“Cooperstown goes from 1,200 people to 20,000 in the summer. Weekly,” says Suzanne Olson, the self-professed “Lady Boss” at Red Shed Brewery in Cooperstown.

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From June to Labor Day, the green hills are packed with Little League baseball players, who practice and compete against teams from all over the country in a 22-diamond complex called Cooperstown Dreams Park. The tournaments attract more than 100 teams each week.

Because of this influx of tourism each summer, Suzanne seeks to curate the experience at Red Shed Brewing for these visiting families, who take their summer vacations to Cooperstown, sporting their team’s jersey with pride.

“In between games, they are looking for things to do. It’s a bonding experience. They wanna have something great to write home about,” she says. Plus, the parents can enjoy a hard-earned locally brewed beer after spending hours in the stands.

(VISIT: Find a Brewery)

Family-Run Brewery

In 2017, Suzanne’s father Jack Hasbrouck decided to transform his homebrewing hobby into a full-fledged business, and build Red Shed in an old milk barn in the hills of Cherry Valley, New York.

Suzanne moved from Pittsburgh with her young family to get her father’s brewery off the ground. With a background in retail marketing and consumer experience working for the supermarket chain Giant Eagle, Suzanne’s focus is on people and fostering an inviting culture. So at the taproom in Cooperstown, you can enjoy a pint of XO Sour, while your child enjoys the “I’m Not Hungry Hamburger” and plays a board game.

With so many visitors, there’s usually one person in the average (adult) group who wants to have a local craft beer.

“We definitely cater to the craft beer enthusiasts, but really, that’s not our first audience. Our customers are local people, and baseball families,” she explains.

The challenge? Exposing those adults who aren’t already familiar with craft beer to new beer styles for the first time. Red Shed’s top seller, by far, is the Otsego Golden Ale, a beer that the brewery says is easily embraced by drinkers familiar with American light lagers. Plus, it’s a great summer beer.

(GRAPHIC: Gold Medal IPAS from 1989 to 2018)

Red Shed Celebrates New York Agriculture and Beer History

Red Shed is a licensed New York State Farm Brewery, a designation for breweries who use at least 60 percent of New York State-grown ingredients in their beers (according to the 2019 regulations). Red Shed exceeds those minimums by brewing with more than 90 percent of state-grown ingredients, offering subtleties of fresh flavor, a sort of je ne sais quois terroir. One of these beers includes Jessica’s Red Ale, for which Red Shed celebrated a silver medal win in the Amber/Red Ale Category at the New York State Craft Beer Competition this past April.

Red Shed works with Alta Vista Farm Hops, a Central New York hop farm, as one of its primary suppliers. For the brewery’s Cherry Valley Smoked Porter, nearby maltster New York Craft Malt creates an exclusive cherry wood smoked 2-row malt to go into the grist.

The brewery’s H. Clausen & Son beer series honors Otsego County’s long, hoppy history. It was nearly 100 years ago when Prohibition began, and nearly wiped out New York State’s hop-growing traditions. Before Prohibition, H. Clausen & Son Brewery was the ninth-largest brewery in the country.

(TRAVEL: Plan a Beercation)

Red Shed is collaborating with the owners of nearby Clausen Farms–Henry Clausen’s old estate that’s been renovated–to create small-batch beers inspired by beer labels and recipes from the latter 1800’s, when the farmland and old brewery were thriving.

Here in its pockets of hills by Otsego Lake in Central New York, Red Shed offers a distinct experience. There is something for everyone: for baseball parents, for the siblings who have to tag along, for the beer and agricultural nerds who visit the Farmer’s Museum or the Cooperstown Beverage Trail. The rich regional pride of both beer and baseball is palpable on a sunny summer afternoon at Red Shed beer garden.

The post Red Shed Brewery is a Hit in Baseball-Loving Cooperstown appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

The fire broke out due to a malfunction of a vent pipe attached to one of the boilers in the brewhouse. Friends Big Alice Brewing of New York City were in town, but could only watch in solidarity, as the flames engulfed the front and roof.

The back warehouse which contained tanks, grain silos, as well as refrigerated storage, was in good shape. Fortunately, they were able to pull an 18-wheeler truck worth of cans and kegs, which were sent to a local storehouse in Saratoga.

After the embers began to cool, an outpouring of support followed. Very quickly, a group called “Friends of Common Roots” came together, comprised of employees and community members, setting up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page, and plans to host “Rally for the Roots” fundraising events.

“The words ‘thank you’ aren’t enough,” said Christian over the phone. “There needs to be another word in the English language that’s a bigger ‘thank you.'”

The GoFundMe campaign for the Common Roots Brewing Company Fire Recovery raised over $11,000 in the first 24 hours, and currently tops off at just over $40,000.

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Craft Brewery)

Common Roots Lost More Than a Building

Outside the immediate communities of South Glens Falls, there has been outreach from larger organizations in the craft brewing community. Grain was donated from Country Malt Group, and yeast from Wyeast Labs. Common Roots is also working to do some production brewing with three regional breweries: Frog Alley from nearby Schenectady, Torch and Crown in New York City, and Two Roads in Stratford, Connecticut.

What burned that night, also, was the delicate nostalgia behind a family business: a building made by a father and son. But there was no time to feel devastated. Right away they committed to supporting their 20-person staff during the foreseeable 9 months of reconstruction.

It became apparent, also, that they needed to open a temporary space to begin to give back, construction of which is underway just down the street at 30 Saratoga Avenue. Moving forward, they will continue with the plans to move their wild beer program south to Troy and hope to reopen in early 2020.

Breweries Unite to Support Common Roots Brewery after Fire

A week after the fire, friends Big Alice Brewing of New York City reached out to brew Kindred Roots, a pale ale brewed with all New York State hops donated by Chimney Bluffs Hoppery, with all proceeds to benefit the Common Roots staff. It was brewed on a three-barrel pilot system originally intended for small-batch experiments.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 4, Singlecut North will host “Rising from the Ashes,” a benefit festival in Clifton Park. Over 25 New York State breweries will be participating, all proceeds going to the Common Roots Brewing Company Employee Fund. Bert and Christian will be there, pouring beer alongside all their friends. The event is sold out.

“‘Humbling’ is the word we’ve been using a lot,” Christian added. “The aftermath is so much bigger than the event that actually happened. They’re all incredibly busy breweries that are going through their own growing pains. It’s a big deal to drop everything. We’re incredibly grateful for that.”

This kind of generosity and support has long characterized the craft beer community nationwide.

Last November, when the Camp Fire raged for 17 days in Butte County, California, Sierra Nevada Brewing rallied over 1,500 breweries to brew Resilience IPA, of which 100 percent of the profits went to victims of the Camp Fire.

(READ: How a Craft Brewery Caught Marvel’s Attention)

A Purpose-Built Expansion

The irony, however, is that days before the fire, they had broken ground on a new 2,000-square-foot taproom and brewery space.

“It’s not how I wanted to expand,” Christian said.

“That’s what a brewery is, actually … It’s not just the tanks, the canning line, the everything else. It’s the people.” Christian Weber, Common Roots Brewing

They are working with Phinney Design Group, of Saratoga Springs, New York, who espouses sustainable design and green building practices. Things will be purpose-built, as opposed to the more organic flow of an old Vermont farmhouse. They hope to put shovels to the ground in June to begin again.

For Christian, who spent time as the executive director of the Lake Placid Land Conservancy, this could be an opportunity to consciously implement the ethos of community stewardship he and his father had in mind when they first planned the brewery. This focus on reducing brewery waste would add to their already rich practice of enriching the locals’ lifestyle in the area, as they host regular bike rides, yoga classes, and river cleanups.

“Now it will be something we never dreamed of,” he shared.

Beer is more than just a consumable liquid. Brewers play a role in the social fabric of our lives, as we consume their beer with our friends and family. It is no small coincidence that the flood of support and donations flew to Common Roots, when their message from the beginning, as evidenced by their name, was to connect.

“That’s what a brewery is, actually. It’s not just the tanks, the canning line, the everything else. It’s the people.”

The post Upstate New York Brewery Burns, Community Responds appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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“Deep Ascent represents a true miracle of evolution, evidenced through the longevity and durability of one single cell, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae,” states diver and brewer Jamie Adams. “It represents a window into the Gilded Age and a taste of life for a transatlantic passenger during the 1880s.”

Brewer’s Dream Project

Jamie is a trained technical diver, enabling him to go into overhead environments like the Oregon shipwreck, or underwater caves in Florida. After 9-11, his life as a stock trader took a sharp turn, leading to starting a brewery, and learning to scuba dive.

(More: Beers Without Barley: Brewing with Alternative Grains)

For almost 40 years, divers off the southern coast of Long Island, New York, were emerging with a bevy of artifacts from the Oregon, including portholes, artwork and bottle shards. It wasn’t until 2015, after Jamie had been diving the site for 10 years, that he hatched to plan with a team of divers to find the beer bottles intact, and make a beer. In 2017 the area surrounding the first class dining room became accessible, and the dream project could begin.

“Really what this yeast wants to do is survive.” Jamie Adams, Saint James Brewery New York

“But it wasn’t like a Eureka moment. Stuff doesn’t usually fall into our laps. We make a plan, and we prepare for a plan. We entered the ship at the seafloor, but we had to dig about 10 feet down to get to the opening, and from there dig down another five feet. They were upside down in the mud,” Jamie says.

Until they recover the ship’s manifest, they can only make educated guesses of the brewery origin of the three yeast strains they have isolated, based on the shape, size and pictorial references of beer bottles from the time period.

Yeast Survives the Shipwreck

Brewed at Saint James Brewery New York in Holbrook, Long Island, Deep Ascent Pale Ale (7% ABV), displays a rich malt flavor, moderate fruity aromas, and a hint of hoppy goodness.

(More: CraftBeer.com Announces Great American Beer Bars 2019)

“We want people to feel like they’re drinking the same product that would’ve been offered to customers aboard that ship in the late 1800s,” he adds.

Underwater for 130 years, the dynamic of the yeast changed, going from a viable brewing yeast, to a dormant survivor of a shipwreck.

“Really what this yeast wants to do is survive,” he says.

At first taste, the beer salvaged from the shipwreck was polluted by seawater, but the saline content didn’t impact the viability of the yeast. Part of the trial and error of reviving the organism was re-strengthening and re-training its DNA. The yeast did not die, but instead spored, shedding one half of its helix ladder. Using their proprietary yeast strain, they were able to reproduce those cells, so these haploid chromosomes could come together to form a new diploid. In an off-site lab, they would plate the strain, then propagate a clean colony on another dish.

(Related: Wisconsin Brewers Bring Old, Rare and Unusual Beers Back to Life)

In the brewhouse, experimentation with mixed fermentation with the shipwreck yeast was also necessary to strengthen the organism, and to gain full attenuation of the yeast in the beers. The brewery recently released Fleur de Lees, a 7 % ABV IPA using both the proprietary 1886 Shipwreck and house Belgian-style strains.

Saint James New York Releases Shipwreck Beer “Deep Ascent”

Saint James Brewery New York is a certified New York State certified Farm Brewery, and since its founding in 2012 has been deeply committed to the farm-to-pint initiative, celebrating the link between local farmers and craft beer enthusiasts. According to the NYS Farm Brewery law, which was enacted to increase economic impact surrounding the brewing industry, in 2019 breweries claiming the title must brew with 60 percent state-grown ingredients, recently up from 20 percent at the end of 2018.

(More: There’s No Taste Like Home: Booming Beer Agriculture Supports Local Brewers)

“We’ve been using 100 percent for a very long time. It’s all about relationships for us,” Jamie adds.

The beer will be served for the first time this week at the New York Craft Brewers Festival in Albany, March 9, 2019, in advance of its tasting room opening in June.

The story of the discovery, and the near-alchemical science behind recreating this English-Style Pale Ale is an opportunity for the brewery, as well, to reach a broader audience with a more accessible product line. The brewery specializes in Belgian-inspired ales, usually in high-end restaurants and bars. The Deep Ascent series will be available in 750ml bottles, as well as plans for cans, all naturally carbonated.

The post Long Island Brewery Debuts Shipwreck Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.