After expansion, Big Ditch Hayburner IPA will be sold in 12 packs
Buffalo-based brewery opens massive production facility a few blocks from its original location and prepares to push into new markets
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Here’s some exciting news you probably didn’t know you needed — Big Ditch Brewing just opened a massive new production facility in downtown Buffalo.
The new brewery at 101 Oak St. doubles the size of its original location at 55 Huron St. The Oak Street spot features a 40-barrel brewhouse, compared to the maxed out 20-barrel system in the original facility. Big Ditch opened its original location in 2014 and expanded its distribution to Rochester in 2017.
The sparkling new facility immediately signals one monumental bit of news for western New York beer consumers — Big Ditch’s flagship India pale ale, Hayburner, will now be available in 12 packs. And those will start hitting store shelves in the coming days, according to Big Ditch president and co-founder Matt Kahn.
And this Hayburner news drops in the same week that another spectacular Buffalo brewery, Thin Man, revealed its crushable Bills-inspired Pilsner, Pills Mafia, would also be hitting shelves in 12 packs.
Love love love this trend of craft breweries expanding their options and offering flagships in 12 packs. We’ve already seen that in Rochester with Rohrbach’s making its Scotch Ale in eight packs and Three Heads offering a host of options, including its new Tiny Kind session IPA and flagship The Kind IPA in 12 packs.
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Kahn said Hayburner accounts for approximately 75 percent of Big Ditch’s production at its current Huron Street location. And like 3HB’s The Kind, Hayburner has really become the signature IPA in western New York. It’s hard to go to a bar or restaurant and not find Hayburner or The Kind on draft. Both of those beers are two of the top-selling craft options across Wegmans stores in this region, too.
Now, we just need some Big Ditch variety packs. Maybe a 12 pack with Hayburner, the Dayburner session IPA, and Cannon Call double IPA? Or something like this…
With the move into the new production facility, which is just a few blocks from the original spot, Big Ditch hired seven new brewers. All beer produced in 12-ounce cans will be made at the Oak Street facility, allowing the Huron location to focus on seasonals, small batch releases, and other innovative beers, Kahn said.
The expansion will allow Big Ditch to increase its distribution footprint further into central New York and then eventually into the Capital (Albany) Region.
Kahn said Big Ditch isn’t done. He said consumers have been bugging Big Ditch for years to send beer into other states and new markets. With the new facility online, Kahn said that’s a distinct possibility.
“Innovation is paramount for success in the craft beer industry,” Kahn said in a release. “The opening of the new production brewery will free up capacity as our current brewery for innovation while allowing us to keep pace with demand for our signature and seasonal beers.”
Just as the pandemic started in March 2020, Big Ditch unveiled plans to construct a $47 million destination brewery just off the Thruway (exit 49) in Cheektowaga. The proposed 105,000-square foot facility would up Big Ditch’s capacity to 50,000 barrels through its 80-barrel brewhouse. The project is currently on hold.
“While we remain committed to proceeding with completion of the Transit Road project, as it is an integral part of our long-term plans, it is still delayed until such time as impacts related to the pandemic, such as labor shortages and increases in material costs and availability, subside,” Kahn said.
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