Dad rock, More Women, and allocated whiskey for $10.

Hi Friends,

To my Women Who Whiskey - Hudson Valley* members: Welcome back, babes!

To everyone new to the party, it’s so great to have you here. Your timing is excellent.

Here’s the story: After five years and 500 (!) members, Women Who Whiskey - Hudson Valley has burst at the seams. From the beginning, this was never just about whiskey. It was about building a bigger table. Creating welcoming spaces where anyone with curiosity and enthusiasm could find their folks. Whiskey was the gateway, but the real purpose was to show that inclusivity beats elitism every time.

So we're evolving to be more of what we've always been about.

Makers & Lovers is creating more ways to celebrate everything that brings us together. That will definitely include whiskey and other tasty things we can experience at live events. We’ll also be embracing food producers, hospitality pros, shoppy shops and music venues to get you out and into the mix. The newsletter will be the little engine of it all, making it easy - dare I say irresistible - to be part of an actual community.

Thank you for taking this ride with me. On to the very first issue of Makers & Lovers.

*Did you join us for a virtual event during the Dark Times, and live nowhere near New York? There’s still plenty of room for you here! We’ll be covering plenty of media, culture and spirits that can be accessed from anywhere.

It’s January and anyone talking about the New Year, or god forbid 2025, is way too late, my dude. However, the only wrap up lists I care about just came through: Chosen Family’s “#7 Things I Learned Doing Local Airwaves in 2025” and Anxiety Shark’s “2025 in Dad Rock.” (Despite my primarily hedonistic interests in eating, drinking, and secondhand shopping, I learned nothing from the myriad pieces on drink trends of the past or future except to start hoarding hojicha.)

Chosen Family was the show paper that the Hudson Valley needed and didn’t deserve. While the physical zine went out in a blaze of glory last year, the work carries on with a program on WGXC and killer shows around the region. Mike’s recap newsletter of 2025 was a seven point declaration of hope for our local musicians and scene that linked out to more than 30 bands and albums, many if not mostly women(!), to put on your playlist immediately. I put them on my Qobuz playlist, which Mike also recommended to anyone who wants our musician neighbors to get paid and for Spotify to fuck off into the sun.

Unfortunately this email doesn’t live anywhere on the internet. I know, what a tease. If there’s interest maybe I can ask him to republish it. In the meantime, you can listen to Chosen Family’s monthly playlist here.

Anxiety Shark is not local. In fact she’s from Winnepeg, but as a former skate punk trans femme rock critic Canadian who rivals my own devotion to The Weakerthans, Niko Stratis is very close to my heart. To wit: Her definition of Dad Rock is “…someone taking what they have learned, through time and skill and failure, doing their best to impart that knowledge as an act of communal guidance. It’s a light on a dark path shone by someone who has stumbled through it looking for the switch.” Her list, which you can read here, includes De La Soul, Mavis Staples, Gladie and local hero Laura Steveson.

If you doubt her qualifications, Niko wrote The Dad Rock that Made Me a Woman which I have not read yet but I hope is a spiritual sibling to Love is a Mixtape and The First Collection of Criticism from a Female Rock Critic. Does anyone want to start a listening party-book club and do these together??

Friends, this is one sophisticated cider. Not that it’s the kind of cider for nerds only. You know, the ones that, ahem, “challenge” the palate with flavors of barnyard and juice boxes left in the sun.

More Women is dry, naturally fermented, and will kick the ass of many a chilled red. She’s flavored with berries that you’re likely to find in your backyard: aronia, elderberry and autumn olive grow well around here, for better or worse. Autumn olive trees are invasive. Their tasty little red fruits are somewhere between a cherry and cranberry, and they sprout prolifically. Cidermaker Nika Carlson is doing us and the DEC a favor by giving them a higher purpose in these elegant bottles.

Nika’s ciders were far and away my favorites from last fall’s Cider Fest at Rose Hill Farm, which carries some of the finest New York State ferments and distillates in addition to their own stunning cider-wine hybrids.

You can order More Women through the Greenpoint Cidery website for delivery nationwide, or see what they’ve got in stock during the Rose Hill Wassail Celebration, which just got pushed to Feb 1. (More snow! No kidding!) More on that next week.

Double chicken please - The Pines in Mt. Tremper and Good Night in Woodstock are doing two very different wing nights.

I know what you want, I know what you want - It’s Hey Mami every third Thursday at Brunette. 20% off bottles, caviar on potato chips, and dancing to this song on repeat.

Funnel your rage into community - with coffee and cocktails! The Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialist Association is having a series of coffee and cocktail meetups over the next two weeks. Get angry, then get involved.

Have the most chaotic Tuesday - New Paltz’s weirdest and best store is coming to it’s weirdest and best hot dog pinball bar for a rousing game of bingo. Prize for every round, and for “exuding the most fervor!”

And an extremely chill Wednesday - The HV OG Cold Spring Depot is proffering its allocated whiskey for $10 a pour all day on Wednesdays. This can’t last for long. Enjoy it while you can, and for the love, get a designated driver or take the train home. It’s literally right there!

Cheers,
Amy