General Manager Morgan McReynolds stuffed glass vases with flowers in the kitchen. In the expansive glassed-in brewing room, where the sounds of David Allan Coe singing echoed off metal tanks, Head Brewer Jason Barnett checked on the massive vats of beer. RiverTrail co-owner Chris Ericson sat at the bar.

“It gets real tomorrow,” Ericson said.

This will be the Ericsons’ third active location with the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery and Big Slide Brewery and Public House in Lake Placid.

Ericson said his wife and brewery co-owner Catherine always loved the idea of a pub with garage doors. One day, she was getting an eye exam at Eye Care for the Adirondacks on Woodruff Street, looked the Saranac River and saw a “For Sale” sign on the former Amusement and Vending building.

RiverTrail Beer Works Head Brewer Jason Barnett stands with his first batch of beer inside the brand-new brewing setup, an easy, hoppy pale ale fittingly called “Trailhead.” Barnett recently moved here from Rochester, where he had been the head brewer at Fifth Frame Brewing. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

After what felt like “8 bazillion years” of construction, he and Catherine are excited to show the new brewery off. RiverTrail opens at 11:30 a.m. today.

The brewery gets its name because of its location — right alongside the nearly-finished Saranac Lake River Walk, and a stone’s throw away from the completed first phase of the Adirondack Rail Trail.

Ericson said with the town and state investing in the edge of the village’s downtown area, he and Catherine thought it would be a good place to invest, too.

“The rail trail has been much more of a success even than I think people thought it was going to be,” Ericson said.

Ericson said village officials tell him the River Walk extension, leading from Church Street, along the Grand Union parking lot and on the Saranac River side of the brewery property, should be done by the end of month. The walkway is almost completed, but a gap between the brewery and grocery store properties is awaiting a bridge. This bridge is prefabricated and will just need to be installed.

RiverTrail Beer Works General Manager Morgan McReynolds creates flowery centerpieces on Monday for the brewery’s grand opening today. McReynolds helped the brewery’s owners open Big Slide Brewery in Lake Placid in 2016, and now is coming to Saranac Lake to open RiverTrail. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Last week, the brewery had two soft opening events to put the space through its paces. They also had two days where half the staff worked and the other half enjoyed the food and drink. Then the two groups swapped.

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Staff and tap

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Ericson said they’ve hired almost 40 people to run the just under 15,000-square-foot operation.

RiverTrail Beer Works co-owner Chris Ericson stands outside the Woodruff Street brewery on Monday. The brewery opens today. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

McReynolds, who helped open Big Slide in 2016 and three other managers from that location have all moved over to RiverTrail. Ericson said he’s excited to have people they trust at the helm.

He said these people all live in Saranac Lake, so when they found out the brewing company was opening a location where they could walk to work, they jumped at the opportunity.

Executive Chef Brandon Schatko came from Saratoga.

Head Brewer Barnett came to RiverTrail from Fifth Frame Brewing in Rochester, where he won Great American Beer Festival gold medal last year.

Barnett said he had been looking for the “next thing,” a place where he could settle down for a long time. After getting offers from all over, he learned about RiverTrail and thought it fit the bill.

He’s been brewing on the brand-new seven-barrel setup for almost three weeks now and recently finished the first beer there, an easy, hoppy pale ale fittingly called “Trailhead.”

The beers Barnett brews there will be exclusive to the RiverTrail location’s lineup. The space also has a canning production facility.

Ericson said they’ll have 16 brews on tap — 12 house beers and four guest taps featuring regional brewers.

He said they’ll also be pouring Saranac beer. Visitors to the area often assume Saranac beer comes from Saranac Lake. But Utica-based brewery F.X. Matt, where Lake Placid Pub and Brewery beer is also brewed, is the home of Saranac beer.

Ericson said this will likely lead bartenders to need to be informed in beer geography.

“We haven’t had to answer that one yet, but I’m sure it will start tomorrow at about 11:31,” he said with a laugh.

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New town, new rhythm

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The space is a far cry from three years ago, when their son C.J. played rollerblade hockey with his friends in the empty warehouse. Wood, stone, plants and hanging light bulbs decorate the large main room. Rooms on the exterior of the building can be converted into porches in the warm months. In the front, there are two room-sized, high-tech golf simulators.

Ericson said it was a multi-million dollar investment.

The brewery has 40 parking spaces and a lease agreement for around 30 more in the laundromat parking lot across the street. It has around 220 solar panels on the roof to help power the whole operation.

Opening in a new town is exciting and scary, Ericson said. Saranac Lake is only nine miles down the road from their home base, but its culture is different, he said. They’ll have to adjust to the “rhythm” of Saranac Lake — the habits of its tourists and its locals.

Blue Line Brewery has been at work brewing beers in Saranac Lake for a decade now, and Bitters and Bones started brewing after a major expansion in 2022.

In Lake Placid, they can predict their sales every day within a 10% margin of error. Ericson said this comes after almost 30 years brewing there.

Ericson said Saranac Lake has a larger population than Lake Placid, and a more local feel. He said they want to contribute to the town’s pride and be good community members by supporting local causes.

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Beer bonanza

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When the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery opened in September 1996, Ericson said it was one of a couple dozen microbreweries in the state, and the third with a microbrewing license. Now, there are around 550.

Ericson said there have been multiple factors driving the massive increase increase in the craft beer industry in the recent decades.

He said the palates of new generations of beer drinkers are more developed to new flavors. Once rich and flavorful beers became more easily accessibly, he said, it was hard for many to go back to light domestic lagers.

Obviously, those beers still sell very well. But he said younger generations have a focus on quality over quantity.

Numerous studies show that Millennials and Gen Z are drinking less than previous generations. Ericson said part of this is an emphasis on responsibility. Drinking fewer beers means they want to make them count, Ericson said.

This explosion in craft beer popularity has also come with challenges. With so many breweries out there, the fight for shelf space in stores is fierce, Ericson said. So he’s still confident in the brewpub model.

For two decades, Ericson served as the president of the New York State Brewers Association.

“I actually termed out after 20 short years,” he said. He started before the association had term limits.

He’s still on some committees for the association.

RiverTrail Beer Works will be open Sundays through Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.