Yet Another Island Journey

This last trek took us to an island closer to home. Kelleigh and I drove up to Old Field Long Island for an engagement party on Saturday. My original plan was to visit 1 brewery, 3 beer bars, 3 brew pubs and a meadery. A fairly hefty plan considering this wasn't the main reason for the trip. As it happens the best laid plans can go slightly awry.

Two bar stops I looked forward to were crossed off the list once we realized the traffic situation in NY on the weekend. I wanted to get into Brooklyn and check out Barcade and Spuyten Duyvil but time put the kibosh on that. All the more reason to do a Brooklyn only bar trip sometime in the near future. The third bar stop Croxley Ale House in Farmingdale also fell from the list as time continued to factor in. We worked our way through the masses and made it out on the island early enough to stop at Blue Point Brewing in Patchouge New York.

Blue Point Brewing Company

Blue Point Brewing is a production brewery, so no pub grub here. They offer their beers in a tasting room that would make any Dead Head feel right at home. The place has that laid back trippy, cool feel. Walking in you can grab a look at the brewing floor through a small window on the right. The bar fills most of the space on the left side of the room along with a small seating area, cases and a cooler filled with growlers and sixes. The other half of the room has tables, chairs and a couple couches. If you want to enjoy your beer in the Long Island sunshine a door leads to a small patio in the back. The most eye catching part of the room is the brick and tiled bar with scenes of monks, goblets and other beer oriented artistry. The two girls tending bar offered free 4oz sample pours of most of the 11 beers on draft. A few of the higher alcohol beers were a $1 to $3 to taste. Beers were also available by the pint. I worked my way through the beer list and the surprise standout for me was the Hoptical Illusion. I thought I would of been blown away by the stronger No Apologies DIPA or the Sour Cherry Imperial Stout but the ipa topped them both. This beer could almost be considered a session beer for ipa fans even though it comes in at over 6%. With a name like Hoptical Illusion I was surprised that the hops are more laid back and the malt comes forward. This beer is only slightly bitter with a light, bready, pine taste. Don't look to test your hop tolerance with this one it's an easy drinker. My only disappointment was they had run out of the Old Howling Bastard barleywine. The 750 bottles were for sale but I couldn't part with $17 just to try it for the first time.

Blue Point was the only stop we made on Saturday other than the engagement party which was a great time. CONGRATULATIONS DARA and ARI!!!!! The trip home provided more of an opportunity to get a feel for the variety of beer establishments on Long Island. The tale continues in the next post.