Brews, brats, live music return for season

Brews and Brats at Autumn View reopened for the season on State Route 96 on April 14. The seasonal eatery and bar plans to host live musicians beginning in May.

The building, formerly home to the Woodland Roadhouse, sits on about 1 acre of land. It features two outdoor stages and ample room for social distancing at numerous picnic tables. While many local restaurants suffered due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, co-owner Randy Smith said it was a very busy time for Brews and Brats.

“If we did half of what we did the year before I was going to be really tickled about it,” Smith said. “But we did three-fourths of what we did the year before, and that was just with takeout [in May]. When June hit and we could open up our picnic tables, it just went crazy here, and we set record after record all year long.”

Randy and wife Linda Bancroft have been in business at this location since 2014, though it’s undergone some changes. In 2014, they opened Wrap it Up Gift Shop, which featured more than 100 local artists and had an ever-changing inventory of handmade goods.

The gift shop had a small cafe area where they served breakfast and lunch items, but ultimately, the couple hoped to find a brewery or winery to rent it out in order to bring more traffic to the shop. With no tenants lined up and gift shop sales on the decline, the couple decided to dive into the food and beverage industry in April 2017.

Smith said they had heard about Brew and Brats in Bristol and were determined to make the same concept work in Trumansburg.

“We heard how they were making their bratwurst. They were actually using panini machines to cook them,” Smith said. “I thought we could pull that off. So, we went and looked at it and met the owner and told him we were going to open one. And he laughed. He didn’t think we were really going to do it. We’ve just been going strong ever since.”

The shift over to Brews and Brats took exactly three months, and the new doors opened in July 2017. The interior of the restaurant has a comfortable, country aesthetic and still has a bit of the gift shop feel. The outside looks like a giant backyard complete with string lights, horseshoes pits and green lawns the size of soccer fields.

Brews and Brats is now in its fifth year of business, and it’s not uncommon to drive by during the summer and see the parking lot overflowing with cars. Live music was always part of the plan, but it’s become a major selling point for both tourists and locals in the area.

Many venues in Tompkins County had to cancel live music last year due to restrictions, but, thanks to their wide-open spaces, Brews and Brats had a full season of concerts. Danny Scott of local band The Tarps played last year and said it was a safe, enjoyable experience.

“I like the outdoor setting where people come and bring their blankets and their folding chairs and hang out on the grass to hear some live music,” Scott said. “And get great brews and outstanding bratwurst. It’s kind of like a mini-Woodstock. As a performer, it’s fun to look out and see people singing along and dancing, when it’s allowed.”

Scott has been a musician since the 1960s and has been playing locally with his cover band for the last 13 years. He said instead of their usual 50 gigs, they ended up playing about 13 in 2020.

He noted that all the local venues he played felt very safe and that he was encouraged to make announcements on stage reminding patrons to wear masks and stay socially distanced.

“I thought everyone did well,” Scott said of the level of rule compliance at his gigs last year. “I think we all realized that the result of not taking it seriously was being shut down.”

The Tarps are a seven-person band and got to enjoy the 200-square-foot, elevated stage Smith built last season on the frame of an old International truck. The co-owner is involved in all aspects of the business, even though this wasn’t his initial dream.

A few years ago, Smith had a knee replacement that didn’t go as planned, which resulted in the need for a prosthetic leg in 2014, just after the gift shop opened. He had been a paramedic for years and was in the process of getting a nursing degree to eventually become a flight nurse when he was forced to change course.

“When I had the amputation, I basically had to figure out what plan B was,” Smith said.

Smith and Bancroft have made plan B work so far, and this year, they’ve already been busy with tourists who are grateful to visit somewhere new after a long year of restrictions. While live music hasn’t started yet, the food and drink bring people in.

The menu has a German flair, which includes footlong bratwurst from nearby Schrader Farms, sauerkraut, gigantic soft pretzels and German potato salad, plus local favorites such as a chicken spiedies sub. There are 12 beers on tap, mostly local plus one from Munich, and a few wines and ciders available.

Smith said it’s part of their mission to highlight regional food and beverage producers as much as possible.

“We just really believe in doing local business here,” Smith said. “We’ve always been about trying to support the locals because those businesses support us, so we try to work hand in hand.”

At one point, the gift shop sold cheeses from all the businesses in the Finger Lakes Cheese Alliance, something Smith said he hopes to do again this year.

Smith said they plan to get the music schedule up on the website soon but that they also post events on social media. For more information, visit brewsandbratsatautumnview.com.