Cortland Beer Company

I returned yesterday from 2.5 days with my family in CNY and it was a big snooze. No snow so we couldn't x-c ski or skate on the nearby pond and Song Mountain looked hideous from 81, so I assumed that GP couldn't have been much better.

Growing up there in the 1970s, Xmas Eve would always be spent in Cortland with the Italian side of the family, which came over from Calabria in the early 1900s. About 20 of us would gather at my grandparents house on Delaware Street, just down the road from the SUNY campus, and eat the traditional seven-fish meal, including baccala (codfish)/fennel soup, calamari in tomato sauce, baked eel (they ripped off the skin by putting the head on a nail attached to a 2x4 and pulling it off with pliers), fresh linguine with anchovies, shrimp cocktail, along with cavatelli, spaghettini (for those who couldn't stomach the linguine with anchovies), ricotta cheesecake, and a few other things that I'm forgetting. Maybe I'm idealizing things, but there always seemed to be a foot or more of snow on the ground back then on December 24.

The paisanos are no longer around and neither is the big Xmas Eve dinner. It sucks when great traditions like that cease, but we always make a point of stopping in at the Cortland Beer Company on Court Street to fill up our growlers and get a draft for the road before heading back to NJ. They have a great selection of interesting brews and it's a pleasant, unpretentious place. Highly recommended!

+1 we always stop at cbc on the way to or from greek for a tasting and growler fills. Mr. IPA and mrs. cider from a few weeks ago



Beer pics are almost as exciting as bikes leaning against shit when it's fitty degrees out

My fathers family is Calabrese as well ( he came over when he was 10) and we had a similar tradition and menu in uncle Mel's and and aunt  Mary's basement in Kingston. we try to keep the tradition alive or at least our version of it, we did do the anchovy pasta this year!

CBC is a cool spot ---- one of the owners is an avid skier/pass holder at Greek Peak

gorgonzola wrote

My fathers family is Calabrese as well ( he came over when he was 10) and we had a similar tradition and menu in uncle Mel's and and aunt  Mary's basement in Kingston. we try to keep the tradition alive or at least our version of it, we did do the anchovy pasta this year!

Heh, props for the anchovy pasta. I'm the only one of my family that hasn't become deracinated in the kitchen. I still make all of my pasta fresh and prepare baccala soup two or three times every winter, not just at xmas. Amazing how you can't find it in any Italian restaurant and it's insanely easy to make. Just make sure to soak the cod for at least two days or the soup will be as salty as the Dead Sea.

I just remembered the seventh fish: fried smelts! Yeah baby!

With my mother visiting from Denver, I hadn't been back to Cortland in a while so we headed up yesterday to see the remaining family. Good to see that CBC is still in business (I know that they'd been trying to sell it for a while) and has a nice beer garden setup. Didn't have any growlers with me so I grabbed a few packs of their excellent Naked Lap Lager for the road.



Had to stop here:



LOL, look at that gut-busting list of flavors. I went for the red velvet cake -- basically cherry ice cream with brownie bits. I ordered a small; it would've been a large down in NJ.



Even visited our late grandparents' old house at 30 Delaware Ave. Great to see that the new owners are keeping it up well.



I love how they *still* haven't torn down the old Lehigh Valley roundhouse on Owego Street.

Love the pictures and reminiscences.  CBC looks great.

Much as I like cooking from scratch, I haven't tried making pasta from scratch yet.

Great pics and comments, James. It’s making me want to visit my old house in Oneonta

Jamesdeluxe wrote

 


Had to stop here:

Cortland staple right there

campgottagopee wrote

Cortland staple right there

Yep. Can't believe that the A&W is still in operation, 50+ years later, and seemed to be thriving right now. I've driven by hundreds of times but have never eaten there.

The A&W has THE BEST bacon double cheeseburgers, by far.  It is totally worth stopping at.  

And, of course, there's Doug's Fish Fry across the road.  Yum!

WP

Jamesdeluxe wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Cortland staple right there

Yep. Can't believe that the A&W is still in operation, 50+ years later, and seemed to be thriving right now. I've driven by hundreds of times but have never eaten there.

I'll echo WP in that it's worth a stop. As far as burger joints go it's a good one.

I'm sure it's due to franchisee issues, but as kids we always wondered why Cortland was lucky enough to have an A&W but our hometown (Syracuse) didn't! Oh well, we had Heid's.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

I'm sure it's due to franchisee issues, but as kids we always wondered why Cortland was lucky enough to have an A&W but our hometown (Syracuse) didn't! Oh well, we had Heid's.

I'd trade you A&W for Heid's in a second

Jamesdeluxe wrote

With my mother visiting from Denver, I hadn't been back to Cortland in a while so we headed up yesterday to see the remaining family. Good to see that CBC is still in business (I know that they'd been trying to sell it for a while) and has a nice beer garden setup. Didn't have any growlers with me so I grabbed a few packs of their excellent Naked Lap Lager for the road.

Nice - good to hear! I always loved the view from the bier garden...


edit: Funny-ish related side story, last fall a buddy tested me that he was doing a project in Newburgh and had remembered that I lived there as a kid. Now I can't remember what I did yesterday but I rattled off my second grade address... a few days later he sends me a pic of my childhood house I hand't seen in probably 40-50 years!

gorgonzola wrote

Funny-ish related side story, last fall a buddy tested me that he was doing a project in Newburgh and had remembered that I lived there as a kid. Now I can't remember what I did yesterday but I rattled off my second grade address... a few days later he sends me a pic of my childhood house I hand't seen in probably 40-50 years!

Nice! There are so many memories wrapped up in my grandparents' house in Cortland from the pic above.

I really hope that CBC survives. It would be a huge loss for the town to have that disappear.