Brooklyn Chamber brings first-ever statewide craft beverage festival to borough
CHEERS NY, a first-of-its-kind craft beverage festival, will kick off on Oct. 3 and 4 in Brooklyn. Produced by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the state of New York through its Empire State Development Corporation and Taste NY, the event represents the first time the state has partnered with a downstate Chamber to host an event of this capacity. The Brooklyn Chamber’s host partner will be Industry City, a bastion of small-scale, high-quality manufacturing in Sunset Park.
The statewide festival will bring together makers with consumers to celebrate the best of the state’s vineyards, breweries, orchards and farmsteads. The weekend-long event will present the entire array of New York State-made craft beverages — beer, wine, cider and spirits — with an emphasis on promoting New York state and Brooklyn as prime destinations for tourists interested in wine trails and brewery and distillery tours. The Brooklyn Chamber will also be creating original content to assist tourists in experiencing all that Brooklyn’s local beverage makers have to offer.
CHEERS NY will build on the success New York state’s craft beverage industry has recently experienced. According to Empire State Development, the craft beer sector grew by 59 percent from 2013 to 2014, has a statewide economic impact estimated at $3.5 billion and currently accounts for 6,552 direct industry jobs while supporting another 4,814 jobs in related industries.
Not to be outdone, the New York state grape, grape juice and wine industry generates more than $4.8 billion in annual economic benefits, based on statistics from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. The distillery industry has also surged in the last year, with the number of farm distilleries increasing by more than 25 percent, from 62 to 78, state reports said.