GAËL Brewing hops into New York state’s farm brewing scene

GENEVA — After leaving a 25-year career behind, George Adams traded in his life savings, his retirement fund, and a bank loan in pursuit of his dream — opening up and running a brewery.

“It was the dream, and layoffs woke me up a little bit — the chances of me being an engineer until retirement were dwindling,” Adams says. “It was either do it now or not have a chance to do it in this life.”

Adams’ dream materialized when he opened GAËL Brewing Company in June 2015.  The microbrewery operates from a 2,500-square-foot facility on Rt. 14 near Seneca Lake in the town of Geneva. The front one-third of the facility serves as a tasting room, while the back two-thirds is designated for production space.

Adams, 49, left his job at Alstom, a multi-national rail transportation company, in January 2014 to pursue his part-time hobby — brewing — on a full-time scale. He and his wife, Beth Lauzon, took on the task of running the business together, though Adams is the sole owner.

At any given time, GAËL Brewing usually has seven beers on tap, and each pint sells for $5. The most popular, Adams says, are Rye Bread Ale and Templederry Irish Stout — known for their classic and authentic Irish flavors. Depending on his mood, Adams says his favorites can be the Sherlock Blonde Ale or Liam’s Irish Red Ale, characterized by their sweet, smooth tastes.

To maintain its microbrewery status, a brewery is limited to producing 60,000 barrels a year or less. GAËL won’t cross this threshold anytime soon — Adams says he brews anywhere from 90-120 barrels each year. The whole process — from milling the grains to fermenting to kegging and beyond — takes about a month, and Adams can only produce about 250 gallons at a time.

While the microbrewery gets its grains primarily from farmers in the Midwest, one of its hops suppliers is located less than 10 miles away.

Area hops farm
Pedersen Farms, a 1,500-acre, family-owned farm in Seneca Castle, grows more than 15 different varieties of hops. Rick Pedersen founded the farm with his wife, 

Laura, on just a few acres in 1983. The duo established the first farm east of the Rockies to start farming hops in 1999, Pedersen contends.

“The first couple of years, it was like no one understood what a New York hop was,” he says. “I gave out a lot of free samples for a while.”

After about a decade of coming to understand each hop variety’s prime harvesting schedule — and of giving out free samples — Ithaca Beer Company became the farm’s first customer. 

The New York State Farm Brewery Law, which provides tax incentives for both brewers and farmers involved in the production of alcoholic beverages, also helped drive up business between New York growers and brewers, Pedersen says. 

Pedersen Farms now sells to more than 25 different breweries in New York and along the east coast, including GAËL.

Pedersen’s hops are of the aroma variety, specifically, and not considered bittering hops. Hops act as a natural preservative in beer, and each kind offers a different taste when used in the brewing process. Cascade, Centennial, and Nugget are three of Pedersen’s most sought-after varieties, he says.

In terms of gross income, hops bring in about the same revenue as any of his other crops, Pedersen says. It’s the work that goes into growing them that he loves.

“It’s a fun crop — it gets in your blood,” he quips. “It’s just, you learn how to do it and there’s a passion and a romance to it.”

The perennial plants are a time-sensitive crop, Pedersen explains. Once they’re harvested, hops have to be used by the brewer in much less than 24 hours to preserve their quality. 

They’re also a rare commodity on the East Coast — all of Pedersen’s hops were spoken for as of last September. Brewers have to buy in advance and schedule a pickup or delivery weeks ahead of time, Pedersen says.

Being a new brewer, Adams reached out to Pedersen well before GAËL actually opened up. Since then, GAËL has ordered two shipments of hops from Pedersen Farms and begun to expand its reach beyond the Finger Lakes. 

Aside from attracting customers following the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, GAËL distributes its craft beer to area restaurants and bars like Kitty Hoynes at 301 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse and stores such as AJ’s Beer Warehouse at 175 Clay Road in Rochester. 

The winter season is slower for business, Adams says, but he’s looking to pick up speed this summer and take advantage of being the “odd ball” on the wine trail. 

“We’re on a fairly popular trail, and the town has been more than hospitable to us,” Adams says. “This place is predictably unpredictable.”