The Culinary Institute of America will enter the craft brewing business on its Hyde Park campus after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday signed legislation allowing the school to  manufacture and sell alcoholic beverages.
Brooklyn Brewery has donated and will operate the small campus brewery in partnership with the institute. State officials said it is expected to open to the public in the summer of 2015.
Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, a Democrat from the mid-Hudson Valley who sponsored the brewery bill in the Assembly, in the governor”™s press release said the culinary college”™s partnership with an industry leader will allow the school “to develop a first-rate curriculum and enhance the Hudson Valley’s role as a leader in craft beverage production with its outstanding breweries, distilleries, cideries and wineries.”
State Sen. Terry Gipson, a Democrat from Rhinebeck who sponsored the bill in the Senate, called the craft brewing program “a welcomed attraction to our tourism industry in the Hudson Valley. Most importantly, students will have the opportunity to experience this booming industry firsthand right here in Dutchess County.”
Waldy Malouf, senior director of food and beverage operations at the Culinary Institute of America, said the jointly operated campus microbrewery “will teach students about fermentation, using grains in brewing, food pairings, as well as the management of a ‘brewpub’ hospitality operation. As a bonus, Hudson Valley residents and visitors will be able to sample the work of the students in all of our restaurants on campus.”
The number of restaurant brewers in New York has risen from 10 in 2011 to 30 this year, according to the governor”™s office. The state is also home to 103 microbreweries, up from 40 in 2011.
Since the state began granting farm brewery licenses at the start of 2013 to promote the use of New York-grown  ingredients in craft beers, 53 farm breweries have opened across the state, according to the governor”™s office. Those businesses are required to gradually increase the level of New York-grown ingredients in their craft beers from a minimum 20 percent to 90 percent by 2024.
