{"id":36062,"date":"2021-04-19T17:32:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T21:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=36062"},"modified":"2021-04-20T13:03:55","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T17:03:55","slug":"family-business-and-passion-for-craft-beer-survives-the-coronavirus-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2021\/04\/family-business-and-passion-for-craft-beer-survives-the-coronavirus-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Business And Passion For Craft Beer Survives The Coronavirus Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_36063\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36063\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-36063\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/04\/whitman-brewing-hc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/04\/whitman-brewing-hc.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/04\/whitman-brewing-hc-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2021\/04\/whitman-brewing-hc-768x563.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36063\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Owners of the Walt &amp; Whitman Brewing Co. continue to grow the business in early 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">By Christine Graf<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Whitman Brewing Co. has been named one of the country\u2019s top 10 new breweries by <i>USA Today<\/i>, an honor that came just months after <i>Hop Culture<\/i>, a leading craft brewing publication, included the Saratoga Springs craft brewer on its list of the 10 best new breweries of 2020. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cTo come from a brewery publication was very flattering recognition for our team. It reaffirms that we are on the right path, and hopefully that we can keep growing. We are humbled and excited by it,\u201d said co-owner Will Crager. \u201cIt\u2019s a great affirmation that we are moving in the right direction. We are very fortunate to have a great group of people around us who have a lot of expertise and experience and have helped us to have some great early success in just a year-and-a-half of operating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Walt &amp; Whitman Brewing Co. is located at 20 Lake Ave. in the former <i>Saratogian <\/i>newspaper building which is owned by Saratoga Prime Properties. The Crager family, Philadelphia natives who moved to Saratoga Springs five years ago, chose it as the location. Will and his mother, Kathy, are co-owners and sisters Katie, Jane, and Lily are also involved in operations. Craft beer enthusiast and family patriarch, Bill, works full time in the financial sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe had this vision, and for us it was more about experience and building a space that allowed people to come in and enjoy music and share our love for craft beer,\u201d said Kathy Crager.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Just months after the December 2019 opening, the coronavirus pandemic shut down restaurants and bars. The Crager\u2019s were forced to furlough some staff members. They opened for takeout only. After restaurants and bars were able to reopen with reduced capacity, Walt &amp; Whitman\u2019s spacious interior was well suited for social distancing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><!--more-->\u201cAt 50 percent capacity, we can space our tables,\u201d said Kathy. \u201cAnother part of this project was to build a patio\u201d that was open by July 1. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThat really helped us and carried us through Dec. 1,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought business was pretty strong because we were able to have that patio even into the fall. The community really embraced us and has continued to support us through COVID.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">According to Crager, indoor dining has picked up significantly in recent weeks. Walt &amp; Whitman is currently operating at 75 capacity with the mandatory six feet of spacing between tables. The patio recently opened and the caf\u00e9 on the second floor acts as overflow for the taproom on weekends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Bonacio Construction did the multi-million dollar renovation of the 16,000-square-foot building. Renovations took almost one year to complete, and the building was completely gutted during the process. Walt &amp; Whitman\u2019s taproom, restaurant, and 10-barrel brewhouse<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>occupies 12,000 square feet of finished space. Another 4,000 square feet of unfinished space could be ready to occupy in early 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The Walt Caf\u00e9, described by <i>Hop Culture<\/i> as a \u201cstunning coffee and pastry shop,\u201d is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The caf\u00e9 serves coffee and other beverages as well as breakfast food and the popular Walt tarts, a homemade version of a pop tart. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The space can be booked for private parties such as bridal showers or rehearsal dinners. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The taproom and lounge are open Thursday through Sunday. There are between seven and 10 craft beers available at any given time. The taproom menu includes a variety of pub food as well as Detroit-style pizza.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Whitman Brewing Company also distributes kegs of craft beers through Craft Beer Guild Distributing of New York. Their packaged products are canned on site and available for sale at Walt &amp; Whitman. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe were able to get our canning line up and running, and that became a good source of revenue for us when the pandemic hit because people weren\u2019t dining in,\u201d said Kathy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Walt &amp; Whitman employs 20 and will be increasing staffing levels during the summer. According to Will, it was Walt &amp; Whitman\u2019s dedicated team of employees that helped to keep the business going during some very challenging times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great team. It\u2019s been a crazy year, and from a financial sense, it was difficult. But at end of day, we believe in what we\u2019ve built and we are excited to be a part of downtown Saratoga.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Christine Graf Whitman Brewing Co. has been named one of the country\u2019s top 10 new breweries by USA Today, an honor that came just months after Hop Culture, a leading craft brewing publication, included the Saratoga Springs craft brewer on its list of the 10 best new breweries of 2020. \u201cTo come from a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":36063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Family Business And Passion For Craft Beer Survives The Coronavirus Pandemic - 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