Craft brewery planned near Sackets

SACKETS HARBOR — The parent company of Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. has plans to build a full-scale commercial brewery in Jefferson County.

Thomas W. Scozzafava, president and chief executive officer of Harbor Brewing Co. Inc., said the company is looking at two potential sites for the craft brewery and hopes to start work on it this year.

"It's something that's truly a craft-brewing facility," Mr. Scozzafava said. "We are constantly experimenting and doing different types of products that the big guys aren't calibrated to do. This will really be a microbrewery."

Harbor Brewing now brews its largest and best-selling labels, War of 1812 Amber Ale and Thousand Islands Pale Ale, under contract with larger brewers, such as High Falls Brewing Co., Rochester.

While that arrangement will continue, Mr. Scozzafava said, having a brewery of its own will enable Harbor Brewing to develop and introduce new and seasonal products that do not require the larger and more costly product runs that a brewer such as High Falls would provide.

"We can start smaller, let the marketplace give us feedback, tweak the product and then grow it on a larger scale," he said. "It allows you to more easily modify the flavor profile over time. When it's in-house, you have more control over that."

While the facility will be large enough to brew, bottle and package an assortment of beers, it will be not be anywhere near the scale of a large brewery, such as the former Miller plant in Fulton, Mr. Scozzafava said. Instead, it would be more on par with the Brewery Ommegang near Cooperstown. That brewery, housed in two barns, brews naturally carbonated Belgian-style beer. He said such breweries can become tourist destinations unto themselves.

"Ommegang is literally in the middle of the nowhere, yet people make that pilgrimage," he said.

The brewery will be "as close to Sackets as we can get it," subject to zoning approvals, Mr. Scozzafava said. He is working with architects on design plans and expects a "fairly quick assessment" on which site is best for the facility. The brewery would have 15 to 20 employees.

While 1812 Amber Ale is Harbor Brewing's flagship brand, it also has developed, produced and marketed Railroad Red Ale, 1812 Amber Ale Lite and Harbor Wheat, as well as seasonal beers. Mr. Scozzafava said having its own brewery would enable the company to introduce more brands.

"What the brewery would really allow us to do is round out our product mix much more quickly," he said. "We want to be more than a one-trick pony. 1812 is so widely accepted, and in order to protect that brand, you have to have more than one product. You have to have a stable of labels to meet changing demands."

The president of Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. is Stephen S. Flynn, who helped found the company and the Sackets Harbor Brew Pub, 212 W. Main St. Harbor Brewing Co. is a holding of Seaway Valley Capital Corp., of which Mr. Scozzafava is president and CEO.