A Cazenovia Shed reopening, a holiday-Monday BBQ, an Eastwood neighborhood opening, and a Lafayette hard cider in its hometown all anchor a holiday weekend tilted toward farm taprooms. Here is who is pouring on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and what to order when you get there.
Truth-check: Frank Mahoney, Editor-in-Chief.
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The unofficial first weekend of summer arrives Saturday, and Central New York’s farm breweries are leaning into the holiday with new taproom programming, a reopening on the old Empire Farm Brewery site, and a holiday-Monday barbecue that pours from noon until 9. Across Onondaga, Madison and Cayuga counties, the calendar is dotted with food truck nights, live music, and bottle releases that reward drinkers who want a closer drive than the Finger Lakes wine trails.
This rundown was built from each business’s calendar and the published hours each brewery posts in writing. We focused on the seven properties whose Memorial Day programming was confirmed in their own materials. Hours can shift on holidays, so call ahead if you are driving more than 30 minutes.
Meier’s Creek Cazenovia: a Shed reopening Friday through Monday, then a holiday BBQ
The clearest Memorial Day weekend announcement in the region belongs to Meier’s Creek Brewing Company at 33 Rippleton Road in Cazenovia, the 50-acre farm property that operated as Empire Farmstead Brewery until a $3.4 million ownership change in 2019. Meier’s Creek has leased the entire facility since then and rebuilt it as a farm brewery and event venue under its own brand.
The brewery’s published calendar lists the Shed Grand Re-Opening from May 22 through May 25, four days of themed food nights inside a rebuilt outbuilding on the property. On Monday, the property pivots to a Memorial Day BBQ from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the grills running, draft beer pouring, and the family-friendly lawn open.
Meier’s Creek runs a second taproom inside Syracuse at the Inner Harbor location near the Onondaga Lake outlet. That site is open weekend hours but does not have a Memorial Day specific event on its published calendar.
Critz Farms and Foggy Goggle: tap room open noon to six on Sunday
About 10 minutes southwest of the Meier’s Creek farm, Critz Farms at 3232 Rippleton Road in Cazenovia is opening its tap room and playgrounds Sunday, May 25 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. for what the family-run farm calls its Memorial Day celebration. The brewery side of the business, Critz Farms Brewing and Cider Company, runs as the Foggy Goggle Cidery and pours hard ciders that lean toward dry, oak-aged styles alongside a small house beer rotation.
Critz also kicks off its Saturday Summer Music Series the same weekend, a free outdoor concert series that runs Saturdays from Memorial Day through Labor Day on the farm’s covered porch. The opening act is J and the Tie Dyers, a Syracuse rock band, performing in the afternoon. Regular Foggy Goggle hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours during the fall season.
The property covers a working farm with a tap room, playground, animals, and walking trails, and parents can bring kids for ice cream while they sample ciders. The combination is what separates Critz from urban taprooms in this market.
Heritage Hill Brewhouse: kitchen open, weekend programming on the hill
Up on the ridge above Jamesville, Heritage Hill Brewhouse and Kitchen at 3149 Sweet Road in Pompey is running weekend kitchen and taproom hours through the holiday. The 200-acre farm brewery has expanded steadily since opening and now hosts public festivals, private events, and family-friendly farm experiences according to its own materials. The kitchen serves a full menu that pairs with the house beer lineup, which includes a regular rotation of lagers and IPAs.
Heritage Hill’s outdoor pavilion sits at one of the highest elevations of any brewery in Onondaga County. The site is family friendly, with farm animals and play areas for kids, which makes it a Sunday afternoon stop more than a late night destination. The kitchen takes OpenTable reservations.
1911 Established at Beak and Skiff: hometown of the Lafayette hard cider
The 1911 Established Tasting Room and Tavern at 2708 Lords Hill Road in LaFayette is the on-orchard pour space for the Beak and Skiff apple operation, a family business in its fifth generation that traces back to 1911. The tasting room serves hard ciders, spirits, wines, and cocktails alongside food from the tavern menu.
One of the ciders on the menu carries the name of the town itself: the Lafayette Hard Cider, which Beak and Skiff describes as a nod to General Lafayette and blends traditional and bittersweet European apple varieties. Drinking it in the village where it is made is the closest a Central New York cider tourist gets to a true estate experience.
The orchard reopened its newly renovated tasting room recently and is using Memorial Day weekend to push live music programming, with a line dancing night with Two Left Boots scheduled for Thursday, May 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.. Weekend hours run on standard farm schedule, and the on-orchard distillery side is also open for tastings of the 1911 vodka, gin, and bourbon line.
Middle Ages Brewing and Talking Cursive: Syracuse’s downtown anchors
Closer in, two Syracuse breweries with very different stories are open through the holiday weekend at regular hours. Middle Ages Brewing Company at 120 Wilkinson Street, founded in 1995 and the oldest brewery in Syracuse, runs noon to 6 p.m. seven days a week with up to 24 beers on tap at its Wilkinson Street beer hall. The taproom rotates food trucks weekly and hosts a Music Hall calendar that picks up after Memorial Day with line dancing and live music on May 27 and 29.
For the holiday weekend Middle Ages is leaning on standing taproom hours rather than dedicated programming, drawing weekend visitors who come for the brewery’s flagship Syracuse Pale Ale and its British inspired ales.
Talking Cursive Brewing Company at 301 Erie Boulevard West, the woman and veteran owned brewery across from the historic Niagara Mohawk Building, is open through the weekend with its full draught list and a food menu that runs from snacks through full plates. The brewery posts weekly food and drink specials and hosts regular events including Brewers Dinners and charity fundraisers.
Buried Acorn at the Inner Harbor: sour and farmhouse specialists
For a more focused beer experience, Buried Acorn Brewing Company at 900 East Fayette Street in the Inner Harbor district pours its barrel-aged sours and mixed-fermentation farmhouse styles from 31 draft lines. Founded in 2018 by head brewer Timothy Lucien Shore, who spent more than a decade studying wild ales, Buried Acorn fills a niche that no other Syracuse brewery occupies. The taproom is the only place in the region with that depth on tap.
The Inner Harbor location sits a short walk from the Onondaga Creekwalk and the Connective Corridor and is an easy first stop for visitors coming up from Armory Square. Standard weekend hours run through the holiday. The brewery has not posted a dedicated Memorial Day release on its calendar, but its rotating bottle program typically refreshes weekly.
Owera Vineyards and Anyela’s: two wineries within an hour
Two wineries round out the picture for drinkers who want something other than beer. Owera Vineyards at 5276 East Lake Road in Cazenovia is open Wednesday through Friday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday noon to 9 p.m. The 57-acre farm winery sits on the northeast corner of Cazenovia Lake and serves brick-oven pizzas, charcuterie boards, and small plates alongside its estate wine list.
Owera regularly hosts live music nights. For Memorial Day weekend the calendar does not list a dedicated holiday event, but Saturday hours align well with a Cazenovia day trip that could combine lunch at Critz Farms with an afternoon wine flight at Owera.
Anyela’s Vineyards at 2433 West Lake Road in Skaneateles is the established Finger Lakes winery on the west side of Skaneateles Lake and runs Sunday through Wednesday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday noon to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday noon to 7 p.m. The vineyard hosts live music every Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., a standing program that runs through the entire summer.
Anyela’s full range of whites, reds, roses, sparkling, and dessert wines is poured at the tasting room, and the on-site restaurant adds food service. The combination of west-facing hillside, lake views, and a regular live music schedule makes it one of the easier holiday weekend stops if you are coming from the Syracuse area.
Three CNY brewery and winery data points
Sources
- Meier’s Creek Brewing Company events calendar, meierscreekbrewing.com/events, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Critz Farms event listings, critzfarms.com, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Middle Ages Brewing events calendar, middleagesbrewing.com/events-calendar, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Heritage Hill Brewhouse, heritagehillbrewery.com, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Beak and Skiff and 1911 Established events archive, beakandskiff.com/events, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Talking Cursive Brewing Company, talkingcursive.com, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Buried Acorn Brewing Company, buriedacorn.com, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Owera Vineyards calendar, oweravineyards.com/calendar, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Anyela’s Vineyards upcoming music and events, anyelasvineyards.com/upcoming-music-events, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- Visit Syracuse breweries, wineries, distilleries listing, visitsyracuse.com/food-drink/breweries-wineries-distilleries, retrieved May 24, 2026.
- CNY Central reporting on Empire Brewery sale and lease to Meier’s Creek, cnycentral.com, archived November 2019.
