Nanobreweries tap into small-batch appeal

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The trio behind Spotted Octopus Brewing Company (and its diverse brews): Barbara Priore, Ken Shaw and Domenic Nicotera.
Photography / Luke Copping

By Christopher Schobert

Walk into a Buffalo nanobrewery and you’ll instantly understand what makes these smaller-scale operations different. The vibe is intimate. The owners are thrilled to discuss their growing business. And the beer options? Unique, to say the least.

Think pickle sours, elixir saisons and mango and tart cherry sours.

The owners of three local nanobreweries—Tonawanda’s Prosper Brewing and Buffalo’s Pod City Beer Labs and Spotted Octopus Brewing Company—each defined the term similarly: a brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels each year. Microbreweries are the next step up.

Prosper’s yearly barrel production numbers in the hundreds. While expansion is on the way for its Webster Street taproom, co-owner Tim Berg says it’s the right barrel amount for the growing brewery, whose options include the aforementioned elixir saison.

“We are content with being a small, neighborhood brewpub and operating on that scale,” says Berg. “Kevin and I are both natives of the Tonawandas who felt the area needed a local brewery.”

For the trio that owns Spotted Octopus on Edward Street—Ken Shaw, Domenic Nicotera and Barbara Priore—going the nanobrewery route was the perfect direction. (The pickle sour is one of their creations.)

“This was a good fit for us, as Domenic is a home brewer who chose to take a hobby and turn it into a business,” Shaw says. “Our one-barrel brewhouse seemed manageable for a home brewer just starting out in the industry.”

Pod City Beer Labs is housed in the Canalside location of Pizza Plant Italian Pub. This is fitting, as Pizza Plant co-owner Dan Syracuse has long been known to WNY beer aficionados; the local favorites are famous for their on-tap selections.

“Pod City Beer Labs is well under the 15,000-barrel cap,” Syracuse says. “With that size we are primarily producing for on-premises, with some of the core beers showing up at the Transit Road Pizza Plant’s taps when we have enough.”

The ability to change direction and brew different types of beers is an advantage for nanobreweries.

“If a beer doesn’t turn out to be a popular seller, we’ve only brewed six kegs of it at a time,” Prosper’s Whipple says. “And since we don’t distribute, we also have no real obligation to produce a flagship beer.”

“It allows us to stay experimental,” Spotted Octopus’ Shaw says. “Small batches of craft beer sell quickly, which means our taps can rotate to new styles pretty regularly.”

Of course, beer selling out quickly can also be a disadvantage. As Pizza Plant’s Syracuse explains, it takes about three weeks for another brew to be ready. Canning is one way for Pod City to maximize the impact of beers like its mango and tart cherry sour: “We currently put our core beers in cans, which is a nice way to satisfy customers wanting the in-home experience.”

One local brewery that started as a nano will be moving into the micro level soon. For the past few years, TIL Brewing worked a one-barrel system and primarily sold out of Lancaster’s Lilly Belle Meads. With a strong response to the beer, co-owners Jeffrey Henseler and Joe Marshall are working to open their own Lancaster taproom with a five-barrel brewhouse by this fall.

The nanobrewery appeal is all about intimacy and brewing creativity. More are certainly on the way, meaning WNY’s next great nanobrewery could be in the idea stage—or about to pour its first beers.