Around the lake
Breweries in the Finger Lakes, from a Winery's Point of View
We make wine, so take this for what it is. But guests ask us constantly whether there is anything to drink here besides what we pour, and the honest answer is yes, quite a lot, and it has changed the region in the last fifteen years.
Are there breweries in the Finger Lakes?
Yes, and the number has grown sharply. New York State law changed to favour producers using local ingredients, and the region has both the barley and the hops. Breweries now sit alongside the wineries on most of the lake roads.
Many are farm breweries, which in New York means a licence tied to sourcing ingredients within the state. That gives them the same relationship to the land that the wineries have, and it shows in how they present themselves.
How do you plan a day that mixes them?
Fewer stops than you think, and one driver. Tasting pours are small but they accumulate, and the roads between the lakes are narrow and unlit at night. Three places in an afternoon is a good day. Six is a blur.
We say the same thing about wineries alone, in our first-timer's guide to Keuka Lake. Mixing categories does not change the arithmetic.
A workable afternoon
- Pick one lake, or one arm of Keuka. Do not try to cross the region.
- Three stops with a proper meal between them beats six without one.
- Agree the driver before the first pour, not after.
- Weekends fill from late morning. Weekdays are a different experience entirely.
Why did wine come first here?
Because of the lakes. Deep water stores summer heat and releases it into the autumn, extending the ripening season enough for wine grapes at a latitude that would otherwise be too cold. Commercial growing began on Keuka in the nineteenth century and spread from there.
The Finger Lakes Wine Alliance sets out the same growing conditions in more detail. Riesling became the regional signature for exactly this reason.
Beer does not need that. It needs grain, water and someone willing to build a brewery, which is why it could arrive quickly once the law allowed it.
What do we pour?
Wine only. Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Gewürztraminer, rosé, and sparkling made by the méthode champenoise. We are on the east side of Keuka Lake outside Hammondsport, open daily from ten to six.
Sébastien is the sixth generation of a winemaking family from Champagne, and our sparkling follows the method his family has always used: over ten years on the lees, each bottle handled by hand at least sixty-eight times. Details on our experiences page.
Why did brewing grow so quickly here?
New York changed the law. A farm brewery licence, tied to using ingredients grown in the state, made it viable to open small and sell direct. The state then had to grow the barley and hops to supply it, and the Finger Lakes had the farmland to do that.
Hops were grown in this part of New York in the nineteenth century, on a serious scale, before disease and Prohibition ended it. The recent growth is a return rather than an invention, which is not something you can say about most drinks trends.
How do beer and wine tastings differ?
Pace and volume. A wine flight is five small pours of things meant to be compared. A beer flight is four glasses that each hold considerably more liquid. Mixing the two in an afternoon needs more planning than most people give it.
The other difference is time. A seated wine experience runs forty-five minutes to over an hour by design. A brewery visit can be twenty minutes or three hours depending entirely on whether you sit down.
If you are mixing both in a day
- Start with the wine, then the beer. The other order rarely works.
- Eat between them rather than after. This is the one that gets skipped.
- Count a brewery stop as two wine stops in terms of time and volume.
- One driver, agreed in the morning, who is not tasting at all.
Where are they concentrated?
Along the same lake roads as the wineries, with more of them at the northern ends where the towns are larger. Ithaca and the Seneca corridor have the highest density. Around Keuka the numbers are smaller, which suits the lake's general scale.
That distribution follows population rather than geography. A brewery needs customers within reach; a vineyard needs a specific slope above deep water. The two industries end up in different places for entirely different reasons.
Wine, on the east shore of Keuka Lake. One stop among the several you should make.
Can you visit breweries and wineries on the same day?
Easily, if you keep the number of stops low and arrange a driver first. Three places with a meal between them makes a better day than six without.
What is a New York farm brewery?
A licence category tied to sourcing ingredients grown within the state. It has the same land connection that the farm wineries have.
Do you serve beer at the winery?
No. We pour our own wines only. There is plenty of beer elsewhere around the lakes.
Written by
The Domaine LeSeurre Team
Céline & Sébastien LeSeurre and the team at Domaine LeSeurre — a family winery on Keuka Lake, in Hammondsport, New York. French roots, Finger Lakes soul.
