52 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MARCH 2021
27A BREWING COMPANY
LINDY’S LOCAL BEER
BY BERNIE KILKELLY
Beer has a special place in the history of
Lindenhurst, where one of Long Island’s
first breweries opened in 1871, and
where Linden Brewery, previously the
region’s largest brewery, closed in 1949.
Breaking the 70-year dry spell to
ensure locally brewed beer is part of
the village’s future is 27A Brewing
Company, which Lindenhurst High
School sweethearts Ryan Cooke and
Melissa Bates-Cooke founded in 2019
in a 120-year-old building on North
Wellwood Avenue that formerly housed
a longtime butcher shop.
“The fact that Lindenhurst was a brewing
town is important to us,” says Cooke.
“We’re happy to keep that tradition alive.”
During the renovation of the space
they restored the original tin ceiling
and an old marble butcher block,
which is now the bar top in their taproom.
The taproom is decorated with
Lindenhurst memorabilia,
including a display of Linden
Brewery bottles.
The company has a three-barrel
brewing system and regularly
has six beers on tap. Cooke,
a former assistant brewer at
Greenpoint Beer & Ale Co. in
Brooklyn, uses a Norwegian
yeast, kviek, that allows for
faster fermentation, and loves
to experiment with different
styles and hops, brewing 130
different beers since 2019, according
to Untappd.
“I want to have beers at 27A
that are approachable for newer
craft beer drinkers,” says
Cooke. “So I focus on softening
the water profile and offering
some beers that are lower in
alcohol by volume.”
Recent offerings included refreshing
Benkert’s Blonde Ale,
crisp Paint My Memory Pilsner
dry hopped with Galaxy hops,
and rich Oath of the Abyss Dark
Double IPA. Other seasonal favorites
include Rainbow Cookie
Stout and Jekyll and Hyde, Ryan’s
version of a Black and Tan
made with Jekyll Pale Ale and
Hyde Imperial Double Black IPA.
The brewery helped lead the way
to reclaim Lindenhurst's status
as a local beer mecca. Soon after
the opening of 27A Brewing,
Lindenhurst became home to LI’s
only craft meadery, W A Meadwerks,
and will soon have the
second outpost of Northport’s
Sand City Brewery.
27A Brewing Company is located
at 173 N. Wellwood Ave. in Lindenhurst.
For more info visit
27abrewing.com.
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and
publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
MAIN DISH
Co-founders and Lindenhust natives Ryan and
Melissa Cooke.
BLACKBIRD KITCHEN AND COCKTAILS ONE OF THE BOYS BY CJ ARLOTTA
Ask any bartender about creating cocktails,
and you’ll soon find out how much
fun the process can be, especially when
there’s a problem to solve.
That’s exactly how the cocktail known
as one of the boys was born at Blackbird
Kitchen and Cocktails, an American
bistro offering a seasonal menu of small
plates and cocktails in Wantagh.
“We soak our Luxardo cherries in
brandy to reduce the syrupiness and
add a little bite to the cherry itself,”
says Bitsy Donohue, beverage director
at Blackbird. “When we’ve used up all
the cherries — in Manhattans, old-fashioneds,
and other cocktails — we are left
with this delicious kind of tart, sweet,
cherry/brandy syrup. So in trying to reduce
our waste, we realized we needed
to figure out something cool to do with
it. We started trying different things
and finally landed here!”
One of the boys has
several ingredients,
including bourbon,
lemon, brandied cherry,
honey and vanilla.
To make the drink, add
all the ingredients to a
shaker tin, throw in
some ice, give the shaker
a few shakes, strain
the liquid into a coupe
glass, and garnish the
drink with a dehydrated
lemon wheel.
Expect a cherry bourbon
sour on the palate.
“People get nervous
because it seems like
there’s a lot of sweeteners
in this cocktail,
but the vanilla and
honey really act as
support to the depth
of the cherry syrup,
so it’s not overly sweet at all,
while still bringing you all
these strong flavors,” Donohue
says.
“Our old-fashioned drinkers
have loved it,” she says. “Our
cocktail drinkers have loved
it. I think it has enough familiarity,
while still being just a
little different, to pique the
interest of our guests. And
when they find out the syrup
is a byproduct of our cherries,
they’re always a little shocked.
For me, it’s just really cool
to make a drink that’s less
wasteful, goes really well with
Blackbird’s food, and that people
order again!”
Blackbird Kitchen and Cocktails
is located at 3026 Merrick
Rd. in Wantagh. It can
be reached at 516-654-9200 or
blackbirdli.com
Brandy-soaked cherries sparked the creation of this clever
cocktail.
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