{"id":60922,"date":"2018-07-09T11:39:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=60922"},"modified":"2025-09-02T00:28:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T04:28:27","slug":"craft-beer-cooperstown-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/60922\/craft-beer-cooperstown-ny\/","title":{"rendered":"Hop City: Craftily Drink Your Way Through Cooperstown, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooperstown. This village in Otsego County, New York, is most widely known for being home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. And while we Americans take pride in our baseball, Cooperstown is also home to something else we take pride in: craft drinking. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though craft breweries, distilleries, and wineries have grown in popularity in recent years, Cooperstown\u2019s roots in craft drinking can be traced back to the 20th century. During that time, Otsego County was producing some of the best hops in America, earning the area\u2019s nickname at the time: Hop City. Hop production came to a halt with the blight of 1909 ravished the land, but the resurgence of craft breweries has brought the love of hop back to Cooperstown, so much so that you can even make a weekend out of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Craft Beer in Cooperstown<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Ommegang

Let\u2019s begin with <\/span>Ommegang Brewery<\/span><\/a>, a familiar place to many when it comes to craft breweries in Upstate New York. Being an avid craft beer drinker myself, I\u2019ve had more than a few of Ommegang\u2019s noteworthy Belgian-style drafts, and am always looking forward to their seasonal releases. I was particularly excited to visit the brewery this June, as they recently unveiled a new look after months of renovations. The result is an expanded space both indoors and outdoors, and an updated, contemporary design with that same great Belgian flair. The brewery is truly a one-stop shop offering tours, tastings, and a full menu. The menu features Belgian classics such as sausage and sauerkraut, and chicken and waffles; exactly what we needed before our next stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

The Hard Stuff<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"

Craft Cider in Cooperstown<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Fly

Cooperstown Wine<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Pail

Farms in Cooperstown<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the oldest living history museums in the country, the<\/span> Farmers Museum<\/span><\/a> offers a \u201cHoppy Trails Tour,\u201d an interactive walk through the history of hops production in the late 19th and 20th century Cooperstown. Walking through the hop yard with active hop plants, and touring the Bump Tavern takes you right back to what life was like during the years of Hop City at its prime. Though times has changed, we still crave the same thing: a well-made, ice cold beer. Make the most of your time at Farmers\u2019 Museum, and visit the various structures throughout the village such as the pharmacy, blacksmithing shop, farm, and printmaking shop. Top it all off with a ride on the Empire State Carousel and a snack at the Crossroads Caf\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kingfisher

Stay A While<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Lakefront

How to Get There and Get Around<\/span><\/h2>\n
Adirondack Trailways<\/a> can get you there in 5.5 hours for $110 roundtrip. Once you\u2019re there, the Lake Front Hotel and Cooperstown Distillery are within walking distance, and the Cooperstown Trolley will take you to the Farmers\u2019 Museum, Brewery Ommegang, Pail Shop Winery, Fly Creek Cider Mill, and Red Shed Brewery. Be sure to catch a cab to visit the Kingfisher Lavender farm! You can always rent a car and explore, just don\u2019t forget your designated driver!<\/div>\n
\n
\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Header photo by Dan Gaken<\/a>. All other photos by author.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooperstown. This village in Otsego County, New York, is most widely known for being home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. And while we Americans take pride in our baseball, Cooperstown is also home to something else we take pride in: craft drinking. Though craft breweries, distilleries, and wineries have grown in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":60941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757,771,761,747,753,2305,829,314,1869,1940,776,770,769,969,842,325,847,1868,745,316,782],"tags":[108,109,293,145,1871,306,48,110,299,9651,169,58,510],"class_list":{"0":"post-60922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-activity-2","8":"category-apple-picking-food-drink","9":"category-beer-activity-2","10":"category-bus-2","11":"category-car-2","12":"category-cooperstown","13":"category-culture-2","14":"category-dining-nightlife","15":"category-editors-picks","16":"category-editors-picks-summer","17":"category-farms-food-drink","18":"category-food-drink","19":"category-historic-sites-culture","20":"category-locations","21":"category-music-culture-2","22":"category-new-york","23":"category-tours-culture-2","24":"category-travel-type","25":"category-upstate-new-york-destination","26":"category-weekend-getaways","27":"category-wine-food-drink","28":"tag-beer","29":"tag-brewery","30":"tag-budget-friendly","31":"tag-dining","32":"tag-distillery","33":"tag-farm","34":"tag-historical-site","35":"tag-historical-sites","36":"tag-locally-sourced","37":"tag-sponsored-post","38":"tag-weekend-getaway","39":"tag-wine","40":"tag-winery"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":60941,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ommegang-by-Dan-Gaken-2-e1531222058229-350x197.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}