Empire Brewing Co. beer is on its way back to Central New York.

The pioneering Upstate New York craft beer brand, which shut down last fall, is now owned and brewed by the Ellicottville Brewing Co. of western New York.

Empire beers returning to the market include Black Magic Nitro Stout, Skinny Atlas Light (a kölsch) and Local Grind (a coffee ale).

A new Empire beer, New York State of Mind, a hazy New England-style IPA, is also in production at Ellicottville.

Draft versions of the New York State of Mind and the Black Magic stout should be available in the coming week, said Jon Dubee, craft brand manager at Onondaga Beverage, which will distribute the Empire beers in Onondaga, Oswego and other Central New York counties.

Some of the canned beers, including the Skinny Atlas Light, should be on the market by April 1, Dubee said.

Under the heading “The Dawn of a New Empire,” Onondaga Beverage put out this statement to its customers:

“Ellicottville Brewing is proud to announce the re-launch of the Empire Brewing Company in New York State. 2020 will see the introduction of both exciting new brands including State of Mind New England Style IPA and re-launch of the favorites such as Skinny Atlas Kolsch and Black Magic Nitro Stout. This New York craft beer forerunner is resurrected! Ellicottville Brewing is proud to bring Empire Beer back to New York State as part of the Ellicottville Brewing family. With state of art brewing and packaging facilities, backed by our high tech QA lab, Empire Brewing will bring new delicious recipes comprised of high quality liquid along with all new packaging and innovative styles.”

Ellicottville Brewing, founded in the Cattaraugus County ski resort town of the same name in 1995, is now one of western New York’s largest craft brewers. It operates three brewpubs (in Ellicottville, Bemus Point and Fredonia), and has a large production brewery in Little Valley, also in Cattaraugus County.

Empire, one of New York’s oldest craft brewers, suffered a double collapse last fall. Its original brewpub in downtown Syracuse’s Armory Square closed in October after it lost its lease. Not long afterward, the Empire Farm Brewery in Cazenovia closed after it was purchased in a bankruptcy auction.

Both were owned by David Katleski but operated as separate companies. The trademarks for the Empire name and its beers were not part of the bankruptcy. At the time of the bankruptcy, they were still owned by Empire Brewing, while a “security interest” in them was assigned to the company’s law firm, Harris Beach.

The Armory Square brewpub remains closed.

The Cazenovia brewery, a large destination brewhouse and tasting room off Route 13, was purchased in the bankruptcy auction by the Feldmeier Equipment Co. in DeWitt. It will be renamed and rebranded as Meier’s Creek Brewing and is expected to open this spring or summer.

Katleski, the former Empire owner, was not only one of the early New York state craft brewery owners, but the founder of the New York State Brewers Association, which helped lobby for legal and regulatory changes that boosted the craft beer industry across New York.

Read more:

» They bought the former Empire Brewery. Here’s their plan

» Empire Brewing owner helped create New York’s craft industry. Now he’s out

» Ellicottville Brewing expands to fourth location

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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