October 16-22, 2017 Keeping You Connected

Locally Owned & Operated TompkinsWeekly.com Vol. 12, No. 34 Where they’re always glad you came Hopshire Farm & Brewery offers a glimpse into the beer-to-table industry

By Sue Henninger Tompkins Weekly

ctober is traditionally a month many associate with beer. OHopshire Farm & Brewery in Freeville aims to give both beer novices and aficionados an authentic taste of how beer-to-table works in upstate New York. Owners Randy Lacey and Diane Gerhart are dedicated to showing their clientele how hops are grown, the steps that go into brewing beer from natural ingredients, and the wide variety of quality beers that a small-scale local brewery is able to produce. Lacey was already growing hops at their Ringwood Road home when the couple decided to expand his efforts by purchasing 35 acres of available farmland on Route 13, one of the busiest roads in Tompkins County. Starting from scratch, the two planted hops and constructed a brewery, complete with a hop kiln Photo by Sue Henninger / Tompkins Weekly and other necessary equipment, Randy Lacey is the co-owner and head brewer for Hopshire Farms & Brewery in Freeville. which opens into a carefully designed tasting room. Lacey explained that he and Gerhart visited multiple “You can build a building, popular beverages. Shire is their Hopshire Farm & Brewery is breweries in Colorado beforehand but you can’t build a vibe,” he Scottish Ale (middling), and Near licensed under the farm brewery law to get a sense of what they wanted emphasized. Varna (mighty) is an India Pale ( January 2013). This designation was theirs to look, and feel, like. According to Lacey, Hopshire Ale, strong and hoppy. A rotating created to stimulate farms to grow In 2016, the pair added an attracts two distinct groups of selection of seasonal beers completes more of the ingredients needed for event room off the tasting room for customers. The first crowd usually the bill of fare. brewing beer and requires Hopshire weekly live music sessions and other lives less than five miles away Though the couple realized to use a minimum of 20 percent of activities like Wednesday yoga classes and comes out for dinner and the food would be essential to creating both New York State grown grain and an annual IPA festival where Friday night music. The brewery is an outstanding experience for their and hops. Lacey was also one of they release a special fresh hopped where they meet their neighbors to customers they knew they didn’t the founding board members of the community beer. relax and catch up with each other. want the responsibility of a running Northeast Hop Alliance, which hosts Old-timers may recognize the Lacey calls the second group “beer a kitchen. Big fans of collaboration, an annual conference in Morrisville, tasting room bar – a burnished travelers,” people who always make they turned to other small area and schedules field trips to various section of mahogany from Plum’s a point of checking out the local businesses and now regularly offer farms and breweries from Maryland Restaurant on Aurora Street in breweries when they visit a town. food from Dryden Community to New Hampshire. Committed to Ithaca. Beams from an Odessa barn, “They appreciate beer, always Center Café, Bickering Twins Latin helping the beer industry in any way as well as salvaged lights add to the teach us something, and are a lot of Cuisine, and occasional pop-up he can, Lacey is also a member of historical ambiance. However Lacey fun to be around!” he asserted. pig roasts by Van Noble Farms and the Farm Brewing Committee of the noted that they embrace the new as To accommodate these various Bici-Cocina Latin Cuisine. There’s New York State Brewers Association. well as the old at Hopshire. palates, Hopshire has three beers, also a well-stocked cooler in the “We legislate to make our voice They have a strong online brewed by Lacey and his cousin tasting room where visitors can heard about what we care about,” he presence and have installed modern Marty Lac