Two Ladders Brewery In Rockland Receives State Grant To Help Expand

WEST NYACK, NY — A new brewery in West Nyack has received a $40,000 expansion grant from the New York State Empire State Development Craft Beverage Micro Grant Program.

Two Ladders Brewing Company will invest in new, cutting-edge equipment, enabling it to expand its operations and taproom and grow its clientele.

"The system we have now is small. It’s technically a glorified home-brew system called a 1-barrel system," co-owner Peter Garrison told Patch. "We’re killing ourselves trying to keep up."

Garrison started out home brewing when he lived in Mount Ivy back in 2007, after his brother gave him a home brewing kit for Christmas. A friend joined in, then another.

"During COVID we were brewing a lot in his basement," Garrison recalled. "One day my wife said, 'you love it so much, why don’t you open a place?' I remember thinking 'maybe she’s right.'"

He and co-owner Jeff Turicek started planning, talked to other brewers about the hurdles, talked to real estate agents about locations. When they found an available spot at 747 West Nyack Road, a friend from high school days helped plan out the space, and they opened in July.

They change what they offer as the seasons change. "You listen to the customers, see what they want," Garrison said.

Their light beer is a Kolsch. They're almost out of pumpkin ale. With winter coming, they're going to start brewing some heavier, darker beers, including a Wee Heavy (also known as Scotch ale) and a porter.

Personally, he and Turicek prefer stouts and dark beers. "I’m brewing a Belgian triple as we speak," Garrison said.

The name harkens back to their later home brewing days, when the igloo coolers they were using were so heavy they devised a gravity-based system using ladders and wooden planks.

"One of us said, 'Man, I can’t wait to stop brewing with these two ladders' and — aha! There was the name," Garrison said.

Now they're looking for a larger space and yet a larger system.

Enter Empire State Development. More than $57 million was just awarded to support 238 projects across New York State through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The new Craft Beverage Micro Grant Program supports capital-based projects intended to increase the production capacity, business infrastructure and profitability of businesses licensed to produce wine, beer, spirits, hard cider and mead by providing matching funds for equipment purchases and facility upgrades.

"We’re looking at upgrading to a 5-7 barrel system. It’s going to save us time," Garrison said. They would also like to be able to make enough to do some canning for customers who want something to take home, and to sell to bars that want to serve their beers.

"It's about expanding to do what you want to do," Garrison said.