USA, NY: Broken Loop Brewing eyeing summer opening in Albany

A state transportation engineer who designs traffic signals has purchased the former Yonder Farms property on Route 155 in and will turn it into a brewery and restaurant, Broken Loop Brewing Co. A summer opening is projected, Times Union reported on April 23.

Jonathan Golon, who lives in Guilderland, said he bought the 5,700-square-foot building on 3.3 acres, at New Karner Road and Albany Street, for $1.2 million from MaryAnn Chiaro, her husband, William, and his brothers, Peter and David. They ran what was officially called Yonder Farms Cider Mill & Bake Shoppe — which also had a cafe and sold produce, including apples, from the farm’s 600-acre orchard in Valatie — from its 1983 founding until closing it at the end of last year.

The name Broken Loop originated with Golon’s experience working for the state Department of Transportation. At many intersections, a signal loop in the road tells the traffic lights when vehicles are waiting. If the loop is broken, as Golon says it has been for many years at New Karner and Albany Street, the wait for a signal change can be lengthy.

Hence Broken Loop Brewing Co. for Golon, who, with his wife, April, is an aficionado of brewpubs and small craft breweries. To prepare for his own, he taught himself homebrewing, apprenticed at Active Ingredient Brewing in Malta and researched extensively to prepare to enter a Capital Region market with nearly 20 businesses already operating under the state’s farm-brewery license, which requires 60% of ingredients be sourced within New York, and a number of other brewpubs and nano and microbreweries.

The building and property require a number of upgrades, Golon said, including electrical, HVAC and plumbing for an expected seven-barrel brewing system that produces batches of 217 gallons. (In contrast, the two Druthers Brewing locations with the smallest capacity, in Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, have 10-barrel systems, as does Speckled Pig Brewing in Ballston Spa.)

The Yonder Farms building is “very dated and somewhat in disrepair,” Golon said. “A lot will have to be fixed, but we’re keeping the bones of it. It’ll still have the Yonder Farms feel.”

Broken Loop will have a full liquor license. As a farm brewery, however, it will be limited to carrying wine and spirits made in New York. The 12 draft lines will be devoted to Broken Loop beers across a range of styles, from IPAs to the low-alcohol beers gaining popularity among today’s younger drinkers. Golon, who has never run a retail business before but who knows restaurants from college years working at Ralph’s Tavern in Colonie, estimates he will have a staff of about 10 front-of-house employees for an interior that will seat less than 100 and two outdoor spaces. He said he is in the final stages of negotiating a partnership with an established local restaurant to handle food service at Broken Loop.

Projected hours immediately after opening will be from 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, from noon Friday and from 11 a.m. or noon on weekends, Golon said.

23 April, 2025