If you were to look up the phrase “whistle past the graveyard” in my old mate Noah Webster’s popular (well, it used to be) book (and/or website), you would think that it was just an idiom; it even says as much on the page.
But if you were the young Vimto Whisperer, visiting his grandmother’s house by himself, taking the back alley by Strood Cemetery, with just the seven foot wall and dense holly hedge on top to keep the occupants inside (possibly), you would have done a lot of literal whistling.
I have always had a fascination with graveyards and cemeteries and other supposedly-haunted places, from the spine-tingling quickstep shortcuts as a young kid, through the ritual Hallows’ Eve hikes through Cobham Woods as a late teen, to the slow meanders in Greyfriars Kirkyard when studying for a test at university.
My wife, not so much.
Although, I was able to persuade her to visit Pocahontas’ grave in the churchyard of St. George’s, when a visit home took us to Gravesend.
We once also spent the good part of an afternoon, exploring Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau Alaska, but only stayed that long because it was a popular place for folks walking their dogs.
So, I was quite surprised and very happy when my wife agreed to come along on a short (well … long … very long … almost 10 miles long) brewery crawl, that would take us through part of Greenwood Cemetery.
I managed to lure her with the chance to visit the final resting places of some famous New Yorkers, and the fact that this particular detour from Gowanus to Industry City would be more interesting than just staying on boring 4th Avenue; we did that once before and you can only fool my darling wife once.
And besides, it would be all downhill once we got to the cemetery itself … oops.
So on Saturday, on a beautiful day for urban hiking, we set off as we always do, by getting a ferry from East 90th Street to Brooklyn Navy Yard.
There were to be only two official brewery stops on the crawl, Wild East Brewing and Gun Hill Publick House, and we managed to stay focused by skipping the open house event that was being held at the Navy Yard, and averting our eyes as we hurried past Russ & Daughters (whistling past the graveyard perhaps).
Wild East Brewing, because it had been a couple of months since my last visit, and I have to do my rounds you know; besides, it was a new season, so I wanted to check on their fall rotational cask which I expected to be the Moderance ESB.
Gun Hill, because I wanted to check out the status of their move from up-the-ladder at Industry City, to the ground-level spot that used to house the Big Alice Barrel Room; I also wanted to see how Endless Life Brewing were settling in with their new roommates.
So leaving the Navy Yard behind, we set off over Fort Greene to Atlantic Terminal and the Park Slope/Gowanus border.
We skipped the farmers market at the entrance to Fort Greene Park; we had a long way to hike and wanted to avoid any distractions that might involve carrying stuff.
Upon arriving at Sackett Street, I was very happy, and my wife was very excited to find the No Relation Vintage Store open for business; there was a pretty good chance that I was going to get more than one pint across the street at Wild East.
Not that I wanted to fill myself up with beer at this point in the “crawl”, as there was some distance to the next rest stop at the Prospect Park West entrance to Greenwood Cemetery.
The Moderance was indeed on the handpump, and it was cool and chewy and delicious, they really know how to condition and serve their living product at Wild East; the Cask Marque folks should come calling.
My missus perfectly timed her entrance to about halfway through my second pint, presented her “find”, thankfully small and light, and we were off to navigate our way through Park Slope and Windsor Terrace to the cemetery.
Just a touch over two miles, and somehow all uphill; be wary of places that have “hill” or “slope” or “heights” in their name.
Never mind, it was all going to be downhill from here.
I picked up a paper map at the entrance and it served us well, as the cemetery was a hilly maze with nary a straight road in sight; I am sure that the folks who laid it out went on to design all of the suburban “estates” in Northern Virginia.
We loosely followed, in three dimensions, the winding roads and equally winding paths that made up the trail of memorials to some folks you may have heard of:
- Leonard Bernstein
- De Witt Clinton (think Erie Canal)
- Charles Ebbets (of Brooklyn Dodger fame)
- Louis Comfort Tiffany
- I don’t know how we missed F.A.O. Schwarz
And others you may not have heard of, I hadn’t:
- Henry Chadwick (wrote up the first baseball rule book)
- Margaret Pine (last enslaved African American in NY)
- Do-Hum-Me (Native American Princess)
We also managed to ascend Battle Hill, the highest natural point in the borough of Brooklyn, with lovely views all around, and the location of a monument to the Battle of Brooklyn.
The ascent was made easier by the knowledge that the Leonard Bernstein grave and memorial “grove” was also at the top; we spent a few minutes just catching our breath while listening to the a capella singing of a handful of fans sitting nearby.
And it was finally all mostly downhill from there to the 34th Street exit and Industry City.
Upon arrival at the new Gun Hill Publick House location, I was very happy, and my wife was very excited to find that there was a Waldo’s dog adoption event going on right outside the entrance to the brewery; once more I would get the opportunity to sample more than one beer, while my wife would get some play time.
I grabbed two beers, a wild ale from Gun Hill and a table beer from Endless Life, both excellent and refreshing after the long trek, before we started to research how to get back home again; it wasn’t going to be on foot.
We did swing briefly by Japan Village before hitting the subway at 36th Street, and we managed to catch two fortunate and timely trains (R/Q) back to the UES and Whispering Towers.
We got some exercise. We got some entertainment. We got some spine-tingling education.
I got some cask ale, and my wife got some dogs.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
More dogs and casks coming up in a couple of weeks’ time, when I complete this Ghoulish (?) Trilogy at Fifth Hammer.
Scorecard w/e 10/22/24
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Old Glenham Winders ESB @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Threes (with Schilling) Verein Festbier @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Wild East Moderance ESB @ Wild East Brewing
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
10/26/24: 9th Annual NYS Cask Fest at Woodland Farm Brewery, Utica NY
Dang, it looks like I am going to miss it this year, I will be down in Virginia for a family event the night before, and it will be a long haul and big ask to go back to NYC via Utica!
They just announced that they will have a cask of Grimm Double Negative.
10/26/24: Real-ly Local Ale Festival in Eckington, DC
Well look at that! I will be down in that area for a family event the night before…
10/31/24 – 11/3/24: Cask-O-Ween at Fifth Hammer.
11/2/24: 20th Annual Blue Point Cask Ale Festival, Patchogue NY
11/8/24: Two Roads Cask Fest at Area 2, Stratford CT
Still not seeing any details of this event yet.
4/2/25 – 4/5/25: 26th Annual NERAX will be held in Boston MA. Save the dates!
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- None spotted as of yet.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
