Ribbon officially cut on Empire Farmstead Brewery in Cazenovia
Five years after the initial idea, 18 months after the groundbreaking and five months after the soft opening, the grand opening ribbon has officially been cut on the Empire Farmstead Brewery in Cazenovia.
New York State Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul headlined a large contingent of local, regional and state elected officials at the Nov. 15 event, which was also attended by local community members, Empire employees, family members and friends.
David Katleski, Empire Brewing Company founder and owner, thanked all the public officials and organizations, and private individuals and organizations who helped make the farmstead brewery a reality, with special thanks to his family, “who encouraged me to follow my dreams no matter how lofty.” Katleski said creating the brewery was the result of private and public coordination and cooperation that would not have happened if any one of the many pieces had been missing.
The 42,000-square-foot Empire Farmstead Brewery complex, which opened June 25, contains a state-of-the-art brewing facility that has allowed Empire to increase production from its current annual output of 1,200 barrels of beer to up to 70,000, and a new bottling and canning line that has allowed the company to package and distribute its beer for the first time. The brewery also has a tasting room/small-scale restaurant with patio for a total of 80 seats, and eight acres of crops to be used in the beer-making process.
The new brewery has created 70 new full-time jobs in Cazenovia.
Among the elected officials at the ribbon cutting event were Hochul, State Senator Dave Valesky, State Assemblyman Bill Magee, Cazenovia Town Supervisor Bill Zupan, Nelson Town Supervisor Roger Bradstreet and Cazenovia Mayor Kurt Wheeler, most of whom spoke at the event.
“What you did is a beautiful distillation of what teamwork looks like,” Hochul said. “You just inspired everyone to keep doing what they’re doing. This is the culmination of one person’s vision. You are a role model to other entrepreneurs.”
Valesky also complimented Katleski on the vision and work he put into creating his business, calling him “the epitome of an entrepreneur.”
“We [in the state legislature] can pass all the laws we want [to support the craft beverage industry], but you have to have the spirit that David brings … it’s a great success story.”
Scott Flaherty, executive director of Madison County Tourism, called the brewery “a welcome addition to Madison County’s fantastic food and beverage scene.” He said that Empire is already drawing people into the county from across the state, “and only the sky is the limit for what they’ll achieve. And as Empire continues to grow and attract even more visitors, other businesses in the area stand to benefit from this rising tide.”
And in the five months that Empire Farmstead Brewery has been open, business has been feverish, Katleski said.
“The reception [at the Cazenovia tasting room] has been very warm. I promised from day one we would bring a world-class brewery the likes of which was never seen before, and I think we’ve done that,” he said. “We’ve done that with New York State materials, labor and funding, and it was a huge leap of faith. It’s our commitment to the state to do it right; that’s why we built the facility that we did.”
On the distribution side — with Empire now brewing more beer at the Cazenovia site and also bottling for the first time — Empire beer is expanding rapidly across the state and now into New Jersey. Much of the New Jersey push came because Newark Airport wants to sell Empire because their distributor already sells it at LaGuardia and JFK airports.
The company also is expanding into China, for which it is the only state product to be allowed to use the “I Love New York” logo on its beers and in its packaging in China. Empire is also working to create a new sour beer, expanding into a vast educational component with Morrisville State College and recently to the acquisition of aged wine bottles from France in which to barrel ferment its beer into something completely unique in the market.
“These are exciting times for Empire,” Katleski said. “Packaging and distributing our beer is like a re-birth of sorts. We look forward to the fun challenges that are before us.”
For more information, visit empirebrew.com or visit the farmstead brewery at 33 Rippleton Road from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
