I realized just how much of a metrosexual vibe I put out there as I walked through the Home Depot last night. I was looking to buy a generator, a backup for the one I had just ordered from Amazon.com (the metrosexual superstore). It’s not due to arrive until Monday, which might be too late, as the outer bands of “Frankenstorm”are due to be approaching my Northern New Jersey home by then, and UPS might shut down their supply chain in preparation for the storm before the gennie makes it to my porch. I was shopping for a little insurance.
“Are you looking for generators?” said the woman in the orange apron as I glided past with my cart. She did this without prompting or even eye contact being established. “We’re all out, but we might be getting a truck tonight or tomorrow morning.” She handed me a business card and told me to call the store later to see if they received any.
I thanked her, and as I walked away, I realized that it must have been obvious that I wasn’t a handy Home Depot kind of guy – I was a soft-handed-foul-weather friend. I think I need to grow a beard and start wearing plaid. I began to look at my fellow customers and realized that many of them were wearing Dockers and had a slightly panicked look in their eyes. The rush to prepare for Hurricane Sandy was in full bloom.
Us metrosexuals aren’t the only ones that have to batten down the hatches. I was watching the Weather Channel last night, and the maddenly vague hurricane geek on the screen was mentioning possible landfall points for Frankenstorm. He said New York City, the Jersey Shore, and the Delmarva Peninsula. Then he mentioned a town that made my ears perk up – Rehoboth Beach, Delaware – home of Dogfish Head.
Uh oh.
I started to think of what a direct hit might do to the brewery and what they might be doing to prepare. I even reached out to their marketing people, but I don’t have any concrete information yet, beyond the fact that marketing people aren’t involved in making such decisions.
Then I wondered how many well known breweries are in the path of this goliath gale, so I checked out Pop Chart Labs Brewery Map to get an idea. What you see above is the mid-Atlantic/New England portion of the map with the storm’s projected course superimposed on top of it in red.
You’ll find some familiar names near the coast in the red zone, places like Dogfish Head, Heavy Seas, DuClaw, Brooklyn Brewery, Sixpoint, and Captain Lawrence. Moving inland where rain and high winds promise flooding and power outages, you find breweries like Victory, Yards, Flying Dog and Weyerbacher. There’s a lot of good beer under Sandy’s thumb.
Hopefully, everything will work out okay. Unlike metrosexuals, brewers are do-ers, so hopefully they’re actively tethering down the grain silos, boarding up the brewhouse and protecting the bottling line in bubblewrap. As you can see, my idea of preparedness is covering things I care about with other, more durable things.
Anyway, good luck to the breweries in Frakenstorm’s path, and (more importantly) the people who make them go and their friends and families.
If you hear about how any breweries are preparing for the storm (or faring once it hits) let us know below. Also let us know what you’re doing to prepare if you’re in the path of this monster (besides not tricking nor treating).
.
.
.
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
I’ll be flying into the aftermath next week for the NYC marathon…no whammies no whammies…
Naw -it’ll be freshly washed for you!
DogFish Head, Victory…Flying Dog….NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
That’s exactly what my brain did, too – the slow motion “NnnnnnnnnOOOOOooooooooo……….”
Remember what happened to The Alchemist last year with hurricane Irene. Batten down those hatches breweries! We need your beer.
That’s a really good point, Brian. John Kimmich is still heartbroken over the loss of his brew pub, so much so that he told me he’ll never rebuild it because he doesn’t want to be that emotionally attached to his business ever again.
So yes, batten those hatches!!
Well it looks as though it doesn’t matter where it comes ashore, we’re gonna get nailed. I was just now cleaning out gutters–at least as far as I could reach. I’ve really tried to keep large deciduous trees away from the house–but the eaves are stilled loaded w/ colorful arborial detritus. Ya can’t win. I also have a cupla large pines that died over the summer–hopefully they won’t be weak enough to come down on their own yet.
Thanks for posting the neat map btw, though it may be moot by Halloween.
I have a limb that just barely touches my roof. I imagine it laying across my crushed deck by Wednesday…
Stay safe everyone, us out West will be thinking of you.
I did the same kind of brewery calculations this past Summer with the wildfires out here in Colorado. One of my favorites, Trinity, was in the evacuation zone and very close to the fire line, luckily it passed them by.
Hopefully the whole mess passes to the north, where it’ll have less luck hooking up with that mid-western trailer-trash of a snowstorm and birthing evil damage babies all over everyboy’s stuff…
Whisky doesn’t require electricity. Where is Don now that Sandy is coming?
Idaho, where he’s been dicking around trying to start a business these past few weeks.
Priorities!!
My best to the breweries and anyone in the path of Sandy. But the other question begs to be asked. What whisky do you drink to ride out such a storm? Beer ain’t potent enough…
I’m gonna stay frosty…
I am having a BCS 2012 in your honor!
Do you think maybe this storm is over-hyped? Have the Weather Channel’s ratings been falling?
I’m currently living overseas while my wife remains in our Northern Virginia house. I know that when Port City had it’s power knocked out for days by the derecho this summer, it affected their ability to regulate the fermentors temperatures and they turned the result into a brewery-only one-off, calling it Derecho Common. So depending on where you live, you might get some one-of-a-kind, never-again beers. Lemonade, so to speak. It helps to remain positive.