DREW BROWN
BUFFALO’S
ALE TRAILS
BY JOSHUA M. BERNSTEIN
Locally grown breweries offer a bonanza of beer
the Queen City has seen a recent surge of homegrown breweries and brewpubs. There are now more than 35 beer makers around the region, reinvigorating once-bustling waterfronts, revitalizing old buildings and giving growing neighborhoods gathering places brimming with conversation, great beer and civic pride. These locally grown breweries offer a bonanza of beer, so much so that it’s tough to chart a course. Luckily, we’ve done the hard work of creating a trio of tasty beer trails to help you explore Buffalo by the pint. This Way to IPA Start hopping around at Thin Man Brewery’s original location (492 Elmwood Ave., 716-923-4100; thinmanbrewery.com), in Buffalo’s historic Elmwood Village, and their forward-thinking, hop-focused beers. Climb aboard the hazy IPA train with the smooth Trial By Wombat, which contains flaked oats and Australia’s melony, peachy Galaxy hops, or try the fruity and lightly dank Bliss double IPA. Resist the urge to order a second glass and decamp to downtown Buffalo’s Big Ditch Brewing Company (55 East Huron St., bigditchbrewing.com). It’s a former Verizon service center reborn
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as a bright, bi-level restaurant that can’t make enough Hayburner, an unfiltered, grapefruit-scented IPA with gripping bitterness. Old Buffalo rubs shoulders with new Buffalo amid the towering grain silos of the Old First Ward, where you’ll find the massive second outpost of Resurgence Brewing Company (55 Chicago St., resurgencebrewing.com). The industrial-sleek space, outfitted with chandeliers, offers seating feet from the gleaming fermentation tanks. Start with the cloudy Cosmic Truth, which packs a huge tropical punch into a beer that’s about as strong as a light lager (just 4.3 percent ABV).
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