Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

The Auburn brewpub's owners, Dawn and Marc Schulz, Friday morning that Maeso, its head brewer since it opened in 2014, is leaving Prison City Brewing. His last day will be Friday, Aug. 26.

Maeso told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV he has no plans for the near future except taking time off to figure out his next steps. He also expressed gratitude for his eight years at the State Street brewpub.

"We certainly didn't expect the pub to get as crazy as it did when we started," he said. "I loved seeing friends, employees and the locals from Auburn slowly develop a taste for different styles of beer."

Born in Puerto Rico, Maeso grew up in Hornell and graduated there before getting into brewing at home. He quickly developed a following, winning New York State Home Brewer of the Year in 2011.

Through that following, Maeso met the Schulzes as they prepared to open Prison City. He began on a 5-barrel system there, creating beers like Bleek Worden Belgian pale ale and Mass Riot New England-style India pale ale. The former would earn the brewpub its first major award, a silver medal at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival, while the latter would make Prison City a national name when it was ranked the best IPA in the country by Paste Magazine the following year. Maeso was also highly regarded for fruited sour beers like Run Like an Apricot, another silver medalist at the festival in 2021.

"We were fortunate enough to be part of a very interesting time in craft beer," he said. "I'm incredibly thankful to have been given a great environment to produce whatever we felt like whipping up." 

As the awards piled up, so did demand for Maeso's beer. To meet it, Prison City expanded into the basement of the State Street brewpub in 2016, then opened a 14,000-square-foot production facility on North Street in 2020. While Mass Riot, Wham Whams imperial stout and more of Maeso's recipes were made in much larger batches at the facility, he remained at the brewpub, devising new recipes.

In their announcement on Facebook, the Schulzes credited Maeso for the many beers he created over the last eight years by calling him a "mythical brewing creature," a "magician" and a "wizard."

"Ben, thank you for jumping aboard this crazy train when you did. Prison City Brewing wouldn't be what it is without you & your beer," they said. "Collectively, we learned so much together, accomplished so much together and, as you put it ‘left our mark on the NY brewing scene’. We did all of that and then some!! It’s been one hell of a ride w/ zero regrets. It's been a RIOT!"