CollaBEERation VI Festival Sets for April 2026
The date has been set for the sixth annual CollaBEERation Festival – April 25, 2025. The event will return to the Powerhouse (140 Lee St, Buffalo). Participating breweries, meaderies and cideries, as well as ticket information, will be announced at a later date. If you don’t know how CollaBEERation works, here’s the premise – the event features craft beer, cider and mead created by members of the Buffalo Beer Geeks community, who team up with over 50 Western New York craft venues to create one-off, small batch creations, many created exclusively for this event. They are involved in every step of the creative process. There will also be food and craft vendors on hand. For more information, click here.
Bottles & Bites Returns to Statler Buffalo in November
Bottles & Bites, one of Western New York’s premiere food and craft beverage sampling events, returns on Thursday, November 13 at Statler Buffalo. There will be food tastings from Trattoria Aroma, Chef’s, Hanzlian’s Sausage, Mike’s Subs, Muscoreil’s and more, craft beer samplings from Mystic Hills, Hofbrauhaus, Big Ditch and more, as well as live music from Busted Stuff – Dave & Cyn, vendors and more. VIP tickets ($50 in advance, $60 day of) include early entry, exclusive VIP area, reserve beverage selection and commemorative glass and General Admission ($30 in advance, $40 day of) include all samplings and commemorative glass. The event runs from 6 pm to 8:30 pm with early VIP entry at 5 pm. For tickets, click here.
Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar to Close in November
Fredonia’s Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar has announced that they are closing their doors on November 1. They will be open Wednesday through Saturday for the next two weeks. “This is the hardest post I’ve ever had to make, and it’s been eating me up, but here it goes, the brewery said. “We have been operating Monster Beach for the past year, at a loss, and at tremendous personal costs to our schedules, health, and sanity. We’ve reached a point of loss where we simply cannot continue to operate without putting our own homes and livelihoods at risk.” Click here for more information.
Resurgence Brewing to Host Barrel Aged Celebration
Resurgence Brewing is breaking out the barrels this weekend for their Barrel Aged Celebration on October 25. The event will feature seven barrel-aged beers, including Nothing But Time Imperial Stout, a collaboration with Buffalo Barrel Project, aged in Peach Brandy barrels and Woodford Reserve barrels, and ciders, including BA Ghost Lantern and BA Apricot Cider, specialty flights featuring Woodford Reserve pairings, vendors such as Nickel City Cigars and A&C Jerky, live music from Stephen Babcock, bottle sales (4 barrel-aged bottles for $20) and more. The event is free and open to the public.
Community Beer Works Former 7th Street Home for Lease
520 7th Street, the former home of the Schaefer & Brother Malt House and, most recently, Community Beer Works, is available for lease. The 11,379 square foot space features a dedicated brewing area, walk-in cooler, warehouse with a loading dock, turn-key taproom with kitchen and mezzanine for offices or private parties, exposed brick, large windows, two outdoor dining areas including a front patio and courtyard beer garden. Schneider Real Estate Services is handling the listing. To view the listing, click here. Moving forward, CBW will join forces with Thin Man Brewery and Smoldered Society to reopen the former Thin Man taproom at 166 Chandler Street, which will now be known as Chandler Street Breweries. They plan to open early next year.
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 X (@buffbeerleague), Instagram, Threads and Untappd (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).
