Rohrbach Brewing expanding at Public Market as Black Button Distiling moves
The Rochester craft beer pioneer will occupy the entire 38,000-square-foot building on Railroad Street
Note: This newsletter is supported by Rohrbach Brewing Co., a pioneering craft brewery in the city of Rochester.
Rohrbach Brewing Co., Rochester’s pioneering craft brewery, will soon have a larger footprint at the Rochester Public Market.
The brewery moved the majority of its production to 97 Railroad St. in 2008. Neighboring Black Button Distilling, which started in 2012, is moving to a larger facility on University Avenue in the city of Rochester. Rohrbach will expand into that space. The news was first reported by the Democrat and Chronicle’s Amorette Miller.
Rohrbach founder/owner John Urlaub owns the entire Railroad Street building. He purchased it in 2008 and said his brewery is maxed out at its Beer Hall location there.
The brewery also operates a brewpub at 3859 Buffalo Road in Ogden, where it produces small batch offerings on a 7-barrel brewhouse system. Railroad Street features a 20-barrel brewhouse, which was installed just before the start of the pandemic.
Black Button hopes to open its new facility by next summer. Urlaub said he’s eyeing the same timeline for the brewery expansion.
“At the time Black Button opened, we were not close to filling the building,” Urlaub said. “Having (Black Button founder) Jason (Barnett) there has been fantastic. It’s a perfect move for him and the location is perfect. He runs a fast-growing company.”
The two businesses certainly helped each other, Urlaub said. He joked the timing of the Rohrbach expansion into the Black Button space isn’t the best.
“We could’ve used the space before,” Urlaub continued. But the expansion, like all Rohrbach moves, is carefully considered, planned, and implemented. It’s the same way the brewery has operated since 1991.
The building, with its 38,000-square-foot footprint, dates back to 1920, Urlaub said. The Rohrbach opening was among the first in the Public Market district and helped spark new life and growth in that area. In the 14 years since, multiple restaurants, a kombucha brewery (Katboocha, which at first utilized the Rohrbach space for production), and other businesses have opened.
(There are rumblings of another brewery eyeing the Public Market for expansion.)
“That space, we just continue to fill it up,” Urlaub said. “And we’ve continued to try to figure out how we’re going to shoehorn in tanks and stuff. It’s tight right now.”
Rohrbach recently expanded its cold storage space at Railroad Street. The new move will allow it to purchase a new canning line. It’ll be housed in the former Black Button production area, along with the brewery’s Brite tanks, storage vessels used to clarification before packaging or kegging. And that’ll free up space for more fermenters.
With the long lead time on so much of the new equipment, Urlaub anticipates those orders will be placed early next year.
The Black Button tasting room will be converted into a private event space for Rohrbach, allowing the brewery to use its current Beer Hall event space (which can be partitioned off) for overflow seating to accommodate more walk-in customers, Urlaub said.
“Even the cooler space is tight right now,” Urlaub said. “It’s all good. I’d rather have that than too much space that we’re paying for.”
The move is especially helpful right now, because Rohrbach is bursting at the seams with empty cans for its flagship releases. With an aluminum can shortage, Rohrbach, like many breweries, orders its pre-printed cans by the truckload. It’s a full tractor-trailer load of cans each time, Urlaub said. The Black Button manufacturing space will remain manufacturing space for Rohrbach. Most of the necessary infrastructure is already in place there.
Joel Will, the former head brewer at the Rohrbach brewpub, recently took over as director of brewing operations. He oversees production at both Rohrbach locations now, including its barrel-aging facility in Ogden.
Urlaub said the iconic Scotch Ale, first released in 1994, remains the brewery’s top-selling offering. And the recent release of its Different Animal IPA, which replaced the traditional-leaning Railroad Street IPA, is moving well. Rohrbach continues to push the envelope with its Neoteric seasonal series, as well as regular fresh hoppy offerings — ones typically available in stores the same day it is packaged.
Nearly 32 years into it, Urlaub said the brewery’s growth is steady.
“I don’t want to build another brewery,” he said. “I want to utilize what we have and keep it in control.”
Urlaub has seen other legacy breweries become nationwide behemoths. And some have thrived while others have failed. He never wanted to grow more than he was comfortable with, meaning Rohrbach hasn’t pushed far outside the Rochester market. The brewery does well in Buffalo and Syracuse. But he still sees opportunity for growth locally.
“There are guys that I know that started even after us that have become really big companies and I really admire them,” Urlaub said. “But it’s a challenge now. Because everything is so focused on local, the fact that we haven’t done that, been in 13 states and pulled back or in territories we really couldn’t manage, we’ve been able to grow at our pace. I think there’s still potential in the upstate New York area. We’re going to continue to do that.”
Genesee launches new series
Genny officially kicked off its new Brewers Series Tuesday with the release of an imperial stout. According to a release, “The Genesee Brewers Series will feature premium beers released twice annually in limited quantities. Each beer style will be handpicked by Genesee’s brewing team, selecting styles that they enjoy drinking and don’t often make in the larger brewery.”
Below is a quick video review of the first release:
Title sponsor: Rohrbach Brewing Co.
This work is made possible through support from Rohrbach Brewing Co. Rohrbach features two locations — its Beer Hall at 97 Railroad St. in the city of Rochester and its brewpub at 3859 Buffalo Road in the town of Ogden. Since 1991, Rohrbach has been producing classics and influencing the Rochester beer scene, including its iconic Scotch Ale.
The brewery’s support allows this work to remain free for this audience. So make sure to get out to Rohrbach and support one of the best establishments in our area.
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Rohrbach was running out of room at their original spot. Expanding into the space Black Button is leaving makes sense. You could try leadsapp to keep track of all the new production details and contacts as they grow. It seems like a smooth move that should help them handle more brewing without the usual headaches.
Off topic I guess, but is there any info on why Boxcar Donuts closed and whether they will reopen elsewhere? Is that also part of the space owned by Rohrbach?