Ahh, the town of Cortland, NY. Serene, pastoral, boring.

Not anymore, Beginning March 1st, the Cortland Beer Company will be on hand at the Cortland Chill-A-Bration, with brewer Chuck Williamson manning the tap. And they’re not starting out with some boring-ass pale ale or porter. The first beer will be Crown City Koelsch, a style that’s kind of underrepresented in the small brewing scene here in the USA.

According to the Cortland Beer’s website, their original plan to open a brewery in Cortland was derailed by the hop shortage, so the beer is initially being contract brewed by Butternuts Beer The intent is to establish a brewing facility in Cortland as hop contracts become available.

“We want this beer to be about Cortland,” said Terry Vestal, “The flavor, the look, the beer is all about Cortland,” says co-owner Terry Vestal in the press release. Having been to Cortland, that worries me a bit. But this Spring the new beer should be available in bars and stores throughout the region. Hopefully we’ll see it in Syracuse as well.

This weeks’ print column is on Custom Brewcrafters of Honeoye Falls, NY. They’re building a brand new brewhouse from the ground up, which should be finished by April. The place is friggin’ huge.

the new brewhouse rising above the frozen tundra

The brewhouse will feature increased retail space, and lots of room for expansion

Meanwhile, brewing goes on at their current Honeoye Falls location. Custom services a couple hundred accounts, and brews individual beers for many of them.

Brewer Greg Smith gets steamed

Head Brewer Jason Fox and friends

The result of a hard day’s work. Some cows will be lucky tomorrow

Personally, I’m looking forward to more house-branded beers, now that Custom will have the space to make them. I’ve always felt their  business model of brewing house beers for bars and restaurants precluded them from making the best beer they could, since they often seem to have to cater to the input of bar owners and mass-market beer consuming patrons. Now that Custom will be able to readily formulate, produce and sell more beer, I’m hoping the brewers will take this opportunity to really show their chops and give us Rochester beer lovers something to be proud of.

-Mark

It has begun.

The Rohrbach Brewing Company has suspended brewing operations and begun the difficult process of moving their 20-barrel brewing system from their Buffalo Road location to the new facility on Railroad Street in Downtown Rochester. These are big tanks, and they’re jammed into a little room, so it’ll be interesting to see what demolition work becomes necessary in order for this process to be carried out. The ideal is for the move to be completed by the end of Christmas week.

Rohrbach has their work cut out for them with this move

Once the brewing equipment is moved, the fermentation and storage tanks will go, one by one, as they’re emptied. Following the clearing-out of the current brewhouse, the more compact 7-barrel system from Rohrbach’s former Gregory Street location will be installed, and the restaurant expanded into the rest of the newly-created space.

The logistical problems are many

Rohrbach’s volume beers (Scotch Ale, Highland, Red Wing Red, etc) will then be produced at Railroad Street, while the specialty beers will be brewed at the Buffalo Road brewpub. The extra production will help with the volume demands imposed by customers like Frontier Field, and will give Rohrbach the ability to expand throughout the region.

This brewkettle will be up and bubbling by the new year.

By building this new brewery, Rohrbach is not only making an investment in its own growth, but an investment in Rochester. Help them out by visiting the brewpub, grabbing a growler, or by choosing a Rohrbach beer next time you see one on draft.

-Mark

Well, looks like the Holiday season will be a busy one for the Rohrbach Brewing Company.

The floor is poured and drainage is all set in their new Railroad Street facility, and they’ll be moving the brewing equipment over Christmas week. The move was supposed to take place sooner than that, but had been pushed back in order to head off any snags that would cause unforseen brewery downtime.

This is important, because Bruce needs every spare moment to keep the Tap and Mallet supplied with McBane’s Best Bitter. The new bar went through nine kegs of the stuff in it’s first two weeks of operation alone. Meanwhile, Rohrbach regulars are taking advantage of Bruce’s return and demanding the Stock Ale. If he doesn’t produce it quick they’re likely to come after his ass with pitchforks.

-Mark

By the way, let’s all welcome fellow Crapchesterian Creamaledrinker as he begins his adventures in beer blogging. his handle refers to Genesee Cream Ale, a source of gastric distress for many a college student over the decades. Check out his shit so he gets a good start and doesn’t get discouraged.