Salt Point Brewing: By the Community, for the community

By Jamie Swinnerton
Tompkins Weekly

 

It’s small and a little inconspicuous but after a successful word-of-mouth effort it can’t be ignored. Since opening last month, Salt Point Brewing, Lansing’s latest addition to the food and drink scene, has quickly become a popular spot for community gathering. While this new local spot is enveloped by the community, it is the Lansing area that led to its creation in the first place.

The brewery has four owners, two couples. Growing up, Alexandra Karnow’s best friend was Sarah Hesse.

“When we got significant others, they met – my husband Chris met Camilo 10 or 12 years ago – and they immediately hit it off on a friendship level,” Hesse said.
Years later after Karnow graduated from medical school Hesse said they convinced her and her husband Camilo Bohorquez to move to the area. Chris taught Camilo about homebrewing and together they shared the experience of creating their own beer. Now, Chris Hesse is Salt Point’s Brewer, and Camilo is the Brewing Manager. But the titles don’t really matter, they all pitch in where needed.

“About a year and a half ago we just kind of decided that the cards were all right and we were ready to go for it,” Hesse said about the decision to open the brewery. “Just a big combination of everybody’s life circumstances being in a position where we could really jump into something like this.”

They decided to go for it and file their trademark paperwork and licensing. They found their building next to Rogue’s Harbor Inn on East Shore Drive and rent it from the Inn’s owners. While working through the bureaucratic process for licensing and all the other necessities they spent time doing some interior work, putting in their own brew equipment to make all their beers in-house and start brewing in February of this year.

“We knew that we wanted to be in Lansing, we all live in Lansing,” Hesse said. “We saw that there was room for more evening, afternoon places for the community to gather and hang out. So, we knew that we wanted to establish in Lansing. We weren’t ready to jump in and purchase a property. We wanted to kind of do a test kitchen concept first.”

The location, on a main intersection in town, and the visibility it offered was one of the main reasons Salt Point moved into the space on East Shore Drive. Hesse said the group decided on something small for a more affordable renting, keeping their overhead costs manageable.

Hesse works as the Front-end manager for the brewery, while Karnow is more of a hands-off partner due to her full-time doctor’s schedule. Altogether, Hesse said the group had just enough restaurant and bar experience to know what they don’t know. In the past, Chris Hesse managed a bar and restaurant, and Sarah has worked in various restaurants to work her way through college. But they also bring the knowledge and experience of business owners. Together, the Hesse’s own and run Evergreen Building Technologies, a construction company.

“So, the business ownership – running a business, employees- you know, all of the things that are involved in that was not unfamiliar to us,” Hesse said.

 

But opening up a brewery is more than just taxes and labor laws. Creating their own beers has been a learning experience all its own.

“We knew basically what we were getting into but figuring out all the details has been a learning curve,” Hesse said.

As much as possible, Hesse said that what Salt Point serves is local. For patrons not interested in beer there are several wines from Treleaven winery just up the road or one of the local ciders and kombucha that the brewery keeps on tap. In exchange, Treleaven is carrying several Salt Point originals on tap.

“We have six taps dedicated to beer right now, all brewed here in the building,” Hesse said. “They’re all original recipes. They’re all compliant with the New York State Farm Brewers requirements which means that 20 percent of our grain and our hops come from New York State. Actually, a lot of them are more than that at this point.”

While there may be room in the future to carry on tap beers from other local brewers, for now, Hesse said that they want to keep perfecting and experimenting with their own recipes. If they offer someone else’s beer that deprives Salt Point of the feedback they need on their own beer.

The name, Salt Point, is just another example of how the brewery keeps it local. Salt Point is an area in Lansing that once held the International Salt Company, producing fine table salt. Now, Salt Point Natural Area has been made wild again and is leased by the Town of Lansing from the state. The wild osprey that adorns the brewery logo was inspired by the same birds flying around the natural area. It’s a place that the four owners have been to numerous times with their families.
“We live down near Myers Park so we often walk with the dog and the kids to Salt Point,” Hesse said.

When she found out about the history she was fascinated by what had once been. All of the photos within the brewery are of the old International Salt Company, photos Hesse found with the help from the town historian.

Salt Point is not a late-night hangout bar. It was designed by families, for families. Open Wednesday through Sunday, during the week the brewery opens at 4 and closes at 8 p.m. On the weekends the hours are a little more flexible, opening at noon both days and closing at 8 p.m. on Saturday, 6 p.m. on Sunday. Enough time to get the kids home to bed. Hesse said this was a conscious decision, Lansing already has a few late-night spaces, but not as many late afternoon, family-friendly venues.

“Our hope is to grow in capacity, in seating, and also in brewing capacity and be able to do some distribution,” Hesse said. “We don’t have the facility space to do that here so our hope is to be growing into a larger location but to stay centrally located in Lansing.”

One dream at a time. For now, Salt Point Brewing is doing what they came here to do: serve locally brewed beers to their friends, old and new.