Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It’s a cold winter night. You and your friends are chatting about enjoying each other’s company, but it’s too cold to stay out, so you seek refuge from the cold in one of your favorite bars. You and your friends take a seat at said bar. The stools have that same creak as you take your seats. The creak makes you feel as though the stool is saying, “welcome back”. You signal the bartender politely and you ask for the usual. The bartender gives a confirming nod and comes back in a handful of seconds as you and your friends continue conversing joyously between inside jokes and fistfuls of peanuts.

When the bartender gets back, you don’t even know it until you hear the light thud of the cold glass container hit the smooth hardwood of the bar’s surface. Everyone stops talking for a moment and gives their undivided attention to the bartender as if he or she has just traveled the most dangerous terrain and brought back gold. But what he or she has brought back is indeed not gold. Some might say it’s even better!

You and your friends grab the cool, sleek bottles in your hands and hit them against each other so that the “klink” noise can be heard for a few moments as it reverberates through everyone’s ears. That “klink” noise is the sound of friends bonding. You all take a quick swig and savor the taste, then you all give a gracious nod to the bartender because he or she didn’t just give you any brew, no he or she gave you and your friends an Excavatorrye Brown Ale courtesy of Big Ditch Brewing Company, and what’s better than drinking a quality hometown brew with a few good friends?

What’s the point of a brewery? You can get any alcoholic beverage you want, imported from anywhere. So what is the point? Well, I’ll tell you, it comes down to pride, pride in one’s craft. The men and women working at your local brewery get up every morning because they love what they do. They love having a quality alcoholic beverage of their own making, out there in the wilds of consumer choice, sitting there at your favorite local haunts behind the bar next to old standbys like “Jim Bean,” Heineken, and Budweiser. Because any good brewer is proud of their work and is never scared of the competition because they know their work is quality and the people sitting at the bar know it as well.

There are many breweries in the Buffalo Niagara region, each adding something unique and exciting to the scene’s richness. Whether it’s The Landing Strip IPA from 12 Gates Brewing Company or The Get Up With It, a stout- imperial/double courtesy of Thin Man Brewery, each place has its unique creations that, when looked at separately, are delicious locally made alcoholic beverages. Still, if you look at all these creations together, you’ll see that the Buffalo/Niagara area is something special when it comes to having something excellent in your glass.

One of my favorite breweries is the Big Ditch Brewery (guess I sort of showed my hand at the beginning of the piece). I enjoy the look of the place, a mix between a swanky bar and a friendly restaurant. I loved getting a DITCH DIGGER GRILLED CHEESE and a LOW BRIDGE GOLDEN ALE with a couple of friends. In my eyes, it was the perfect combination of a lively (but not overly so) atmosphere, good drinks, excellent food, and good friends.

That’s another great thing about breweries, they’re great communal spots. Whether they just serve pretzels or peanuts to go with your pint or a beautifully large monstrosity of a burger to go with your pint (I prefer the ladder). The local brewery is the direct source for you and your friends to get your local liquor fix. In the case of Big Ditch Brewing Company, I loved having the ability to have all these grand, local ale’s, among other things, at my fingertips. Every time I’d walk in, I’ll admit I was prone to getting a bit excited as I got to the bar. I’d go so far as to say the creak of the bar stool as I sat down probably said, “slow your roll buddy!” But I really enjoyed the whole experience, the bartender and I giving each other signals across the bar each only uttering a few but crucial words to make sure my order is correct, and I’d sit on that stool my foot lightly but rhythmically thumping as if I was hitting the drum pad for an impromptu slow jazz session. I’d chat with my friends sitting next to me while keeping an eye out for the bartender, then after a few moments, a new signature ale would be in front of me, and you better believe I savored it as I drank it.

Then when you and your chums inevitably go outside and say your goodbyes while haphazardly making plans for the future, you think to yourself, “I wonder what I should try next?” And in my eyes, that’s the sign of a damn fine brewery!