Who owns saranac beer

During the same time, the beverages themselves have changed. You must be logged in to post a comment. Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Footer Email Newsletter Sign Up. About Craft Brewing Business. Contact Us. Advertise on Craft Brewing Business. It is known for its traditional American lager, Utica Club, and, since the s, for the line of Saranac craft beers. It also makes many different beverages under contract for other companies and brands.

It is the second oldest brewery in New York state after Genesee in Rochester , and the oldest still owned by its founding family. A barrel is 31 gallons. With two new and more efficient barrel kettles, plus greatly enlarged fermenting and storage capacity, the brewery may produce , barrels this year and could go as high as , barrels in future years, Matt said. The changes came in both the types of products produced and the packaging, he said.

During the same time, the beverages themselves have changed. Other products made under contract at Matt Brewing include the Finnish Long Drink a canned cocktail that is considered the national drink of Finland , and a line of canned cocktails called Ohza Mimosas. But its also still in the beer business. Steve Checkosky of Liverpool is one. The subject line: "Say it ain't so!

It is a truly fine Schwarzbier. Probably among the finest domestic Schwarzbiers. Before the Craft Beer era, it was one of the very few domestic beers that I enjoyed. This is like losing a family member. Please reconsider! Fred Matt responded by email the next day, thanking Checkosky for his passion and reassuring him that Black Forest aka Prior's might yet make a reappearance.

Saranac, Matt said in an interview this week, is working on some production issues that may allow it to bring the beer back at some point. Black Forest, introduced as a draft beer in the early s and first bottled in , is a brown-to-black beer, at 5. It's malty, bready and even has some toffee notes. The problem is Black Forest falls outside the brewery's top 5 sellers, making it hard to get shelf space in stores or taps in bars, Matt said. Still, he said, the beer is quite popular in that part of Saranac's market that includes Utica, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.

The solution might be that Saranac builds a new smaller brewhouse as part of an expansion across from its existing one which is in a complex that dates to The new brewhouse, if built, would have a kettle that makes barrel batches, to accomodate niche beers, or non-best sellers, like Black Forest.

The main brewery has two barrel brew kettles -- too large for all but the biggest brews. The Matt brewery's history with Black Forest -- and the reason some in Syracuse call it Prior's -- is almost as murky as the beer itself.