The Canadian American Beer Festival is off and running, and cross border collaborations, unique pairings that will feature some of the best and brightest brewing minds in Western New York teaming with their Southern Ontario counterparts, are now set. The collaboration lottery was held before the inaugural Can-Am Beer Fest, which was held in conjunction with the Ontario Craft Brewers Conference, on October 29 at the Scotia Bank Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The special collabs will take place on either side of the border, with plans calling for ten beers to brewed in Ontario and the other ten to be brewed in WNY. The lottery draw produced some exciting pairings, more than enough to start getting excited about.

The pairings are as follows:

Canadian Side

• Niagara Brewing – Belt Line Brewery & Kitchen
• Cowbell Brewing – New York Beer Project
• Niagara Oast House – Four Mile Brewing
• Railway City – Brickyard Brewing
• Avling Brewery – West Shore Brewing
• Lock Street Brewery – Rusty Nickel Brewing
• Shawn & Ed Brewing – Brite Smith Brewing
• Flying Monkeys – Five and 20 Spirits & Brewing
• Redline Brewhouse – Resurgence Brewing
• Four Fathers Brewing – Fat Heads Brewing (Cleveland)

American Side

• Big Ditch Brewing – 5 Paddles Brewing
• Flying Bison Brewing – Niagara College Teaching Brewery
• Community Beer Works – Breakwall Brewery
• Pressure Drop Brewing – LOW Brewing Company
• Steelbound Brewery – Midtown Brewing
• Lilly Belle Meadery – Nickelbrook Brewing
• Black Monk Brewing (Erie) – Whitewater Brewing
• 12 Gates Brewing – Royal City Brewing
• 42 North Brewing – Sawdusty City Brewing
• Other Half Brewing (Rochester) – Thornbury Village Cider House & Brewery

I am personally excited for a number of these combinations. Niagara Brewing and Belt Line, Oast House and Brickyard, Shawn & Ed and Brite Smith, a number are truly intriguing. On the other side, Big Ditch and 5 Paddles, Pressure Drop and LOW Brewing,

42 North and Sawdust City sound fun. And beyond that, whatever vaunted breweries like Other Half and Fat Heads come up with will be something to look forward to. I’m also happy to learn more about these breweries I’m not familiar with.

The Can-Am is organized by the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association in partnership with the Ontario Craft Brewers, Niagara College Teaching Brewery, and is co-hosted by the US Consul General and the Canadian Consul General.

For more information on the first ever Canadian American Beer Festival, and to purchase tickets online, please visit https://canadianamericanbeerfestival.com/.

Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.

Inaugural Canadian American Beer Festival Coming to Niagara Falls

The best of Western New York and Southern Ontario beer will collide at the first ever Canadian American Beer Festival, a one-of-a-kind cross border event, on October 29 (6pm) at the Scotia Bank Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The unique festival will feature WNY breweries such as Belt Line Brewery, Big Ditch, Brickyard Brewing, Pressure Drop and Resurgence, as well as Canadian brewers like Flying Monkey, Henderson Brewing, Niagara Oast House, Niagara College Teaching Brewery, Sawdust City and more. Tickets ($20 CAD) can be purchased at Eventbrite and include commemorative glass and six drink tickets (each good for 3oz. pour).

42 North Brewing Unveils New Packaged Beer Redesign

42 North Brewing has unveiled a new re-design for all packaging for their core brands and seasonal offerings. The new packaging features a map legend on the front of the cans. This map legend includes the beer name and style, brewery coordinates, and the beer profile. “The goal with the new packaging is to provide consistency so consumers can easily identify a 42 North beer on-shelf. It’s also important to maintain the map imagery to connect us to our home, our place, on the 42nd parallel,” stated 42 North Founder John Cimperman. Look for these wherever great beer is sold.

Get Fruity at the Third Annual Fruit Beer Festival at Gene McCarthy’s

Gene McCarthy’s/Old First Ward Brewing are rounding up all of the fruit beers around and are putting them all in one place at the 3rd Annual Fruit Beer Festival on October 26 (2pm), which will feature special one off brews and returning favorites. $30 admission includes a commemorative glass and unlimited samples from OFW, Flying Bison, Thin Man, 12 Gates Brewing, Buffalo Brewing, 42 North Brewing, Four Mile Brewing and Woodcock Brothers. There will be raffles, food available for purchase and more. $5 growler fills will be available at the end of the festival (if beer remains). Tickets at Eventbrite.

Eat and Drink Local at ‘Gose Stories’ at the Draft Room with Hamburg Brewing

The Draft Room at the Labatt Brewhouse is teaming up with Hamburg Brewing for ‘Gose Stories,’ a four-course beer pairing dinner designed to highlight Gose beers, on October 30 (6:30pm). Course #1 features Marinated Melon with Crispy Prosciutto paired with Hamburg’s Karma Cha-melon Melon Gose, Course #2 is Seared Scallops with Fig and Blackberry Gose Reduction with Blackberry Gose, Course #3 is Herb Crusted Pork Loin, Cauliflower Puree and Cranberry Peach Chutney with Labatt Brew House Peach Cranberry Sour and Course #4 is Dark Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Toasted Brownie with Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! Peche Mortel. Tickets at Eventbrite ($45).

Celebrate Halloween at a Number of Your Favorite Local Breweries

Your favorite breweries are getting in the spooky mood with Halloween celebrations! On October 26 (5pm), hang with 12 Gates Brewing for Halloween Bash in the Bunker, featuring music from Last Call, new Peanut Butter Porter and costume contest (1st place – $100, 2nd place – $50, 3rd place – $25). Resurgence in the Dark (6pm) at Resurgence’s Chicago Street location will feature music from Audio in Motion (8-11pm), pumpkin kegs and costume contest ($50 bar tab to the winner), Halloween Party at Windy Brew (7pm) and Halloween Party & Stiff Mitten Release at Woodcock Brothers Brewing in Wilson (7pm).

Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column for Step Out Buffalo. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague) and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).

Tuesday, October 29th, 2019

The Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association  and the Ontario Craft Brewers —Co-Hosted by the US Consul General and the Canadian Consul General—  will launch the first ever Canadian American Beer Festival on October 29th, 2019 at the Scotia Bank Centre from 6-10 PM in Niagara Falls Ontario.   This will be a cross-border beer event featuring 20 Ontario breweries and 20 US breweries.   The focus of the inaugural year will be on getting breweries together at the Ontario Craft Brewers Conference to do a collaboration drawing that will pair the breweries up for collaborations in 2020 involving the making of as many as 40 unique collab brews.  This highlights the great breweries, the exciting craft beer potential, and the many international friendships that exist in our bi-national region.  This event is Co-Hosted by the US Consul General and the Canadian Consul General.

Can Am 2019 is the first iteration of what we hope will grow into a very large annual beer festival and beer competition taking place on both sides of the border in both Niagara Falls USA and Niagara Falls Ontario.  We believe Can Am can become one of the biggest and best North American beer festivals with hundreds craft breweries,  several days of festivities, and a prominent highly-anticipated beer competition.   As the saying goes, every long journey begins with a single step — and CanAm 2019 is just that.  Check back here and at the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association website often for updates.

CanAm is organized by the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association in partnership with the Ontario Craft Brewers, Niagara College Teaching Brewery, and is Co-Hosted by the US Consul General and the Canadian Consul General.