Young Lion Brewing Company announced Wednesday that it would sell to Other Half Brewing Company, ending a six-year run for the mainstay lakeside brewery in Canandaigua.
In a statement, Young Lion CEO Jennifer Newman said the brewery will be selling off its location and all brewing equipment to Other Half. The Young Lion brand may move forward in a new iteration, but no plans were outlined on what that would look like.
Pending regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to complete in January 2024.
“It was important for us to see our facilities’ next occupant be a prestigious company such as Other Half Brewing,” Newman said. “We firmly believe they are the best steward for the community moving forward as they continue to build on the excitement Young Lion has fostered on Lakeshore Drive.”
Young Lion opened in 2017 as part of the Pinnacle North Development, a $120 million mixed-use project undertaken by Morgan-LeChase. At a brewhouse capacity of 30 barrels, Young Lion is the second largest brewery in the Rochester area, behind Genesee Brewery and tied with Three Heads Brewing Company. Young Lion served as the first woman-owned and brewery in the Rochester region.
The brewery is also among the most technically advanced in the area, featuring such high-end gadgetry as a centrifuge, a piece of equipment which speeds up brew times and increases efficiency.
While Young Lion has made a name for itself in the region under its own branding, it also has served as a contract brewer for various regional breweries. Other Half has also brewed a portion of its beers at Young Lion since opening its East Bloomfield location.
Over the past decade, Other Half has become a titan in the craft brewing world, both for its renowned quality and explosive growth. Other Half is currently the fourth-highest ranked regional brewery in the country on beer review site Untappd, following Massachusetts’ Tree House, Vermont’s The Alchemist, and Massachusetts’ Trillium, respectively.
Known mainly for its New England-style IPAs, the brewery has rapidly expanded from its original location in Brooklyn to include facilities in Manhattan, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and a planned brewery in Chicago. The brewery has also launched wide-scale distribution of its beers in the northeast and midwest.
Its Finger Lakes location was the first to be opened outside of New York City, following several wildly successful pop-up can releases at the now-defunct Tap and Mallet on Gregory Street.
The brewery was planned as a launchpad for a new barrel-aged wild ale program, which launched in earnest in 2021 under the name “In Bloom.”
The Young Lion location will mark the eighth taproom for Other Half.
Gino Fanelli is a reporter for WXXI/CITY. He can be reached at gfanelli@wxxi.org.
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This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2023.
