Lower Lake Brewery, a fledgling beer fete in Hamilton, won gold in the New York State 2026 Craft Beer Competition “Light Lager – Traditional” category, which for the first time overtook “Hazy IPA” as the most entered category, with 92 Empire State craft brews competing for the win.
“It’s very, very light in color, “ said Lower Lake’s Co-Founder, Head Brewer Mark Jensen, describing their “Devil Log” smoked lager, “but when you drink it, it has a flavor you’re really not expecting.”
Beer and brewer rating site UNTAPPD calls the now award-winning brew, “smokey, simple, and easy.”
Jensen called the win – in a word – “amazing!”
Second year, second gold medal for Lower Lake Lagers
Lower Lake Brewery, making its home in the college hometown of Colgate University, celebrated its 1st anniversary in January of this year. The spunky start-up now celebrates its second New York State Craft Beer gold medal, though, having taken the top spot shortly after grand opening with “The Phantom” in the “Dark Lager” category.
“That one was a big surprise,” said Jensen of the 2025 gold medal, as Lower Lake had just brewed and poured its first drafts and only entered one beer in the competition that – this year – considered 1,142 entries from 173 NY State craft brewers, and awarded 101 medals further to their four top prizes: “NYS Brewery of the Year,” “Best NYS Farm Beer,” “Best Collaboration Beer,” and the coveted “Governor’s Cup” for the best-in-show beer.
UNTAPPD dubbed Lower Lake’s “The Phantom” lager, “dark and mysteriously drinkable.”
Co-Founder, Creative Director Laura Jensen of the husband-wife endeavor shared that “The Phantom” was dedicated to her grandfather, Eugene Mechling, a retired Army aviator famed as the family’s practical joker who never owned his jokes; just always signed off on them as “The Phantom.”
While Mechling didn’t live to visit Lower Lake Brewery, he lived long enough to see his granddaughter and her husband ditch downstate life in NYC – where they both lived and worked when they met – during the pandemic, opting for the pastoral peace of Upstate’s Mohawk Valley.
Mechling, who resided in Maryland, where Laura Jensen is from, but was born and grew up in Brooklyn, NY, bequeathed a legacy of love to his family for “Upstate.”
“He always had a soft spot for Upstate New York,” Laura Jensen recalled. “He loved it up here.”
Laura Jensen, who continues to freelance as a creative director, mostly for start-ups like Lower Lake, was especially moved by the unexpected win for the rookie brew.
“We opened not long after he passed away,” she reflected. “That we won gold for the one beer we entered, especially since it is one of our most special beers, was overwhelming.”
Tricky task of brewing a balanced lager
Said Mark Jensen of the couple’s brewing strategy and branding, “We hang our hats on lager!”
Jensen shared that smoked beers, where their gold-medal-winning “Devil Log” is a smoked lager, are a niche brew in the American market that people either love or hate, no in-between.
“It is a tricky style to perfect,” shared Jensen of brewing smoked lagers. “You can go overboard pretty easily.”
Jensen described being inspired a few years back when trying a German light smoked lager.
“It was so unexpected,” recalled Jensen, who did everything in his power to recreate his experience with just the one bottle to go by.
“The fermentation process – with smoked beer – makes it hard to tell how it is going to turn out,” said Jensen. “It’s really just trusting the process – trusting your gut – and hoping for the best.”
“What we wanted to do this year was highlight everything that lager has to showcase,” Jensen said. “We wanted to show that lager doesn’t have to be boring!”
What’s on the menu at Lower Lake Brewery?
The Jensens emphasized the value they place on community and sustainability. Everything possible is locally sourced and nothing, if possible, goes to waste. They either sell it or use it.
So, while they toyed with traditional bar bites only to find the team spent too much time trapped in the kitchen, the Jensens set their sights back on substance and simplicity, while identifying an innovative eat to star on their munchie menu, with a supporting cast including a mix of olives in a rosemary brine, soft pretzels with Dijon or spicy mustard, and Korean Kimchi
They settled on MoMo Dumplings, handmade Nepalese-style steamed dumplings stuffed with beef, pork, or vegan vegetables seasoned with a choice of sauces including sweet chili, mild gyoza, and hot Nepali. In the Jensen’s effort to source local, they forewent regional suppliers and found an authentic Nepalese market in Utica called MuJu.
“Their food is excellent; I can’t recommend them enough,” said Jensen. “They are also great people. We are very happy to be in business with them.”
Said Jensen, “it was also a way to stimulate the local economy, reflecting our love that kind of food, but also our commitment to sustainability.”
The Lower Lake tap room also serves a collection of both Italian and New York local wines and ciders, as well as non-alcoholic beers, soft drinks, Mexican sodas, and bottled mineral water.
As for the beer, they call themselves traditional beer lovers, “purists.”
“We care about not rushing, about doing things the right way,” said Jensen. “We love beer and we want to share it with everyone.”
Their website loops a motto as simple as the Lower Lake style…
“We serve good beer here.”
Lower Lake brews on tap “on the road”
Outside of the Lower Lake Brewery tap room, their beers can be had by the can at Local Culture – an artisanal cheese and wine bar – and Brine & Stave – a raw bar washing it down with local sips. Both venues are also in Hamilton.
The Jensens shared that they will be headed “downstate” to feature their beers, including the two gold-medal-winning lagers next Thu., April 9, at TORST, a neighborhood bar in Brooklyn, in what would typically be called a “Tap Takeover,” but they are branding as a “beer event.”
The Jensens clarified that this venue “has too many taps to take over!”
Promised Jensen, “we’ll be on tap there till everything is gone!”
As for finding “Devil Log,” “The Phantom,” or Lower Lake Brewery’s other tastes around towns outside of Hamilton, for now, the only pub pulling a tap to pour Lower Lake lagers is The Beer Hub in South Utica, located on the New Hartford town line in a historic train depot.
A goal for this, Lower Lake Brewery’s second year, is more expansion. The Jensens definitely want to pour more beer from taps on the Utica foodie scene, but also have their sights set southeast into the Catskills and Hudson Valley, then eventaully NYC.
“I’ve hired a bartender for the tap room,” said Jensen, “so I’ll have more time to make beer and sell beer.”
Experience and community are what’s on tap at Lower Lake Brewery
Jensen summed the couple’s mission being to make Lower Lakes Brewery a meeting place for people.
“We don’t want our beer to be the center of attention,” said Jensen. “We want it to be a reason to get together.”
Lower Lake Brewery is located at 14 Utica Street, Hamilton, NY. Hours are Thu.-Fri. 3 – 10 p.m. / Sat. 12 noon – 10 p.m. / Sun. 12 noon – 8 p.m. Contact them by phone at 315-228-2088 or email at howdy@lowerlakebeer.com
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Hamilton’s Lower Lake Brewery gets gold in NYS ’26 Craft Beer Contest
Reporting by Cara Dolan Berry, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
