Jason:

Back at it here with the Buffalo Brews podcast, and we are sitting back down with our first return guest, Tom Whitmarsh from Western New York Beer Trail, and we are already off and running hot here with, this is the fireside flannel, yeah, from Brickyard Brewing up in Lewiston. A s'mores stout, which I have no complaints about, and then we have with us as well Kenzie who is, what are you drinking here?

Kenzi:

I am drinking Green State Lager, which is a Vermont Pilsner. I like it. Super good.

Jason:

All right, so we got to jump right into things here because 2021 has been a lot of fun.

Tom Whitmarsh:

A lot of fun.

Jason:

A lot better than the disaster that was 2020.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Still a little bit of trouble at the beginning, but much better, much better than 2020.

Jason:

And then we get to sit here face to face, we're in the Mott Fortress located in the 14225 as opposed to talking on Zoom, you know. I had enough of Zoom interviews to last me a lifetime there for a while. Oh yeah.

So with 2021, now we're, this is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we're all still full, can we agree on that?

Kenzi:

Sure.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Still full.

Jason:

Yeah. So what we're going to do then is talk about the success of 2021. How did things, how did things progress throughout the year for you?

Tom Whitmarsh:

So yeah, much better than 2020, obviously. Still trouble though because just as we printed the 2021 pass, we had our second shutdown last year, but we went ahead and we launched on, well, one year ago tomorrow. We did a live event out at Dublin Farms and still people were pretty positive and overall the year went very well.

Much beyond what I thought we were going to accomplish right from the get-go with any of this. And just had a fantastic year and the growth has been great. The name recognition, getting out there, getting new breweries approaching us, which really helped fill out the 2022 pass for us.

Much, much better year. So very happy with how it's going.

Jason:

The excitement and the excitement for the 2022 pass is, you know, it's really taken off the feedback that I've heard from people who have already gotten a hold of it and we're going to talk about that in a little bit. But with 2021, I think the, so we talked about early on that really the only place we kind of lost along the way because of COVID was...

Tom Whitmarsh:

In the mix.

Jason:

In the mix, which they were supposed to take over the spot that was formally Black Button and then they just, you know, everything just kind of happened the way it did. I think we talked about that on the last podcast that we recorded. And then what it allowed you to do going forward is, like you said, more opportunities.

People approaching you, which is the best. One of the questions I wanted to approach with you is that with people that I talk to, they're talking about how they feel Buffalo is now becoming a saturated craft beer market. I, for one, tend to disagree on that, but what are your thoughts on how Buffalo is progressing as a craft beer industry?

Tom Whitmarsh:

I think there's still some room here. I think even with everybody coming on and we'll talk a little bit about some three new ones that are coming shortly, there's a couple more on the plate beyond that. But I think there's still some room here.

I mean, Western New York's a big area. People love their beer here.

Jason:

Absolutely.

Tom Whitmarsh:

I think more and more people are trying the craft beer and getting out there and seeing. And that's what our mission has been all along, is to get more people involved, get them to the breweries, to meet these people, see their process, taste their beer, the food, the buildings that they're in. And I think the more that people see that, the more they're going to want to go.

Jason:

Yeah. And how do you feel now? How do you feel geographically, how we're lining up?

Is it becoming a more concentrated thing, or do you think that we're having a good... we're spreading our wings well enough in the area as well with the new folks coming on board?

Tom Whitmarsh:

Yeah, I think you're seeing there's definite tracks, right? So with the Trail Pass, there's a definite North Towns loop, there's a South Towns loop, there's a Downtown loop, there's a Suburbs, and then you get out on the Western York. So there's definite sections.

Some of those areas could definitely fill out more. You see places opening up multiple locations that are going to help fill in some of those areas that maybe don't have quite as many locations to visit. I know New York Beer Project's talking about a second location, or actually breaking ground shortly for their second location down in West Seneca area.

You got Steelbound with plans.

Jason:

Big Ditch is looking for some additional room. I know Fin Man has got that little place out on transit that they're working on currently.

Tom Whitmarsh:

And then there's always names that pop up of new guys all just all together, you know, starting out. And Brazen Brewing will be open not too far down the road, probably middle of next year.

Jason:

Yeah, we're aimed right at them. I wanted to pitch an interesting idea. I never...

so if they're hearing this for the first time, here's the pitch I was going to make to you guys. Because you had the land, you had the facility out there, and you were just far enough away from the road. I was going to actually propose putting a table right in the middle of their property out there.

And two, and literally three chairs, and just the two of them and me in a field talking about beer. Just, it's their property. They can do whatever they want with it.

If we have to wear hard hats, we'll wear hard hats. All right, so now we've, geographically, I think we can agree that maybe more eastbound, you know, it's very sporadic out there. I mean, looking at the map, I mean, we have the...

who are the folks that we have out on the eastern edge there near Wyoming County?

Tom Whitmarsh:

On the east side, well, you got Eli Fish, you got Silver Lake Brewing down in Perry, we got Stoneyard up in Brockport, got Dublin Corners, Farmer Brewery, they're out there in Linwood and Geneseo.

Jason:

Okay.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So that's kind of our eastern edge.

Jason:

And our northern edge is, so we're talking Brickyard, we're talking Live Edge, we're talking Live Edge, Woodcock, Wandering Gypsy, Blackbird. Yeah, Blackbird. Okay, yeah, and then, well, I mean, we pretty much know the west because it's, that's where the bubble is.

I mean, you're looking for a place in Buffalo, you can't find a place in Buffalo itself. You're not looking hard enough.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Somewhere between Buffalo and Williamsville.

Jason:

Yeah.

Tom Whitmarsh:

You can easily find a place.

Jason:

Yeah, and then, yeah, then we have that far south corner, we've got 5 and 20 down in Westfield, we've got...

Tom Whitmarsh:

Ellicottville, Steelbound.

Jason:

Yeah, Big Inlet down in Mayville. Yeah, we've got some great folks that are on board here and it's going to be great. And so the one comparison I wanted to make, because people are nauseated by the amount of times I talk about hiking, but it's about, people are like, well, where can I go locally to do things?

Well, like, if you don't want to get in the car and go, you know, what's the sense of enjoying a trail if you're not going to be, you know, spread it out over time? And you're like, hey, why don't this weekend we go and we check out maybe three or four breweries out this way? Like doing an eastern swing, you know, and hitting Stone Yard and hitting up West Shore.

That's something that I would always promote to somebody, but it just seems like the willingness of people is like, where can I go local? You know, if I want to go local, I'll just go to 12 Gates, literally two miles up the road from me. Or Brightsmith, which is like a mile and a half.

Or Moorpath that's across the street. And then soon to be, soon to be One-Eyed Cat that we'll talk about in a little bit. It's like another couple of blocks up the road.

Tom Whitmarsh:

I will say, you know, even with so many breweries and, you know, if people worried about saturation and things like that, the one great thing about all these places is that even though they're all a brewery, is all the different styles they have. They're different personalities in each brewery, right? So, you know, if you go to Ellicottville versus Brightsmith versus New York Beer Project, right, any of those, Big Ditch, every place has a different feel, right?

The people working there, what they talk about, the styles of beer they do, you know, their niche. And then again, the food, the buildings, everything is just, there's so much to experience. And that's the cool part about, you know, doing the Trail Pass and meeting all these folks along the way.

It's just a great time.

Jason:

Yeah, and so I gotta pitch over to you for some feedback on this as well, because I know geographically I've seen some of the posts, especially with, let's say, the Beer Geek scavenger hunt. And the next thing I know, you're out in East Jesus, the other side of the Western New York area, just hamming it up out there and taking in great places and getting those points on the sheet. So what do you find as far as geographically?

Kenzi:

I think you hit it right on the head. You may have several breweries in a very consolidated area, but you have very distinct cultures, very distinct personalities. You know, the breweries have their own little specialties.

So you can hit three places in five miles and get three very unique experiences, which I loved. I thought that was the most fun part. Probably one of the ones that you're referring to is when we did our Rochester swing.

And, you know, going to Eli Fish and K2 and forgive me, I can't remember where else we stopped that day, but there were three really unique experiences and three really unique beers. So, yeah, I think we've got those cool little spots. Like one of my favorites is the Larkinville area here in downtown Buffalo.

You've got Resurgence, you've got Beltline, you've got Buffalo Brewing Company, and you've got, you know, I kind of call it the original, you know, Flying Bison, kind of like the godfather of craft beer in Buffalo. Those are four places in a four-minute drive and OFW too, right in that little hub. And you've got four really cool venues, four really cool scenes, and you could do them all in one night and have a really great time without a whole lot of driving.

And I said, I don't think you're getting that saturation because all of those places are such individual gems.

Jason:

There it is. It's, you know, that unique culture that each one brings to the table. Like you said, going to OFW, which is, you know, it seems like sort of an OG type of place.

It just comes off as basic, but it's such a unique, old-school experience there. Or if you go around the corner to like Murphy Browns, or, you know, and then you go down to Chicago Street and you end up at some place like Resurgence that's like big and blown up and they can handle it, but they have a different, more modern atmosphere. Swing back around the corner, then you've got like, like you said, going to a place like Flying Bison where they're at, which is, you know, it's one of the most unique, aesthetically pleasing places that you could go to that you can find some of the best variety.

Like anybody can go into Flying Bison and find something that they'll like. You don't have to ever worry about that.

Kenzi:

Oh, absolutely. But then you go down to, you know, Beltline, which is my happy place. And you've got just a really strong IPA board and a really strong sour board.

So with probably some of the best pub food you're going to see in Western New York right now.

Tom Whitmarsh:

I think a quick shout out to John at Buffalo Brewing too, though, for what he's doing and bringing the history of brewing in Buffalo and what he's doing with the old Shriver building and his plan over there.

Kenzi:

That's going to be amazing.

Tom Whitmarsh:

To expand his operation. I'm so excited for that. Have the Buffalo Brewsium.

That is going to be incredible.

Jason:

So shout out to what he's doing. The photos that have come out of there so far have been just, just amazing. You're looking at us like, what are they going to do with this old quote unquote dingy building?

Oh, you wait.

Kenzi:

Oh, it's going to be amazing.

Jason:

It's all about vision. And it's, you know, people like him, they have nothing but vision. Something I'm going to grab off of the table here.

I tend to read. Yes, folks that you're listening. I do read once in a while.

So I picked this up recently at Barnes and Noble. So it's entitled Buffalo Beer. It's the History of Brewing in the Nickel City from author Michael F.

Rizzo and Ethan Cox. So I haven't cracked the cover on this. Yes, I do read.

No, I haven't started reading it yet. Jay got a little bit of, you know, he's a little bit, a little bit busy at the moment here. But for a guy who failed history so many times in high school, all of a sudden now, I'm 48 years old.

I'm like, I'm sorry. I wanted to learn more. So now, why not?

We'll start with the beer scene in Buffalo and how everything got going. One of the takeoffs that's going on, and I actually have to kind of point to your, to your shirt with the little throwback and the, and the retro old timey, a little, little steampunk.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Yeah.

Jason:

Right. Is, you know, now what's becoming more vibrant in Buffalo now is this kind of emergence of the prohibition area or era. Yeah.

I can talk today. Kind of the speakeasy feel of some of these, the breweries that they're bringing that feel out now you've got. So instead of going, talking more brewery, talking about places, let's say that serve beer, let's say like a beer keep or prohibition 2020 or, you know, so that's another totally different emergence that that's happened.

I know it's not related to the beer trail, but what are your thoughts on these, these places and they're finding their niche now in the city?

Tom Whitmarsh:

Oh, I love that. I think, well, I'm, I'm a history buff myself. So anything that pays homage to, you know, what came before and playing up that point in time in Buffalo with prohibition is just fantastic.

I'll eat that up and kind of an offshoot of that Hartman's Distilling, you know, just barrel room. Yeah. Just started their speakeasy.

So the pictures out of there, I haven't been there yet either, but the pictures out of there look amazing too. Got it.

Kenzi:

And they've got an amazing product there too.

Jason:

Yeah. They're doing it. They're doing, definitely doing it right down there.

Yeah. You know, they, they've taken their time. They didn't hurry it.

And then they have their, their club down there as well, where you, was it a hundred dollars that you buy in?

Kenzi:

Yeah. The bondsman.

Jason:

Yeah. The bondsman club. There we go.

And get that stainless steel membership card. That's.

Kenzi:

Yeah.

Jason:

That's right. Sexy. Fancy.

Back out of the break here, we're going to be talking about some of the newbies that are coming up with the 2022 trail pass here with Tom. We talked a little bit in the break. We were talking about one-eyed cat and we might as well just shoot high if we're going to shoot right now.

Sure. One-eyed cat. So they took over the old pairings wine bar that unfortunately did not survive the COVID pandemic.

And they got themselves a wonderful space up on main street and Williamsville, just above Brightsmith, Moorpat. And they'll be opening sometime. No, they're shooting for somewhere in early 2022.

And we recently heard Brian and Patrick on the Buffalo Beer League podcast and they just, they're full of energy and ready to get at it.

Tom Whitmarsh:

They're ready.

Jason:

To say the least. Born ready. Right.

Making beer flavored beer. That's how it's done. My first encounter with them was at a pop-up they did with at Buffalo Beer Fab over in Hurdle.

And yeah, it could have been nicer. Knowledgeable. The comment I made was, you know, I like when you talk to folks that are, you know, they're confident about their product, but they're not the least bit arrogant.

And I'm going to figure out how to.

Kenzi:

My bad.

Jason:

Oh, that was my fault. That was you. That was my fault.

I should have popped up.

Kenzi:

I'm going to figure out how to sign.

Jason:

That's okay. That's all right. I'll give you the pass.

So yeah, so one-eyed cat, they're going to be opening in 2022. I don't think we have a bad thing to say about them. There's just, they have energy.

They're knowledgeable. Then we transition over. So now the Eastern Hills Mall, the old Dave & Buster's location, we've got Steel Leaf going in over there.

Now, what do we know about Steel Leaf so far? I don't know a lot about Steel Leaf yet. No, me neither.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So a different model there. They're, you know, one-eyed cat has been out at a lot of festivals and, you know, giving samples for a number of years now, talking about their beer and building a great following. Steel Leaf, kind of starting up from scratch.

I don't know if anybody's even had samples or. Yeah, I'm not sure.

Jason:

Can't say that I know. I know that I was over in the Eastern Hills Mall. I had to visit the Niagara Emporium over there and I walked through and I took some selfies with the front door.

There's only so much you can do, like selfie front door, selfie back door, selfie, you know, big picture window. They're going in here.

Kenzi:

Well, pulling in from the trail pass, looks like their persona is going to be on some of their sustainable business model. So they're going to be using a lot of solar power and looks like that's going to be kind of their niche. It's going to be working on the sustainability and environmentally friendly aspect.

So we'll see what that kind of flushes out to be.

Jason:

I'm liking this already. Yeah.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So they got a nice space over there. So I was inside just as they were getting ready, doing some remodeling. But they're using, if you're familiar with the old Dave & Buster's or Rocky's, whatever you're familiar with there.

Using the bar, of course, that's out by the front door there, facing transit. They're going to have walk-up service on one side, seating on the other. Of course, tables, high and low tables, separate room for merchandise and things like that.

But that space is huge. So they're going to have cornhole boards set up on a regular basis. So they got a lot of space in there to do things, probably do events, things like that.

But primarily, they're going to be using that restaurant area that Dave & Buster's was using, as opposed to, I think, where all the arcade games used to be.

Jason:

Right. Okay.

Tom Whitmarsh:

But still, huge space.

Jason:

I remember they had that side room with that giant projection screen television in there that they used to host corporate things in there, where you could even do a kid's birthday party on an 11-foot television for, who knows, throw up some Peppa Pig. I don't know what they would do up there.

Tom Whitmarsh:

You know. They must have use of the whole space, because I know they got the door inside the mall, and that leads right to where those arcade games were. So anybody's guess what they're going to pull off in there.

Kenzi:

And if you want to come and talk to us about it, we're very happy to chat about it. So hit us up.

Jason:

We'll throw the feelers out there and see, because curious minds want to know now. And then the third one on the list for the new 2022 Trail Pass is one of the ones that the most intriguing names is Spotted Octopus, which is going to be on Edward Street, a few doors down from Founding Fathers. Great space.

Now, the one question I have, I'm going to approach this. I'm going to be gutsy enough to approach this. What's the deal with the parking there?

Kenzi:

Yes, please. Please enlighten us on that one.

Jason:

I am curious, because I don't know how that works. I mean, I know that there's that property that's next to Founding Fathers that you could get ticketed for parking in that parking lot. So a lot of people would park on, like, Delaware, and then they'd have to walk over.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Uber.

Jason:

Yes, Uber. Definitely Uber. But yeah, I like what they're doing.

And then, like I said, we just saw the post that, you know, of course, you know, whatever snafu there that's going on with the state, tell the state, let's get it together.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So yeah, their brewing equipment looks like it's all set up and operational. So whatever the delay is, appears to be on the state side.

Jason:

Yeah, I think so. And it just seems like they're just pouring all sorts of energy into that. I mean, you got to be confident about a place that can already say, hey, these are the beers that we're going to sell when we open.

And it just makes you want to spend months just drooling at this list. Because I want everything off both sides of the list, honestly. I think that they're going to be doing something fun there.

And I can't, well, I guess, allegedly, is the term spotted octopus comes from a kid's toy. So I'm going to confirm that information, but supposedly has to do with one of their children's toys.

Tom Whitmarsh:

It's a great logo.

Jason:

Yeah, it's great. Yeah, and talking, you know, goes back to, again, what we said in the break is, I think, one iCat ended up creating a logo and a name that was just inadvertently appealing. And same thing with spotted octopus.

I know I want a spotted octopus t-shirt. Right. Just so they can, hey, you're wearing an octopus t-shirt.

Yeah. If they had a holiday sweater, I'd probably buy that, too. And then one of the facilities in Buffalo that graduated up, actually, was Southern Tier Brewing making its debut in Buffalo, taking over the old 716 site from the Pagulas.

I can actually lead off on the conversation with that, because after the Veterans 5K that Kenzie and I ran, Kenzie had to run home because she had to get all done up for her birthday dinner that I showed up. Crash. I showed up.

Kenzi:

Crash, my birthday dinner?

Jason:

Yeah.

Kenzi:

Lovingly.

Jason:

Yeah, lovingly. She's showing me parts of her outfit and texting me in. And meanwhile, I'm screaming down the 400 toward East Aurora, going, she has no idea I'm coming to this thing.

So she was just, she was, what would you say? Who could be mad? Who could be mad looking this good?

Kenzi:

Pretty much. Pretty much, yeah.

Jason:

Yeah, it was a great outfit. I mean, when you're going out and you're getting beer influencers from around Buffalo, and they're like, that's a nice outfit. Yeah, you know you've hit it big.

Kenzi:

Like my mother said, you took all the tulle out of your wedding dress, but yet for a night on the town, you buy a separate petticoat to wear? That's a problem. Like, no, Mom, it's just me.

Jason:

Yeah, it's just you. It's just you. So the first big party that the Southern Tier Brewing at the old 716 spot had was the after party for the Veterans 5K.

So I can say that what they've done with the space, they've definitely maximized the space. So you go inside, you got that elevated area, it goes down into the pit like 716 had. It's still the same there.

You got kind of the retail area off the side, the coolers where you can buy your four packs. And then it drops down. You got the massive bar that was up front with that, you know, I can only describe as like a 50-foot, you know, television that was up there.

They were playing. I think they had like college football or something on that day. And then the food, in my opinion, was far better than 716 ever had.

Tom Whitmarsh:

I agree.

Jason:

I only went there one time, but this, it was a simple like a breakfast taco kind of thing that they did. It was, yeah, it was good. I enjoyed it.

And, you know, we all know that Southern Beer or Southern Tears Beer, say that five times fast, is quite on point.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So, yeah, we stopped in there. Our first visit there was the first day that they were offering lunch service once they opened. And the staff was on point, super friendly.

The beers were great. The food was great. We were checking out, you know, people next to us at the bar, the food that they had, that looked amazing.

I've heard good feedback from people who've been down there. We were super fortunate, you know, again, unfortunately in the mix, you know, with what happened to them with the pandemic. And I reached out to Southern Tier when they announced plans to open and they jumped right in.

So when we did our second round of passes for 21, it was a good fit where we were able to swap out in the mix for Southern Tier. And then they honored the original passes as well. And, you know, they're back in for 22.

Jason:

So that's fantastic.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Glad to have them. It's a great location and looking forward to going back down there.

Jason:

Their growth is unmatched. You know, you've got their location in Jamestown. You've got the remote locations.

Would they have one in Ohio? Is that where they ended up? I think they have them.

Tom Whitmarsh:

They're in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh.

Jason:

Yeah. So yeah, something to that effect here. Now I have to look it up because I probably should have researched that earlier.

Tom Whitmarsh:

I think they're a bit bigger than anybody really realizes. Yeah. Yeah.

Jason:

They definitely have a reach. Yeah, they definitely have a reach. It's funny because my aunt, when I was at Thanksgiving dinner, said, Hey, have you ever been to the Lakewood facility?

I've never, never been there. And they've got this huge distilling process down there that's supposedly amazing. And I've talked to them.

They're like, Hey, come down. You know, we'll give you a tour of the place. It's fine.

So why haven't we scheduled that yet? Um, it's Jamestown? No, not on Jamestown.

It's just got to get down there. And then if I got to go there, then we're going to have to go to Big Inlet. And then if we go to Big Inlet, we're going to have to go to 5 and 20.

Kenzi:

And what's the problem? Yeah, it's just, you know.

Jason:

It's a slippery slope. Yeah, I grew up down there. So it's like old hat.

Watch this. Mom, no eyes. Driving everywhere.

All right, let's let's hear enough of my gabbing for a second here as I look at these locations. Look at that. It says the Pumpkin Roulon right there, right off the bat.

Um, taprooms. Here we go. Lakewood, Cleveland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kenzi:

Oh, hitting those expats.

Jason:

Yeah, guess what you're going to get in all those locations? Those earmuffs for you because you're a Patriots fan.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Bill's Backers bars. True.

Jason:

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's I'm sorry, folks.

I let a Patriots fan on our honor. But listen, like I brought her on after Tom had already gone to Tampa. So, you know, don't give her too much grief.

So then, okay, it's going to take us to the past.

Tom Whitmarsh:

So real quick on Southern Tier. If anybody is listening to this that has any pull at the Lakewood location for Southern Tier, it's the number one question as soon as everybody sees STBC Buffalo. Is it good at Lakewood?

Unfortunately, the agreement is only with Buffalo. But if anybody from Lakewood is out there that wants to reach out and we'll call an audible and make it good down to Lakewood, we could do that too.

Jason:

So, yeah. So Southern Tier Brewing and Lakewood Hollaback, you know, you can reach out to Tom at WNY Beer Trail. You can reach out to me or you can.

Kenzi:

Yeah, I don't need the hate right now.

Jason:

We don't need the hate mail right now. Come on. Mac Jones is doing.

He's got he's got delightful, isn't he? He's just one of his little cheeks, don't you? So with the past itself now, one of the great updates is the map in the middle.

Loving the map. You said you got more questions about the map. Wow.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Yeah, the map from day one. Everybody asked if there was a map. So that was something we definitely had to work on for this year, which you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a usable map of Western New York to put that together in the middle of the past.

But I finally found one and came up with the idea of doing a little bit of a checklist there. And the spots on the map are a little bunched up, especially in the city and the suburbs. But I think.

Kenzi:

But that's perfect. It goes to what you talked about with the clusters and neighborhoods and things like that. Like that makes it super user friendly.

Absolutely. If you want to hit a couple spots in one geographic area, you literally have a checklist and you know where to go in the book for it.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Yeah. And it gives you a good visual.

Kenzi:

Kudos to you for that.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Where everybody is located. So if you're heading to a particular location, you know, Google further where everything is. But over the past year, I've seen a lot of different things where people are making their own checklist.

I saw somebody take the table of contents and write out all the addresses for every location right over the top of their their line on the table of contents.

Jason:

OK. OK.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Hopefully, you know, this form helps a little bit.

Jason:

Plug it into the GPS and go, go, go. Right. Super cool.

Coming soon to the Buffalo Brews podcast, the Dora the Explorer episode.

Kenzi:

I have my cute little backpack that I bring with me, so I'm halfway there. Are you sure how many of these have I had?

Tom Whitmarsh:

Maybe we could play a little Where's Waldo, too.

Jason:

That's right. Hey, so speaking of such, so we so we switched up. So we're now on.

What are we on? So we went on to West Shore Brewing's Black Crayon Sour. Now, this was put together for Thanksgiving.

I took this to my aunt's. She's not a beer fan, but she tasted it anyway and made a face. It's OK.

It's OK. It's not for everybody. I, for one, thought that this was a it was a home run.

Really fun as a kind of a pregame to Thanksgiving dinner. I drank two of them beforehand and quite enjoyed them.

Kenzi:

No, I I'm a I'm a big fan of this. I love cranberry anyway. And this stays really true to the crayon flavor.

You're not getting a whole lot of sweetness. You're not getting a whole lot of artificial. Like this is just really authentic cranberry.

You're not getting, you know, the jello mold vibe to this. Like this is actual cranberry. So props to to Josh and company.

Like you guys had a home run for a cranberry cranberry beer for the rookies out there.

Jason:

When you buy a sour in a can and you know that it's made with the pure product, you always want to make sure you tip that upside down like a like a snow globe. Let that hang out for about 60 seconds because everything's going to mix up in there. Otherwise you're going to get you're going to get the top of that can in your 12 ounce glass and then that last four ounces is going to be really heavy fruit on the bottom.

So this is a this is a perfect blend here. Blackberry, cranberry and yum.

Kenzi:

Yeah a little bit of citrus which you're going to find in most cranberry like recipes. And I love the the four percent. You've you've had you've had a lot of flavor and and still very crushable as we would say.

Jason:

Right yeah.

Tom Whitmarsh:

Yeah easy drinking got got some nice bite to it for the sour.

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