USA, NY: 7 Hamlets Brewing Company hoping to celebrate grand opening in April

Earlier this month, co-owners Matthew Taylor and Keith Richards received their state liquor license — the green light to start up their farm brewery — 7 Hamlets Brewing Company — located at 26 Seymour Lane, just off Route 233, in Westmoreland, NY, the Rome Sentinel reported on March 26.

For months, the owners and friends have been hard at work designing and renovating the interior of the bar and brewing area. With precautions mandated due to the coronavirus, Matthew Taylor said he hopes 7 Hamlets Brewing can celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, April 4. However, as all bars and restaurants have been forced to close their doors as a precaution throughout the state, the opening date may need to change.

Depending on when the tasting room opens, Taylor said he expects between 8-12 ice cold brews to be available on tap, ranging from pilsner and an amber, to ports and stouts.

For now, Richards said 7 Hamlets plans to brew once-a-week, and hopefully add more brewing days as the business progresses.

Brewing “takes a full day, and that’s just part of it,” the co-owner said. “There’s so much to do after, like the fermenting, kegging and conditioning…It could easily be a full-time job.”

While beer will be the obvious focal point of the business, Taylor said being a farm brewery, 7 Hamlets plans to help support other local businesses by selling wine and spirits from area wineries and distilleries, as well as Saranac soft drinks from F.X. Matt Brewing Co. in Utica.

“We want to try and have root beer available on tap,” he said. “We’ll also have New York state wines and ciders, and anything from New York distilleries we can sell too. We may have our own cider in the future.”

The tasting room or bar area, which is roughly 1,500 square-feet, will have approximately 45 seats. Seating will be available right at the bar, or at a variety of the long or short tables available. Taylor and Richards also went with a barn theme, and there’s a couple tables made from old wine barrels. One of the smaller round tables has the blade of a large circular saw embedded inside.

“B&B Lumber in Jamesville sanded that down for us and then used polyurethane to seal it” into the table, Taylor explained.

As for the barrel bases, “I found those in Tupper Lake — they were just wood slabs and JK Lumber (in New Hartford) sanded them down and glued them together for us,” Taylor said.,

Natural wood tiles from B&B encompass the entire seating area, as well as the skylight ceiling.

“It took 3-4 of us on scaffolding, being pushed around, just to get the ceiling done,” Richards laughed, adding that they had to sand each tile first before installing it. “A lot of work has gone into this building.”

Richards added that his business partner was lucky enough to find the building and both appreciate the location.

“Matt found the building the day it went up for sale,” Richards said.

Taylor explained how he was on his way home from picking up a pizza in New Hartford and saw the for sale sign.

“I remember, the pizza wasn’t that great — I’ve had better — but I’m awful glad I got pizza there that day or I might not have noticed that sign,” Taylor smiled.

The pair had been mulling the idea of opening a farm brewery together for quite some time, and it just so happened both are from Westmoreland. When it came time to brainstorm for a name of their business, both said they wanted something that was not only unique, but that stood as a salute to the town’s history.

“We had a ton of different names, but you have farm breweries popping up all over the country, so we needed something that hadn’t been used yet,” Taylor said. “We did some research on the town’s history and we found that Westmoreland was made up of seven hamlets, in fact, I live in one and Keith lives in another. So that’s how we came up with 7 Hamlets Brewing Co. — that one wasn’t taken.”

Back in the brewing room, there are four beer vats ready to brew, with each capable of of making up to 10 half-kegs. Taylor said they have the land to expand on their property in case they want to enlarge the brewing area or even the tasting room in the future. Customers may one day get the chance to watch the owners working hard back in the brewing room through the window in the bar area. They are already preparing the patio area for outside seating as well.

As for entertainment, Taylor and Richards said they are looking to host local bands and events, like your popular “sip and paints,” and perhaps weekly trivia contests. In the spring and summer months, they also hope to set up an area for outdoor games, like corn hole.

For food options, Taylor and Richards plan to host different food trucks at their establishment. Come and Get It is scheduled to appear for the grand opening.

“In the future we hope to expand to serve food,” Taylor said.

29 March, 2020