Take a Tour of EBC Little Valley
Take a Tour of EBC Little Valley
New Location Celebrates Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening
They officially cut the ribbon on the newest addition to the Ellicottville Brewing Company’s craft beer empire on Friday, Feb. 17, as the company’s founder, Peter Kreinheder hosted a Who’s Who of local elected officials, as well as the general public, for the Grand Opening of EBC’s Little Valley Brew Pub, Pizzeria and Event Center.
In a craft beer landscape crowded with an uncountable number of small craft breweries, the Ellicottville Brewing Company continues to stand out among all the others as a leader and innovator in the industry, and with the expansion of its production, packaging and distribution capabilities, EBC is poised to stay at the top well into the foreseeable future.
In 2015, Kreinheder finalized the purchase of the building in Little Valley that has in the past been home to a dairy processing facility, a window factory and a beverage distribution center. He then immediately began the long, involved process of reclaiming the sprawling, long-vacant industrial site in favor of a new, cutting-edge production and distribution hub for some of the best craft beer to be found anywhere.“Re-using this building was great for the village (of Little Valley) and great for us,” Kreinheder mentioned at the start of the Grand Opening ceremony. He went on to explain, “Because we didn’t have to go spend millions and millions of dollars on brick and mortar to build a building, we could actually just renovate this facility and then put our investment capital into equipment - making us the ‘state-of-the-art’ brewery in New York.”
In the years since his acquisition of the property, that capital investment has proven to have been quite a substantial commitment, as Kreinheder estimates expenditures on the entire project to currently be in the $9 million range. Brewing operations began at the Little Valley location on July 4, 2018 and the brew pub made its debut nearly five years later, with a “soft opening” the day after Christmas, 2022.
Reminding guests of the short drive just over the hill between Ellicottville and the Cattaraugus County Seat of Little Valley, Kreinheder explained that the focus for the Little Valley brew pub location would not necessarily be in drawing people from Ellicottville.
“We want to raise the whole tide of Little Valley up by attracting the people who live around here - those people who maybe don’t want to go to Ellicottville - and we’re excited that right here, we can now deliver a service and an experience just like you’ll find in our Ellicottville locations.”
Kreinheder’s opening remarks were followed by those of State Senator George Borello, who was on-hand to help with the official ribbon cutting, and also to recognize the challenges that Kreinheder and EBC had faced, both in transforming a derelict property into a showplace, as well as opening a restaurant and obtaining a liquor license in an overly-regulated New York State. Acknowledging his own background in the hospitality business, Borello praised the effort it took to complete the project.
“This is an amazing accomplishment,” Borello said. “And as someone who knows full-well what blood, sweat and tears it takes to do this, thank you! And thank you so much for your investment in this area.”
Following the opening statements, the assembled crowd bundled up against the first shot of cold winter weather the area had experienced in days for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony in the outdoor courtyard in front of the events center. Elected officials from state and local offices joined EBC’s top brass and other dignitaries on the ribbon line with a giant pair of scissors for the official unveiling of the final transformation of the property. And with the ribbon cut and everyone back inside the pub, it was time for guests to sample some of the pizzas that will no doubt become legendary in the annals of Little Valley cuisine.
“Pizza is the most awesome, universal food thing you can do,” Kreinheder admitted. “So when we decided to go in the direction of Neapolitan-style pizza, we went on a ‘pizza knowledge tour’ for two years; we went to pizza classes, we went to the big show out in Las Vegas. We had Brad from West Rose (restaurant in Ellicottville) come and help us develop all of our dough.”
EBC Little Valley boasts seven different specialty pizzas - each baked to perfection in the new electric pizza oven. There is also the option to build your own Neapolitan masterpiece from a thoughtful listing of pizza toppings. As if all this were not enough, EBC’s head chef, Josh McDowell, offers two different dessert pizzas, as well as a tempting selection of burgers and salads that round out the menu.
“We’ve been anticipating this opening since they first announced the expansion and I just happened to be lucky enough to be home for it,” explained former Ellicottville native Kate Kohler, who now resides in Golden, CO. Attending the event with her mother, Patty Wolf of Ellicottville, Kohler went on to say, “I can see summers and fall being slammed here - It should really help the local economy.”
The dining area of the brew pub features walls covered in a timeless clear maple while darkly-stained structural timbers add an air of massiveness and permanence to the former industrial space. Looking around, you can’t help but notice that the entire back wall of the building is comprised either of windows or evenly-spaced, 14-foot tall garage doors, which will open onto the massive outdoor event space at the back of the property and give guests and others the easiest possible access to everything inside - and out. Kreinheder credited the garage door concept at EBC’s Bemus Point location for “giving patrons the open-air, ‘California Feel’ that really makes the whole place.”
“Open the space up!” exclaimed EBC’s CEO, Beth Harvey. “We don’t mind the fresh air - besides, Western New Yorkers like to summer hard and it keeps things clean and simple for us as an event center.”
Certainly, one of the highlights of the decor at the EBC Little Valley Brew Pub has to be the brainchild of EBC’s own resident artist and graphic designer, Sara Staley. The original artwork Staley created on her iPad became the warm and whimsical mural which spans the entire length of the room, from the baseboards to the ceiling, and depicts the flowing, creative thought process of a brewer - all the way from an original concept to a pint glass of beer.
“I have a ten-year-plan for this place,” Kreinheder admitted. “We’re going to get to the point where we have a whole live entertainment program going on outside.”
And with all the enthusiasm of someone looking forward to using the features himself, Kreinheder went on to explain, “I have a ferris wheel to put out back and I envision us having what’s called a “pump track,” which is a paved area where you can use bikes, skateboards, inline skates - whatever you want - and it’s all designed to use g-forces to power you along!”
Having spent the past three decades building his craft beer empire to this stage, EBC’s founder expressed his simple desire for the Little Valley brew pub, saying, “I want this to be a fun, family-friendly destination, where people can come hang out with their kids and have a pizza and a beer.”
In addition to previously mentioned plans for the Little Valley location, Kreinheder is proud to point out a future project to build a teaching kitchen for French cuisine, where local high school and college students could learn the basics of the profession without taking on the challenges of traveling the longer distances sometimes required of them.
Ellicottville Brewing Company’s Dan Minner has been the Head Brewer for the company since 2003 and as you can imagine, he leads an incredibly informative walking tour of the facility. When passing through the doors from the restaurant to the brewery and then into the heart of EBC’s 75,000 sq. ft. production and distribution facility, it is like entering into another world. In the brewery, rows of massive stainless steel brewing tanks stand from floor-to-ceiling, with each one of the sparkling and impossibly clean vats ready to produce and hold as many as 360 kegs of beer!
Because they package beer in bottles and cans, Minner’s operation must have two separate packaging lines - each capable of delivering stunningly prolific levels of output with mind-numbing speed and accuracy.
“These systems are capable of producing 140 12-oz. units every minute!” Minner proudly exclaimed during the walking tour. “When we were packaging in Ellicottville, it would take us literally 12 hours to do 11 palettes of beer and now we get here and get going in the morning and we bust out 11 palettes of beer before ten o’clock!”
Along with a multitude of other fascinating tidbits of information, EBC’s Brewmeister talked about the coded labeling system they use in the brewery, whereby each bottle and can is marked in such a way that allows for an individual beer to be traced all the way back to the specific bags of grain that were used to produce it. Minner also pointed out that the entire brewing process, with all its complexities and variables could be controlled remotely, by way of iPads, as well as by using the old school method of a desktop computer. And if a problem should arise that even the Head Brewer himself cannot remedy, EBC’s “ace in the hole” lies in a German fellow named Franz, who can diagnose and help resolve issues from across the ocean.
EBC Little Valley’s Brew Pub/Pizzeria is located at 202 Second St. and is open Thursday through Sunday, noon-9:00pm.