Designated time together: Cow Harbor Brewing makes public debut with taps around town

It’s a story of friendship and brotherhood. What started as basement beer brewing among brothers has come to fruition in the most genuine, heartfelt and inspiring of ways – an official space to hang their hats after a day of work, spend time together and create beers that can be enjoyed by friends, and now, the entire community.

Bobby Storck, Tom Storck, Tim Storck, Will Unkel and Jon Holden make up the crew behind Cow Harbor Brewing Company, a venture trademarked in 2012, but in the making long before that. Today, the team is brewing in a small warehouse in East Northport, off Jericho Turnpike, and distributing kegs to several local restaurants, including the Northport Hotel (where it has become the fastest-selling beer on tap), Main Street Cafe, Shipwreck Diner, Crabtrees and Sapsuckers.

With the brothers handling every aspect of the business, from branding and customer service to recipe development, brewing operations and distribution, the trajectory for Cow Harbor Brewing is rising; the company’s first cans come out in just a few weeks and there are hopes of a local tasting room in the future.

The Storck brothers grew up in Northport and have a rich history in the community. Their paternal grandmother is a Scudder (the Scudder family has played an important role in Long Island history, with nearly ten generations born in Northport and the Town of Huntington). The Storcks also have ties to Walt Whitman on their mother’s side. They can tell stories of ancestral family farms spanning 25A, from Huntington into Northport Village, and a family-owned livery stable situated where Gunther’s Tap Room now stands.

Sailing has been a family pastime for the Storcks; as the brothers grew older and lived in separate homes around 2007, they reconvened on the water every Wednesday of summertime. “Summer ended and we didn’t want to stop the party, so on Wednesday nights we started going out and drinking,” Bobby told the Journal during a conversation and tasting with the crew at their brewery earlier this week. A popular spot for the brothers became Canterbury Ales, a (sadly) now-closed mainstay in Huntington Village with a solid tap list. They’d meet at Canterbury’s once or twice a week: “We were spending a lot of money and then it got to the point where we were like, ‘Huh, we like beer, so rather than going to the bar, maybe we can try making it ourselves,’” Bobby explained.

So they got a beer-making kit and “our first batch wasn’t terrible,” Bobby said. Beer making became the brothers’ designated time together, in Bobby’s garage with a simple five-gallon all-grain system at first. “There was no plan. The garage door would be open and we’d invite a whole bunch of people. They’d show up and we’d order pizza and then we’d make beer,” he said. “Every week, five gallons of finished wort would go into the basement to ferment and we’d probably drink five gallons of finished product, so it was this lovely little circle we had going on.”

They trademarked the name Cow Harbor Brewing Company in 2012. “We love this town so much, the name was obvious,” the brothers agreed. There was no other option, “we have deep, deep roots here,” Tim said.

Eventually, Bobby moved out of the house with the garage setup and brewing went on hold for a bit. But “it was a fire that was always in the background,” he said.

Will, a long-time friend (who went to preschool with Bobby) and fellow Northport-bred beer lover, had visited the garage brewery on a trip back home from Boston, where he lived at the time. Inspired by the setup and end results, he bought his own beer-making kit. Will loved it so much that he continued brewing from his kitchen, transporting his equipment from one state to another as he moved around the country over a 12-year period. He returned to Northport during the pandemic, after living alone in Colorado during the lockdown. He reached out to Bobby and asked him if he wanted to pick brewing back up again.

Jon Holden, who grew up in Syracuse, was on Long Island visiting his then-girlfriend (and now-wife) every few weeks. He had mutual friends with the Storcks from college and ended up spending time with them, eventually becoming Tom’s roommate when he moved to Huntington in 2011. He began sailing with the brothers every Wednesday night. “Then sailing became brewing and we kept hanging out,” Jon said.

The brothers, now with two additional friends, started brewing again; this time in Jon’s Northport home basement. This is where they got serious about creating recipes and building something together.

The guys launched their official setup in an East Northport warehouse in November 2022, ten years after trademarking their name. It took months to bring in a new electric service, receive their brewing equipment, put it together and get started. Their first on-site brew took place this past September. “There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle. The system came in pieces, every fitting, every cap, we had to put it together and build it all. And there are no instructions, so we had to figure it out ourselves,” Tom explained.

The brewery features a 5 BBL (beer barrels) electric stainless steel brew house with an automated control panel and motorized grain rake, and insulated and temperature controlled fermentors.

The five partners all work full-time jobs and come together to brew on – you guessed it – Wednesday nights. While they are all-in on every aspect of brewing and creating this company together, it was easy for the guys to point out their individual strengths. Jon is a driving force who pushes things forward. He joked that he’s the crew’s janitor; he likes things to be clean and efficient, taking pride in the company’s space and processes.

Tom teaches woodshop by day and has brought his engineering skills to the brewery, handling all things equipment related. He likes building things, fixing things, and figuring out how things work. Tim is the business, branding and communications guy. He built the company’s website, handles the books and paperwork, and plays a lead role in sales.

Will is a self-proclaimed beer snob who “crushes grain” and most enjoys creating and then sampling recipes. He has the highest standard for quality beers, the guys agreed. And Bobby takes the lead in brewing, spending extra time setting up and figuring out the mechanics of the equipment. He gets excited about things like temperature control, labeling machinery with small colorful tags, and making tweaks to the process.

As their distribution business picks up, the team is spending more time at the brew site and delivering kegs throughout Huntington and Northport. The guys are bringing beer samples around town, asking for a chance to get on tap. They’re also open to collaborations and love the camaraderie that’s naturally shared among brewers. Kevin Sihler, an owner at Sand City Brewery in Northport Village, has been helpful along the way, the guys explained, going out to dinner with the crew and giving them tips that he learned early on from a veteran brewer.

“Working on recipes, drinking, sharing with people – that’s my favorite part about it. You make something, you share it with everybody and then you can talk about it,” Will said. Recipe-making has been an all-hands experience, with each crew member coming in with different combinations to try out. There’s a constant tweaking going on, they explained, and if something doesn’t work, it’s scrapped pretty quickly.

Cow Harbor Brewing Company has released a handful of popular brews so far, developing each one from scratch, with recipe experimentation, sampling and sharing with friends.

Raft Up is a golden ale created by Jon that has become their most popular beer, making its debut at local spots like the Northport Hotel. It’s an easy drinking beer with a light and crisp finish. The name came from the crew tying their boats together in Lloyd Harbor on summer days. “That’s what we do. We float and drink,” Tom said. All members of the crew have a boat except Will, who (he says proudly) has a dinghy. The Raft Up beer can label is an illustration of the four boats and dinghy, tied together. “It’s a nod to friendship,” Tom said of the name and image.

Frank (short for Frankenstein) is an American stout made with chocolate, coffee and caramel. The name was chosen because Will, who hadn’t ordered the right ingredients for his brew night, ended up using what they had in stock, attempting to make it work with his decade-long knowledge of creating recipes. “The combination of the stuff that I added turned out to be the best stout I ever made,” Will said. Frank is a mashup, and a happy accident. For a limited run experiment, the guys put Frank into old whiskey barrels that were then used for maple syrup by a farmer in upstate New York and let it age for three to four months. The result was a boozy, creamy and full-flavored barrel-aged stout.

The brewery has also released three New England IPAs, a pumpkin amber ale, and English mild brown ale.

Branding, creating labels and tap handles, has been the “next level of fun” once a beer is ready for market, the guys said. “It’s fun creating a beer, and then you get to package it. You get to create the whole envelope that it lives in and then you get to market it with a cool name. You create this whole experience for people,” Jon explained.

The Cow Harbor Brewing Company logo, a simple combination of an anchor with cow horns, is a standalone symbol the crew is hoping will become a local icon. It took six months to solidify the design, with everyone’s input.

“It’s a labor of love at this point, obviously. We’re not making any money, it’s all of us just carrying kegs around and delivering them. But it feels great. It’s cool to nurture something that you’ve dreamt about for years. To see the brand on tap at places like the Northport Hotel, and walk by the window and see your tap handle, it’s a cool feeling,” Bobby said.

“People are starting to know that we’re out there now, and we’re getting really good feedback, too,” Tim said. The crew agreed that people appreciate their ties to Northport and maybe even support them because of it. “And we do the same – it’s really about taking care of your community and we’re appreciative of that right now, of course, because we need that help to get going,” Will added.

The guys said they’ll be brewing as long as they’re still having fun. So what’s next? Building brand recognition, getting kegs into more bars and restaurants, and making cans available. Down the line, a tasting room. They’ll keep their eyes out for an ideal location, one that resonates with their roots.

It’s a grassroots effort on a shoestring budget, funded by five friends who are dayworking, raising families, and supporting a collective dream that began during those Wednesday night shifts 15 years ago. ”We’re not racing through anything, which is why it’s taken time to get to where we are,” Jon said. Each step along the way – from Bobby’s garage, to Jon’s basement, to building a brew space from scratch with no instructions – has been about their friendship and time spent together. Tom said it’s worth the effort, no matter what: “If nothing else, it’ll be the ultimate boy’s club.”

For more information on Cow Harbor Brewing Company, visit their website or follow them on Instagram. Kegs are currently available for purchase and cans for sale are coming soon. If you’re out on the town, look for a Cow Harbor tap handle and give their brews a try. You won’t be disappointed.