Hops, labor and Canal boost beer making

Story by Madeleine Oliveras

Photos by Sky Zhuang

Long, green vines twist up sturdy twine strands as they chase the sun. Cone-shaped buds are just beginning to open up in the summer heat of central New York’s Madison County. The hops cones growing at Foothill Hops Farm Brewery in Munnsville will become beer someday.  

Owners Kate and Larry Fisher got their start in 2001 after a friend gave them a hop plant. What began as a hobby turned into a friendly competition with a neighboring farmer to see who could grow more hops. By 2017, Foothill Hops Farm Brewery was born, and two businesses, brewing and hop cultivation, converged.

Hop fields and breweries were not always found in such close proximity, or even in central New York. Hops were introduced to Madison County’s welcoming climate in the 1800s.

Sky Zhuang

Larry and Kate Fisher, owners of Foothill Hops Farm Brewery in Munnsville.

New York beer historian Bob Allers said laborers traveled to Madison County every summer to work the hops harvest, and a brewing industry arose to serve a workforce of readymade customers. 

With increased beer production in the region, the Erie Canal served as the perfect means of distribution.

The Canal’s initial construction from 1817-1825 and expansion from 1836-1842 served as a major draw for immigrants in search of labor and opportunity. Cities like Utica and Syracuse flourished as a result of the Canal’s benefits of trade and travel, and with that growth came an increased demand for beer. In 1892, nine breweries were operating along the Canal in downtown Syracuse.

“The new, cheaper and more efficient transportation systems of the canal also were a big impetus for breweries to set up right alongside the Canal,” said Derrick Pratt, director of education at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. “It’s a much smoother ride, much more consistent via water than by land.” 

Sky Zhuang

A photo of a farmer hanging on the wall at the Foothill Hops Farm Brewery.

Allers said the Canal’s water itself became a key ingredient in beer production. In winter months, the ice was even harvested from the water to keep the beer cool in storage. 

The growth in brewing prompted another industry along the canal: coopering, the craft of making barrels and casks used to ship and store beer.

“When the workers came in through the canals — the Irish and the Germans — they liked beer, so they brought a lot of those trades with them — cooperage, beer making,” he said. “Everything was being shipped in casks.” 

Along with their appreciation of beer, immigrants brought new styles to the States. Created by different brewing methods, pilsners and lagers had a distinct taste compared to the ales that were popular at the time. Allers said American beer drinking would never be the same, and pilsners and lagers remain top sellers with consumers today. 

Though many of the original breweries that sprang up along the Canal in the 19th century have long since closed, F.X. Matt Brewing Company traces its roots back to that era. 

F.X. Matt was founded in 1888 by German immigrant Francis Xavier Matt and has remained in the Matt family for four generations. 

In the early 20th century, the brewery survived the temperance era by producing lines of soft drinks and other products such as Utica Club. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the brewery then known as the West End Brewing Co. became the first licensed in the country to sell beer again.

F.X. Matt has been commonly known as Saranac Brewery since the emergence of craft beers starting in the 1980s. Today, the downtown Utica brewery is open for tours and opportunities to taste the beer that was born on the Canal.

Robert Searing, the Onondaga Historical Association’s history curator, said New York’s robust beer industry today is an unanticipated result of the Canal. 

The impact of the Canal and immigration to cities allowed for a shift in the way people consume beer. Beer eventually transitioned from a safe water alternative to a whole life and culture of its own, Searing explained.

“The immigrants built this state, they built the canal, they built the businesses — they brought their culture with them,” Searing said. “This is a craft that has to be taken very seriously, and those guys brought it with them — the love, the culture — and they transplanted it here in America. I’m grateful that they did.”