Empire Brewing Company

This place certainly holds their food in as high esteem as the beers if not higher, but that is ohk with me because their beers are still pretty damn good. Empire brewing, which faces the AAA ballpark, is housed in what seems to be some sort of old warehouse,. It has nice wood panneling. As you walk in you can see all the various fermenters and brewing equiptment, carefully behind glass of course. The bar is nice and spacious with 12 tap lines, and they have pool and darts and a t.v. The seasonals on tap at the time had a very German inclination as they included a Maibock, a Schwarzbier and a Doppelbock and their new hop heavy Purgatory Pale. Also all the regulars. The food was top notch with nice hearty portions and the service was speady and very nice. My waitress seemed to be especially interested at the amount of beer knowlegde I had and offered me a job, somewhat in jest I hope. All in all Empire Brewing Co. is a spacious, well accomadated place and not at all smokey which was nice. Go, even if only for the food.

Food does seem to get top billing here, and it is quite good.
Try the Big Mamoo Platter!! The beers are tasty, but there is
a common "flavor-thread" running through each. A stand out
is the Cream Ale, when you can find it. Locals might shy
away because of a notorious regional beer of the same name.
The "Downtown Brown" is excellent, as is the Porter. A great
place to take out of towners, but Syracusans may already
know it (Syracuse is home to Empire's first brewpub).

I must concur, the food gets equal if not higher emphasis than their beers. The brewings of late have been quite impressive, changing a long held direction. Finally something that actually has hop nose and flavah (Purgatory Pale). Their dopplebock is simply scrumptious, which is hard to do in a pub setting, what with having to turn tanks around in short order. I also would not hesitate to gravitate to their bar, or recommend to a thirsty traveler.

Empire's got a great downtown location in the heart of the High Falls district and near Frontier Field. The brewpub is housed in what was formerly a button factory. Plenty of bar space as well as a large dining area. Food has equal emphasis on it here and is top notch. Beer ranges from average to very good in quality. Knowledgeable bar staff. Occasional live music. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Empire Brewing.