small changes. BIG IMPACT.
We're teaming up with the awesome folks at Rust to Green and Enter the Haggis to make a "small change" before we kick-off Great American Irish Festival weekend! Rust to Green, a Action Research Initiative founded in 2010 by five professors at Cornell University, came up with the idea of "small changes" which are little projects planned throughout Utica that add up to make a big impact. At Saranac, we always believe in helping our local community, so we decided a "small change" would be a perfect way to begin our "green" weekend. Our friends from Enter the Haggis agreed! We're going to help Rust to Green spruce up an area near Franklin Square by cleaning, planting trees and painting a mural. Anybody who attends is invited to join us in the 1888 Tavern immediately following. We'll provide an ice cold Saranac Beer or Soft Drink, and you'll be able to hang with the guys from Enter the Haggis before they play! They'll continue the party at Saranac Thursdays where we'll be serving up lots of Saranac Irish Red Ale. We hope you can join us on Thursday for some fun, philanthropy and beer. It doesn't get any better than this!
Rock on with the Sounds of Saranac!
Tomorrow we're continuing our Saranac Summer Concert Series with Yonder Mountain String Band and Umphrey's McGee. For the first time on the Saranac stage as a double bill, these two bands are expected to create one of the best live performances we’ve seen at the Brewery!
Yonder Mountain String Band has always played music by its own set of rules. Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences, Yonder has pioneered a sound of their own. With their traditional lineup of instruments, the band may look like a traditional bluegrass band at first glance but they’ve created their own music that transcends any genre. Visit their website and click "listen now" in the upper right hand corner to hear some of their tunes.
Chicago-based Umphrey's McGee is no stranger to Saranac, having played here for our very first concert at the Brewery. Plus they put on an awesome show last summer! Umphrey's McGee describes their singular style as, “virtuoso playing with acrobatic tempo changes and rhythmic shifts complemented by dazzling song craft and composition, memorable hooks, and anthemic guitar lines.” Say that five times after a few ice cold Saranacs! To hear their sound, check out their Live Recordings Archive for some recent shows and samples from their new album, Mantis.
To experience these shows in Brewery style, visit our Trailwear site for info on our Sounds of Saranac Packages. Grab a pair of tickets, do a tour, get awesome beer gear and more for one all-inclusive price! Offers for tomorrow's great show and our next concert, Robert Randolf on August 5th, are available.
Cheers to music and great beer!
A Better Vibe!
Looking for a better vibe this summer? We found it for our latest sponsorship: this year’s Gathering of the Vibes Music Festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We got the perfect feeling from this one, and partnered with the Vibes to create an exclusive brew to be served at this year’s event. We asked Saranac fans and members of the “Vibe Tribe” and to help us name the beer, and the suggestions and votes came flowing in. The overwhelming winner was Saranac Liquid Vibes. The new official beer of Gathering of the Vibes will be a refreshing lager, perfect for this laid back summer event. Saranac Liquid Vibes will be sharing space in the beer tent with Saranac IPA and Saranac Summer Ale. We hope you can join us!
Gathering of the Vibes began in 1996 as a celebration of the life of Jerry Garcia, who had passed away the previous summer. Now in its 16th year, Vibes has grown into a four-day festival that has featured such world-class talent as Crosby, Stills and Nash; all living members of the Grateful Dead; the Allman Brothers Band; James Brown; the Black Crowes; Buddy Guy; Jimmy Cliff; Primus; George Clinton and P-Funk; Bruce Hornsby; Les Claypool; and many, many more, while continuing to showcase extraordinarily talented young up-and-coming bands. With its great line-up of headline bands, new bands and local favorites, the Vibes attracts 25,000-30,000 people per day.
We’re looking forward to this popular fest and serving up lots of Saranac Liquid Vibes. We hope you can join us!
Ready to get down...with moe. and Saranac?
Get ready for a weekend with plenty of your favorite music and beer. Drink With Us this weekend at the 11th annual moe.down at Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, NY. We'll be serving up three great Saranac favorites: one of our most-requested seasonals, Saranac Octoberfest, and two of our favorite brews from our core line-up, Saranac Adirondack Lager and Saranac Pale Ale. We're happy to support our friends Vinny, Rob, Chuck, Jim and Al as the official beer sponsor of this wildly popular festival.
Join the guys for three whole days of nationally known and up-and-coming bands from all different genres. Don't forget to bring some school supplies to donate to a school district in the Mohawk Area. The following supplies are being requested: bookbags, crayons, #2 pencils, colored pocket folders, colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, spiral notebooks, notebook filler paper and scissors. Drop-off bins will be located in the Kids' Tent.
Don't have tickets yet? Visit the official moe.down site for more info. We hope to see you there!
Two more weeks of great Saranac music!
After two great events, our Summer Concert Series continues: Night Ranger will be here Friday, August 13, 2010, and we’ll host STS9 on Wednesday, August 18, 2010. Don't miss these phenomenal shows on the Saranac Summer Concert Series Stage. Check their links below to listen to some of their music and warm up for the shows (try it with a Saranac in hand to get the full effect). Then get your tickets online or at The Brewery Shop, and get ready to Drink With Us (and hundreds of our friends).
We’ll see you there. Cheers!
Night Ranger: 80s hit rock band with tunes you'll know and sing along to...
http://www.myspace.com/nightranger
STS9: Instrumental electronic rock band at the forefront of the electronic music scene...
http://tour.sts9.com/?p=62
Come "Raise the Dead"
Popular Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra is back for another year.
With an awesome light display and Grateful Dead-inspired tunes, DSO is always one of our favorite shows. What Grateful Dead set will they recreate this year? Or will it be an original? Buy some tickets and join us to find out. We'll have your favorite Saranac Beers on tap, and Saranac Soft Drinks will also be available. Hope to see you tomorrow night. Cheers!
Drumroll Please...
Here it is, what you've all been waiting for. Summer is near, and we've got the beer (and some pretty awesome music too!) Don't forget, the first Saranac Thursday is May 27th. Only 27 days away!
2010 Saranac Thursday Band Line Up
May 27th- Dashboard Nixon
June 3rd- Showtime
June 10th- Earl Pickens
June 17th- Last Call
June 24th- Gridley Paige
July 1st- One Hard Krank
July 8th- Custom Taylor Band
July 15th- Crazy Fools
July 22nd- Enter the Haggis
July 29th- Fulton Chain Gang
August 5th- The Bourbon Mothers
August 12th- Jimkata
August 19th- Capital Zen
August 26th- Three Inch Fury
September 2nd- Pre moe.down Throwdown
Share a Saranac at the Utica Music & Arts Fest!
We're passionate about our beers, but we're also passionate about live music. We've had the pleasure of sharing the Saranac stage with great bands like Enter the Haggis, moe., Blues Traveler, and many more over this summer.
The grand finale is this weekend. It's the 2nd annual Utica Music and Arts Fest and we couldn't be more excited. There will be over 250 bands and artists from across the region that will decend upon Utica for a weekend of music, art, food and fun.
The heart of the event is right in the Brewery district, on Varick St. where you can check out all of the different venues, take a Brewery tour (at 1pm and 3pm on Saturday only), and enjoy some ice cold Saranac brews. There will be free transportation between venues and even free cab rides home throughout the weekend.
We're especially excited to welcome The Black Crowes and Truth & Salvage Co., to the Brewery this Friday, September 11th as part of our Summer Concert Series. There are still some tickets available which you can purchase at the door. The gates open at 6 pm and the show is at 7 pm. Join us and share a Saranac at the show and after at the Utica Music & Arts Fest.
If you want more information about all the events that are happening this weekend, here are some links to the venues, bands and the official site of the UMAF. We'll see you this weekend!
Saranac UnFiltered with Enter the Haggis
Enter the Haggis performed at the Brewery back in July. See what they had to say about Saranac and the Brewery. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Thanks to ETH for a great show, glad you enjoyed your time here. Hope to have you back again real soon. View the full interview here.
Saranac UnFiltered with moe.
Our President, Fred Matt, sat down with Al Schnier and Rob Derhak of moe. before their Saranac concert, July 11th, 2009 at the New York State Fairgrounds. They talked about moe.down, the bands history growing up with Saranac beer, and the continuing friendship between the band and the Brewery. To view the whole interview on youtube, follow the links for part I and part II.