After being closed for the most part of the past year due to the pandemic, Lafayette Brewing Company, one of the three breweries in the Pearl Street Family, will officially reopen to the public on June 2.

The brewery plans to reopen with a new food and cocktail menu, as well as with a number of new beers. New Head Brewer Jason Dunshie, who replaces Chris Herr, explains their new beer lineup includes:

  • Louise Blonde Ale
  • Bethune American Brown
  • Still A Rockstar Sour (Raspberry, Blackberry, Pink Guava)
  • Good News NEIPA (Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Simcoe hops)
  • Curfew Lifted Session IPA (Columbus, Mosaic, Cashmere and Simcoe hops)
  • Industrial Sunset IPA (Amarillo, Simcoe and Cascade hops)
  • Ctl+Alt+Delete Wheat (Amarillo and Cascade hops)

Dunshie explains that he wanted to pay tribute to the history of the Hotel Lafayette, the iconic Buffalo building that houses Lafayette Brewing, with these new beers, adding that he is looking forward most to Bethune Brown and Industrial Sunset. Above it all, he calls these new beers a “team effort,” spurred on by his new brewing team.

“With reopening, I wanted to pay homage to the historical nature of the building by naming a couple of beers after Louise Bethune which was America’s first female architect and designed both our Pearl Street location and the Hotel Lafayette,” Dunshie said. “That said, I think Bethune Brown is sneaky good, with heavy coffee notes and a nice hop bite from the Columbus hops. Industrial Sunset is one of our new flagships, and is smooth. It was truly a team effort. Brian Vaughn came back to us from Resurgence and Ben Oship is coming from Thin Man, and we all worked hard to put together this brand new lineup.”

Dunshie assumes the lead brewer role after Herr departed for a position at V-Lake Industries Beverage Equipment after eight years.

“This hard decision was made after a year of contemplation and new opportunities arising that finally made me feel like it was time to make a leap. I couldn’t be prouder of the work we did and most importantly the beer we brewed. Being the head of this ship for the last 8 years has been an honor, and I look forward to what the future holds for the companies,” Herr said in March.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/lafayettebrewco.

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