Cross Sound Ferry teams up with North Fork Brewing Company to offer craft beer onboard

Two bastions of the North Fork business community are teaming up as the Cross Sound Ferry prepares to offer the Greenport Harbor Brewery’s line of craft brews to customers onboard, starting this Friday.

A press event to announce the alliance — and the introduction of the brewery’s line of craft beers into Connecticut for the very first time since opening on July 12, 2009 — will be held Friday at 1:30 p.m. aboard the Cape Henlopen on Dock Road in Orient Point. Principals of both Cross Sound Ferry and Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, local tourism and business leaders, as well as elected officials, are expected to attend.

“More than 70 years ago, Cross Sound Ferry’s Cape Henlopen changed the course of history by delivering relief and supplies to the shores of Normandy, France in support of the Allied Forces. And once again, beginning May 8, 2015, the Cape Henlopen will deliver relief  — by pouring Greenport Harbor Brewing Company’s line of quality craft brews to Cross Sound Ferry passengers,” a release from CSF read.

The alliance of local businesses means CSF will offer Greenport Harbor Brewing Company’s beers aboard all of the Cross Sound Ferry vessels traveling between Orient Point and New London and between New London and Block Island, bringing the popular brews to hundreds of thousands of ferry passengers.

Draft beer will be available on the Cross Sound Ferry.

According to Rich Vandenburgh, co-owner of Greenport Harbor Brewery with John Liegey, F&F Distributors in Connecticut will handle the delivery of the brews in that state. “It’s really exciting, to be in New London, Mystic and two counties in Connecticut. Hopefully we’ll continue to expand and grow,” he said.

The year has been an exciting one for Greenport Harbor Brewing Company which opened its Peconic location on Main Road and also just launched sale of its craft brews in bottles all across Long Island and New York City, with upstate coming next. Bottles of Harbor Ale, Black Duck Porter, Otherside IPA, and Summer Ale can be found in supermarkets and delis. The craft brews can also be found in eateries across the area and in Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The whirlwind year has been exciting, Vandenburgh said. “You’re so focused on making sure you get done what needs to get done today, you lose sight of taking a breath and saying, ‘This is pretty cool.’ You definitely have those reality slaps when you walk into a supermarket or get a text with a photo of a whole display of our beer in a deli on Fire Island. It’s very cool.”

Teaming up with the Cross Sound Ferry, Vandenburgh said, is a win-win. “I’ve always felt the Cross Sound Ferry was the gateway to New England; I’ve been on the ferry hundreds of times. Anytime you combine the local component with the working ferry component and the New England aspect, it’s such a perfect, logical step — to move into New England by way of the ferry.”

Working with the Cross Sound Ferry, Vandenburgh said, has been rewarding. “They’re such supportive people. It’s a really wonderful feeling to partner up with someone who believes in the quality of what they’re doing, the same way we do. It’s really exciting.”