Hey all. Anyone in or around Buffalo able to tell me if I'm missing a great brewery? I'll be in town to see MJ Lenderman at Babeville on Saturday (I got a house boat docked at the Himbo Dome), and my plan is to park near Big Ditch and walk to Other Half and then have dinner and beer at Big Ditch before the show. Due to health reasons, I'm all about quality over quantity these days. But if there's something really special that I'm missing that's within walking distance, I'm interested. Many thanks!
Not really walkable as it's 3-4 miles from where you'll be but if you don't mind a short Uber/Lyft/etc or if there's local transit available, Mortalis is absolutely worth it for the quality.
If you’re going to Babeville and will be in a time constraint: walking from BD to OH is at least 30 minutes, so a car ride would be better, IMO. Mortalis on Niagara St (no drive up window), is a must. Depending on how long you stay and bar hop, you have options galore downtown: Southern Tier, Resurgence, Flying Bison, Frequentem, Pearl St Brewery, Spotted Octopus, Belt Line, Briar Brothers…pick a spot that has the styles you like most. Only drawback to Mortalis is they only have snacky food, so if you need a meal, you’ll need to hit up someplace else for food.
…and my suggestion would be to hit Mortalis for the fruited sours and a BA stout if they have any on tap or bottled, saving the yellow beers for Other Half, each aficionados of their respective styles, IMO. Big Ditch Rocket Mule is their amped up Hayburner, and if they have any BA stouts, their recent batches were nice. The double barrel Aqueduct will have you urinating grape juice flavor for a day and a half. Cheers!!
…although, light bulb, if you have/had access to Mortalis home base in Avon, then you might skip the Buffalo site.
I’m down in Ithaca… not really close. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been there, so any Mortalis visit would be a huge treat.
Lastly, if you’re there early or have any time in the weekend, Froth on Military Rd is nice too. It’s not very far if you take the 190. Buffalo’s street design is a radial hub shape, with downtown as the center, so most all those places are with 15 minutes driving. The bottled BA stouts are good and reasonably priced. The twisted series #5 on draft is a real treat. They have good fruited sours and yellow beers, too. Tonawanda (Oliver St) used to have the most taverns claim to fame. It’s Buffalo. There is a lot of drinking here. That’s why it’s the City of Good Neighbors.
Nice afternoon in Buffalo. Mortalis had all the goods, but I’ve never seen a more bored and uninterested server. I would have stayed longer if there was someone open to talking about the beer and making suggestions. Beautiful space, what a different world from the early days when we’d show up at Avon at opening for a few crowlers. Other Half was also a beautiful space. I was surprised by how fully automated it was… standing at the bar wondering why none of the servers were noticing me until I realized it was all about the QR codes. But I played my Old Man Card and made someone take my order the old fashioned way. TDH Vapor Rings for the win. Big Ditch was good, tasted as many beers ad we could. I really like the Maibock and thought the Carrot Cake was really interesting and well done.
