reading a lot about the “small” movement in the craft beer industry but hadn’t experienced it until visiting the Ship Inn.  From the limited production of beer made with local ingredients, to the personalized tour by the brew master to the tiny Delaware River town this brewery calls home, our visit made me a believer that the old ways sometimes are better.