food & drink
A POUGHKEEPSIE ALE HEADS TO CHINA Plan Bee’s Resilient Barn Beers By Raphael Beretta
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n the ground floor of a quaint 1830s barn amidst 25 acres of farmland in Poughkeepsie, the taproom of Plan Bee Farm Brewery sat dark from mid-March until early June, when the Mid-Hudson Valley entered Phase 2 of the four-part reopening process, heralding a return to outdoor dining and drinking. “We’re lucky that our business model was always to be small, to never grow past producing 500 barrels a year,” says Emily Watson, who coowns Plan Bee with her husband Evan, formerly of Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. According to a survey conducted by the New York State Brewers Association (NYSBA) in April, the Plan Bee’s 10-barrel operation size represents the majority of this region’s breweries. “Out of the 75 to 90 breweries located in the Hudson Valley, about 15 are big, 20 are midsize, and the rest are small taprooms and farm breweries,” says Hutch Kugeman, Hudson Valley representative for the NYSBA. For comparison, a large operation like Sloop Brewing Co. in Fishkill houses a dozen 120-barrel tanks. 10 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 8/20
Bottle Shop Culture In many ways, Plan Bee’s business model was exceptionally well-suited to enduring the pandemic. The brewery, which specializes in wild ales, sours, and farmhouse ales, has been bottling since its launch in 2013. The distinctive qualities of these styles are flavor-boosted with fresh produce and herbs grown on Plan Bee’s own farm. At the start of the pandemic, the Watsons began bottling everything they had available. Due to diminished taproom activity and declining carry-out sales amidst social-distancing measures, they decided to cease brewing in late March and focus entirely on getting the beer they had already produced to their fans far and wide. Their typical brewing cycle is at least eight weeks long, so the last batch wasn’t bottled until April 24. After a two-month hiatus, they started brewing again in early June. It took time to relaunch because, like a sourdough starter, the yeast culture used in Plan Bee beer requires a continuous cycle of fermentation to stay active. “We had to restart from scratch,” Watson says. “If we don’t have
beer continuously fermenting so that we can take yeast that’s alive and active to use again in the next beer, the yeast culture dies.” The ‘’wild’’ part of wild ales refers to the native, naturally occurring mixed culture that the Watsons cultivate from their own raw honey. The fermentation process actually continues after bottling: residual sugars combined with yeast allow for carbonation to occur right in the bottle, a process known as bottle conditioning. Thanks to good planning, when Plan Bee reopened for onsite tastings the second week of June, the Watsons were able to pour a slew of aged farmhouse and wild ales, some of which have been aging for three years. One such vintage, Beekeeper, was aged in oak. Comb 2019, the most recent addition to Plan Bee’s barrel blend series, spent time in both red and white wine barrels. The bright-orange Fuggle draws inspiration from Belgian saisons and British barleywines. Pepper features the fiery zing of ghost peppers, thai chilis, habaneros, and over a dozen other hot peppers grown on the farm. Much of the produce for the beers is grown
