Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

This spring, the brewery will open a taproom in Lake Placid, Prison City co-owner Dawn Schulz told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV on Thursday. Located in a 710-square-foot former T-shirt shop at 2577 Main St. in the Adirondack village, Prison City ADK will serve beer from the brewery's North Street facility, as well as wine, cider and light snacks. Prison City merchandise and packaged beer will also be available.

Schulz and her husband and co-owner, Marc Schulz, have wanted to expand to Lake Placid for years, she said. The village is where they met, had their first child and still have many friends. They were waiting for the right space until about a year ago, when they began searching more aggressively. They found that space a month ago, and she hopes to open the taproom there by the end of May.

The expansion will happen as the brewery undergoes a change in beer production that will be most noticeable to customers of Prison City Pub & Brewery at 28 State St. 

Earlier this winter, the 5-gallon brewing system that produced the first batches of Mass Riot IPA, Wham Whams imperial stout and other beloved Prison City beers was removed from the brewpub. The fermentation tanks were moved to the brewery's North Street facility, Schulz said, but the 10-year-old Psycho Brew system was out of date and will be replaced by a new one at North Street.

The new system will be overseen by brewer Eric Pham, who joined Prison City in 2022 as original head brewer Ben Maeso left. He'll oversee production of experimental, brewpub-exclusive and other small-batch beers on the system. The timing was perfect, Schulz said, as Pham is currently taking a six-month master brewer course on a from the Michael James Jackson Foundation. 

"All the stars kind of aligned," she said. "In order to increase our efficiency, culture and quality, it made sense to move all our brewing operations to North Street." 

Pham will also work with the lead brewer at the North Street facility, Tony Cordova, and Director of Brewing Operations Sam Sadovnic on an expanded wild and sour beer program there, Schulz said. 

The newly empty space on the first floor and basement of the brewpub, meanwhile, gives Prison City an opportunity to expand the service there. The kitchen has already annexed the space on the first floor, which Schulz said will lead to a bigger food menu. The basement space will become additional dining room seating, event space and another bar around the end of April, she continued.

As Prison City makes those moves, the brewery will keep looking to expand to more locations, Schulz said. Now producing more than 5,000 barrels of beer a year and distributing it as far as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont, the brewery has come a long, highly decorated way since its first batch was kegged in a former armory almost a decade ago.