My name is John C. Henneberg and I'm currently in the process of opening my own Microbrewery in a barn on property owned by my family. My wife and I opened a restaurant in the Village of Cazenovia on July 27, 2012 and it has been going great ever since. We proudly serve many local beers and wines. We feature Good Nature Brewing, Empire Brewing Company, Critz Farms Hard Cider (Harvest Moon Cidery), Owera Vineyard Wines, and many others. Check out our website at HennebergTavern.com. Here is my beer story:
I started brewing beer in 2007. My first brew was a pale ale kit that I bought online. From that moment on I was hooked! I fell in love with everything about brewing. I read more about beer and brewing than I ever read in college.
But let's take a step back. When I was in college, a friend turned me on to the world of better beer. I had no idea there was such flavor to beer. My young, stupid mind thought that Busch Lite and Keystone were the best tasting beers ever....was I wrong!! Good flavored beers were hard to get into at first. But every time I went out (I lived in Boston at the time) I would buy a different beer style: wheat, pale ale, IPA, stout, red ale, etc. This opened my mind and my heart to flavor and hops. A few years later I lived in Portland Maine and I fell in love with Gritty McDuff's! It will always be one of my favorite Microbreweries in the world. At this same time, a friend of mine had an extra ticket to a beer dinner at a local pub near his house in Templeton, Massachusetts. The guest speaker was Sam Calagione and the beers were from the DogfishHead Brewery. I had no clue who he was or where his brewery was. There was about 50 people packed into this little establishment and the first beer poured with my salad was in a snifter. I was so confused, mostly because the snifter was only filled 1/3 of the way. Considering how that little snifter was probably about 11% ABV it was enough for me. By the end of the night (we had 5 or 6 beer tastings) I was lit up. I bought Sam's book and talked to him for a bit, he signed it, then we headed home for the night. I don't remember how any of the beers tasted but I do remember trying Midus Touch and a 90 Minute IPA.
After these events, I moved back to my hometown of Cazenovia, NY. It wasn't until I was having a drink with a friend one night when he said to me, "Why don't you make your own beer, ya know kinda like moonshine?" I started researching and learning about beer. I didn't know there was so much to the world of beer. Water, Hops, Barley, and Yeast can be used in an endless amount of combinations.
Where do I stand now? I culture my own yeast, a local farmer is growing 3 acres of 2-row barley on my land, I make my own recipes, and I grow my own hops. My goal is to grow 100% of all my materials within the next 8-10 years. One thing I'm passionate about is buying local and being local. I try and get all my stuff from local people. I love doing things on my own so growing my own was the next step. This way I can use the land in a productive manner. It is good for us and it is good for the environment. The other thing I'm big about is doing things organically. It frustrates me about all the chemicals and harmful ingredients added to food. Cows, chickens, corn... you name it they are full of bad chemicals. But you can learn more about this from my good friend Mike over at FitSyracuse. I also raise my own chickens for fresh, free range, and artificial growth hormone free eggs.
Alcohol is a wonderful thing; don’t ruin it for everyone else. Please don’t drink and drive.
Don't just drink beer, drink good beer.
Cheers!
Cheers!
