Skip to main content
0
All Posts By

Jess Mead

Brewery in the Snow

Reflecting on the Season

By FoundersMessages

With just a few days until the Christmas holiday and only a few short weeks remaining in 2020, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been a truly incredible year. We at Common Roots have been met with the joys of opening our new facility, the trepidations of the pandemic landscape, and humble gratitude for the continuous support shown by our community built on beer.

While this year’s season of celebration may feature new traditions and re-imagined holiday gatherings, we hope you take this time to recount the blessings of the year and are looking forward to 2021 with the same optimism and impassioned desire for camaraderie and community as we are. We thank you for making Common Roots part of your holiday traditions (both new and old) and we look forward to times ahead when we can celebrate with our entire community in our home at the 58 Saratoga Avenue Taproom.

We wish you and your families a safe, restful and joyous holiday season. We raise our glasses to you for allowing us to enjoy our community built on beer for another year. Cheers to many more and Happy Holidays!

Warmest regards,

Bert and Christian

The Home Stretch

By FoundersMessages

The finish line is in sight for our move back to 58 Saratoga Avenue and we cannot wait to share the new facility with you! We are thankful everyday for the memories made and beers shared at our Temporary Taproom location at 30 Saratoga Avenue. It goes without saying that these past few months have been an absolutely wild ride. We are grateful and thankful beyond words for the continued support from every single one of you.  Your acts of kindness, statements of encouragement and the simple fact that you continue to choose to enjoy Common Roots with your friends and families has brought us to where we are today.  We are perpetually thankful and continuously humbled to call you friends, guests and fellow beer-drinkers.

We are working tirelessly to move our operations from the Temporary Taproom at 30 Saratoga Avenue to our permanent home back at 58 Saratoga Avenue.  As we do so, we will continue to follow the safety guidelines as issued by the state of New York to ensure the safety of our staff, our guests and the community at large. Stay tuned to social media and keep your eyes on your inboxes in the days and weeks ahead to stay informed as we transition into our forever home.

As many bars and restaurants in our area begin to re-open for indoor and outdoor dining, we are excited to see life moving back towards some semblance of normalcy.  In order to ensure that we are opening the doors at 58 Saratoga Avenue in the safest way possible, we need to take a little bit of extra time before we roll out full operations for eating and drinking inside and outside of our new Taproom.  In order to ensure that we are able to provide a safe and enjoyable environment, our first steps of re-opening at 58 Saratoga Avenue will be focused on to-go beer with limited outdoor draft service only.  Online ordering for pick-up and home delivery will be continuing indefinitely.  We hope to be offering these services out of the new Taproom at 58 Saratoga Avenue in early July.

A perfectly poured beer served alongside a wood-fired pizza is something we have been waiting a LONG time to share with all of you, and we thank you in advance for your continued support, patience and understanding as we work towards bringing that to fruition.  Once again, we cannot thank you enough for the overwhelming support you all have continuously shown us.  We can only imagine how wonderful that first beer will taste when we are able to share it with you in the fashion that we have all been envisioning for so long.

Cheers,
Bert and Christian

Bert at the Bar

The Story of Sparky

By FoundersMessages

There’s been a lot of excitement around Common Roots Brewing lately but a story you probably missed is that we found a little hatchling turtle a few days after our fire a few months back. We were walking around the parking lot of what was to become our new temporary space. As we walked the lot, I spotted what turned out to be a very tiny, painted turtle on the ground.

I’m not a biologist, but seemed strange to see an obviously newly hatched turtle in a parking lot a good quarter mile from the nearest water on such a cold, raw day! The temperature was cold and we still had snow mounds in the shaded areas next to the building. Without really thinking about it, I picked up the turtle for a closer look and saw he/she was miraculously still alive! I placed him in my pocket for warmth and brought him home. After a quick Google investigation of what to do next, we decided to set up a hatchling turtle sanctuary in our kitchen and name our new household guest, “Sparky.”

We are happy to report that these efforts have not gone in vain. Sparky continues to thrive in his temporary space in our kitchen. Our plan is to release him when the weather is warmer, although that may be more difficult then we think since we’ve grown somewhat attached to him.

And really, what are the chances of finding a baby turtle in the parking lot on a cold March day?

On that note, I am sure a lot of us are wondering why things happen. Sometimes, it seems, they just do and we all have an opportunity to help or ignore.

All of us at Common Roots have been wondering a similar question—the fire and now this unbelievable outpouring of love and support—how did this happen?

I can tell you we don’t have the answers but we are all so grateful for the tremendous show of love and support. Our community has adopted us and, like young Sparky, we know we will now thrive because of it. Thank you!

Cheers to Sparky and an even brighter future.

Bert

Christian and Bert Humbled holding up a cup

Humbled

By FoundersMessages

 

Humbled. That’s the best word to describe how we feel right now.

So many of you turned out to hang with us at Rally for the Roots North in Glens Falls and Rally for the Roots South in Troy. More of you have shown up at your favorite local craft brewery, taproom, and restaurant for pop-up support events or are planning to attend benefit festivals like Rising From The Ashes on May 4th.

You sent texts, emails… and Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter messages, too.

We’re humbled and grateful for each and every one of you.

We also want to take a moment to publicly thank our Common Roots alumni family and friends in the craft beer industry who have taken on volunteer leadership roles to organize and activate you, our Community Roots community. Our rebuild will be deeply rooted in these good deeds.

Cheers,

Bert and Christian

Photo Credit: Matthew ‘Fuj’ Scher