E-Malt.com News article: USA, NY: Four Mile Brewing close to opening in Olean

Piece by piece, the return of commercial brewing in Olean is coming together. And soon enough, Four Mile Brewing will craft locally produced beer, Olean Times Herald reported on March 8.

Four Mile Brewing, a joint venture among Gregg Piechota, Jaye Beattie and Nicholas Bohdanowycz, is on track to open this spring.

“This project has been more than I imagined and a lot of work; there’s been a lot of late nights and early mornings,” said Piechota, who will serve as Four Mile’s head brewer. “I’m anxious to start brewing.”

Since purchasing the building in January 2014, the Four Mile trio have spent around $1 million to overhaul the property and outfit it with the all the equipment needed to brew and serve craft suds. Part of Four Mile’s expenses are being offset by a $90,000 state grant and various local tax breaks.

For most of last year, Piechota and his partners worked alongside a crew to renovate the building, smashing century-old plaster off its walls and tearing down drop ceiling. They also cleared out remnants left by its last occupants, which include a lumber company and a kitchen and bath store.

At the end of November, three 30-barrel beer tanks were delivered to the brewery. A month later, the heart of the operation — it’s brew house, a system of tanks and fermenters — was installed atop a freshly cured, 9-inch-thick concrete pad.

Now, crews are putting the finishing touches on the facility, installing plumbing and electrical lines throughout the building and readying its tap room and kitchen for customers. Piechota is also working to obtain Four Mile’s brewing license from the state.

“All the (renovation work) should be done by next week,” Piechota said. “We’re hoping to have our brewing license as soon as possible.”

Without any major delays, Piechota said, Four Mile will be brewing toward the end of April.

During its first year of operations, the brewery will likely produce 1,500 barrels of beer and always offer three styles of beer: a pale ale, an India pale ale (IPA), and a black IPA. Each variety is an original recipe Piechota developed. By its fifth year, Piechota hopes to offer additional one-offs, specialty beers made in limited quantities, and churn out between 5,000 and 6,000 barrels of beer annually.

“I’m a little nervous, but this is very exciting,” he said.

When Four Mile is operational, the brewery is expected to bring upwards of 20 new jobs to the city, with five people overseeing beer production and others working in its tap room and kitchen.
The brewery’s upcoming opening marks the return of commercial beer brewing in Olean.

Four Mile’s Green Street location was once home to Olean Brewing Co., which operated for 13 years more than a century ago. When it opened in 1907, Olean Brewing was considered one of the most advanced brewing operations in the country, as the facility was equipped with machinery powered by electricity and an ice machine capable of making 80 tons of ice daily.

The brewery closed after 13 years of business, sharing the fate of many breweries across the country when the 18th Amendment, better known as Prohibition, made alcohol and alcohol production virtually illegal in the United States.

Four Mile is also located a few blocks away from the former home of the Dotterweich Brewing Co., which eventually became Empire Brewing Co. It closed in the late 1930s.


11 March, 2015