Mid-Atlantic breweries in planning (2021)

Iron Tug Brewing in Rochester relocating from being in the middle of nowhere (four miles north of the loop) to right smack in the middle of Park Ave across from Magnolia's. Great move.

 

Brewery in the very initial stages of development in Voorheesville (10-15 mins south of Albany proper). Apparently some 30-year lawyer wants to switch gears and open a spot up, gonna be called Northern Barrel Brewing and he wants to have 6-8 taps, a kitchen and a patio.

Proposal goes before the town board next month so we're a ways off here.

 

It's been a long, long two years but Common Roots has reopened their taproom as of noon today. So happy for those guys and cannot wait to get up there and have some pours.

 

Other Half putting a location right in downtown Buffalo. That is AWESOME for that city and they're gonna do absolutely stupid business there.

 

Active Ingredient in Malta opened last weekend, space looks amazing, and Wayward Lane in Scoharie opens for onsite this Friday and ditto. Plan on checking both out this coming weekend.

 

Some place called Dark Forest Bierworks is in the planning stages (from what I can tell) based in Pittsford. No news, no social media, but they set up an LLC a few months ago and are listed on the NYSBA website so something to keep an eye on.

Also Wandering Gypsy brewing just opened up northeast of Niagra Falls, a few miles off Lake Ontario. Don't know much beyond that.

 

RED ALERT
RED ALERT
RED ALERT

Ardennes in Geneva opens today and holy mother of god the pictures make it look like the most beautiful, pastoral spot you can imagine. Like Fox Farm-level nice. I legit want to leave work right now and drive the three hours to go.

 

Active Ingredient: Really beautiful taproom. Grimm vibes inside with plants and decor, very open/lots of light. Great, big outdoor patio too. Of the beers I had, 3/4 were very solid. Nice honey kolsch (and I typically hate honey in beer), super refreshing witbier and a real crisp, tasty DIPA. The other IPA I had was very muted -- not offensive, just blah. Being that it's right next to Unified this will be a regular stop.

Wayward Lane: Holy shit. Hoooooly shit. This place is gonna be special man. Had four beers here, all legit stunners. No hyperbole. Gorgeous Italian pils, their coconut stout was one of the best stouts I've ever had (and even at 9.4% drank easy on a hot day), their session IPA was dumb packed with flavor at like 4.5% and the DIPA was just straight-up cotton candy. Like that very first run of Afterimage. Given that they have a coolship I am over-the-moon excited to see what they do with farmhouses/wild ales/etc.

Awesome space too. Old barn converted to an open, airy indoor/outdoor space and there's a huge beer garden out back and some disc golf things set up too. Just a great place to sit outside and drink.

Overall verdict: Both very much worth your time but I cannot recommend getting to Wayward Lane any more strongly. I don't care how far you need to drive to do it.

 

1) Place called Atom Fermentation Farm in the works in Fonda, NY. About 25 minutes west of Schenectady. Apparently it was a place called Atom Brewing from Colorado, they bought a farm out this way and now they're going for like a Plan Bee vibe. Working farm, cultivating their own ingredients, farmhouse ale-focused. Just got licenses last month so I would imagine a summer open here.

2) Hudson River Brewing (not to be confused with Hudson, Hudson Ale Works, Hudson Valley or Hank Hudson) looks like they're finally getting their brewhouse set up. It's really tough to glean any sort of info from their socials but I think they're gonna be in the Peekskill area? More when I can decipher it.

 

Naples Brewing Co having its grand opening this weekend.

 

More Finger Lakes news (shocking!)

1) Place called Seneca Stag opening on the west side of Seneca, not far from Penn Yan. Looking like a July opening. Place is gonna be in an old barn right on the main north-south highway.

2) In another barn (seems to be a theme here), this one on the east side of Owasco Lake (south of Auburn) we've got Owasco Lake Brewing. They've been making beer since last year and it looks like dropping kegs at some bars in that area, taproom coming sometime this year.

 

Going out to Canandaigua in a few weeks, hopefully their hours are expanded a bit since they're doing pours so I can stop in on the way.

 

Couple new things coming to Hudson.

1) This, shouts to poster @M-Fox24 as I hadn't heard about it:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...dustry-veterans-launch-return-brewing.659479/

2) And then a place called Upper Depot, opening right off the main drag. Apparently its been in the works since late 2019 and undoubtedly got slowed by covid. No other word on who's behind it, beers they'll focus on, etc. It's gonna be in an old train (wait for it) depot, which bodes well because those are always cool buildings.

Edit: Just Google map'd their addresses and they're *literally* across the street from one another. Gonna be great for both of their businesses and Hudson as a whole.