Ellicottville Brewing Company in Western New York has purchased Empire Brewing Company’s brand. Ellicottville has since been working excitedly in the background developing a reinvigorated product lineup, tweaking old favorites, developing and launching a visual rebrand, and gathering feedback from longtime loyal Empire fans, craft beer lovers & industry insiders across the state. The new lineup includes the following craft ales: Skinny Atlas Kolsch (an award winning original Empire ale), Black Magic NITRO Stout (a fan favorite but now sold nitrogenated in cans!), Local Grind Coffee Scotch Ale (with former Empire collab partners Cafe Kabul, CNY), and a new everyday ale, State of Mind NEIPA (brewed in honor of New York State’s craft beer community). All four products hit retail shelves 4/27.

Pictured left to right: Peter Kreinheder & David Katleski. David is holding the newly relaunched Empire Skinny Atlas Kolsch which celebrates 25 years of production this year.

“Our plan is to continue with some new innovation and carry out really what David’s idea about what Empire was,” said Ellicottville Brewing Company Owner Peter Kreinheder. “We are proud to bring Empire Beer back to New York State as part of the Ellicottville Brewing family. With our state-of-the-art brewing and packaging facilities, backed by our high tech QA lab, Empire Brewing will bring new delicious recipes comprised of high quality liquid along with all new packaging and innovative styles.”

The future of Empire will be solely focused on brewing, growing the brand, and exploring new creativity & innovation in their portfolio. There are no current plans to reopen a Syracuse based brewpub or taproom. However, all are welcome to visit any of Ellicottville Brewing’s four locations across WNY, where Empire will be readily on tap for tasting outside of retail markets. New seasonal & limited release recipes will be announced throughout the year. The packaged ales are releasing in Western NY & Central NY in stores such as Consumer’s Beverages, Wegmans, Tops Friendly Markets, and other great independent craft beer retailers. Empire will also be returning to Eastern and Metro New York in late spring/early summer.

EBC Head Brewer Dan Minner enjoying an Empire State of Mind NEIPA.

“For the past 25 years the similarities between Empire Brewing Company and Ellicottville Brewing Company have been countless and the bonds that have formed between our two companies have been infectious,” said David Katleski, Empire Brewing Founder and Founder of the New York State Brewers Association. “Ellicottville’s brewer Danny Minner and Empire’s former brewer Tim Butler are great friends that have grown into two brewing forces in our industry. Likewise, Ellicottville’s owner, Peter Kreinheder, and I have a great friendship and share operational and trade secrets to lend to the betterment of our respective companies. I endorse their purchase of Empire and will consult with them whenever needed to relaunch and hopefully regain Empire’s loyal customers. I wish them the greatest success to carry Empire through the next quarter-century and beyond.”

Follow Empire Brewing online Instagram & Facebook at @empirebrew. A new beer finder tool will be available on their website coming soon. Please send any and all questions and comments to info@empirebrewingny.com.