EP-153 Jennifer Myers and Tom Thompson of Bottomless Brewing

When I tell people I’m originally from Upstate New York, it typically comes
with a qualifier: an extra “up” tacked on as an awkward prefix to create
Up-Upstate New York. If I just stick to regular, old “Upstate,” there’s a
good chance people will assume I’m talking about some place in Westchester
County.

It’s a never-ending discussion, trying to figure out non-specific
geographic boundaries, but the real reason it has importance is because it
paints the picture that there is so much more to New York than its namesake
city. The area where I grew up offers plenty, and for generations, its
drinking culture was based around wine produced in the Finger Lakes. Craft
beer was Genny Cream Ale or Saranac Black Forest, a beloved Schwarzbier.
But in recent years, the idea of what beer is and can be has rapidly
changed as local production has come to be defined by small businesses.

As I visited my hometown of Geneva, New York this summer, I was excited to
see how the beer scene has changed. One of the more recent additions was
Bottomless Brewing, barely outside Geneva’s limits, built inside an old
dairy barn and located amongst rolling farmland so ubiquitous for the area.
Its name connects to the “bottomless” depth of nearby Seneca Lake, one of
the bodies of water connected to the region’s Finger Lakes name.

I sat down with Jennifer Myers, head brewer, and one of the founders, Tom
Thompson. Jennifer is something of a veteran of the very young Finger Lakes
beer scene, having worked in beer for seven years and acting as brewer for
six of them. Over the course of our interview, you’ll hear Tom pop in and
out - a natural part of being the one running a business - as he takes care
of opening the space, welcoming customers and tending bar. It was actually
a good example of what it takes to run a small business: you’ve got to be a
jack of all trades at all times.

Throughout our conversation, the three of us talk about what it takes to
open a brewery and, most important, change minds and succeed in a region
where some people are still figuring out what “craft” beer means to them.