Lake Placid Pub and Brewery
(Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)
Written by Chris Knight for The Adirondack Daily Enterprise
One usually hates to see a craft/micro brewer like Lake Placid with it’s interesting ales like UBU Ale and Honey Rye drop their own brewery to this extent and vend out: but this was actually cause by excessive demand and popularity. Matt Brewing is also noted for brewing to your specifications, not simply handing the customer something they already brew that’s “close enough.” But, hopefully, they will be back on line brewing with their own facilities soon.- Prof GA.
Lake Placid – The Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. has closed its brewing facility in Plattsburgh and is now producing all its beer for distribution at the F.X. Matt Brewing Company’s facilities in Utica.
Chris Ericson, who owns the Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. and the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, said the company’s production brewery in Plattsburgh was shut down earlier this year because it couldn’t make enough beer to keep up with demand. The facility had opened in the winter of 2001-02.
“We closed that brewing facility and moved all production of beer that is distributed to the Utica brewery,” Ericson said in an e-mail. “All bottled Lake Placid beer and draught Lake Placid beer (other than what is served at the Pub) is now brewed and packaged by Matts.”
The move expands an existing partnership between the Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. and the Matt Brewing Company, brewers of Saranac and Utica Club beers. In 2007, the two companies reached an agreement to distribute the Lake Placid brand of beers through Matt’s distribution network. The partnership also allowed the Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. to augment production of its beers by brewing occasional batches in Utica.
Ericson said shifting all production to Utica will allow his company to focus on selling more beer and expanding its distribution range.
“And I don’t have to drive to Plattsburgh all the time,” he said.
Lake Placid beers like Ubu Ale and 46’er Pale Ale are now being sold in seven states: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Maine. Ericson said Lake Placid brews will also be available in Ohio, Virginia and Vermont within the next four to six weeks.
The company is also planning to release its first bottled seasonal beer, Honey Rye, later this month.
Meanwhile, Ericson said brewery operations at the Pub and Brewery in Lake Placid will expand next year. The current on-site brewery can make five brews, or a total of 1,085 gallons of beer, a week.
“For the last couple of years we have trouble keeping up with demand at the pub, especially during the peak summer season and holiday winter weeks,” Ericson wrote. “So we want to drop in a couple more tanks which will both increase our capacity and allow us to brew more lagers (which take longer to produce than ales).”
Ericson said more information on the brewery expansion in Lake Placid will be announced next spring.
Chris Knight is a senior staff writer for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake. Before joining the Enterprise, Chris was the news director for Mountain Communications, which owns several Saranac Lake radio stations, for eight years. Chris works for North Country Public Radio as an occasional contributing reporter. Away from work, Chris enjoys hiking, skiing, kayaking and just about anything else in the outdoors. He and his wife Kate-Lyn live in Saranac Lake and have two children.