After four years in planning and renovation, Eric Sturniolo’s craft beer bar Dear Kingston is finally set to open on Oneil Street this Sunday, April 2.
“I started a craft beer blog about 10 years ago, and from there I got into the industry as a beer buyer at a few different bars,” Sturniolo says. “I really loved seeing people enjoying what I chose. I started home brewing and just really wanted to keep seeing people happy.”
Sturniolo, who grew up in Rockland County, spent several years visiting Hudson Valley towns and cities to find the perfect location to build his life and his business, meticulously tracking each place’s attributes in a spreadsheet. “On the business plan, it originally said, ‘beer garden project,’” he says. “Then when I visited Kingston, I immediately fell in love with it and thought creating this place as a love letter to Kingston would be perfect.” Hence the epistolary name.
Several years back, Sturniolo met Dear Kingston’s manager, certified sommelier Stephen Thomas, at a craft beer bar in Bed Stuy, where the two started discussing the possibility of collaborating. In a stroke of synchronicity or kismet, Sturniolo settled on Kingston, which neighbors Thomas’s hometown of West Hurley. (“From the bar’s back porch you can see the house my mother grew up in!” Thomas says.)
Sturniolo bought the former Red Cross building on Oneil Street in Midtown Kingston in the summer of 2020. The property had previously been leased by the Ulster County government as office space and required a total transformation. “There were walls everywhere—six individual offices, a reception area, a conference room,” he says. “We basically knocked everything down to make it all open.”
Before its tenure as a commercial space, the building at 21 Oneil Street was originally a home. “The reason I chose this space is that it’s got a residential-type back yard which is perfect for what we wanted to do with the beer garden,” Sturniolo says. “Everyone loves a German bierhall and biergarten atmosphere, but to me the beer at places like that isn’t as exciting as it could be. So we’re doing that environment but with American craft beer.”
Fourteen lines of ever-rotating craft beer, to be specific. While the lines will be more or less married to specific styles (#1 always a lager, #2 always a session IPA, #3 always an IPA, and so on), the brewery will change from keg to keg. “It’s a way of letting people stay in their comfort zone but also educating and introducing them to new things that they might not have access to,” Sturniolo says. The beer selection is all-American and is skewed heavily toward New York State and locally made brews. There will also be non-alcoholic beers and ciders by the can as well as a full bar with wine and liquor.
As far as prices go, Dear Kingston is doing a damn good job staying affordable in an increasingly wild time. “For our opening tap list, six of the pints are $7 and three are $8.” Pour size (16-ounce, 13-ounce, or 9-ounce) will depend on ABV and the rarity of the keg. The standard can of wine will be $9, with higher-priced options as well. The house cocktails come in the $10 to $12 range (hallelujah! What year is it!?), with top shelf liquor available if you choose. On the beer front, don’t expect flights, but you will be able to order growlers to take home.
In the backyard, picnic tables and cornhole will set the tone for the laid-back, family-friendly environment the pair aim to create. “We want people to come and spend the day or the night,” Sturniolo says. “There are no TVs. We want people to be able to have conversations and talk to the person who happens to sit next to you.” The indoor capacity is 38 with 13 seats at the long wooden bar, plus banquet seating and some indoor picnic tables.
Thomas references the Midwestern concept of a house bar as another inspiration for Dear Kingston. “It really feels like you’re walking up to someone’s house, and then when you get inside, it’s this completely renovated space that’s beautiful,” he says. “We wanted to make sure that the community felt welcome as they’re coming in and as they are sitting for a drink and some food.”
Speaking of community, Thomas and Sturniolo have involved as many local businesses as possible in Dear Kingston. The illuminated “DK” sign inside was made by their neighbors, Lite Brite Neon, who also lent their building’s rear exterior wall for a mural commissioned by Dear Kingston. The bar’s food menu, which aims to update classic bierhall fare, will include two kinds of pierogies from Rondout-based Krupa Bros.; a sausage platter from Meat Wagon; and pretzels from Little Rye Bakehouse. They’ll also be serving up their play on a schnitzel—a potato chip-encrusted portobello mushroom, as well as kid-friendly hot dogs, with an option to add on harissa pub cheese and pickled onions for more mature palates.
Another local collaboration were the ceramic vessels for Dear Kignston’s 77 Mug Club, made by Headstone Gallery on Hurley Avenue. For $35 a year, you can have your numbered mug hang behind the counter and drink any beer sold by the pint at happy hour prices all day long. “You’ll get exclusive invites to special keg tappings that we’re having as well as events just for the mug club,” Sturniolo says. “At the end of the year, you get to take your mug home and keep it. It’s a really good deal—and next year we’ll make all new mugs.”
The mug club is named for the Burning of Kingston in 1777. But beyond being a quaint historical reference, Thomas and Sturniolo see it as a metaphor for the phoenix-like moment Kingston is once again having. “When Kingston burned, everybody in the city fled to Hurley,” Thomas explains. “Then the citizens came back and rebuilt the city. I kind of feel like that is happening now with the businesses here. And we would like to be part of that rejuvenation of the city.”
The bar will be headed up by head bartender Conor Kennedy, formerly of Arrowood Farms. “One of our sticking points is that we’re going to be open seven days a week,” Thomas says. “We want to make sure that we have very consistent hours so you know you can always come to Dear Kingston and have a beer and a bite, and not have to worry about whether we’re open. We think it’s very important to build that kind of community for customers and also for other business owners that are closed those days when they need a place to hang out.”
Dear Kingston will celebrate its grand opening from 12pm to 2am on Sunday, April 2. Hours going forward will be Monday to Friday, 4pm-2am, and weekends 12pm to 2am.
