I visit my family's cottage on the Great Sacandaga Lake several times a year, and the Providence area is a craft beer wasteland. I had found a spot in Charlton, but they went out of business last fall. Using the Untappd app, I discovered Southside Beverage. It's about 15 minutes south of the shopping malls in Amsterdam, but so worth the drive. They are located in a newly built strip mall that doesn't yet show up on Google Street view, so I was skeptical until we actually pulled up. I heard they own the liquor and wine store in plaza next door - the one we almost mistakenly went to while looking for this place. The place is enormous inside - definitely deceiving from the outside. They have TONS of craft beer options but you need to check dates. I made my own six-pack and the first time I went, assumed I was limited to the broken up singles at the end of two aisles. A lot were out of date and many more were completely undated, so I ended up with a couple of oxidized, old beers. The woman working also talked me into trying their "mystery six-pack" which is a six-pack in a sealed brown paper bag for $5. When I got home, I realized they were all extremely out-of-date, some by as much as a full year. For $5, I wasn't too concerned but this is a pretty lousy way to get rid of expired beer that no one else wants. I won't fall for it again. Of my hand-selected six-pack, the cans were as much as $6 a piece, and two of the three times I went here the cashier forgot to take off the $2 from the total that you're supposed to get when making your own six-pack. So it ended up being a few expensive trips with a couple of gross outdated beers, but that's my fault for taking a risk. I purchased a couple of regular tall boy four-packs, one from the shelf and one from the cooler, and those were amazing, delicious, and fresh and a few of my singles were, too. All three times I have visited were during holiday weeks/weekends, and the place was dead inside. I'm sure their location doesn't lend itself to much foot traffic, but I do hope they survive because Saratoga and Malta are the next closest places to buy good beer if you're staying on the lake. read more