Henrietta's first brewery, Mountain Roads, to open this fall
Nanobrewery will offer a rotating series of hazy IPAs and not much else (and that's precisely how the owner wants it)
Look into the cavernous 2,400-square-foot space right now and it appears unfinished. Beams are still exposed. Walls haven’t been painted. There is no signage to identify the business, except for the two pieces of pallet wood with “Mountain Roads Brewing” written on them.
This is precisely how Jacob Parlett wants the space at the Genesee Valley Regional Market to look. The 36-year-old Penfield resident is eyeing a simplistic approach, where the focus is solely on the beer and pumping out a series of hazy India pale ales. Mountain Roads Brewing, Parlett’s Henrietta brewery, should open in October. Surprisingly, it’ll be Henrietta’s first brewery. He’s now awaiting licensing and approvals.
It won’t offer food, feature a tasting room, or provide a spot to sit back and relax. Instead, Mountain Roads, which will become Monroe County’s smallest brewery (capacity-wise), promises a rotating series of hazy beers, all canned. Parlett envisions customers swinging into 900 Jefferson Road Suite 1603, grabbing some beer, and enjoying it wherever their adventures might lead them. He will offer samples.
“I want it to be all about the beer, which is the root of the concept I’m jumping into here,” Parlett said. “It’s not a brewpub. There won’t be beer for consumption on-site. It’s all cans to go.”
Photo: Jacob Parlett, founder/brewer at Mountain Roads Brewing in Henrietta.
If this all sounds like the origins of legendary Massachusetts craft brewery Tree House, that’s because it should. That’s where Parlett found his inspiration. That’s not to say he hopes to bring that Tree House experience to Rochester, especially since that place is one of a kind. But he loves that brewery’s humble origin.
He remembers the first time he had a Tree House hoppy offering. Tree House perfected the New England-style IPA. It’s the style known for its hazy appearance, low bitterness, full mouthfeel, and abundance of fruity hop character. That sparked an obsession and a mission to brew something similar. Now, that’s the focus of Mountain Roads.
“That style of beer is what I like to drink,” Parlett said. “That’s what I’m gonna focus on making. I think there is still room to push the envelope, especially here. There are a lot of new hops coming out of Australia and New Zealand that are really awesome. I want to focus on blends, process, and cranking out quality hazy beers.”
The space presents a unique opportunity. Since it is in a building controlled by the Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority, the brewery is given some distinct advantages as part of the 123-acre development. (I’m not gonna get too into the weeds with how its taxed or not, but just know that is different than other local retail/business spots due to state law. So yeah, it’s a good, advantageous spot to open your business.)
The complex hosts Palmer’s Food Service, Cheesy Eddie’s, Lori’s Natural Foods, Union Place Coffee Roasters, and too many more to responsibly list. Businesses like AJ’s Beer Warehouse and the Holiday Inn also sit on authority land. The complex stretches between Clay, East Henrietta, and Jefferson roads, as well as Mushroom Boulevard.
The GVRMA was created by state law in 1951, provides some tax benefits, and is currently home to 190 companies.
Parlett said he looked for a space for five months, including some spots on the west side of the city of Rochester, before stumbling onto his current home. While getting his hair cut one day, his barber said, “Why don’t you check out the regional market?”
This unique setup is perfect for a brewery, Parlett. Rent is exceedingly reasonable and much of the infrastructure needed for a brewery is already in place. After he cold-called the administrator of the market, Parlett knew he had found the perfect home for Mountain Roads, even if he was initially looking for something smaller. Some of the internal framing to create a second floor was already in place. And there is a separate space for an office and a walk-in cooler.
“It’s pretty much a perfect blank canvas,” Parlett shared, as he showed off the newly dug floor drains necessary for the brewing process. It’s weird the things you get excited about opening a business like a brewery. But those floor drains are a tangible sign of progress and show the brewery inching forward to completion.
The name, Mountain Roads, holds a lot of personal meaning for Parlett. He grew up in Allegany County in the Southern Tier. Parlett spent many summers traveling the backroads of Pennsvlvania en route to the family cabin. The name crystallized while on a family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
“Mountain roads have always led to adventure for me,” he said. “I want to push the envelope on the hazies. I want to give you an adventure in beer. I want to make something fun and exciting happen.”
Parlett recently took delivery of his brewing system, a sparking 1-barrel system. Soon, his five fermentation tanks will be delivered. And then, he can start filling them.
Parlett joked that his journey to brewery ownership isn’t unlike the hopes held by a lot of craft beer nerds. (It goes something like this, “Oh, I love craft beer. Oh, I’m an expert on craft beer. Oh, I’m brewing pretty good beer. Oh, my friends like what I’m brewing. Oh, I should probably open a brewery.”)
“The thought of opening a brewery has been in the back of my mind for a quite a while,” he said. “It’s not ever something I thought I would take action on. A lot of people are probably in that boat.”
It’s always fun to daydream.
After spending more than a decade in the corporate world as a software developer, he decided to take the plunge. Parlett’s wife, Rachael, herself a former teacher, started an online teaching resource website around the same time he began his journey as a software developer. Her business has really taken off, he said, allowing him to rekindle those brewery dreams. He even left his job to assist in her business.
That got him thinking, “What’s next?”
“I just want to focus on the beer and cranking out quality beer,” Parlett said. “Hopefully there’s demand for it. And the nice part about this place is that I can scale up pretty easily. If there’s a huge demand and I can’t keep up, I can add more tanks.
“Start small. Figure out the formula. And go from there. I’m gonna go slow. I am not in a huge hurry.”
Of note: Since publishing an announcement for Smugtown Brewing in May 2023, news has been slow to trickle out about the proposed business at 2199 East Henrietta Road in Suburban Plaza. I’ve seen signs of progress, including a brewhouse awaiting installation in the parking lot. There’s even a temporary sign still on the building exterior. According to the town website, the project was approved on July 18, 2023.
When sharing Henrietta beer news, I anticipated I’d get some questions about Smugtown. So I reached out to one of the owners for comment and he said he doesn’t have any update at this time. So y’all know as much as I do at this point. I’ll share more once I find out anything concrete. It would be exceedingly cool to have two Henrietta breweries. I have zero doubt the town could easily support them both, especially since they would have vastly different aims.
Some fun context: While Mountain Roads will be the first brewery in the regional market, it won’t be the first craft beverage producer. Blue Toad Hard Cider opened in the complex in 2014 (it’s in the newer building right behind Palmer’s Food Supply). Blue Toad still produces at the market and has a tasting room. It also has operations in Virginia. This just demonstrates
Some fun history: Calling Mountain Roads “Henrietta’s first brewery” is a bit misleading and incorrect. (But it’s truly semantics at this point.) The Rochester Brewpub opened in 1988 at the former Quality Inn, 900 Jefferson Road. It was open until 1997 and featured a very distinct atmosphere, where patrons could enjoy peanuts and discard the shells on the floor. So when I say Mountain Roads is Henrietta’s first brewery, it’s the town’s first brewery in at least 25 years. (And before you ask, the old Flour City Brewing Co., which was located across from Monroe Community College, was in Brighton. It was open from 2004 to 2005.) You can read the Rochester Brewpub preview story at the link below: https://x.com/WillCleveland13/status/1828199133284573673.
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.