Illumination Meadery, who operate out of Mortalis Brewing’s taproom on Niagara Street, have announced plans to close, citing changes in the lives of the owners, rising costs and decreased consumer demand for craft beverages.
“Sorry about the radio silence lately. We’ve made the difficult decision to close our production space permanently at 1250 Niagara Street,” they said in a social media post. “A lot has changed in the lives of the three owners, and rising costs coupled with decreased consumer demand for craft beverages left us no other choice. We wish Britesmith the best of luck in our old space!”
“When our original partner at 1250 Niagara, Company B Cider, closed right as we were ready to start pouring mead in early 2023, we thought this passion project may be ending before it even got started. We are very thankful that Mortalis took a chance on us and accepted our partnership offer to share the space that is now the Mortalis Buffalo taproom. We hope that we were able to teach people a little more about mead, and maybe we even made some new mead fans!”
Their final sendoff will be at CollaBEERation Fest on April 5.
They still have a few kegs on tap in the taproom, plus bottles and glassware to go.
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).
