When people think of Cooperstown, NY, they think of one thing...

The Farmers Museum!

I joke but check out The Farmers Museum. It is fascinating and last year they had a history of beer and brewing exhibit that was really well done and very informative.

People think of many things when they think of Cooperstown. There is, of course, the Baseball Hall of Fame, which deserves all the love that it gets. There is also the Fenimore Art Museum which is a must visit for us whenever we make the trip. There is a world class hotel in the Otesage Resort Hotel. There is the beautiful Ostego Lake to spend time on. There is the Glimmerglass State Park as well as the Glimmerglass Opera in the summer. There is a wonderful marathon and half around the lake in the late spring.

But what a lot of people think of when they think of Cooperstown these days is beer.

And they wouldn't be wrong to do so.

Now you may be less surprised that I am not mentioning the other place here because you read the title of this write-up but we LOVE Council Rock Brewery. They have some great beers and they have burgers that we have traveled the 80 miles just to have. But it is the people that make it great. People working in tap rooms have a tough job, especially in towns that have large tourist economies but the staff was always smiling, laughing, and letting us feel like we were in on the joke. We have been in there grungy after camping or well presented as we spent the afternoon museum-ing.

There is a lovely patio off to the side of the tap room. As a full disclosure, it is sun exposed and it got very warm for us on one of our visits. The tap room features a bar as well as tables. They were once able to easily seat our party of ten without any warning, again with a smile on their faces. The burgers are great. With the party of ten, we also ordered all the starters and they disappeared completely. There were some non-alcoholic options.

There is good parking. We have never found difficulty. Well behaved children have been in both the tap room and on the patio. I am unsure about the puppers and you may want to call.

Cooperstown has a lot to offer for such a small town and I think that you should make Council Rock one of your stops.

-EWA

Council Rock Brewery