All Over Albany

Statewide beer

Two beer-related things that caught our eye today:

Statewide Pale Ale
Starting this Thursday (June 11) a new beer will be available that's a collaborative effort of a bunch of breweries from around the region and the state. "Statewide Pale Ale" is the work of brewmasters from Shmaltz (it was brewed there), Community Beer Works, Empire Brewing, Lake Placid Brewing, Crossroads, CH Evans, Mad Jack Brewing, Browns, and Rare Form Brewing. Blurbage:

Statewide Pale Ale is a bright and crisp pale ale brewed with all NYS 2-row malt sponsored by Pioneer Malting, Inc., as well as other American malt favorites, hopped with a burst of warrior, simcoe and mosaic and dry hopped with NYS cascade donated by Country Malt Group.

The beer will introduced at the Shmaltz tasting room in Clifton Park on Thursday from 4-6 pm, and then it will be available from the breweries named above, along with "select bars."

The beer is part a fundraiser for the New York State Brewers Association, and part an effort to highlight the growth of brewery business in the state.

So many breweries
Speaking of that growth... This number from the NYS Brewers Association jumped out at us: There were 207 breweries in New York State in 2014 -- up from 95 in 2012.

Guessing the number will be even larger this year probably isn't a bad bet -- the national Brewers Association currently lists 263 breweries either in operation or in some stage of planning in New York State. (As we've noted in the past, that list isn't necessarily up to date.)

The brewery boom in New York and across the country has been driven by the growth craft beer breweries and brew pubs. And the number of breweries in the country is now at a level not seen since the last 19th century, according to numbers compiled by the Brewers Association.

New York State had 181 craft breweries in 2014, according to the Brewers Association -- that's up from 165 in 2013.

Earlier on AOA: Breweries in New York State