USA, NY: Finger Lakes winemakers to open Lake Drum Brewing early next year

Two Finger Lakes winemakers have exceeded their goal to launch a “nanobrewery” and bar in Geneva.

Victor Pultinas and Jenna LaVita plan to open Lake Drum Brewing early next year, pending licensing. The location will serve as a production facility and a bar where patrons can sit and drink beer and hard cider, or take growlers to go, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported on December 4.

Pultinas, who began his career in the wine industry as a tasting-room employee at Seneca Lake-based Billsboro Winery, describes the brewery’s upcoming product line as “clean and simple.”

“A lot of microbreweries that are popping up are tending to get really funky,” he says. “So we’re going to stick to the real original basics of beer – pale ales, stouts.”

Brewing had been a passion for Pultinas and LaVita, who met as students at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, long before they turned to platform Indiegogo to raise the project’s seed money. Their campaign has earned more than $10,800, some $800 beyond their goal.

“It’s so exciting, and it’s so surprising,” says Pultinas, a former assistant winemaker at Sheldrake Point Vineyards on Cayuga Lake. Friends and family have opened their wallets, “but so many (donors)…have been complete strangers,” he adds.

06 December, 2013