We’ve been hearing a buzz about Rusty Nickel Brewing Co. looking around the city for a second location. Their first brewery opened in West Seneca in 2015, and became an immediate hit right out of the gate. Now, we’re happy to say that the #2 location is officially open in one of downtown Buffalo’s most historically significant buildings – the same building that was features in Charles Burchfield’s praised Rainy Night painting. The edifice is also known as the Buehl Block Building, located at 36 Broadway, directly across from the Central Library.

This new brewery location features a tasting room with 28 taps dedicated to brews crafted at their West Seneca brewery, owned by Jason Havens. Other amenities include a tasting room and kitchen, a private event space, and two full bars.

Once again, we’re seeing the incremental advancement of breweries and bars that highlight New York State farm-brewed beer.

Their catalog of beer includes NYS Brewers Association award-winning brews “Slice O’ Havens” Imperial Orange Vanilla Cream Ale (Silver Medal 2018) and “Chai Tea” Milk Stout (Silver Medal 2019).

I stopped in last night, to get a taste for the place. The central bar in the main room is quite nice, as is the craft beer selection. It’s a homey atmosphere, that should become a big hit for people who are attending events in downtown Buffalo, especially those that don’t want to get caught up in the larger, frenzied bars that are typical go-tos for those attending sporting events and theater performances. Rusty Nickel brands their beers as farm brewed – the atmosphere reflects that same sort of image.

The back room is also a great spot for overfill from the front room on busy nights, while seconding as a spacious spot for private events. Both rooms feature full bars, which is nice – you don’t see that very often.

The Tasting Room and Kitchen will also host a special Bloody Mary Bar in honor of its award-winning recipes Saturday and Sunday.

Surprisingly, there is also an extensive menu that caters to the appetites of craft beer lovers. The menu includes such indulgent delights as chicken and waffles, beef on weck sliders, chicken wings (with beer pairings), Philly style mac & cheese, and a chocolate milk money waffle (made with Rusty Nickel’s chocolate milk money milk stout).

While this is not an actual brewery location (beers are not brewed here), there are all of the same locally brewed benefits, just without the giant vats and stills on location. Apparently that left plenty of room to do a lot of other things, such a concentrating on a wider breadth of culinary concoctions and even drinks such as locally-made and sourced wine, cider, spirits, and mead. Rusty Nickel’s local partners including Lockhouse Distillery and Lilly Belle Meads.

Previous to Rusty Nickel Brewing Co. opening in this location, we have seen some valiant business attempts that mostly revolved around the café experience. Unfortunately, nothing ever stuck. But this idea appears to have a lot of the key components that the other places didn’t have – specifically the NYS Farm Brewery angle, which, in Buffalo, is like drawing bees to honey.

It’s great to see this building living up to its true potential. Wouldn’t it have been great if the rest of the historic buildings around it had they not been demolished? It brings a tear to the eye, viewing Burchfield’s ode to the Buehl Block Building, fittingly titled Rainy Night. Thankfully we never lost this key corner edifice that stands as a testament to the neighborhood’s illustrious past.

Rusty Nickel Brewing Co.

The Buehl Block Building | 36 Broadway | Buffalo, NY 14203 | 716-608-6155

To celebrate its opening, Rusty Nickel @ 36 Broadway will be hosting a Grand Opening Party on Dec. 20 and 21. The party will feature the brewery’s own beer as well as a full menu. A special Brunch will be hosted on Sunday, Dec. 22. Live music, food and drink specials, local craft beverage samplings, brunch, and more are planned for the weekend of December 20th – 22nd.

Live music will be performed by local musicians Friday and Saturday. MYQ F (Michael Farrow) and Lightwalker (Jeci Skywalker of Elements of the Mind Taro) will take the stage Friday from 7-10 PM. Song-writing duo, Oliver Lynn (Kurt Ebsary and Madison Ackerman), will play Saturday, 7:30 – 10:30 PM.

Major, televised sporting events will be shown during the events.

A full drink and food menu, which is continuing to expand, can be found at www.RustyNickelBrewing.com. Also visit Facebook for additional details.