MARGARETVILLE, NY -- "Cheers" and "Frasier" actor Kelsey Grammer has been talking about opening a brewery near this small Catskills village for more than two years.
There's still no Faith American Brewery, but as of last month there is an active license on file with the New York State Liquor Authority.
It's not a brewery license. Faith American Brewing Company LLC has a wholesale license in the name of Kayte Grammer, the actor's wife. The license took effect Aug. 7 and expires on July 31, 2019.
That sort of license could allow the company to have a separate brewery make the beer, with Faith American marketing it as a wholesaler. Faith American did have another brewery, Shmaltz Brewing in Clifton Park, Saratoga County, produce a test batch last year.
The SLA web site lists Faith American's business address at 344 Ruff Road in Margaretville, a little north of the village itself in the town of Middletown in Delaware County.
Meanwhile, under his given name, Allen Kelsey Grammer, the actor has a pending license for a "summer tavern wine" license for a business called Fabco Odyssey. The address listed for that license is 607 Ruff Road in Middletown.
Shmaltz, the brewery that produced Faith American's test batch last year, has since been sold to Singlecut Beersmiths of Queens. At one point earlier this year, Faith American had a pending brewer license at the Shmaltz address in Clifton Park, but that license was converted to the wholesale license in Delaware County.
Neither the Grammers nor the company could be reached for comment.
Screen shot from Youtube video about actor Kelsey Grammer's Faith American Brewing Co. in Margaretville, N.Y.
Grammer's plans to launch Faith American Brewing became public in March 2016. The project got another jolt of publicity in July 2017, when he talked about it on the morning TV show "Live with Kelly and Ryan." At that time, Grammer said the brewery was delayed by concerns over pollution control issues.
Earlier this year, Faith American briefly posted two videos about the project on Facebook (they've since been taken down). In them, Grammer talked about the beer and the proposed brewery, and hinted at the timetable.
"We've still got a few years to go before we're actually brewing beer on this site," Grammer says in one of the videos, which were shot in the summer of 2017. "But we've started with the beer already and we're very excited about it."
Grammer talks in the videos about the plans he has to build the brewery on a former dairy farm he purchased more than 25 years ago.
"Twenty-five years ago I found this land and fell in love with it and ever since then I've been trying to figure out a way to return it to a kind glory," he said on one of the videos. "This was once a vital area, it was once sawmill -- there was a sawmill on the creek. i just took it on myself to believe that it was my obligation to find a way to make it prosperous again. ... Several years ago I bought the barn at the top of the hill and that seemed to be the perfect place for a brewery."
Screen shot from Youtube video about actor Kelsey Grammer's proposed Faith American Brewing Co. in Margaretville, N.Y.
The text on one of the videos says: "Faith American is a Belgian style ale with the crisp refreshing taste of a lager. It's simply a delicious beer.
Grammer starred in the 1980s Boston bar-set sitcom "Cheers" as the psycho-therapist Dr. Frasier Crane. He then played the title character in the spin-off "Frasier." He has been in many other shows and movies, and created the voice of Sideshow Bob in "The Simpsons." He has battled, and apparently overcome, substance abuse problems.
The brewery, Grammer has said, would be named for his daughter, Faith, and to honor his religious faith.
Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.