Spotted Octopus Brewing nears opening in former Roc Brewing space

Buffalo-based brewery is moving its production to Rochester. It should open this month.

Domenic Nicotera readily admits it was never the plan to move operations for his Buffalo brewery to Rochester.

But after reading an edition of the Cleveland Prost last fall, Nicotera was presented with opportunity that he thought was too good to be true. (You know I’m not gonna miss a chance to trumpet my own work. Moral of the story — I can connect people in the beer industry and I’m exceedingly proud of that.) And now his Buffalo nanobrewery, Spotted Octopus, which he co-found and co-owns with Ken Shaw, is moving its brewing operations to Rochester, specifically the former home of Roc Brewing near downtown at 54-56 S. Union St., and preparing to open a second taproom. Roc closed in October 2023.

Spotted Octopus Rochester, which includes a full kitchen and immaculate 7-barrel brewing system, will open in the coming weeks (probably, hopefully this month but we all know how this stuff never goes perfectly according to plan). And when Spotted Octopus, which opened its Allentown neighborhood taproom just under three years ago, does open near the city’s East End entertainment district, it’ll immediately offer a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere for all. The Buffalo taproom will remain open.

So here’s a bit of primer on Spotted Octopus, the story behind the name, why it is shifting production to Rochester, and what you can expect from the beers:

The Spotted Octopus logo is actually a squid

Nicotera and Shaw, looooong-time homebrewers, both had “adult day jobs,” Nicotera said. (Nicotera joked that Shaw still has his day job btw.)

“We decided that we didn’t want our day jobs any more and we thought it would be fun to open a brewery,” Nicotera said. “And it is fun, but we’re at the stage now where we’re doing all the business part. So then (head brewer) Evan (Flury) gets to have all the fun and spend all the money.”

Nicotera brewed in their basement and as they started to get more serious about the craft, they figured they should name the operation. “Just to irritate me, he said he would find the stupidest name he could think of,” Nicotera joked. It became known as the Octopus Bar and then Octopus Brewing, complete with labels adorning the packaged homebrews. Friends began to give Shaw and Nicotera all sorts of octopus ephemera and trinkets, so the space was soon filled with mollusks.

When they decided to make the leap into a professional operation, they wanted to call the brewery Octopus Brewing, but were unable to do so because of the massive contract brewing operation in Wisconsin called Octopi that sends a lot of beers into New York state.

“I said, we should call ourselves ‘Spotted Octopus’ after that little poisonous but beautiful octopus in Australia,” Nicotera said. “They weren’t supposed to like the idea. Ken and (third brewery partner) Barb (Priore) loved it. It backfired on me. So we became Spotted Octopus Brewing Company.”

The updated interior at the soon-to-open Spotted Octopus Brewing

Because the original Buffalo taproom is in the city’s Allentown neighborhood, the name really suits the place, Nicotera said. “We have a lot of eclectic people that come in. Ken liked being able to say its a spot for everybody. Everyone is welcome.”

And here comes my favorite part of the Spotted Octopus story — Shaw drew and designed the brewery logo, the dapper bespectacled spotted octopus in a top hat. But there’s one major problem: the mascot only has seven tentacles, not the requisite eight of an octopus (or at least that’s what I’ve learned through the high-brow stuff I read to the surly 3yo roommate).

You can tell this is one of Nicotera’s favorite stories to tell. (That good-natured energy is infectious and illustrates how the brewery has created and fostered a community in Buffalo. I am fairly certain that will extend to Rochester, too.)

“Our logo is missing the tentacle that’s supposed to be holding the mug of beer, so our octopus is actually a squid,” Nicotera said. “Ken got angry at the printing company that printed some of our merchandise. He thought they messed up. No, they didn’t mess up. He forgot to draw it. He drew it at three in the morning after we had had a day of drinking. He’s a great artist. And then I showed him the logo he sent me and he was like, ‘Oh yeah, right.’”

Why Rochester, why now

Nicotera was scrolling through Facebook one night right before bed when he came across my newsletter about the turn-key brewery-ready building. The 7,500-square-foot space came with a sterling 7-barrel brewing system, a full kitchen, and ample space for people to congregate. (Ask Flury and he envisions a perfect spot for an oak foeder aging vessel.)

“We needed to grow, but our growth wasn’t going to take us to Rochester until I read your article,” Nicotera said. “That’s when I reached out the building owners (CJS Architects), because I had just assumed when (Roc) closed they had just sold off and auctioned off all the equipment. I didn’t realize everything was still here.”

Shaw, Nicotera, and Flury soon visited. Nicotera joked, “Evan was staunchly against driving an hour to do the brewing, but once he realized we were going to buy him all that (Dom gestures toward the neighboring brewing system with the sparkling new horizontal lager tank)…”

Dom continued, “We decided this move was the best thing for the business. There are some issues with the building in Buffalo. So this made a lot of sense. And coming fully furnished and they worked us on with a buyout for the system, we decided this is a great place for us. This is an absolutely great location.”

While they’ve been refreshing the former Roc space, the Spotted Octopus crew has been using the time locally to check out many of the other breweries in and around the city. Nicotera said they’re excited to join the vibrant Rochester scene.

“We think Rochester is a great fit for us,” Nicotera said.

Painting has been the major part of updating the interior. Visitors will immediately notice the octopus murals throughout the space that Shaw completed.

The team marvels at the ease and speed of the transition at the new Rochester space. Much of that can be attributed to the care and stewardship of the Roc Brewing crew practiced in the space for over 12 years. Truthfully, there wasn’t a lot that needed to be done to make the space into a new home for Spotted Octopus. Flury said former Roc head brewer Nick Mesrobian (who arguably is a top three hugger in this region — my wife actually asked me to name my top five regional huggers here before making this claim) left everything in immaculate condition.

(As of this newsletter, Spotted Octopus is still waiting for the final permit approval from the city of Rochester. And once that is obtained, the opening will come fast, Nicotera said.)

Brendan Zugibe from the Zugibe Vineyards family will run the kitchen at Spotted Octopus. Zugibe, a McQuaid grad, has a unique view of the Rochester scene as he has personally delivered his family’s wines to many of the breweries in the area where they’re served. The kitchen will have a separate identity and be called Flow (a play on flower city). His kitchen will feature a bit of a Lebanese and Mediterranean influence, but will include many of the pub-friendly classics (smash burgers, mozzarella sticks, etc.) you’d expect from a family-friendly brewery. Within the next few months, they also expect to offer weekend brunches.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

When I asked Flury to describe his brewing philosophy and outlook, he embarked on a breathless five-minute response that touched on a number of different topics, tangents, and facts. It boils down to this: Flury, a seasoned brewery with a few different stops in Buffalo, isn’t afraid to do something different. But ultimately, the beers will veer toward the traditional end of the spectrum.

The opening tap list should include a rice lager, a New England-style IPA, a white IPA (it’s called Art Deco and stands as Dom’s favorite), a collab Hefeweizen brewed with Swiftwater, and an red ale made with Brazen Brewing. You’ll also find an OSB cider and Lilly Belle mead on draft, as well as wines from Zugibe (go figure) and a number of different options.

“If we’re gonna create a binary, like are you technical or are you artistic? Are you traditional or are you entirely non-traditional? I’m probably closer to traditional and probably closer to technical, just because of who I am and how I think. I’m closer to traditional simply because I went to Niagara College (in Ontario, Canada). Jon Downing is the head brewmaster there and that man is an old school as they come. I love him dearly, but he is not going to teach you how to make pastry sours. You get that as your background and it’s kind of hard to work away from it. Not to say that I don’t or have any issue with any of the guys that do that.”

He continued.

“Brewing beer is only a small part of how my brain works — what is actually selling, what do people want, how do we manage the costs of this, how do we manage timelines? Nowadays, brewing business is more important that it used to be, it has to be. Because so many people are having trouble with that in the last few years. Brewing good beer is the baseline. And it’s expected that you can make good beer, whatever that means. If that means clear beer, if that means pastry beer, it doesn’t matter. Then it becomes, ‘OK, can we get people to buy it?’”

Sounds simple, right?

“My brain is on both sides of that.”

A final note: It’s pretty wild to think I’ve been working on this independent publication for over three years now. In that time, I’ve published more than 250 newsletters, highlighted some of my favorite people in the industry, curated two beers festivals (that featured 150 participants and 4,600 attendees), and continued to break all the biggest news in the region (closures, consolidations, openings, etc.).

The Cleveland Prost remains the preeminent source for regional beer news. If you own a brewery, bar, or beer-adjacent business, this is the best place to reach the nerds you wanna be in front of. So I remain open to sponsorships, advertisements, and sponsored content. Feel free to reach out to me at clevelandprost@gmail.com for more. And more than anything, thanks for all the support. None of this would be possible without the devoted (and thirsty) audience.