John Rubbo and Nick Califano both grew up in Yonkers, attending rival New Rochelle Catholic high schools Salesian and Iona Prep.
Rather than settling any lingering differences over a beer, the two decided to start a brewery.
Rubbo and Califano founded Yonkers Brewing Co. L.L.C. in March and are hoping to finalize a location in the vicinity of the Yonkers Metro-North Railroad station and the riverfront over the next several weeks before launching sometime in 2013.
The partners have two initial goals ”“ to produce a craft lager that will appeal to mainstream beer drinkers and to act as an anchor for the downtown.
“We want to create an experience, not just a beer; a place to experience the process, hang back and to become a local gathering point,” Califano said.
Added Rubbo, “We want to participate in the evolution of downtown Yonkers.”
While they initially hoped to be able to open a full-scale brewery, Rubbo and Califano said they instead are choosing to open a small brew-pub with a portion of the beer being produced on-site and the rest outsourced to a larger brewer.
“The tedious part of starting any business is coming up with a business plan and being open to the fact that the plan is going to evolve,” Rubbo said.
Califano said they are in the process of finalizing a contract with an undisclosed New York state-based brewer to assist Yonkers Brewing Co. with its beer production.
He added that they are currently deciding between three potential downtown Yonkers facilities to set up shop.
“We”™re hoping for an official rollout around the first of the new year,” Califano said, adding that he and Rubbo have already been in discussions with local restaurants and bars about carrying Yonkers Brewing Co. beer.
If Yonkers Brewing Co. is successful, it will join a growing contingent of craft breweries in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley that have been touted as regional anchors.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has jumped on the bandwagon, announcing Sept. 27 that the state will sponsor a meeting of breweries and wineries in Albany toward the end of this month after a “very, very” successful summit of yogurt manufacturers was held in September.
In February, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. relocated to an Elmsford warehouse, where it has the space to produce four to five times as much beer as it could at its Pleasantville location.
At its new home, the company has begun packaging its various brews in 12-ounce bottles, with founder Scott Vaccaro previously telling the Business Journal he hoped for the company to achieve 100 percent sales growth in 2012.
U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, a Harrison Democrat, toured the brewery in the spring, citing the 6-year-old company as a leading example of small business growth in the Hudson Valley.
Nineteen miles to the north, the Peekskill Brewery is expanding to a larger facility across the block from its current home and from the Peekskill Metro-North Railroad station.
The new facility, which is scheduled to partially open later this fall, will contain more than 14,000 square feet of brewing, tasting room and restaurant space, compared with just 3,500 square feet of space at the brew-pub”™s current location.
The larger facility, complete with a 15-barrel brewing apparatus, will enable the Peekskill Brewery to quadruple its capacity, said partner and co-owner Kara Berardi.
The Peekskill Brewery, which launched in 2008, has never experienced a strong economy.
Despite that, Berardi said, the brewery has been successful due to a coalescing of the community around its waterfront venue.
“I think we”™ve been able to grow because people recognize the importance of supporting your community and local products ”“ and this is something we make right here,” she said. “There”™s no middleman ”“ it doesn”™t get any fresher, any more local than that. And I think people embraced that idea.”
Echoing Rubbo and Califano, Berardi said it was critical for the Peekskill Brewery to maintain its location near the river and the train depot.
“We wanted to keep our riverfront identity because we”™ve always gotten a lot of traffic from the Metro-North rail lines,” she said. “It”™s always been important to us … we wanted to see the riverfront become a destination because we view the riverfront as a gateway to the city of Peekskill.”
At a Sept. 27 cabinet meeting, Cuomo said, “What these summits are all about is we identify a business niche, a business product line where we believe if we get involved, we can actually make a difference.”
Like the dairy industry, Cuomo said there are “opportunities for collaboration” with the wine and beer industry.
“So we”™re going to spend some time meeting with the leaders of the industry,” he said.
Berardi and Vaccaro applauded the governor for his involvement and for his backing of recently signed legislation aimed at supporting the state”™s craft breweries.
“He clearly cares about us, sees that the industry is growing,” said Vaccaro, adding that since opening its new location, Captain Lawrence has doubled its staff to 20 employees.
The bill, which was passed by the state Legislature in the spring and signed by Cuomo in July, contains a series of tax benefits and fee exemptions and lifts other filing requirements for craft breweries.
In addition, the bill created a farm brewery license, with farm breweries allowed to open restaurants, increase tastings, sell beer making equipment, supplies and other related merchandise; and sell New York state labeled beer, wine and liquor at their retail outlets
A Cuomo spokesman said a date for the summit has not yet been determined, but said it will take place at the end of October in Albany.
