Rising Storm (finally!!) opens its second location at the historic Daisy Flour Mill
Rising Storm (finally!!) opens its second location at the historic Daisy Flour Mill
The Livonia brewery repurposed and reimagined the Rochester landmark into brewery and a restaurant that showcases the Penfield property
If you walked into the Daisy Flour Mill property about 14 months ago, you would’ve encountered darkness, dankness, and clutter.
The historic 19,000-square-foot facility was loaded with racks of white catering jackets, mountains of dishware and cutlery, and a seemingly unbelievable collection of knickknacks.
And that’s only considering what was inside the structure. The exterior was equally overgrown. Fast forward to present and it’s hard to believe the entire property has been transformed.
Jeff Riedl and Bill Blake, longtime friends and co-founders of Livonia-based Rising Storm Brewing, purchased the 3-acre mill property in August 2022 and embarked on an ambitious plan to reimagine the vacant facility into a destination brewery and restaurant. The original mill was constructed in 1840 above Irondequoit Creek and sits opposite Ellison Park. For decades, it served as a hub for banquets and special events. It was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1972.
Before, it was dark and almost foreboding. Now, the property at 1880 Blossom Road in Penfield is light and completely reinvented. And starting on Friday, Oct. 13, the public can visit and witness the facility’s new life.
(Over the last year, the question I’ve been asked the most is when will Rising Storm open in Penfield. And now I can finally provide a concrete answer.)
Photo: Rising Storm co-founders Bill Blake, left, and Jeff Riedl inside the brewery’s new location at the Daisy Flour Mill.
“To get to this point, it’s an absolutely amazing feeling,” Blake said in a rare quiet moment between preparing the final details for opening. “It’s been tiring, the last few weeks especially, just getting ready. But it feels amazing to be on the verge of officially opening up.”
Since it opened in September 2018, Rising Storm has emerged as one of the best breweries in the Rochester region. Riedl and Blake opened the 2,900-square-foot Livonia brewery and tasting room (that sits on 12.5 acres) and demand quickly outpaced supply. Utilizing a 5-barrel brewhouse system, Rising Storm couldn’t make enough beer. It garnered a stellar reputation for its rotating series of It Was Written Sour IPAs and a slew of other hip-hop-inspired creations.
The ballroom/banquet hall portion of the building was transformed into a 15-barrel brewhouse production facility. Since it was built in the 1970s and wasn’t listed on the historic registry, that portion of the building made for much easier updates and new construction. Walking into the brewery now, it’s really hard to imagine it was ever banquet hall, a spot where people celebrated weddings, school dances, and other special occasions.
The facility includes two huge kitchens (with a three-tiered pizza oven that’s gonna be used for some kickass rectangular pan pizzas), two decks (eventually with an exterior bar), a brick patio, and two floors of seating (that can accommodate 220 people). Kayakers can also access the brewery property via Irondequoit Creek.
Blake anticipates people will visit for three specific reasons: 1. Beer nerds wanting to check out the beer, many of whom have probably never been to Rising Storm’s original Livonia location; 2. People who will come for the food (more on that later); 3. People interested in the history of the building and want to see the transformation. (One of my favorite touches is how Blake recognized the importance of the Daisy Flour Mill glass backdrop from the original bar, saved it, and then repurposed it as a framed wall piece that’s visible as you enter.)
“This is one of the more iconic places in Rochester and we didn’t want to strip that away,” Blake said.
Blake said he can’t wait to hear from all the people who will visit in the coming months and will share their memories of the property. He can’t wait to hear about the weddings, banquets, parties, dances, and other special occasions that were celebrated at the iconic property. The community really maintains a special connection with the mill, so it was paramount for the Rising Storm crew, as its new stewards, to build something that both celebrates the past and welcomes in a new generation of people. You can see nods to the past throughout the space, especially with all of the mill equipment remaining in the building (that stuff can’t be moved since the building has landmark status).
The food is gonna rule
I know Monroe County residents are excited about the beer. (The crazy amount of views I’ve gotten for all my Rising Storm-related content over the last year easily shows this.) But I’m here to tell you that you should be equally excited about the food. Rising Storm found the perfect culinary partner in chef Dave McDonald.
McDonald, probably best known at this point for his wildly creative and delicious cookies under the “Dope Munchie Crew” moniker, earned a devoted following with his own Penfield restaurant, Superfly DMC. He also spent time at Mortalis Brewing in Avon and Swiftwater Brewing in the South Wedge.
But his 12 years as executive chef at Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack in Farmington probably best prepared him for this new role, Blake said. Blake added McDonald’s creativity and big catering kitchen experience will be a great match for Rising Storm’s beer.
“This is gonna be fun,” McDonald said.
At first, expect the menu to be a bit simplified, McDonald said. Rising Storm will feature Detroit-adjacent (my term, not McDonald’s) pan pizzas and the dough will be crafted by Greig Madison, the pizzaiolo from Branca Midtown.
McDonald, a Penfield resident, said he drove past the mill frequently while taking his daughter to school. Once the brewery posted the chef opening, he applied immediately.
“To start, it’s gonna be burgers and chicken sandwiches,” McDonald said. “They left an old Garland triple deck pizza oven here. So we’re going to be doing square pan pies. That’s the foundation of the menu. But you can see, there is all this space in here.”
All that space leaves a huge canvas for creativity (and maybe even the return of some of his Superfly classics).
“I can’t wait for it to get open,” McDonald said.
Crafting a flagship
Grab an IPA on draft at any local establishment, you’ll probably encounter one of these four craft options — Big Ditch Hayburner, Fiddlehead IPA, Sloop Juice Bomb, and Three Heads The Kind. With more brewing capacity, Riedl said Rising Storm wanted to accomplish two things: 1. A steady, always accessible stream of fruited sour IPAs from the brewery’s It Was Written series; 2. Develop and release a flagship IPA that could compete for taps and off-premise shelf space with some of those craft heavyweights. That’s where The Monarch comes in.
With its new 6.2-percent hazy IPA, hopped with Citra, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops, Rising Storm has its flagship. I got to try the first batch of this beer from the new system and was really, really happy with the result. I think Rochester is gonna be stoked, too. It’ll be the Rising Storm beer you’ll find at bars, restaurants, and grocery stores throughout the region.
The beer name is pretty serendipitous, Riedl said. All of Rising Storm’s beer names are based on rap lyrics. So of course, they wanted something similar for the new flagship. But when an employee noticed “Monarch” on some of the historic milling equipment inside the building, he suggested that as a name. When Riedl and Blake heard it, they knew it was perfect.
And like the new location itself, it can all be derived by a bit of luck and some fantastic beer.
“If we’re going to do something, we’re not going to half-ass it,” Blake said, admitting he never expected the brewery’s second location would be in a facility like the mill and would also be so close to his home. “It happened differently than we ever would’ve expected and COVID changed a lot of the trajectory. For us, it changed it in the right direction. Stumbling onto this place, I never expected our second location would have 220 seats inside and space hundreds more outside. Everything this became, it’s not what we envisioned. But a lot about life and business is being in the right place at the right time.”