SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Saratoga Brewing Co., one of the oldest and largest brewers in New York state, abruptly closed last weekend. Its future is uncertain.

The brewery, which opened at 131 Excelsior Ave. in Saratoga Springs in 1997, appears to be caught up in the financial and legal problems facing Vijay Mallya, the chairman of the UB (United Breweries) Group of India. Mallya is the majority shareholder of Mendocino Brewing Co. of California, which closed its 30-year-old tasting room last weekend. Mendocino is the parent company of Saratoga Brewing.

Saratoga Brewing, also known as Olde Saratoga Brewing, makes its own line of beers under the Saratoga label, but the majority of its brewing capacity has always been for other breweries, whose products it makes under contract. It makes Mendocino beers for the East Coast market, and is the U.S. manufacturer for Kingfisher Lager, the flagship beer for the Indian drinks company, the UB Group.

It has also been the contract brewer for many start-up breweries in Upstate New York, notably Shmaltz (He'Brew) Brewing, which had its been made there until opening its own brew house in Clifton Park in 2013.

Among its current contract clients is Braven Brewing of Brooklyn, which heard about the closing and had to retrieve beer and equipment from the Saratoga brewery before the shut down. Braven recounted that on its Instagram page:

Paul Leone, director of the New York State Brewers Association, said he got wind of Saratoga's troubles when Braven's owners called to see if the association could help in the retrieval of its property. The NYSBA is a trade group representing the state's 300-plus craft brewers.

Leone said he had no other specific information on the Saratoga closing, saying "it caught us by surpise."

Saratoga has operated a 125-barrel brewhouse, with the capability of fermenting even larger batches, making it one of the top 10 largest breweries in New York. It started in 1997 under the ownership of Nor'wester Brewing of Oregon. It later got a loan from the UB Group, which it defaulted on, leading to the takeover by the Indian company. Around the same time, UB Group acquired Mendocino, one of the earliest American craft breweries, based in northern California.

UB's Vijay Mallya, 62, has been living in London and fighting extradition to his native India, where he faces charges of fraud and money laundering that amounts to more than $1 billion.

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.