A field guide to the Hudson Valley’s craft breweries and taprooms.

It’s no secret the Hudson Valley has become an increasingly compelling craft beer region by focusing on fundamentals. Water chemistry, local grain, yeast, and fermentation practices matter here, as do the towns, farms, and landscapes that shape how beer is brewed and enjoyed.

Infused with agriculture, historic architecture, and the communities they serve, Hudson Valley breweries are closely tied to their surroundings. Set beside fields and rivers, inside former train stations, converted barns, and brick warehouses from the region’s industrial past, these taprooms function first as gathering places, welcoming locals and visitors alike.

The beers themselves reflect that same sense of intention. Clean lagers and pilsners anchor many menus. IPAs emphasize balance as much as aroma. Farmhouse ales, saisons, and carefully built sours highlight fermentation character over spectacle. Across styles, the focus is refinement and drinkability, beers meant to live comfortably alongside food, conversation, and unhurried afternoons.

This guide explores Hudson Valley breweries where process, place, and hospitality intersect. Each reflects a different corner of the region, offering beer and spaces that reward attention and time.

Close to the city, shaped by farmland.

Just outside New York City in Warwick’s Black Dirt Region, The Drowned Lands feels inseparable from its surroundings, with farmland doing as much storytelling as the tap list itself. The beer program balances range with precision, moving from aromatic hazy IPAs like Green Yield to more structured double IPAs such as Deep Terra, layered with citrus peel, stone fruit, and soft honeyed notes. Foeder-fermented IPAs and saisons like Sow & Gather and Fern introduce gentle oak, ripe melon, and subtle wild character, while crisp lagers and Kölsch-style beers keep the lineup bright before seasonal spiced ales and barrel-aged stouts add depth.

The Drowned Lands

The airy taproom reads more contemporary barn than brewery, opening onto wide field views that invite lingering. A food menu built around wood-fired, fermented-dough pizzas is supported by pretzels with beer cheese, wings, poutine, cast-iron shrimp, and rotating seasonal dishes, making it easy for an afternoon to extend naturally into evening.

Across the Hudson River, Beacon brings a different energy. Trailheads, cafés, studios, and galleries overlap here, giving the town a sense of constant motion. Hudson Valley Brewery sits comfortably within that mix, helping define a modern East Coast beer style. The list centers on signature sour IPAs and farmhouse-inspired sours saturated with fruit and lifted by bright acidity, alongside hazy and West Coast–leaning IPAs, clean lagers, nuanced saisons, and occasional darker releases. Inside, the taproom is industrial but warm, animated by conversation and a small menu designed for grazing. With Dia Beacon nearby, the stop feels like a natural pause between art, landscape, and beer.

Hudson Valley Brewery

The Catskills Mountains reset the tempo.

As the landscape rises, the Catskills shift the mood. Forested slopes, cold streams, and quieter towns slow things down, setting a more deliberate pace.

In Kerhonkson, Rough Cut Brewing offers an early expression of that restraint. The draft list is tightly curated, spanning crisp pilsners, amber lagers, hazy pale ales and IPAs, Belgian tripels and saisons, and darker beers such as smoked brown ales and black IPAs. The kitchen mirrors the beer program with elevated pub fare done simply and well, encouraging guests to settle in rather than move on.

Rough Cut Brewing

Nearby in Accord, Arrowood Farms expands brewing into a full agrarian ecosystem. Grain fields surround the taproom, and nearly everything in the glass traces back to the land itself. The beer list leans farmhouse-forward, with rustic ales, clean lagers, expressive pale ales and IPAs, and wild ales that highlight fermentation character over intensity. Rotating kitchen pop-ups ensure the food experience evolves often, rewarding repeat visits.

Arrowood Farms

Phoenicia brings a more social rhythm. Woodstock Brewing is lively and welcoming, the kind of place where hikers, cyclists, and families naturally converge. The beer list is expansive, moving from unfiltered pilsners and locally focused lagers to seasonal styles, a deep bench of IPAs, and bright sours and fruited goses. Generous, casual food including fried favorites, tacos, wings, quesadillas, salads, and hearty sandwiches turns a visit into a full meal.

Farther into the mountains, West Kill Brewing feels fully embedded in the high Catskills. Its remote setting reinforces the sense of arrival, and the beer reflects that connection to place. Soft, aromatic hazy IPAs like Duck Camp and Kaaterskill give way to bolder hop expressions such as Firetower Red IPA and Don’t Feed the Bears, layered with resin, citrus, and pine. Crisp mountain lagers like False Summit suit long afternoons outdoors, while seasonal releases draw directly from the landscape through foraged spruce tips, maple leaves, local grains, or fresh hops.

West Kill Brewing

The taproom feels less like a destination and more like a place that has always existed, anchored to the land around it. Conversation fills the room, the stone fireplace glows when the weather turns, and the beer tastes inseparable from where it’s made.

Kingston rewards an unhurried afternoon.

Kingston’s beer scene reveals itself gradually. Brick warehouses, wide sidewalks, and river light set a relaxed pace, and the city rewards those willing to spend time moving from one room to the next.

West Kill Supply translates Catskills brewing into an urban rhythm, pouring familiar IPAs, lagers, and seasonal beers in a casual taproom that feels genuinely neighborhood-driven. A food program anchored by sourdough pizzas, supported by small plates, fresh salads, and oysters, makes lingering feel effortless.

West Kill Supply

Nearby, Blue Duck Brewing leans into comfort and familiarity. Balanced ambers, stouts, lagers, and easy-drinking ales are served in a warm, pub-like space, with food by Phoenicia Diner Canteen reinforcing the sense that this is a place built as much for regulars as for visitors.

Kingston Standard Brewing Co. rounds out the neighborhood with a tighter, more contemporary list focused on precision and balance. Czech pilsners, Kölsch, pale ales, schwarzbiers, rauchbiers, hopped lagers, and rotating seasonal beers are paired with well-executed pizzas and oysters, served across long indoor and outdoor tables that invite conversation. Together, these three stops make Kingston an afternoon in itself.

Kingston Standard Brewing Co.

The river town comes into focus.

Set along the Hudson River, the town of Catskill offers a compact but thoughtful brewing scene shaped by both craft and context.

The Return Brewing Outpost introduces a polished, design-forward sensibility. The beer list moves comfortably from pilsners, Kölsch, and amber ales to West Coast and hazy double IPAs, fruit-driven sours aged on oak, and the occasional barrel-aged stout. The space is calm and considered, with food kept intentionally simple to maintain focus on the beer.

Return Brewing Outpost

A short distance away, Subversive Malting & Brewing takes a more elemental approach. One of the few breweries producing its own floor-malted grains, Subversive builds every beer from 100 percent locally sourced malt, often incorporating local hops, fruits, and herbs. The tap list spans farmhouse ales, lagers, saisons, dark beers, and hop-forward styles unified by a strong sense of place, paired with thoughtful pub food that reinforces the brewery’s agricultural roots.

Subversive Malting & Brewing

Hudson pulls the threads together.

Across the river, Hudson offers a walkable backdrop to one of the region’s densest brewing scenes. Former train depots and brick warehouses house taprooms that feel both historic and contemporary.

Union Street Brewing Co. anchors the town with a taproom set inside a restored 1930s warehouse, offering vaulted interior space and an outdoor patio for warmer months. The beer list is among the most ambitious in the region, rotating through Czech and German-style pilsners, barrel-aged farmhouse ales, West Coast pale ales and IPAs, fruited sours, and strong ales, often incorporating local grains or botanicals. A restaurant-driven food program matches that ambition.

Union Street Brewing Co. - Hudson

Nearby, the Return Brewing Flagship Taproom shifts the mood. The space is refined and restrained, pouring lagers, Kölsch, amber ales, West Coast and hazy IPAs, fruit-forward sours aged on oak, and occasional barrel-aged stouts with an emphasis on pacing and attention.

Return Brewing Flagship Taproom

Across the train tracks, Upper Depot Brewing occupies Hudson’s historic train station dating back to 1871. The atmosphere is intimate and welcoming, with a beer list focused on cleanly executed, approachable styles such as crisp pilsners, blonde ales, ambers, IPAs, and a medal-winning stout. Outside, the Whale Belly food truck completes the picture.

Upper Depot Brewing

At the opposite end of Warren Street, Hudson Brewing Company brings lively, approachable energy. A broad beer list spans IPAs, lagers, hefeweizens, stouts, and fruit-forward sours, supported by a comfort-driven kitchen designed to keep the room social and buzzing.

Just beyond town, Suarez Family Brewery offers a quieter counterpoint. The beers are restrained and deeply considered, from pilsners and pale ales to gently smoked lagers and wheat-based country beers. Served in a minimalist, recently renovated taproom, they reward focus and patience. On Fridays, a single cask appears. Bottles blur the line between beer and wine.

Suarez Family Brewery

Where farmland shapes the experience.

South along the river, the landscape opens into orchards and long views.

In Red Hook, Rose Hill Ferments widens the lens beyond beer. Set on an orchard and housed in a restored barn, the cidery and winery focuses on low-intervention wines and ciders made from estate-grown, wild-foraged, and locally sourced fruit, fermented with native yeasts and traditional methods. Co-ferments and pét-nats blur the line between wine and cider, from approachable bottles like Kitchen Sink to more expressive releases such as Pearly Dewdrops and Bird Bath. The barn taproom feels both agricultural and celebratory, with outdoor space that encourages lingering in warmer months.

Rose Hill Ferments

Nearby in Tivoli, Lasting Joy Brewery brings a contemporary sensibility while staying grounded in local agriculture. The beer list balances clarity and expression, from a crisp Czech-style pilsner and Vienna-leaning amber lager to a hazy IPA built on New York–grown hops. Seasonal releases add character, including a beet-driven English stout, honey-kissed ales, and mixed-fermentation sours. A full food menu and thoughtful cocktail program make it easy to stay for an evening.

Lasting Joy Brewery

Farther east, Vosburgh Brewing Company in Elizaville operates from a Dutch post-and-beam barn on the family’s 186-year-old farm. Once home to Sloop Brewing’s earliest days, the space now carries that creative energy forward. The beer list leans classic and calibrated, with an American light lager, dry-hopped pilsner, a Helles-style lager brewed with Vosburgh hops and Germantown malt, and a malty Festbier grounded in German tradition. New England–style IPAs add restrained softness, while a bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout, a semi-sweet cider made from Vosburgh apples, and a rotating farmhouse sour complete the lineup. The taproom feels more like a farm gathering than a beer hall, inviting guests to settle in and watch the light change across the fields.

What remains is time, well spent.

Taken together, these breweries form more than a list. They offer a way of experiencing the Hudson Valley that values attention, patience, and curiosity. Spend an afternoon somewhere unexpected. Stay longer than planned. Let conversation and place set the pace.

In a region shaped by land and water, the beer tastes better not because of how you arrived, but because of where you chose to linger.

For more, view our complete list of Hudson Valley breweries.