Today is International Beer Day, always celebrated on the first Friday in August.

According to the New York State Brewers Association, there are more than 440 licensed breweries in the state. Many New York cities are known for local beer selection, with Western New York recently having two cities ranked among TastingTable.com's best U.S. cities for beer lovers.

Rochester was ranked 13th on the list, with Buffalo at No. 16. Factors in the rankings included affordability and availability of beer.

Rochester's well-known Genesee Brewing Company won the 2023 Governor's Excelsior Craft Beer Cup in March for its Genesee Brew House Helles beer. The Capital Region wasn't left out of the New York State Craft Beer Competition, as Schoharie's Wayward Lane Brewing was named the state's brewery of the year.

Also in the Capital Region, Albany's Fidens Brewing is the 16th-highest-rated brewery in the United States and the highest-rated New York brewery in terms of average beer rating by the users of the Untappd phone app.

Upstate New York has even become a welcome spot for more regional breweries: Brooklyn-based Other Half, highly regarded by many beer outlets like BeerAdvocate for its India pale ales (IPAs), has a Finger Lakes taproom, while popular Massachusetts craft brewery Tree House will expand to the Empire State for the first time when its Saratoga taproom opens. The brewery said in October 2023 that the plan was to open the taproom in 2024.