Building the Erie Canal facilitated a boom in beer production in Central New York. The canal allowed farmers to easily transport goods like wheat. That led to hop fields and factories popping up along the canal route from Albany to Buffalo. Populations grew in these cities after the canal fully opened in 1825, and Buffalo had more than 33 breweries 50 years later.
WAER is collaborating with Newhouse School journalists on a series about the Erie Canal and the 200th anniversary of its beginnings, highlighted in a podcast series.
Matt Kahn and Corey Catalano opened Buffalo’s Big Ditch Brewing Company in October 2014. Big Ditch is a reference to the Erie Canal’s nickname, “Clinton’s ditch,” after former New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, who orchestrated the canal's construction. The words “Strength, Pride and Ambition” are painted in the Big Ditch’s taproom, and Kahn said the work ethic of those who built the Erie Canal inspires the brewery staff.
“We're trying to make this place something that Buffalo can be proud of. That does take hard work,” Khan said. “That's how we try to pay homage to the work that was done to build the Erie Canal.”
Bitch Ditch plans to open a new location in Lockport, New York, a city named for the locks built along the route of the canal. Locks 67 through 71, called the Flight of Five, make up the largest still standing section of the historic canal.
“We actually named our flight of beers here the Flight of Five, so you can get a flight of five different beers,” Kahn said. “There's really no breweries in the city of Lockport yet, and hopefully we can make that connection and give the folks a lot, personally, to be proud of.”
Listen to the full episode of Canal Keepers here or wherever you get podcasts.