Après Cider

Speaking of falling prey to trends, like yesterday’s story on turmeric tonic, I am now the proud owner of an Instant Pot. Although swimming against the current of popular opinion, I went for the three quart model instead of the larger six quart one.

Right now it is still in the box. But once it comes out and I am able to put it through a few paces, I’ll let you know if I made a terrible mistake.

The reason why I didn’t have a chance to play with my new toy was that last night was also the launch of the Nine Pin Cider 26er challenge. If you missed the first night, don’t panic. You still have the better part of two weeks to show up at the cidery and start your year-long run for the coveted title.

Without any irony or sarcasm my bronze 26er card is one of my most prized possessions. Largely because getting it was such a long and painful process. One that I had not intended to repeat. But apparently, I’m going to give it another try.

Last night I drank a blueberry pancake flavored apple cider of my own free will.

So, what does one do on a cold winter night at 8pm on the east side of Albany? I had already eaten. The coffee shops had closed. What I really wanted was a mellow place to hang out with my laptop and do a little writing.

Then it hit me.

There is a new place which has opened up between the Spectrum theater and New World Bistro Bar on Delaware Avenue. It is in the space which used to be the Ultraviolet Cafe, which gave way to Tierra Coffee, which became Delaware Trolley Coffee House. Now it is called Delaware Supply, and it looks very familiar and different, at the same time.

It’s owned by Colin and Lauren, who I got to know when they worked at Westmere Beverage. Together, they have been instrumental in my own personal beer adventure. Lauren had a very good sense of the beers I enjoy. Colin managed the Westmere Instagram feed, which was so compelling, his posts often got me to hop in the car and drive over to buy stuff.

Both of them know a ton. But they are very low key, super nice, and neither has a beard.

When they announced the start of this new project, I started following the buildout of the space on Instagram. The two of them put in a lot of sweat equity to bring their vision to a reality, including a beautiful tiled wall fitted with twelve beer and cider taps. There is a beautiful blonde wood bar with a few stools. And the charcoal walls really help to accentuate the tin ceiling, which must have been there in previous iterations, although I never noticed it before.

My hope was that this would be very much like a coffee shop, but for beer.

After last night, I really don’t want to tell anyone else about this spot. Because it was such a great chill place. I loved everything about it, from the music, to the interesting beer list, to being able to score a table by the window where I could pull out my laptop and enjoy a short pour of a super delicious, relatively low alcohol beer.

While the shop doesn’t provide it’s own WiFi, I was able to ride on the local Spectrum signal. But there is also apparently a free Albany WiFi network you can access as well.

For those who don’t bring their computers, there are a bunch of games to enjoy.
For those not into beer, there are wines and soft drinks.

The place even has a very limited snacks menu, which looks not only interesting but delicious. Lauren used to work at The Cheese Traveler, and she’s working with Eric to have a few cheeses for their own cheese plate. They are also working with Berben & Wolff to provide a vegan charcuterie plate, which includes a vegan pepperoni in addition to hummus, bread, olives, a pear spread, and pickled onions.

People are coming here after movies, before movies, and before dinner. I am just hoping Lauren and Colin will continue to stay open until 11p on weeknights.

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part.

Delaware Supply sells their beer to go. They have a super cool canning machine which allows them to seal up any of the beers or ciders they are pouring into sixteen ounce pop-top cans. And I think there’s even some kind of special deal if you buy a four pack. But all beers to-go are priced at a discounted rate.

That’s fantastic news, especially for those beers that either exist on draft only, or are hard to find in brewery produced cans. It also solves the problem of going to a great beer bar, and not being able to enjoy some of the delicious higher alcohol beers, because it wouldn’t be safe to drive back home.

What’s truly amazing is that Delaware Supply doesn’t feel like a bar. It just doesn’t. Maybe it’s because of the open design. Maybe it’s all the windows and the well lit interior? Maybe it’s the relaxed vibe of the music. I heard some Foxygen while I was in there.

Whatever the case may be, I love it, and am looking forward to more late nights in the DelSo.