I hop on my bike and follow the
towpath upriver, passing runners
and bikers, a fisherman reeling in a
massive catch and kayakers hauling
their boats to the river.
best practitioners of the art and science
of microbrewing. However, unless you
also live here, or visit frequently, you’ve
probably never heard of any of them, and
that is pretty much the definition of a
microbrewery. According to the Brewers
Association—“A Passionate Voice
for Craft Brewers”—a craft brew-
ery produces fewer than 2 million
barrels of beer a year (a barrel
contains two kegs). A microbrew-
ery produces fewer than 15,000
barrels. Although larger craft
brewers such as Boston’s Samuel
Adams produce enough for wide
distribution, Hudson Valley brew-
ers are small even by microbrew-
ing standards. Brown’s
Brewing Company
in Troy, for example,
brewed just 2, 100 barrels
in 2009. Co-owner Kelly
Brown put it to me this
way: “What we brew in
a year, the big breweries
spill in a day.”
That, of course, is
what makes these beers
so special. They are
handcrafted with only
the freshest ingredients
—water, malt, hops
and yeast—and natural
flavorings from rye and
wheat, fruit, honey,
chocolate, coffee or even
maple syrup. And they
eschew the cheaper fillers
such as corn and rice and
the additives such as corn
syrup that are used by the
big, industrial brewers.
