Game Day Beer Picks: Syracuse vs. Colgate

It’s back for Syracuse Orange game week! The return of the game day beer post! That must mean it’s officially football season.

For the opener, it’s a battle of CNY breweries. Since there’s a total of one brewery in Hamilton, NY, it made the selection for Colgate easier, but we’ll see where the Syracuse pick lands us. We’ll take a look at what we can come up with from our friends down at Branching Out Bottle Shop in Camillus. Check them out for all of these offerings.

Colgate area pick: Good Nature Farm Brewery, Blonde

We’ve featured Good Nature a few times over the years, since they’re Syracuse adjacent and Annie was a staple in the early craft scene around here. That said, the Blonde is pretty solid. A little bready, but not in a bad way. Overall a good brew for an early September clash with a cross region rival.

Syracuse area pick: Underground Beer Lab, Hop Theory Hazy IPA #2: Citra, Galaxy, Waimea

UBL has become the standard bearer when it comes to Syracuse area breweries, so we’re starting off fresh. Literally. The Hop Theory series has its second entrant releasing this weekend. This iteration utilizes Citra, Galaxy and Waimea hops to pierce your palate with hazy goodness.

If you hit up Branching Out, check out Variable, one of their hazy IPAs, Constant, a West Coast Pilsner, and Particle, another unfiltered hazy offering. I’ve never been disappointed by a beer from them so take your pick.

Random beer of the week: Zero Gravity, Green State Lager

Everyone has their local pilsner that is ubiquitous with the area. There’s a lot of offerings to go around, but Zero Gravity always kills it. From their Madonna DIPA to Conehead, their main line IPA and Little Wolf, a session, their mix pack is one of the best around.

From all of this, Green State Lager is a nice mellow pilsner offering that is a bit of palate relief from the rest of the mix pack. All of them are real solid, but there’s something about this beer that feels right.

So let’s hear it, what are you all having on gameday?