It won’t be long before the corner of Hertel and Colvin is home to a brewery. You might have noticed a lot of work being done to the corner building over the last few months. The work is being done in preparation for a five barrel brewery, which will be owned and operated by Jesse Mclaughlin and his business partner Michael Gloekler. I spoke to Jesse about their plans to open the brewery and tasting room, which is set to open inside a building owned by Jesse’s family.

“My girlfriend and I moved out to San Diego when I was 22,” he told me. That was seven years ago. San Diego is the mecca for breweries, with over 150 at this time. While I was out there, I got heavily involved with the craft brewing scene. I also entered some programs in craft brewing and how to open and run a brewery.”

According to Jesse, there are a couple of reasons that he moved back to Buffalo to start this new brewing operation. “My girlfriend and I got married – we moved back home four months ago,” Jesse explained. “We’ve got a little boy due in a week and we wanted to be close to family and friends.”

One would also have to think that opening another brewery in San Diego would have been slightly insane, considering the steep competition.

As for the brewery, Jesse says that it will be a five barrel system, which is “not small and not big” – Thin Man and Resurgence are fifteen barrel breweries. It’s going to be an accessible urban style brewery with a tasting room. Although Jesse and Michael are “Williamsville boys” (they went to South), Jesse felt that North Buffalo was the ideal place to open such a venture. Plus his family owned this high profile corner building, which is perfectly situated for such a business.

At this point, the partners have yet to disclose a name for the brewery, citing that trade marking in this business is very difficult. “We’re crossing our Ts and dotting our Is at the moment,” said Jesse. “Right now we’re concentrating on gutting the building, inside and out.”