From Films To Beer: Meet The Old Tappan Brewing Company Crew

BAYVILLE, NY — As Matthew Cryan and Brent Kunkle would tell you, they're just two Long Islanders who love beer. Just six years ago, they had started making beer using home-brew kits out of a kitchen or garage. Now, they have their own craft beer brewery to show for their passion.

Old Tappan Brewing Company opened at 37 Ludlam Ave., Bayville, on July 12.

Cryan, 47, and Kunkle, 37, met in 2007 on the set of an independent film titled "I Sell the Dead," where Kunkle was a producer and Cryan worked as a lighting grip. The two hit it off from there as "dudes who liked beer." They remained friends and started brewing together in 2013, despite maintaining jobs in the film industry. At the time, they didn't anticipate they'd be switching professions.

"You talk about the dream of, ‘It’d be so cool to run a brewery, but we’re filmmakers by trade,’" Kunkle told Patch. "Fast-forward four years, and tonight, we’re going to be opening up, people will come in and enjoy an atmosphere where we make some craft beer. For not coming from a conventional background where we were some brewers at some other brewing company, it’s pretty special to have pulled this off."

Cryan serves as the head brewer. While Kunkle assists with the brewing process, he focuses more on business operations.

Old Tappan has six beers on tap. Currently, the list is a pale ale, an IPA, a blonde ale, an English brown mild, a New England IPA and a porter. However, the brewers are always willing to rotate their offerings. A red ale, oatmeal stout, and English-styled bitter are all in the works. Cryan and Kunkle intend to start brainstorming on seasonal beers such as a pumpkin ale, spiced winter ale and maibock.

As of now, the available beers are the basics, which is by design.

"We’re not trying to reinvent the beer," Cryan said. "We’re just trying to brew good, drinkable beers in the Village."

But in the future, as Old Tappan Brewing grows, the team will attempt to become more experimental. Cryan said consumers can expect sours, fruit beers, lagers, barley wines and barrel-conditioned beers.

"That’s the goal and the fun of it," Cryan said of trying new styles. "We want to see what we can do as brewers and as business owners. We want to shoot for the moon, we’re just building our rocket."

The brewery's goal is for most of its beers to be of the session variety.

"Beers where people come in, they can enjoy two, three, four," Kunkle explained. "Sort of like all-day beer styles. The idea of having six beers on tap here, that after you drink one of them, it kicks your ass so much you’re stumbling out of the place, is really not our brewing philosophy."

To start, Old Tappan is a small, one-barrel brewery. Kunkle said the hope is to bump up to two or three barrels at some point, but six taps will likely be the norm going forward. Still, they plan to rotate the beers enough that a new one will be available every weekend or two.

Their beers come in 12 or 10 oz., or in a flight of four, 4-oz. pours. The price range on individual drinks is $5 to $7, with flights being $9 or $10 based on whether someone wants a slightly more expensive IPA.

Old Tappan Brewing Company doesn't contain a kitchen, though that doesn't mean people can't eat there. As an homage to their film background, the duo has a popcorn machine where guests can enjoy free popcorn. Chips are also sold behind the bar. In addition, there are local food menus and arrangements with nearby businesses that will deliver to the brewery. Guests are welcome to bring in their own food, too.

Kunkle hopes that in the not-too-distant future, the brewery will be able to serve up Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese and mustard dipping sauces.

In case you're wondering how the brewery got its name, Old Tappan is the name of a road in Glen Cove, where Cryan was born and raised. Kunkle, who's originally from Pennsylvania and has resided in Sea Cliff for the past eight years, was onboard with the homage.

They got through a Town board meeting where the first question presented to them was, "Are you willing to change your name to Bayville Brewing Company?" While they declined, they're still looking to honor Bayville in a different way.

"We’re trying to figure out some local slang terms or locale terms to name beers after, because we feel at home here, 100 percent," Kunkle said. "The Village of Bayville has been so awesome, gracious and accommodating to us."

Just as great have been the customers, Cryan said.

"I can’t say enough about them. They come in, we pour them some good, drinkable beer and they have a good time for the duration of their stay here. So as far as we can tell, knock on wood, I think the customers are pretty happy."

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