Good Nature Farm Brewery formally opens in Madison County

HAMILTON — The Good Nature Farm Brewery & Tap Room recently formally opened in the town of Hamilton in Madison County after a $6 million expansion project.

The new 14,000-square-foot facility now serves as 7-year-old Good Nature Brewing’s Co.’s headquarters. It includes a tap room with a farm-to-table restaurant and outdoor beer garden, as well as office and warehousing space and production operations.

The project, which aligns with and is supported by the CNY Rising regional economic-development plan, will result in the creation of “at least” 16 full-time jobs and the retention of 10 existing positions.

To encourage Good Nature Brewing to proceed with the $6 million project, Empire State Development offered a performance-based grant of up to $350,000. The brewery also received incentives from Madison County.

Good Nature purchased a 5 acre parcel of land just south of the village of Hamilton, on the west side of State Route 12B in the town of Hamilton, from Colgate University to get the project started, according to its website.

“When small businesses succeed in our state, all of New York succeeds and with the grand opening of Good Nature Farm Brewery in Madison County, we make it clear that Central New York is open for business,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement issued June 7, the day a ribbon-cutting event was held at the brewery. “This new farm brewery will create jobs and attract tourism from across the state and beyond, helping Central New York to continue to rise for years to come.”

About Good Nature
Good Nature Brewing was founded in 2010 and became “one of the first farm breweries in New York State.”

The brewery has partnered with Morrisville State College through the START-UP NY program and “handcrafts beers with locally grown ingredients.”

When it launched operations, Madison County had no breweries, had “no such thing as a farm brewery,” with “very few” rural breweries in the state, Carrie Blackmore, owner of Good Nature Farm Brewery, said in Cuomo’s release.

“The craft-beverage industry has the potential for tremendous economic and cultural impact on our area, and we are proud to be a part of it. We are so incredibly grateful for the support of our community, county, and New York State for their support of our project and the craft beverage industry as a whole. We have already well-exceeded our hiring goals, and are looking forward to continuing to support and promote local and New York State agriculture and business,” she added.

Good Nature Brewing also operates the Broad Street Tap Room, located at 8 Broad St. in Hamilton.

State support
Legislation creating the new farm-brewery license went into effect in January 2013 to “grow both New York’s thriving craft brewery industry and support local agriculture production,” Cuomo’s office said.

More than four years later, 163 businesses have obtained farm-brewery licenses in 50 counties across the state.

New York is now home to more than 300 microbreweries, farm breweries, and restaurant breweries, up from just 50 in 2011, according to Cuomo’s office.

The state “achieved” the growth “in part” through a series of legislative and economic incentives, including the creation of the farm-brewery license, providing tax credits for brewers, modernizing the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, and providing promotional funding.