HONEOYE FALLS, NY -- CB’s Craft Brewers, one of the oldest and most prolific craft beer makers in Upstate New York, is closing Sept. 1.
Owners Mike and Luanne Alcorn have operated the brewery in Honeoye Falls, south of Rochester, since 1997. They plan to retire and have no plans to sell the business to a new owner. The future of the building and equipment are uncertain.
CB’s is “going out with a bang!” the Alcorns posted today on Facebook. CB’s hosts a 22nd Anniversary (and farewell) party from 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 24). Its last day in business will be the following Saturday, Aug. 31.
“Over the years we have made many friends, over many beers,” the Alcorns posted on Facebook. “We thank you for your patronage, friendship, and the memories ... but let’s not cry in our beer! It’s time to celebrate all of the fun that we have had!”
Alcorn, 63, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that he and his wife plan to settle in North Carolina.
The Alcorns founded their brewery in the early days of craft brewing following what was then, and still remains, an unusual business model.
The brewery was then called Custom Brewcrafters, and was located on the other side of the village from its current home at 300 Village Square Blvd.
At first, the brewery primarily brewed beers for bars, restaurants or other hospitality businesses that wanted “house” beers but didn’t want to operate breweries. Clients for those house beers over the years have included The Old Toad in Rochester, The Distillery pubs in Rochester and Syracuse, and the Brew and Brats pub at Arbor Hill Winery in Naples. Alcorn’s crew generally came up with the recipes.
That’s the business that put “Custom” in the company’s name, though Alcorn came to prefer the term “private label.” CB’s has had dozens of such clients over the years.
A second part of the business was what is known as contract brewing, in which a start-up brewery has recipes and hired CB’s to make the beer for them. Often, those brewers go on to open their own breweries.
Upstate breweries that got their start at CB’s include Three Heads Brewing in Rochester and Stoneyard Brewing in Brockport.
Beer from CB's Craft Brewers in Honeoye Falls: Caged Alpha Monkey IPA and MacBubba Scotch Ale.
Eventually, CB’s began making its own beers under its own label -- the most well known are Caged Alpha Monkey IPA and MacBubba Scotch Ale.
All three business models were successful enough for CB’s to move in 2008 into the big red barn-looking building it now occupies.
Despite the closing, the craft beer industry in the Rochester area and the rest of New York remains robust, with openings far outpacing closings. New York now has more than 400 breweries and Monroe County, where Honeoye Falls is located, has more than 25.
CB’s, as Custom Brewcrafters, was one of just three breweries in Monroe County when it opened (joining Genesee and Rohrbach).
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending," the Alcorns wrote on their Facebook post.
“You know, I think beer first and foremost ought to be fun,” Alcorn said in an interview with NYup.com in 2017. "We take what we do seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously and we certainly don’t take beer seriously. Let it be fun.”
Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.