We thought we’d give you a more detailed update as to where the brewery planning is at.
We posted several weeks ago that we have enough money to fund the brewery. This is true, and it is excellent. There will be many more milestones ahead on this road, but we always thought finding the money would be the hardest. Why? Finding a location, submitting paperwork, and making beer: these are tasks that may take time – maybe even a very long time – but they are still tasks. Convincing strangers to believe in your vision? This was something we weren’t sure was possible when we started. But here we are!
We’re still trying to find a bit more money before we get open, if we can, so that we can get a few additional things that we’d really, really like (lab equipment, water treatment, and a forklift would be killer)… but even if we didn’t, we can still open the brewery.
The next big milestone? Location, location, location. We’ve seen a few more places, two of which we really like. Not just one, two! What does that mean? Even if we can’t make things work at our first choice, there’s a very nice backup we have in mind. Where is it? We won’t say until we know for sure we can setup there. When will that be? Well, this is where the real fun begins… we’ve been researching zoning, building codes, and reviewing environmental assessment forms so we won’t have any problems from local government when we try to move in. This kind of thing could probably go on for a while…
One thing we are sure of is that the brewery will have a tasting room. At a minimum, it will be a small space for 2-3 oz samples and growler fill-ups. At a maximum, we may decide to serve full pints with a bar and some food. We plan on serving brewery exclusives there – one-off batches of beers we’re experimenting with – and we will expect you to try them and tell us what you think about them!
Yeah, it’s kinda weird inviting you to a place that doesn’t exist yet. When will it exist? We still don’t know for sure. We’re just pushing as hard as we can to move this thing along. I do know that we are making progress every day.
Finally, some words about Buffalo Beer Week. We had such a great time. The Micros @ Marcy event was spectacular – good crowd, great beer, so much fun. We also got to spend some time with our friends at Good Nature Brewing at Gene McCarthy’s; sampled Buffalo-brewed beers paired with amazing food at Giancarlo’s; and closed the week down at the Beer Geek Brunch event at Pizza Plant.
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| Um, did you see this beer list? |
Yeah, there was lots of good beer at all of these events – but we were even more impressed by all the great people that we met. Some wanted to talk about beer… some about Buffalo’s seemingly impending resurgence… and so many had heard of us and wanted to know how we were progressing with the brewery. Buffalo Beer Week was fantastic this year – but we also know it’s relatively new, and it will get better and better every year. We can’t wait to be an even bigger part of it next year.