Whether it was the ale he drank that put him to sleep for twenty years, the feeling of wanting to escape his nagging wife to explore the Catskill Mountains, or the sheer history of the tale of Rip Van Winkle that spoke to Joey LoBianco, it stuck with him for years before the Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company became what it is today.
In the mid 70’s Joey’s family opened the first Angela’s Pizza in Lake Katrine, NY. Over the years they opened eight more Angela’s, all of which became successful businesses and have since been taken over by different owners. Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company was formerly another Angela’s location, Angela’s Italian Bistro, of which they’ve owned for 35 years.
At one point, Joey’s family was looking to open another restaurant and got wind that brewery restaurants were going to be the next big thing. In ’96 the family opened the Hyde Park Brewing Company, which continues to be a staple of Dutchess County and is run by his sister Angela. In 2006 the LoBianco family opened Skytop Steakhouse and Brewing Co., another family favorite to those of Ulster County, unfortunately, the economic downturn hit everyone pretty hard shortly after. The family, however, held onto their brewing equipment knowing another brewing venture wouldn’t be far behind.
Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company was officially the new business name for Angela’s Italian Bistro beginning 8 years ago. They’ve publicly been Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company for 3 years now. Located on Route 32 in the town of Catskill, with the Catskill Mountain Range sitting directly behind them,
“This is, in essence, the land of Rip Van Winkle,” Joey explained.
In the past 4 or 5 years, Joey’s parents retired and the restaurant had been in need of a bit of a facelift. While the new restaurant brewery began to take off, they spent a lot of time investing in the space, remodeling and giving it a bit of a different feel, while still holding onto the roots their family planted there.
Although they’ve put a pub twist on a classic Italian restaurant, customers can still find their favorite Italian dishes made with their grandma’s recipe sauce. Not to mention, an array of personal to 18” size pizzas for the whole table. There is talk of an “Every Man’s” beer dinner upon the horizon, in which for each course, a beer will be paired with a different dish you’d more than likely find in your neighborhood pizzeria, but with a slight twist.
The Brewery is working on changing things up seasonally so they can use more local ingredients. Of their eight beers on tap, one is dedicated to 100% New York ingredients, and their four legacy recipes continue to be served year-round.
Rip Van Winkle’s new head brewer, Justin Sturges, joined their team in October of last year and has exciting plans cooking in the brewery. He came out of Captain Lawrence Brewing in Elmsford, NY, where he was for a little over ten years after graduating brew school.
After his first year filling kegs at Captain Lawrence, Justin worked his way up to an R&D role in which he got to get into more experimentation playing with all sorts of culinary ingredients. In addition to the more obscure styles, Justin has worked exclusively with IPA’s for can release, sour beers, small batch, and specialty beers. After going through a large expansion with Captain Lawrence, he left to start up a satellite location in Peekskill called River Outpost. Justin spent about a year getting this location up and running and then decided it was time for a new challenge, finding his way to Rip Van Winkle Brewing. He has held many different roles as a brewer building businesses from the ground up and he hopes to use his years of experience to take their beers to the next level.
Previously only producing beer for their own taproom, Rip Van Winkle brewing began slowly doing their own distribution to bars and restaurants in the area spearheaded by Joey’s son, Anthony. They are now starting to work with a distributor so their beers can reach customers in Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, and Greene Counties. Beginning their growth slowly and strategically their two most popular beers, Kaaterskill Krush and Mountain House Helles are their first brews out for distribution. Their eight beers on tap cover just about any beer drinker’s needs. All of the beer’s names are often inspired by local history and points of interest.
Come Spring, they’ll be releasing a barrel aged beer using whiskey barrels from a distillery in Westchester as well as their annual Mama Mia Maibock due out by late April. By the time summer rolls around there may be a “can” release of a couple of Rip’s brands.
CONTACT:
Phone: (518) 678-9275
Location: 4545 NY Route 32 Catskill, NY 12414
Click here to visit Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company’s website.