Cannery crawl: Fairport entertainment complex becomes craft beer destination

Fairport village complex features three breweries, pickleball club, sports bar, distillery, and a whole lot more.

I grew up during the era of East End Fest. (If you don’t know what that is, I’ll pause for a second while you Google it.)

Me and my knucklehead buddies would congregate at the bars and clubs in and around East Avenue and Alexander Street. This was before we discovered that Monroe Avenue was more our speed and our scene. (We spent lots of time at Acme, and I can really thank that place for sparking my love of craft beer.) In the East End, we’d find ourselves in places like Vinyl, the Pig and Whistle, Daisy Duke’s, SoHo East, Mex, and whatever other spots I’m forgetting or have permanently blocked out.

(Anyone know what happened to Ronnie Davis, the dude who owned a lot of those establishments?)

It’s hard to comprehend that these escapades happened nearly 20 years ago. Now, at age 40, it’s wild to think that I ever participated in this ritual. As I’ve matured, I’ve realized that I am really a dive bar, brewery taproom kind of guy. (And with the arrival of our 2-year-old Audie, we have become an afternoon brewery taproom and patio family.)

While the East End is still a destination (I’ll always love Salinger’s — home of the coldest Genny Light in town), particularly during the Jazz Fest, the village of Fairport has recently become the most buzzed about entertainment destination in the area. Fairport has long featured wonderful restaurants and businesses along its picturesque Main Street and along the Erie Canal. Recently, the Cannery complex at the former American Can Company campus has become one of Monroe County’s most expansive and exciting entertainment destinations. Plus, how cool is it that the former home of the American Can Company, where the canning industry was revolutionized in the early 1900s, has been re-imagined as a craft beverage destination?

It now features three breweries, a pickleball club, golf simulator, sewing store, distillery, restaurant, sports bar, and a few other businesses. On a recent Saturday afternoon, I parked at the Cannery and visited the three breweries. Here’s a report on what I discovered, what I enjoyed, and what I’d like to see improved. Fairport has an embarrassment of riches. And I think it could be even better with some careful planning.

Faircraft Brauhaus

I remember standing in the dirty, dirty warehouse at 25 Parce Ave. in May 2019, when Faircraft co-founders Jeff Reimer, Matthias West, and Steve Landgren were trying to outline the brewery’s vision. (The brewery didn’t open early 2021.) It was hard to imagine the warehouse, which at that point housed the property owner’s car collection and in-storage 3.5-barrel brewing system, becoming a welcoming craft brewery. That’s why it’s really cool and rewarding to see the vision take shape and for Faircraft to settle in as one of the Rochester’s best producers of traditional styles.

(I’ll have a really enlightening newsletter very, very soon about Faircraft’s innovative brewhouse and how its allowing to fully embrace its historical and traditional inclinations.)

Faircraft was my first Cannery crawl stop during my rare Audie-free weekend. While there, I really enjoyed brewery’s absurdly rich and smooth Baltic porter, as well as cask-pulled German-style Pilsner (which was conditioned on Tettnanger hops). Faircraft hosts a Firkin Friday every week, always featuring one of its beers with a different edition. (Off the top of my head, it’s the only brewery in the area with cask beer.)

Faircraft is among the best spots in this region to enjoy a mug of fresh, local lager.

Preservation Beer Co.

After my stop at Faircraft, I walked across the parking lot to Preservation Beer Co., the newest brewery in the village. Preservation is just a beautiful spot. It’s exceedingly comfortable and shows a nearly unmatched attention to detail — every single corner of the space has been maximized and outfitted perfectly. On a beautifully sunny day, multiple garage doors are opened, allowing the space to fluidly connect to the outdoors and the ample patio.

Preservation is the brainchild of Seth Clark and Casey Dunlavey, the owners of Pittsford’s Lock 32 Brewing and the shuttered Seven Story Brewing in Bushnell’s Basin. It was long envisioned as the production home for the duo’s three taprooms (each with a different name). Head brewer Phill MacArthur is finally producing beers in-house on the brewery’s 10-barrel system. That will allow Lock 32 and Preservation to slowly move away from the contract model. (Its beers are currently produced at Rohrbach.)

The fruits of MacArthur’s labors are finally resulting in some Preservation-produced beers. Currently, MacArthur has a summer ale and hard seltzer on draft. I’ve been told that three IPAs are currently fermenting. I am really excited to see MacArthur given this opportunity and can’t wait to try more of his beers, because Preservation really is a great place to hang out.

Triphammer Bierwerks

Triphammer is the Cannery’s original brewery. Owner/brewer Scott Denhart, one of the region’s hardest-working and most opinionated participants, opened the 15-barrel brewery in September 2016. Neighboring Iron Smoke Distilling opened in 2014. Triphammer is one of the more striking locations in the area, particularly the attached brewery with the arching and historic windows above the brewing system.

I really like what I wrote in my Triphammer opening story:

To Denhart, the name represents his resolve and desire to pursue his passion and his dream.

"I just like the idea of a big, driving hammer that no one’s going to stop," he said.

"I think breweries like (California craft beer pioneer) Sierra Nevada guide me," Denhart added. "They’re not on the outward cusp of craziness, but every time you open a Sierra Nevada, you know it’s going to be good. They’re known for quality. I want to be known for that. I want to be known as someone who tries really hard, and if I’m going to sell it, you can at least know that we did the best we could. And if it’s not good enough, we won’t sell it."

At Triphammer, I enjoyed a really nice Pilsner and a Munich Dunkel. The combination of fresh, local lager, combined with a really enlightening conversation with Denhart, made for a great way to pass a few hours. While talking with Denhart, we hit on everything from Wegmans’ outsized impact on the local craft beer industry (that is probably something I should explore in a future newsletter) to how difficult it is to compete nowadays. It’s so, so hard to find an audience and even harder to maintain that audience’s attention. That’s why I applaud those who are making it work.

I was reminded of how important it is to support local and how I’ve always tried to champion what I love. So this is an invitation for you to do the same. Find what you love, support it, and trumpet and amplify it as much as you can. Thanks for reading.

My conclusion: The Cannery is wonderful. It’s really cool to see new life at complex. Triphammer, Iron Smoke, and Faircraft really kick-started that explosion of growth. But I think it’s gotten to the point where there is too much there. A quick search shows there are 18 businesses (some businesses might have multiple licenses) with liquor licenses within a few hundred feet. Most of those are in the Cannery complex. There are a few more pending. (I just pulled up the SLA database and searched for liquor licenses at 75 N. Main St. in Fairport.)

That’s too much. It’s an increasingly weird and tenuous time in the beer industry. People, specifically members of Gen Z, are drinking less beer than any generation before. Competition has continued to ramp up. We’ve already seen a number of closings and consolidations in this region (and will undoubtedly see more). So my question: When is it too much? And have we already gotten there? I’m just advocating for smart planning, progress, and attentive landlords.

The Cannery is really cool. But it’s a bit overwhelming.

A final note: It’s pretty wild to think I’ve been working on this independent publication for over two years now. In that time, I’ve published 200 newsletters, highlighted some of my favorite people in the industry, curated two beers festivals (that featured 150 participants and 4,600 attendees), and continued to break all the biggest news in the region (closures, consolidations, openings, etc.).

The Cleveland Prost remains the preeminent source for regional beer news. If you own a brewery, bar, or beer-adjacent business, this is the best place to reach the nerds you wanna be in front of. So I remain open to sponsorships, advertisements, and sponsored content. Feel free to reach out to me at clevelandprost@gmail.com for more. And more than anything, thanks for all the support. None of this would be possible without the devoted (and thirsty) audience.