Again, Ommegang Tops,

This Time In ‘Taste NY’

Three Philosophers Shines In State Contest

COOPERSTOWN – Brewery Ommegang tied with Roscoe Beer Co. of Delaware County in a blind taste test featuring the five breweries that received the most online votes in the Taste NY Inaugural Craft Beer Challenge.

Governor Cuomo announced the grand winners Wednesday evening at Pier A on Battery Place in Manhattan.

The rest of the top five were Genesee Brewing, Rochester, Prison City Pub & Brewery, Auburn, and Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood.

All of the finalists in the call-in contest that preceded the blind taste test were from Upstate New York, a fact not lost on amny.com, which headlined its story, “New York City Snubbed in Beer Taste Challenge.”

The five finalists were judged by an expert panel that included famed Chef Mario Batali.  Garrett Oliver, editor The Oxford Companion to Beer, emceed.

The Taste NY Inaugural Craft Beer Challenge was launched on May 2, asking New Yorkers to vote on their favorite in-state beer. More than 170 breweries signed up to participate, and more than 42,000 votes were cast online.

Since the Cuomo Administration began promoting craft beer in 2012, there are now 321 microbreweries, farm breweries, and restaurant breweries, up from only 50 total breweries in 2011 and representing a 542 percent growth in the industry.

This growth was achieved through a series of legislation and economic incentives, including the creation of the Farm Brewery License in 2012, providing tax credits for brewers, modernizing the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, and providing promotional funding. No state has done more to assist and promote craft manufacturing than New York.