essays
Craft Brewery Wanted
- Details
- Published: 28 October 2009 28 October 2009
If you own a craft brewery and are looking for a second location, the Village of Greenwich, New York wants you.
If you’re looking for a location for your first craft brewery, the Village of Greenwich, New York wants you.
There are three reasons why we’re focused on bringing a brewery here.
First
A craft brewery can create anywhere from 10 to 40 well paying, blue collar jobs.
This area was once home to many textile and paper mills which provided hundreds of jobs. Today the linen mills are long gone, as are most of the paper mills. While there are a handful of great local companies, for the most part our village has become a bedroom community as residents must travel to Albany, Saratoga or Glens Falls for work.
To insure the vitality and stability of our village, we must find a way to bring new jobs back to Greenwich. A craft brewery will not only create manufacturing-based employment, but it’s impact on the environment is minimal compared to most other industries.
Second
An opportunity to partner with the agriculture community.
For the past one hundred years, Washington County, New York has been dominated by dairy farming. While still important, the past ten years have seen a dramatic shift in farming, with a growing emphasis on cheese, Community Support Agriculture and raising cattle and pigs for meat. As the price structure for milk continues to negatively impact local farmers, having a craft brewery open will create an opportunity to partner with local farmers for the growing of hops.
New York was once the primary producer of hops in this country. There is no reason why hops can’t once again be grown here. While speaking about this concept at an economic development summit in Salem, New York last evening, the eyes of the audience lit up. The interest is there. The desire and need to expand their ag-businesses into new markets is critical to the survival of the family farm.
Third
Expansion of Tourism
After dropping our youngest son off at college in Vermont, our oldest son insisted that we stop at some craft breweries on the way home. Visits to Magic Hat, Otter Creek and Long Trail was an eye-opening experience. Early on a Friday afternoon, the tasting rooms at Mad Hat and Otter Creek were filled with people in their 20’s and 30’s, with money in their pockets and passion in their eyes about beer. Visitors at Otter Creek couldn’t wait to return in October for the release of three new beers.
The Otter Creek tasting room has a world map filled with pins indicating visitor’s home towns. Every corner of the world is represented, even the Kamchatka Peninsula. The parking lot outside the Long Trail Brewery / Restaurant had cars from as far away as Ohio. Building weekend or vacation plans around touring craft breweries has quietly become as popular as touring wineries.
The establishment of a craft brewery in Greenwich, New York offers a unique opportunity to positively affect three distinct industries; manufacturing, agriculture and tourism.
If you’re interested in locating your craft brewery in Greenwich, please don’t hesitate to either email or call me at 518.361.7220. You will be welcomed with open arms.