I missed my opportunity to get to Mean Max in Glens Falls on my last visit downtown, so I was glad…read moreto have the opportunity to visit their newer taproom in Troy. The atmosphere inside is very chill and welcoming, and it was a delight to see seven classic pinball machines in the back - bring quarters! One minor disappointment was that they don't carry a lot of the beers listed on their website... yet. As of this review, you still have to go to Glens Falls for a lot of them, but our bartender told us that more would be coming soon. Pshaw, I had been looking forward to some of their stouts, though I was very satisfied with the Vanilla Porter. Bar seating is comfortable. Street parking is readily available, but read all the posted signs for when you can and cannot park nearby.

What an awesome find. I didn't know they opened a location in Troy. It's just wonderful. Great…read morebeers and bartenders. Great tasting stouts which are a favorite of mine. No food but that's fine and typical of most breweries. Believe you can bring food in.

You seriously have to love the not at all serious label names of soooo many of their brews!…read more Hehehehe....He'brew, She'brew, Pastrami Pilsner, Jewbelation 21. Totally cracks me up. Love their packaging/branding in general. Great job with this dudes! Now, on to their location and taste of their beers. Decent sized tasting room with a hodge podge of different kinds of seating including antiquated picnic tables and table tops sitting on top of old barrels. They also have a couch setup in the corner for lounging, as well as a completely separate game room with all the typical games for all the middle aged gen x'ers and older millenials that congregate here. My favorite beer was the Foggy Goggles that they advertise as a NE IPA that's fruity and hazy (which it was) and has an ABV of 5.18%. I also seriously enjoyed their Messiah Nut Brown ale (ABV of 5.2%). I could slow sip this sucker all day long. Didn't have the room or the guts to try out their heavy duty Funky Jewbelation 18 (12% ABV) sour....maybe next time...and if I eat like a dozen kreplach and a few gefilte fish first. Anyway, lots of beers to take away, almost all in bottles. Most 64 oh zee growler fills are 15 bucks with your own growler and another 10 bones if you don't have one with you. They've got tees and other merch as well and all seemed to be reasonably priced and downright funny at times. There are regulars here that know what's up...they bring their coolers of food, bags of chips, and even games to play. They hang out. They drink beers. They spend time...and Shmaltz is all for it. Things were gettin' kinda rowdy in there and I'm fine with it. No kids anyhwhere. LOVED that!!! Please leave your kids with the sitter and don't take them to a brewery...not their kind of place. Take them to McDonald's Playland...anyways... Pink Floyd on the speakers the entire time we were there and I loved every second of it. They have two different bathrooms that are both co-ed and parking is avalable in the front and along the side of the building. Yankee Distillery is right across the street and is a safe and easy walk for you drunkards that don't find the 12 plus ABV of some of Shmaltz' beers to do you well enough. Dude..you got a problem. No food served so you need to bring your own latkes, knish, mozza balls, etc.

Didn't know what to expect...but I've been meaning to visit the tasting room since I heard about…read moreSchmaltz several years ago. Finally made it in yesterday...albeit briefly...since I'm currently not drinking much as I continue to recover from a recent surgery. (I'll be back in full imbibing swing real soon...). But, I have tried some of their brews in a variety of local places and I have enjoyed their offerings. I really wanted to taste some of the darker stuff; I've only had the lighter choices in the past...but I'm a dark beer girl these days. I was surprised at how big and busy the tasting room was. There's a separate area with table games and other fun stuff; the main room has the bar with plenty of places to sit, hang out, drink and chat with friends. The crowd was pretty young; I felt rather old and out of place. I asked about the tours and the kid at the bar didn't really know...had to check...wasn't sure...maybe they'll have another one in the afternoon...that was a little weird. So....we didn't do a tour. Maybe some other time. As a fellow member of the "tribe", I really like the creativity of these MOT's. Cleverly named beers like "He-Brew" make me chuckle and appreciate the overall theme even more. L'Chaim!

This spot is known for good beer, a stellar friendly staff, and so many fun ways to share your time…read morewith friends while visiting (coloring, old school video gaming, andlive music - oh my!) We loved visiting the outdoor patio space for drinking while rocking to live music, with easy access to food truck parking. The beer list contains a nice variety of styles which met the variety of tastebuds in our group. Also love that this place features rotating guest taps, wine, cider, canned cocktails and kombucha, too. So many local brands are featured and promoted in this spot. Visiting Rare Form again is for sure on the 2023 Summer Goals list - I've heard good things about their pizza and I think we need to test the "what goes better with good beer?" theory v. soon.

The day I was here I had visited a few other local breweries. This one was the smallest in terms of…read moresize and beers offered, but it was also the most casual, and most friendly in terms of ambiance. They had more beers of interest to me here than at the others I visited today. This was, for me, the perfect brewery at which to wind down for the day.

This place has become my usual spot for lunch when I'm in Albany area. There's parking lot next to…read morebrewery. I had raspberry and dragon fruit hard seltzer. It is very refreshing. Not overly sweet. I could smell the raspberry when I was drinking it. It has vibrant raspberry color too. My favorite dish here is the chili. Not too salty but well seasoned. Perfect consistency. Brussel sprouts are great appetizer. Crispy, not bitter as it is drizzled with balsamic vinegar. My husband had Reuben sandwich. It's good but greasy. You order the food and drink at the bar area. You are given a buzzer that you put on the table. The waiter will come to deliver the food. There's misunderstanding about our salad order. We ordered regular salad but were given a side dish size. The waiter quickly told the kitchen to make regular size salad.

Food is back on the up and up. Menu is gaining depth and creativity once again. Execution this…read moretime was as good as you'll get at a brewery. Well done! Beer was terrific as always! See you all in a few months.

Best wings I've had in a long time! We got the grilled with buffalo and their honey chipotle and…read morethey were charred so nice. Lovely and crispy and tasted really good. I have had the chicken sandwich there also which was super. The staff have always seemed very nice. It's a big space, got a lovely outdoor area. It's pub grub but a really lovely standard of food. Elevated pub grub let's say. I would come here for a date night. I think it's important to highlight all the great choices available in Troy and browns have a lovely location and a great atmosphere. Would recommend ! They do live music in the summer also. My boyfriend says their merch is awesome.

Very happy with the specials the selection of beers and the ambiance. A fun pub. I would definitely…read morecome again. I had the seabass risotto, of which I ate every bite. Son had lemon pepper shrimp burrito, which was huge. H had tuna which was very well done, when we asked for rare, but oh well. We still ate it.

Last night I hosted a surprise birthday party for 40+ people. I cannot say enough of the ease from…read moreplanning to execution, the staff are so attentive and friendly. Ashley the event coordinator was easy and helpful to work with. She was responsive to texts and emails for any of my questions that rand came up. My guest's raved at the atmosphere and food. we chos the pizza and handhelds with an optional Charcuterie board. Our bartender was friendly and provided quick service with no lag time for drinks. 10/10 across the board!!! Service, Food and atmosphere!! Thank you so much for helping me make my event successful !!

I have found the best restaurant-made potato chips at Common Roots Brewing in Albany. The thing is,…read moreI wasn't even looking for them. They came free with my Nashville fried chicken sandwich order.They do great deep fryer food. My sandwich was all sorts of crispy, spicy and tangy fun. The space, however, has changed a lot. I remember when it was the Pump Station several years ago. The late owner, Neil Evan, was a fixture there and his seafood Mac & Cheese was something to rave about. By contrast, Common Roots has a more limited menu and plainer furniture. A lot of pizza varieties, tacos, salads and burgers. Decent bar food. By contrast, Common Roots flagship in Glens Falls appears to have a better menu with more variety. I generally eat healthy. I can't eat bar food regularly. The meal was great for a Friday night out. There's also a very good non-alcoholic beverage and drinks menu. I was happy to see all of varieties of stout. The snowy stout was delicious. So was the kombucha. The bar where I sat was clean, sleek and modern. The bartender, who took my order was helpful with suggestions. The main dining area looked a bit sparse for 8pm on a Friday night but the business is still relatively new. I'd like to see an expanded menu with at least a few more healthy choices and some family-friendly selections. Meanwhile, I'll know where to go if I get a craving for awesome freshly made potato chips.

Stopped in here on a Sunday afternoon and we were greeted by Roger. He was so welcoming and took my…read moreboyfriend and I through their extensive list of brews. My boyfriend liked several of their beers so he opted for a flight of four - their Brown Ale, Red Ale, Extra Special Bitter and Ordinary Bitter. I went with a glass of carbonated Sangria from a Niskayuna-based winery, Capoccia Wines. I had no idea Niskayuna even had a winery! He really liked their beers and I loved the Sangria - it was so refreshing and fruity. It's super spacious with a bar area and adjoining room with more tables and corn hole. They had signage for a corn hole league that just ended. They also have an attached store with equipment for home brewing. Highly recommend stopping through! We loved chatting with Roger about the brewery and about his travels too.

I drove right past the place on my first visit, even with navigation going. I had been thinking,…read more"Farm brewery... where's the farm?" The tasting room is in the larger portion of a strip mall on Route 4. The seating at the bar is very cozy, and on your left you have a larger, very well maintained, area with tables and the rest room. The beer is good here, and so is the art of conversation, which, to me, is equally important at a brewery. They let us sample a few items before settling in on our chosen pours. I loved the eclectic setting, and for me you can't go wrong with 60s and 70s music (yeah, I was around for all of it).

Very good friendly feel to this large space, food was very good and a nice variety of their brewery…read moretap beers

I absolutely think this place is great!…read more I was introduced to Fallside through a Yelp Event earlier this year. I talked about it so much at work my friends begged to go. We met up for 50 cent wings on Sunday. Yeah, that's right, what is this 2006? 50 cent wings, and they are no joke! Big plump and juicy wings cooked perfectly crispy and generously tossed in sauce with was was described as house-made ranch or blue cheese dressing? My friends really enjoyed them. I had the fried vegetable gyoza and I can't say I've ever had them deep fried before, more like steamed or pan-fried, but this was a game changer! I was really looking forward to the Imposter cheezy jalapeno bites but our server informed us they were out. I love that they have several vegan options on the menu. At the Yelp Event we were fortunate enough to try the vegan pizza and it was honestly one of the best vegan pizzas around the Capital Region. They use Imposter plant-based cheese which is a local product made by a small business in Troy. I love that small businesses are supporting each other like this. The beer is excellent too, we were looking forward to having the red ale since I spoke so fondly of it but it was tapped out. I had a really good mango IPA which hazy doesn't even begin to describe! It's really nice inside and on Sunday it had just become warm enough by mid afternoon, they opened the big garage door and let some fresh air in which was no nice after such a long winter. I think I can speak for my coworkers and I that we will be coming back again soon so please keep those vegan options stocked up!

Bad service. Slow. Disinterested waitress. Ok. That happens. No big deal. Typically at a brewery…read moreyou get decent food - usually a scratch kitchen or at least a lot of fresh stuff. The "buttermilk chicken sandwich" was 3 sh*tty out of a bad bag frozen chicken tenders. Seriously. Deeply disappointed - buyer beware Boneless wings ? Out of. A bag Fries ? Same. Gross My recommendation- there's a lot of other super high quality restaurants in Albany and good breweries too. Avoid kitchens that false advertise and feed you frozen food out of a bag

Druthers is a reliable brewery/pub/restaurant. They can accommodate anything from small parties to…read morelarge work gatherings. They have warehouse, dark wood decor. I am not normally a beer drinker but will drink one when I'm at a brewery. The oatmeal stout was delicious with notes of chocolate. I ordered the chicken pot pie. It was a deconstructed version with no crust served in a cast iron skillet. More like a thick soup with bread crumbs on top. The flavor was very good. The Mac and Cheese is rich, flavorful and delicious also in a skillet. Others had tacos, salad and Gobbler sandwiches. All were praised as being filling and tasty. I'm eying the Gobbler for next time. Regular beer drinkers can comment more on the different types that they have.

Loved this place! Went here last week and tried 2 sour beers, both of which I enjoyed. The place…read moreitself is so nice and clean I thought it had just opened. Upon speaking with Kari, I learned they opened in 2020 and it used to be an old schoolhouse! They had a craft night for a Valentine's Day craft, they have games, pariticpate in the jigsaw puzzle competition amongst a few local breweries, and had an ongoing "guess the amount" competition to guess how many candy hearts were in a container, and they have live music. They don't serve food but do have pop-ups with local places. I wish I could have checked out the outdoor space but weather didn't allow it. Definitely a place I'd come back to, especially in spring/summer. Sidenote: If you're looking for a local place to stay the night, the upstairs loft is a beautiful Air BnB!

Really enjoyed the Lakeside NEIPA. Friendly staff. Visited after a trip to Jiminy Peak. Lots of…read morelocals love this spot.