Bottomless Brewing in Geneva sold; Seneca Lake brewery becomes Watershed Brewing

New owners plan to upgrade the 17-acre property to take advantage of lake views, hope to re-open in the coming weeks.

A 1950s-era Seneca County dairy barn remodeled to feel like a beer cathedral will be taking on new life once again.

Ken and Lisa Greenwood, Avon residents, purchased the 17-acre Bottomless Brewing property from Dr. Tom Thompson recently and will soon re-open as Watershed Brewing. Bottomless, 3543 East Lake Road, located just off Route 96-A in northern Seneca County, took 22 months to transform before opening in May 2016.

Ken said the plan is to open the re-imagined brewery in the next few weeks and then focus on some incremental changes, including adding more outdoor seating capacity and relocating the second-floor kitchen.

The 14,000-square-foot barn originally housed 72 cows with 750,000 pounds of hay on the second floor. The Greenwoods bought all of the brewing equipment and Bottomless recipes with the purchase. The 15-barrel brewhouse includes nine 30-barrel fermenters and one 30-barrel Brite tank.

“I’ve wanted to be in business for myself pretty much my entire life,” Ken Greenwood said. Greenwood, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in environmental engineering said, “I’ve been in manufacturing all my life, all different kinds of manufacturing, and right now, I’m consulting.” And then about 13 years ago, he completed a second master’s degree in business administration.

The Greenwoods moved to Avon in 2003 from Penn Yan after they operated a bed and breakfast for five years in the Yates County village. They arrived in the Finger Lakes from Connecticut. Lisa is an assistant professor in environmental management at RIT’s College of Engineering Technology. Lisa and Ken met while completing their environmental engineering graduate degrees.

Ken said he was inspired by the brewery boom over the last seven years in Livingston County, particularly the success of Mortalis Brewing in Avon and Rising Storm Brewing in Livonia. A longtime homebrewer, Ken said it is “really the quintessential story.” And just before the pandemic pause in early 2020, the Greenwoods really began exploring how to make this dream a reality.

“I was originally going to build something from the ground up here in the Genesee Valley,” Ken said. “We had about 25 criteria we wanted to find from a location standpoint. And one of them was a place with a view, whether it be a valley, a lake, or a river, or something like that.”

Bottomless, with its vineyard view and Seneca Lake in the background, certainly fits one of Ken’s major criteria. But before Ken pushed forward with the Bottomless buy, he explored constructing a new structure closer to home. Working with local economic development officials, he said they just couldn’t find the right fit, especially during a period when there was a focus on sustaining pre-existing local businesses.

When Bottomless became available in July 2021, Ken and Lisa visited immediately and realized it fit all of the criteria — except for one, the distance from their home in Avon. They wanted something within 45 minutes and Bottomless is about 55 minutes away.

“But for 10 minutes outside of our window, I think we could swing that,” Ken offered with a chuckle. After a few months of back and forth on price, they agreed to terms. The Greenwoods finally closed on the property on March 29 of this year.

Ken said they currently don’t plan to resurrect any of the Bottomless brands, but he wouldn’t rule it out in the future. The hope remains to better show off what makes the space so unique.

“You cut holes in the floor to showcase the brewery and I’d like to showcase that, let people walk around and check it all out,” Ken said. To better do that, the exposed kitchen will be moved to the south end of the second floor. “I want to showcase the stainless steel and the process and be part of educating our patrons.”

The view was a big selling point for the property, too. And as it stands now, the only place to take in the panoramic view of Seneca Lake is sitting on the small exterior deck. The Greenwoods hope to eventually remedy and rectify that by potentially opening up the front of the building and expanding the deck.

“We want to make it so that when you’re inside the building, you can still take advantage of the view,” Ken said. “It’s a major renovation, but we think we can do it with the right architect and constructions involved. I’ve already talked to an architect and he said he could open up one whole side of the roof.

“The whole idea is to make it a destination, make it so people can enjoy the views and the sunset, play the lawn games.”

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