According to the New York State Craft Brewers Association, there are more than 440 licensed craft brewers in the state. There's a common goal of customers enjoying unique brews and making a profit along the way.

That doesn’t mean their brews are all widely available, however. Chad Meigs has local brewing roots, Central New York ties and a digital background that he’s putting to use to help Empire State breweries through DrinkNYCraft.com.

“There are so many of them in New York state, and a lot of them are shut out of traditional distribution,” Meigs added. “It's our job to bring these small craft artisans to the masses.”

DrinkNYCraft.com’s online buying/shipping model is highlighting a number of craft breweries across the state, including Underground Beer Lab.

Underground Beer Lab has been an LLC since 2017. But the small tap room and a brewery in East Syracuse has been open for less than a year, with steady growth.

“We got really lucky in that canning was kind of in our business model from the beginning,” said partner Kevin Taylor, whose main focus is maintaining equipment for the taproom/brewery. “And then now … we kind of have a little bit of a following. It's great to be able to distribute locally and then everywhere through a partnership like this.”

The strategy has had to adapt with over the last two years due to COVID-19. Meigs says he hopes that he can make a difference with shipping, even as more people are meeting up in breweries as COVID restrictions lessen.

“These craft beer producers, not only are they brewers, but they're the bartenders [and] the people that clean the floors and … do everything,” he said. “So we take a lot of that off their plate and basically handle a lot of the e-commerce for them so they don't have to worry about it. They just need to focus on one thing, and that's making really good beer.”

Underground Beer Lab brewer Keith Lindner says his business has been able to form good relationships with both customers and retailers through the new shipping option.

“We've done a decent amount of distribution, because the cans will travel pretty easily out the door so we get them around town, and that's worked out really well for us,” he said. “We're even shipping statewide.”