USA, NY: Small Craft Brewing Co. opens in Amityville

Amityville has gained a new microbrewery, and wedding beer is at least partly responsible, the Newsday reported on April 5.

During the summer of 2015, brothers (and longtime home brewers) Gerard and Greg Sims collaborated on two beers for Greg Sims’ wedding, and they were very well-received. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Are we going to do something about this?’ ” recalls Gerard Sims, who held a day job in network security.

Three years later, the Sims opened Small Craft Brewing Co. in a former CrossFit gym on Merrick Road, a few miles from where they grew up in Wantagh.

While part of the space is given over to a two-barrel brewery, another section is devoted to a tasting room that has Pindar barrels for tables and nine to 12 beers on tap offered by the glass, as part of a tasting flight ($8 for four samples) or in 32-ounce cans called crowlers. to take home.

Gerard Sims said Small Craft’s raft of beers don’t hew to any particular style. “Everything is IPA heavy these days, but we’re trying to also put out other styles for people to try,” he said.

The lineup includes those two original wedding beers — a Belgian witbier called Spindrift that’s brewed with orange peel, coriander and grains of paradise, as well as a double IPA named Depth Charge — plus a Russian imperial stout, brown ale and at least eight other brews.

While there are no food trucks parked outside, Gerard Sims said that Small Craft is surrounded by eateries and customers are welcome to bring takeout to nibble alongside their beers.

For now, the tasting room is open 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, 1 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, with Thursday hours arriving in summer.

05 April, 2018