Intro: The Buffalo Bruise podcast.

Jason: It's a few days before Easter. We were just listening to Easter Parade by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire there. Yeah. And then listen to a remake by Bing Crosby. I got got some peep lights up here. Don't fall down. Um, and then our new buffalo peep. Right. Which, uh, we picked up at the, at the spring. Uh, the Buffalo spring market down at the Richardson, uh, yesterday. So we are sitting down and we're talking about I, you know, post Cruz fallout for the last month or so since we've been home. Wow.

Bri: We're calling it a fallout. Like just because.

Jason: We had so many things to catch up on.

Bri: It's terribly freezing still.

Jason: Uh, this, you know, we thought it might have been a I mean, the sun's out. We were talking about how recording at this time of day, we usually never get light coming in the window.

Bri: I know.

Jason: And especially with this winter, the way it's been, but it's kind of sunny outside, so.

Bri: Yeah, but it fooled you yesterday. Sun was shining. We're walking around outside and my face hurt. Right?

Jason: Windchill was like twenty twenty four.

Bri: Yeah. It's crazy. Okay, I'm over it. They said it's supposed to be spring.

Jason: Well, let's let's start off with something because it's always nice to have a nice beverage. Cheese. Yeah.

Bri: So, uh, what are we starting with?

Jason: Okay, so this is grim flash frame IPA. And the reason why we have this can, which we picked up at Magic Bear Beer cellar, is because, uh, flash frame won a bronze medal in the American IPA category in the New York State Craft Beer Awards that took place a few weeks. Well, in a little over a week.

Bri: Right? Yeah.

Jason: And, uh, Grimm artisanal ales out of Brooklyn, New York. Uh, they are a five time winner of New York State Brewery of the year. Hey, we love that Asmr with the can opener twenty twenty one, twenty two, twenty four, twenty five, and then twenty six. So they are they, they three repeated this year. They won three gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals for a total of sixteen points. So what makes them the brewery of the year is because it's given to the brewery. Who owns them earns the most points in the competition. I always tell people, if you're going to watch these awards and you want a list of names that are going to come up, Grimm artisanal ales has to be at the top of that list, right? Because they're always going to show up. Yep. So a bronze medal winner in the American IPA category. Uh, look at that.

Bri: Here's a beer for you.

Jason: The footage stange glass from Tin Barn Brewing. We picked this one up out in the Finger Lakes. And then you're drinking out of the the silly pint because they have fun Easter colors.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: Sometimes you can go places and glass is not allowed. So throw a couple of silly pint, uh, silly pint pint glasses in.

Bri: Perfect for post.

Jason: Hiking. We have silly pint pint glasses and silly point.

Bri: Uh, yeah. Now shot glasses. Yeah. Cheers.

Jason: So. Cheers.

Bri: HMM. Very good. Very very good.

Jason: It's good. That's good. I like American IPA's because they're they're simple. They're not overdone. That's a good clean IPA flavor right there. Simple.

Bri: That was just my stomach that everybody may have heard. I have no idea how we've eaten so much today.

Jason: I don't.

Bri: Know.

Jason: Oh, a little brunch. A little Danish this morning. Talking about things.

Bri: Sometimes you're just hungry, I guess. Yeah.

Jason: Uh, so last Friday, we sat down for a little, uh, game night and watched the, um, the New York State craft beer awards on YouTube.

Bri: Mhm.

Jason: Uh, there were, I mean, we're talking like thirty four different categories that they go through and they go through them pretty quick. So it's a, I.

Bri: Like how fast it goes. Yeah.

Jason: We had friends that were presenting at the event. Um, shout out to Morgan, we had friends who were judging. Shout out to Jessie so that when it was all said and done. Western New York took home ten total medals, which is a big year. It's a big year for us.

Bri: Congrats, guys.

Jason: I'm gonna read off some of these here because, uh, people know some of these places. One of them is a silver medal for Brickyard Brewing Company's magnetic north Belgian farmhouse. So that was one of the ones that they did in the bottle. We had that one. We enjoyed it. It was fun. Eli Fish took home two awards, one gold and one silver. The gold was for the red ale in the Strong Ales and lagers category, and they won a silver for, uh, Tiga Tiga spawn, which is in their experimental category. And if you know Eli Fish, they do a ton of experimental stuff.

Bri: They do some fun things.

Jason: Yeah. Gryphon brewing, uh, won a bronze medal for Oregon high five pale ale. That's the one we were making all the rave about because it's.

Bri: The can is so cool. It's like.

Jason: Yeah, imagine Oregon Trail and the characters like high fiving each other.

Bri: On the. Which would have been awesome back in the day. Could you imagine when we were younger playing that game and you could get them to high five? You would just keep making them high five every time. Died of dysentery. High five.

Jason: We crossed the snake River.

Bri: High five, high five. High five. We didn't shoot that bunny. We're starving. High five. High five.

Jason: But, yeah, that one's up in the fridge. But we're saving that one for for a rainy day, so. So Josh can enjoy that one too, since we talked so much about it. Uh, new York beer project cleaned up pretty well. So they won a gold in the hazy IPA category for Hazy Train. Great beer we've had. We had that one before. Yeah. Uh, hazy crush, another one that we had in there. Experimental IPA category, uh, hazy crush. They keep making version and version and version of, uh, so they're always reinventing this one silver medal winner in the experimental IPA category. Righteous day drinker in the hazy double IPA category, they won a silver in that as well. Pearl Street Grill and Brewery came out with Mangia Mangia and I. The name slipped me for a moment until Josh reminded me. It's what. Josh Allen yells as an audible on the line before the snap so he'll yell Manju! And I've heard him do it before. He does it with the fingers too. He's like, Mangia mangia mangia mangia! It's an Italian pilsner. Won the silver medal in the light lager. Modern contemporary category, Resurgence Brewing, who we're going to talk about here in just a just a couple of minutes, is a silver medal winner in the bridge Pilsner category for their or I'm sorry, bridge Pilsner in the American lager category. And we actually saw the medal.

Bri: I know we got to hold it and everything. It was really awesome. They literally have it just hanging on a hook in the back where they're brewing.

Jason: Yeah. They haven't.

Bri: Um, it's just like on the board.

Jason: Yeah. They haven't, they haven't. Um there's nothing presented it yet. Yeah. Put it in a display or anything.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: So it was just like, is that the medal from. Yes it is.

Bri: Yep.

Jason: There it is.

Bri: It was pretty cool though.

Jason: And then Rusty Nickel Brewing, who you know, we love because they come up with some really fun things. One of the fun ones was Pumpernickel Porter. You can fill in the blank. It's literally Porter that's done with. It's bready. It's done with pumpernickel bread in the porter's Non-imperial category. I mean, they they do some fun things. Um, we really enjoy their.

Bri: They did a POG beer in that apple fritter. Beer is ridiculous.

Jason: Which they brought back, uh, last minute. Here I am drinking down here in the studio. And here's the voice cracking again.

Bri: You're like a teenager.

Jason: It's weird.

Bri: Weird.

Jason: But some honorable mentions. Because we do love our friends out in Rochester. We do love our friends in the Finger Lakes.

Bri: Yeah. So exciting.

Jason: Right? Strange bird won five awards.

Bri: I know, come on, guys. Like, every time we go there, you guys are knocking it out of the park. But now bringing it.

Jason: Strange bird is a destination.

Bri: For sure.

Jason: Great food, great people. And. And not only do they make every beer under the sun that you would expect, but they make some different ones that you wouldn't expect.

Bri: Well, also, what's cool about that place is if you're not a beer drinker, they have an amazing cocktail bar, right? Like cocktails. Yeah. So that's really cool too.

Jason: And then Brewery Ardern, who we'll talk about in a few moments as well, won three awards. And the work that they've been doing out there, they take a trip to Belgium every year. They are den region of Belgium is the obviously the inspiration for their place. And they're doing all kinds of of great things. They don't do just traditional Belgian. They do traditional. But not just that they they put depth into it. They put American influence into it. Yeah. They're creating some incredible beers out there. If you're ever in Geneva, they're in the Finger Lakes. It's, uh, the north part of the northwest part of Seneca Lake. You've got to stop in there. One of the most aesthetically pleasing places in all of the Finger Lakes. Uh, and then. Okay. Beer we haven't been to yet in the Honeoye Lake region, they won two awards. So they're just this little, you know, retro inspired place just north of Honeoye Lake. Um, off on a rural road there. I mean, these guys are, are making quite a name for themselves and they've got a nice niche going on out there and they're a place to travel to because there's the word spreads about everything that they do. They've been doing some great things. So that was the, uh, the, the awards in a nutshell. Then we were playing some trekking, which is, uh, a national.

Bri: Park game.

Jason: Inspired game. And then, you know, big.

Bri: And doing some beer tastings.

Jason: And big win for you that, uh, that night.

Bri: Oh, it's so funny. I love to play board games, but I very rarely win. Like, rarely. I just, I get so excited about everything else that we're doing, right? Like we're talking, we're drinking, we're taste testing. Like I'm the person who's getting up to go get the new beers to make sure everybody's fed. Cooking all of the things like I'm the busy person in these gatherings, so I feel like I usually do not win because I can't sit and really focus on strategizing. And I feel like I have no idea how I won. I really don't because the same thing was happening. I was like, all right, what are we going to drink next? You know? And I was rinsing glasses and pouring new beers and, you know, bringing out a little chips and, you know, whatever. So by the.

Jason: Time you get back out, it was your turn again.

Bri: I know, and I was like, I have no idea. So I think it was just the luck of the cards. But yeah.

Jason: Yeah, it's a fun game. Uh, it was one that I had in my Amazon cart for well over a year. Yeah. And then you ended up getting it for Christmas.

Bri: Yeah, it was cool.

Jason: Yeah. It was, it was really cool. So yesterday, I guess I start with Friday and then kind of boil over into yesterday because we're recording on Sunday. Here is, uh, we did our brew day yesterday at resurgence the night before. So you had a girls night and I went down to Magic Bear because Derek Ettinger, who's one of the owners. So he was there pouring. I didn't even know he was going to be there. I just thought.

Bri: You were just going for the beer. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. What were they releasing?

Jason: So it was the bear. Duh. It was the bear de Mars, which is a play on beer de garde. So it's there. It's brewery, Ardennes, Spring farm ale. Okay. Basically that base and then whatever that they, they use for the additional brewing process and then they add orange and time to it. It was good. It was really good. Um, you know me, I like the Belgian yeasty complex, the complex flavors. So for me, it was good. I was hesitant about the orange because sometimes I go orange and I think Blue moon. I think we all do that.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: When it when orange is the only prominent flavor. But with the time worked out just fine. So had a chance to talk to Derek for a little while. Talked about some things going on around Seneca was sharing something about the the project that we're getting ready to work on with details to come later. The spoiler, I guess is like, um, we're doing some work in April, some work in June, and then some work in December. So we've got some big things coming up around Seneca Lake. We're excited to be able to share once the time comes, hopefully in a few weeks. So we'll, we'll let, we'll let you all know. But yeah, then, uh, talked with, uh, Craig for a few minutes. Place was crawling with people.

Bri: That's awesome.

Jason: It was great. And then, so the next morning, you know, it was, it's funny because you come home, you've literally got to do your turnover coffee. I know bagel and schmear, you know. Right.

Bri: Get something in your belly, grab a shower, make some coffee, run out the door. Right? Yeah.

Jason: And then, uh, went down to resurgence brewing to brew. Uh, so we, it was our brew day for insert coin get sour, which is our sour that we're building for the collaboration six event coming up at the end of April. and there's tickets still available for that. So you got to look up the Buffalo Beer Geeks and the collaborative Beer Asian Festival. Uh, look that up. I think the ticket. The ticket people are tix, which is t I x r dot com. I think that's where they're available. But some of the general admission tickets are still available for that. It is the most unique beer festival in Buffalo, I think.

Bri: I think it's fun because you have a bunch of people who may not necessarily know how to brew beer or know too much about it, that start to get involved in this thing. And you know, someone teaches you, right? I remember the first time we brewed and it was just so cool to learn all these things. I had no idea how my beer is made, especially like on the smaller scale, right? Like your local brewery, like, what are they doing to produce what you're drinking?

Jason: Right?

Bri: You know, and you see, like you kind of see the stuff, but until you're really hands on and realize there's so much that goes into it mathematically. Temperature. Well everything right. Have to make sure this is sanitized that that that because you know, the moment like a bacteria or whatever is introduced now everything is ruined and oh, it's just, it's, it's crazy. It's so fun.

Jason: Crazy, crazy cleanliness that goes on and.

Bri: And, um, I think it's really cool because it's the everyday person who gets to have the chance to come up with something that's just wild and out of the box. And I feel like that's what you end up going, is tasting a bunch of things that are just super fun, wild out of the box, right? Because they don't necessarily brew enough to sell. Its brewed enough for the event, right? So like sometimes there's been ones that they've canned, you know, like the bigger places have decided like this turned out really great. Let's can like a bunch of it or whatever.

Jason: Noble Sheppard's been known to. Can anything that they do for collaboration.

Bri: But most of them are only brewing enough for the event and then maybe enough to like, give out to the people who helped brew. Right? You know, so yeah, but it's very exciting.

Jason: It's good, you know. Um, you know, and I know we've talked about it on the, on the podcast before, but you know, in the past, we've, we've brewed with rising Storm out of Livonia.

Bri: Mhm.

Jason: Um, we brewed with one of the former one eyed cat brewing, uh, up here in Williamsville. Uh, we also were brewed the last beer under the Lafayette brewing flag before they closed down their part of the, uh, the Pearl Street family with, um, Riverworks and Pearl Street. So we brewed the last beer there, and then here we are.

Bri: Resurgence.

Jason: Yeah, resurgence.

Bri: Which was what a huge difference seeing like, um, a place that brews like big, right? Big.

Jason: It's a massive operation.

Bri: It is so cool. And everybody has seen the tanks. When you go in to have a beer there or eat or whatever, you know. But to really be in the thick of it and see what happens there. It is so awesome to see everything done on this humongous scale. So yeah, I liked it. It was awesome.

Jason: First time I ever, ever added grains to a, a beer where I had to slam a chute close and yell, send it!

Bri: Oh well, open it. You had to open the chute before then it's all fall in because.

Jason: It was all mechanical.

Bri: To the gigantic tank. Yeah.

Jason: In the past we've been like, you know, looking like a like a somebody standing over an organ grinder. Yeah. I'm just waiting for a monkey with a cup.

Bri: I was talking.

Jason: About loose.

Bri: Change shoveling mash. Right. And there's no shoveling mash. They literally have this like container, this giant container that goes underneath it opens up. They pull a lever, everything falls out of the tank. They rinse the tank that comes out and then they actually just have. Like, what is that like the thing that you pull that it sits on top of? You know, they pull like stuff around in Wegmans and whatever, like all the heavy. Pallet, like whatever. They're just pulling that away and then that's it.

Jason: Yep.

Bri: That's it.

Jason: Yep. I was up and we still got it. We still got to get. Take a pinch of it.

Bri: Yeah. He let us still all taste it because it was so cool.

Jason: It was so it was funny because the.

Bri: Craziest memory from the first time we ever brewed. I was like, can you eat this?

Jason: Because there's there's six of us on the team. So the other four. Were like, really just gonna put that?

Bri: Yeah, yeah, try it.

Jason: It's just like, you know, like flavorless oatmeal. Really just. Yeah, hot.

Bri: And none of them ever had, like, spent grain breads or, you know, any of these things, pretzels, like things that we've experienced. I'm like, if you guys ever see that that's what this is, you know? So we, we taught him a little lesson. Our kids who are helping us, I feel so old. Like sometimes, sometimes I don't think I'm old.

Jason: Something's right.

Bri: Yeah. Sometimes I don't think I'm old until you realize you're old because of the people around you doing things. And I don't mind. But then you just are like, oh, man. Crap. Yeah, I am old.

Jason: You know the one, the one girl, she seems like she wants to learn everything.

Bri: Yeah. Just. Yeah. Very inquisitive.

Jason: Ask ask questions. Yeah.

Bri: It was a fun day though.

Jason: It was good. You know, it was, uh, well, about four hours for us and.

Bri: Yeah, I'm excited. I can't wait for the rest of the process.

Jason: So yeah, we're really appreciative of Nick and all the work that, uh, that he has done with us.

Bri: Whom we saw actually on TV. I pointed out we were watching the.

Jason: During the awards.

Bri: Yeah. And I said, oh my gosh, look. And you were like, no way. And I said, yes. And then when he walked up to receive the medal, I said, I told you, I told you I saw him.

Jason: It's tough to find people in the sea of hoodies and flannel during that award ceremony.

Bri: And it's so funny because I had only met him once and here I am, like picking him out of the crowd.

Jason: I would be the guy. I told you this. I think I told you this that night when I was like, I'd be the guy that would show up to these awards, and I'd be wearing, like, a three piece suit and a pocket watch, just just to dare to be different.

Bri: Because everybody was in flannel or a hoodie. Yeah, yeah. Which is fine. But yeah, you would really stand out. Yeah. No one's like dressing up for the three.

Jason: Piece suit.

Bri: You know. Right.

Jason: Whatever. Top hat, pocket watch. I'll just, I'll.

Bri: Show up in a ball gown like it's the red carpet of the Oscars. Dare to be different.

Jason: Just dare to be different, right?

Bri: I love that.

Jason: Um, when we finished up at resurgence, I had you to grab your coat because I didn't know if you'd be interested in hitting the Buffalo Spring market. That's where we got where we got this guy at. Um, so up there, Richardson, the, uh, the old Richardson Hotel, which is ironically right next to what used to be the Buffalo psychiatric center, and then.

Bri: The old portion of the.

Jason: Old. Yeah, that's still closed down. And, uh, so the Richardson's attached to that beautiful hotel, beautiful facility. Uh, so that whole front lawn area just becomes this like circle of shanties, almost like a like a Kindle Mart Christmas.

Bri: Like a gigantic one. Yeah. Super cute.

Jason: You know, lots of vendors, um, things to eat, things to drink, things.

Bri: I had my first butterbeer.

Jason: Butterbeer?

Bri: Yeah. So I always like, obviously if you're a Harry Potter fan, then you know what it is. And then, um, I've always seen that they serve it at universal, but I have not been to universal since Harry Potter land opened. So I've never had the chance to have it. And then I saw it on the menu when we walked up to that place that was doing all like the hot chocolates, and I said, oh, look what they have. They need to try it.

Jason: The last time I was at universal, they were closing down that area like a month later to start building Harry Potter.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: So yeah, it's, um, it's been, it's been a long time. So but and I had never had butterbeer either. And ironically, we had some butterbeer flavored peeps.

Bri: And now I'm excited. I can't even wait to try them. Yeah, for sure.

Jason: That'll be.

Bri: Fun.

Jason: But yeah, a couple of spins around there, checking out some things. Then, you know, hunger sets in and the fact that the wind chill and, you know, it's like eating our face alive out there, you know, welcome to almost April in Buffalo and then, uh, food. So our first choice ramen didn't work out.

Bri: Yeah, that's fine, that's fine.

Jason: So we ended up going back down to Larkinville and going down to D, a taste.

Bri: Which I had never been to because, um, my first and only experience with them was the little like setup they had at the jazz festival, right? And it was delicious. They had like three offerings. We had two of the three that they were offering that day. And I was like, this is so amazing. One of these days we'll have to go. And we did.

Jason: Yeah. Macaroni. So macaroni and cheese, honey. Garlic chicken taco.

Bri: Mhm. Yeah, yeah, maybe that was.

Jason: I'm not gonna.

Bri: Argue. It was.

Jason: I feel like I'd make that at home. Yeah. What else? There was, uh.

Bri: The poboy taco. Yep. That was delicious. And then the Jamaican jerk, which had like this tropical kind of mango like salsa. It was good. It was delicious.

Jason: Really good.

Bri: They were all awesome.

Jason: And then the birria, um, loaded waffle fries.

Bri: Yeah. That was incredible. I'm telling you, that thing was so big and so heavy. You could have just eaten that, but, I mean, never have eaten there before. I'm like, oh, we'll get these fries. We'll get like these three tacos so we can like share them or whatever. We walked out with half of the fries to take home to have like for lunch today.

Jason: Unreal.

Bri: Because it's so much food and you don't think you're like, how in the world could a taco fill you up? Right? I always think that to myself, but these things are.

Jason: They're pretty good.

Bri: They are stuffed with stuff and so good.

Jason: Yeah, yeah, I, uh, it was. Yeah, it was really good. I mean, we parked over in the lot across from Magic Bear. Walked up to d a taste because it's, um, Paula's donuts d a taste distilling. And then.

Bri: The. No, the old flying bison you pass. Well, I mean, yeah. Oh, I see what you're saying.

Jason: And then what used to be flying Bison Brewing before they closed down in that fiasco. And then, uh, and then, yeah, Magic Bear is in the building beyond that, as I said.

Bri: And there was like, no, um, there was no street parking. So we were like, hey, we're gonna go to Magic Bear anyways, let's just park up over, across from there.

Jason: He was having a private event he was shutting down for. So we wanted to make sure we, you know, pop in and have one. Um, I had the, the blonde from it was, uh, base camp blonde from Myers Creek. And then you had the coconut porter from.

Bri: Um, it was delicious.

Jason: Someplace.

Bri: Someplace from some place, someplace. It was really hilarious. It was delicious, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was happy to have a stop.

Jason: Yeah. Just have a quick one. And then, you know, I've been back home for the day, so.

Bri: Yeah. Grabbed a four pack for Josh because.

Jason: Birthday beard.

Bri: It was so funny. So he was talking about how like, we never went for a beer and he loved it from last year. And we're sitting there having a beer. And then I noticed that it was in the cooler. And then as we're drinking our beer, I'm scanning the cooler and I'm like, oh, and they have two other beers. Oh, they have another beer. So then I was like, all right, I'm gonna get these three beers I know he'll be excited about. And one of I got him one of these Grimm beers to to try since he was watching the award show with us. So I, um, I text him to see where he was. He said he's on his way home from work, and I said, perfect. We're going to be leaving soon. I will drop off a four pack of birthday beers for you.

Jason: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely appreciates. Yeah, yeah, this one here, he's going to he's going to enjoy. And I know he likes the the spritzy bear and the bear. Roni.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: And that was where the magic bear. Eli Fish yeah. Collabs and then yeah, like you said, the, uh, the beer from Buffalo Brewing Company was. Yeah, it's just fun. It's different. Like nobody else does anything like that.

Bri: Oh, he loves it.

Jason: They try, but it's not the same.

Bri: No, no.

Jason: No, not at all. Um, we had the opportunity also in the last month here to go to well for you for new breweries. So first one was Prosper in North Tonawanda. We've been talking about this.

Bri: Which is so funny that we have never been there. And it took so long because it's just an NT.

Jason: Yeah, I haven't been there in a few years myself. I went there for a Buffalo Beer Geeks event. Uh, the first time I had there Schwarzbier, which was really good. You know, if you're into smoky beers, um, when they make their schwarzbier, it's a, it's a really good one. It's a, it's well worth the stop for that. Yeah. We, we had a, we had a good time with that stopped over at district thirty seven, which is a, a fantastic eatery. It's the um, oh gosh, what's the name of the, the family?

Bri: The I have no idea. All I know is there is like thirty seven taps.

Jason: I even remember the.

Bri: Guy I talked with him.

Jason: I shook his hand. I've talked with him at length before. He. They own Mississippi Mudds and old Man Rivers. Oh, okay. Uh, the. Well, I don't know.

Bri: Whatever it is. Right.

Jason: Probably.

Bri: Look it up. They have thirty seven taps and the food was awesome. So I would definitely go back again and I think it would be a fun stop when it gets warmer outside, because I notice they have those big like kind of garage door like things that open up. So I feel like that really gets that indoor outdoor kind of like experience in the summertime. So I think that would be pretty cool, you know, to stop in there though. Yeah.

Jason: Yeah, I think it's, I think it's a lot of fun. It's named district thirty seven because they have thirty seven taps.

Bri: Dude. I literally just said that and.

Jason: I'm looking up stuff. Lord, I apologize.

Bri: And suddenly now you're southern.

Jason: I feel like.

Bri: That's.

Jason: All of a sudden. It was that scene from Wayne's World. They're like, huh? It's like, you're like.

Bri: I just think.

Jason: It's a guy that's a it's a co-host is a sphincter says what? Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Bri: Anyways, did you find it?

Jason: No, no. Oh, here you go. The bear.

Bri: Okay.

Jason: Bear family. My lord.

Bri: Wow. It took a while.

Speaker 4 I swear I'm smart.

Jason: Um, yeah. The bear family. So they also own Mississippi Mud's Old man River.

Bri: Gotcha.

Jason: Uh, yeah, but there was a there was a few of the brothers that were working there that night.

Bri: It was very busy. Yeah. Super busy. But it was, it was great.

Jason: For as long as it took for that place to get off the ground again. Well worth it if you're going to.

Bri: Uh, and the bar is huge. So if it's really busy, wait to like sit down and eat. There is so much space, so much bar space.

Jason: If you're going to the Riviera, it's right around the corner. Yeah. Worth the worth the time.

Bri: Like a block. And you're there.

Jason: Yep. To go around the corner there, grab a beer, grab a cocktail. Yeah, yeah. And it's, uh, it's it's a great stop. So, I mean, I'm more than happy to go back there. Yeah, the food's the food's fantastic. Uh, the one thing we had was the, uh, it was, it's funny because it was the, the cigar, like the the Bacon. And you probably said this too while we were talking. Aw, I.

Bri: Didn't say it.

Jason: I was like, yeah. I was like, um, these, uh, bacon roll ups that, uh, they looked like cigars.

Bri: Yeah. So they, and they served them in like a giant, like cigar ashtray like thing. Yeah. Like, what was that?

Jason: It was a custom ceramic bowl. Yeah. They make that said, it looks like an ashtray, but it's made just for these. Yeah. And then the dipping sauces in the middle. Yeah.

Bri: Yeah. It was delicious.

Jason: Yeah. Just very fun aesthetics that go along with food. Yeah. You can, you know, anybody can appreciate that stuff. They do a really good job there. I would go back there in a second.

Bri: Oh yeah.

Jason: For sure. There's still more things on that menu that I would love to try.

Bri: Um, and the beers I'm sure are changing all the time, so why not, right?

Jason: So we finished up and the reason I said that trying new breweries, we finished up the winter hiking challenge. Our thirteenth challenge finish.

Bri: Woo hoo!

Jason: Lucky thirteen. Anyway, but we finished on the Indian Hill Trail, the Crescent Trail out in Rochester.

Bri: Which was so muddy. What a challenge. So the hike was probably already really challenging because of the what do you want to even call it? Like the.

Jason: The incline.

Bri: Terrain or whatever going up. And then, you know, it kind of like twists or whatever. But anyways, we had had so much rain happening that it was just so sludgy and there, thank God we brought our poles because there were times where I had to like actually pull into the mud to prevent from me slipping down the hill. Yeah, yeah, it was crazy, but I mean, all the needed adventure, right? Like who cares? You could just wash the shoes. Wash the pants. No one cares, right?

Jason: Yeah. And it was a workout.

Bri: Yeah. Oh, it was a workout. Oh, my legs were feeling it.

Jason: Oh. We took a drive out to Mendon Ponds over to the Devil's Hole area. We've been there before.

Bri: Mhm.

Jason: Um, but they have this, so it's winter time. So the road is now the gate. It's gated off, so you can't get up to the upper lot. So we're down below Park hike up. Then you gotta hike all the way down into where the Devil's Hole area is over there. It's a there's a huge circle in there where you can hike. We've we've done that before. And it's a, it's a really beautiful area. The pond down there. Um, I think we took a video that's like, um, from all the way at the back of the boardwalk to the base of the stairs and all the way up to the parking lot.

Bri: Oh, yeah. I kind of like jogged it and did it in the whatever, fast, whatever I know. You know what? It's so funny, guys. I get these crazy thoughts in my head and I'm like, give me your phone. I have an idea. I want to film something. And then I'm just like, stay out of the frame. This is what I'm going to do. And he's like serious. And I said, yeah, this is what I'm going to do. He's like, okay, I'm.

Jason: Literally hidden behind a tree. Like, you ain't fooling nobody, man. Are hidden behind the tree over there. But yeah, they won't see me.

Bri: I come up with some funny things and he's like, all right, you, you go. You do it. It ain't me.

Jason: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we finished the winter, the winter hiking challenge out there. So while we were there, we were close to the town of Victor. And we rolled into Victor because there are several, well, two breweries that we were going to go to, one that we didn't know was there. Yeah. So we ended up at Stumbling Monkey, who, by the way, won an award at the New York State Craft.

Bri: Yeah, I thought that was really cool because we were like, oh my gosh, we were just there. And I mean, cheers to them because that was so good. The place is just it's little, it's cute. And the beer was awesome. Yeah, I'm, I'm excited to go back and try some more beers there. Yeah, I saw some on decks that I was like, okay, guys. Yeah.

Jason: Got our attention. Uh, the one that stood out for us was the Monkey Bite IPA. That was really good. Yeah. The, uh, but what we found out there were three breweries that were literally within walking distance to each other. We didn't know that. So we, we actually parked at Stumbling Monkey.

Bri: Drove around the corner, Drove around.

Jason: Yeah. Not even. Yeah. Not even a quarter mile. Yeah. And then there's no BS brewing, which is in Livonia or the Lakeville area there. They have this little satellite location in Victor.

Bri: Yeah. So that was cool because we really liked that one. We've hit that a couple of times when we were out at Letchworth.

Jason: That was the adult prom. We.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: Yeah, that was fun. And then, uh, the blackberry wheat, which was a highlight for us there. That was really good, I enjoyed that. And then the one that we were really looking forward to. So we met these folks at Rails and Ales a few years back. Uh, was DeWolf brewing? Yeah, the place wasn't open yet, but they were on the verge of finishing things up. Yeah. And what an what an experience this place is.

Bri: Oh, so good, so good.

Jason: Beautiful place. First of all, you go in.

Bri: So much space.

Jason: So much Spanish influence.

Bri: Oh, yeah.

Jason: With the.

Bri: Food. Oh my gosh, the food. There's a Spanish restaurant that I love that's at Disney World, and I thought I would never have this food again until we went to De Wolf and I said, oh my God, I've had it again. Like, this is so awesome.

Jason: You said, you even said it seemed to rival ooh, Disney experience.

Bri: Yeah, yeah. So so good. So I highly, highly recommend if you're going make sure you want to eat something because man, the food was.

Jason: What did we end up doing there? We had, uh.

Bri: The potatoes that all say it wrong every single time. The privadas I'm not, I don't speak Spanish, so I'm super bad at even like the accent to like, say it or whatever.

Jason: I have to actually read it in order to say it correctly here.

Bri: I'll Google it for you really quick and then you can like say it. But that was the thing that was like the big deal for me because those are just I had them for the first time at Disney. We had them. When you went with me to Disney last year.

Jason: Last May.

Bri: In May, we went to that same place, had those potatoes, The boys had the potatoes for the first time and they were like, Holy cow, these are so good. And I was like, I know. Yeah.

Jason: Uh, the pineapple kolsch. That was, uh, that was a standout.

Bri: Patatas bravas. Is that how you would say it? Yeah. Patatas bravas.

Jason: The way I would say it. Yeah.

Bri: And probably somebody who can speak Spanish is, is like correcting me.

Jason: But a spicy Spanish potato.

Bri: It's so good. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah.

Jason: Delicious.

Bri: Just the layers of taste. That's what I love about them. Right? So it's like it's not just a potato. It's not like a French fry. It's, it's like all these layers of flavors and herbs and fun things. And it was so funny because I had never had beer with that taste. Yeah. Right. Because both times that I had at Disney, I think I had a cocktail one time and, and wine on another time, but having the beer.

Jason: I feel like you would have wine with if you were having that at a sit down. Yeah.

Bri: Well, and then I think the day, the time I had it, I had steak, so I did steak with those potatoes. So it was definitely like a red wine situation. But, um, having the beer there mixed with that flavoring of those potatoes was just, oh my gosh, it was so, so delicious. So I'm excited to go back because there are more things on that menu that I would love to eat. And I feel like I'm going to also be eating those potatoes again.

Jason: Because.

Bri: It was just so incredible. And um, let's see, what else did we have? We had a rice dish while we were there too. Oh, here you go. The Madrid street bowl, saffron scented Spanish rice tossed with chorizo, chicken and shrimp finished with a squeeze of lemon. Incredible. I mean, there's very few breweries that I feel like I go into and I eat the food and I'm like, blown away, right? Because it's a lot of pub fare, which is fine.

Jason: Yeah.

Bri: You know, that's kind of what you expect when you go into a place, you're like looking for pub fare or whatever. So you think like, if I'm going to eat at a brewery, I'm going to have like.

Jason: Sure.

Bri: You know, traditional pub foods, right? So to walk into here and just get these foods that I went to a very expensive restaurant at the top of a hotel at Disney World. The last time I ate these things, it was pretty incredible to me. So I mean, kudos guys. It's awesome.

Jason: I feel like I have some room to make a nice episode about breweries, you know, whatever, Buffalo, Rochester, you know that that are food and that are food and beer, you know, because like you said, a lot of places do pub fare. Yeah. There are places.

Bri: That do special things, fries, things like that. Yeah.

Jason: Like DeWolf.

Bri: Right?

Jason: Yeah, yeah. So it's, I think it's like.

Bri: You could legit go there for a, a date night and like, it's not a quiet date night. It's a brewery. Let's get real. But I mean, you could go there for a date night and like, have a really good meal.

Jason: And then I did mention that the first time we ever learned about DeWolf was when we met them at Rails and Ales, ironically. Yeah. As we're walking in the door, we bumped into Otto.

Bri: Yeah. Who's that? Was.

Jason: That was.

Bri: Fun. That was so cool. Yeah. And then he came back over and said hello to us. So that was that was awesome.

Jason: Like, I like Otto. He's. So if you go to go to Rails and Ales, I think this year's on May sixteenth, we've already got our tickets for that.

Bri: And that's a fun event too. Smaller, smaller, and I.

Jason: Love super unique. And I think that's probably what we should talk about. Probably our next episode is these unique festivals that are coming up like collaboration, like, um, uh, like rails and ales, you know, like tap and craft. There's, there's ones that are in the area here that are, that have a unique flair to them. Um, history on tap.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: Um, we haven't made a decision yet on history on tap, but that's another one at the Genesee County Home and Museum where it's just you've got this kind of like nineteenth century influence to it, you know, meat pies. And in the meantime, there's vendor markets. And then there's all kinds of. Like distilleries and breweries and wineries that are represented all over.

Bri: That property and other foods that they're doing. Yeah, it's so good.

Jason: It's unique, just unique flair to it. Yeah, I think that'd be a fun, a fun one for the next, uh, the next episode because we're. Getting ready to literally hit.

Bri: All the seasons. Yeah.

Jason: I think that'd be, um, that one needs to get written. I think they need to make that work. But yeah, so we finished up there with, uh, with DeWolf before we made our way back. I definitely go back stumbling monkey go back to DeWolf no BS. I mean, I like, I like satellite locations like that because if you're looking for something quick, uh, you know, want, you want a beer and you want the place to stop in. They've always got great selections for sure. You know, they're PB and J sour their key lime sour. We like those. Um, but I really want to get back out to Lakeville and Livonia again because there's a big huddle. Another one. Solitude. Our friends out there wanting to want a medal as well.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: Um, it's another great, uh, another great brewery out there.

Bri: Um.

Jason: You know, there's places when you go into a certain area, there's always great places to visit, right? Yeah. Uh, soup.

Bri: Soup, soup. No soup for you.

Jason: We're gonna finish on soup today.

Bri: No soup for you.

Jason: Um, we're drinking soup right now.

Bri: Oh my gosh.

Jason: Good soup.

Bri: Beer soup. You're so funny.

Jason: But, um, the ninth annual John G. Cansdale Williamsville soup stroll.

Bri: Um, this was by far the busiest soup stroll ever.

Jason: And they raised the most money ever. Thirty six thousand dollars raised for sleep in heavenly peace. So they build and deliver beds for for children in need. So they got a place to sleep at night. Um, and it happens. People get down on their luck. Things happen. Uh, feed more Western New York, which we know is, uh, is very prominent in the area. The pantries. I think this year was more centered toward the Lancaster Pantry that they were focusing on. So you've got all these businesses up and down Main Street in Williamsville, and they're all making these soups. And it's, you know, this year it's like two dollars. You throw it on your two dollars, you get this like, I don't know, it would just say, make maybe two, three ounces.

Bri: Like a taster of soup.

Jason: It's a taster.

Bri: Yeah.

Jason: You know, and then again, aesthetics play into this as well as the soups themselves.

Bri: Mhm.

Jason: And then you get to go into these different businesses and you're helping out a great cause. So what we found out at the end of the day was steel Bound Brewery and Distillery, which is inside of the Mozi Hotel, if you remember hooked, that's where the same place where hooked used to be. That's where Steel Bound is now. So they had a stuffed banana pepper soup that won the judges trophy this year. So we had to wait on the People's Choice Award because you can scan a code, put in your vote because we had a we had a vote.

Bri: I had a strong vote, and I was hoping they would win. And they did.

Jason: And we found out later that night that they In fact, one share kitchen which is located on, uh. I can't remember the street corner, but I remember like Moore, Pat is right there. Bright Smith's kitty corner across the street. And they made a Mexican street corn soup. That was the People's Choice award.

Bri: It was incredible. It was like having something, um, prepared that was not thrown together. Right? Like, I loved all the flavors. And when even when they were doing the serving of it, they did like the little sprinkle and the little chip and like they, everything was like, they weren't just like scooping it in and sending you off. You know what I mean? Like they were really putting a lot of care into it. And, uh, that one was delicious. And then for me, my second favorite one was the, um, the one that was over at, uh, Creekside. They, and I think they won the year before.

Jason: Before they had the trophy.

Bri: Yeah, yeah. Because we noticed we were like, oh, here it is. So there. Creek Creek view Creek view. I always want to call it Creekside because I used to live on creek side. And I think that always sticks in my head when I think creek. But yeah. Creek View restaurant. I loved their offering. It was like a au gratin or whatever theirs was. Oh God, it's so good. But you know what's so funny is I am not a soup eater. Like, I would never just eat soup. Somebody said, oh, do you want soup? And I'm like, no, but.

Jason: You need something with substance. That's that's your thing. Yeah. You would eat it if it has substance.

Bri: Yeah. And there are some things when we do the soup stroll that we share a little bit because, well, a lot of it has to do with I can't eat all the dairy, but but like, you know, I'm not a huge soup eater. So then I'll taste it and I'll be like, oh, that was good. And then I'll hand it off to him or whatever. Um, another favorite of mine was the lasagna soup that they did. And, um, and then what was the other one? It was like, uh, taking apart. Key.

Jason: Well, that and it was in the same place that was Marty's formal wear. So the lasagna soup with Italian sausage, that was something they teamed up with Russell's.

Bri: That was really.

Jason: Good. So the reason. So the Polish golabki soup came from which which is one of the. I mean, one of these times we're going to have to go to Wycheck for a fishery.

Bri: And that was.

Jason: They do fish fry year round.

Bri: So and I want to say that was our first stop because we bought the special spoon to eat. Right.

Jason: So the reason that that soup came on board was because more pet who was supposed to be, um, who was supposed to serve soup. I don't know what happened. They couldn't participate. It was a last second decision. And so they put an extra soup at Marty's to round out the, the numbers that they that they were looking for. So but yeah, Marty's is, is fun. It's like, you know, it's formal wear shop. They clear out the front showroom and just make it like this big circle. It's like pei soup, you know, side table. If you want to eat it over here and then you can go outside and be on your merry way as well.

Bri: I think it's cool. It's a cool event. I think it brings a lot of, um, extra business to the, to Main street, you know, because I think when people are done eating soup for the few hours that the soup stroll happens, then, you know, there's a lot of people who started dispersing to places. We went over to bright Smith had a beer, you guys ate some pizza, had some French fries. Yeah. You know, I feel like it brought, you know, even more business that day.

Jason: One of the things I think we'd suggest for this event, because it usually runs from twelve to three, it's a quick three hours.

Bri: Oh, it's fast, especially because the amount of people this year you were waiting in some long lines.

Jason: So get down there. Right. Don't wait until one o'clock because now you're all of a sudden you're getting.

Bri: You.

Jason: Can't park, you're catching and you're, you know, getting there at one o'clock, you're, you're getting caught in long lines.

Bri: And parking.

Jason: So really go down there and whatever, just like you used to, you know, camp out on Black Friday.

Bri: I mean, there's some fun things you could eat breakfast beforehand if you wanted to. If you didn't want to have food, you could go over to the coffee place over winter. Yeah, they make amazing coffee. Go in and have a coffee.

Jason: But I mean, the second, like eleven fifty five rolls. Go to your first spot and get ready for that door to open. Right. And then just hit it, hit it hard early.

Bri: Because what we did is we looked up the places we definitely wanted to go, right and went there first.

Jason: Print your sheet. Yeah, yeah, ahead of time. A little, uh, get your highlighter out right.

Bri: We make a battle plan for everything. I feel like.

Jason: one of these days I. And I really think we should probably do it for Deck the Halls this year out in Seneca. I'm. All I can think of is like Kevin McCallister during Home Alone, when he's just like the crayon drawing of. When he rolls out the paper and he's got the. He's got the battle helmet on and he takes the little like army men and he, he sets him up on the board. I just that's so it's what I imagine it's like. All right, men.

Bri: Ready?

Jason: Go. We're headed to the soup straw.

Bri: Oh my gosh, we're headed to the wine. We're headed to the food. We're headed to the beer. But yeah, I.

Jason: Mean, you know, just since we've been back from the cruise, we've we've had a lot of fun, packed a lot of things in and it doesn't stop there. I mean.

Bri: Oh no, our April and May, we do not have a single weekend open.

Jason: I mean we got like three minutes left here to close this out here. I mean, what's a couple of I mean, just a couple of quick things that you see that pop up.

Bri: I know we're I just said like our the schedule is full.

Jason: My phone's over there.

Bri: It's so.

Jason: It's.

Bri: Recording. It's so crazy. We have a fundraiser at brazen on the schedule in April.

Jason: Western New York Beer Trail, and.

Bri: We're out at Seneca Lake for the wine and cheese. The Cherry Blossom Festival will be happening. Um, collaboration will be happening. You go to a lot of pinball. Hey, um, we're camping right now. We're camping. You have a wrestling thing. There's the Rochester Lilac Festival, rails and ales. We have the Buffalo Marathon coming up.

Jason: Possibly another chance to see Claudia Heuser.

Bri: There is history on tap. There is so much going on in the next two months. Are April and May packed?

Jason: Sorry. I like to be busy. I like to be busy. So. Okay, well then. Good. See? You got that. Like, look at that in a minute. Yeah. Nailed that all.

Bri: Down. Now you got everybody excited. Hopefully they hear some stuff and start googling for some tickets.

Jason: All right. Hey if you want to catch any of the episodes of the Buffalo Brews podcast, you can do so by going to our website at Buffalo Brews Podcast.com. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast platform is. You can listen directly on our website. Like I said, social media, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. You can find us at Buffalo Brews podcast on TikTok at Buffalo brews occasionally put some stuff up there and for some engagement and fun and. And any time that you want to message us, you can find us at. You can message us Buffalo Bruce PR at gmail.com. And we're always willing. To to holler back at people. I've got some conversations I've got going on with some other podcasters, which is bringing up another, another project that we'll be working on that hopefully we can disclose here in the next couple of weeks. But in the meantime, hey, thanks for spending a Sunday, Sunday afternoon talking about things that we've been doing.

Bri: No problem.

Jason: Always fun chatting with you.

Bri: All right. Cheers.

Speaker 5 Cheers.