Posts Tagged ‘Liquor – Beer – Wine’

Monday, June 10, 2019

Wilmington Whiskey Run, Heritage Festival and Speakeasy

whiskey run logoThe Wilmington Historical Society is set to host the Wilmington Whiteface Heritage Festival on Saturday, June 15th from 11 am to 4 pm at Festival Field located at 2 Cunningham Lane (just off Springfield Road) in Wilmington.

One of three events happening throughout the day, it is free and the public is encouraged to attend. The Heritage Festival will follow the 3rd annual Whiskey Run event which begins at 9:30 am. The final event of the day is a Speakeasy Soiree at Pourman’s Tap House which will take place from 8 to 11 pm, also free and open to the public.

All three events are benefits for the Wilmington Historical Society which is raising funds for a new history center building. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, June 2, 2019

Prohibition Stories from the Adirondacks

I’m sure each corner of the Adirondacks has its own stories of bootleggers, moonshine, and the 18th Amendment prohibiting the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.

Adirondack Almanack founder John Warren has one in his family. Families in little Beaver River over in Herkimer County, and in Hague and Witherbee have stories, as does about every family that remains from that time.

Each year Chestertown remembers the Prohibition Era with its Rum Runners Weekend and the 3rd Annual Wilmington Historical Society Whiskey Run on June 15th features a speakeasy.

As the centennial of the start of Prohibition approaches, the Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown is also showcasing Adirondack stories from the era. » Continue Reading.


Monday, May 20, 2019

Wild Times at the Adirondack History Museum

Troopers and Liquor The Adirondack History Museum’s 2019 Season focuses on Wild Times in the Adirondacks. 2019 marks the centennial of the 18th Amendment’s ratification which not only began Prohibition but also ushered in a period of lawlessness across the country.

An exhibit at the museum in Elizabethtown, Bootleggers and the Law in the Adirondacks, explores how the region was part of major bootlegging routes between Canada and New York City. The popular Adirondack Suffragists exhibit has been expanded to examine the Temperance Movement, which opposed the consumption of alcoholic beverages. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 21, 2018

High Peaks Happy Hour: Valcour Brewing Company, Plattsburgh

Ulysses S. Grant drank here. Maybe. Originally built in 1838 as an army barracks for enlisted men, known as Old Stone Barracks, the grand building on Ohio Avenue in Plattsburgh is now home to Valcour Brewing Company.

Though Grant is reported to have stayed in the officers’ barracks that once stood adjacent in the mid 1800s, it’s possible he may have sat on the porch of the Old Stone Barracks swilling beer and swapping stories with the enlisted men.

Even if Grant didn’t drink here, Valcour Brewing Company can openly boast that Kim and Pam Ladd drank here – twice in one day. » Continue Reading.


Friday, July 13, 2018

High Peaks Happy Hour: Lake George Distilling Co.

MOONSHINE. In hand-painted, hastily scrawled letters, the sign implies covert activity at Washington County’s first legal distillery since Prohibition. It’s an invitation that’s hard to resist.

Conjuring images of ‘shiners lurking deep in the surrounding mountains in the dark of night, the sign may get you in the door, but the secretive allure of moonshining stops there. As John and Robin McDougall will attest, the road leading to Lake George Distilling Company was lengthy, expensive, and definitely legal.

Nearing retirement, the McDougalls were looking for self-sufficiency in a livelihood they would also enjoy. John, an experienced beer and wine maker, credits the History Channel show Modern Marvels on distilling for planting the grains of possibility. New York State’s Farm Distillery Act, enacted in 2007, allowed them to ferment. The timing was perfect. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, September 20, 2015

Drinking Local: Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery

Dave Bannon and Ken RohneWhen orthopedic surgeon Dave Bannon and his family bought a farm a few miles from Lake George some twenty-five years ago, generations of people from surrounding farms and communities had been bringing jugs to its springs, filling them up with drinking water.

“It’s perfect water; no iron, no sulphur,” said Bannon.

So after retiring a few years ago, while he was casting about for a new direction, a craft distillery, producing spirits from the farm’s unprocessed spring water, was one good option. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, May 14, 2015

High Peaks Happy Hour: Alpine Grille, Hope

Alpine_ExtFor two years we sought input, but now that Happy Hour in the High Peaks is written and published, people are eager to tell us what bars we missed. Sometime in 2014, someone suggested that we visit the Alpine Grille in Wells. Pam dutifully entered it into her notes under the “bars we missed” category. Resurrected and moved up the priority list by the recent sad news that Lake House Grille in Wells will not reopen this spring, we decided to pursue the Alpine as a potential replacement on the Happy Hour Trail. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, April 26, 2015

Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England

I'll drink to thatIn 1845, there were 221 distilleries in New York State, local historian and folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter noted in an issue of North Country Life in 1953.

Moreover, she wrote, “great-grandma made dandelion wine, blackberry cordial, wild grape wine and used persimmons, elderberries, juniper berries, pumpkins, corn-stalks, hickory nuts, sassafras bark, birch bark and many other leaves, roots and barks to make ‘light’ drinks. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Free, Safe Rides On New Year’s Eve

218737_210356059004270_7993250_oI’ve participated in my fair share of New Year’s Eve ball drops and celebrations. I’ve certainly taken my champagne toast in the New Year.  I have also witnessed family and friends make their share of poor decisions. Thankfully no one was ever hurt.

The concept of taking keys from party-goers and being a designated driver is not a new concept, though drinking and driving is still prevalent. Not to get too preachy, but once the celebration starts the decision on how you are getting home should already be made. So to help with the process, below are a few of the free public ride share options available. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, December 28, 2014

Forest Products: Wood, Whiskey and Wine

Wood Whiskey WineBarrels – we rarely acknowledge their importance, but without them we would be missing out on some of the world’s finest beverages – most notably whiskies and wines – and of course for over two thousand years they’ve been used to store, transport, and age an incredibly diverse array of provisions around the globe.

In the new wide-ranging book Wood, Whiskey and Wine (Reaktion, 2014), Henry Work tells the intriguing story of the significant and ever-evolving role wooden barrels have played during the last two millennia, revealing how the history of the barrel parallels that of technology at large. » Continue Reading.


Friday, November 28, 2014

Sagamore’s Popular Ice Bar Returning This Winter

Bolton Landing Ice BarFar from a deterrent, last winter’s bone-chilling weather helped make the Sagamore’s inaugural Glacier Ice Bar & Lounge one of the most popular attractions on Lake George.  According to Tom Guay, the ice bar was so successful that the bar will not only be enlarged to accommodate more people, but will be open three days a week rather than two.

According to the Sagamore’s owners, preparations will begin right after New Year’s Eve, when a team of ice sculptors and designers will assemble in Bolton Landing. Using chisels and chainsaws, the craftsmen will carve and assemble the bar, seats, tables, ice Luges, couches and sculptures from 300-pound blocks of ice. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, November 27, 2014

High Peaks Happy Hour: BARRED!

IMG_9512“You’ve been Barred!” – the dread phrase contestants at the first ever BARRED! Bartender Challenge did not want to hear. Twelve bartenders from near and far showcased their talents at Basil & Wick’s in North Creek on November 15, hoping to bring trophy and bragging rights back to their bar.

The best ideas are often born when least expected. A casual Happy Hour in the High Peaks board meeting agenda listed the question: Can we do something interactive with an upcoming book reading gig? Whether through inspiration or by blatant theft, we were not surprised when the concept of a Chopped style competition materialized. Based on the Food Network’s popular reality series in which chefs are given a mystery basket of ingredients that they must incorporate into a finished dish, BARRED! would do the same with cocktails. » Continue Reading.


Monday, November 3, 2014

Adirondack Bartender Competition To Test Local Talent

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKim and Pam Ladd of Happy Hour in the High Peaks, along with Basil & Wick’s will present the BARRED Adirondack Bartender Competition on Saturday November 15, 2014 from 3 to 5 pm at Basil & Wick’s, 3195 Route 28 in North Creek.  The event is free and open to the public.

Based on the popular reality show “Chopped,” and representing regional bars, local bartenders will be given a mystery basket of ingredients and face off in a race to concoct award-winning creative cocktails.

Contestants will be judged based on style, originality, presentation and most importantly, taste. Local celebrity judges will determine the winners.
» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

High Peaks Happy Hour: Trashed & Treasure

WLGS2014 sofaHappy Hour in the High Peaks was off the wagon (in a manner of speaking) as Warrensburg’s World’s Largest Garage Sale rolled into town. Rain or shine, good cheer follows wherever we go. This time it was in the form of a Radio Flyer Town & Country wagon, converted to a portable pub carrying a cargo of Garage Sale Punch. We will neither confirm nor deny its potency. Costermongers with innocent grins, we towed our little contraption from one end of town to the other and back again. Self-declared “Yard Sale Crashers”, we pursued the Garage Sale party. Despite our attempts to blend in, the three-gallon cooler jug and plastic cups aroused suspicions. » Continue Reading.


Friday, September 5, 2014

Paul Smith’s College Launches Craft Beer Minor

Paul Smith's College LogoPaul Smith’s College will offer a minor in craft-beer studies and operations beginning this fall.

The new minor prepares students for careers in micro and craft brewing. “Although hands-on, practical brewing will be an aspect of the minor, the main intent is not to create beer brewers,” said Prof. Joe Conto in a statement to the press. “Rather, the goal is to prepare students for all the management, administrative and operations opportunities the craft-beer industry has created and supports.”

The craft-beer industry boasts impressive numbers. More than 2,700 craft breweries were in operation in 2013, selling 15.6 million barrels of beer. In that same year, sales grew 18 percent by volume and 20 percent in dollars. Craft brewing provides an estimated 110,273 jobs in the United States. Craft-beer production and sales are expected to grow even further in the college’s home state of New York. » Continue Reading.



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