A new 40,000 Square ft production brewery is on the verge of opening at Cazanovia NY making it one of the top capacity New York State microbreweries in the state. The facility plans all ingredients for brewing to be sourced within 30 mile radius of the Cazanovia N.Y. location. Empire Brewing is a 20 year old company based in downtown Syracuse.
Surprised they can do that with middle of the road beer, no packaging, though I hear they're doing that soon.
Looks like they are claiming that "...(t)he new brewery will produce 30,000 (barrels) in its first year, and could reach 70,000 to 100,000 annually in a few years..." which would immediately put it above the industry-standard definition of a "microbrewery" (less than 15,000 bbl/year). "Barrels per year" is the industry standard for rating both a brewery's capacity and annual barrelage, not brewhouse size. A few articles discuss growing barley on the farm brewery, but no mention of a malting facility that I've found.
Bottling line is now in operation..seems like they may be planning contract bottling/brewing as Empire brand doesn't seem to have a huge following. I think part of the old Miller Beer plant in Fulton NY is gearing up to be the regional Malting operation.
That's still a good deal - my health insurance won't pay for any beer, either brand name or generic (not that you can find that anymore). Is that a company-paid Medicare Advantage plan? Any co-pay? Repeal and Replace, my ass.
