Today the clientele consists of a more subdued crowd of Lansing locals and wine trail travelers, along with a small handful of people who know that Rogues’ Harbor has been brewing its own beer since 2011. But it attained its notoriety as a den of iniquity in its heyday, when many a colourful ruffian passed through the inn’s doors. What is now Rogues’ Harbor was reputedly a stop along the Underground Railroad. Not more than ten minutes out of town, a historic landmark inn dating from 1830 sits atop the ridge on the southeast shore of Cayuga Lake. Bandwagon is always abuzz no matter the time or the day, so let’s hope that the proprietors will one day redirect some of the proceeds from the lively house into a brewing system that will yield greater consistency.* (See the addendum below.) Salads are prepared with fresh local greens, and the dressing is made in-house. The beer is full-bodied and creamy, with a bitter nuttiness getting the better of a caramel-maple syrup sweetness by the finish.Īs for the food menu, the aforementioned frites are a consistent favourite, along with the excellent (and jalapeño-spicy!) veggie burger. Look for rich maple, toffee, caramelized citrus peel, and earthy coniferous forest notes with just a hint of mocha. Clear and mahogany-brown with garnet highlights, the beer negotiates a compelling balance of malt and hop character. On a recent visit, the Robust Brown Ale was a standout. Delicate tangerine and mango backed by honeyed brown sugar and mild caramel define the aromas. The Pirate Eye IPA is a decent stylistic iteration: rich, creamy, and with an aperitif-like level of bitterness on the palate.
Roll the dice and give it a try if you’re in town when the beer’s in season. I’ve sampled it turbid and blueberry-like, but when the beer’s done well, it’s a richly malty, warming, and convincing interpretation of the style. The High Step Weizenbock is a justifiably celebrated brew. Or maybe it’s all those orders of Belgian-style frites and mayonnaise shared with friends.įor reasons noted above, the following beer evaluations are temporally contingent. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of sitting down there with Papazian’s classic to plot my first few homebrews. Couple that with an insistence on brewing ten-gallon batches––ten gallons, not ten barrels––to supply a thirsty crowd of regulars and out-of-towners, and you get a not insignificant number of beers pushed through the system well before they’ve matured. Their brewing setup––almost a museum piece, really––is viewable through a window in the cozy lounge area set off to the side from the restaurant. As inconsistent as Bandwagon’s beers can be, they can also be of high quality when all goes well.
Now, as for Bandwagon’s liquid offerings, I’ll qualify what is about to come by stating that I have a soft spot for the place. They converted their downtown location into a contemporary dining establishment a cut above the average brewpub, creating a bustling but still intimate seating arrangement with warm, subdued light falling on roughly-hewn stone walls and rustic wooden floors. Would a brew pub have enough staying power where so many other businesses had failed to capture the attention of passersby? Right out of the starting gate, the owners of Bandwagon seemed to have grasped that ambience would be as important as the food and beverages they’d be serving. The past decade-and-a-half has witnessed a parade of restaurants and even a barber shop make valiant but ill-fated attempts to gain a foothold in the subterranean space at 114 North Cayuga Street. Here I introduce readers to the new breweries that have attracted the attention of both Ithacans and people passing through the Finger Lakes. In the first article of this series, I recounted the story of Ithaca’s first craft brewery and tasted a few of their beers. If Ithaca is Gorges, it is also rapidly becoming a craft beer destination.
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