17 Canadian breweries will team up with 17 Buffalo-Niagara breweries to create one-of-a-kind collaboration beers that will be exclusively available at the first annual Can-Am Craft Beer Festival, set to take place April 7, 2018, in Niagara Falls, New York at The Conference and Event Center.

The first-of-their-kind brewery pairings were decided via a draft that saw logos of participating breweries pulled from oak barrels and matched up on a big draft board. Representatives from each brewery, as well as tourism officials and other dignitaries from the brewing world were on hand to draw names.

“While the festival is not taking place until next April, it’s going to take some time for the breweries to collaborate to make unique craft beers for our first CanAm and the upcoming NFL draft allowed us to do something fun with our draft,” said Willard Brooks, president of the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association. “It was a tremendous event and just a prelude to what will be a great festival next April as I am sure the competitive juices of the breweries will be flowing to make what will be some really exquisite craft beers.”

The actual brewing process will take place both in the Buffalo-Niagara region and in Ontario as each Canadian brewery will host an American brewery and each American brewery will host a Canadian brewery.

Now, onto the pairings…

The following Buffalo-Niagara breweries will each host a respective Ontario brewery – 12 Gates Brewing will host Nickel Brook Brewing Company (Burlington, ON), Resurgence Brewing – Niagara Brewing Company (Niagara Falls, ON), Thin Man – Block Three Brewing Company (St. Jacobs, ON), West Shore Brewing – Niagara College Teaching Brewery (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON), Big Ditch – Beau’s (Vankleek Hill, ON), Woodcock Brothers – Cowbell Brewing Company (Blyth, ON), Rusty Nickel Brewing – Lock Street  -Brewing Company (St. Catharines, ON), Hamburg Brewing – Brimstone Brewery (Ridgeway, ON), 42 North – Shawn & Ed Brewing Co. (Dundas, ON), Ellicottville Brewing – Flying Monkey’s Craft Brewery (Barrie, ON), Flying Bison – Great Lakes Brewery (Etobicoke, ON), Four Mile – Grand River Brewing (Cambridge, ON), New York Beer Project – Royal City Brewery Company (Guelph, ON), Community Beer Works                – Redline Brewhouse (Barrie, ON), Five and 20 Spirits and Brewing – Niagara Oast House Brewers (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON), Buffalo Brewing Company – Railway City Brewing Co. (St. Thomas, ON) and Southern Tier – Wellington Brewery (Guelph, ON).

On the flip side, the following Ontario breweries will each host a respective Buffalo-Niagara brewery for another round of brewing – Beau’s – Flying Bison, Block Three – Resurgence, Brimstone, – Rusty Nickel, Cowbell Brewing, – New York Beer Project, Grand River -12 Gates, Niagara College Teaching Brewery – Buffalo Brewing Company, Niagara Oast House – Southern Tier, Royal City – 42 North, Redline Brewhouse – Thin Man, Shawn & Ed Brewing Co. – Community Beer Works, Wellington Brewery – Four Mile, Lock Street – Five and 20 Spirits and Brewing, Great Lakes – Hamburg Brewing, Niagara Brewing – Big Ditch, Nickel Brook – Ellicottville Brewing, Flying Monkey’s – Woodcock Brothers and Railway City – West Shore Brewing Company.

“34 WNY & Ontario breweries drove from near & far to attend the first ever press conference for Canadian American Beer Festival.  The pure excitement on the part of both brewers and organizers for this very unique cross border collaboration is unprecedented.  This bodes very well for the CanAm – which we believe can grow into a major North American beer festival smack dab on the international border.  Expect awesome!”

Follow the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloNiagaraBrewersAssociation and Buffalo Beer League on Twitter (@buffbeerleague) and on Instagram (@buffalobeerleague) for everything related to the 2018 Can-Am Craft Beer Festival.

Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, 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 buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter at @buffbeerleague, on Instagram at @buffalobeerleague and on Facebook at @thebuffalobeerleague.