By Lauren Young

Staff Writer

More than 100 people showed up recently to the grand opening of the area’s newest brewery — 4 Corners Tap Room at Nelson Farms Country Store in Nelson — to sample beer created by students from Morrisville State College.

“We had a great turnout here, both Friday and Saturday, and we had vendors join us for both days,” said Sammi Clark-Collins, associate director of retail operations at Nelson Farms. “We’re humbled by the support of the community, and everyone has given us really great responses.”

Vendors on opening weekend included Gilligan’s, Good Nature Farm Brewery, Old Home Distillers and Owera Vineyards; and the Copper Turret Restaurant and Brewhouse, which is run by Morrisville State College. “It was really nice to have them here so people could touch base with who actually makes the products,” Clark-Collins said.

The 4 Corners Tap Room, named for its location at the Four Corners in the hamlet of Nelson, is an addition to the retail side of Nelson Farms Country Store, which sells locally-homegrown products ranging from jellies and jams, sauces and syrups to organic chocolates and granola.

Three of the four taps at the 4 Corners Tap Room will feature beers made at The Copper Turret, a teaching restaurant for culinary students at Morrisville State College. After opening its brewery last October, they will begin its first four-year brewing program next fall, which will be the first in the SUNY system to offer it.

The brewery, which is only a few miles away, serves as the laboratory facility for the Morrisville State College Brewing Institute, which provides students with hands-on experience on how to process raw ingredients to produce higher quality beers.

“The mission of Nelson Farms and The Copper Turret Restaurant and Brewhouse are well-aligned; providing education to our community while using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible,” said Brewmaster Micheal Coons, who supervises the students at the brewing institute. “The brewing curriculum being developed at Morrisville State College is designed to train brewers in the diverse knowledge required to operate a craft brewery, and an important part of this is community relationships.  In this, the relationship with Nelson Farms provides students an opportunity for their products to interact with a larger market and provide more exposure and feedback than from the brewpub alone.”

The fourth tap will be a considered a rotating guest tap, constantly featuring local beers from Central New York brewers. Beers featured include the Haflinger Witbier, Standardbred, Cherry Valley Stout and Good Nature Farm Brewery Blight Buster IPA.

Both Nelson Farms and the Copper Turret are owned by Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation, which is located on campus. “Because of that partnership, we do offer three of their beers on tap, while the Cooper Turret offers anywhere from 12 to 14,” said Clark-Collins.

While the concept for the tap house has been in the works for the past few years, when the Cooper Turret finally broke ground on their brew house in 2017, Nelson Farms decided it was time to move forward with their vision. “It took much longer than we thought, but we’re thrilled with the result,” said Clark-Collins.

Not only are the beers local, but even the room itself is made from local wood. D.R. Cornue Woodworks, a custom woodworking shop located in Nelson, performed the work for the tap room. “They did a really good job,” said Clark-Collins.

Located on Route 20, the intersection additionally features Peaks Coffee next door, Humble Harvest Brewing nearby, the Nelson Odeon and Spruce Ridge Garden Center.  Cherry Valley Stout, a coffee-oatmeal stout featured on tap, is actually derived from coffee beans at Peak’s Coffee across the street.

The Nelson Farms Country Store plans to feature more local vendors and pairing events, in which foods from the store will be paired with beers. “We want to showcase what this area has to offer, because there is so much going on here, and there are so many talented people,” said Clark-Collins.

In their mission to reach further than their community, Amanda Hewitt, the head of product development at Nelson Farms, will be teaching a class at the thINCubator in Utica called “stovetop to storefront,” in which she will teach local business owners how to take their product from a vision to a reality, from food safety to marketing.

“We found that it can be really intimidating for small producers on how to take a small idea and make it sell,” said Clark-Collins. “We’ve done classes here before, but we also want to reach farther, Clark-Collins, who added that their “great partnership” with the thINCubator has “become a great space for upcoming entrepreneurs.”

While Nelson Farms Country Store has evolved from a food processing incubator to help entrepreneurs develop their food products to now featuring its own on-site brewery with beers brewed from local students themselves, Clark-Collins said that while they have “transitioned over the years and some things have changed, [their] mission will always be the same,” which is to continuously promote the hard work of local businesses and their role in the evolution of Madison County.

The 4 Corners Tap Room, located inside The Nelson Farms Country Store at 3261 Route 20, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays. They are currently looking into expanding hours due to customer requests.

Nelson Farms also will be hosting its third annual Easter egg hunt on March 30 and a parking lot party on May 19, which will host vendors from local businesses to talk with customers about their products. Both events are free to the public.