Everything old is new again as Big Ditch Brewing Company returns to its roots on the Erie Canal in Lockport, preparing to open this March in a revitalized historic post office building. Beer lovers will be able to enjoy craft brews with a view from the airy tap room featuring expansive Arts & Crafts style windows, vaulted ceilings, and natural wood wainscoting.
An exact opening date has not been set, but kegs were tapped Thursday and staff training begins Monday. The brewpub is now setting up furniture, adding final flourishes, and un-crating glassware. Eight 50-gallon brewing tanks are standing ready to get hopped up.
“We’re going to tap all the lines today,” said Matt Kahn, president of Big Ditch Brewing Company.
The location, in the original 1902 Lockport post office at 1 East Ave., includes several bars on two floors, an event space, a micro-brewery, a first-floor patio, and kitchen. The brewpub will serve dinner six nights a week, with lunch Friday through Sunday, offering classic Buffalo bar foods, some original menu items, and others from their Buffalo locations. The bar will be open until 10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 8 p.m. on Sundays. The site has a ramp and elevator for disability accessibility. The upper floors of the building are available for lease as offices.
Kahn said nearly 80 people have been hired for the new pub, including all new managers. Brewers will alternate days in Lockport with days at the company’s Buffalo locations. The Lockport location has a capacity for nearly 140 patrons in the main tap room, with another 90 seats in the beer hall, and 60 seats in the event space. The bars feature 12 taps, with large-volume beer deliveries on their way from the Buffalo brewery.
“It’s really about the experience,” said Paul Iskalo, of Iskalo Development Corp. who owns the building and is a partner in Big Ditch Brewing Company. “Beer is a part of it, along with great food, great atmosphere, and excellent customer service.”
The pub will also serve spirits, cider, and non-alcoholic drinks. Live music will be included later in the year.
With three walls of windows, patrons will have a panoramic view of downtown Lockport, from the Bewley Building to Niagara Produce. The tap room’s framed black and white historic photos, map enlargements, and a graphic mural of Lockport and Buffalo icons, emphasize the innovations and rugged realities of working on the canal. Table tops feature carved maps of sections of the Erie Canal by master woodworker David Hamm of Arcade. If the tables are put end-to-end, the surfaces form a map of the canal from Albany to Buffalo, Iskalo said.
“We just wanted to pay homage to the Erie Canal and getting back to our roots,” Iskalo said. “We want to energize and bring vitality to Lockport.”
Craftsmanship at the pub will naturally include brewing unique beers. New recipes will flow from the on-site brewery, which can produce four barrels a batch. “That much could be sold in a weekend,” Kahn said. A new carrot cake beer is in the works, with vanilla, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and carrot juice added. Patrons will be able to ask for tastes at the bar, or purchase by the glass or growler.
“I’ve always thought Lockport’s better days are ahead of it,” said Iskalo. “This can be a catalyst for more activity downtown.” Iskalo said when Big Ditch opened on Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo, the neighborhood saw nearly a dozen new businesses move in.