JANUARY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 61
MAIN DISH
PECONIC COUNTY BREWING
LI’S BREAKAWAY BREWERY
BY BERNIE KILKELLY
Drawing its name from a long-stalled
proposal for the East End to secede
from Suffolk County, Peconic County
Brewing is the sixth craft brewery to
open in Riverhead.
Peconic County Brewing opened in
December on East Main Street in an
8,500-square-foot space on the ground
floor of the new Riverview Lofts building,
which opened in the fall with 116
rental units. The brewery was founded
by Jeff Schaeffer, a Patchogue resident
who grew up in Southampton and has
deep roots in the hospitality business.
“Riverhead is becoming a destination
town like Patchogue, with people
coming to visit the breweries, enjoy
the walkable downtown and dine at
a variety of great restaurants,” says
Schaeffer, who used to host a blog and
podcast called Long Island Beer Authority.
“After visiting many breweries, I realized
there’s a lot of terrific beer being
made on Long Island. But what makes
the experience special goes beyond the
beer — which has to be really good, of
course — but it also means having a
great space, great food and a great vibe.”
The Riverview Lofts building offered
the opportunity to design and build his
brewery and restaurant from scratch.
Schaeffer set aside 2,000 square feet
for a deck overlooking the Peconic
River, which will feature fire
pits and space for cornhole
and other games. The brewery
has a full kitchen and a
15-barrel brewhouse with
30 barrel fermenters.
“I wanted to have
plenty of capacity for
the taproom but am
also looking ahead
to canning and local
distribution in the future,”
said Schaeffer.
James Miller, who was an assistant
to Steve Pominsky at the sorely
missed Barrage Brewing, signed on
as brewmaster and aims to have 10
beers on tap with frequent rotations
for seasonal brews.
Among the regular
offerings will
be the flagship
Dream Girl IPA
made with
Simcoe,
Amarillo and El Dorado hops, and
Hampton Haze New England-style IPA.
Schaeffer tapped Luke Andrews, a longtime
friend and fellow classmate from
LIU Southampton College, a veteran East
End foodie who was most recently head
chef at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor, to run
the kitchen.
“Luke’s menu will focus on upscale but
simple pub food, like our lobster roll
served on a croissant, along with great
burgers, flatbreads, and wings,” said
Schaeffer.
Although it’s a long shot for the brewery’s
name to become reality, Peconic
County Brewery nonetheless helped
Riverhead maintain its title as the capital
of craft beer on Long Island.
Peconic County Brewing Company
is located at 221 E. Main St.
in Riverhead. For more info visit
peconiccountybrewing.com.
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of
LIBeerGuide.com.
OLD FIELDS BARBECUE
BANANA-INFUSED OLD-FASHIONED
BY CJ ARLOTTA
When you’re eating a perfectly smoked
beef brisket or pork sausage, one spirit
typically comes to mind — bourbon.
“We were experimenting on cool ideas
we could use our centrifuge for,” says
Rory Van Nostrand, who owns Old
Fields Barbecue Setauket, a barbecue
restaurant that also specializes in craft
cocktails, with David Tunney. “We've
made a bunch of different ingredients
with it but the banana-infused old-fashioned
was everyone's favorite.”
Fans of the old-fashioned won’t be disappointed
by the restaurant’s subtle
twist on this classic drink. Many of
the ingredients in the banana-infused
old-fashioned should be familiar to
cocktail traditionalists, and that was
done by design.
The drink’s ingredients include bourbon,
banana, an orange, an amerena
cherry and Aromatic Bitters.
“We blend up bananas with bourbon,”
Van Nostrand says. “Then we spin it in
the centrifuge to remove the banana
pulp and leave the flavor. This really
smooths out the bourbon.”
To finish off the drink, they add an orange
and an amarena cherry. As is the
case for traditional old-fashioned cocktails,
the banana-infused old-fashioned
is served on the rocks.
“It's a bourbon drink that doesn't
drink aggressive and boozy like a lot
of classic bourbon cocktails yet it's
not overly sweet,” he says. “We feel
that it's a cocktail a bourbon drinker
would love but someone who isn't
necessarily into bourbon will drink
and enjoy.”
The cocktail also “goes especially well
with barbecue or a steak,” Van Nostrand
says.
“Everyone loves it,” he says. “We've
been serving it now for three years,
and it's still our most popular cocktail.”
Old Fields Barbecue is located at 130 Old
Town Rd. in Setauket. It can be reached
at 631-675-1313 or ofsetauket.com
This cocktail puts a twist on a classic.
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