Mar. 31—A two-year-old brewery in Schoharie was named the 2023 Brewery of the Year at the state Craft Beer Competition.
Wayward Lane Brewing opened its doors in April 2021, Farm Manager Andrew Rowles said. While the company is new, Rowles said he and his business partner and friend Adam Rosenthal were living in Colorado and working at different craft breweries for 10 years before they started the company in Schoharie. Friends Abbie Hansen, Shaun Pekar and Kyle Bergen also made the move to work for the brewery.
"We were all interested in beer when we came of age drinking in college," Rosenthal said. "We were more interested in craft beer. We weren't interested in the generic stuff. We wanted to drink something more than the generic stuff. I started homebrewing as a hobby. I worked in the industry."
Rosenthal said they wanted to start a brewery in Colorado, but the economy was more difficult there as it was saturated with craft breweries. Then "when Andrew came into the business discussion, he said 'I have this great farm at home,'" he said.
Rowles said the family farm, at 255 Ward Lane in Schoharie, is 65 acres and houses a fruit orchard, honey bees and animals. The farm hosts a farmers market and concerts in the summertime. There was an 1800s hop house on the property that the friends converted into a tap room and production facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rowles said while they didn't encounter any supply chain issues, they did have to content with higher prices for materials.
Since the building is spacious and many people can be outdoors and hang out, the business saw visitors from opening day, he said. Rosenthal said the brewery specializes in "playing with new ingredients," such as tropical fruits. He said he's used mango and prickly pear together as well as raspberry and lime and peach and hibiscus and has created 150 different beers. The brewery produces a full range of beers including West Coast style IPAs, English ales, lagers, wild-fermented ales and barrel aged strong ales, a media release said.
Rosenthal said to prepare for the competition, they brewed beers that would fit into the different categories. The Brewery of the Year Award is given to the brewery that earns the highest number of points in the competition, the release said. Points are determined by the number of medals won. The points system offers three points for gold, two points for silver and one point for bronze. Wayward Lane took home the gold for both their Hazy Pale Ale, Cultivar: Motueka and their English Style Wheatwine conditioned on amburana, Xylem. They also won Silver medals for their Hazy Double IPA, Cloud Generator and their Cold IPA, Prizm, the release said.