Wheel deals
In summer of pandemic, a little driving whets appetite
Check out some of the region’s farm-to-table spots where the fare justifies some travel.
Is there any argument that the best way to enjoy upstate New York in summer or autumn is to take a drive? In these warmer months I get to seek out farm-to-table Hudson Valley dining beyond the edges of the Capital Region proper, and most of you are keen to put the windows down and get out of town. Layer on lockdown fever, and the desire for fresh air and greenery is more a need than an idle idea. Not everyone is ready for indoor dining or fenced-in street tables surrounded by a weekend crowd. Luckily, New York is rich with state parks, mountain hikes, pick-your-own farms and summer drives that end in a good meal and a cold beer.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll bring you some of my favorite places from farm breweries to waterfront dining and socially distanced restaurants worth the drive. This week it’s breweries. Though I know and love the many in-town breweries from Troy to Glens Falls, my recommendation for this warm period is to hit the country roads with a date or friend and check out one of these local breweries.
S & S Farm Brewery, Nassau. 24-minute drive from downtown Albany
174 Middle Road, Nassau. 518-3360766; sandsbrewery.com.
Hours: 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Make a few deliberate wrong turns and get lost in the rolling fields of Columbia County. The acres of apple orchards, horse-filled paddocks and country smells will help you shed your last vestige of city life. By the time you reach S&S Farm Brewery, you’ll feel at home in your country-chic plaid and sensible shoes. This working farm has been owned and operated by the Sanford family since the 1800s, and the new generation’s decision to transition from dairy farm to craft brewery has enabled them to use resting fields for hop production. Though you’ll see hay bales and cows behind the electric fencing of the parking lot, the sight of sustainably grown New York barley and hops climbing strings is the perfect backdrop to the umbrellaed tables in front of the old dairy farm silos.
Open Friday and Saturday evenings only, S & S Brewery is family-friendly, with a rotating lineup of food trucks and live music as well as an ice cream stand. Try their Bale Kicker porter, Brown Chicken brown ale and Eternal Sunshine IPA or partner Thousand Island Farm winery or Sundog Hard Cider, made by Sundog Solar in Chatham. COVID-19 protocols mean tables are socially distanced and served by waitstaff. The playground is currently closed, although you can bring your own chairs and let children run around. Growlers can be purchased to go or sanitized and refilled onsite. No pets. Addam Sentz / S&S Brewery S&S Brewery farm brewery in Nassau is on a sixth-generation family farm.
Crossroads Brewing Co., Catskill & Athens. 36-minute drive from downtown Albany
Crossroads Taproom, 201 Water St., Catskill. 518-444-TAPS (8277); crossroadsbrewingco.com.
Crossroads Brewpub, 21 Second St., Athens. 518-945-BEER (2337); crossroadsbrewingco.com/athens-brewpub.
Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday, 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday, closed Tuesday. (Athens location also closed Monday.) Happy hour: 4 to 6 p.m.
Even with the original brewpub only 10 minute away in nearby Athens, the new Catskill location scores for its gleaming tasting room with garage doors flung open on a leafy courtyard overlooking the Catskill Creek. Picnic tables maintain distancing, a tent affords shelter or shade and Forkn’ Food, a weekend food truck, turns out comfort food from fish fry to Buffalo chicken grilled cheese.
If it’s your first time, order a beer flight with your choice of six 2-ounce pours.
Try the New Normal NE IPA; the dark sour brewed with plums, dark cherries and raspberries; or Outrage, Crossroads’ flagship IPA; and a house barleywine described as “big, bold and beautiful.” If your party numbers two or more, try all 12 taps in two f lights. You don’t have to drink it all. With food a new requirement for drink orders, a mandatory $1 bag o’ chips will be added to your first round, but if you want a meal, Main Street is a just stroll away. Alternatively, stagger your pregame with a stop at the Athens location for Crossroads brewpub classics: New York cheddar mac
n-cheese with Outragebattered onion rings, a lobster roll or one of four brewery burgers. Eat in or take it to go.
Roe Jan Brewing Co., Hillsdale. 48-minute drive from downtown Albany
32 Anthony St., Hillsdale. 518-303-8080; roejanbrewing.com.
Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Take a drive through Hudson and Claverack, make a stop at Cooper’s
Daughters Distillery for some locally made spirits and continue onto scenic Hillsdale. The 19th-century Hillsdale Mercantile building has been beautifully restored as Roe Jan Brewing, a brewery and restaurant named after a 16th-century Scandinavian settler. The lengthy, wraparound firstfloor balcony and outdoor patio fenced with stacked logs make Roe Jan Brewing an ideal outdoor dining destination, while the interior open kitchen with jars of pickled vegetables lining shelves, and the bar centered around an original grain hopper from its time as a feed store, closely tie the modernized structure to its past.
For now, beer flights are on hold, so create your own with a few 10-ounce pours. Line up their Roeliff Saison, Harlem Valley
Kölsch, Mercantile Porter and Anneke Gose, or sip a shandy made with house ginger cordial and lemon juice or red sangria with charred lemon, brandy and triple sec. A chef-driven scratch kitchen means the menu gets equal billing with superb flavors and ingredients that outplay common brewery food. Choose from duck confit spring rolls or octopus, though a Mexican grilled shrimp cocktail over chunky gazpacho and chilled corn soup with crispy tofu should not be missed. It’s all served on plant-based compostable plates, but we’re used to that. Cans and growlers are available to go.
Susie Davidson Powell is a British freelance food writer in upstate New York. Follow her on Twitter, @ Susiedp