BengalNews Reporters
One of Ethan Cox's goals for his upcoming Lafayette Avenue brewery is to "embeer" Buffalo.
Community Beer Works, a project that has been brewing since Cox and David Foster came up with the idea in spring 2010, is slated to open in 2012 at 15 Lafayette Ave., near Niagara Street.
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| Ethan Cox stands amid construction at Community Beer Works |
"We feel really good about being here," Cox said. "Bidwell Park, the Niagara River…. Grant [Street] is picking up, and we're helping with that."
Philip Kneitinger, a supporter of Community Beer Works, said he thinks it's a great location.
"So often, businesses stick to neighborhoods like Elmwood, Allen, Hertel - neighborhoods that are move-in ready and friendly - because maybe it's easier," he said. "Setting up on Lafayette, CBW found a building that suits them that isn't necessarily in a pretty part of town.”
Kneitinger said that by setting up on Lafayette, CBW will help to bring business and activity to a traditionally ignored part of Buffalo.
The building is also connected to Buffalo's brewing history. The Meyer Malting Company used the building for vehicles and storage, according to Cox, and out-of-town executives may have used the apartments on the second floor.
"All the grain stopped in Buffalo briefly and was stored in those towers," Cox said. "A malting industry was a natural thing to do; you've got all this grain and it's just sitting here. You can buy it, malt it and sell it for three times as much as what you bought it for."
The location near Niagara Street is also suitable for other reasons.
"For a small brewery where we're really depending on foot traffic," Cox said, "you really have to be in a place where people can get to," which is why the West Side location works.
City zoning laws dictate where businesses, industrial and commercial properties can be located, and Cox said the brewery is in exactly the right zoning location.
"There is some foot traffic," he said. "The immediate neighborhood is probably not our target demographic, but we're as close to that target demographic as we can be legally."
Ethan Cox, president of Community Beer Works, discusses how the process of brewing is both art and science, and how the two components come together:
Born in Ohio, Cox moved here when he was four and considers himself a Buffalo native. He attended Bennett Park Montessori, Olmstead 56 and City Honors before moving onto boarding school and going away for college. Stints in Boston, Tucson and Chicago led him back to Buffalo, where he and his wife chose to raise their family.
Foster, one of Cox's partners in the project, was born and raised in the West Side area, attending Lafayette High School and working at a local record store.
For both men, the location makes perfect sense for the brewery.
"I'm Buffalo through and through," Cox said. "This is our community."
To stay connected with the neighborhood, Community Beer Works plans to partner with the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) and urban farmers.
Cox referred to MAP's tilapia growing project as an example of how Community Beer Works plans to remain involved in the neighborhood. Donated grain will be fed to worms, which turn compost into fine dirt. The dirt is then distributed into the aquaponics system and helps to filter water, which is pumped through a system for the tilapia tanks.
Cox said many breweries do something responsible with their grain, often donating it to farms to feed cattle.
"This works for Buffalo and for our community," Cox said. "They're right there and we're small enough, and their needs are small enough."
Urban hop farms are another project that Cox is interested in.
He's been contacted by people from Wheatfield and the East Side of Buffalo who are growing hops, which is a complicated process because hops need to be dried and processed before they can be used.
Although the hop-growing process is very involved, Cox said he loves to use fresh hops and wants to encourage professional, but small-scale, local hop agriculture, as well as all different aspects of brewing a beer culture.
"Once or twice a year, we probably can make a beer with just people's backyard hops," he said. "That won't be the same beer year after year at all; that will be fun."
ox said Community Beer Works does not have a targeted open date yet, but mid-January is a realistic expectation for when brewing will begin. They have put in their application to the State Liquor Authority, and construction is still in progress. After that's finished, it will take two weeks to brew the beer.
Aside from the goals of making enough money to stay in business and producing 'ridiculously good' beer, Community Beer Works has one main goal.
"I hope we kick-start a brewing focus and a brewing culture in Buffalo," Cox said.
He said preservation and architecture are great efforts, but a city needs diversity and bringing a brewing culture back here will provide just that, giving Buffalo a new identity.
"The Buffalonians that are left here are pretty into Buffalo," Cox said. "Those that remain are the kind of die-hards, and this town can easily support a bunch of breweries."
Kneitinger said that Buffalo's brewing culture is largely due for a revival.
"Buffalo once boasted dozens upon dozens of small breweries, but as time rolled on, they all vanished," he said. "With this new craft brewing movement starting to really pick up steam, it feels like small brewing endeavors can really take off again and a place like Buffalo would embrace it. For CBW to join big players in Buffalo like Flying Bison and Pearl Street, it helps reestablish that Buffalo brewing tradition again." Edited by Samantha Murphy
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