Hot House Brewing

In Syracuse for a work thing, so naturally I called on an old fraternity brother who I hadn’t seen since the late eighties. I’m sorry, what’s that? Why, yes, as a matter of fact, there will be beers. Up north some in Cicero, towards the whale shaped lake, there’s a greenhouse with a brewery, wait, what? Yes, it’s a garden center of sorts but more…

Through the store, I guess you’d call it, up front (I’ll get back to that), and then a little bar to the rear, and a brewery back there, too (me, pointing). ‘C’ shaped bar, stainless steel panel topped with a wood trim & lip, and corrugated panel base. Seating for 10 on wood chairs. 4X8 slat board blackboard on the barback wall listing tap selections (beer, style, flavor descriptors, ABV, and pricing for pint & growler, in alt colored chalk, and 10 logo handles (in alt rows 5 & 5) on a stainless box to the right with growlers lining the top. Slight spirits & wine displayed on the barback counter. Glassware shelved below, and coolers with wine & mixers down there, too. Events board on the end (music, trivia, yoga, food pairings), spruce & small strung white lighting lined.

It’s a simple, functional space. Gray concrete floors, black painted ceiling with ductwork winding and drop pan lamps, and gray & white walls with light hop print décor. Bar counter spur in the corner, and that corner, and the other corner behind me.

Side hothouse room with a dozen plus hightop tables angled to both sides of a center aisle, with bushy potted ferns lining above. There’s trivia happening over there right now, and it’s competitive. I mean, the weakest link players are being sent to fetch beers for the team, so if that’s not serious shame & pressure, I don’t know what is.

10 taps (Juicy Hot House, NEIPA, 5.7%; U Brut, IPA, 6.3%; Daylight in the Swamp, Amber, 5.7%; Grandma’s Sweater, Pale Ale, 5%; HHB Nor’Easter, wet hop Pale Ale, 5%; Rattlesnake Gulch, IPA, 5.3%; Golden Eagle, Pale Ale, 4.6%; Chinook of the North, IPA, 5.6%; Spiced Harvest Ale, 4.8%; Fresh Hop Gold, wet hop Golden Ale, 4.6%). Drank a few, am thinking HHB Nor’Easter, wet hop Pale Ale, & Juicy Hot House, NEIPA, for the wins. Yes, 2 of the 10 beers are wet hopped. Who wet hops in January? These guys! And they grow their own onsite, which is pretty badass. Talked with (brewer) Paul for a bit, got the what what.

People be eating food. I don’t know where they got it from but it looks & smells of awesome. Seems they’ve got little kitchenings happening up front, am thinking I need to look in on that. Sharables (charcuterie & crudité trays, pretzels, chips & salsa, nachos, tots), salads, paninis, sandwiches, & wraps.

On walkabout now, I spy a sprawling greenhouse to the rear. Flowers, flowers, & flowers, and we put eyes on the 5 barrel system where brewerings happen. And back up front, the store holds all sorts of local & regional wares. Seasonal flowers & plants, obvi. But also artisan crafted things from salvaged wood, landscape photography, home decor stuff, candles, paintings, beach seaglass art, rubs & seasonings, NY state cheddar, ice cream, bbq & hot sauce, jerky, coffee & tea, cookies, gummy ‘Winosaurs’ (exactly what you think they’d be), and NYS wines, ciders, & spirits, et al.

Some nice beers here. Seems their focus is the American Ale, which is never a bad thing. Fresh hop, yes! Drinking amongst the greenery, most unusual but cool nonetheless.

This brewery is super cool! When you walk in you get that local farmers market vibe. They have a cafe with sandwiches and finger foods. They also sell paintings mostly being the city view of Syracuse by different artist as well as cozy pictures and wall hangings. As you continue to walk their is a bar with 10 taps. They had a decent variety of beer featuring a NE ipa, red ale, porter, wet hopped ipa, west coast ipa, pale ale, blonde ale, and a harvest ale. Their red ale and their wet hopped ipa were my favorites. Don't really see alot of wet hopped ipas these days so that was definitely a nice surprise. The bartender was very friendly and truthful being that i expressed my opinions about their NE ipas not being a NE whatsoever and she agreed with my opinion/fact instead of disagreeing which was respectfully correct for her to do. I got to consume food and drink inside of a greenhouse! It was such a cool vibe and awesome space. Of all breweries I've been to this is by far the most unique one. Very cool atmosphere, solid, beer, and great service. This brewery doesn't even have a year of commercial production under its belt so there is room for improvement. Definitely will be re-visiting this brewery soon and I'm sure it'll be even better than this time! Cheers!