January is Stout Month at these five Canandaigua breweries
"If you grow the whole pie, everyone will get a bigger slice. Leaning into community helps everyone.”
Note: This newsletter is made possible through a partnership between the Cleveland Prost and the participating Canandaigua breweries.
It’s no secret that the craft brewing industry is in a weird and precarious position as we enter 2025.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, brewery closures outpaced openings, according to the Colorado-based Brewers Association. And the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions weren’t immune to that trend. Our scene mirrored that national phenomenon.
Amidst the tenuous reality, there still shines a bright beacon of community and togetherness, particularly in Ontario County where breweries in Canandaigua are hosting their fifth annual Stout Month. First conceived by Frequentem Brewing co-founder/head brewer David D’Allesandro, Stout Month encourages patrons to visit participating breweries frequently and rewards them with weekly new releases and a commemorative glass.
Because even though times are tough, D’Allesandro believes that “if you grow the whole pie, everyone will get a bigger slice. Leaning into community helps everyone.”
He continued, “When we opened (in August 2020), I knew Canandaigua could be quiet at some points in the year. I wasn’t sure which month was the slowest, so I reached out to other brewery owners and asked them, ‘What’s the slowest month? Because I would like to do something about it.’ There’s no reason Canandaigua can’t be busy during the winter — the proximity of Bristol Mountain and there’s still activity in the area. My goal was to market it better and do something to attract people into Canandaigua in the winter. The brewery owners came back and told me January was the slowest month. So I said, ‘Alright, let’s do something about it.’ I heard of a city in Colorado doing Stout Month and it working out well for them. So I suggested that.”
Over the past five editions, beer nerds have been drawn to Canandaigua (and some of the neighboring breweries in Ontario County).
Here is who is participating in Canandaigua:
Frequentem Brewing, 254 S. Main St.
Peacemaker Brewing, 39 Coach St.
Other Half Brewing, 24 Lakeshore Dr.
Twisted Rail Brewing, 169 Lakeshore Dr.
Naked Dove Brewing, 4048 State Route 5 &, US-20.
Here is how it works:
Visit each of the participating breweries and order a stout. At the first stop, request a punch card and then receive a punch for each spot visited and each stout enjoyed. Once you’ve filled up the card, you will be gifted a commemorative Stout Month glass.
And if you’ve participated in any of the past four Stout Months, you know the glass has been unique every year. It’s always a different shape and features a different logo/design. So you could well be on your way to a nice little collectible collection right now. (And I know how much thought and work D’Allesandro puts into the glassware selection every year. So it’s always cool to see what he comes up with.)
And here’s why you should be excited:
The variety and camaraderie of the Canandaigua scene really sets it apart. Each of the five breweries does it a bit differently. You’ll discover the dark, malty, and German lovingly recreated at Naked Dove. Twisted Rail features one of the best views of Canandaigua Lake. Live music is a huge focus on Peacemaker. Other Half Lakeshore, the newest branch office from the Brooklyn craft beer heavyweight, isn’t known for nuance. And with its current lineup of bodacious stout offerings, you can see OH leaned all the way into Stout Month. Frequentem gives you a bit of everything, all done exceedingly well.
Each Friday, Frequentem is releasing a new small-batch stout offering in bottles and on draft. Already, it has released its annual American Imperial Stout and its collaborative Affogato Imperial Stout, which is brewed with hand-selected coffee beans from Working Class Coffee in Canandaigua. Upcoming is an almond vanilla imperial stout (a classic Rochester flavor profile that mirrors the famous Abbott’s Frozen Custard flavor).
And the month-long celebration of dark beers undoubtedly helps other Canandaigua businesses as more and more visitors are flocking to the area. It’s quite easy to make a day of it and even easier to travel safely between the breweries with the help of ride-sharing or a designated driver. Plus, you can spend the night at one of Canandaigua’s many hotels.
D’Allesandro is one of the sunniest people you’ll meet in craft beer. So to hear him admit that 2024 was a difficult year for the industry, it drives home how much uncertainty craft breweries face right now.
“We can promote each other and help everyone out,” D’Allesandro said.
For more on Stout Month, check out the respective social media feeds from each participating brewery or visit the central website here.