The brewhouse space itself isn’t very large. It’s tucked into what was once a garage at a tractor dealership, but the beer lovers and style seekers who walk through the space are drawn to stacks of barrels holding mixed-fermentation ales and to the stainless holding lagers. There’s even a fermentor, encased in black-painted spray foam, that was part of the original Alchemist Pub & Brewery in Vermont, now used for fruited-sour production.
All Dan Suarez wants to talk about, however, is his garage-door opener. “It’s the quietest in the business,” he says, pushing a button as the door silently rolls upward into a rear storage area where packaged bottles are conditioning and some elderflower destined for a future batch is drying on a windowsill. He didn’t request a quiet door; it was just installed that way, and now that seemingly odd feature has made its way onto the regular tour.
Functional, yes, but it’s also a metaphor for the beers he’s making at the Suarez Family Brewery in New York’s Hudson Valley. Beer today is noisy; it’s in your face, from the combination of flavors to the vibrant artistic packaging on cans to hangover-inducing high ABVs. It might take a few minutes during your first visit—especially if you are accustomed to standing in line or trading online or caught up in the frenetic pace of Instagram and Untappd—but soon enough you’ll take a deep breath, exhale, and get in sync with the laid-back nature of the brewery.