Rising Storm Brewing to breathe new life into historic Daisy Flour Mill

Get an exclusive look inside the Penfield property that will become the second location for this Livonia brewery

Note: This newsletter is supported by Donnelly’s Public House, a wonderful canal-side establishment in the village of Fairport.

One of Rochester’s most historic spots will soon be home to one of its most lauded breweries. It’s an unlikely marriage and one that will require a lot of imagination.

Rising Storm Brewing, which opened its original Livonia location in 2018, recently closed on the vacant Daisy Flour Mill property, 1880 Blossom Road, in Penfield and has gained all of the necessary town approvals to transform the building on the 3-acre site into Monroe County’s newest destination brewery.

The mill, which was constructed in 1840 above Irondequoit Creek opposite what is now Ellison Park, served as a hub for banquets and special events for decades. It was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1972.

Brewery co-founder Bill Blake said the massive undertaking at the 19,000-square-foot building will cost “in the millions” and hopefully be complete by the spring. The Livonia location, along with its brewery, will remain open, Blake said.

“Nothing has been updated in here in 40 years,” Blake said during a recent tour. “We’ve got to basically gut a lot of it. All new floors, new paint. Lots of chairs here that we’re not going to use. There are racks of chairs, tablecloths, white catering coats. Some of this stuff is wild.

“This is a part of history and it needs some attention. You can see the state of it.”

In less than four years, Rising Storm has emerged as one of the best breweries in the Rochester region. It’s known for its wide range of fruited sours and thoughtful India pale ales, which often feature unexpected hop combinations. And during the pandemic, the Livonia property, with its huge outdoor seating area, became one of the best spots to stretch out and safely enjoy a beer. Plus, the food is awesome.

With the purchase of the property, Blake and Reidl also inherited all of the building’s contents, including some of the mill equipment (which must remain in place since the building is protected as a historic landmark), kitchen appliances, tables and chairs, decades worth of other assorted artifacts, and more dishware than one person could ever responsibly expect to use in one lifetime. (This is probably among the longest sentences I’ve ever written.)

Once completed, the ballroom/banquet portion of the building will become a 15-barrel brewhouse production facility, while the main bar in the original mill building will be moved to the northwest corner. The ballroom portion of the building was added in the 1970s and isn’t listed on the historic registry, making it easier for updates and new construction. According to Blake, that will include a new 25-by-25-foot structure for cold storage and a garage door for loading and unloading materials.

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The brewery will also feature a canning line and enough fermentation capacity to significantly upgrade output. (Translation: There’s about to be a lot of Rising Storm beer in our market and probably elsewhere.)

The current configuration of the property features two huge kitchens. Blake said Rising Storm plans to only utilize one of them. There are also two decks, a brick patio, and two floors of seating with plenty of space for private events. (With this much space, it’s not hard to envision the new Rising Storm location will have the largest capacity in Monroe County.)

A rail-side destination in Livonia

Blake, along with co-founder and head brewer Jeff Reidl, worked for more than three years to make their Livonia location a reality. After they started homebrewing together more than 10 years ago, Blake and Reidl, both Monroe County residents, took part in a business plan competition organized by Livingston County in 2017 to earn grant money and support needed to open a brewery.

(The Brew in Livingston competition awarded grants to a number of different brewery projects and spurred the growth of craft beer in the county south of Rochester. Livingston County went from having one brewery in 2016 to seven in 2022.)

Blake and Reidl met as undergrads at Geneseo and originally hoped to bring a brewery to the college town and county seat. But they had difficulty finding a suitable location. Since their search, however, Geneseo has gained a craft beer presence with Dublin Corners, based in neighboring Linwood, opening a Main Street taproom, and Strange Design Public House occupying the historic women’s dormitory at the historic Livingston County Poorhouse.

Reidl and Blake found a perfect home in neighboring Livonia in 2018 and opened a 2,900-square-foot brewery and tasting room that sits on 12.5 acres. Utilizing a 5-barrel brewhouse system, Rising Storm quickly found demand outpacing supply. The brewery struck up a contract brewing agreement with Meier’s Creek Brewing in Cazenonia, Madison County. And with the expansion and opening of a second location, Rising Storm will be able to bring all of its production back in house.

In Livonia, Rising Storm hosts a wildly popular summer concert series and welcomed some of the region’s best breweries to its campus with its Other People’s Pints festival. (If you didn’t recognize from the beer names and labels, Reidl and Blake share a deep affinity for old school hip-hop. So it will be very interesting to hear Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G, and other legendary artists echoing through the cavernous and historic Daisy Flour Mill.)

Honoring and preserving history

Everywhere you look, there is some piece of history staring at you. On a wooden board on the second floor, there is a handwritten recording of the first snowfall in the area dating back to 1926. Blake said the goal is to preserve as many of these little flourishes as possible, especially in the original mill building at the north end of the property.

Much of the building — with its seemingly endless assortment of nooks and crannies — feels like a time capsule after a catering company shuttered its operations there. And many of the artifacts aren’t as old as you’d expect. Some dates back to the 1960s and 70s, the heyday of the restaurant and the site of innumerable weddings, Blake said.

“When I first walked through here after our broker mentioned it, I went by myself,” Blake said. “I was skeptical. I was overwhelmed with the stuff and the smell. It’s dank and moldy. All of the old tables and chairs. And then I got home and I thought, ‘I don’t know. I can kinda envision it.’”

Blake said Reidl also needed coaxing.

“He was shocked,” Blake chuckled. Reidl eventually looked past the junk and saw the potential. The property is deceptively big when looking at it from the street. Plus, five trees will be removed in the front to give a better view of the building and also to protect the roof.

Blake said they were drawn to the property because of the endless possibilities and also for how it mirrors the current home in Livonia.

“It’s a lot of the reason we bought this place,” Blake said. “We came out here and were like, ‘We’re near the city and this feels like we’re out at our brewery in Livonia.’ It matches the peacefulness, the space.

“The building needs a lot of work, but it’s got a lot of potential.”

What’s next

Blake joked that he and Reidl are going to invite their friends and family into the space in the coming weeks in hopes that they can fill “five or six dumpsters” with junk. He didn’t even rule out hosting an estate-like sale to allow folks to view the property and leave with with purchased bits of history.

Once the landscaping is tamed in the coming weeks, Rising Storm hopes to welcome people to the location through mobile can sales. Blake envisions putting out some picnic tables and allowing patrons to enjoy can pours outside while renovations continue inside.

“Our goal with the whole property is honoring the history of it, the uniqueness of it, but bringing a modernness, to a degree, bringing our style and our vibe to it without totally desecrating what is an awesome, historic building,” Blake said.

Title sponsor: Donnelly’s Public House

This work is made possible through support from Donnelly’s Public House, 1 Water St. in Fairport. So make sure to get out to Fairport and support one of the best establishments in our area.

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