The Southern Tier Brewery has become a common name in the beer world. Probably most well-known for Pumking, their 8.6% Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Southern Tier has a variety of beers worth trying. Heading to Buffalo, NY already, it seemed to be the best opportunity we would have to visit Southern Tier.
If you look at Southern Tier on a map you will quickly see that it is in the middle of nowhere. Coming from New Jersey, we took Route 80 which is the closest Interstate from the south and is still 90 miles away. All in all it took about six hours to get there. You can check out a time lapse of our trip also.
When you first pull up to the brewery you are welcomed by a modern looking building that looks like it would fit better in a city than the middle what appeared to be mostly farm land. Six large outdoor fermenters shoot up from the back or the building with several more on the way. When you first walk in you head into the bar, The Empty Pint. It was a relatively small bar with 14 beers on tap as well as some bottles and even a few guest bottles. Prices were reasonable ranging from $3 for a 12 ounce pour of one of their standard beers to reasonably priced pitchers and growler fills.
Tours were not so affordable. For $12 you got a tour, a 12 ounce glass, and four samples at the end. This is the most expensive tour of any brewery I have been to. Many are free. I have never even been to a brewery that charged more than $10 for a tour. With nothing else around, it seemed odd to me that they would charge that much. It’s not the kind of place you just stumble across and go in. You go because you like Southern Tier Beer.
The Tour
Anyway, we took the tour. After six hours in the car we wanted to see the whole facility. It is clearly a growing business. They have multiple brew systems including a 20, 30, and 120 barrel system, the 120 being the newest and most state of the art. Along with the rows of fermenters was a sizeable bottling line. One system is able to handle 12 and 22 ounce bottles as well as other sizes in the future.
The new brew house is separated from the rest of the building. First you must walk past the cooler that holds fresh hops and the kegs for the tasting room. Then you walk past the grain mill which is fed from the large silos outside. You must then head upstairs to reach the top of the massive 120 barrel system.
The brand new Steinecker system includes four tanks all with their own purpose. This system allows Southern Tier to brew at a scale that small breweries can only dream of. With distribution to 28 states and several countries it was necessary to save the brewers some time from the 24 hour a day brewing cycle they had previously.
At the end of the tour you head into a special tasting room with the same selection of 14 beers. Four samples are included and served in the glass that you are given when you first sign up for the tour. It gives you a great opportunity to try the beer you have just learned all about.
The Beer
This is where my complaints come in. I tried nine different beers while there. None were great. None were bad, but none were great. When I rated them on Untappd they ranged from 2 for a brewery exclusive raspberry wheat that was lacking any character or depth to 3.5 for Live and 422. I was looking for a beer that would blow me away and found nothing. It feels to me that they have made their mark by creating basic beers in each style. The IPA, Stout, 2xIPA, 2xStout, and Porter are all solid versions of their style. They don’t go and try to do anything adventurous. The adventure seems to come in with the seasonals and limited release beers. The brewers must love sweet and spicy flavors because all of their other beers fit these two categories. Crème Brûlée and Choklat are both exceptionally sweet and require a certain palette to appreciate them. Pumking, Warlock, and 2XMAS are all what Lou likes to refer to as spice bombs. Any hop or malt flavor is covered up by the vast amount of spices added in. This is not always a bad thing, but it easily overdone.
Final thoughts
Southern Tier is a fun brewery to visit and tour. However, I would not recommend it as a single destination unless you are close by. It is simply too far away from anything else. It’s a great stop if you can fit it into another road trip. So if you are close, stop by and enjoy a beer and learn something about how to produce beer at scale.