In the late 1990s, Sonny Patel owned a gas station business. After he began selling beer at the gas station”™s store, another business owner in the area, who had owned a beer store that had been in the area since 1964, approached him.
“He contacted me and said, ”˜I’m buying your business or you”™re going to buy my business.”™ And we made a deal. I ended up buying his business, and that was my first beer store or beer beverage business, in 1999.”
Back then, Patel didn”™t even drink beer. But he eventually warmed up to it. A group of friends who frequented the Monticello bar The Nugget to share beer with each other would come to Patel”™s store with the empty cans or bottles afterward and ask Patel to get the unique varieties of beer for the shop.
“At that point, one of the customers that was a friend, he comes in one day and says ”˜Sonny, have you ever tried this beer?”™ Patel said. “And I said, ”˜No, I don’t drink.”™ He says, ”˜I want to buy this beer for you. I want you to try it.”™ I tried it. I loved it. I couldn’t wait until he came in next time so I can ask him what to try next. That’s how it got into my mind, and I became more passionate about bringing thousands and thousands of different beers in our store. And that’s when the first Beer World was born.”
Patel became passionate about bringing a huge variety of beer to his stores, even those that other beverage center owners feared wouldn”™t sell well and therefore wouldn”™t carry. Today, Beer World boasts a variety of over 4,000 unique varieties of beer, ranging from average $1 cans to almost $300 for a single can for high-quality, extremely rare beers. Beer World locations now have anywhere from 16 to 24 beers on tap for customers to sample in-store, along with crowlers and growlers.
On a trip to Canada, Patel drew inspiration from the Beer Store, a beer, wine and cider seller with hundreds of retail stores and government-owned retail locations, established in 1927.
“I learned a little bit from there and made our own concept, in a way, to take it to next level from what they had done. And that’s how we started working on Beer World projects.”
Beer World now has 13 locations around the Hudson Valley and grows by roughly one or two stores every year, according to Patel. Currently, a new Beer World is in the works in Chester, along with one near the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. Despite the universal appeal of beer, Patel focuses on developing the brand further within the Hudson Valley, and also emphasizes the promotion of local breweries, of which there are many locally.
“Hudson Valley breweries are our number one priority to support, and then we support all New York breweries,” Patel said. “And then we, of course, we take all over the country as well, and other countries, but our main focus is to really promote a lot of local Hudson Valley breweries.”
Beer World”™s most exciting new project, though, is the new Aspire Brewing in the works in Middletown. Recently, the project received a $500,000 grant from New York”™s Empire State Development for the construction of the new brewery at 600 N. Galleria Drive.
The 30,000-square-foot establishment will feature 8,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Patel and Alex Kemp, chief operating officer for Aspire Brewing, have partnered for the brewery.
Along with a traditional tap room that will also serve food, the brewery will feature a unique concept: a self-serve style beer hall with about 40 different taps of beer, wine, cider and seltzer. There, customers can use their cards to scan at each tap for a flight-style serving or even an entire pint.
“We figured we have a space large enough, so why not try and create two separate atmospheres? Let’s say I just like the traditional style where I come in and grab a beer, I grab some food and I just sit down and relax with my family. Or if I’m more the person that likes to try a bunch of things, this is the easiest way where you can try 40 different ciders, seltzers, beers, anything that you want to try. It’s very popular these days, but when you’re serving beer, it becomes very time-consuming to do 70 different flights for consumers. You get a big backup. So the do-it-yourself was I think a way that will work well to just provide this experience that’s very different from any location in the Hudson valley, if not for all of New York.”
The space will also include an indoor game room, outdoor seating area and a conference room and events space that people will be able to rent out for private events.
Kemp said that demolition for the site officially started during the last week of December, and they hope to be open by the end of the summer.
