Buffalo, NY – The owners of Buffalo Bills and Sabers are selling the huge sports bar they own near the downtown KeyBank Center, where their NHL team plays their games at home.
Pegula Sports & Entertainment has reached an agreement to sell the Sport & Food bar (716) to Southern Tier Brewing Co., one of the largest and best-known craft breweries in upstate New York.
The bar (716) in the Pegulas’ HarborCenter complex, in the waterfront area of Buffalo, was closed shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began about a year ago. It is a 13,000-square-foot, two-tiered sports bar that has been touted as the largest TV screen in the country. It was opened in 2015.
It will become the fifth beer house in the country operated by Southern Tier, based in Lakewood, near Jamestown, in Chautauqua County. It is expected to reopen as the Southern Tier Buffalo draft beer in late summer.
“We have always had a great relationship and market in Buffalo,” said Southern Tier co-founder Phin Demink in an interview today. “We have been looking for a place in Buffalo for several years, trying to find the right place. And we had a good relationship with Pegulas, so it really worked for us. “
In a press release posted on its website, Southern Tier said it plans to keep “much of what made (716) special, with some updates made to allow on-site brewing, an improved craft beer experience and an area of retail for merchandise and “takeaway” sales of beer and spirits.The new tavern will feature a beer-inspired food menu, and will serve a full line of Southern Tier beers, ciders, seltzers and spirits. privileged place for Buffalo sports fans to come and support their teams ”.
Demink said the brewery’s operations at the Buffalo tavern will be small, but he plans to use a small pilot brewery in Lakewood to make more beers “specifically for the Buffalo market”.
The deal to sell the bar (716) was first released on Monday by sports news site The Athletic. This report indicates that Terry and Kim Pegula of PSE will continue to own HarborCenter and become owners of the bar operated by Southern Tier. The report also suggests that Pegulas are “facilitating” other ventures, such as restaurants, to focus on accounts and sabers.
Pegulas’ company PSE also owns The Draft Room bar at Labatt House and The Healthy Scratch juice bar, all in the same Canalside neighborhood, near the KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo. No changes to this property have been announced, according to a report by the Buffalo Business Journal.
Southern Tier was founded by Phin and Sara Demink in 2002. The brewery is known for products like Pumking pumpkin beer; the Blackwater series of imperial dessert stouts and a variety of aggressively hopped IPAs. It has also expanded into strong ciders and has an affiliated distillery that makes hard liquors like bourbon, vodka and gin and a line of canned cocktails.
In addition to the beer garden / restaurant at your Lakewood brewery, there are beer gardens in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Charlotte, NC
Since 2016, Southern Tier has been part of a business partnership called Artisanal Brewing Ventures. It now includes the Southern Tier brewery and distillery, plus Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn, Victory Brewing in Downington, Pennsylvania, and the Bold Rock Hard Cider in Virginia. Together, they form one of the largest craft breweries in the country, although each brewery operates independently.
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Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach it in [email protected], or follow him on NYup.com, on Twitter or the Facebook.