China-built beer tanks on last leg of journey to NY brewery

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The first two of 12 massive beer tanks being delivered to upstate New York’s Genesee Brewery are scheduled to be off-loaded at the company’s downtown Rochester facility this weekend.

The fermentation tanks built in China arrived this week in suburban Rochester via barges on the Erie Canal. They started their 225-mile (362-kilometre) voyage two weeks ago at the waterway’s terminus near Albany.

The tanks are 20 feet (6.1 metres) wide and 60 feet (18.3 metres) tall, making them too big to be hauled long distances by truck or rail.

Genesee says a truck hauling the first two tanks will leave the Gates canal area late Friday or early Saturday for the roughly 5 mile (8 kilometre) trip to the brewery.

Off-loading is set to start early Saturday morning.