Hello from Upstate NY (Adirondacks, not midstate)

[marcownz747]

Hey everybody.

My name is Marcus. I'm from the Adirondacks in upstate NY. I actually live closer to Montreal than I do to NYC. I say this because many people consider the Finger lakes or Buffalo to be upstate NY. That's downstate, where I'm from.

I'm an avid homebrewer, and have been helping my father scrub buckets for his beers since I was 8. Meads are my favorite thing to make, but I make wine professionally. I currently grow two varieties of hops in my back yard, some black currants, and Marquette grapes.

I've started doing a significant amount of lagering recently, and have found that Doppelbock is by far my favorite beer style in the world.

I speak English fluently, but have grown up speaking German and Spanish with my family. I'm not confident enough where you'll see me speaking either language on the forums, but I do speak these languages regularly with my family and a decent percentage of my beer brewing knowledge comes from German or Spanish books.

I've been a lurker on Homebrewtalk for a few years now and am planning on posting significantly more. I figured that with this desire to post more, I would introduce myself in the "Introductions" section.

 

[KayaBrew]

Where are you located? I live in Jay, 10 minutes from Whiteface.

 

[cujocon]

Welcome.
I live in MA now but grew up in the Lake George region and have a close friend in Rouses Point...if you are that far north.
I'll be happy to sample any of your wine and mead work if you need fresh palates.
My beer tastes reside in the weird - sours, trappists, quads, belgians, farmhouse...and I brew Ginger Wine and variants for fun.

 

[Fionnbharr]

I don't think anybody calls Buffalo 'Downstate'. "Western New York" is the accepted and preferred term. It's about as far as one can get from "Downstate" and still be within New York's borders.

 

[TheCADJockey]

Yeah, we aren't upstate or downstate... WNY is fine. Welcome dude. What kind of hops do you grow?

 

[brew_ny]

Buffalo indeed is western New York and downstate is NYC

then maybe Albany would midstate?

I live about 60 minutes west of Albany so I tell folks I live in western New York

maybe I don't?

welcome and all the best

S_M

 

[Fionnbharr]

I live about 60 minutes west of Albany so I tell folks I live in western New York

S_M

Absolutely not.

Eastern NY, if anything -- but nobody calls it that. "Hudson Valley" or "Hudson River Valley" region, most likely.

 

[brew_ny]

Absolutely not.

Eastern NY, if anything -- but nobody calls it that. "Hudson Valley" or "Hudson River Valley" region, most likely.

I live in the Mohawk Valley, most of the people I would say that to would be in the Tri-City area

Albany, Schenectady, Troy

so to them it is indeed Western New York

but when asked where I from I tell I from Da Bronx

 

[BrokenDog]

North of Albany upstate NY, south is downstate, anything around Syracuse is central and Buffalo/Rochester is western.

 

[Pyg]

North of Albany upstate NY, south is downstate, anything around Syracuse is central and Buffalo/Rochester is western.

Capital region =Albany
Upstate= North of Albany (Saratoga etc...)
Jamestown/Chautauqua/Binghampton =Southern Tier
Buffalo=WNY
NYC = the City
Poughkeepsie = down state

But I digress!
Welcome!

 

[jschein]

Welcome!

 

[marcownz747]

I didn't want to start a big debate on upstate vs downstate. Yes, buffalo is west of here. But it's also about an hour south of me. I'm not using upstate or downstate to break up the map. I'm using them as reference points. Like how somebody from Plattsburg might refer to Lake George as Downstate, despite it being pretty north... or how somebody in NYC might call Delaware County upstate, despite it being pretty far south. Up here in northern Washington County, most of the state is significantly south of us, including Buffalo. I'm really not trying to find a debate here, though. I'm only telling you how we use the term "Downstate" here.

And to answer the questions regarding the hops, I grow Hallertau and Tettnang. I'm a big fan of the Noble hop aromas and am looking to get Spalt, Saaz, and Perle within a year or so. Spalt is my favorite hop to work with, but I've had difficulty finding anything but Spalter Select.

 

[TheCADJockey]

And to answer the questions regarding the hops, I grow Hallertau and Tettnang. I'm a big fan of the Noble hop aromas and am looking to get Spalt, Saaz, and Perle within a year or so. Spalt is my favorite hop to work with, but I've had difficulty finding anything but Spalter Select.

Awesome man... how big do your plants get normally? My nugget crop is going on its third year; last year it grew about 6 feet down a fence and then 25 feet straight up a pole. Crazy.

 

[marcownz747]

I'm not quite sure yet. Noble hops usually take a couple of years to develop. With any luck, they'll be 25 footers this year. I don't grow them straight up. I grow them up a 12 foot arbor and then I have them go out a clothes line from the top.

 

[TheCADJockey]

Ah got ya. I'm building a sort of hops arbor this summer out on my families property for the hops to grow on. Plan to have some built in storage for tools and cooking gear as well. Should work out nicely, they need some shade up by their pond. The 25 ft pole was just too much and I'd like to add a few more plants anyway.

 

[brew_ny]

North of Albany upstate NY, south is downstate, anything around Syracuse is central and Buffalo/Rochester is western.

that clears it up for me

 

[KayaBrew]

I didn't want to start a big debate on upstate vs downstate. Yes, buffalo is west of here. But it's also about an hour south of me. I'm not using upstate or downstate to break up the map. I'm using them as reference points. Like how somebody from Plattsburg might refer to Lake George as Downstate, despite it being pretty north... or how somebody in NYC might call Delaware County upstate, despite it being pretty far south. Up here in northern Washington County, most of the state is significantly south of us, including Buffalo. I'm really not trying to find a debate here, though. I'm only telling you how we use the term "Downstate" here.

And to answer the questions regarding the hops, I grow Hallertau and Tettnang. I'm a big fan of the Noble hop aromas and am looking to get Spalt, Saaz, and Perle within a year or so. Spalt is my favorite hop to work with, but I've had difficulty finding anything but Spalter Select.

So you are or are not in the Adirondacks? I said I was up in Jay/Wilmington. And FWIW, Syracuse is CNY (315 ers!), and Rochester is also considered WNY although Buffalo stole our area code some years back.

 

[Fionnbharr]

There's no "P" in "Binghamton".

"Downstate" is generally -- and let me stress generally -- considered anything south of the line drawn from the Connecticut/Massachusetts border straight through to the New York/Pennsylvania border. It makes for almost a single continuous line.

The US Census Bureau has official classifications for Western New York, Southern Tier, Central / Leatherstocking and so on, used to present census data. The region east of Rochester has never been included in 'Western New York'.

 

[ecobb]

Plattsburgh born and raised! Don't live there anymore though as I've moved to Portland, OR. Welcome to the obsession.

 

[BrokenDog]

Plattsburgh born and raised! Don't live there anymore though as I've moved to Portland, OR. Welcome to the obsession.

I spent most of my adult life in Plattsburgh before I moved to Buffalo and now in VT.

 

[marcownz747]

Guys, I really don't want to debate NY terminology. When I say that buffalo is downstate, it's downstate from ME. That's true. Yes, it's also far west of me.

No, I'm definitely from the Adirondacks. I apologise for writing Washington county earlier, I meant Warren. That's Adirondacks.

I really don't want this thread to turn into a "No, this is the only appropriate way to refer to different parts of the state" thread. If I had known that this thread would be almost exclusively a debate on location terminology, I don't know that I would have started this thread.