A mystery echoes around the shores of Seneca Lake. Deep, rolling booms, like distant cannon fire, can be heard in centuries-old Haudenosaunee legend, the 19th century travel writing of James Fenimore Cooper and scientific reports in the archives of the University of Rochester. The most popular name for the phenomenon is the Drums of Seneca, a ghostly auditory apparition said to portend everything from divine judgment to societal change.
Whatever the cause or possible meaning, they certainly would have been audible from Lake Drum, a brewery and cidery which stands a few hundred feet from Seneca’s pebbly shore. Victor and Jenna Pultinas opened the location after winning Geneva’s Race for the Space award in 2013, and named it after the local legend.
“Lake Drum started just by having access to a potential thing that could work,” said Jenna Pultinas as she sat at the bar, red-handled pruning shears sticking out of her Carhartt overalls. “What I’m talking about is essentially producing something that is a product of oneself, that is constantly resilient and changing within a community to meet its needs.”
The couple saw a need for a place in downtown Geneva where people could gather, feel comfortable, engage in friendly dialogue and have an affordable drink, if they wanted. Evidently, the community agreed; Lake Drum raised more than $12,000 to fund the brewery’s opening.
They installed brewing equipment and ripped out a drop ceiling and partition. The result was a raw, open room that Victor, a muralist whose work adorns the byways of Geneva, could feather into the nest Lake Drum is today — a warm, cozy nook by winter and breezy beach bar by summer. The bar in the brewery seems almost symbolically unusual: Patrons sit on either side, allowing face-to-face conversation rather than the typical column of visitors staring at the bartender over a separating parapet.
Outside is a parklet developed with trees and planters where guests can sit to enjoy the sunshine that blazes down Castle Street while looking at the lake on the other side of Routes 5 and 20. This is also where guests can get a pizza delivered, where Fellenz Family Farm sets up its CSA in the summer and fall and where dogs are often found waiting for their next best friend.
“We always try to make it accessible, or in reach of anyone who needs to come in. If somebody needs to use the bathroom, we make it a safe space. The parklet, people come and have lunch there,” said Pultinas. “Before we opened, this entire block was basically vacant and now it’s essentially an activist block.”
The Dove Block Project, a community art nonprofit, Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association and Ibero-American Action League are all within a two-minute walk of Lake Drum’s front door.
“Certain people have the hutzpah, the fire in them and the light inside of them,” said Pultinas. “And they’re the people that are always looking to make it a more inclusive and equal place.”
Chuck McCadd, Lake Drum’s marketing director, grew up in Chicago and ran high-end bike shops in Washington, D.C. for almost a decade. He and his wife, Shanelle France, moved to Geneva right before the COVID-19 lockdown, then found themselves moored in a new place with few connections. Eventually, they made their way to Lake Drum. France attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges at the same time as Jenna and Victor.
“They adopted us,” said McCadd. “We found a home here … This is my escape and I also feel like I’m doing something here that’s meaningful.”
He described a recent birthday party Lake Drum threw for one of its most beloved regulars — Judy Treisbeck, who turned 78. To McCadd, the party was representative of an ethos that flows through the brewery like beer and cider flows through its taps.
“Like the mug wall here,” he said, gesturing to a panoply of mugs, steins and flagons hanging behind the bar; guests can pay a membership to join. “Literally someone comes in, the bartender turns around, grabs their exact mug — and there’s no names on these mugs — pulls it down, hands it to them like, alright, cool, let’s go. It’s the small details that matter here.”
At every turn, the staff of Lake Drum mindfully coaxes its identity, patrons and the city it calls home toward a philosophy of openness and access. Free live music every week, shelves stretching to the ceiling packed with books and vinyl to enjoy, Dove Block collaborations that teach crafts to kids followed by bring-your-own vinyl events Sunday evenings, a collab with Geneva’s historical society to teach residents how the past continues to influence their lives today, a free music, art and culture “Drumstock” festival in the nearby orchard that supplies some of the ingredients in Lake Drum’s beverages — and the fact that those ingredients, such as sage and
sumac, are inspired by Haudenosaunee tradition. The culmination of these details impresses McCadd again and again, especially coming from larger urban centers.
“That is the goal of everything for me, to make sure that this place is being viewed as the gem that it is within Geneva,” he said.
McCadd has another job, as is the case with most of the Lake Drum staff. By day, he’s the head of bicycle tech for a company based in the United Kingdom, but his dream is to open an independent bike shop in Geneva. As he spoke about this ambition, Pultinas beamed.
“The way it happens is (by) listening,” she said. “Sharing a beverage, doing these craft things, taking part in cross-community organizations, working together. We found if we just listen to people … we’ve somehow been able to retain this across the aisle thing, which is really special … We need more people who are willing to act and be kind and help and not instill fear.”
It’s tempting to see the brewery as a supernatural place that galvanizes doers and inspires positive change, but Pultinas brushed the idea off.
“It’s nothing to do with the place,” she said. “It’s bigger than that.” lakedrumbrewing.com
Pete Wayner is a contributor to CITY.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
