Kateri Hassler and her husband, Laford, met over a beer and, she says, “we built our whole relationship, more or less, over beer.”
Now they’re opening a brewery, with Kateri as owner/manager and Laford as the principal brewer.
Van Hassler Brewing is scheduled to open Saturday at 8045 Oswego Road (Route 57) in Clay, just a bit north of the Shops at Seneca Mall. (Van Hassler is a mash-up of Kateri’s birth name, Van Damme, and her married name, Hassler).
It will have about half a dozen beers on tap, in a brewery / tasting room that most recently was home to Cholita’s Peruvian Chicken, and before that was an Arby’s.
Beer will be the focus, Hassler said, although plans for the future include adding food and outdoor seating for next summer. For now, the tasting room will be the only outlet, although it’s possible Van Hassler will try to serve bars and restaurants in the future.
And all the beer for now is draft, with the possibility of cans or crowlers (large format cans sealed to take home) also in the future, Hassler said.
“We really just want to get established now, build our customer base and provide a new place for people to come by and have some beers,” she said. “All that other stuff (food, distribution etc.) will come down the road.”
The range of beers made by the Hasslers includes everything from IPAs and sours, to Belgian- and English-style ales, wheat beers and lagers.
The opening day lineup will include a Fall Amber Ale, an American Wheat Ale and a dark porter called Star Line. Another is Reunion, a Belgian strong ale.
Many of the recipes are based on the home-brewed beer the Hasslers have been making at their home not far from the brewery for about 10 years. During Covid, the Hasslers set up their home brewing system on their drive-way in good weather and invited neighbors to come by for some samples.
“Our driveway became, like, Cheers, where every body stopped by,” Hassler said. “We really began thinking, why don’t we do this for…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply