Fourth brewery coming to Fairport; Preservation Beer Co. readies for Cannery space
Fourth brewery coming to Fairport; Preservation Beer Co. readies for Cannery space
The owners of Lock 32 Brewing and Seven Story Brewing are behind the village's latest brewery
And you thought the village of Fairport was a craft beverage destination before? Already home to Faircraft Brauhaus, Triphammer Bierwerks, and Fairport Brewing, it’s about to get even wilder as a fourth brewery is set to open along the Erie Canal.
Preservation Beer Company, 75 N. Main St., the new project from the owners behind Pittsford’s Lock 32 Brewing and Perinton’s Seven Story Brewing, is “dedicated to the preservation of things that matter to us, and to the community where we live and brew,” according to its just launched website.
It’s a fitting name for a 5,400-square-foot brewery that sits on the campus where beer preservation was improved, refined, and perfected at the American Can Company in the early 1900s. (And like the best band names, I am truly shocked this one wasn’t already taken.) Because the Preservation team is really paying attention to the details, the logo represents the seam of a can. The name has dual meanings — it’s both a nod the seams developed there and also the brewery putting down roots in the community.
Photo: Casey Dunlavey, left, Preservation co-owner, poses with head brewer Phill MacArthur inside their under-construction space in Fairport.
But it represents a new beginning and a fresh start for the Lock 32 crew as its sister brewery Seven Story will close its doors at the end of June following a dispute with its landlord. It will also allow Lock 32, and now Preservation, to bring all of its beer production in-house under the guidance of head brewer Phill MacArthur. The operations have largely been sustained over the past nine years through contract agreements with Custom Brewcrafters, Roc Brewing, and Rohrbach.
“This has been our dream since we started Lock 32,” co-owner Casey Dunlavey said. “We were lucky enough to be able to contract brew for a long time, and those breweries are what is so great about the brewing community here. They allowed us to grow organically and allowed a project like this to come to fruition.
“It’s a dream come true.”
Work on this latest project started more than two years ago. With a 10-barrel brewing system, the owners envisioned it would be big enough to supply all three breweries. MacArthur has been quietly developing and perfecting recipes for the past few years on Seven Story’s 1-barrel system. He’s especially excited about the lineup of IPAs he has planned. The equipment is already in the new space and drainage ditches have been dug.
If all goes according to plan, Preservation will open its doors later this summer.
“Phill is such a talented brewer and he’ll now have his fingerprints on all of our beers from start to finish,” Dunlavey said.
The Preservation space occupies one end of a long vacant warehouse owned by local developer Donohoe Management. The owner recently received $1 million in state grant money to rehab the 43,000-square-foot warehouse. The project will include indoor pickleball courts. Those will be located directly next door to the brewery.
And like its sister breweries, Preservation won’t have a kitchen. But it will encourage patrons to order from neighboring restaurants and enjoy the food at the brewery.
With the impending closure of Seven Story, Dunlavey said, “We had to pivot a little bit. But we didn’t change anything with the brewing system. It threw a little bit of a wrinkle into things. Now, we just have more room to grow.”
Dunlavey, MacArthur, and co-owner Seth Clark all live in Fairport. In fact, they all live within two miles of the new brewery. So Dunlavey said they always envisioned opening something closer to home. (Not that Pittsford and Perinton are that far away.) MacArthur is just excited he’ll be able to easily bike to work now.
“Fairport is our home and it’s where we wanted to be,” Dunlavey said.
They began discussions with economic development officials in Fairport nearly four years ago, Dunlavey said. Village officials provided potential properties and the Preservation crew vetted all the candidates. Many were considered before they settled on the upcoming spot.
“We had a couple near moves over the last couple of years that didn’t quite work out,” Dunlavey said. “And that happened for a reason, obviously. It’s a booming area. The government is supportive of business. You see the growth down here. There are people everywhere.”
Preservation is across the shared parking lot from Faircraft, the excellent lager-focused, German-influenced brewery, and within a few hundred feet of Iron Smoke Distillery and Triphammer. (Fairport Brewing has since moved its production out of the village but still maintains a taproom on South Main Street.)
“The business model is, we want to go where the people are,” Dunlavey said. “And we believe in the product we’re putting forward. It’s an old warehouse with concrete floors. It’s really just a great blank slate.”
Dunlavey said the space is roughly 4,600 square feet. A mezzanine planned for above the walk-in cooler adds almost 1,000 more square feet. The brewery will also have a fireplace inside and ample outdoor patio space with a garage door that can be opened when the weather cooperates. (Check out the renderings in the gallery above.) Jim Corbett from Corbett Contracting is handling the buildout. Dunlavey said he is a wonderful partner as they work to transform the space.
Like he did with their previous project, Dunlavey’s father-in-law is building Preservation’s bar.
MacArthur, who previously worked at Custom Brewcrafters, said he is beyond excited “to be back in the production world on a real world, big boy system.” He is more traditionally focused, but remains committed to variety.
“The excitement that comes with having a full production brewery, it just changes the whole dynamic. It’s fun. It gives us more flexibility and allows us to experiment a bit more.”
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