Kingston, NY

 

In the late 90’s Tommy Kegan was studying Biochemistry in San Francisco. This was an exciting time and place to be in the world of science, as Tommy found himself right in the heart of the beginnings of the human genome project. As he came close to graduation, he was looking for graduate programs and work in genetics. What he ended up stumbling upon instead, was a master’s program in brewing science at UC, Davis.

Of course, Tommy had fallen in love with home brewing a couple years before this. After getting his father a home brewing kit for Father’s Day, Tommy enjoyed it so much he ended up getting himself the same one shortly after. The two, 3,000 miles apart, began home brewing together.

Tommy told himself if he didn’t do this program now, he never would, so he quit his job and went for it. He figured his path following this would be as a scientist in the beer world. He saw himself working for a large commercial brewery managing yeast banks or as the head of quality control.

After living on the west coast for some time, Tommy and his wife were ready to return to their roots.  Once Tommy finished his degree in brewing science, the two moved back to Long Island. At the time Long Island only had one brewery, but it was small, and the only brewer they needed was the owner, there was no room for Tommy. As it were, Tommy not only ended up back home but back looking for work in genetics. He took a position as a lab manager at SUNY Stony Brook, running the lab for professors in the neurobiology department.

“I just didn’t love it though, ya’ know? I was just punching the clock”

Tommy and his team had been studying atrial septal defect which when babies are born with holes between their atria and their heart. He said the work was incredibly rewarding, in fact, most of what they were doing in genetics was because it felt like they were unraveling the secrets of the world.

“But it’s also really lonely because you spend your entire career in a white room with no windows figuring out this one little piece of something that most of the world doesn’t even understand.”

Conveniently, Blue Point Brewery, the only one in Long Island at the time, had grown and was in need of a head brewer. Tommy left Stony Brook and took the position at Blue Point, which he held onto for about two more years. Unfortunately, the reality and expenses of life started to set in as Tommy’s wife was pregnant with their second son. He knew he needed to get back into science to really be able to support his family.

“So, I was interviewing with pharmaceutical companies thinking I’m destined to drive around in a Ford Tempo and peddle pharmaceuticals in a cheap suit or something, but then I find out about this building”

This building being, the building that is Keegan Ales today. Tommy happened to have a lot of family in Kingston, but more importantly, he had an aunt, who arguably is the only reason Keegan Ales exists today.

The building that Keegan Ales currently occupies used to be the home of the Woodstock Brewing Company, they went bankrupt. The Woodstock brewing company had taken out a loan from the city and put their brewing equipment up as collateral. The city of Kingston ended up with the brewing equipment which was big, expensive, and not very easy to sell. Meanwhile, the landlord of the building wanted to retire, and this big, expensive brewing equipment was devaluing his property so he couldn’t sell it.

Tommy’s aunt had been the stand-in attorney for the city when all of this was going on. If the city didn’t figure out what to do with the old brewing equipment, the owner of the building it was stuck in was going to start charging them rent. Tommy’s aunt knew he’d be the solution to their problem.

By putting a handful of pieces together, Tommy managed to buy the old brewing building, along with the equipment from the city, and move his family to Kingston. Although this decision ended up being rather risky compared to his original plans, as he had been leaving Blue Point looking for something more stable, he took the leap. This seemed to be Tommy’s motto with most decisions that kept bringing him back to brewing, “if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it”.

In January of 2003, Keegan Ales was recognized by New York State as a corporation. In the beginning, Tommy brewed every single batch of beer himself. They were only making draft and had been self-distributing to local bars and restaurants. They owned an old bottling line that was from the previous brewery, but it was in terrible shape. It was an old Italian machine that even the head technician of the company it was purchased from didn’t know what to do with. Tommy was told finding any kind of manual for it would probably be impossible, and even if it was possible it would cost a fortune and be written in Italian. So, the bottling line had to be put on hold for a bit. In the meantime, Keegan Ales worked on selling growlers to local beverage centers to start pushing their product elsewhere.

That wasn’t the end for the bottling line though, at the end of every workday Tommy and his crew would spend time with different technicians trying to get it up and running again. By spring of 2005, they were finally selling bottles. At this point Keegan Ales only had a tasting room, about half the size of what they have open to the public now, that was open on weekends for people to buy growlers.

Shortly after the bottling line was up and running, they closed the tasting room to build out the pub area that is there today. Tommy says the biggest payback of owning his own brewery has been being able to have a place where people wanted to go after their 9-5 jobs. Understanding what it feels like to “punch the clock every day”, he’s rewarded by giving his customers a place where they can relax.

“On Fridays, you see these guys who have hard jobs, and they come in here all wound up, you give them a beer, and you can literally see their shoulders rounding over at the bar,” Tommy explained, “I love that instant gratification of people enjoying the fruits of your labor.”

Although Tommy doesn’t brew all the beer like he once did, claiming all he worries about now are excel spreadsheets, he does take great pride in teaching others the craft. Many of his brewers come to him right out of high school have gone on to work at breweries like Dogfish Head, New Belgium, and The Russian River Brewing Company.

Keegan Ales beer can now be found in the tri-state area, NY, New Jersey, and Connecticut. When they first started brewing, they had three beers, Old Capital, Mother’s Milk, and Hurricane Kitty. Old Capital is their simple, yellow, golden ale. Mother’s Milk is their stout which is creamy and known for its drinkability and Hurricane Kitty is their copper, hoppy IPA. Along with a couple of new additions and some seasonal variations, Tommy sticks to the tried and true. Keegan Ales has award-winning beers for a reason, because it is top quality, and they have taught their customers to love it.

Keegan Ales is open six nights a week serving beer and food. Their menu consists of snacks, wraps, sandwiches, and salads. With regular live music, comedy nights, trivia nights, wing night, and three- dollar pint night, there is almost always something fun going on.

 

CONTACT

Phone: (845) 331 – BREW
Click Here to visit Keegan Ales Website and for more contact information
Location: 20 Saint James Street Kingston NY 12401