BETHEL, NY — Out of such major cities in New York as New York City, Syracuse and Buffalo, and with over 62 counties, Sullivan County’s Shrewd Fox Brewery won the Governor’s Cup for the best New York beer during the 2022 TAP New York Craft Beer and Food Festival at Bethel Woods.

The eight-year-old family-owned business went up against over 100 other New York State breweries  on May 21 and 22.

Owners Cindy and Bill Lenczuk were “totally shocked” by the accomplishment. Bill emphasized the idea of the small brewery in a small town competing in this statewide competition and winning was “by the stretch of [their] imagination.”

“There were 100 breweries, and a few of them had [multiple] entries for each brewer. So if you count the numbers, you count the judging and the process they go through, it’s quite a big deal,” said Lenczuk. “The award was not New York City only, or Long Island only or the Hudson Valley only—this award encompasses the whole state. It’s something for the little guy.”

Feedback from the community and others around them is a top priority of their business.

Shrewd Fox entered the competition to receive feedback on how they could craft their beer better. The competition judges would be able to give feedback technically and in style tips; however, Shrewd Fox hit all the parameters and won the highest achievable award.

The Governor’s Cup is a competition of gold-place winners in all of the individual categories. After the first round, the brewery then competed against all gold place winners for the year, eventually taking the highest award.  

Receiving feedback from customers is a priority; maintaining a sense of local involvement is yet another goal for the brewery. It aims to connect with the community by using New York State ingredients such as hops, barley and Catskills water. Then the ingredients used are sent back to the local farms as food for animals to enhance community sustainability, a virtuous circle.  

“That’s really where the community comes in. They support what we’re doing because we are doing [the business] local, and we’re giving back local in regards to the environment,” said Lenczuk. “We’re not thinking of creating any landfilling of our ingredients.”

Lenczuk thinks winning the award is a “great plug” for Sullivan County and Sullivan County products such as Catskills water.

In the future, Lenczuk would like to expand the brewery’s footprint into other local areas, such as New York City, and he also would like to experiment more with creating different and unique beers.

Lenczuk described the process of creating beer as a science. His brewery goes through a lengthy process to produce the award-winning beer. Barley is crushed to a tea-like texture, water is added, and the mixture is transferred into a kettle with hops. The mixture is cooled down and sent to the fermenter, where additional ingredients are added as well as yeast. Carbonation is the last step before hitting the taps.

In addition to how the Shrewd Fox creates their beer, Lenczuk said what else he thinks makes a good beer.

“It starts with the water. Catskill water is world-renowned, and that’s where the starting point is. Here it’s the ingredients; New York State has good farming of barely and malt products…Then you have a good brewer and brewery system… and a little bit of luck, and there you go.”

For a complete list of winners, visit https://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/events/tap-new-york-craft-beer-food-festival.