It’s official! We’ve received our farm brewery license, making Mazza Chautauqua Cellars / Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing the first combination winery, distillery and brewery in all of New York State! We’re one of only a handful of places in the whole country to have a winery, distillery and brewery license all under the same roof. That’s out of 8000+ wineries, 3000+ breweries and 600+ distilleries.
The brewery at Five & 20 was born out of plans to expand our craft distillery and our ongoing quest for challenges and penchant for venturing out into new realms. The expanded distillery at our new location in Westfield afforded the perfect opportunity to begin to create craft beers, as much of the equipment used for distilling is also used for brewing (and vice-versa.) Our 10-barrel brew house not only allows us to mash for whiskey production, but is now reaching its full potential by serving the brewery, as well.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about having a winery, distillery and brewery all under one roof are the opportunities we will have to creatively integrate equipment, ingredients and processes. This will allow us to craft unique “crossover” products, such as our already-released Afterburner Bierschnapps.
Beer production is just beginning, and we have plans to debut some of our first beers at the Erie Micro Brew Festival on April 18th. Our initial beer releases will form a “core” base of beers, from which we will build and develop unique takes of products that will take advantage of and showcase our unique “combination” location. All of our craft beers will incorporate locally grown hops & grains, including some that are grown on-site in Westfield, NY on our 80 acres of farmland.
Look for craft beer releases throughout late April and May of this year, and be sure to like us on Facebook “Fiveand20,” follow us on Twitter @Fiveand20, and sign-up for our newsletter at www.Fiveand20.com to find out “what’s brewing” at Five & 20.