It's Februar-RYE

Hi Friends,

The Hudson Valley is barely into our first False Spring and you people are wilding out like a black bear on a bird feeder!

You may have heard that this past Monday, Rosie’s General held a bake sale benefitting Ulster Immigrant Defense Network and it was A PARTY. They were originally hoping for twenty bakers to sell their wares for $5 a pop(tart) and got almost fifty volunteers to sign up within 48 hours! And lines were around the block. For a bake sale. From home bakers. On a Monday. In. February.

When we talk about pleasure activism this is what we’re talking about! Wine, cookies, and a good cause. Easy yes, yes and yes.

As it happens, the little goblins of Makers & Lovers also have something similar in the works for next month to celebrate Women’s History Month. Who wants to spin some records, pair some wine and whiskey, and raise some cash?

According to the good people at Glynwood, it’s Februa-RYE. And praise Bacchus that pun kind of works because the bleak days of late winter call for a drink that soothing, spicy, and typically high ABV.

Branchwater Farm Rye is one of a few estate ryes produced in New York. “Estate grown” simply means the whiskey is produced from grain grown on the same property as the distillery. Situated on formerly Mohican, Munsee Lenape and Schaghticoke land, Branchwater Farms is a modern model for circular farming and land stewardship. Their livestock helps fertilize the fields 💩, the fields create robust rye, wheat and fruit crops, those crops are distilled and the stillage (leftover grain and water) becomes compost. It doesn’t get more estate than that.

The result is exemplary Hudson Valley terroir. When I first visited a few years ago, wine pros Robin and Kevin were making several varieties of highly specific brandies that coaxed the nuance of Bartlett and Bosc pears through the still. With dirt from Northern Duchess Botanic Garden under my grubby nails, Mr. Gunks Grooves and I enjoyed a tasting from implausibly delicate liqueur glasses while my attention rose to a loft space full of barrels.

Pro tip: If you want to make fast friends with a distiller, start some bullshit about Hungarian vs French vs American oak.

So behind Kevin, up the ladder we went.

He told us about their infinitely flexible, highly tuned system that is, frankly, wildly under appreciated out here. They are able to mill and distill their own grains in a matter of hours, making an implausibly “fresh” rye that maintains an apple skin tannic fruitiness with classic New York rye baking spice and black pepper, plus (forgive me guys) a kind of wood pulp from a freshly cracked paperback and pencil shavings…pine and iron.

If you love whiskey, New York, regenerative agriculture or a good story like I do, pick up Branchwater Rye.

Saturday

Fix Your Shit - Learn to repair holes in your treasured knitwear with invisible and visible mending methods.

Wine School - Learn how to taste wine blind — the same deductive method used by professional sommeliers — and discover what you actually love (without labels, price tags, or influence).

Food and Tattoo Pop Up - Vintage housewares, nice food, little stabbies.

Jumpin at the Juke Joint - Genre-fluid Joy as Resistance from Newburgh native and total babe Ayo Nish

Touchy Coffee & Ray Bake - Beautiful brunchy snacks in the greenhouse.

Freakout Spot turns One - They got booted from their original digs and came out better in a sandwich shop! Resiliance, baby.

Wednesday

Tubby’s Gear Swap - Pedals, guitars, amps, the cesspool of cables your wife (*AHEM*) is going to put in the garbage disposal if you don’t get rid of them

StretchMetal presents: Drone Rodeo ft. J.Ashdown & John Thayer

I am sure I’ve already lost you by recommending an event called StretchMetal presents Drone Rodeo but hear me out! Not all is as it seems! This is an opportunity to sit quietly and listen to ethereal atmospheric soundscapes and field recordings from the Hudson River. It’s gentle. I promise!

Cheers,
Amy