Update: Barge-shipped beer tanks to be delivered Saturday

Fermentation tanks en route to Rochester.

UPDATE (6/2/17): The first shipment of Chinese-manufactured beer fermentation tanks measuring 20 feet wide by 60 feet tall today was sitting on an Erie Canal lock just outside the suburban  Rochester town of Gates. They are on schedule for delivery, and are expected to be loaded onto flatbed truck on Saturday and moved five miles to their destination, the Genesee Brewing Company in downtown Rochester.

Despite media and public interest in the project, several state and local politicians have expressed displeasure with the brewery using state economic development funding for the purchase of tanks they claim could have been made in-state. Go here for that story.

(Originally published 5/22/17)

HEADLINE: Beer fermentation tanks moving via the Erie Canal

Even the weakest student of geography knows it's a shorter distance from China to Rochester if you don't go by way of Albany (and if you're traveling the traditional easterly route). But, it's a different story if you're delivering beer fermentation tanks.

The first three of a dozen 20-by-60-foot tanks being shipped from the manufacturer in China to the Genesee Brewing Company in downtown Rochester is now on the way. Their first domestic stop was at the Port of Albany, where they were placed on barges because they are too large for conventional movement by rail or truck. Then it was goodbye high tech, and hello Erie Canal.

The barge passed through the Waterford locks at the eastern terminus of the waterway just off the Hudson River opposite Troy on Friday. The westbound trip had temporarily been delayed by a high water level caused by heavy rains.

The tanks are part of Genesee Brewing's $40 million expansion project. If you're interested in tracking -- and maybe observing -- any of the trip as some people have been doing, here's the schedule for the first shipment of tanks:

May 23: Tanks will proceed to Niskayuna to Scotia to Rotterdam Junction/Glenville to Cranesville to Amsterdam to Tribes Hill

May 24: Tribes Hill to Randall to Canajoharie to Fort Plain to Mindenville

May 25: Mindenville to Little Falls to Frankfort to Utica

May 26: Utica to Rome to New London

May 27: New London to Brewerton to Baldwinsville

May 28: Baldwinsville to Mays Point to Clyde to Lyons

May 29/30: Lyons to Newark to Palmyra to Macedon to Pittsford to Henrietta; Tanks arrive at 150 Lee Road in Rochester

By way of comparison with the $40 million project, the idea of the 363-mile-long Erie Canal was authorized in 1817 by the New York State Legislature with a  budget of $7 million. It was completed in 1825.

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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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