Breweries in Rochester, NY

Recently one of my cousins sent a copy of photo of a birthday picnic held in her back yard in 1948. Here is the photo:

I was curious as to the brand of beer on the table so I enlarged it and saw that it was Tam O'Shanter beer, one of the many different beers brewed in Rochester at one time or another. I knew that as I grew up I can remember Genesee (I was weaned on Jenny!) and Standard Ale (my father's brand) and others but I wondered how many breweries were there in Rochester. The answer could be found in A Brief History of Brewing History in Rochester. There were a total of forty-nine breweries in Rochester at one time or another. prior to prohibition in 1920. Some of these different breweries were new names after consolidations of existing breweries but still forty-nine were a lot of breweries. This may reflect the large numbers of German families in Rochester at one time.

Following prohibition the following brewing companies resumed operations and the year that brewing ended.

American Brewing Company - 1950
Cataract Brewing Company - 1940
The Genesee Brewing Company - Still in business
Rochester Brewing Company - 1956
Standard Brewing Company - 1956
Standard Rochester Brewing Company - 1970

This list was compiled in 1976 and I know that there are newer brewing companies in Rochester today.