There are few combinations I enjoy more than live folk music and locally brewed beer, especially when you throw in a beautiful Finger Lakes town as the backdrop.
Luckily, I’ll get all three when I head to Penn Yan, New York on Saturday, September 19th to perform at Laurentide Beer Company starting at 5pm!
September might be one of my favorite times to play shows around the Finger Lakes. Summer isn’t quite gone yet, but you can feel fall starting to creep in. The evenings get a little cooler, the landscape begins its slow transformation and sitting down with a locally brewed beer while listening to some live music just feels right.
And Penn Yan is a pretty great place to do exactly that.
A Saturday in Penn Yan
Penn Yan sits at the north end of Keuka Lake and is one of those Finger Lakes towns that gives you plenty of reasons to arrive well before the music starts.
Downtown has shops, restaurants and places to grab a drink, while the nearby Keuka Lake Outlet Trail stretches for about six miles between Keuka and Seneca Lakes. Of course, you also have Keuka Lake itself and all of the scenery that comes with being in one of the most beautiful parts of New York.
If you’re coming from outside the area for the show, I definitely recommend turning it into a full Saturday adventure.
You could spend some time exploring Penn Yan, head out around Keuka Lake, visit some of the wineries that have made this part of the Finger Lakes famous or simply wander around downtown before heading over to Laurentide for a beer and some music.
That sounds like a pretty solid Saturday to me.
Beer at Laurentide
Laurentide Beer Company opened in 2020 and the brewery takes its name from the massive Laurentide Ice Sheet that helped form the Finger Lakes millions of years ago.
The brewery itself is located at 12 Maiden Lane in Penn Yan in a roughly 200-year-old carriage house. All of Laurentide’s beers are brewed right there on site with a focus on making quality beer and, as they put it, “keeping it real.”
Their beer lineup has included everything from hazy pale ales and IPAs to pilsners, wheat beers, darker lagers and stouts. I always enjoy breweries that give you a good range because sometimes I’m in the mood for something hop-forward and other times I want something dark, malty and easy to slowly sip while hanging out.
September is especially fun for beer because it sits right at that transition point between refreshing summer beers and the richer flavors I start craving when the weather cools down.
Laurentide also has a kitchen, so you can grab something to eat while you’re there. And since this is the Finger Lakes, they haven't forgotten about the non-beer drinkers either. They also serve selections of Finger Lakes wines and New York State spirits.
Live Folk Music Starting at 5pm
I’ll be getting started at 5pm on Saturday, September 19th, bringing along my guitar, harmonica and a bunch of original folk songs mixed with some other tunes that I enjoy playing.
Brewery shows have always been some of my favorites because they tend to be laid back. You can grab a beer, find a spot to hang out with some friends and enjoy the music. There’s something about folk music in particular that works really well in that environment.
I’m also excited to spend some time in Penn Yan. The entire Keuka Lake area is worth exploring and Penn Yan makes a great home base for experiencing it. There’s a reason people travel from all over to spend time around the Finger Lakes. Between the lakes, rolling hills, wineries, breweries and small towns, sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have all of this right here in Upstate New York.
So come make a day of it!
Explore Penn Yan, enjoy Keuka Lake, maybe stop at a winery or two and then head over to Laurentide Beer Company for some locally brewed beer and live folk music.
I’ll see you there on Saturday, September 19th at 5pm!