Less than a year after it first opened, New York state farm brewery WT Brews has cut the ribbon to a tasting room in the village of Baldwinsville’s Four Corners. The taproom opened Friday, Sept. 25, with a tasting event held by the Greater Baldwinsville Chamber of Commerce.
State farm brewery legislation allows WT Brews, which opened for business Nov. 1, 2014, to open branch retail stores to promote local beer, cider and wine. Owner Mike Johnson said the brewery is looking into expanding even further.
“Our original intention was just to do farmers markets and events,” said Johnson. “After our opening weekend, it became clear people wouldn’t stand for it.”
Johnson and brewer Rich Pinkowski operate out of Johnson’s 100-year-old farm on Patchett Road in the town of Lysander. They produce about four barrels of beer per week, or 124 gallons.
The WT Brews taproom is located at 3 W. Genesee St. in Baldwinsville and is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays and 1 to 9 p.m. Saturdays.
To learn more, visit wtbrews.com or facebook.com/wtbrews.
“We’re still having difficulty keeping up with demand,” Johnson said.
Pinkowski said diehard WT Brews fans met the news of the taproom with “a little bit of resistance,” as people have enjoyed visiting the farm to see how the beer is made.
“We’ve got a lot of home brewers and craft enthusiasts,” Pinkowski said of WT Brews’ fan base.
While the WT Brews farm will no longer be open to the public, Johnson said he hasn’t ruled out the occasional tour of the brewery.
Johnson said the Four Corners storefront was just what he was looking for in terms of location and ambience.
“It had this beautiful brick wall, and that was the end of that,” he said.
Pinkowski and Johnson have left that brick wall exposed, adorned only with chalkboards advertising what’s on tap. They’ve built a bar, installed new wooden ceiling tiles and painted the remaining walls with dusky gray and maroon to match their logo. The spartan interior places the focus on the product: beer.
Farm brewery law requires at least 20 percent of WT Brews’ ingredients to be sourced from New York state, but Pinkowski and Johnson are ahead of the game.
“Even though we don’t have to be at 60 percent until [2019], we’re trying to get there as fast as we can,” Johnson said.
MaryAnne Williams, executive director of the Greater Baldwinsville Chamber of Commerce, called WT Brews’ taproom a “really nice addition to the Four Corners.”
“It has been exciting to see Mike and Rich progress with this business, from when they first joined the chamber last November, operating out of the farm,” Williams said. “Always nice to see another storefront filled in.”
Williams said WT Brews could be paving the way for more local microbreweries in the greater B’ville area.
“Beer is one of those things that people have very defined preferences, so there’s probably room for more,” she said.
Johnson said WT Brews is an example of the greater movement toward locally grown food and beverage.
“We’re an extension of that local grown movement — people like to know where their beer came from,” he said.
As for what’s next, WT Brews is looking to incorporate bottle sales and samples from local farm cideries, wineries and distilleries. For now, travelers through the Four Corners can fill their growlers with WT Brews’ own India Pale Ale, Nut Brown Ale, the Polish-inspired Grodziskie and more.
