Rogues Harbor Inn Blog

I've always been a big fan of the 4th of July. What's not to like about celebrating our nation's independence with beer, BBQ  and fire works. It's hard to come to the Finger Lakes and the Rogues' Harbor Inn and not reflect on history and maybe what or who makes us the most proud. Independence- the individuals right to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness is worth celebrating. I think part of that celebration should acknowledge the free thinkers and brave souls who risked all to allow us the freedom we enjoy everyday. There are so many important historic figures and sites in the Finger Lakes that it's hard to choose which make the top of my list. The Rogues' Harbor Inn and the Finger Lakes region have much to celebrate and many to acknowledge, but here are my top picks. General Daniel D. Minier built the inn and I owe him much for that. It took him 12 years to complete and was his greatest achievement. But greater to me was his willingness to risk it a...

Hops growing Hops just before harvest While most people have enjoyed a beer or two in their lives, there is still some mystery as to the various ingredients in beer and how exactly they make up the different flavors. Some seem fairly straight forward, a hoppy beer, one can deduce, uses a larger quantity of hops to achieve its flavor. Though darker beers, or chocolaty beers, or some of the dry Belgian style of beer have characteristics which might not be as obvious to someone who hasn't spent a good deal of time learning about beer. I thought that maybe a little beer education 101 was in ordering and that over a few posts we'd look at some of the various ingredients of beer and take a look at exactly how they influence the shaping of the final product. First up, the hops! I'd like to start with hops because not only are they a key component of many styles of beer, but they are also a part of New York State history. Right up until the start of the 1900'...

Father's Day is a bitter sweet holiday for me. I lost my Dad several years before I rescued the Inn, or before it rescued me. The Rogues' Harbor Inn was in rough shape, but I liked the old place and the location- Ithaca, the Heart of the Finger Lakes, Cornell University, Cayuga Wine Trail, gorges & water falls,...and over the past 15 years with much love and many renovations the Inn has come back to life. But, my father was on my mind when I opened the Inn, especially the pub. The pub encompasses his three favorite things in life. 1. wine (beer in his case), women & song, 2. steak, and 3. history. Rogues' is really my Dad's kind of place. He loved American history; he taught it for 30 years. He would have thought that the Rogues' Harbor Inn receiving National Landmark status was best thing to happen since my birth. He would still be researching the Inn's involvement in the Underground Railroad if he were here- while drinking a pint. On s...

We love Taste of the Nation. We look forward to participating every year and even more so this year. This year we will be pouring our own craft brew at the event as well as serving some restaurant favorites. It's always a win win to serve some dishes (and now beer) to folks that have maybe never been to our national historic landmark inn before and to raise money to fight childhood hunger. Our Brew Guru, Chris, has decided to pour our first brew, Cayuga Cream Ale, at the event. We like food friendly brews and Cayuga Cream Ale is a good summer time, nicely hopped, straw colored ale which compliments the dishes we will be serving beautifully, if we do say so ourselves. We launched our new venture, the Rogues' Harbor Brewing Company, this past March and we've been very pleased to see lots of smiling faces enjoying our craft brews since then. Our Head Chef, Luke, will be preparing our Beer Steamed Mussels as our first course. They're Prince Edward Island mussels steamed in...

Cornell Orchards I was just out enjoying the well deserved sunshine and looking over my apple trees. I noticed that it looks like a good year for apples so far. The trees are covered with hundreds of gumball sized apples. It's a sure sign of good things to come. In an area known for apples, inspiration and good apples are pretty easy to come by. The Rogues' Harbor Inn loves apples. It's obvious when you look at our menu offerings. We have the Big Apple Salad which has fresh greens topped with Empire Apples, Bleu cheese, celery, walnuts & our own house soy ginger dressing. There's the popular Finger Lakes Harvest appetizer which offers a sampling of local fare: NY Natural Chevon summer sausage, Finger Lakes Farmstead Bier Meck cheese, homemade crostini & fresh Empire apple slices. I like both of those with Bellwether Hard Cider on draught or Treleaven Chardonnay. In the fall we offer Apple Onion Chicken with pan seared chicken tossed in a ginger brand...

Poetry is important. That's all there is to it. Sometimes we just need to be reminded. I was reminded yesterday by a book I'm reading by Stephanie Saldana, "The Bread of Angels." "Now I take my seat beside him and he offers me a cigarette. After he lights it, we begin to speak about poetry. "Do you know what I have decided Stephanie? There are two kinds of poets. The good poet is able to put beautiful words on paper. But the great poet doesn't need words, and he doesn't need paper. The great poet sees that there is poetry in everything." He steps out of the store and begins pacing back and forth in the alley. "I've decided that poetry is best considered as a science. So, just as hydrogen and oxygen are bound together to create water, the force that binds them can be compared to poetry. Poetry is an invisible energy that exists between everything, holding it together, giving it meaning. The job of every human being is to search for t...