Rising Storm Brewing Company prepares to open at former Daisy Flour Mill

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Daisy Flour Mill brings up nostalgia for those who remember it. The building off Blossom Road, dates to the Town of Penfield’s earliest days.

Most know it as a restaurant, but starting Friday, it takes on new life as a brewery.

Co-owner of Rising Storm Brewing Company Bill Blake said many of the historic elements people remember from when it was a restaurant, are still there.

Blake has been spending a lot of time learning how the old mill works.

“The old milling equipment has a lot of history to it, it brings a lot of the element of history to life, people can walk through the tap room and see the old milling machines in there,” he said.

For the past few years, he’s been working with contractors, construction crews and even the Penfield historian, to transform the vacant mill into Rising Storm Brewing at The Mill. He and his business partner already run a location in Livonia.

“This originally wasn’t on the radar,” he said, about the mill. “But our real estate broker brought us here, and we fell in love with the idea of what it could be, and the historic nature of it.”

The journey to transform it started with a walkthrough, in the fall of 2021.

While the transformation required some renovations, Blake said he still wanted to preserve pieces of history, folks have marveled at for years.

“In the taproom, there’s a first snowfall of the year which is really neat. It dates back to 1926 where they would record the day of the first snowfall, which we plan to continue going with this year, so that was one of them,” he said. “We also really loved in our front entryway, an old sign, a glass sign that used to sit behind the bar.”

It’s a great piece to go back in time, he said. And, a great place to make beer.

The location opens this Friday at 11 a.m.

They’re going to be open seven days a week; Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.