The Craft Beer Issue by Capital Region Living

WINTER ISSUE 2021

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Your guide to Capital Region breweries PLUS

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The local beer biz that's killing it during COVID Is the craft craze here to stay?

While there’s no way any of us can properly thank the Capital Region’s essential workers for all that they have done during the pandemic, we asked a few of our youngest readers to grab a box of colored pencils and give it their best effort. In the end, more than 100 grateful kids sent in drawings of policemen, bus drivers, firefighters, custodians and more, and we think their work is about as close to a proper “thank you” as anyone could give. Go to crlmag.com to see the full collection of Art from the Heart submissions.

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inside WINTER ISSUE 2021

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Cover Story

Perfecting Our Craft Ale vs. Lager The Beer Sommelier Small Bar, Big Moves BY NATALIE MOORE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DUSTIN LANTERMAN

HAMILTON: A REGIONAL HIT! BY WILL LEVITH 24

B EH I N D TH E L EN S: FRED COFFEY 38

ADVERTISING SECTIONS

28 HOME IMPROVEMENT 35 WEDDINGS 4 4 LO C A L LY O W N E D BUSINESSES

ONE WONDERFUL WEEKEND: BALLSTON SPA BY WILL LEVITH

7 NE W AND NOW 46

The Experts

TRAVEL: ALEXANDRA BAACKES B E A U T Y: K E L LY H E F F E R N A N , M S , F N P - B C WELLNESS: DR. ALEX MARSAL, PHD

50 BEFORE YOU GO: A GLORIOUS YEAR BY JOHN GRAY

ON THE COVER: A collage of beer cans from Capital Region breweries (from top) Bound by Fate Brewing, Suarez Family Brewery, Hudson Brewing Company, Great Flats Brewing, Shmaltz Brewing Company, Mixed Breed Brewing, Chatham Brewing, Druthers Brewing Company, Hank Hudson Brewing Company and The Real McCoy Beer Co., photographed by Dustin Lanterman exclusively for CAPITAL REGION LIVING.

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From The Editors

GETTING PAST GROUNDHOG DAY

hew. We survived 2020! (Feels good to say that out loud, doesn’t it?) While that may be the case, it didn’t come without its sacrifices: the stay-at-home orders, the cancellations, the virtual learning, the social distancing, the mask-wearing and worst of all, the onset of the holiday blues. Now that we have a brand-new year ahead of us—a blank slate, so to speak—it would only seem fair that we wouldn’t have to endure the same wretchedness all over again…that we, like Bill Murray’s character at the end of Groundhog Day, would finally snap out of it. Sadly, the pandemic isn’t done with us just yet—not by a longshot. And we’re staring down another long, cold, upstate winter. But that doesn’t mean we can’t kick off 2021 on the right foot. The perfect new year’s starter log? BEER. Whether it comes in a bottle, can, crowler or growler, craft beer is everywhere, and it’s made by some of the coolest, most innovative small businesses in the Capital Region. Grab a cold one—and flip through our comprehensive CAPITAL REGION LIVING Sales Manager Tara regional craft beer section beginning on page 10. (Thank us later.) Buffa’s dog, Patch, with the craft beer his On a more serious note, as you learned in last issue’s Capital Region Gives Back section, owner collected from local breweries for this issue’s cover story. there’s a mental health crisis brewing during this second wave of the pandemic. In the interest of self-care, we’re offering expert advice from a trusted local psychologist on page 49, next-level personal beauty tips on page 48 and our most recent invention, “Behind the Lens”—a free moment of Zen—on page 32. Because we know you won’t be hibernating at home, groundhog-like, all winter, you can learn about our area’s latest, greatest goings-on (page 7), how to spend a whirlwind weekend in Ballston Spa (page 38) and how to plan a year’s worth of travel, entirely in New York State (page 46). A common thread that runs through this entire issue? Small businesses. When you get done reading about all of them, go out and support them as much as you’re able. Groundhogs might not have wallets—but you sure as heck do. —The Editors

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t e e w S Be reats Give T Selection to bring you in… Taste to bring you back.

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NEW NOW AND

For our first New and Now, we spotlight 10 bold brand-new businesses that took the plunge during a pandemic. BY NATALIE MOORE

JACOB ALEJANDRO 274 RIVER ST, TROY

This past December, Capital Region coffee lovers got an early Christmas present when married couple Jake and Alejandro GriffinDiaz officially opened their coffee shop, Jacob Alejandro, in Downtown Troy. But Jacob Alejandro isn’t just your run-of-the-percolator coffee shop: The owners’ specialize in “specialty coffee,” a term used to describe cups of joe that are made using the best beans and brewing technology to bring out never-before-tasted flavor notes. There’s an educational element to specialty coffee, too— baristas need to be taught how to use special equipment and about the origins of the coffee they’re making. To that end, when it’s safe to gather again, Jake and Alejandro plan to hold coffee courses at their River Street space.

ARIA KABAB 1647 CENTRAL AVE, COLONIE

Craving flavors you won’t find at Applebee’s? Head to Colonie’s Central Ave’s new Afghan restaurant, Aria Kabab, where you’ll find a huge selection of tikka (a dish made by marinating meat in spices and yogurt and then cooking it in a tandoor oven) and kofta (Afghan meatballs), as well as gyros and lamb chops. Yum!

STEFANIE’S BEAUTY SUPPLY 54 CROSSING BLVD, CLIFTON PARK

In the final days of 2020, Glens Falls native Stefanie Thomas opened Stefanie’s Beauty Supply, a Clifton Park–based store with a focus on providing affordable hair care products to the local community of color. Thomas’ shop carries everything from gels, creams and conditioners to

(clockwise from top) Jacob Alejandro; Stefanie’s Beauty Supply; Aria Kabab

NEW NOW AND

rollers, hairdryers and wigs, as well as grooming products for men. It even has a kids’ section, complete with books about embracing the skin you’re in.

COOPERSTOWN DISTILLERY BEVERAGE EXCHANGE 453 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS

Saratoga’s known for its downtown bars and restaurants. One thing its main drag was missing? A high-end spirits shop. This past December, Cooperstown Distillery, headquartered in—you guessed it— Cooperstown, opened a second retail location and tasting room in the Spa City. While its name is a bit of a misnomer— there’s no on-premises distillery—guests can stop in to pick up bottles, including whiskey and vodka, in one of the company’s baseballshaped Hall of Fame Signature Series decanters, or belly up to the bar for a cocktail made with Saratoga Revolutionary Rum, the distillery’s Saratoga-exclusive spirit.

CURRY PATTA 187 MAIN ST, ALTAMONT

For more fare with an ethnic flair, check

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out Curry Patta, a Pakistani restaurant that recently opened in Altamont. On the menu is chicken qorma, beef seekh kabab and chicken tikka masala, plus plenty of very affordable options for vegetarians. And don’t forget its curries—they’re all made from family recipes handed down by the owners’ ancestors.

LA CAPITAL TACOS 161 4TH ST, TROY

January 1, 2021 was more than just New Year’s Day for Chef Yair De La Rosa—it also marked the opening of his new restaurant, La Capital Tacos, a partnership with acrossthe-street neighbor, Sunhee’s Farm and Kitchen, in Downtown Troy. Dubbed “the most authentic Mexico City—style taqueria in Troy” (De La Rosa is a Mexico City native and began his restaurant career in his family’s restaurant there), La Capital serves up tacos prepared just like they do south of the border (try the Pollo a La Parilla variety). The restaurant is currently open for takeout, and De La Rosa says that he can now seat up to five people, socially distanced, at the bar, which is being manned by Sunhee’s.

(clockwise from top left) Cooperstown Distillery Beverage Exchange; Curry Patta; La Capital Tacos; The Tiny Diney

NEW NOW AND

THE TINY DINEY 300 ONTARIO ST, COHOES

Last September, when artist and Footsy Magoo’s co-owner Robilee McIntyre saw the impressive community turnout at Cohoes’ Eat in the Street, a program that shut down Remsen Street on Friday evenings so that restaurants could serve customers in the road, she knew she had to get in on the fun. Now, she’s the proud owner of The Tiny Diney, a diner that’s, well, tiny and on Ontario Street in Downtown Cohoes. Breakfast classics are the name of the game at The Tiny Diney, where customers can dine in, or get their food to go via contactless pickup. There are also plans in the works to recreate a 1950s-style carhop there, where customers can get their breakfast orders roller-skated out to their cars.

NIC’S TRATTORIA 1 SPRINGHURST DR, EAST GREENBUSH

Last December, brothers Rocco and Michael Nicoletta, whose family owns LaBella Pizza in Wynantskill, opened a new casual Italian restaurant, Nic’s Trattoria, in East Greenbush. Open for lunch Friday and Saturday and dinner Monday-Saturday, Nic’s Trattoria’s menu is highlighted by wood-fired pizzas, inventive pasta dishes and feature cocktails, such as the Pom & Mary (gin, elderflower, pomegranate, lemon and rosemary) and Black Manhattan (bourbon or rye whiskey, averna, vermouth, orange bitters and cherry).

TWO LITTLE DUMPLINGS 12 MAHER RD, SLINGERLANDS

Want to down some delicious dumplings but on your own time? Slingerlands’ Two Little Dumplings has you covered. Customers can order a variety of frozen dumplings online at twolittledumplings.com, pick them up on Saturday mornings or Monday afternoons and then whip up a batch whenever their heart desires. The new biz also comes with

a heartwarming story: Two Little Dumplings is a multi-generational family business that’s named after Chef Raymond Lee’s two granddaughters.

PIEROGI SHOPPE SARATOGA SPRINGS

About a year and a half after Mike and Shelley Spain opened Seneca in Saratoga Springs, the husband-and-wife duo came up with another business venture that was sure to be a smash (or should we say “mash”?) hit. The concept? A virtual kitchen—one which prepares food for delivery only. The product? Pierogis. On December 20, the Spains launched Pierogi Shoppe, a virtual kitchen offering pierogis stuffed with everything from sweet potato and bacon to sauerkraut and kielbasa, all of which are available for delivery on DoorDash. And for dessert? A fried pierogi tossed in cinnamon sugar, stuffed with apple pie filling and topped with caramel sauce. Przepyszny! (That’s “yummy” in Polish.)

(from top) Two Little Dumplings; Nic’s Trattoria; Pierogi Shoppe

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Craft Perfecting Our

The US craft beer industry has exploded over the last 10 years, and Upstate New York’s beer-brewing scene is no exception. But is it just a passing phase? CAPITAL REGION LIVING takes you on a 300-year journey to find out.

By Natalie Moore Photograph By Dustin Lanterman

(from left) Beers from Capital Region breweries Indian Ladder Farms Cidery & Brewery, Frog Alley Brewing, Rare Form Brewing, C.H. Evans Brewing, Subversive Malting + Brewing, Artisanal Brew Works, Northway Brewing Co. and The Beer Diviner.

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CH Evans at the Albany Pump Station; (inset) CH Evans owner Neil Evans.

(Evans) STEPHEN ROSS/MAGICWIG PRODUCTIONS

e’re not trying to go all Economics 101 on you, but as an industry grows, certain companies begin to stand out as owning the largest market share until only a few control almost the entire industry. The process is called consolidation, and it’s very much how the beer industry has worked throughout the years. In 2009, the top five companies, including big dogs Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, controlled a combined 88 percent of the beer market. But then something incredible happened. Over the next decade, instead of increasing their shares of the market, those beer-hemoths actually lost market share, dropping to a combined 79 percent of the market in 2019. A nearly 10 percent drop in just 10 years is nothing short of seismic. Its cause? The craft beer revolution.

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ince 2005, the number of breweries in the US has exploded from just under 1,500 to well over 8,000, despite total US beer consumption dropping. In New York State alone, the brewery count more than quadrupled from 95 to 415 between 2012-18, with dozens of breweries popping up in the Capital Region. While not all of the 8,386 breweries in the country are technically “craft breweries”—the Coors and Budweiser breweries are included in that number—the vast majority are. But what exactly is craft beer? Where did it come from? How did it disrupt a tried-and-true rule of economics? And, most importantly, where does the Capital Region fit in? Let’s find out.

ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY & ART, 1954.59.10

he definition of craft beer is nebulous, but two of my personal favorite stabs at it come from California brewers in the film Craft: The California Beer Documentary. One: “If you can meet the guy that made it, it’s craft.” The other: “If the beer tastes good, it’s probably craft.” (California is widely credited as the birthplace of the modern craft beer revolution.) Kevin Mullen, owner and head brewer at Troy’s Rare Form Brewery and secretary of the New York State Brewers Association board of directors, on the other hand, defines craft beer as a process. “I think what happens with a lot of breweries is they’ll make one beer, and they’re happy with it, and then they just kind of leave that recipe alone and walk away from it,” he says. “To me, that’s not craft.” What makes it into craft beer, Kevin says, is when a customer comes in a month or year down the line, tries that same

beer, and it’s noticeably different. “You’ll be like, ‘Wow, this tastes even better,’ because slowly we’re making changes to make it a better beer over time.” The Brewers Association (BA) doesn’t even have an official definition for craft beer, but it does define a craft brewer as one that is small (annual production of six million barrels of beer or less) and independent (less than 25 percent of the brewery is owned by an entity that is not a brewer). For the record, that’s a pretty broad definition; it’s widely assumed the BA upped the barrel maximum to accommodate Boston Beer Company, which produces Samuel Adams, arguably the country’s most popular craft beer. Boston Beer produces 5.3 million barrels of beer per year. To put that into perspective, New York’s F.X. Matt Brewing Company, which brews the Saranac line of beers, produces about 350,000 barrels per year, while Cooperstown’s Brewery Ommegang produces just 35,000. No matter what your definition is of craft beer, you can’t deny that there’s been a

An advertising sheet for R. Dunlop & Son’s Albany Ale and Porter from the 1840s, printed by Joel Munsell, Albany, New York. Lithograph and letterpress on paper.

craze that has swept across the nation in recent years. But if you’re looking at craft beer in New York’s Capital Region, specifically, you have to go back in time much farther back than the craft beer boom of the late 2000s and the craft “boomlet” of the 1980s. (Way) back in the day, even before Prohibition, Albany was nothing short of a craft beer superpower.

leven years ago, beer bloggers Craig Gravina and Alan McLeod came across an early 19th-century advertisement for something called Albany Ale. Realizing there was little information out there

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about it, the duo launched the Albany Ale Project, a research endeavor to find out anything and everything about the seemingly forgotten brew. In 2014, they published their findings about the region’s rich brewing history in the book Upper Hudson Valley Beer. “What Albany Ale was all over the country, initially, was sort of the best beer being brewed in the greater Upper Hudson Valley—Poughkeepsie to about Troy,” Gravina says. “It was pretty strong stuff: anywhere between nine and 13 percent alcohol. Because of the early Dutch establishing Albany as a brewing

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center through the 18th and into the 19th century, you had this influx of brewers from Scotland. They started coming to Albany, Troy, Hudson and Poughkeepsie, and the industry grew from there to the point where, by the mid-1850s, Albany Ale was pretty much all over the country. We’ve seen it as far away as Hawaii, we’ve seen advertisements for it in Suriname.” One key to Albany’s brewing success was its location at the nexus of the Hudson River and Erie Canal. Raw materials were shipped east to the state capital on the canal, where the beer was produced and then sent south

on the Hudson to New York City, from which it could be shipped anywhere in the world. Hops also grew wild in upstate, making it easy for Albany brewers to get their hands on one of the four main ingredients of beer. By the mid-19th century, the City of Albany was producing the second-most beer in the world, second only to London. With the advent of railroads and the new demand for lighter lagers, Albany’s monopoly on beer production and distribution waned, and Albany Ale disappeared completely during the Prohibition Era. But thanks to the

investigative work of Gravina and McLeod, Albany will forever be remembered as a beer city. “Whether it’s the first Dutch [settlers] that arrived here, the Erie Canal, Prohibition, consolidation or union issues, the story of our area can be told through beer,” Gravina says. “And because there was so much beer being made here, it, in turn, affected the history itself.” Of course, Albany Ale wasn’t the Capital Region beer industry’s only casualty of Prohibition. In the 1920s, after trying its hand at producing nonalcoholic beer, Hudson brewery CH Evans, which had

operated in the Friendly City since 1786, was sold and raided for violation of Prohibition laws before it fell victim to a massive fire that burned the 12-building facility to the ground in 1930. (Ironically, the Evans family had built the City of Hudson’s firehouse.) When Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, neither the national nor the local beer industry bounced right back. The number of breweries in the US grew to 857 in 1941 before declining slowly for the next four decades until there was just 89 total, in the entire country, in 1978. But, as luck

would have it, it was about that time that something big began brewing right here in the Capital Region.

n 1980, Bill Newman took what he had learned as a brewer’s apprentice in London and opened Wm. S. Newman Brewing Company in an old mattress warehouse on Broadway in Albany, making him one of the first (if not the first)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, canning and bottling beer for sale in grocery stores has been some breweries’ saving grace.

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craft brewer on the East Coast (Gravina says that some speculate NYC’s New Amsterdam Brewery was up and running before Newman’s). Regardless, Newman is considered the “godfather” of craft brewing, having mentored Jim Patterson of Abita Brewing in New Orleans and Jim Koch, cofounder of Boston Beer Co. “Either I’m a fool or I’m a hero, but I’m confident I’ll be brewing beer till I’m 80,” Newman told the Albany Times Union in 1983. “I believe small brewers are entering a renaissance period in America.” Newman was onto something: small brewers were about to have a major comeback. The same year Newman opened his brewery in Albany, a young CH “Neil” Evans IV (whose same-named great-grandfather presided over the aforementioned CH Evans during the Prohibition Era) was

just catching the brewing bug. Already a passionate home brewer, the Hudson native had ventured out to Lake Tahoe, CA, for a three-week ski trip and ended up staying there for 15 years. While out west, he heard about a small brewery called Sierra Nevada that had just opened and decided to make the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Chico to check it out. This, of course, was before the days of MapQuest or GPS, so when he got close, Evans stopped at a gas station to ask for directions. “The girl at the counter said, ‘I get off in 15 minutes. I’ll go with you,’” Evans says. Needless to say, drinking ensued, and Evans was hooked. When Evans returned to the Capital Region, he decided he wanted to open a brewery of his own. “I had another business at the time and I worked really, really hard for 10 years to put money away, so that

this could happen,” he says. In the mid’90s, Evans purchased the old Albany Pump Station, a water system facility that serviced the Capital City from 1895-1932 but had since fallen into disrepair. “The construction project took two-and-a-half years,” Evans says. “Because I didn’t have any background in construction, it was not easy. I couldn’t afford to hire a contractor to do it. We finally got it open and we were successful right out of the gate.” That was in 1999. CH Evans Brewing Company (the second one) became one of only a handful of breweries in the Capital Region, including Albany’s Big House Brewing Co., which closed in the mid-2000s, and Troy’s Brown’s Brewing Company, which opened in 1993—the same year Newman ended up closing his pioneering brewery—and remains open to this day.

Ale Lager VS.

SIMPLY PUT, MOST BEER IS EITHER AN ALE OR A LAGER. HERE’S HOW TO TELL THE TWO APART. Ales

• Yeast gathers toward the top of the tank during fermentation • Ages for just a few weeks around 40–55 degrees Fahrenheit • Aromatic and sometimes fruity Popular types: • India Pale Ale • Pale Ale • Stout • Porter • Sour • Wheat Beer • Gose 16 | C A P I T A L R E G I O N L I V I N G | W I N T E R 2 0 2 1

Hybrid/Mixed

Not every beer fits nicely into these two categories; many craft brews are ale/lager mixes, or “hybrids,” and can have wildly different properties. Popular types: • Session Beer • Pumpkin Spice Beer • Coffee Beer

Lagers

• Yeast gathers toward the bottom of the tank during fermentation • Ages for months around 32–45 degrees Fahrenheit • Crisp, clean and refreshing Popular types: • Pilsner • Helles • Kölsch • Bock

“Back in 1999, I think I had visited every brewery that was open in New York State,” Evans says. “Do you know how many breweries there are in New York State now? Over 420. Back then, we all knew each other, and now we don’t.” But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a camaraderie that exists between brewers. “One of the things I think is great is everywhere you go, the community of brewers is all kind of the same—very welcoming, very resourceful,” says Rare Form’s Mullen. (It’s common for brewers to share tips, equipment and even personnel.) Locally, Bloodville Brewery brews out of Northway Brewing Co.’s Queensbury facility, and Mullen has actually stepped in as CH Evans’ brewmaster. That communal aspect extends beyond those directly involved in the production of craft beer to those who sell it. Pint Sized, a small bar and bottle shop with locations in Albany and Saratoga Springs, is the perfect example. “Having a chill vibe is the most important thing to me,” says owner August Rosa. “I want people to feel like they’re at their friend’s apartment. I don’t want anyone being turned off by some sort of bougie vibe that they don’t feel like they can connect with. That could be a reason why craft beer has blown up so huge: Because it’s super accessible and has a very welcoming environment.” That “chill vibe” theory surely holds some weight—for many, a brewery’s atmosphere is equally as important as its beer selection— but it’s hardly enough to explain the craft beer explosion. To do that, we need to dig a little deeper.

he rise and fall of craft beer’s popularity has a lot to do with politics, too. After Prohibition, a three-tier system was implemented in the beer industry. “Basically, a brewer is supposed to brew beer, sell it to a distributor, and then, that distributor, sometimes called a wholesaler, sells it to a retail account,”

says Nate Reynolds, a Malta-based market sales manager for Sierra Nevada, the same brewery that Evans visited back on the West Coast in its first year in business. “Then, that retail account sells it to a consumer,” Reynolds continues. “It makes for fair margins and makes sure everybody’s getting a piece.” But when President Ronald Reagan relaxed antitrust laws in the early ’80s, it allowed for increased consolidation—big brewers could get closer and closer to monopolizing the industry. (Granted, a few years earlier, Congress had legalized home brewing, which accounted for the craft boomlet in the early 1980s.) Then, more that two decades later, legislation in New York permitted Empire State brewers to conduct tastings and serve beer by the glass, undeniably boosting craft beer’s popularity within New York. Policy changes can only do so much though. The craft beer boom was also made possible because consumers developed a taste for—wait for it—craft beer. (Remember: if it tastes good, it’s probably craft.) “It used to be that craft beer was against the world,” Reynolds says. “People were like, ‘No, I just like my light beer and I don’t want to try an oatmeal stout—no thanks. What’s happened in the last 10 years is it’s been flipped on its head, where even someone like my father, who has traditionally just stuck to Yuengling, is now calling me excited about this IPA that he just found.” (Yuengling isn’t the best example—its parent company, D.G. Yuengling and Son, has been classified a craft brewer since 2014. But you get Reynolds’ point.) That exploration of new craft brews is a major factor in the beverage’s popularity, too. “People are looking for what’s new,” Pint Sized’s Rosa says. “That’s the question I get all the time: ‘What’s new?’ We’re always excited about what new, inventive kind of brew is out there.” It used to be that beer had pretty much one flavor—beer. Sure, one with more hops would be more bitter, and one with more malt would be sweeter, but the general flavors were pretty much unchanging. Now, in Glens Falls alone, you can get a peanut butter

and fluff porter (Mean Max Brew Works), a cranberry pomegranate sour (Common Roots Brewing) and an ale that tastes like a blueberry dessert (Coopers Cave Ale Company), all in one afternoon. But perhaps the biggest reason craft has exploded is because of a trend that extends far beyond the boundaries of grain, hops, yeast and water: buying local. Just as there has been a movement by American shoppers away from big box retailers and toward small businesses, so, too, has there been a movement by American beer drinkers away from big brewers like Budweiser and toward locally owned craft brewers and microbreweries (which the BA defines as breweries that produce less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year and sell 75 percent or more of their beer off-site). Even within the industry itself, local has taken the spotlight, especially in New York. In 2012, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo passed the farm brewing law, which aimed to increase demand for locally grown products and incentivized brewers to use New York–produced ingredients. Now, in order for a New York brewery to receive a farm brewery license, which affords it certain privileges regular microbreweries don’t have, its beers must be made with at least 60 percent New York–grown ingredients. “A New York IPA would be a full-New-York-ingredients IPA, which is great,” Mullen says. “We have some good producers and malters and hop growers, and that can actually happen, whereas a few years ago it wouldn’t [have been possible].” It’s true: Before Gov. Cuomo passed the farm brewery law, there were no malt houses in the state. Now, there are more than a dozen, including Subversive Malting + Brewing in Catskill.

espite all the momentum and new breweries mushrooming up, it’s reasonable to wonder whether craft beer is just another fad. Can the US

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Garry Brown of Brown’s Brewing Co., which opened in Troy in 1933, the Capital Region’s oldest brewery.

economy truly sustain more than 8,000 breweries, or will the craft beer bubble eventually burst? “They’ve been talking about the bubble bursting for years,” Mullen says. “But there’s still a lot of these small communities out there that don’t have breweries. And for every small town that doesn’t have a brewery, there can still be a brewery that can succeed.” Guilderland Center, for instance, will get its first taste of a hyper-local beer when new brewery Mixed Breed Brewing opens this spring. Reynolds sees things a bit differently. Before joining Sierra Nevada, he worked as a craft brand manager for Mechanicvillebased DeCrescente Distribution Co., where he began to see a decrease in the number of craft brands it carried. “Distributors are scaling back their warehouses right now,” he says. “When their warehouses can’t get any bigger and there’s constant innovation, these distributors are like, ‘Well, I’ve got to look at every slot in my warehouse as what’s paying the rent and just focus on that.’” What is paying the rent? Craft beers

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that have really good brand marketing. Bars don’t just want any old IPA anymore, they want that specific IPA from Unified Beerworks, or that specific IPA from Frog Alley Brewing. And hard seltzer, too. “Seltzer is printing money.” Indeed: Hard seltzer sales grew 226.4 percent in 2019, and are expected to grow to a $6.5 billion business by 2024, per a Jefferies Financial Group analysis. One of hard seltzer’s largest producers? Truly, which is owned by none other than craft beer titan Boston Beer Co. Reynolds, of course, is looking at things from a distributor’s standpoint, the second tier of beer’s sacred three-tier system. But thanks to the Craft New York Act, which allows brewers to sell directly to consumers, that three-tier system has partially eroded, at least in the Empire State. “All of a sudden these little guys don’t have to rely on a distributor anymore,” Reynolds says. “It’s now cool to go to breweries. My bachelor party started up in Schroon Lake at Paradox and worked its way all the way down to

Brown’s Brewing in Troy and hit every single brewery on the way. I think it’s OK that distributors aren’t going to be pushing [beers from smaller brewers]. You’re just not going to see them in supermarkets.” (But you may see them on your doorstep: Alcohol delivery apps such as Drizly are now stepping in as pseudo-distributors, effectively removing third-tier retailers from the beer-selling process.) Despite these differing opinions, there has been a documented slowdown in the production of craft beer over the last few years. While production is still on the upswing, 2019 saw it grow at its slowest pace since 2003. And then, of course, there’s the elephant in the taproom: the pandemic. “Every brewery out there is hurting,” Mullen says. “Smaller breweries like us [base our business] on people either coming into the taproom or kegs going to bars. Well, kegs to bars is gone.” A brewery’s saving grace is canning, which Mullen’s brewery does do. Sure, you can pick up a four-pack of Rare Form brews to-go at its Troy taproom. Or you can now get one at Trader Joe’s in Colonie or Whole Foods in Albany, thanks to distribution deals Mullen inked because of COVID. The larger the canning and distribution operation, the smaller the impact the pandemic has had on business. But many local breweries don’t can their beer. While most offer growlers or crowlers (32-ounce cans that can be filled and sealed one by one), they make the majority of their money in on-premises consumption. CH Evans is one example, and, to make a bad situation worse, the majority of the brewpub’s business comes from people who work in Albany, or are in town for a concert or show. It doesn’t take a brewmaster to figure out that, during COVID, CH Evans’ customer base pretty much doesn’t exist anymore. I was there at 4pm this past New Year’s Eve, chatting with Evans at the bar, and the brewpub was completely empty. “We’ve been here 21 years,” he says. “Up until the

STEPHEN ROSS/MAGICWIG PRODUCTIONS

Special

last year we were OK. And now we’re not. So can we survive? I hope so.”

raft beer is hardly the only industry that the pandemic has taken a toll on. And like every other locally owned business in the service industry, craft breweries are only

going to survive if the communities they’re located in come out to support them. In New York, craft beer still makes up less than 20 percent of the total beer market. That means more than 80 percent of beer sales could be directed towards local brewers. So, if you’re one of those people who thinks craft beer is just dark, heavy and not for you, think again. “There are so many different styles of beer and stories behind them,” Mullen says. “People get caught up with ‘what is the hype

beer?’ or ‘what should I be trying?’ You can find a beer for anybody in the craft world. Even if they don’t like beer, there’s something out there that they will like.” Luckily, many Upstate New Yorkers are already hooked on craft beer. “I’ve never had a customer be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m just not into craft beer anymore, I’m back to Bud Light,’” Rosa says. “I’ve never had that happen before, and I don’t foresee it happening.” Craft beer, it seems, is here to stay.

The Beer Sommelier ALBANY NATIVE MATT PERAZZELLI IS ONE OF JUST 139 ADVANCED CICERONES IN THE WORLD. SO HOW DOES THE COUSIN TO THE WINE SOMMELIER COMPARE? WE ASKED THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY PRODUCT EDUCATOR TO EXPLAIN. What is the Cicerone Certification Program all about? There are several components to the whole cicerone program: There’s keeping and serving beer, there’s beer styles, there’s beer flavor and evaluation, there’s beer

PHOTO CREDIT

Matt Perazzelli

ingredients and brewing, and then the last one is pairing beer with food. Beer is a fantastic counterpart to food and depending on what you like to eat, I can find a beer—I can almost guarantee—to pair with that.

Are there different levels of cicerones?

There are four levels to it. Level one is Certified Beer Server. That requires a 60-question, multiple-choice exam. Level two is an in-person exam. It’s more indepth—there’s tasting required and you have to do a lot of style identification and talk about the best ways to keep and serve beer. If you pass that exam, you can refer to yourself as a Certified Cicerone. The third level is more intense. The exam is a full day. Start to finish was like 8am–6pm. There are various tasting flights where you have to identify styles. You have to pick apart beers

that are acceptable to serve to a customer, and ones that are not. There’s also an essay component. And that’s Advanced Cicerone. Then the last one is Master Cicerone. I have not dived into that one yet.

But have you considered it?

It’s always something I think about. Last I checked, there are, I think, 13 Master Cicerones in the world. It’s pretty rigorous: It’s a two-day exam. [Author’s note: The number is now up to 19.]

Why do you think the cicerone program is important?

Because of the sheer variety and number of beers there are out there as a consumer— it’s just a beautiful thing to have all those different choices. And as a retailer, it’s a challenge. Even as a consumer, I should say, it’s a challenge, because you’re staring at a wall of beer with all these different options, and it can be hard to navigate. That’s one of the things the cicerone organization tries to tackle: How do we give people a little more knowledge? Because everyone’s really hungry for it.

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Your Capital Region

Craft Beer Companion A guide to all of the area’s craft breweries, from Queensbury to Catskill. Photography By Dustin Lanterman

Argyle Brewing Company 1 Main St., Greenwich Argylebrewing.com

Brown’s Brewing Company 417 River St., Troy 50 Factory Hill Rd., North Hoosick Brownsbrewing.com

Crossroads Brewing Company 21 2nd St., Athens 201 Water St., Catskill Crossroadsbrewingco.com

Great Flats Brewing 151 Lafayette St. #2052, Schenectady Greatflatsbrewing.com

Artisanal Brew Works 615 Maple Ave., Saratoga Springs Artisanalbrewworks.com

Bye-i Brewing 122 Remsen St., Cohoes Byeibrewing.com

Davidson Brothers Brewery 184 Glen St., Glens Falls (Temporarily closed) Davidsonbrothers.com

Hank Hudson Brewing Company 17 Johnson Rd., Mechanicville Hankhudsonbrewing.com

Back Barn Brewing Company 7082 Western Tpke., Delanson Backbarnbrewing.com

The Beer Diviner 243 Bly Hollow Rd., Cherry Plain Thebeerdiviner.com

Bloodville Brewery Queensbury Search “Bloodville Brewery” on Facebook

Bound by Fate Brewing 31 Ferry St., Schuylerville Boundbyfatebrewing.com

C.H. Evans Brewing Co. 19 Quackenbush Sq., Albany Evansale.com

Chatham Brewing 59 Main St., Chatham Chathambrewing.com

Common Roots Brewing Company 58 Saratoga Ave., South Glens Falls Commonrootsbrewing.com

Cooper’s Cave Ale Company 2 Sagamore St, Glens Falls cooperscaveale.com

Druthers Brewing Company 381 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 1053 Broadway, Albany 221 Harborside Dr., Schenectady Druthersbrewing.com

Fidens Brewing Company 10 Walker Way, Colonie Fidensbrewing.com

Fort Orange Brewing 450 N Pearl St., Albany Fortorangebrewing.com

Frog Alley Brewing 108 State St., Schenectady Frogalleybrewing.com

Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company 83 Main St., East Berne Helderbergmountainbrewingcompany.com

Highlander Brewing Company 453 County Rte. 47, Argyle Search: “Highlander Brewing” on Facebook

Honey Hollow Brewing Company 376 E Honey Hollow Rd., Earlton Honeyhollowbrewery.com

Hudson Brewing Company 99 S 3rd St., Hudson Hudsonbrew.com

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“This is the best time and place to be drinking beer ever.” —Matt Perazzelli, Albany-based Advanced Cicerone

Indian Ladder Farms Cidery & Brewery 342 Altamont Rd., Altamont Ilfcb.com

Mad Jack Brewing Company 237 Union St., Schenectady Vandycklounge.com

Mean Max Brew Works 193 Glen St. #2, Glens Falls Meanmaxbrew.com

Mixed Breed Brewing 457 State Rt. 146, Guilderland (Opening in April) Mixedbreedbrewing.com

Northway Brewing Co. 1043 U.S. Rt. 9, Queensbury Northwaybrewingco.com

Old Klaverack Brewery 150 Thielman Rd., Hudson Oldklaverackbrewery.com

Racing City Brewing Co. 250 Excelsior Ave., Saratoga Springs Racingcitybrewing.com

Rare Form Brewing Company 90 Congress St., Troy Rareformbrewing.com

The Real McCoy Beer Co. 20 Hallwood Rd., Delmar 28 Washington St., Ballston Spa Therealmccoybeerco.com

Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company 4545 NY-32, Catskill Ripvanwinklebrewery.com

Roe Jan Brewery Co. 32 Anthony St., Hillsdale Roejanbrewing.com

R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery 3602 County Rt. 30, Salem Rstaylorbeer.com

S&S Farm Brewery 174 Middle Rd., Nassau Sandsbrewery.com

Shmaltz Brewing Company 200 Broadway, Troy Shmaltzbrewing.com

SingleCut North & Side Stage Tap Room 6 Fairchild Sq., Clifton Park Singlecut.com

Slickfin Brewing Company 147 Broadway, Fort Edward Slickfinbrewing.com

Suarez Family Brewery 2278 U.S. 9, Hudson Suarezfamilybrewery.com

Subversive Malting + Brewing 96 W Bridge St., Catskill Drinksubversive.com

NOT PICTURED Emporium Farm Brewery 472 North Greenbush Rd., Rensselaer Emporiumfarmbrewery.com Old Factory Brewing Company 628 Main St., Cairo Oldfactorybrewing.com Table 41 Brewing 188 Remsen St., Cohoes Table41brewing.com

Unified Beerworks 7 Old Stonebreak Rd. #4, Malta Unified-beerworks.com

Warbler Brewery 155 Delaware Ave., Delmar Warblerbrewery.com

Whitman Brewing Company 20 Lake Ave., Saratoga Springs Waltandwhitmanbrewing.com

Wolf Hollow Brewing Company 6882 Amsterdam Rd., Schenectady Wolfhollowbrewing.com

Reifenberg Brewing 3021 Main St., Valatie Reifenbergbrewing.com

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Small Bar, Big Moves Pint Sized Owner August Rosa has weathered the pandemic with grace, composure and more than a little humor.

By Natalie Moore

t’s no big secret that Capital Region bars and restaurants have had an unbelievably tough 11 months. But one local business, Pint Sized, has deftly navigated the choppy waters of the pandemic, as its owner, August Rosa, has calmly steered the ship. In 2014, Rosa, a College of Saint Rose graduate, first opened Brew, a retail beer and coffee shop in Albany. On the heels of its success, he opened a second location in Saratoga Springs three years later—this one with an on-premises bar—and rebranded the business Pint Sized. By 2018, Rosa moved the Albany location into a space with a bar, too, and quickly had a pair of popular destinations for Capital Region craft beer consumption, as well as graband-go can and bottle sales. Another year and change of success rolled by, and then COVID hit. So, what exactly has owning a bar been like during the pandemic? “Hell,” Rosa says. “That’s the most abstract version of it.” But then he backtracks a bit: “It actually wasn’t that bad.” That attitude of rolling with the punches, no matter how bad things get, is a large part of why Pint Sized got through this past year. Last March, when bars and restaurants were forced to close to in-person dining, Pint Sized remained open for to-go sales. In the weeks that followed, Rosa continued finding ways to pivot his business.

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He offered virtual parties through Zoom, launched a delivery service, partnered with other local businesses and even began selling prepackaged Jell-O shots. He also donated a percentage of delivery sales and 100 percent of delivery tips for a week in June to Black Lives Matter organizations. And then the fun really started. Prepared to follow every one of the state’s COVID rules to a tee, Pint Sized first reopened its patio and then dining room in June. And when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that all on-premises alcohol sales had to be accompanied by food, Pint Sized, which had always had food available, began requiring customers to sit down with a $1 bowl of a canned delicacy of their choosing, such as chili or SpaghettiOs. Operations went fairly smoothly until October 7, when Pint Sized was slapped with a $1,500 State Liquor Authority (SLA) fine for not offering “substantial” enough portions of food when undercover investigators visited its Saratoga location back in August. Unfazed and in typical Pint Sized fashion, Rosa launched a campaign to recoup the lost money, selling T-shirts that read “I supported Pint Sized during COVID and all I got were these lousy beans,” with a picture of beans in a paper bowl on them. T-shirt sales raised $1,500 in just 30 hours. “I’ve gathered from 2020 that it was a year for forgiveness and flexibility,” says Rosa, who fully owns up to his business’ mistake. “People were willing to try whatever they could to enjoy the year as best they could. So we used it as a ground to test and experiment and try new things, because what’s the worst that could happen? When you hit the lows that we hit last year, it’s like,

Special

Pint Sized Albany’s outdoor seating

how much worse can it really get? You end up having nothing to lose, so you might as well give everything a shot.” If you’re wondering, nowadays, Pint (from left) August Rosa in one of the “I supported Pint Sized” T-shirts; a veryCOVID quote on the bar’s chalkboard; a can paying homage to Pint Sized’s former food offerings; (opposite) Rosa outside of Pint Sized Saratoga.

Sized has substantially upgraded its grub, offering chef-made pickle plates and hot pretzels for in-person diners. (Ironically, Rosa had hired a chef late last August, after the SLA investigators had been there, but before Pint Sized found out about the fine.) Rosa is continuing to offer beer delivery services and recently launched a mystery four-pack subscription for the months of January and February. Both Pint Sized locations even remained open on

December 17, the day the Capital Region got hit with 2.5 feet of snow, and a few days later, a Saratoga customer built a bench out of the snow so he could hang out outside the location. “We’re just trying to make ourselves accessible in any capacity,” Rosa says. “We’ll sell beer however people want it. We’ll sell it to go, we have bar seating, we have outdoor seating. In the winter, people are sitting in the snow. Whatever we’re allowed to do, we’re going to do it.”

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t’s

a Regional Hit!

The Capital Region has a multitude of connections to hit Broadway musical Hamilton.

PHOTO CREDIT

BY WILL LEVITH

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qual parts Schoolhouse Rock!, high school social studies class and rap battle, hit musical Hamilton first wowed audiences on the off-Broadway circuit in New York City in 2015. Soon after, it became a smash on the real-deal Holyfield, going on to rack up 11 Tony awards. Unless you landed a golden ticket and Amtrak-ed it down to the Big Apple during its initial run, you likely didn’t get your dose of Hamilton-mania until August 2019, when the show’s touring company touched down at Proctors in Schenectady. It was well worth the wait. For the Broadway agnostic, Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda—who starred as the titular Alexander Hamilton during the show’s original run—tells the tale of the Founding Father’s rise to power and eventual death at the hands of political rival Aaron Burr in an infamous duel. The musical was ahead of its time, casting people of color in all the lead roles and helping thrust hip-hop and R&B into the Broadway mainstream. It also kicked off a mini historical nerd renaissance up here in the Capital Region, which has a number of surprisingly close historical and pop cultural connections to the show and its players.

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton

Crailo Historic Site

Historically Speaking…

PHOTO CREDIT

Schuyler Sisters: The Origin Story

Located on Riverside Avenue in Rensselaer, the red brick house that comprises the Crailo State Historic Site, was once part of a much larger tract of land known as “the Manor” or the mouthful that is the “Patroonship of Rensselaerswyck.”

Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler and Catharine van Rensselaer

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The Schuyler House

It’s where Catharine van Rensselaer, future wife of Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler—and future mother to Hamilton’s Schuyler Sisters (Angelica, Eliza and Peggy) and mother-in-law to Alexander Hamilton— was born and raised. (The site is scheduled to reopen to visitors sometime this spring.)

Schuyler-villa The country home of General Schuyler sits inside the Saratoga National Historic Park in Stillwater. Schuyler operated a successful farming and milling business there, though retreating British troops burned it down in 1777. He hastily rebuilt the house (which is currently shuttered due to COVID), and everyone from George Washington to Schuyler’s son-in-law, Hamilton, ended up spending time there. Hamilton and Burr’s duel

You Da Mansion! General Schuyler lived in Albany’s Schuyler Mansion with his wife, Catharine, and their eight children. The musical’s Schuyler Sisters were all raised there, and Eliza actually wed Hamilton in the mansion, in 1780.

The political rivalry that ended with Aaron Burr firing the fatal shot that felled Hamilton on July 12, 1804, was spurred on by a letter published in the Albany Register newspaper that past April. It made reference to Hamilton’s alleged bad-mouthing of Burr’s political ambitions (Burr was running for governor of New York at the time). When Burr was eventually defeated and caught wind of the letter, it helped spark the deadly duel. Madame Jumel’s summer home

Summ-ah, Summ-ah, Summ-ah Home Madame Eliza Jumel’s summer home still stands at 129 Circular Street in Saratoga Springs. In 1832, Jumel married Burr, who at that point had served as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president. But he wasn’t all that well-to-do, and well, Jumel believed Burr to be a gold-digger, filing for divorce three years later and retaining the legal counsel of one James Hamilton, none other than Alexander’s son. (How about that for a juicy plot twist?) The couple’s divorce was finalized in 1836—on the same day Burr died. Is it cold in here? Brrr.

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(Crailo Historic Site) CRAILO HISTORIC SITE; (Schuyler House) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE; (Jumel House) ROOHAN REALTY

Clash Register

Hamilton at Proctors

Luis Miranda, Jr.

Pop Culturally Speaking…

(Luis Miranda, Jr.) COURTESY OF HBO; (Hamilton touring cast) PROCTORS

Miranda’s Rights to a Grammy Before Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote himself into Broadway history on the strength of Hamilton, he scored another hit with fourtime Tony winner In the Heights. Oscarand Grammy-winning producer Joel Moss, who calls Saratoga home, produced the show’s 2008 cast recording, which went on to win him and Miranda a Grammy.

‘Non-Stop’ Law In the final song of the first act of Hamilton, “Non-Stop,” Hamilton (i.e. Miranda) raps “after the war I went back to New York…I practiced law, Burr worked next door.” He’s actually referring to Albany, which he name-drops a few lyrics later. It’s true: Both Hamilton and Burr had law offices in Albany, but it was only Hamilton who was posthumously awarded

an honorary degree by Albany Law School in May 2018.

Ham Fans Flock to Proctors In 2018, almost exactly three years to the day after Hamilton premiered off Broadway, Schenectady’s Proctors giddily announced that it would be hosting Upstate New York’s only showing of the musical…in August of 2019. Yes, Proctors announced Hamilton’s 13-day run more than a year in advance, with the arts organization’s members able to call dibs on tickets right away and the general public getting the chance on June 24, 2019. So many fans logged on to proctors.org that day to snap up tickets that it temporarily crashed.

Father Knows Best In October 2020, Skidmore College President Marc Conner hosted a live virtual dialogue with Luis Miranda, Jr., the father of Hamilton’s creator. Miranda, Jr., it turns out,

is the guardian of Miguel Towns, a current student at Skidmore College.

Stream On If you’re one of the more than 85 million people (and counting) who subscribe to the Disney+ streaming service, you were able to start streaming the original cast production of Hamilton in July 2020. (The Disney+ version was filmed over three days in June 2016 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in NYC.) At press time, Capital Region history buffs can still catch it on Disney+ in all its glory. Don’t throw away your shot!

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[The Lens] BEHIND

A Tale of Two Cities Photographer Fred Coffey’s ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Isolated’ illustrate life in Downtown Albany before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRED COFFEY

’ve been photographing the City of Albany for close to 10 years now, and it has always presented itself as vibrant and alive with traffic and people everywhere, both day and night. A while back, I wanted to convey that sense of energy in a photo, so I set out to photograph the main hub of downtown—the intersection of State and Eagle streets—during rush hour. I used a long exposure to record streaks of traffic moving within the scene. Buses produce the best result due to their size and the blur of colors coming from them, and headlights and taillights help depict the kinetic energy produced during these frenetic hours.

When the pandemic hit, that all changed. I returned to that same spot and photographed the city’s iconic pedestal clock standing alone in the center of the city, devoid of all pedestrians and vehicles. As I stood there taking in the view, I was taken aback by the eerie stillness of what was normally a busy time of day. It felt like a deserted ghost town and looked like it could’ve been a scene in a Twilight Zone episode. I could almost hear Rod Serling’s iconic voiceover—“Imagine, if you will, a city block…”—in my head. Many years from now, it may be hard for people to imagine what it was like living through the pandemic. I feel that this image pairing captures its essence.

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WEDDINGS Advertising Section

Wedding Wonders THESE THRE E WE DDIN G V EN DOR S WILL MAKE YO UR S P EC IAL DAY EV E N M O RE UNFOR G ET TAB L E.

Frank Gallo & Son Florist 1601 State St., Schenectady 518.463.3377 Frankgallo.com

Flowers on your wedding day should be as special as the day itself—that’s why Frank Gallo & Son Florist uses only the highest quality flowers in all its arrangements. Whether you’re planning a traditional or special, themed wedding, Frank Gallo & Son’s 100-plus years of expertise are just what you need to make your day extraordinary and beautiful! Frank Gallo & Son’s

Dori Fitzpatrick Photography

The flowers for the most important day of your life should be extraordinary.

Frank Gallo & Son

Florist since 1920

Serving the Albany, Saratoga, Lake George Region www.frankgallo.com W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 | C R L M A G . C O M | 35

WEDDINGS Advertising Section

attention to detail and superb designs have landed it gigs providing flowers for the Super Bowl, the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics and the White House. One free consultation with Frank and you will understand why Frank Gallo & Son continues to be the Capital Region’s premier florist!

677 Prime

677 Broadway, Albany 518.477.4763 677events.com The elegant 677 Prime is Albany’s premier upscale wedding and corporate events venue. In addition to offering fine dining in its renowned restaurant, 677 Prime is also the perfect venue for your next special event. Experience world-class service and cuisine—be sure to check out Prime’s to-die-for 2021 wedding menu on its website!—in a chic and luxurious setting. With five event space options, ranging from 10- to 200-person capacities, 677 Prime’s five-star cuisine

and impeccable service at any-sized event will exceed your expectations.

Lucie Capek, MD Plastic Surgery

713 Troy Schenectady Rd. #308, Latham 518.786.1700 Capekplasticsurgery.com Always be ready for life’s biggest moments. Dr. Capek and her team of licensed professionals will have you looking and feeling your best with a full range of cosmetic surgery and med spa services. Plan ahead and get that natural-looking surgical transformation. Even last-minute skincare appointments can make a big difference. Together with Dr. Capek, create an individualized plan for you to achieve your aesthetic goals, which will have you glowing with confidence. From Signature HydraFacial and LASER packages to injectable treatments and CoolSculpting, the Capek team has you covered from head to toe. Treat yourself or someone special. Gift cards are also available.

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Dori Fitzpatrick Photography

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ONE WONDERFUL WEEKEND (from left) The Whistling Kettle; Excellent Adventures Comics; National Bottle Museum

IN BALLSTON SPA CAPITAL REGION LIVING serves up a micro-tour of one of the area’s most vivacious villages.

BY WILL LEVITH

F R I D A Y

Next Door Kitchen & Bar

hirty or forty years ago, Ballston Spa was just another little-villageon-the-verge outside of Saratoga Springs. Nowadays, travelers flock to it for its quaint, unpretentious vibe, fabulous food and antiquehunting haunts. In the pages that follow, find an itinerary for one wonderful weekend in Ballston Spa.

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Friday Whether you’re virtual or in-office these days, you’re likely going to be coming from work on a Friday—and thankfully, B-Spa (as locals know it) has a plethora of top-notch dining options. We’ll separate the wheat from the chaff, though, and suggest you get a reservation at Next Door Kitchen & Bar (nextdoorkitchenandbar.com). Executive Chef Jeff Strom plates multinational fare there—you can get Asian (Kung Pao Broccoli), Italian (Hand Rolled Gnocchi) and American (steaks and burgers) all on the same menu—and the restaurant’s cocktails are, in a word, glorious (try the Maple Old Fashioned or the FEW Manhattan). Top off your meal with one of Next Door’s next-level desserts like Cider Donut Bread Pudding or a Dessert Flight Trio (three sweets for the price of one). Prepare to roll yourself into your car—and eventually, bed!

(restaurant) ERIC SEPLOWITZ

During this winter of our temporary discontent—i.e. COVID—it’s going to be that much more important for all of us to find fun activities within a snowball’s throw of our Capital Region abodes. So CAPITAL REGION LIVING would like to step in and do some activity planning for you. Enter our newest series, One Wonderful Weekend, in which we’ll be taking you on a whirlwind tour of some of the Capital Region’s best towns, cities and villages. Our first stop? The Village of Ballston Spa.

S A T U R D A Y

The Whistling Kettle

(afternoon tea) THE WHISTLING KETTLE

Saturday Now that it’s officially the weekend, we suggest getting an earlyish start and grabbing breakfast at The Whistling Kettle (thewhistlingkettle.com). For the full effect, put in your monocle and grab your top hat before ordering the positively English Afternoon Tea (served all day), which comes with so much food (choice of a sandwich, salad or quiche, plus soup/salad, plus scone/ tea bread) that you’ll need a few à la carte beverages—a hot tea, perhaps?—to wash it all down with. Close by is Amazing Finds Boutique (amazingfindsboutiqueny.com), a stylish women’s clothier that sells everything from clothing and accessories to candles and jewelry. If your significant other isn’t into the latest in haute couture, send him (or her!) to the geek den down the street that is Excellent Adventures Comic Books (excellentadventurescomics.com), which

Daisy Dry Goods specializes in back issues, ultra-expensive rarities and vintage toys (hot tip: check out the bookshelves near the front for cheap, old paperback science fiction novels). Round out your afternoon antique-shop-hopping up and down Ballston Spa’s main drag, stopping at spots like the Ballston Spa Antique Center (at 217 Milton Avenue) and Daisy Dry

Amazing Finds Boutique Goods (daisydrygoodsballstonspa.com), conveniently located next door to where your day started at the Whistling Kettle.

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S U N D A Y

Sunday Sundays were made for long, lazy meals, so get your Sunday brunch on at Iron Roost (ironroost.com), which national business publication Insider rated as having the best waffles in New York State. The Roost serves up both sweet (Bananas Foster) and savory (a waffle grilled cheese sandwich) waffle options—and has countless other brunch favorites, if for some ungodly reason, you’re not a waffler. Afterwards, we’d suggest heading over for a quick fix of culture at the National Bottle Museum (nationalbottlemuseum.org), which is

Ballston cream waffle at Iron Roost

National Bottle Museum

The flowers for the most important day of your life should be extraordinary.

Frank Gallo & Son

Florist since 1920

Serving the Albany, Saratoga, Lake George Region www.frankgallo.com 42 | C A P I T A L R E G I O N L I V I N G | W I N T E R 2 0 2 1

chock-full of vintage bottles and free to visit. (We can almost guarantee someone has already sung the “99 bottles of beer on the wall” song inside it, so just don’t.) Put a little extra pep in your step by picking up a cup of joe (or a mid-afternoon crepe) at hip café Nomad Coffee & Crepes (facebook. com/NomadCoffeeCrepes), and then head over to the Medberry Inn & Spa (medberryinnandspa.com), where you can get a relaxing, therapeutic foot bath—you’ll need it, after all that walking!—among other spa treatments.

Medberry Inn & Spa

Nomad Coffee & Crepes

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email: purpletaxlady@gmail.com • www.purpletaxlady.com

ADVERTISING SECTION

LOCALLY OWNED

BUSINESS The Capital Region Loves Local WITH THE UPSTATE WINTER IN FULL TILT, IT’S EASY TO WANT TO STAY INSIDE. BUT THESE ONE-OF-A-KIND LOCALLY OWNED BUSINESSES ARE ONES YOU’LL WANT TO LEAVE YOUR HOME TO VISIT ALL WINTER LONG.

FORTUNE REALTY GROUP, LLC. 641 Grooms Rd., Suite 233 Clifton Park; 518.858.2627 Jennifer@fortunerealtygroup.com Owner: Jennifer Fortune, licensed real estate broker How have you pivoted your business during the COVID-19 pandemic? FaceTime and Zoom have allowed us to have much-needed face-to-face interaction with our clients from the safety of their own homes or businesses. Another useful tool we’ve been using is Matterport, which provides an amazing virtual tour of the properties we have listed. This allows potential buyers to click a link and take a tour of the entire house in 3-D right from their computer, and even measures rooms to help with furniture placement and planning! What is one positive that came out of the COVID pandemic? The fact that we’re still able to carry on business activities, even in a limited fashion. Had we not had all of the tools and amazing technology, it would have really taken a much heavier toll on the business. Additionally, we all had some much-needed quality time with our families. What are you most looking forward to when the pandemic is over? Getting the entire team at Fortune Realty Group together for dinner. I want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to all of their clients and to one another. I am also hopeful that our community is able to have a track season in Saratoga! It will be great to get back to the races with everyone, enjoy the horses and socialize with friends that we were not able to see last year!

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PAUSE GALLERY 501 Broadway, Suite 106 Troy; 518.203.1251 pausegallery.com Owner: Gail Snitkoff When and why did you open Pause Gallery? We opened Pause Gallery in 2018 to bring together a community of artists, craftspeople and collectors in the Capital Region. Although there have been galleries like this in the past in the area, we are unique to the Capital District, with a curated collection of fine art, ceramics, glass and handmade jewelry. We also support local artists and institutions. What’s one thing your customers may not know about your business? I know all of our artists and am knowledgeable about the techniques that they use. With my background as a teacher, I love to talk about the artists we represent, as well as the techniques behind the artwork. I am always amazed at how different artists, using the same medium, can produce such diverse objects and styles. We are happy to explain the works in our gallery, or just let you browse. What are you most looking forward to when the pandemic is over? After hugs, the thing I miss most is going to art and craft shows to meet our artists in person. I’m really looking forward to meeting them in person, not just virtually.

CROSS EYED OWL GIFT SHOP 3143 US 9, #8 Valatie; 518.758.6755 crosseyedowl.com Owner: Patricia Varga How have you pivoted your business during the COVID-19 pandemic? We pivoted to online videos as a way to stay in touch with our customers and help fill their shopping needs. Customers could watch the videos, ask questions and have them answered on the spot. We put product images online as well, and many customers called in orders and then picked up their bags using our curbside pickup. We’ve done online sales for years through Amazon marketplace—this was simply another new way for folks to be able to safely make purchases without paying shipping fees. What is one positive that came out of the COVID pandemic? The opportunity to really get to slow down and spend time chatting with our customers, both online and over the phone. Providing a peaceful and encouraging space has always been our main goal, and our nightly live videos gave Cross Eyed Owl customers a daily dose of happiness, as well as a brief escape from all the madness of the day. We really tried to be a positive, fun part of the day for all those we could reach. What are you most looking forward to when the pandemic is over? Getting to all be together again like we used to be. We want to host events, have samples, hand out fresh-baked cookies and have our annual Pj Party and tent sale. Our online shopping group wants to get together for ice cream so that they can all meet one another, too. It really is the gathering that we all miss.

JOYELLES JEWELERS 318 Delaware Ave., Suite 12 Delmar; 518.439.9993 joyellesjewelers@gmail.com Owner: Mary Vail When and why did you open this Joyelles Jewelers? June 1990. I was recently divorced and had a 5-year-old daughter. Running a business gave me some flexibility to raise my daughter that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. What’s one thing your customers may not know about your business? That we repair, design and make jewelry on the premises and have a gemologist for appraisals. How have you pivoted your business during the COVID-19 pandemic? We are happy to do curbside or local delivery and send pictures via phone for customers to see jewelry without coming in. What’s one positive that came out of the COVID pandemic? When we were closed, I realized how much I love what I do and that I’m not ready to retire. What are you most looking forward to when the pandemic is over? Seeing customers who haven’t wanted to leave their homes, and everyone’s smiles!

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THE

Travel // Beauty // Wellness

Experts My New Year’s Resolution: Visit Every County in New York

COVID has made out-of-state travel iffy, so join CRL travel writer Alexandra Baackes in exploring the best of the Empire State’s 62 counties. BY ALEXANDRA BAACKES

’m sure I wasn’t the only Upstate New Yorker happy to toast the end of 2020. Most of us were aware, though, that once the clock ticked past midnight, it wouldn’t necessarily be a magical “fresh start” or end to our troubles. January, which has already slipped us by, is traditionally the busiest month of the year for travel bookings, because folks start focusing on their resolutions and prioritizing

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their biggest goals, and that often translates to travel. But I know of very few people who have begun booking European adventures or Caribbean cruises; there are just too many question marks surrounding 2021 still. If last year taught me anything, it was how much there is to discover in my own backyard (see my travel guide to the Finger Lakes in the last issue). In fact, it’s that ethos that has inspired my super-attainable, local-pride-fueled New Year’s travel resolution: to visit every county in New York.

The best resolutions are specific and measurable, so I’ve set up a few guidelines to focus on during my county-crushing adventure. While I won’t have to actually stay in a hotel or Airbnb for a night in each county to make my trip “official,” simply driving through county after county won’t cut it. This journey is all about making memories, which requires some exploring. It turns out that there are 62 counties in New York, and upon further inspection, with a map in hand and my own synapses firing, I calculated that I’ve already been to 23, or just over a third of them. Some of them I ticked off ages ago: Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties (during my youth), as well as New York, Kings, Bronx and Queens (thank you, college years). Others I’ve been lured to by family and friends include Monroe County (I have a sister in Rochester) and Onondaga (I attended a wedding in Syracuse). Additionally, outdoor concerts (remember those?) inspired plenty of county-hopping road trips in the past, with regular trips to Saratoga County for shows at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and one extremely memorable night in Nassau County for a Spice Girls reunion show. Good oldfashioned adventure is what brought me to most of the counties, though. Boating trips up in Lake George introduced me to Warren County, and the world-famous falls brought me to Niagara County. Last year, with my world a little smaller, I really stepped up my Empire State exploration game. In Columbia County, I discovered intimate wineries and wandered the outdoor galleries of Art Omi. In Dutchess County, I stayed at Hotel Caravana, a chic, renovated Airstream outside a vintage drive-in theater,

and in Orange County, I dined, waterside, at Hudson Taco before scoping out a few hip boutiques and colorful murals. A little further afield, I spent time in Suffolk County (camping and winedrinking), Chemung County (hiking at the Tanglewood Nature Center), Schuyler County (scoping out Watkins Glen), Steuben County (glassblowing) and Tompkins County (glamping in Ithaca). This year’s wish list includes a ski trip in the Catskills (Greene County), visiting The Wild Center (Franklin County), breathing in some fresh air in Letchworth State Park (Livingston/Wyoming Counties), checking out the 700,000 sunflowers blooming at Frederick Farms in Clifton Springs (Ontario County) and investigating Griffis Sculpture Park in East Otto (in the mouthful that is Cattaraugus County). If I’m doing the math right, I still have 39 counties to go to complete my list—but only five more issues of CAPITAL REGION LIVING this year to cover them. OK, so I’m not going to get to all of them, but I’ll pick some highlights, and well, if you’d like to take some side trips on your own, I won’t hold it against you. Grab your keys, a toothbrush, towel and some face masks–and let’s go! (top) Grafton Peace Pagoda in Rensselaer County; (right) The Edge in New York County; (opposite, from left) Art Omi sculpture park in Columbia County; standup paddleboarding in Saratoga County.

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THE

Travel // Beauty // Wellness

Experts Skin in the Game

Artistry of Face owner Kelly Heffernan shares tips for helping your skin thrive through this long, masked, upstate winter. B Y K E L LY H E F F E R N A N , M S , F N P - B C What can people do at home this winter to combat dry, flaky or dull skin? Just as the first flakes of snow arrive each winter, so too does dry, flaky skin on our face. As we move indoors to drier heat, our skin loses moisture, leaving us with flaky, dry, irritated skin. Important steps to healing dry skin include: • Gently cleansing it with a hydrating face wash such as ZO hydrating cleanser. • Applying hydrating products to the skin, such as PCA hyaluronic boosting serum, followed by a thick, hydrating moisturizer such as the ZO Renewal Crème or Skinceuticals Emollience. • Not neglecting the hands and body, too! Applying a thicker moisturizer such as EltaMD Moisture Rich Body Cream immediately after showering will help lock in moisture.

ZO Skin Health products; (right) Artistry of Face’s Hydrafacial system

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Now that we’re all wearing face masks so frequently, what can we do to combat that dreaded ‘maskne’? With daily use of our face masks, we’re starting to struggle with acne breakouts referred to now as “maskne.” Whether it be from the friction against or occlusion of our skin, wearing a mask can cause blocked pores, trapping dirt and bacteria inside it. A simple skincare regimen such as a ZO Maskne kit is a lifesaver for acneic, irritated skin. The kit includes products to cleanse, exfoliate, reduce oil and sebum production and a benzoyl peroxide product used for spot treatments! What treatments can people get that are safe and specifically target winter skin issues? Whether suffering from dry skin or maskne, the most beneficial, customizable skincare treatment that Artistry of Face offers is the Hydrafacial. This procedure is like having three different facials all in one! The treatment involves a gentle exfoliation of skin—it clears congested pores and then infuses rich moisturizers and antioxidants to protect and quench your skin. Your skin will be plumped and glowing after your treatment. What can we do now to prepare ourselves for the coming spring and summer months? With bathing suit season just around the corner, now is the time to think about those stubborn pockets of fat that no number of sit-ups, planks or pushups will get rid of. Sometimes

referred to as “muffin tops” or “love handles,” they can easily be treated with CoolSculpting. The abdomen, arms, legs and that little pouch under the chin are just some of the areas that can be targeted. It can take up to three months to see results, so this is the perfect time to freeze your fat away! Kelly Heffernan is the owner of The Artistry of Face in Loudonville and a nurse practitioner with more than 25 years of medical experience. She specializes in the art of minimally invasive cosmetic procedures and is also a Clinical Educator, teaching doctors and nurses across the country the art of injections and the understanding of facial aging process.

Travel // Beauty // Wellness

How to Cure the COVID Winter Blues

Troy-based psychologist and entrepreneur Dr. Alex Marsal, PhD, offers his expert advice. BY DR. ALEX MARSAL, PHD

f you’ve found it easier to get lost in an endless sea of blue these days, you’re not alone. According to a study conducted this past July by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 50 percent of US adults said that their mental health had been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those numbers will continue to rise, especially during this second wave and until enough people have been vaccinated to bring back some semblance of normalcy. To help lighten your mental load this winter, CAPITAL REGION LIVING got in touch with Dr. Alex Marsal, PhD, a longtime Troy-area psychologist, who is also the co-founder and chief clinical/science officer at digital behavioral healthcare startup aptihealth (aptihealth.com), a platform that is helping patients get better access to behavioral

health treatment (“behavioral health” is a catchall that includes mental health, addiction and other behavioral maladies). We asked Dr. Marsal what could be done to better our mental health during these most difficult of times—especially, in the new year, following one of the toughest-toswallow, socially isolated holiday seasons in recent history. How We Got Here When COVID started, there was an initial uptick in behavioral health issues, and then, as it lasted longer and longer, and people were sheltered in place, every behavioral issue went up—depression, anxiety, drinking, violence—across the board. This second wave is even worse, because we already went through it, which exhausted us. Even though we had some reprieve over the summer, now we don’t have the

emotional tolerance we did the first time. You’ve also got the holidays, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and then COVID on top of that. There’s a natural tendency to feel let down in January, except this will last, in my opinion, until mid-to-late March, when the days get brighter and longer. Track Your Symptoms About 25 percent of US adults report that mental health problems get worse over the holidays. In terms of symptoms, if you’re feeling down and blue, unusually angry or less interested in things, having difficulty making decisions or concentrating or you’re very lonely, you’re probably starting to struggle with the holiday blues, SAD or ongoing depression. If you have any thoughts of suicide, that is automatically in the clinical depression bucket, and you should seek immediate help. Find a Path to Happiness Happiness is the difference between where you are or who you are and what you want to be or where you want to be. The greater the gap, the more unhappy you are. The smaller the gap, the happier you are. Under normal conditions, the holidays include the expectation of having fun, being happy, rejoicing and being together. But everybody’s reality doesn’t match that; in fact, most people’s realities don’t. It’s going to be interesting when people reflect back on 2020. I have no idea what they’re going to reflect on, because it was a tough year. I would recommend having realistic expectations and accepting them. And now that we’ve realized that, how do we compensate for it? Be creative with that time you might have now that you didn’t before COVID hit. Take a cooking or an art class. Keep an Eye on First Responders I’m scared that healthcare workers and first responders won’t be OK by next summer or fall. When COVID starts to ease up and the rest of us are starting to breathe, the accumulation of what they’ve been through in the last year is going to hit them. I hope we can do something to provide them with support.

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before you go...

A GLORIOUS YEAR BY JOHN GRAY

think it’s safe to say that if a store sold years for a set price, each of us would be standing in line at the customer service counter, asking for a refund on 2020. It ended up being the year that wasn’t. So much that was planned by all of us evaporated in the face of an invisible virus. I was supposed to see Michael Bublé in concert at the Times Union Center in March—it was postponed. I was excited to have second-row seats for Dear Evan Hansen at Proctors in June—that got pushed to at least a year away. Weddings, concerts, parties and even funerals were all told to take a number and sit in the back row and wait for someone to call them up later, if at all. What a disaster. What a waste. But new years bring new hope, and I have to believe, with all of my heart, that 2021 is the year we find our footing again. I just turned 58, so I’ve lived a bit and have seen some tough times. I’ve buried my parents and been through a difficult divorce. I’ve held a child who was 20 months old and not speaking a single word and have taken the little one to the Center for Disability Services to be evaluated. Want a reality check on what really matters in this world, and how petty most things are? Sit in the hallway of a hospital waiting for a child to get well, holding your breath as strangers read charts and run blood work to figure out if something is wrong or if something is WRONG.

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Those are hard times many of us face each day, but then came 2020 and in many ways, it said, “Hold my beer.” The year that just was tried to break us in every conceivable way—not only because of the loss of human life, but also via the devastation to our economy and small businesses, the lifeblood of our community. It was a classic double bind: It presented many people with two options and both were bad. Go visit grandma, and you might make her sick. Stay away from grandma, and you might break her heart. Open your business and face a fine. Close your business and face foreclosure. I’m reminded of the story about the Zen master who has 100 students line up outside his home. One by one, the students come in and find the teacher holding a thick, hard bamboo stick. He says to each student, “If you tell me this stick is real, I will hit you with it. If you tell me the stick is not real, I will hit you with it. If you say nothing or try to leave, I will hit you with it.” The first 99 students each go in, and a moment later come out with a welt from being struck by the Zen master, because any answer they gave resulted in a painful blow. Then the last student goes in—the smallest girl in the school—and when the Zen master presents her with the same “double bind” proposition, she yanks the stick out of his hands and breaks it over her knee. This terrible virus is the stick, and no matter what move we made in 2020, someone always seemed to get hurt. But

no more. The vaccines are arriving now, and thanks to bright scientists and lab technicians—all those kids who got an A+ in biology, chemistry and physics in high school and were never invited to sit at the cool kids’ table at lunch—we are finally being given the chance to break that damn stick! When I tell you that better days are coming soon for all of us, I truly mean it. If ever there was a time to hang on a little bit longer and not lose faith, this is it, my friends. It is also a good time to reflect on what just happened and look hard for silver linings in those dark clouds you just endured. Because of the lockdown, did you spend more time with people you loved? Did you talk more about things that mattered? Did you see food pantry lines on the evening news and then look to your full cupboard and feel blessed? Did the masks force you to look into people’s eyes and see them in a way you didn’t beforehand? Who knew the man stocking the shelves at the supermarket or delivering the cases of toilet paper was a hero? We always respected our nurses and doctors, but now, after this, there aren’t enough statues to erect in the town square to thank them for what they’ve done. Someone close to me, in my own family, donned the head-to-toe personal protective gear and worked in the ICU, holding people’s hands as they died. “Hero” doesn’t begin to cover it. So even though 2020 may feel like a wasted year, it wasn’t. If nothing else, it reminded us how lucky we all are and that perhaps we’ve all been a little too entitled or have taken too many things for granted taking things for granted. Whenever we do eventually break that stick, we’ll gather in large groups and remember what it’s like to just be together, what it’s like to be loved. When that finally happens, what a glorious year it will be.

Veggie-Full Frittata SERVES 8 Ingredients: 3 cups Assorted diced fresh vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, red bell pepper and zucchini 1 cup

Onion, chopped

4 Tbsp. Hellmann’s® Mayonnaise with Olive Oil, divided 5

Large eggs

1/2 cup Chopped fresh cilantro leaves (parsley leaves also work well) 1/4 cup Cabot® Lite50 Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded 1 Tbsp. Hannaford Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 Tbsp. Hannaford Balsamic Vinegar 4 cups Fresh Express® Spinach & Arugula 1/2 cup Cucumber, sliced 1/2 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved Directions: 1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add vegetables, onion and 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise. Cook vegetables, stirring occasionally and until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, remaining 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise, cilantro or parsley and cheese.

Looking to maintain your healthy eating goals this year? This simple frittata is packed with protein and veggies, and makes for a tasty and satisfying breakfast, lunch or dinner.

3. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet and cook on low heat, lifting any set edges of frittata with spatula and tilting pan to allow undercooked egg mixture to reach bottom of pan. Cover and cook frittata until set, about 8 minutes. 4. While frittata is cooking, whisk olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Add greens, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Gently toss to coat vegetables. Enjoy with warm frittata. Source: Recipe adapted from hellmanns.com

simply healthy from your Hannaford Dietitians Have questions about your health? Our team of registered dietitians offer free nutritional services online and in-store. Visit hannaford.com/dietitians to learn more.

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Nutritional Information: Amount per serving: Calories 130; Total Fat 8 g; Saturated Fat 2 g; Cholesterol 120 mg; Sodium 140 mg; Carbohydrate 6 g; Fiber 2 g; Protein 6 g; Total Sugar 3 g

1/8/21 11:06 AM

The Craft Beer Issue

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The Experts

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One Wonderful Weekend In Ballston Spa

Wedding Wonders

Crush Your Home Improvement Game

Hamilton...It's a Regional Hit!

Perfecting Our Craft

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