The Time

My fellow citizens, this is the time.  Our little village of Peekskill is starting to close the shutters and bed down for the night.  The clouds are fighting for space with a starry sky.  And this is the time when the demons of another long day slowly seep out of a tired mind and it is time to blog.  Tim, the Alchemist, has been tunneling underground for the last couple of days putting together the veins of the operation.  Veins of the operation?  Yes, my friends, the life force of our little tavern.  No, I am not talking about blood.  I am talking about BEER.  The Alchemist has attached all the beer lines to their regulators and has made that little Old Cold Box look prettier than a county fair prize winning pig in a tin can smoker.  Johnny has been very gingerly putting together a mahogany draft tower.  The project moves on about the speed of a snail, but we are looking forward to the fruits of the extra care.  Cheers and Salutations,

Johnny

P.S.  More draught pics here.

Cake

Its 8:30 in the evening, and what a beautiful evening it is.  There is a perfect half moon in the sky and the stars are bright enough to drown out the lights of the city.  My partner Tim, you guys know Tim, can’t seem to get his Mercedes door to open.  If you have been reading you know Tim buys old cars and fixes them up.  Well this is one of those nights when fixing old cars is a bit of a pain in the proverbial back cushion.   We are inching ever so closer to our opening date.   Every day brings a new challenge, but every day also brings huge discoveries and even blessings.  This was Saturday and a lot of people stopped by to say hello.  My hiking buddies came through.  I was a little jealous thinking about the dirt and sticks they had stumped through and the awesome Hudson valley vistas they contemplated life over, but it gave me a huge charge to have them come by.  Not to mention our lovely neighbors that stopped by with their three month old rock star Stella.  Folks these people brought me cake.  Now if you want to be taken well care of at the Birdsall House a good rule of thumb is to bring cake.  On a hard working Saturday cake is good.  Especially this cake, It was GOOD cake. 

Johnny

George Washington Drank Beer

George Washington brewed Beer!  Actually back in his day they brewed Beer for sustenance.  You see they didn’t have a quickie mart or 7-11 where they could fill up with a red bull and a gallon of Poland springs water.  Old George didn’t have a state of the art water filtration system in his town.  More likely the water came from the same river that the troops took a tinkle.  So, what is a General of the Revolutionary army to drink on a hot summer day on the battle field?  Well let me answer that my fellow plebes, BEER!  Weak, watery beer, but beer nonetheless.   Beer dates back to sometime around 10,000 BC, but for our purposes we will start with George.  Jefferson brew his own Beer as well.  I have been told that his recipe is pretty good actually and let’s not forget good old Benjamin Franklin who was quoted saying, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” 

America’s Love for Beer continued after our revolutionary beginnings until the late 1800’s when the industry peaked with over 4000 local breweries around the country.  That means we had a brewery in almost every medium sized town back in the day.  The beer styles varied but were mostly English inspired ales.  At least until the mass migration of Germans in the late 1800’s bringing their lager styles.  These were the hay days of American Beer.  Rationing from a couple of world wars, prohibition, and Beer accountants advising the use of corn and by the early 1900’s we were stuck with only five major breweries and tasteless watered down beer.  Don’t get to sad yet, In the 70’s Fritz Maytag reopened an old California Brewery by the name of Anchor and started making steam Beer.  He inspired a lot of people and four decades later we are back in the middle of a beer heyday.  Malt, hops, and yeast the flavors, textures, aromas that these three simple ingredients can create are endless.  We at the Birdsall House cannot wait to take you on a journey to the past and into the future with the most incredible beverage in the world, BEER!

-Johnny

Update on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 6:49PM by Birdsall House

Joe-  Thanks for the website.  Look foward to meeting you when we get this place up and going.

Take Your Money & Throw It Into the Hudson River

When I first got into this racket back in 1996 I was living in Alphabet City on Ave. C and 9th St.  There was one bar on Ave. C back then - 9C.  The bartending staff was welcoming and well versed in the craft of the cocktail, but the place was just a divey juke joint that built up a legendary Monday night bluegrass jam. It was my living-room. The owner, Kenny Nye was often at the bar and, I came to realize later, gave the place that 'thing' that can make a good place great:  Owner Operated.  The vibe in any establishment should trickle down from the top, as long as the top isn't several rungs up on a corporate management ladder.  Kenny was a good-humored guy, but he also didn't take any shit and he ran a great place.  I told Kenny once I would like to own my own place someday.  He told to me I should take my money and "throw it into the East River."  But I didn't have any money.  I was lucky if I had two nickels to rub together back then and I was still learning my way in this business.  My Own Place seemed as likely as winning the lottery.   Kenny went on to sell 9C in 2003 and focus on human kind's other precious liquid:  coffee.  He founded Ninth Street Espresso in 2001 and now pulls the best espresso in Manhattan.  Coffee's been good to Kenny.

Back then I was budding New York bartender from Los Angeles, CA.  A million martinis and 14 years later, I'm a small business owner in the Hudson Valley.  The budget for the Birdsall House is small.  We don't have much money for marketing, but a website and word of mouth has been very effective in a small town like Peekskill.  Everyone we talk to seems genuinely excited for us to open.  John and I are building this place out on our own, and though the bones of the place are solid and the bar and booths were in place when we arrived, there is still LOADS of dirty work to do here.  But it's satisfying work.  Stressful and nerve-racking at times?  Yes.  Tough on the family life?  Absolutely.  All things considered, we are ecstatic to be building this place in Peekskill and for this project we are happily going to throw or money (and future) into this Hudson River town.

-Tim

Monday, Monday

Oh Monday, Monday… as the tune goes.  And a holiday to boot.  We are transitioning from the heavy work to the more detailed stuff.  Like installing our 20 line draft system with all the bells and whistles, sending out our first press release to all of our local papers, and tinkering with all the little details that will hopefully make this little tavern shine.  Although today was sunny and beautiful and all I wanted to do was be outside and play in the dirt.  I guess there will be time for that later.  One high point in a more than usual unmotivated day was meeting the great folks over at 3&Co.  They are located right here in Peekskill on North Division.  Listen folks these ladies are the real deal and if you’re in the market for Promotional design you should visit their website http://www.threeandco.com  they gave us the coolest T-shirts. Mine is a dark green that says PKSKLL across the front.  For those of you slower community members that is short for Peekskill.  Anyway, Tomorrow is Tuesday and not a holiday and we have big plans to conquer the world starting at 8:00am.  Maybe 7:30 if Home depot doesn’t take too long.

Johnny