Aug 9, 2017
BATAVIA - Batavia will welcome 24 breweries, two cideries and a meadery for a sampling of the region’s brewing explosion at the Downtown Batavia Business Improvement District’s Beertavia tasting Saturday.
BID Director Beth Kemp said they won’t have to travel far - including two participants set to begin serving customers in the District soon.
“Each year we try to make it bigger and better, and I think having the local breweries is exciting,” Kemp said. “It’s exciting to tie in the Batavia Brewing Company (now the Eli Fish Brewing Company), which will not be serving yet, as well as Resurgence Brewing Company.”
The cideries are Black Creek Cidery in Bergen, and OSB Ciderworks in Livingston County, the meadery is 810 Meadworks from Orleans County. The rest of the line-up is names tasters should be familiar with.
“I feel like the trend is that craft brewing is becoming more popular, with NY Craft Malt right in our backyard,” and breweries popping up,” Kemp said.
Participants will enjoy unlimited tastings from the vendors, who typically bring multiple offerings; as well as buying food and good Alex’s Place, Batavia’s Original, Cheesed and Confused,Yancey’s Fancy, the Bavarian Nut Company, Santiago Cigar Factory and Buffalo Brew Fab.
Kemp said there will be games as well, like MobileSchlagen and yard games on lawn space donated by the Batavia Turf Farm. There will be bottle-flipping as well, and music by The Ohm’s Band.
Beertavia had around 600 people last year, with pre-sales trending in the same direction. Kemp said the event doubles sales on day-of sales, so the 700-person capacity will be near.
The BID is selling tickets for the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. tasting session, as well as VIP tickets that start an hour earlier and receive a larger commemorative glass; at three downtown locations - Angotti Beverage, Adam Miller Toys and Bicycles, and the Batavia Bootery, as well as online at DowntownBataviaNY.com
The Batavia BID’s beer-based celebration was held on Father’s Day weekend for its first two iterations. Western New York’s events calendar is loaded with beer and wine tastings in small communities and large cities, and Kemp said moving back two months pulls Beertavia out of a cluster of them. Being the only tasting on the weekend should bring out a larger crowd, she believes.
