Big Ditch Brewing Plans Month of Beer Releases

March is gearing up to be quite the month for Big Ditch Brewing. Starting with the release of Hayburner IPA in 19.2oz. stovepipe cans, the brewery will release another beer each week this month. Flow Rider, a citrus blonde ale with a portion of proceeds benefitting Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, will make its return mid-month, Little Waves, a crisp and clean Helles lager balanced with light bready malt character and floral hops, will debut later this month and Space Donkey, Hayburner brewed with Galaxy hops, returns March 31. Clear some space in your beer fridges now.

For their Innovation Thursday this week, Big Ditch will offer a new pilot batch Dry Irish Stout and Pickleback chicken wings.

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at a Local Brewery

Our craft breweries take St. Patrick’s Day seriously and this year, anyone can be Irish for a day! Eli Fish Brewing is celebrating all week with beer, cocktail, and food specials, Steel Leaf Brewing will have traditional Irish food, beer, prizes, contests and live music Friday and Saturday, including the “Giant Luck Wheel” for prizes, indoor cornhole, Kanjam and giant beer pong, Rusty Nickel will take part in the St. Patrick’s Day Music Fest, Brazen Brewing will tap green Lancaster Lager, a traditional Irish Red and dry Irish Stout on Friday (3pm), 12 Gates Brewing will have live music from Jennifer Rose (acoustic, 6pm) and Cairde Irish Music (7-10pm) on Friday, Hamburg Brewing will host St. Patrick’s Day Under the Tent with $5 Irish Red’s and live music from Emerald Isle Band and Almost Seamus, Buffalo Brewing tap a cask of cask of 1841 Irish Red Ale on Friday at 4pm, and more. Slainte!

Southern Tier Brewing to Release Vanilla Scoop Imperial Ale

Southern Tier Brewing has partnered with Perry’s Ice Cream on Vanilla Scoop Imperial Ale. For this release, they wanted to capture the flavor of Perry’s Vanilla Ice Cream in a bottle by using Perry’s signature vanilla and milk sugar and crafted an 8.6% imperial ale to deliver a creamy, full-bodied beer. Vanilla Scoop is available now in 12oz. 4-pack bottles.

Genesee Ruby Red Kolsch is Back, New in 16oz. Cans This Year

Genesee Brewing’s annual summer staple Rudy Red Kolsch is back for 2023 and new this year, the iconic brew will be available in 16oz. cans. You’ll still be able to find the grapefruit kolsch in traditional 12oz. can 12 packs, but now you’ll be able to find the beer in bigger cans as well, including at various event venues. Ruby Red Kolsch is a crisp and refreshing, bright-golden ale with tart grapefruit flavors, bready malt body and mild hop bitterness. Look for Ruby Red Kolsch wherever great craft beer is sold soon.

Celebrate Buffalo’s Robust Bar Culture History With Buffalo Bar Chips

If you’ve been to a bar, brewery or most any watering hole, you’ve no doubt come across a drink, or bar, chip – most likely to cover a future drink. One local outfit is looking to celebrate Western New York’s rich bar history with those little tokens. Buffalo Bar Chips, a new venture from lifelong Buffalonian Ed Bailey, preserves bar chips and turns them into art, from shirts and posters to plaques, puzzles and more. Visit www.buffalobarchips.com to view their inventory and check out the Chip Map. Buffalo Bar Chips has mapped out every open bar in Erie/Niagara County. The icons are color coded as well, making the map easier to use. They are also always looking for new bars. Email buffalobarchips@gmail.com for more information.

Second Annual KBC – Kegs, Barrels, and Crafts at 500 Pearl

On April 8 (4-8p), the second annual KBC – Kegs, Barrels, and Crafts, a beer, wine and whiskey event featuring more than 40 vendors from Western New York, will take place at 500 Pearl. Vendors in attendance this year include BriarBrothers Brewing, Sprague Vineyards, Nickel City Rescue, H&H Entertainment, Buffalo Dapper Paws and NY Candle Co. There will be live music and all attendees are eligible to win an overnight stay at Aloft Buffalo Downtown with a $50 gift card to w xyz Bar + Lounge/Patrick’s Rooftop and a $50 gift card to Spare Lanes. Tickets can be purchased here.

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).

The post Buffalo Beer Buzz: New Releases at Big Ditch, Genesee & Southern Tier, St. Patrick’s Day, Buffalo Bar Chips, 2nd Annual KBC Fest appeared first on Buffalo Beer League.

If you’ve been to a bar, brewery or pretty much any watering hole, you’ve no doubt come across a drink, or bar, chip – most likely as a backup to pay for your next drink or a future one. One local outfit is looking to celebrate Western New York’s rich bar history through those very same little tokens.

Buffalo Bar Chips, a new venture from lifelong Buffalonian Ed Bailey, preserves bar chips and turns them into art, from shirts and posters to plaques, puzzles and more. Bailey was first inspired to start collecting chips during a, what else, trip to the bar with friends in May of 2017. After receiving his first drink chip, he told his friends they should seek out other chips from other bars and he has never looked back.

“Since we started in 2017, I have personally had a beer in approximately 950 area bars in my attempt to collect chips,” Bailey says. “I have roughly 450 chips presently, but I’m hoping that number continues to grow. Roughly 45% of the open bars use drink chips and you are most likely to find them in taverns/pubs, however many of the large breweries are using them as well. Although some bars throughout the U.S. use drink chips, I have not found a region that utilizes them more than the Buffalo area.”

As Bailey explains, a bar chip is “a token one receives when someone buys you a ‘backup’ drink. If someone wants to buy your next drink, but you already possess a full drink, the bartender will place a drink chip on the bar in front of you to be redeemed for a pre-paid drink. Chips come in all shapes and sizes, but they are typically round with the average size around that of a poker chip. They are like snowflakes, not one is the same as another.”

While preserving history is one goal of Bailey’s with Buffalo Bar Chips, he also wants to encourage more people get out and ‘Go Chippin’’ for themselves, while hopefully encouraging more bars to utilize drink chips at their establishments.

“My goal I guess is to encourage people to “Go Chippin’,” as we have called it,” he says. “I’m sure there are many others who would like to start exploring bars in every corner of Erie/Niagara County to perhaps start their own collection. In turn, maybe more bars would incorporate the use of chips in their business. These chips are such a great memento to have, especially for those bars that have closed. In addition, I’m hoping to collect chips from people who may have them from bars that have closed long ago. I would love to create some type of history of Buffalo bars with these chips and perhaps create another poster with just chips of closed Buffalo area bars.”

What exactly does ‘Go Chippin’’ mean you ask? “We coined this phrase, which in our terms means going to different bars in an attempt to collect more chips,” he explains. “Our rules are that we can’t call ahead to ask if the bar uses chips. We must go and order a drink and then at some point ask the bartender if they use them. If so, I would buy a chip.  Either way, we have one drink and then on to the next bar.”

Anyone who has been collecting bar chips for the last six years is bound to have favorites, right? “There are so many unique chips, but some stand out among others. New York Beer Project arguably has one of the best quality chips, along with the recently closed Fat Sal’s. Both are metallic and very creative and of the highest quality. In the wooden chip category, I would have to nominate Sto Lat Bar, Live Edge Brewing Company, Bottle Rocket Beer Reserve, One Eyed Cat Brewing and Lockhouse Distillery & Bar. Other chips worth mentioning are the guitar pick chips from closed bars Club 861 and Penny Lane Cafe or the bear paw chip from Kodiak Jack’s.”

Some of Bailey’s favorite bars from throughout WNY, include, in Amherst (Brunners, Libation Station), Buffalo (Swannie House, Talty’s, Del Denby’s, The Steer, Buffalo Bar & Grill, Daly’s, Eddie Brady’s), Depew (Bloomfield’s Pub), E. Aurora (General Riley House), Lackawanna (Ice House Pub), Lockport (Groff’s Tavern), N. Tonawanda (Partner’s Tavern), Niagara Falls (Gadawski’s) and Youngstown (Stone Jug).

Visit www.buffalobarchips.com to view their unique inventory and check out the interactive Chip Map. Buffalo Bar Chips has mapped out every open bar in Erie and Niagara County. The map is very comprehensive; if the bar uses chips, it’s labeled with a green beer icon. By clicking on the icon, you can view the chip and it also links to the bar label in Google Maps. Bars that don’t use chips are labeled with a red icon, but also link to the bar label.

“The large poster is by far the most popular item we sell,” Bailey says. “For those bars that are not represented on the poster, I also create one-of-a-kind posters by drilling a real chip in the center of the Buffalo logo on the plaqued posters. In addition, the 1,000 piece puzzles and Buffalo Irish t-shirts with our Irish chip logo are popular.”

Bailey is also constantly on the lookout for new bars and new chips to add to the collection. You can email buffalobarchips@gmail.com for more information.

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).

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