Update: Taste NY Craft Beer Challenge judges unveiled

UPDATE (5/13/17): Well, now we know who else will be on the judging panel for the Taste NY Craft Beer Challenge recently announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The first person the guv appointed was himself. On Friday, he revealed who will be joining him -- former Buffalo Bills football star Thurman Thomas, who owns a bar at the Batavia Downs horse track; celebrity chef Mario Batali; Noah Kaufman, an editor at Food and Wine magazine, and Anne Becerra, a writer and beer director for the Treadwell Park beer hall in New York City. 

(Originally published 5/3/17)

Every one of the state's 321 craft breweries has its fans, so it will be interesting to see how large voter turnout is for the "Taste NY Craft Beer Challenge." That's the latest state government effort under its Taste NY program advocating for the state's food and beverage producers.

Then public will decide which five breweries make it into a taste-off by filling out an online ballot. Then, on a June date to be announced a judging panel led by Governor Andrew Cuomo will conduct a blind taste in Ndew York City and select a winner.

News of the contest comes right on the heels of the 20th annual TAP NY competition at Hunter Mountain, an event that decrees the best brewers and brews in the state. It has nothing to do with the Taste NY program.

If you need a refresher course on the many breweries located in the Greater Capital and environs, here is a list. I keep the geographic definition rather loose, given the propensity of people in this area to travel a bit to attend the many drinks and food shows and festivals with which it abounds. Thus, certain nearby parts of the Adirondacks, Catskills and Cooperstown area are include.

1. Adirondack Pub & Brewery, 33 Canada Street, Lake George
2. Argyle Brewing, One Main Street, Greenwich
3. Artisinal Brew Works, 41 Geyser Road, Saratoga Springs 
4. Battle Hill Brewing Co., 4 Charles Street, Fort Ann
5. Beer Diviner, 461 Broadway, Troy, and 243 Bly Hollow Road, Petersburg
6. Big Slide Brewery & Public House, 5686 Cascade Road, Lake Placid 
7. Big Tupper Brewing, 12 Cliff Avenue, Tupper Lake
8. Brewery LaHoff, 50 Vedder Road, Coxsackie (to open this year)
9. Brewery Ommegang, 656 County Highway 33, Cooperstown
10. Brown's Brewing Co., 417 River Street, Troy, and 50 Factory Hill Road, North Hoosick
11. Cave Mountain Brewing Co., 5359 State Route 23, Windham
12. Chatham Brewing, 59 Main Street, Chatham
13. C.H. Evans Brewing/Albany Pump Station, 19 Quackenbush Square, Albany
14. Common Roots Brewing Co., 58 Saratoga Avenue, South Glens Falls
15. Cooper's Cave Ale Co., 2 Sagamore Street, Glens Falls
16. Cooperstown Brewing Co., 110 River Street, Milford  
17. Council Rock Brewery, 4861 State Highway 28, Cooperstown
18. Crossroads Brewing Co., 21 Second Street, Athens
19. Davidson Brothers Brewing Co., 184 Glen Street, Glens Falls
20. Druthers, 381 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, and 1053 Broadway, Albany
21. Dutch Ale House, 255 Main Street, Saugerties
22. Great Adirondack Brewing Co., 2442 Main Street, Lake Placid
23. Great Flats Brewing, 151 Lafayette Street, Schenectady (to open this year)
24. Green Wolf Brewing, 315 Main Street, Middleburgh
25. Hank Hudson Brewing, The Fairways of Halfmoon, 17 Johnson Road, Mechanicville
26. Helderberg Brewery, Carey Institute for Global Good, 100 Pond Hill Road, Rensselaerville 
27. Helderberg Mountain Brewing Co., 141 Warners Lake Road, East Berne
28. Honey Hollow Brewing Co., 376 East Honey Hollow Road, Earlton
29. Hudson Brewing Co., 99 South 3rd Street, Hudson
30. Indian Ladder Farmstead Brewery and Cidery, 342 Altamont-Voorheesville Road, Altamont
31. Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, 813 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid  
32. Mad Jack Brewing, The Van Dyck Lounge,237 Union Street, Schenectady
33. Mean Max Brew Works, 193 Glen Street, Glens Falls
34. Olde Saratoga Brewing Co., 131 Excelsior Avenue, Saratoga Springs 
35. Paradox Brewery, 154 Route 9, Schroon Lake 
36. Racquette River Brewing, 11 Balsam Street, Tupper Lake,
37. Rare Form Brewing Co., 90 Congress Street, Troy  
38. Real McCoy Beer Co., 20 Hallwood Road, Delmar
39. Red Shed Brewery, 817 Butterbowl Road, Cherry Valley
40. Rip Van Winkle Brewing, Angela's Italian Bistro & Brewery, 4545 NY Route 32, Catskill
41. R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery, 3602 County Route 30, Salem
42. Serious Brewing Co., 116 Caverns Road, Howes Cave
43. Shmaltz Brewing Co., 6 Fairchild Square, Clifton Park
44. Sloop Brewing, 1065 County Route 19, Elizaville
45. S&S Farm Brewery, 174 Middle Road, Nassau
46. Steadfast Beer Co., 90 State Street, Albany
47. Suarez Family Brewery, 2278 Route 9, Livingston
48. Wolf Hollow Brewing Co., 6882 Amsterdam Road, Glenville

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• Go here to visit the Capital Region Brew Trail
• Go here to visit Dowd On Drinks
• Go here to visit Dowd's New York Wines Notebook

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