I drink a lot of local craft beer, try my best to get my hands on every new release I can, visit numerous taprooms across Western New York on a weekly basis, attend every single beer event possible, and still, there are so many things I have yet, and want, to do in the local beer scene and so many things I want to do again. And when better to do all of those things, and hopefully more, than in 2025.
In an effort to hold myself accountable, and to get out from behind my laptop more often, I have put together a craft beer bucket list for 2025, a list of things I want to do and accomplish in 2025, places I want to visit, and revisit, and, of course, beers I want to drink.
Drink more local lager
This one is pretty self-explanatory – drink more local lager. It’s as simple as it sounds. Whether it be at my home bar, in front of a dart board somewhere (who has the hookup on local dart leagues?), at my nearest watering hole (not many of those in Eden) or taproom, or at an upcoming beer event, I want to make sure more locally produced craft lager finds its way into my glass. Speaking of lagers, I’d like to drink more on side pull. No lager is safe in 2025.
Ride the Ferris wheel with a beer at Buffalo Riverworks
This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now, but I have just not made it happen. But this is the year. I vow to grab a fresh pint of Riverworks Brewing beer and take a ride on their Ferris wheel. Silo Light was drinking great the last time I was at Riverworks. Summer can’t come soon enough.
Visit every local brewery, cidery and meadery again
You can add bottle shops to this list too. One big thing I want to accomplish in 2025 is to visit every brewery, cidery and meadery in Western New York.
Drink a Hayburner at Big Ditch
This one is an easy task, yet incredibly meaningful. Drinking a fresh pint of Hayburner while sitting at the bar at Big Ditch may not sound like much, but it’s an act that’s quite meaningful to me. This is a beer that has always held a very special place in my heart, a beer that has led to great friendships and lasting memories, one I raise to those that I hold dear and those I have lost. Sorry if I got a bit too real there.
Drink a First Line Brewing beer at Black Smoke’s Cloud 9 Rooftop Bar
Speaking of summer, this is something else I need to do when the warmer weather arrives – grab a fresh pint of First Line beer, head up to the Cloud 9 Rooftop Bar at Black Smoke Bourbon Bar and take in the views of the Village of Hamburg. That just sounds refreshing. Hopefully it’ll be a lager, but we had time to hash out what will be in my glass.
Drink a Wayland IPA at their new Ellicottville location
The closures of 12 Gates of EVL and the 42 North Brewing Outpost has left something of a void in the Ellicottville craft beer scene, which is now filled, in part, by Wayland Brewing Ellicottville location, located above the West Rose Restaurant. I love Wayland beer and love Ellicottville so I look forward to have a few pints the next time I’m in town, which will probably be soon.
Drink New York Beer Project’s first ever koelship beer
First off, a koelship is an open-air brewing vessel that allows for spontaneous fermentation by introducing the desirable wild yeasts and microorganisms to the wort. New York Beer Project’s OP Beer Lodge has one and used it to brew a wild ale for the first time late last year. They put that beer in barrels, which they will remain in until probably this fall. It’s a bit of a long game, but I cannot wait to drink traditional koelship wild ale in Western New York. I’ll see you in Orchard Park later this year.
Bring back Brewcation
Brewcation used to be an annual pilgrimage of the Buffalo Beer League to different cities to visit as many breweries, cideries, meaderies, beer bars and bottle shops as we could possibly pack into a few days. We trekked across New York (Cooperstown, Elmira, Binghamton, Ithaca, etc.), Rochester, Toronto (twice) and Richmond, Virginia, then had a trip to Pittsburgh planned, which was cancelled due to COVID, and then that was it – the pandemic effectively killed Brewcation. We haven’t been able to make it work since, and that’s something I regret with each passing year. I’ve made some excellent memories on these trips, made great friends (shoutout to Elmira’s Upstate Brewing and Toronto’s Henderson Brewing) and looked forward to it every year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed I can make it work again this year. The question is, where to? Pittsburgh seems like the obvious choice, but I’d love to go to New England, Brooklyn, Toronto again. We will see.
Attend my favorite beer events of the year
We are entering peak beer event season – Barrel Jam, Buffalo on Tap, CollaBEERation, Brewer’s Invitational – and I plan on attending all that I can make it out to. Looking ahead, there’s also the NYS Craft Brewers Festival, Rhythm & Brews, Spring Food & Beer Festival at Wayland Brewing, KBC – Kegs, Crafts & Barrels, and many more. If you plan on hitting some of these events and see me, come say hello. I hope to see everyone out and about this year.
Spend more time in more beer gardens across Western New York
Again, this one is self-explanatory. When the weather turns, I want to grab a beer, head outside and grab a seat in one of Western New York’s cozy beer gardens. I have found myself experiencing the winter doldrums this season (it snows a lot in Eden) and I cannot wait to spend as much time as I possibly can outdoors at brewery this summer.
Organize a boozy brewery bus tour
This is something my wife Jill and I have discussed a number of times. I recently went on a boozy bus for a friend’s birthday that took me to BriarBrothers Brewing, Belt Line, Magic Bear and Hamburg Brewing, which rekindled my want to do this. And there are so many different avenues I could go for this, literally, so I need to nail down a plan and make this happen. I think this could be fun for my birthday in August.
As I sit here writing this in January, I am intrigued as to how many of these things I will actually accomplish. Here’s hoping all of them and here’s hoping 2025 is a great year for craft beer here in Western New York. Cheers.
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).