Saturday, June 24th at the Outer Harbor from 3-7 pm will be the 4th Annual Buffalo Brewers Festival hosted by the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association, the Outer Harbor Buffalo, and Be Our Guest. This year’s event will feature more than 40 breweries, approximately 70% of the beer & cider will be from Western New York breweries, and 99% are from the wider region. Of course, 100% of the beer & cider will be top-notch! At the event look out for Southern Ontario brews, NYS ciders, and a new meadery, Lilly Belle, from Lancaster, NY.
Stop by the New York State Cider tent, a “Farm-to-Pint tent (all beer included in this tent was brewed with NYS ingredients),” and an “Ontario Beer Tent spotlighting some of the best breweries north of the border. There will also be a Guest Brewery tent, featuring top-notch beers from breweries such as Fathead’s Brewery. Founded in 1992, Fathead’s Brewery established itself as an early pioneer in the craft beer industry. This will be the first time that Fathead’s will be poured in the WNY area.
Some other breweries to look for are: Other Half Brewing from Brooklyn, NY, owned and operated by Samuel Richardson and Matt Monahan; the new Industrial Arts Brewery owned and operated by world-class brewer, Jeff O’Neil, who will be pouring at the event; as well as, Singlecut Beersmiths, Mill House, and Ommegang.
Learn about what it takes to make beer from local ingredients at the Farm-to-Pint tent, and in two interactive “Meet the Brewers sessions featuring food pairings with local beers. Each session will be different, one savory, with beer & cheese from Reverie Creamery, and another sweet, with beer & chocolate from Thinking Elvish Fantasy Chocolates.
Vendors will sell beer-centric wares and food trucks will be on hand in case you get hungry. You can expect to see Allen Burger Venture (ABV), The Cheesy Chick, Frank’s Gourmet Hot Dogs, Thinking Elvish Fantasy Chocolates and Reverie Creamery.
Early Admission: $45, allows early entry to the event starting at 3:00 pm
General Admission: $35, includes all beer tastings from 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Designated Driver Ticket – $15, includes admission and a free bottle of water, available at gate from 3:00 – 7:00 pm
Tickets available at all Consumers Beverages, Premier Gourmet, Aurora Brew Works, and TicketFly.com. Free parking is available on the street and in the old Pier site next to the festival grounds at Wilkeson Point.
Here’s a list of the large variety of breweries:
WNY BREWERS
12 Gates (Hermetic IPA | Saison)
42 North (Borderland IPA | Kolsch | Tropical Kettle Sour)
Big Ditch (Hayburner IPA | FC | Squeezer | Towpath Imperial Stout)
Buffalo Brewing Company (1901 IPA | 1842 Vienna Lager)
Buffalo Brewpub (Blueberry Wheat | Amber Ale)
Community Beer Works (The Whale | That IPA! | Interrobang)
Ellicottville Brewing Company (Fistful of Peel DIPA | Blueberry Wheat)
Five and 20 (Lim Wit Hefe | Double X-ing DIPA)
Flying Bison (Lemondrop Lager | Low Gear Session IPA)
Four Mile (New England Pale Ale | Green Street IPA)
Gordon Biersch (German Pilsner|West Coast IPA)
Hamburg (Suma This | Roots)
New York Beer Project (Supernatural Kettle Sour | Panda Paws Porter)
Old First Ward (Short Sleeves Hoppy Wheat | Mashtag)
Riverworks (Conveyor Cream Ale | Rejuvenator IPA)
Pearl Street (Rough Rider)
Pan Am (Train Wreck)
Resurgence (Citmo | Cosmic Truth)
Rusty Nickel (Slice o Havens Imperial Cream Ale| Palletizer Pale Ale)
Southern Tier (Nu Skool IPA | Unfiltered Double IPA | Imperial Gose)
Thin Man (Juicemaster | Bliss DIPA | Burning Money IPA | German Lager)
West Shore Brewing (American ESB | West Shore Wheat)
Windy Brew (Sheldon Bush Cream Ale | PTSD IPA)
Woodcock Brothers (Woodcock IPA | Honey Saison)
GUEST BREWERS
De Ranke (XX Bitter)
Fatheads (Headhunter|Bumble Berry|Sunshine Session)
Other Half (DDH Space Diamonds DIPA| DDH All Citra Everything IPA)
Industrial Arts (Safety Glasses SIPA | Power Tools IPA| Metric Pils | Tools of the Trade)
Victory (Sour Monkey | Prima Pils)
Ommegang (Rosetta|Witte|Pale Sour|Rare Vos)
Boulevard (Tank 7|Hibiscus Gose)
Firestone Walker (Luponic Distortortion #6 | Pivo | Bretta Weisse)
Allagash (White)
Jack’s Abby (Hoponius Union)
Gun Hill (IPA)
Singlecut (Softly Spoken Magic|Weird & Gilley)
Mill House (Northwest DIPA)
Thirsty Dog (Wulvers Wee Heavy)
FARM to PINT BREWS
Hamburg F2P Honey Ale
Big Ditch – WNY Pale Ale
Four Mile – F2P Maple Brown
Woodcock – F2P 425 Pilsner
Flying Bison – Newport Pleasure IPA
Rusty Nickel – Wit & Wisdom
Southern Tier – F2P Imperial Gose
Windy Brew – Helles
NYS CIDER & MEAD
BlackBird Cider Works (Dabinett, Estate Reserve, Premium Draft)
Bellwether Ciders (King Baldwin, Original, Black Magic)
Chateau Buffalo
Mac Jac Cider
Blackman Cider Company (Semi Sweet, Hopped)
Lilly Belle Meads (Honey & Hops mead|Bobby bouchet-style mead)
ONATARIO BREWERS (last year’s list)
Muskoka (Mad Tom IPA & TBD)
Nickelbrook (TBD)
Flying Monkey (TBD)
Collective Arts (TBD)
The Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association formed in 2013 as a NYS non-profit during a renaissance in our region’s craft brewing industry that has seen the rebirth of breweries, brewpubs, barley growing, hopyards, and malt houses. Our mission is to restore and preserve Buffalo Niagara’s brewing heritage and to unite those who make local beer with those who love it. The Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association exists to unify the Buffalo Niagara craft beer community in order to increase regional sales of craft beer through promotions, marketing, public awareness, consumer education, and to monitor and assure a thriving craft beer and brewing industry within the region. We achieve this by putting on events such as Buffalo Beer Week, the Buffalo Brewers Fest at Canalside, Farm to Pint Week, and our monthly Meet the Brewers Nights (resuming in June). [more]
For more information, please visit buffalobrewersfestival.com or BuffaloNiagaraBrewersAssociation,org.
Lead photo credit Quinn Dombrowski