• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Details on Big Ditch Brewing’s big expansion, photos of new cans

October 3, 2016Chris Crowell

big-ditch-brewing-expansion

Big Ditch Brewing Co., winner of the 2016 “Best Craft Brewery in New York State” at the TAP New York Festival in Hudson Valley, is one of those classic fast-growing craft beer success stories and will be debuting a new facility along with its first canned beers this month.

“Our brewery was operating at full capacity and barely keeping up with demand, which is a nice problem to have,” said Matt Kahn, president of Big Ditch Brewing Co. “We’re humbled by the success of the brewery thus far and pleased that we were able to undertake this expansion to meet the growing demand for our craft beer.”

Big Ditch Brewing began producing craft beer out of its Huron Street facility in October 2014 and opened its taproom in May 2015. Recent expansion has increased the brewing capacity threefold to 15,000 barrels per year and enabled Big Ditch to add a canning line and expand the availability of its most popular beers. The expansion was aided by a loan from the Buffalo and Erie County Regional Development Corporation.

Big Ditch Brewing’s Hayburner American IPA, Low Bridge Golden Ale and Excavator Rye Brown Ale are the beers that will now be available in 12-ounce cans sold in regional supermarkets, retail outlets, convenient stores, bars and restaurants.

In addition to the expansion of Big Ditch’s production facility, the space in the kitchen serving the highly successful Taproom and the beer hall were both underwent expansions as well. The beer hall now offers a dedicated service bar and restrooms.

big-ditch-brewing-cans

“It has not quite been two years since Big Ditch brewed its first batch at the Huron Street facility,” said Corey Catalano, vice president and head brewer. “We opened with one brewer and now have eight brewers and 80 full time and part time employees overall brewing craft beer 24 hours a day and five days a week. It has been remarkable!”

“The emerging vitality of the Electric District neighborhood in downtown Buffalo continues to surprise me,” commented Paul Iskalo, co-founder of Big Ditch Brewing and president and CEO of Iskalo Development Corp. “We have been an active real estate investor in this neighborhood since 2004 and are pleased to be a part of its renaissance.”

To celebrate the launch, both the Electric Tower and the rooftop sign at Big Ditch Brewing will be illuminated in the signature colors of each of the three beers being released on both Wednesday 9/28 and Thursday 9/29: orange (Hayburner), blue (Low Bridge) and maroon (Excavator).

The brewery name pays homage to the Erie Canal, which was nicknamed “Big Ditch” during its early construction. The Erie Canal started as an idea, but ultimately served as the catalyst for the City of Buffalo’s rapid growth into one of the largest cities in North America by the early 1900s. The founders of Big Ditch hope that the return of brewing to the City of Buffalo will similarly contribute to the region’s continued revival as well as its proud brewing tradition. Big Ditch Brewing’s craft beers are currently distributed on draft by Try-It Distributing in Erie and Niagara counties and Sanzo Distributing in Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming and Cattaraugus Counties. For more on Big Ditch, watch this cool video:

Uinta Brewing welcomes canning line to new facility
Multi-Conveyor_Massive-Bi-Di-Accumulation-Table_high-res
Check out this massive bidirectional accumulation table Multi-Conveyor added to a high-speed canning line
Allagash Brewing canning line
How Allagash Brewing stepped up its canning line in 2019
cask global canning micro automated
Watch: Check out this new Micro-Automated Canning System from Cask

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael Taft says

    October 4, 2016 at 3:36 pm

    Michael Taft liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  2. vinchette says

    October 3, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Details on Big Ditch Brewing’s big expansion, photos of new cans. @bigditchbrewing https://t.co/CNm52bIHWC

    Log in to Reply
  3. homemadebeer says

    October 3, 2016 at 11:28 am

    Details on Big Ditch Brewing’s big expansion, photos of new cans: Big Ditch Brewing Co., winner of the 2016 “… https://t.co/Dje1OGlWeE

    Log in to Reply
  4. crsimp01 says

    October 3, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Details on Big Ditch Brewing’s big expansion, photos of new cans https://t.co/rbmsrvcy59 via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply
  5. bigditchbrewing says

    October 3, 2016 at 10:28 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Details on Big Ditch Brewing’s big expansion, photos of new cans. @bigditchbrewing https://t.co/CNm52bIHWC

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
  • Colorado Strong launches public awareness campaign to help independent breweries
  • Here’s a video recap of 2020 from Deep Ellum Brewing, complete with dubstep score
  • Malt maker Rahr purchases all of eco energy maker Koda

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
    January 21, 2021
  • virginia-beer-co-renovationHow Virginia Beer Co. used the shutdown to overhaul its facility (and keep people employed)
    January 19, 2021
  • Clean air, clean beer: New Ingersoll Rand oil-less reciprocating air compressors are ideal for breweries (aeration to canning)
    January 18, 2021
  • Non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic Brewing closes $17M+ in funding with famous backers, selects Crafted ERP, eyes big growth
    January 18, 2021
  • Watch: This awareness video on human trafficking from beer wholesaler Markstein Sales will move you to action
    January 14, 2021
  • Distribution updates: Massachusetts brewers celebrate franchise reform, Yuengling goes to Texas with Molson Coors and more from Bell’s, Stone and beyond
    January 14, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by