Community Beer Works is
a West Side nanobrewery with large ambitions.
Owners are looking to
implement a new barrel system that would turn their small-time operation into
something much bigger. The goal is to turn their one and a half barrel system
at Community Beer Works, 15 Lafayette Ave., into a 15-barrel system, Head
Brewer Rudy Watkins said.
While attending the
annual Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America in Portland, Ore. this April, Watkins and other Community
Beer Works owners hope to buy the new system that will help their dream of
expansion come true.
Held by the national Brewers
Association, the conference runs from April 14-17. Informational sessions on
brewing, business, new breweries and the exporting of beer to other countries
will take place at the conference.
“There’s
a huge trade show, so everybody who makes brewing equipment in the U.S. and
Canada and then a bunch of European vendors come and show off their wares,”
Watkins said.
Watkins
said he and fellow owners have a good idea of what kind of system they will
shop for and hope to raise enough money to order it by the time the conference
comes around.
As
for expanding to other locations around Buffalo, Watkins teased the
possibility.
“That
might happen here, that might happen at a different location,” Watkins said, “All
kinds of fun things are up in the air with that.” By Ryan Beiter and Jonny Moran
