Write a commentThe Friends of the Fulton Public Library sponsored a free presentation on the “Beer-ie Canal” for Saturday, Sept. 13 at the CNY Community Arts Center, with tastings afterwards by Six Acres Farm Brewery in Mexico.
Derrick Pratt of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse spoke about how the canal’s construction transformed the beer brewing industry across New York, in light of the bicentennial of the canal’s completion. Pratt also touched on how the beer brewing industry changed as a result of prohibition in CNY.
Prior to the Erie Canal, transportation was difficult and costly—particularly on the turbulent Mohawk River—so most communities were focused on subsistence farming and home brewing.
What folks were brewing varied by region and the make-up of the communities: some areas along the canal route were best adapted for the cereal grains that make up whiskey. Local readers know that the Finger Lakes have a suitable microclimate for grape-growing and wine production, while Lake Ontario is ideal for growing fruit that can be used in hard ciders; other parts of Central New York are perfect for growing the hops used in beer production. Of note, the Haudenoshonee Nation had very little to do with alcohol prior to colonization, so those brewing were by and large immigrants from England and, later on, Ireland, Germany, and Central and Eastern Europe.
From 1817 to 1825, the canal’s construction methods—and the common practice of paying workers in-kind with whiskey and a place to sleep—shifted the culture of the area to focus far more on industrial-scale brewing and drinking. By 1820, the first 90-mile stretch of the 363-mile canal was opened; with it, came lowered transportation costs that made transporting goods (in large part, whiskey) much cheaper.
Pratt’s presentation was well-seasoned with humor, such as noting how the practice of paying workers with as much as 15 oz. of whiskey a day “wasn’t great for workplace safety.”
Cities that sprouted up along the canal—Utica, Syracuse, and Rochester—absorbed much of the hard drinking culture of the immigrants who built the canal, which began to affect their reputation. Watervliet and Buffalo, which together bookend the majority of the canal, became known as the Barbary Coast of the East and West for their rough-and-tumble populace and heavy drinking culture. Breweries popped up everywhere along its banks, with roughly 80% of America’s hops brewed right in Central New York by 1880.
Pratt delved into many of the more colorful aspects of the time, including a local brewer who ended his days in Auburn Correctional Facility after some “light insurance fraud” and a prison escape in the Midwest. The presentation also covered some anecdotes that, while not substantiated in writing, have survived through oral storytelling and helped bring the timeframe to life. One such anecdote? Along the canal, there were reported to be 100 fights a day and a body a week during its heyday in the mid-to-late 1800s.
This lively and fun presentation was well-attended by an engaged crowd which broke out into laughs at regular intervals, such as when Pratt announced glibly at the tail-end of the talk: “Oh and I wrote a book!”
For those interested in the full presentation, it is available on YouTube. Pratt’s book, Erie Eats: The Erie Canal Foodways Project, is available for purchase at the Erie Canal Museum or at eriecanalmuseum.org for $9.95.
The Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse also hosts a monthly speaker series, the Sloan Lecture Series, on canal history. Their next talk, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 18, is focused on William Seward’s connection to canal.
For those interested in getting involved with the Friends of Fulton Public Library, the group meets the first Tuesday of the month at 4pm in the Community Room at Fulton Public Library.
