Shmaltz Brewing Company markets itself as the only Jewish beer company in the country. After 25 years, it’s saying goodbye with one final brew, appropriately named “Exodus 2021.”

Jeremy Cowan started the brand 25 years ago in California, before moving and relocating its production to New York. He originally self-distributed it.

“In 1996, I didn’t even realize, craft beer was crashing. It was the first fall of craft beer after this big expansion in the very late 80s, early 90s. When I started, there were only 700 craft breweries,” says Cowan.

But ultimately, the brand succeeded and Cowan opened a brewery in Clifton Park before selling it in 2018, the same year he opened 518 Craft, a tasting room in Troy.

There are now about 9,000 breweries in the country. Cowan says his next chapter focuses on his new endeavor, Alphabet City Brewing Company, and consulting opportunities, helping others trying to break out in craft brewing.

“I love being able to imagine [and] help others navigate that world. It is very diverse and it is very complex, and it also really has a ton of opportunities, still,” says Cowan.

Despite the end of Shmaltz Brewing Company, Cowan says that 518 Craft will remain open.