SYRACUSE, NY -- Are two versions of Syracuse's historic Congress Beer better than one?

We're about to find out.

As the community prepares to celebrate the return of Congress Beer after 56 years, members of the family that once owned the Haberle Congress Brewery have announced plans of their own.

The Haberles have created a new Haberle Congress Brewing Co., and hope to find a Syracuse-area brewery to make its Congress Beer within the next few months, said Patrick Haberle Hunt, speaking for the family.

It has no firm timetable on making and releasing the beer, but the family will launch a "website, newsletter, social network and online store" in the next few days and weeks, according to a news release. They've also posted a video about the project.

In the release, the newly formed Haberle Congress Brewing Co. says: "... any 'Congress Beer' that you may have been hearing about up to this point is not associated with or authorized by the Haberle family and therefore cannot be deemed authentic or representative of the standards upheld by the Haberle family and the Congress name."

The announcement comes just two days before the re-launch of Congress Beer in a partnership between the Onondaga Historical Association and Willow Rock Brewing Co. of Syracuse. A horse-drawn beer wagon will deliver the first kegs to the Marriott Syracuse Downtown (Hotel Syracuse) in time for a party from 4 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 15.

Gregg Tripoli, the OHA's executive director, called the timing of the Haberle family's announcement "unfortunate." He also said the association has done its "due diligence" in acquiring all legal trademarks and licenses.

The Haberle Brewery was founded by German immigrant Benedict Haberle at the corner of Butternut and North McBride streets in 1857. It closed in 1962 -- making it the longest surviving brewery from the city's golden age of the late 1800s, when there were more than a dozen operating primarily on the North Side.

Haberle launched its Congress brand lager in the 1890s and renamed itself Haberle Congress after Prohibition. In its heyday, Congress was a rival to such regional lagers as Utica Club from Utica and Genesee from Rochester.

The original brewery stayed in the family for four generations, with Benedict Haberle III serving as its last president.

"We (the Haberle family) are essentially relaunching the old brand that we had," Hunt said in an interview today. "Our product will be Congress Beer."

The family has already tested and refined some pilot batches of its beer, and has "several specialized ingredient sources that make this a hard recipe to recreate and still be 'historically accurate,' "Hunt wrote in an email. He expects more "refining" of the recipe once a brewer is identified.

The new company is headed by Benedict "Brett" Haberle IV, the great-great grandson of the founder (the name "Benedict" skipped one generation). He and several other members of the family, including Hunt, now live in the Washington, D.C. area. Another co-owner, Heidi Haberle Hildreth, lives in Georgia. Several other family members continue to live in the Syracuse area, Hunt said.

The OHA, which has a large collection of Haberle and Congress Beer artifacts in its museum collection, says it acquired the rights and trademarks for Congress Beer logos and artwork in 2010, after they had fallen into the public domain. It has been using the logo's on T-shirts, glassware and other merchandise sold in its gift shop for several years.

Last year, according to OHA director Tripoli, the association acquired the rights to brew a beer under the Congress name. It formed a partnership with Willow Rock, a small-but-growing craft brewery located at 115 Game Road in Syracuse.

Willow Rock's owners and brewers, Kevin Williams and Rockney Roberts, have been working for the past few months to perfect a light (in color, not calories) lager based on some notes given to the OHA by Haberle's last brewmaster after the brewery closed in the 1960s. The new Congress will also be true to Willow Rock's passion for craft beer, they said.

Hunt said today he is not authorized to to talk about any "legal issues" such as trademarks.

But he confirmed the family's feelings expressed in the news release:

"The Haberle family has always held its Syracuse roots and heritage dear to their hearts, and consider it an honor that our name has continued to be recognized and remembered throughout the decades since the closure of the brewery on Butternut Street in 1962," the release states. ", which says "We are sincerely grateful for the city's support in keeping our name relevant in the community and its history and especially for the Onondaga Historical Association who has been a long time advocate for the remembrance and celebration of breweries in Syracuse."

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.