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Southern Tier Life // ISSUE 06
Re-Run from April’s Edition
For the LOVE of Beer A’Don Allen Rieslings. Chardonnay. Cabernet. Catawba. Concord. Niagara. These are all the vernacular of the Finger Lakes Region of the Southern Tier. The Finger Lakes Region is Wine Country and home to over 100 wineries. Finger Lakes Wine Country is well renowned and known across the world. In fact, some may say only Napa Valley in California is more well-known for American wines, than here in the Southern Tier. If you travel in the Finger Lakes Region these days however, you are beginning to see a new explosion joining Wine Country. With new terms to add, such as IPA, Hops, Rice, Lagers, Barley, Flights and so many more. Beer, Craft Beer to be exact has exploded across the world and especially here in the Southern Tier with over 75 micro-
breweries in the Finger Lakes alone. Now if you think craft beer is a new thing, think again. In 1979 then President Jimmy Carter signed legislation making home brewing legal. Cam Lavallee, co-host of “What’s On Tap”, says that most of the pop-up breweries did indeed, begin at home. “Everywhere we’ve gone to we’ve heard different stories about people taking their love of beer, as well as the creating process, and starting out in their homes or at a similar small scale then, they realized what they were making was actually a really good product. Typically, they had a lot of positive feedback from those who tried it and convinced them it might actually be a worthwhile endeavor to try and brew on a larger scale.”
So what makes craft beer so appealing? Why is it so different from your traditional beers (Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc.)? The traditional beers are mass produced. Whereas Craft Beers focuses more on flavors and nuances and often has higher alcohol content than regular beer. Does this mean that craft beers are becoming more popular than traditional beers? Numbers suggest maybe. According to brewersassociation.org, overall U.S. beer volume sales were down 2% in 2019, whereas craft brewer sales continued to grow at a rate of 4% by volume, reaching 13.6% of the U.S. beer market by volume. Craft production grew the most for taprooms. Retail dollar sales of craft increased 6%, up to $29.3 billion, and now account for more than 25% of the $116.0 billion
