About Half Time
CELEBRATING 22 YEARS!
At Half Time, we eat, sleep, and drink craft beer. We began in 2002 as a family business, when successful entrepreneur Alan Daniels decided that retirement didn’t suit him and started searching for a new, exciting field full of opportunities he could step into. He found craft beer, and opened the first Half Time store in Poughkeepsie, stocked with 600 of the most exciting and unique beers he could get his hands on. Not satisfied with stopping there, Daniels realized the only way to expand the depth of Half Time’s shelves was to acquire a distribution license and import sought-after “white whale” beers himself. As a result, Half Time accidentally became a major craft beer distributor!
Recognizing that the demand for a one-stop “beervana” shopping experience exceeded the immediate New York area, Half Time also became an early pioneer of direct-to-consumer online shipping, fulfilling orders for niche, hard-to-find products for enthusiasts all the way across the country. In 2011, The Half Time family grew yet again when Alan’s son, Jason, joined the company and made his mark by taking the reins on our second location in Mamaroneck - and with that larger footprint, our offerings jumped to nearly 5,000 incredible brews.
Today, Half Time bridges the gap between digital and real-world brew hunting by giving its customers a choice: Get what you want online or find what you need in one of its two stores. We started out as a hands-on, community-focused retailer 20 years ago, and today that character remains intact; our Poughkeepsie and Mamaroneck outlets are both every bit as inviting as our website. Ordering online is easy and convenient, but walking into one of our stores is like reliving your first time walking into a candy shop as a kid. Visit either emporium and you’ll get to meet our exceptional, knowledgeable staff, made up of a diverse group of beer enthusiasts, cicerones, and brewmasters—even ex-Wall Street analysts and music industry vets have been drawn to join our Half Time family.
Along this journey, Half Time has become more than the home of the world’s largest beer selection. We’ve become a member of the craft beer community: We host our own festivals, like the annual Harbor Island International Beer Festival, and we’ve teamed up with the biggest names in craft beer to throw some of the first virtual beer events, like BeerAdvocate’s “Extreme Beer Fest: Cyberspace” and Untappd’s “Virtual Beer Festival.” With the fast pace of industry trends and ever-changing landscape, craft beer is a tough business to stay on top of. It takes hard work and dedication. We do what we do here at Half Time not only because we love beer - and we do love beer - but because we want to pass that love on to you.
So as you search the site or browse our shelves, ask yourself: What are you looking for? The latest hop bomb? A pastry sour for dessert? A stout to warm your bones in cold weather? Maybe a crisp cider if beer isn’t to your taste? Your imagination and palate are the only limits. Let Half Time do the rest.