All Over Albany

Can't afford a brewery? Share one.

Next year it will become legal in New York State to operate what are essentially shared brewery/cidery/winery production facilities that home brewers will be able to drop in and use.

Legislation allowing these "custom centers" passed earlier this year, and the governor has now signed it, the Cuomo admin announced this week.

From the memo for the Senate bill, sponsored by David Carlucci, a Democrat who represents Rockland County:

[The legislation creates] a new custom beermakers' center license that authorizes the operation of a custom beermakers' center facility to provide individuals with rental space (to make and store homemade beer), the use of equipment and storage facilities, and/or beer making supplies for the production of beer for personal household use and not for commercial use or resale purposes. It defines beer making supplies as products grown or produced in New York in quantity amounts as determined by the State Liquor Authority. A custom beermakers' center licensee would be authorized, if permitted by the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau,(TTB) to conduct training classes on how to manufacture beer and conduct certain tastings of beer produced on the premises.

The legislation does the same thing for cider and wine. From a Cuomo admin press release:

New York's craft beverage industry is one of the fastest growing in the nation, however many urban and suburban residents often cannot afford or do not have access to the appropriate space or equipment to make homemade beer, cider, or wine in their homes or apartments. These custom production centers not only provide space and lower the overhead costs of production, but they also provide amateur brewers and wine and cider makers with the local ingredients and expert training needed when first starting out.

The legislation takes effect in six months.

We hadn't heard about these sorts of production centers before, so we poked around online looking for examples and found a few that look somewhat similar -- including one in Boston, and another in New Hampshire.

Day trip: Wine touring

This is the perfect time of year to go wine touring -- the weather is beautiful, but it's not quite full-on pool weather, yet.

Luckily, the Capital Region is near multiple collections of wineries. It's easy to go touring for the day, or a quick overnight, without too much planning or cost.

Here are three nearby regions where you can make a day out of trying local wines.

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Good wine classes?

Lauren emails:

I'm looking for someone who is interested in teaching a small group (2-4) people about wine once a week for around a month. I have two small children and attending a wine class out in the world is difficult, so I'm hoping to find someone willing to come to my home and share their love and knowledge of wine. Perhaps a sommelier at a local restaurant or a wine shop employee would be willing to provide private classes, but any suggestions your readers can provide would be greatly appreciated.

The in-home part, especially for a small group, might be hard. But maybe someone has a suggestion about how to make that work -- or a class somewhere that's worth arranging for sitter. (Or maybe this is an opportunity for someone to launch Saturday afternoon parents wine club/play date.)

Got an idea for Lauren? Please share.

Altamont Vineyard & Winery

The leaves have turned, the sun's setting earlier, and the air grows colder. It's wine season, folks. Time to hide from the cold by crowding into a cozy winery and warming yourself with sips of Riesling.

And, as it happens, a winery might be closer than you think. The Altamont Vineyard & Winery -- llocated along the Albany/Schenectady county line -- is a small venue that's been in operation since 2006.

But its grapes were established long before that.

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For the Love of Wine closing/ From the Garden farm to table opening

For the Love of Wine owners Kristen Williams and Allan Von Schenkel are planning a farm-to-table wine cafe for this space on Lark Street.

This Friday For the Love of Wine, the wine shop that opened a few years ago in Crossgates, will be closing its doors -- temporarily.

The owners -- musicians and food and wine lovers Kristen Williams and her husband Allan Von Schenkel -- are looking for a new location in Albany. In the meantime, they're uncorking some other plans.

Williams and Von Schenkel are planning to open From The Garden, a farm-to-table restaurant and wine cafe, in the former Old House Cafe on Lark Street. They're both sommeliers, but this is their first time serving food -- professionally, at least.

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Win VIP tickets to the AIDS Council's Beaujolais Nouveau event

Update: Drawing's closed!

Next Thursday, November 15, is the release date for this year's Beaujolais Nouveau wine. And to celebrate, there will be parties, large and small, all over the world. One of those parties is a swank affair at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, hosted by The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York. The evening includes wine and food tastings from some of the finest Capital Region restaurants, as well as desserts, cognac, cigars, a silent auction and more.

We have a pair of VIP tickets -- each worth $125 -- and we're giving them away. The tickets include access to a pre-event reception where you'll get a chance to taste the Beaujolais first, plus access to the VIP post-event reception with cognac and cigars and a commemorative glass.

To enter the drawing, just answer the question below in the comments:

The beaujolais is a young wine -- meant to be consumed right away, not aged. What's something in the Capital Region that you should do now? As in, now. Right now.

We'll draw one winner at random.

Tickets to the event are still available. Standard admission is $75, and the VIP tickets are $125. Proceeds go to support The AIDS Council.

Important: All comments must be submitted by 5 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012 to be entered in the drawing. You must answer the question to be part of the drawing. One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 10 am on Friday November 9 and must respond by 6 pm on Friday, November 9.

AOA is a media sponsor for The Aids Council's Beaujolias Nouveau event.

photo: Flickr user jetalone (cc)

Ric Orlando, curry salad, and the Beaujolais nouveau

Chef Ric with winter kale salads.

"I do peasant food," says Ric Orlando, "I'm a blue jeans chef -- that's how I cook."

The Chopped champ and New World owner is the honorary chair of the AIDS Council's annual event celebrating Beaujolais nouveau -- the young wine made from Gamay grapes -- and it seems like a good fit. Because Beaujolais, Ric says, is a blue jeans kind of wine.

"Beaujolais, to me, is a great everyday, at the tavern, on the terrace, on the deck, in the bathtub, with breakfast kind of wine," he says.

The Beaujolais is fermented only a few weeks before its release is celebrated with parties worldwide.

Orlando says he's a big fan of the wine and he's come up with a few new dishes he'll be pairing it with at the AIDS Council's Beujolais nouveau release party on November 15.

After the jump, talking with Ric about pairing food and wines, America's slowly changing palate, Italy's gastronomic intelligentsia, cheap wine vs. bad wine, and licking hubcaps.

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A wine tasting trip to Columbia County

You've seen that I Love Lucy clip, the one where she stomps on the grapes at the winery? Back in college I got to try my hand -- OK, my feet -- at that. It's actually not as squishy as it looks. With all those stems, it's like a foot massage from someone with long fingernails.

Anyway, I love wine. And wineries. But I don't live in California anymore. These days I reside in Albany.

Still, wine, in my opinion, is best paired with good company and a tour of the surrounding farmland. So a few weeks ago I took a good friend to Columbia County to do a few winery visits and enjoy some great food and a little Columbia County history.

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