Jennifer May
Tommy Keegan behind the bar at Keegan Ales in Kingston in 2009.
Tommy Keegan opened up his brewery, Keegan Ales, in 2003, long before Kingston had nice things like boutique hotels and murals all over town. At the time it opened, it was the only craft brewery between Brooklyn and Albany. (There are nearly 500 craft breweries in New York, and we are the sixth largest beer-producing state in the country.) Keegan, a Long Island native, had cut his teeth at Blue Point Brewing Company and decided to set out on his own. He moved to Kingston and bought a defunct brewery in gritty Midtown neighborhood and became a craft brewing pioneer at a time when most beer drinkers were still swilling corporate brands.