Buffalo Beer Buzz: Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar, Farmcraft Brewery, Mortalis Drop, Magic Bear Advent Calendar, Holiday Valley Beer & Wine Festival, CollaBEERation V

20th Annual Holiday Valley Beer & Wine Festival

The 20th Annual Beer & Wine Festival at Holiday Valley, Nov. 8-9, will feature many of the region’s best craft breweries, wineries and cideries. Participating breweries include Ellicottville Brewing, Buffalo Brewing, 42 North Brewing, Steelbound, South Wales Brewing, Eli Fish, BriarBrothers Brewing, Wayland Brewing, Big Ditch, Lilly Belle Meads, East Aurora Brewing, First Line, Froth Brewing, 1927 Brew House, 12 Gates, Britesmith Brewing, Resurgence Brewing, Southern Tier and more. There will be 2 sessions (1-4pm, 5-8pm) and tickets are $60 ($10 for designated drivers), which include samplings, live music from XOXO Pop Band and more. You can purchase tickets here.

CollaBEERation V Reveals Participating Breweries

The fifth annual CollaBEERation Festival, which will take place on April 5, 2025 at the Powerhouse in Buffalo, has announced a lengthy list of participating breweries, cideries and meaderies. This year’s theme is ‘Hollywood.’ The event features craft beer, cider and mead created by members of the Buffalo Beer Geeks community, who will team up with more than 50 participating Western New York craft venues to create exclusive small batch beverages. A special VIP brewery lineup will be announced by January and all ticket info will be announced soon. You can find the list of participating craft vendors here.

Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar Coming to Fredonia

Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar will open in Fredonia at the site of EBC West in early 2025. Monster Beach, a brewery, brewpub and Tiki bar with a classic movie monster theme, is the creation of Robert Turley Jr., Mandi Shepp and Christoph Shepp, who plan on creating immersive theming with bamboo walls, large sculptural installations, atmospheric lighting and classic movie monster scenes. Beers will include Surfin’ with Fred lager and Attack of the Green Tomatoes tomato herb wheat, in addition to traditional Tiki drinks and Modern Polynesian-style cocktails and a food menu full of small plates inspired by ingredients from Asia, the Caribbean islands, and Polynesian region. For more information, visit https://www.monsterbeachbrewing.com.

Farmcraft Brewery to Officially Open Nov. 6

Farmcraft Brewery in Strykersville in Wyoming County has announced plans to officially open to the public on Nov. 6 (12-8pm). Their 11,000 square foot two-story taproom will house seating for 100 guests, a retail shop, full bar featuring craft beer, spirits and cocktails, full scale production brewery, private party rooms, outdoor patio with firepits, kitchen featuring artisanal pizzas, and more. They will be located at 567 Route US-20A in Strykersville. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for updates.

Halloween Beer Drop at Mortalis Brewing Buffalo

Mortalis Brewing are dropping a trio of new beers on Halloween, including a Double IPA, Gluten Free Fruited Sour and an Imperial Stout. Hecates Crossroads DIPA, brewed in collaboration with Brujos Brewing, features Lupomax Citra, NZ Cascade, and Peacharine hops from Freestyle Hops (16oz. 4-pack cans), Demihydra: Crustables is a gluten-free fruited sour that blends strawberry, grape, and peanut butter (16oz. 4-pack cans) and Asteria Imperial Stout features Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, maple and marshmallows (500ml bottles). All three beers will be available at the brewery on Oct. 31.

Beer Advent Calendar Returns to Magic Bear Beer Cellar

Magic Bear Beer Cellar’s Beer Advent Calendar, which features 24 craft beers curated by Certified Cicerone® Craig Altobello, is back for the 2024 holiday season. Each Advent Beer Box includes a variety of beer styles, such as lagers, ambers, stouts, IPAs, sours and more, from local, national and international breweries. Cans and bottles are individually numbered and are meant to be enjoyed on each of the 24 days leading up to Christmas, beginning on Dec. 1. Each beer itself is a mystery, meaning you never know what beer you are going to get on any given day. Magic Bear Beer Cellar’s Beer Advent Calendars are available for presale on Nov. 1. You can find more information at https://www.magicbearbeer.com.

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, Threads and Untappd (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).