Directions to Half Time Beverages

Behind the scenes here at A Good Beer Blog things can get a little more hectic than you might imagine. Even though this is an amateur piece of work, folks write from here and there asking for advice, say, about where to get a particular beer or seeking a recommendation for a beer that would be like the one their mom enjoyed twenty years ago. Honest.

Sometimes I also get great advice from one of you like I did from Dave of Dewitt, NY who recommended a shop just beyond my sphere of influence to date. And, err, by sphere of influence I mean places near where I have figured out an excuse to take the kids and the station wagon and, oh, just happen to find - hey...look, a beer store! Dave wrote:

I was on a temp assignment in Poughkeepsie and drove past the Half Time twice a day. I got it in my head that it was just a bottle return, and never stopped until the last day of my trip. My mistake. It has a bottle return, but is a hell of a beer store. I'd say it rates a review if one of your "staff" was in the area. Based on my one visit: the staff was good, the place was clean and well organized. It does have large plate glass windows in front, but these are covered when the sun hits them. It kills me that I spent weeks in POK buying Tecate, or whatever, at Price Chopper, and not getting to this place until the last day! I've never seen it mentioned in the Blog, and thought of replying to one of the other beer store entries, but maybe this is more appropriate.

In addition, Dave forwarded a new to me NJ beer website with another review of the store and even some interior shots. He also mentioned these reviews at RateBeer of Half Time Beverage were fair. Best of all he said the restaurant next door looked good too. Well, if it has Allagash White on tap from Maine, it ought to be worth a stop.

Dave didn't stop there. He added an update on the good people doing good work at C's Country Market in Oswego, right by the lower right corner of Lake Ontario:

Thanks for A Good Beer Blog! If nothing else it turned me on to C's Farm Market, which is a nice alternative to Galeville Grocery (and the semi moribund Party Source), here in Syracuse....

I went to C's this morning, they seems to be doing fine. I just banter with the folks there but they all seem friendly. I wish them luck. The stock is clean, rotated, and changes over time. It's well situated, for a small city Oswego is fairly sophisticated, a college town, the lake, etc. How much do they depend on students? I was happy to see an older (than me! I'm 52) guy there. He was buying two six packs of Smuttynose (I think). The clerk pointed out that they had a twelve(?) in the cooler at a better price. I was happy about that too. The picture shows my C's purchase, except for the Wolaver's, which I got at the East Syracuse Wegmans (a grocery chain) in the organic department. It's good enough to put with the beer.

So there you have it - one reader and two shop reviews...maybe a bit more even if you count the East Syracuse Wegmans, a pretty good grocery chain for beer as I recall. And if you go back to the top, best of all, there is a clickable photo of Dave's well stocked fridge. Now you can be like Dave, too, and send us your hints, questions and reviews. We'll see what we can do for you. Thanks Dave.