Still time to register: ’15 FLX Craft Beverage Conference

If you manage or are you planning to open a Brewery, Cidery or Distillery there is still time to register for Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension’s 2015 Finger Lakes Craft Beverage Conference on March 27th and 28th at the Waterloo Holiday Inn in Waterloo, NY. Full information and registration links for the conference can be found on the Association’s website: SenecaCounty.org. The two day conference features multiple tracks designed for both the current and novice craft beverage producer. Day one on Friday March 27th will feature sessions geared towards starting up a brewery, cidery or distillery and advanced sessions for people managing existing businesses. Speakers scheduled include Kent ‘Battle’ Martin and Demaris Brown, Label Specialists from the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Paul Leone from the NYS Brewers Association, Eric Schatt from Cornell Orchards, Thomas Donahue from the NYS Liquor Authority, Bob Somers from NYS Ag and Markets and Randy Lacey founder of Hopshire Brewery. Some of the session topics are: the state of the industry for each beverage, marketing ideas, zoning issues, law and tax concerns, labels, trade-marks, scaling up production, working with distributors, and quality control. Friday will also feature a trade show including Waterloo Container, Northeast Hop Alliance, Cornell’s Lake Ontario Fruit Program, NY Farm Bureau, Prospero, Vance Metal, Hi-Tech Rochester, Niagara Label, US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau, NuCO2 and Goodnature Products. There will be a post-session social hour for networking. On Friday evening, participants are invited to a local craft beverage dinner at the Gould Hotel in Seneca Falls, featuring a three course dinner that incorporates beverages from Bellwether Cider, Myer Farm Distillers and Wagner Valley Brewing in the recipes. This dinner is also open to the general public. Registration for the first day of the conference is: https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/FLCraftBeverageDay1_245 . Information about the dinner is on the Association website.The second day on Saturday, March 28th will feature production-oriented sessions for beer, cider and distilling. Speakers include researchers and practitioners from Cornell as well as area producers. Beer-oriented sessions will include hops production and malting barley production in NYS, a hops supply-chain panel discussion and a malting barley supply-chain panel discussion. Cidery sessions will focus on cider apple varieties, cider orchard management and a cider apple panel discussion. On Saturday afternoon, a visit to the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station is planned. Participants will visit the Vinification and Brewing Laboratory and learn about Cornell’s research hopyard, Cornell’s apple breeding program and the USDA Apple Germplasm Collection. Among the speakers for the field trip will be Susan Brown, Cornell Apple Breeder and Chris Gerling, Manager of the Vinification and Brewing Laboratory. Space is limited for the field trip, so early registration is recommended. Registration for day two of the conference is found at: https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/FLCraftBeverageDay2_245 For registration and more information, go to Seneca County.org. Questions can be directed to Derek Simmonds, at 315-539-9251 or [email protected].