#nyb2e

First came Climbing Bines hop farm, back in 2010. In August 2013, came Climbing Bines Craft Ale Co.

The farm and brewery are in the town of Torrey, near Penn Yan, NY. That's a spot that overlooks Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region.

Owners Chris Hansen, Brian Karweck and Matt Klehamer grow Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Goldings, Magnum, Nugget, and Willamette hops. In their first few years, they sold hops to other New York craft brewers.

Now, they keep the hops for themselves.

Climbing Bines  launched  with an IPA, amber, pale ale, blonde, and hefeweizen, all sold in 64-ounce growlers and 32-ounce “grenades,” or half-growlers. Climbing Bines has a 3.5 barrel brew kettle and six 7-barrel fermenters, they double batch every brew.

They also plan a series of beers called Pandemonium, which will include a variety of wet hop harvest ales and several seasonal/imperial brews that will be made exclusively with hops, wheat, barley, and rye grown within five miles of their farm.

The New York Breweries tour traveled to Lakewood, near Jamestown in New York's extreme southwest corner earlier this month. We were first-hand witnesses to an expansion that has to be seen to be believed. We happened  to be there the day Southern Tier Brewing took delivery on two 660-barrel fermenting vessels. Is that big? Some New York breweries don't make 660 barrels of beer in a year, if that's any clue. Southern Tier is also installing a new 110-barrel brewhouse, to supplement the 50-barrel capacity it has now. At Southern Tier, however, it's about more than quantity.The beers are good, too. Photos below show the arrival of a fermenting tank (the thing that looks like a space ship), the new brew kettles, and a line of taps at the Empty Pint pub at the brewery.

Ithaca Beer Co. announces Oct. 11 opening for new tasting area/tap room. Here's what the new place looked like during construction:

Dryden, NY is more than just a stopping point between Cortland and Ithaca. It's also the home of Bacchus Brewing Co., a craft brewery that opened in March 2012. Head brewer Christina Poulos started with three brews -- Blonde Ale, IPA and Irish Red Rye -- and this fall launched a seasonal Pale Ale. And, it seems to be successful: They recently added 2 30-bbl fermenters and should be bottling (in 22-oz bombers) by this winter. And did I mention Poulos is a geologist by trade?. That must be why Bacchus rocks!