Top 5: Breweries in the Finger Lakes

Ithaca Beer Company

Local Bottling Plant © Ithaca Beer Company

The region’s most popular brewery, located in the college town of Ithaca, offers some of the area’s most flavorful and varied beers as well as regular tours with free tastings. In the spring and summer, sip the brewery’s bestseller, its fruity Apricot Wheat, while playing Frisbee and enjoying music in the brewery’s backyard or enjoy a pairing dinner in the fall and winter in its huge taproom. Be sure to take home a bottle or two of its hard-to-find, limited-release Excelsior series.

Two Goats Brewing

© Two Goats Brewing

Perched on a hill facing the eastern shore of Seneca Lake, this small, rustic brewpub boasts impressive brews and views as well as good beef in a renovated 19^th-century barn that sits in the middle of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. While lounging on the deck and soaking up the serenity of the lake, enjoy the brewery’s sure-to-please farm-style beers and the only dish on the menu — a delicious roast beef sandwich featuring hard-carved beef piled high on a roll from a local bakery and topped with horseradish mayo.

Roosterfish Brewing

Sitting down the road from Two Goats Brewing on the south end of Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen, Roosterfish Brewing is based out of the Wildflower Café and Crooked Rooster Brewpub. Sample light and dark beers brewed with crisp Seneca Lake water and organic malts and hops while feasting on pub fare with local ingredients.

War Horse Brewing Company

© War Horse Brewing Company

Get a Finger Lakes wine experience and enjoy a delicious brew at Three Brothers Winery and Estates, featuring three separate wineries and a brewery all on one property. Try the Riesling Ale to enjoy the best of both worlds — a wheat beer blended with pure New York Riesling juice.

Wagner Valley Brewery

An offshoot of Wagner Vineyards, one of the region’s oldest wineries, Wagner Valley Brewing focuses on European-style beers that adhere to the German Purity Law of 1516 that states only the finest of malts, hops, water and yeast can be used in the production of beer.