Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's a celebration of the best the Buffalo and Western New York beer scene has to offer!
The Western New York Brewers Guild kicks off 2023 WNY Beer Week on Saturday across the region, highlighting the quality, diversity, and economic impact of several local craft beers and breweries.
Breweries all over Western New York are, and have been crafting a variety of exciting new beers to be served for craft beer enthusiasts at their tap rooms. Running through Saturday, Sept. 30, connoisseurs will be able to try a beer they’ve never had before at any brewery they visit during the week.
"We've had little different versions of Beer Week over the last few years, but we haven't really had a fully inclusive Beer Week like this since before COVID," said Matt Kahn, co-owner of Big Ditch Brewing and Operations Officer for the WNY Brewers Guild. "It's taken a little effort to sort of re-get it started, but we've got a lot of folks engaged now, a lot of fun new beers and events going on. So yeah, super exciting to be back after sort of a mini-hiatus there."
As for local breweries in the region, they are chomping at the bit to kick off the week-long celebration, while also working with other local brewers to celebrate what makes the business so great.
"What a community we have in Western New York brewing," said Pete Maier, head brewer at One-Eyed Cat Brewery in Williamsville. "I just went to the Western New York Brewers Guild meeting, and we're all in such support of each other. So many people are putting out so many different beers, and we love trying each other's beer."
"Honestly, we couldn't be more excited," said Chief Market Officer of Sad Boys Brewing, John O'Neill. "One of the best things about being a new brewery is seeing how much the community really rallies around you. It's been super exciting to not only meet the other brewery owners and members, and be able to taste their beer, but just to start to feel like we're part of the community ourselves."
Western New York is currently home to over 60 craft breweries, and has led the way for New York State to become the fourth-largest craft beer producer in the country. It has also contributed over $5.4 billion of economic impact to the state's economy.
Additionally, the local craft beer industry employs thousands of Western New York residents, and contributes significant dollars to local causes and not-for-profit organizations.
More than 30 local breweries from the City of Buffalo, the Northtowns, Southtowns and more are all taking part in this year's week-long celebration. Kahn looks back to past years and still can't fathom how far the Western New York beer scene has come in the last 10-plus years.
"When Big Ditch first started planning to be open as a brewery, I think there were maybe 3-5 breweries in the area. Now there's over 60, so that, in its own, has increased the number of participants," Kahn said. "But, obviously, the knowledge and interest around craft beer has grown over that time as well. There's just a lot more breweries, a lot more beers, and, just generally, greater knowledge around craft beer than there used to be locally."
Just in terms of the number of breweries that have opened and continue to open, it shows how healthy and successful the beer scene in the region has become. It also shows in the number of different local craft beers available on store shelves and in tap lines in local bars and restaurants.
"The knowledge around the common consumer about local breweries and different styles of beer has gone up too. So it's been a huge increase in interest and knowledge locally about our local breweries and beer," Kahn said.
Ken Shaw is co-owner of Spotted Octopus Brewing along Edward Street in Buffalo's Allentown neighborhood. While the brewery opened April of last year and has only been open about a year-and-a-half, Shaw has seen the industry thrive in Buffalo for quite some time.
"People are creating new models and smaller local breweries and neighborhood breweries. It's interesting to see how the industry is sort of changing, and just the ways people are inventing themselves to create more-and-more New York State craft products for the region. I think it's really an interesting and awesome kind of business that seems to keep growing," said Shaw.
Other local breweries have also caught on to the success of the Buffalo and Western New York beer scene. Despite the increasing number of options for residents of the region to choose from, each business feels there's opportunity for all.
"The greatest thing is it's not really competition. It really is a community," Maier said. "Right now, I just secured our fifth collaboration with another brewery, because we just want to see each other succeed."
"Obviously breweries are kind of like a restaurant business. There is, of course, competition, but within the brewery community, at least in Buffalo, there's a very healthy competition," added O'Neill. "I don't think a day goes by when we're open that we're not recommending other breweries to try. I have new customers coming in on the daily talking about, 'You were recommended to us, because we were just at BriarBrothers or Spotted Octopus.' Even though there seems to be a new brewery opening up every week, not only the consumers are excited for it, but the breweries themselves are excited for it. I think it just kind of melds to create great opportunity in the area."
As the number of breweries and other similar businesses in the region continue to accelerate, many of the them feel nothing's on the horizon to slow down the beer scene in Western New York.
"More-and-more people come, I think now it's actually attracting tourism," Shaw said. "We're in the downtown area, and we're discovering we get a lot of people who are visiting, or coming into town for other things. They're just excited to kind of find new local places that aren't just breweries. I think it's true of distilleries, meateries, cideries and all of those things. I think it has become part of the tourism attraction of Buffalo, so as long as Buffalo keeps growing, I think the industry can keep growing."
"I think we've only just begun. I know that's weird to say with how many we've had. We don't really have more than four or five grandfathered in, and these new breweries that have only hit their one-year mark, coming up on their two-year mark, they're bringing such a fresh energy to the community that I don't see it slowing down anytime soon," O'Neill added.
As Maier points out, there is no one brewery that is alike in the region. Each business has something different to offer for beer enthusiasts with different taste palettes.
"There is Froth Brewery with their Milkshake IPA and other newer styles, and us with our classic styles like a Munich-style helles, an altbier. There's something for everyone," Maier said. "We specialize not just in classic styles, but something for everyone. We have a light-colored beer, our own amber, a dark and we always have two different IPAs and lagers and Belgians. Other people, they find their success in strictly IPAs, and that's what they specialize in, and that's great. They know their audience, and they work towards pleasing their audience.
"If there's one thing Buffalo likes to do, it's drink - drink and root for the Bills."
As for Kahn, he wouldn't say there's no slowing down the local beer scene. He tries to remain realistic in saying there, presumably, would be a bit of a plateau coming at some point down the road.
"A little bit of plateau is probably coming, things equal out a little bit. But we're still not really at that yet. We're still experiencing a lot more breweries open than close, and there's still lots of interest," Kahn explained. "I think we're a little bit away from something like a plateau. It's still going pretty well locally."
Meanwhile, Kahn is hoping the success of this year's WNY Beer Week will help kick off a more annual tradition that will continue to feature more local breweries and celebrate the local craft beer scene on a much larger scale.
"From my perspective, personally, I have very fond memories of our brewery [opening] right around Beer Week when we first opened. I have a lot of fond memories about just learning about beer, visiting a lot of places during Beer Week. It's something I felt we lost during COVID, so I think to have something like this back in full force, and seeing a lot of people getting interested in it is worthy of, at least, a one week long event," Kahn said. "Just to recognize all the good that our brewers do in the community, the economic impact our breweries have, a number of people we employ. I don't see a reason why this wouldn't be something that continues, and hopefully continues to grow a little bit as well."
You can show your support for local brewers by visiting businesses and asking, "What's local?" when placing an order.
A full list of breweries, new beers being released, beer related events, and special offerings of locally produced beers at bars and restaurants are listed at wnybeerweek.com.