Canton, NY, Oct 25, 2012 — Like Governor Cuomo at his beer, wine, and liquor summit Wednesday in Albany, a pair of Canton entrepreneurs is hoping craft beer sales will provide an economic lift.

Ken and Katrina Hebb, owners of the Blackbird Cafe in Canton, are starting St. Lawrence County's first microbrewery. The St. Lawrence Brewing Company is leasing space in a new industrial building in Canton. They're ready to start moving in next week and hope to start selling beer by St. Patrick's Day.

Ken Hebb gave David Sommerstein a tour.  Go to full article

Utica, NY, Jun 27, 2012 — Hot weather calls for cold beer, and that means good business for New York's microbreweries. But as the Innovation Trail's Ryan Delaney reports, a lawsuit earlier this year almost caused New York's beer-makers' fizz to go flat.  Go to full article

Rochester, NY, Nov 25, 2011 — Craft beer has proven recession-proof. With sales climbing as the overall beer market remains flat, a pair of friends decided to turn a hobby into a business. As the Innovation Trail's Zack Seward reports, Rochester's newest microbrewery is now getting national attention.  Go to full article

Ogdensburg, NY, Sep 13, 2011 — Some people collect stamps, some people collect Star Wars action figures. One woman in St. Lawrence County collects memorabilia from the relatively old-fashioned beer, Schlitz. David Sommerstein visited the Schlitz Museum for today's Heard Up North. There are still places to buy Schlitz in the area. Michelle Whalen of Morristown knows of all of them.  Go to full article

Tupper Lake, NY, Aug 11, 2011 — If you're interested in eating locally, the folks at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake are setting up a feast of information and food today. Stefanie Ratcliffe is director of the Wild Center. She says they hold a farmer's market every Thursday, but they wanted to do more to help people find ways to eat locally and to find local food and beer producers.  Go to full article

Ferrisburgh, VT, Jul 13, 2011 — "Get big or get out" is a common wisdom in the dairy industry. And many small-scale farms have gotten out. Northern New York has half the dairy farms it did 20 years ago, and the remaining farms are generally much bigger. Some are much, much bigger.

In Vermont, the number of dairy farms dropped below 1,000 in May. But not everybody getting out of dairy is leaving farming altogether. One family operation in Ferrisburgh is repurposing the farm, and starting small. Angela Evancie has this installment of our series, Farmers Under 40.  Go to full article

North Creek, NY, Jun 10, 2011 — The North Creek Business Alliance organized the first annual North Creek Brew Fest on the Hudson in order to help fund a winter shuttle to Gore Mountain and make the town a destination. Sarah Harris was there to sample the festivities.  Go to full article

Jul 18, 2003 — It takes a lot of water and a lot of grain to brew a good beer. And once that beer is made, there's a lot of spent material and water left over. This excess is usually just considered waste. But two guys in the Great Lakes region decided to start a brewery that would focus on reducing pollution and waste and then re-using whatever was left over. They wanted to show how helping the earth could also help business. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Annie MacDowell reports.  Go to full article