The New York State Legislature is currently considering legislation that would create a New York State Beer Trail.
"Such a rich history of the brewing industry is here and we ought to be exploiting that if we can," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, whose district was the home of original Schaeffer brewery and currently hosts the Brooklyn Brewery, a regionally well-known outfit. "I can't think of any other state except Wisconsin that has as much brewing tradition as New York. It's part of our heritage."When the Finger Lakes Wine Region finally sought out professional advice and started using that advice to market the area, that area experienced tremendous growth in tourism. If the state and participating microbreweries market the trail correctly, a Beer Trail would not only make many of us beer aficionados very happy, it could help draw more people to the state. Something cash-strapped New York could definitely use.
Right now I'm envisioning pretzel and mustard weekends at microbreweries as the answer to winery's wine and cheese events. Or to go along with the wine region's other big themed weekend: a "Hoppy" Holiday weekends where you collect microbrew beer labels enclosed in glass as ornaments.
Comments
Alan - June 20, 2005 8:28 PM
Thanks for that and welcome Julia! What a great idea. But I have to ask my only western New York question. Will I be able to get a weck with the beer on the trail?
Julia - June 20, 2005 9:16 PM
That is a logical question. Most brewpubs in this part of NYS do have a roast beef sandwich of some variety on their menu. Surely it makes sense to add it to all pub grub menus across the state, nay, the country!
Alan - June 20, 2005 9:48 PM
Maybe those will be the regions along the trail. Spiedie country. The land of weck. Where the buffalo wings roam.
chef 'em out - June 23, 2005 1:35 PM
How ironic. This coming from one of the states (NY) where you now have to register beer kegs.
bob - December 25, 2005 8:18 PM
Having a UK Beer aficionado visit in May 2006. Is this beer trail now in place?
How do I get details of pubs?
If not in place can you recommend pubs (or breweries) to visit between NY City and Buffalo?
Thanks
Bob