E-Malt.com News article: USA, NY: Empire Brewing Co. gets a grant to build a facility in Cazenovia

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $200,000 grant to Empire Brewing Co. in Syracuse to help the company open a brewery and bottling line in Cazenovia, the region's members of Congress said on August 20.

The grant will help Empire Brewing bottle their own beer for the first time with the opening of the Empire Farmstead Brewery next year in Cazenovia. The project includes a European-style beer hall and a farm that will grow much of its own hops, some of its own barley and many of its other beer ingredients. When completed, Empire will be among the state's largest craft beer makers.

The USDA money is part of about $500,000 in grants awarded today to three Central New York farms and Empire Brewing, according to U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Dan Maffei, D-Syracuse ,who advocated for the funding from the agency.

The federal aid helps farms generate new products, create and expand marketing opportunities, and increase producer income, according to the members of Congress.

Schumer said he was confident that Empire Brewing will "serve as a prime example for a new brewery business model for operations across the state. This funding will not only allow Empire to increase its 'farm to bottle' production, but also create jobs in the region and solidify it as a major economic driver throughout all of Central New York."

Empire's Cazenovia brewery will be on a 22-acre farm on Route 13 adjacent to the Lorenzo State Historic Site.


22 August, 2014