The Finger Lakes: a Great Place Gets Even Better
The New York Wine Region Now Has an Ale Trail and Distilleries to Visit
I was pleasantly shocked when I overheard a conversation about the new breweries popping up among the well established wineries of the Finger Lakes. I was at my favorite watering hole in Skaneateles, the cozy tavern in The Sherwood Inn, enjoying a very nice Middle Ages IPA, brewed in nearby Syracuse, when I overheard the couple setting beside me. It had been four years since my last visit to the lakes region and I was about to find out just how much things can change in that length of time.
The next day I make my way over to Senaca Lake for a visit to Wagner Vineyard and Brewery. I'm pleasantly surprised again when I see the sprawling property that includes a busy restaurant in a building seperate from the winery/brewery. They picked a good place to set up shop; the view of Senaca Lake is as good as a trip to a therapist and quite a few people are taking it all in as they sit at picnic tables down by the grape vines. As I walk into the brewery area I'm hit by one of those too good to be true moments, a winery and a brewery in the same place; could it get any better? As a matter of fact, it does. When I sample the India Pale Ale I'm reminded of Benjamin Franklin's quote about beer being proof that God loves us; it's just an excellent balance of malt and hoppy goodness and I waste little time getting a couple of six packs to share with some of my ale loving buddies back home.
Just down the road is 2 Goats Brewing Company where the tin shack exteriot motif of the brewpub is almost as eyecatching as the view of the lake. I'm happy to find they have a fine India Pale Ale in their brewmaking arsenal and I'm also happy when I find out how well it pairs up with their slow cooked roast beef sandwich. This is the place to go for a laid back meal with a view as good as they come.
I venture on down Highway 414 to another place I was told about that turns out to be the biggest surprise of all; Finger Lakes Distilling. The spartan white walls of the main building look just right where it sits in the middle of a vineyard. The look inside is warm and inviting and full of examples of the distilleries end products. I see several bottles of vodka, gin, brandy and grappa displayed in the hardwood floored main room, and then there's what I'm really interested in; the whiskeys. I'm from bourbon country and I'm always interested in how whiskey is made outside of Kentucky. Distillery owner Brian McKenzie, has come up with an ingenious idea to use grains produced by neaby farmers and also using used wine casks as part of the whiskey aging process to give his bourbon and rye whiskeys a unique finish. His Pure Pot Still Whiskey, a salute to the Irish Whiskey style, is aged in the used bourbon and rye barrels, the ones used in the first part of the bourbon and rye aging. The size of these barrels is smaller (10 gallon) than the ones used in Kentucky and, as this allows for more direct whiskey to wood contact, the aging process is compressed; the smoothness normally aquired over a much longer time is accomplished in only eighteen months and, after I do a little sampling of the product, it really does taste like they've been aged much longer. I'm taking a bottle or two of each back home to see what my whiskey snob buddies think about these New York Whiskeys.
You can find more information at fingerlakeswineries.org.
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