Five friends who turned their homebrewing hobby into a business recently marked the third anniversary of releasing their first commercially brewed beers. The founders of Two Havens Brewing Company held a party in February at The Better Man Distilling Co. in Patchogue, where they held their launch party in 2022.
Dave Oksenhorn, CEO and head brewer of Two Havens, said he and four friends from East Northport — Dean Bernstein, Jimmy Carty, Jeremy Strootman and Gary Carruthers — began homebrewing about 10 years ago. They bought some of the equipment and ingredients for their first beers at Karp’s Hardware and Homebrew, a family-run store in East Northport that closed in 2024 after 90 years in business.
“We were five guys who loved craft beer and had a lot of fun together developing recipes and trying to make our beers better,” said Oksenhorn. “After a few years it became a passion project, and we decided to take it to the next level and start a brewery.”
When it came time to pick a name for the new venture, Two Havens Brewing was a natural fit.
The name pays tribute to the Havens neighborhood of East Northport, where many of the lanes have “Haven” in their name and some of the friends lived. Okenshorn now lives in Smithtown and other founders have moved but the connection to their roots remains strong.
Two Havens began contract brewing at übergeek Brewing Co. in Riverhead in 2022 and brought their first beer to market, Hazy IPA, in early 2023.
“Rob Raffa and his team at übergeek have been great to work with and incredibly helpful to us in improving our ability to produce quality beers,” said Oskerhorn.
Since the launch, Two Havens has brewed a wide variety of pale ales including American Pale Ale, West Coast IPA, East Coast IPA, Double IPA, and One Hit Wonders: I’m in Idaho, an IPA made with Elani hops from Idaho. Other beers include pilsners, sours and stouts aged in whiskey barrels from The Better Man Distilling Co.
“Right now we’re concentrating on our three flagship beers, the Hazy IPA, Czech Pilsner and OG Stout,” said Oksenhorn, “but we’ll continue to experiment with new beers and different seasonals.”
The brewery also looks to collaborate with other local breweries and last year brewed Honey Blonde Ale at Take Two Brewery in Bay Shore using Long Island honey. Two Havens also collaborated with Brooklyn’s vinyl record craft beer bar BierWax to release a limited-run Hazy Yacht Rock IPA called Riding Like the Wind, made with a blend of Nectaron, Talus and Bravo hops for a smooth flavor. The launch party at BierWax featured a special playlist of smooth yacht rock.
The third anniversary party at Better Man Distilling featured food made with Two Haven OG Stout, including wings in a stout barbecue sauce and a stout cake. A special Bierstacheln station served stout after a heated steel rod is inserted in the glass, which caramelizes the sugars to create creamy foam with roasted marshmallow notes, while leaving the beer below the foam cold.
Looking ahead, Two Havens is working to expand distribution of kegs and cans across Long Island and in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. Beer is also available for overnight delivery in New York through NeighborsCo.com and drinknycraft.com.
“We would like to eventually have our own brewery and tap room,” said Oksenhorn, “but the guys are happy with what we’ve achieved so far and we will continue to focus on making great beer.”
More information about Two Havens Brewing, including where to find their beer, is available at twohavensbrewing.com.
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
