Posts Tagged“rochester”

Weekly New York Wine News — February 16, 2016

Photo via Finger Lakes Wine Country Facebook Page NEWS Paste Magazine – 2/9/2016 Kudos for the facility and hospitality found at Glenora Wine Cellars on Seneca Lake. Rochester Business Journal – 2/10/2016 New York lawmakers entertain legislation to create signage for the Rochester Craft Beverage Trail. Cornell Sun – 2/11/2016 The Cornell Institute for Climate Change is developing new tools to help farmers cope with unusual weather patterns. Northern Grape Project – 2/11/2016 A comprehensive update on the fourth year of a program to study and promote cold-climate grape growing. Now and Zin – 2/12/2016 The Finger Lakes International Wine…

Food Reviewers: Stop Complaining About “Small” Portions

If the Internet has made everyone a critic, then most critics handing out one star on Yelp are idiots. This is not to say that some restaurants don’t deserve one star. The problem is that this country seems addicted to portion size, and large portion size, and it’s filtered into our assessment of whether a restaurant is offering a quality meal. How many times have you had a conversation with a friend that went something like this: “How was such-and-such restaurant?” “Amazing. The portions were HUGE!” We’re learning nothing about the food, the creativity of the kitchen, the thoughtfulness of…

NY Wine Spotting: Is this the Campaign that Finally Gets More NY Wine into Local Restaurants?

For years, the New York wine industry has wondered how to convince local restaurants to carry local wines. They’ve tried a variety of approaches, all of which have largely failed. That could be all about to change, starting in Rochester. Michael Warren Thomas, host of the Savor Life radio programs on WYSL AM, has launched an ambitious new program. It started with Thomas visting more than 100 restaurants in the greater Rochester area. At each stop, he examined the wine list, tracking how many Finger Lakes wines were offered. “It was a lot of work, but I thought it was…

Genesee Brewing Company Tap House Now Open in Rochester

For most of its 234 year history, the Genesee Brewing Company remained a closed book to the people of Rochester, New York — an imposing, mostly corrugated metal structure on St. Paul Street from which trucks laden with beer would issue forth, but into which only brewery workers would go. No tours, no brewery store,  just a Wonka-esque factory on the hill. The brewery’s recent purchaser, venture capital firm KPS, saw value in issuing golden tickets. They tore down the dilapidated original brewhouse and renovated an adjoining building into The Tap House visitors’ center, complete with small-batch brewery, museum and…

2011 Beer of the Year: CB’s Brewing Company Krysztoff Baltic Porter

Some breweries just don’t get a lot of respect. Then again, some breweries haven’t always taken the steps to earn it. For most of its history, Custom Brewcrafters subordinated the desire to make truly world-class beers and clung to their original business model, making small-batch, neutral, house-label beers for Rochester area bars and restaurants. You could see that mentality start to shift a few years ago with the launch of the CB’s line of signature beers launched by then-brewmaster Jason Fox and continued by Bruce Lish, the current head of brewing. These beers marked a turnaround for the brewery, which…

2011 Beer of the Year: Custom Brewcrafters Krysztoff Baltic Porter

On behalf of the New York Cork Report I’m proud to announce our 2011 Beer of the Year: Custom Brewcrafters Signature Series Krysztoff Baltic Porter. We’ll have more commentary on this amazing beer, and on other beers that impressed the entire crew, in the next few days, but at this time I would like to congratulate Bruce Lish and his team on a simply fantastic accomplishment. I’d also like to congratulate all the incredibly skilled New York brewers who created this lineup of finalists. I think I can speak for all Wines/Beers of the Year attendees when I say that…