A casual review of one of Utica area’s newer breweries..
Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Salt City Homebrewers in Syracuse, NY. Former member of Escambia Bay Brewers, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers. Ken has been writing on beer-related topics, and interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast, for well over 30 years.
Except a small local brewery in Old Forge, to get to breweries we are about 70 miles away. 
And, of course, driving that kind of distance after sampling has its issues. With Grow I was lucky: they come up here for festivals like Snofest.
This will be just an introduction. Perhaps I’ll write more; sometimes I like to provide a detailed perspective from a BJCP beer judge as if I were doing a scoresheet: one on each might I judge.
Before this, IMO, the best top notch breweries within 100 miles were Woodland in Marcy, NY (just north of Utica) and Buried Acorn in Syracuse. It’s not that the others are “bad.” Some are quite good. Just not as remarkable, in comparison. Or that inventive, in comparison.
Whether barreled, or some new take on older styles, the brews here edge out most of the others.
Like ale yeast Grow is rising to the top. If nothing else is mentioned, I dare not skip their barrel aged barleywines. Like their other brews balance is superb. As Certified BJCP judges Millie and I can vouch for the fact that barrel aged beer can suffer from, “Damn, I think I’m just chewing on wood” syndrome. (Not an official term, I made it up.) Another syndrome, when the barrel previously had brandy, whiskey, whatever, in it I would call that the “Damn, if I just wanted to drink whiskey I would have BOUGHT whiskey” syndrome. (Yup, made it up again.)
I’ve yet to have a bad Grow brew. We also sampled their fruit sour. Millie, even more of a sour fan than I, ordered a glass. While not all that sour, Magenta with dragonfruit is quite pleasing. Sometimes I wonder how breweries manage to get so much fruit taste into their brews, like when using dragon.
Again, with all of these: BALANCE. You want to know it’s there but the point is STILL drinking BEER.
Garrett and Charlie Meakin do an incredible job, and unlike Woodland or Acorn seem to be spreading their product a greater distance. While keep it local is NOT a bad policy by any means; spreading taps less local is a grand difference. Like to places like Screamen Eagle in Inlet: 50 taps. OK, I’m prejudiced because we’re about 2 miles away. If you’ve seen Shawn of the Dead, Screamen is our Winchester. Just tell us WHEN you’ll be there, Meakins family, and we’ll be there too!
One of their newest brews is their Mud: a Dark English Mild. Hops almost absent, as it should be. Coffee: obvious but not dominating. Carbonation low, but present: as it should be.
For low grav/abv a new favorite.
High grav/abv?
I have two Dormancy bottles in storage. Aged for 24 months in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. I had brought another one previously, and I bought that our homebrew club meeting. Salt City Brewing in Syracuse. You can tell when brewers REALLY enjoy what you’ve brought when you hear…
”WHO brought this?”
I have found, no matter what homebrew club we have been members of quiet or soft murmurs are NOT a good sign. This was not the response, everyone seemed to love it
This is NOT their only version of a barley wine, nor their last I suspect. BE AWARE: 14%.
And for the Utica area Grow is refreshing. For the longest time they had Saranac/Matt Brewing, then years later as the Craft craze built: Woodland. There are other small breweries but Grow stands tall among the top breweries. Give it a try, I’ll bet you’ll feel that way too.
Grow Brewing Co.
2 Campion Rd
New Hartford, NY 13413Saturday 12–10?PM
Sunday 12–8?PM
Monday 4–10?PM
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 4–10?PM
Thursday 4–10?PM
Friday 4–10?PM
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Brew Biz : Werts and All: a column dedicated to reviewing, discussing, and commenting on beer-related topics. Including, but not limited to, marketing, homebrewing and homebrew/beer related events, how society perceives beer. Also: reviews of, and commentary on, beer related businesses, opinions about trends in the brew business, and discussions regarding all things beer.
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