Once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse inspires a parade of fun beer releases

Three Heads, Strangebird, Rohrbach, 42 North, Big Ditch among WNY breweries celebrating the eclipse with special beers

It’s pretty safe to say that Dan Schneiderman has both the coolest and most hectic job in Rochester right now.

Schneiderman is the eclipse partnerships coordinator for the Rochester Museum and Science Center. He’s all over the place right now. Basically, he’s the chief eclipse cheerleader and organizer in the Rochester region. So I thought it made the most sense to go to Dan to explain why we should all be excited for the forthcoming total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.

(I know Dan has answered this exact question at least 347 times in the past few months. So I appreciate his good humor and enthusiasm.)

“This is so rare for something like this to happen in our own backyard,” Schneiderman shared. “It has been 99 years since we last had a total solar eclipse and we won’t have another chance to have it in Rochester until 2144, 120 years from now.

“It is just an incredible experience to go through. It’s not only visual, it’s physical. Yes, it will get dark out. It won’t be midnight, but a deep twilight. The temperature will drop by 10 degrees. Animals, you’ll mostly notice birds going back to their nests and cows back to their barns. That birdsong that you tend to hear in the early afternoon, that will quiet down. And then you’ll just notice how eerily still it is.”

In total, Rochester is expected to be in the dark for nearly four minutes.

A huge number of western New York breweries are as excited about the eclipse as Dan. And to celebrate the event, many are releasing one-off beers with eclipse-influenced names. In Rochester, Strangebird, Rohrbach, and Three Heads are leading (or lighting) the way. Beer isn’t the only way to celebrate. Special events are planned throughout western New York.

Those three Rochester heavyweights are releasing a trio of beers designed to be enjoyed together or separately. The labels of each beer depict a different phase of the eclipse. Strangebird is releasing The Lighter Side, a barrel-lagered Helles, while 3HB is prepping The Darker Side, a loving homage to Anchor’s iconic Steam beer. (It’s basically a hearty amber lager.) Rohrbach, the granddaddy of Rochester craft breweries, is releasing Totality, a Czech dark lager in the sleek all-black can.

(Check social media to see if any of the beers are available at the participating breweries yet. I know at least one is.)

In unison, however, the beers are dropping March 11 and will be available at all Monroe County Wegmans, at the very least. They won’t be available in a mixed pack but as separately sold four packs, as far as I know.

“This is so cool,” Strangebird head brewer Micah Krichinsky said. “It really is a dream to be involved in any type of collaboration with Rohrbach and Three Heads.”

Rohrbach and 3HB have much bigger breweries with much more capacity than Strangebird. So that provided an interesting challenge for Krichinsky and his team. But what does Strangebird have that the other two breweries don’t? Wood wizard Eric Salazar. Strangebird’s head of wood-aging is a legendary figure in American wild ales. So Strangebird decided to match big batches from its compatriots by placing this German-style lager in barrels.

“Don’t twist my arm to put our beer into barrels,” Krichinsky joked.

With only four fermenters, oak barrels represented the only means by which Strangebird could produce a big enough batch to meet Wegmans expectations. (I can’t imagine Wegmans has featured many oak barreled lagers.)

“It’s out of this world,” Krichinsky offered before pausing for effect. (Editorial aside: As a fellow dad, I appreciate this dumb dad humor.)

And like a lot of breweries in the region, Strangebird is hosting a parking lot eclipse-viewing party. Keep an eye on social media for all the fun brewery-related happenings. It’s just so cool to think about the thousands of people who are coming to WNY for this massively cool celestial event.

Earlier this week, I was able to try the Strangebird, 3HB, and Rohrbach releases, and they were all excellent. I was really excited to see the breweries tackle lagers, especially some more under-appreciated styles.

Here’s an incomplete accounting of the eclipse-themed beers:

• 42 North Brewing Nocturnus dark lager;

• Big Ditch Brewing WNY Eclipse black IPA (and as a bonus, each six pack comes with a pair of eclipse glasses);

• Resurgence Brewing In the Path of Totality 3:18 p.m. wheat ale;

• Reinvention Brewing Dark Side of the Sun black IPA (in-house only with a small amount of cans);

• Nine Spot Brewing Signs and Wonder barrel-aged imperial stout (fun story here: Nine Spot brewed this one a year ago to start the one-year eclipse countdown and put half the batch in a bourbon barrel. It’ll be released any day now. It derives its name from a famous 1925 photo of the last solar eclipse.);

• Abandon Brewing in Penn Yan is playing a big eclipse party with special beer releases (pay attention to the brewery’s social media for more info there).

• Runaway Blue Brewing Hello Darkness black lager (event will include a party in Wayne County for the draft-only release).

• Birdhouse Brewing will be releasing two beers: 1. Total Eclipse of the stout blonde coffee stout with cacao and vanilla beans; 2. Full Moon stout, a moon pie inspired stout. Will also have live music and its marketplace open.

• Eli Fish Brewing Deep Space Norm, a black Kolsch.

• Nine Maidens Brewing is releasing a dark lager collab with Keuka called Dark Side of the Moon.

• Strange Design Public House is releasing two beers, Black Out Stout and One Knight to Remember (imperial Pilsner), while also hosting a tailgate party.

(If you know of more eclipse beers, message me and I’ll add it to this story.)

For more details on each release, including availability, I encourage you to check in with each brewery. Most of the highlighted beers will be available at Wegmans and other fine beer retailers over the coming weeks. And when in doubt, I encourage you to purchase directly from the brewery.

RMSC is hosting three full days of events in the lead up to the big day. You can find out more about those festivities by visiting https://rochestereclipse2024.org/. And remember, don’t forget those all-important eclipse glasses!

Back to Dan: If you think Schneiderman’s job is over once the eclipse passes, think again. There’s still a lot of work to be done come April 9. Of course, he’ll get some deserved rest. But he’ll also start work to preserve what just happened, so it can be reviewed, studied, and enjoyed by future generations.

“I need to make sure this story is well documented,” Schneiderman said. “And in 119 years, maybe less, people who want to work on the eclipse in Rochester can look back at all this information, they could create an exhibit, they can pull stories. I need to make sure that history is preserved.”