I stopped by the F.X. Matt Brewery in Utica, NY today and all I can say is Wow. 

The Matt Brewery is home of local favorite Club Utica—an old-school pale fizzy lager—and the better-known line of Saranac beers and sodas.  If you haven’t tried any of those, you may have sipped a Brooklyn Lager or one of the several year-round offerings from the Brooklyn Brewery, most of which are contract brewed in Utica.  As you can see, the Matt Brewery has their hands in a lot of beer.

One of the oldest family owned breweries in America, the Matt Brewery is a brick monster of a building with seven floors.  The tour is both a showcase of the family’s brewing history and of many expensive antiques they have amassed over the years. 

I wanted to check out the brewery since I’m not a huge fan of Saranac brews; I feel that they overextend themselves, brewing a multitude of styles but failing to excel in most.  Despite that, I give them credit for experimenting with these styles and serving up a tasty and easy to find black beer (Black Forest).  They receive negative points for making Summer Brew, a nasty-tasting combination of beer and lager. 

The tour didn’t change my mind about the beers.  The Saranac line has a few solid brews and a few clunkers.  For $5, however, the tour was more than worth it for a taste of their new Imperial series and a couple of fresh pints.

Check out this brewery for a heaping dose of beer history and a look at the massive facility.  Also, you can sleep easy knowing that whether you dig the beers and sodas or not, remember that safety is always brewing!