Congratulations to two area breweries that were recently recognized by beer and brewery review website Greatbeernow.com, according to website officials. One is a venerable Utica institution and the other of somewhat more recent beginnings of excellence.

F. X. Matt Brewery in Utica, which produces Saranac and Utica Club, was named number five on the site’s “Top Five Brewery Visits of 2018” list.

Noting the brewery’s “rich history” that “dates all the way back to 1888,” site writer Bryan Carey said that “(F. X. Matt) impresses in so many ways that it easily earns a place on my Top Five countdown.”

Also recognized was Rome’s Copper City Brewery.

The website called the Rome brewery “comfortable,” “relaxed,” and “a notch or two ahead of most competitors.”

“Copper City beer definitely is better than most and with quality at this level, they are well- positioned to expand and grow even more in the coming years,” the site opined.

Carey said that reflecting back on his year at Great Beer Now, it was easily his most travelled thus far, with a total of 60 new breweries visited in nine states. California, Colorado, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin all contributed to his brewery count and 2018 marked the first time that he made a return visit and second beer tour of the same area, visiting Central New York once in the spring and once in the fall.

So, it’s especially gratifying, considering all this competition, to see how F.X. Matt Brewery and Copper City Brewery excelled.