Sugar Hill Golden Ale Flows Back to Harlem
Sugar Hill Golden Ale, a beer brand that dates to Prohibition and the Harlem Renaissance, is about to return home. Its microbrewer plans to open a factory on 126th Street in the next two years.
Legend has it that a special beer secretly brewed in Harlem during Prohibition later became a favorite drink of Renaissance artists and musicians. Fourteen years ago, Celeste Beatty, a Harlem resident, began brewing beer in her apartment on 123rd Street and named it after the Sugar Hill neighborhood.
“My mother’s family started moving to the Sugar Hill area in the 1950s,” Beatty says about her inspiration. “Many musicians and artists lived there.”
In three years, the demand for Sugar Hill Ale outpaced Beatty’s capacity, so she moved her operation upstate to leased facilities in Saratoga Springs. Harlem offered no brewing facilities at the time.
While Sugar Hill Ale left New York, Beatty didn’t, and her four-hour commute made her eager to bring her beer back home. For five years she has been looking at possible sites with Scott Metzner, principal of Janus Property LLC, a Harlem real estate development company. Nothing seemed to pan out.
In 2011, a city decision to revitalize the 125th Street commercial corridor made the dilapidated Taystee Bakery complex at 461 West 125th Street and 426-458 West 126th Street available for development. The New York City Economic Development Corporation chose Janus Property and Monadnock Construction to restore the buildings as part of CREATE @ Harlem Green, a program which includes rehabbing over 200,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space. A mayoral press release says the project will create 510 construction jobs and 440 permanent jobs.
Scott Metzner from Janus Property says the development schedule isn’t clear yet because the city seized the properties from Citarella, which had promised to rebuild them but hasn’t; the matter is still in court. ”It’s taking a little longer than expected, but the city feels confident that they will prevail,” Metzner said. “Once the city has the title, they will close on the property within 10 months.”
Then Janus will start working with an architect while seeking community board approval. “Only after that we can start the actual work,” says Metzner. “We estimate 15 to 18 months for construction.” The building will be owned by Metzner, his partner Jerry Salama, and two partners from Monadnock Construction, and financed through private loans. Metzner declined to comment on the property’s price, but said that Beatty will lease the facilities.
“When Scott called me up I was very interested,” Beatty says. “He asked me to join the project and I was chosen by Mayor Bloomberg’s office.”
Her company is experiencing a growth spurt, Beatty says. “I just got off the phone with the Swedish consulate,” she says, adding that she will start exporting to Scandinavia (and Japan), and needs to meet growing demand. “The Saratoga brewery operates a small-batch production facility of 100-200 barrels, up to 3000 cases per batch. I’m hoping to more than double that amount.”
Beatty also plans to produce six to 12 different kinds of beer. She declined to comment on the company’s revenues.
In addition to brewing at the 126th Street plant, Beatty plans to open a beer museum, offer factory tours and even grow hops on the roof.
“I want to share my brewing experiences with the community,” she says. “That’s the type of environment I want to create.”
A North Carolina native who describes herself as “47 years young,” Beatty believes brewing goes back to her African ancestors, who brought the tradition to America in the 1600s. “Growing up in the South, I was very aware of my history,” Beatty says, adding that many Southern families brewed beer and that “slaves brewed beer for President Jefferson.” While developing her brand, she traveled the world and saw how many beverages were produced in Africa. Before brewing, Beatty worked at Ben & Jerry’s on 125th Street and Fifth Avenue as an interim director.
Beatty lives in Queens, grows some of her hops in Brooklyn and travels regularly to Saratoga Springs. She has a son, Cory Beatty, who is a beer chef. “He does a lot of cooking with beer, and he has been a great inspiration to me,” says Beatty. “At this point, I don’t know how I would manage it all on my own.”
By Lina Zeldovich on Oct 18th, 2011