Seward Brings $1/4 Million
To Beverage Center Opening
Hartwick College Cuts Ribbon On New Center
ONEONTA – Saying “I thought I should buy the next round,” state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, brought a $250,000 check to today’s grand open of Hartwick College’s Center for Craft Food & Beverage.
In announcing the legislative grant in a ceremony in the Johnstone Science Building, Seward called the center “a one of kind resource for existing businesses and budding entrepreneurs that will help develop superior products and foster economic growth.”
At the gathering, other contributors to the center were also cited:
- $123,525 from the Appalachian Regional Commission;
- $128,000 from the Empire State Development Corporation;
- $110,000 from the George I. Alden Trust (Worcester,Mass.);
- Corporate support from Brewery Ommegang.
In her remarks, Hartwick President Margaret Drugovich said the inspiration for the center goes back to 2013, when one of the college’s students did an internship in Ommegang Brewery’s lab. The idea of the collaboration grew out of a conversation during that internship.
Also on the dais were Assemblyman Bill Magee, D-Nelson, who chairs the Assembly’s Ag Committee; Phil Giltner, deputy Ag & Markets commissioner, and Francis Landrey, a New York City attorney and chairman of the college trustees.
In a press release, Seward emphasized the growth of the state’s microbreweries since the Farm Brewery Act of 2012 was passed, calling it “a true Renaissance.” Over the past year, the senator reported, 43 new farm breweries opened, bringing the state’s number of operational farm breweries to 106. New York is also home to 133 micro-breweries and 39 restaurant breweries.
With that growth came an industry need to establish quality parameters and a way to test whether crops grown in-state meet those parameters, which is the basis for the new center.
After the ceremony, the audience of business leaders, academics and students toured the facility, led by Aaron MacLeod, the center’s recently appointed director.
Just this past weekend, Hartwick and the center hosted the Winter Farm Brewery Weekend, where it was acknowledge that the new capacity MacLeod and the center are bringing to Oneonta will help the city become the hub for a “Finger Lakes of Beer” envisioned for Central New York.
