For the past four years, Eli Fish Brewing Company has truly been making history as Batavia’s lone brewery. One of the hidden gems of the Western New York craft beer scene, the brewery has spent the last four years piling up hardware and filling their trophy case, most notably at the 2021 New York State Craft Beer Competition, when they won a pair of gold medals, as well as the highly coveted Governor’s Cup, awarded for the best beer in the state.

Four years in. Many milestones passed and they’re just getting started. But now it’s time to rejoice.

It’s all of those accomplishments and more that Eli Fish will be celebrating at their 4th Anniversary Celebration on March 26. The day will feature a haul of new beer releases, the return of fan favorite menu items from the last four years, and live music.

In honor of their 4th anniversary, Eli Fish will tap a number of anniversary beers:

  • None Shall Pass! – 7% NEIPA with Citra and Strata hops (4-packs and draft)
  • Tiga Queen – 7% Sour IPA with cherries, lime, hibiscus, jalapenos, lactose and the Pink Boots Hop Blend (4-packs and draft)
  • Barrel Aged Beautiful Midnight – 13.5% stout aged in Basil Hayden barrels for 16 months and finished on vanilla caviar (draft and bottles)
  • Barrel Aged Double Steep Pistachio – 10.5% stout aged in Black Button barrels for 20 months and finished on coffee and pistachio
  • 2022 Bad Bad LeRoy Brown – Eli Fish’s annual anniversary imperial brown, alongside vintage kegs of 2021, and 2020 LeRoy Brown

Head Brewer Adam Burnett says that, for this year’s anniversary party, he wanted to bring back some fan favorites in order to celebrate. And while the brewery normally taps their Bad Bad Leroy Brown for the occasion, this year they are able to have a vertical with some older vintages, so he is looking forward to trying that.

“We celebrate every year with our imperial brown ale, Bad Bad Leroy Brown. It’s fun to be able to serve a vertical of it now that we’ve had a few years to store some kegs,” Burnett said. “I have been focusing on bringing back crowd pleasers these days, so to have Tiga Queen and None Shall Pass, our NEIPA with Citra and Strata, back on the same day, surely means there’s a beer for everyone.”

While the time is now to look back and celebrate how far they have come, Burnett says he is excited about what the future holds for Eli Fish, which includes more lagers and coolship ales, which Burnett says is just the beginning of what’s to come for the Batavia brewery.

“We just got our foudre, which is going to spend the next year, at least, making only oak conditioned lagers,” he said. “And our first coolship brew is this week to mark our shift towards method traditional ale for our barrel sour program. For me, it’s been the best journey yet. And one that won’t stop any time soon.”

There will also be a number of food specials, including Roasted Pork Shank, Muffaletta Sandwich, Korean Meatball Appetizer, Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich and Chicken Bahn Mi, and live music from A.J. DiNoto (8pm).

For more information on the anniversary party, click here.

Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).