Last year, New York State passed Colorado and Washington to have the second most craft breweries nationwide after California. Of more than 450 statewide, Suffolk County has the most breweries of any county in the state — more than 40.
Nine breweries on Long Island opened new taprooms in 2019, the latest being Bay Shore’s Ghost Brewing Co., bringing the region’s total to 46. And more expansion is coming in 2020, both from new breweries opening taprooms for the first time and older breweries setting up new locations.
“We’re excited to have a tasting room to share our beers and also products from the local farmers and producers where we source our ingredients,” says Rachel Adams, who founded Saint James Brewery in Holbrook a decade ago with her husband, Jamie. The new taproom in St. James will have 12 taps, including nitro lines, and will also serve New York wines and spirits.
Another expanding local craft brewery is Sand City Brewing, which opened in Northport in 2015. After a long search for a property to build a second location, Sand City settled on a 10,000-square-foot building on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst that formerly housed a CVS pharmacy. The new location, slated to open this spring, will have a 20-barrel brewhouse along with a large taproom and beer garden.
“The new brewery is double the size of our Northport brewery and will allow us to experiment with new beer styles and barrel-aged beers,” co-founder Bill Kiernan says.
Several breweries are expected to open their first taprooms early in 2020. They include HopWin’s Brewery in Bay Shore, founded in 2015 by brothers-in-law William Hoppe and Steve Winn, which took over a building that is near The Brewers Collective Beer Company. Also close to opening is Bright Eye Beer Company, formerly Point Lookout Brewing Company, located in a 5,000-square-foot space on Park Avenue in Long Beach.
Other breweries planning to open their first taprooms later in 2020 including Motion Craft Brewed in Massapequa Park, Moriches Field Brewing Company in Center Moriches, Long Beach Brewing Company and Flying Belgian Brewery in Oceanside, Twin Fork Beer Company in Riverhead, and Root + Branch Brewing Company in Copiague.
Now that’s a lot to raise a glass to!
For a complete list of Long Island brewery taprooms and brewpubs, check out libeergude.com/brewery-tap-rooms-brewpubs. Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
