By Scott Scanlon
(Image above: Hilary Dollinger, owner of the new Local Hollow Brewery in Clarence, with a flight that includes, from left, Cauldron Cream Ale, Casey’s Call IPA and Stor Imperial Red ale, all made by brewer Jack Merlino. She is holding a Blackberry Limeaid sour by Spotted Octopus Brewing Company poured from one of the new Local Hollow guest taps. Dollinger will officially open the brewery this month. Spotted Octopus will open a new taproom in Buffalo’s Hydraulics District. All photos by Scott Scanlon unless otherwise noted).

The owner of Shalooby Loofer Brewing Company in Clarence just sold the nanobrewery to one of his customers.

Wayland Brewing of Orchard Park opened a new taproom in Lancaster.

And Spotted Octopus will soon open a new location in the Buffalo Hydraulics District. 

The developments underline that all transitions in the craft beverage industry need not signal a bursting financial bubble.

Some simply typify the changing nature of businesses in general.

“The craft beer industry has gotten too big to go away completely,” Spotted Octopus brewer Evan Flury said. During the 1990s it got big and fell hard, “but it was it was never what it is now.”

Here’s a closer look at all three new developments.

Changing spots, not the vibe

Spotted Octopus Brewing Company, which closed its original location on Edward Street two months ago in Allentown, is moving its Buffalo taproom to the Hydraulics District.

Domenic Nicotera and Ken Shaw – who became partners in business and life after meeting eight years ago – have already moved the brewery’s colorful artwork, octopi knickknacks and tentacle tap handles to their new space at the southeast corner of the 500 Seneca building.

The couple also brought the well-worn orange fridge that became one of many conversation pieces in their previous taproom. 

They’re waiting for city renovation approvals to open and hope to do so this month. Find updates on the Spotted Octopus Facebook page.

Meanwhile, the couple continues to mourn the loss of their business partner, Barbara Priore, who started the brewery with them in spring 2022 and died from pancreatic cancer in April.

“People just loved to be around Barbara,” said Shaw, who worked with her for two decades at Theatre of Youth. “All of the actors in town perceived her as a second mother, and they would love coming in and having her serve them beer from behind the bar. Things happened so quickly. It still doesn’t feel real.”

Nicotera, who began experimenting with homebrewing more than two decades ago, handed off Spotted Octopus brewing duties in late 2023 to Flury, a Niagara College brewing school graduate who has worked at regional craft breweries that include 42 North, Sato, Flying Bison and Pod City.

Nicotera and Shaw lead day-to-day operations and creative design. 

Priore, a 46-year member of the Kissing Bridge Ski Patrol, helped them manage the previous taproom, which became a community meeting place for cooking and knitting clubs, as well as trivia buffs. Her husband, Bob, has taken over her share of the business.

The owners aim to make the new digs just as welcoming.

Other retailers stretch along Seneca Street on the ground floor alongside the new taproom. Residential tenants live in 150 apartments on the floors above.

Spotted Octopus will have more elbow room in a space previously occupied from 2018 to 2023 by Dobutsu and Compass Run, a pair of seafood specialty restaurants. 

The new digs have enough indoor space for 120 patrons, as well as an outdoor patio. 

Eight-appendaged collectables – gifted by patrons who’ve bought them from around the world – sit in the cubbyholes of a curio case behind the former noodle bar. The space posed a challenge for the new owners because the bar interior holds plumbing and electrical lines that can’t be removed without significant expense.

Three TV sets with Atari games will soon become part of the space beside the cabinet.

Nicotera and Shaw live in the Southtowns and first considered opening a smaller location in Blasdell. They decided it made more sense to become part of a craft beer district with 10 other breweries and brewery taprooms that encircle lower downtown from Pearl Street Grill & Brewery to Gene McCarthy’s Old First Ward Brewing Company.

“For the money, this was the better location in almost in the center of all the other breweries,” Nicotera said. “With the new restaurants in Larkinville, Beltline Brewing around the corner and Buffalo Brewing on the other side, we think it’s a good spot.” 

“So many of these buildings have now become loft-style apartments,” Shaw added, “so there’s a whole community that now lives in the Hydraulics District and Larkinville District, which is kind of nice.”

Spotted Octopus came to the rescue in downtown Rochester in March 2025, when the company began leasing space on South Union Street shuttered 16 months earlier after the former 12-year-old Roc Brewing Company closed.

Flury brews beer at that site for both locations on a system seven times larger than the one-barrel system Spotted Octopus started with at the former Allentown haunts.

As is the case in the Rochester brewery and taproom, the new Buffalo location will sport 12 taps. Spotted Octopus beers will flow from at least eight, as will other beers and collaborations, a hard cider and brewery-made hard seltzer.

Brewery beers include flagships Paxson Pale, named after Nicotera and Shaw’s pitbull, Just a Beer rice lager, Call of the Kraken New England Hazy IPA, Art Deco Belgian IPA, A Little Short of Madness Strong Ale and a Fruit Basket sour made with whatever fruit purees happen to strike Flury’s fancy.

The brewery also will offer its Madness is Mine Octoberfest beer when it opens.

Wine, spirits and nonalcoholic beverages also are available at all three new beer-forward sites.

The Spotted Octopus owners convinced Flow Foods, which handles their dining business in Rochester, to do the same in their new Buffalo nook. Owner Brendan Zugibe is from the Zugibe Vineyards winery family in the Finger Lakes.

The menu in both cities features burgers, wings, mac and cheese and beef on weck. Rochester Trash Plates – a mix of meats, mustard and onions, which in Flow Food’s case also includes French fries and cheese curds under a poutine sauce – also will be available in both taprooms. 

“It’s not just pub food,” Shaw said. “Brendan is of Lebanese descent, so he has a lot of great vegetarian and vegan options that are Mediterranean inspired.” 

Branching north

Wayland Brewing Company bar manager Josh Ast has a much shorter commute during part of his workweek now that his company opened a taproom in Lancaster.

“I live about two blocks away,” Ast said of the taproom, which opened in July at 11 W. Main St. in the village.

It’s the first foray off premises for Wayland, which in May 2023 opened a 20-barrel brewhouse, Nordic-style taproom and sprawling outdoor beer garden along North Buffalo Street in Orchard Park. 

Restaurateurs Brad Rowell and Caryn Dujanovich – owners of The Grange Community Kitchen and Grange Outpost in the Southtowns and West Rose in Ellicottville – own Wayland with Thomas Bestpitch and head brewer P.J. Dunn. 

“Our production has gone up probably threefold since we opened in Orchard Park,” Ast said. “We started distribution last year as well, so you get to see our beers in a lot of the bars in the Southtowns, plus Tops, Wegmans and Consumer’s from here out to pretty much the Finger Lakes at this point.”

Taproom openings by regional craft breweries hit their stride after the pandemic ended. 42 North Brewing opened one in the Buffalo Theater District and another at The Bank Shot golf simulator a block from its East Aurora brewery. Big Ditch opened one in Lockport, Steelbound in Williamsville and Resurgence at Canalside.

“Lancaster was kind of on the top of our list,” Ast said. “It was perfect timing that as we were getting ready for another spot, we heard that Lilly Belle Meads was going to move in with Rusty Nickel Brewing (in West Seneca), and their space was going to be opening up.

“The Lancaster community is fantastic,” he added. “They have a really strong merchants association. There’s tons of events going on and so much foot traffic.”

Fifteen of the 16 taps in both Wayland taprooms serve company brewed and occasionally collaborative beers. One is earmarked for a rotating mix of hard ciders.

Top Wayland beer sellers in both locations include Especial Mexican lager, Waylander German Pilsner, Super Deluxe Hazy IPA and Case Study West Coast IPA.

“We also have a really strong Czech program we started getting into about two years ago,” Ast said. 

The Wayland Orchard Park dining operation focuses on farm-to-table offerings Rowell has offered in his other restaurants.

He turned to his brother, Corey, owner of Buffalo Bros Burgers, to do the honors in Lancaster. He also runs a food truck and brick-and-mortar location in Hamburg.

“They’re making the burgers from scratch every day,” Ast said. “All of the add-ons for the burgers are being made fresh every day. They’re making their own pimento cheese. They’re candying their own jalapenos. All their dips and sauces are made fresh in house. I genuinely did not know that burgers and chicken sandwiches could be that good before I started eating their food.”

Fresh look in the Hollow

Shalooby Loofer owner Eon Verrall decided to sell the Clarence Hollow brewery after throwing a third brewery anniversary party last month He wanted to focus on family and professional obligations. 

He turned over the reins to Hilary Dollinger, a former assistant at Chrusciki Bakery and Sto Lat Bar & Restaurant who handled marketing for Verrall before she bought the business and a house next door.

Dollinger changed the name to Local Hollow Brewing and started with a soft opening on Aug. 19. A grand opening takes place the weekend of Sept. 17.

The taproom and one-barrell electric brewhouse system sit inside a converted three-car garage on Main Street, near Salt Road. An outdoor patio sits out back.

Shalooby Loofer brewer Jack Merlino will continue in the same role at the new brewery.

The flagship beers and many seasonals will remain the same but gradually change in name, Dollinger said. Board games, including Clarence-opoly, will also look familiar to regular customers.

The Hollow Hashers running club continues from the brewery and will host the second annual Run Through the Hollow 5K on Oct. 10.

Patrons also have started to notice a shift from the brewery’s once mystical look to something more traditional.

Charcoal-colored vinyl line some of the interior walls. Dollinger has commissioned new tap handles. She plans to replace the tinted plexiglass that shades the brewhouse on the west side of the taproom with a clear glass window.

“I’m very much a marketer,” she said, “so I’m going to bring in different tasting events and watch parties. We’ve been talking about doing trivia nights, bingo nights and other stuff to bring the community down and give people an excuse to get out of the house.”

A mug club and Local Hollow merchandise are also in the works.

Dillinger also hopes to work with the Clarence Historical Society to put up an Ode to the Hollow Wall.

“The Hollow is very near and dear to my heart,” she said. “I love this area. There’s so much history to it. I’ve lived here almost my whole life.”

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Scott Scanlon writes the monthly WNY craft column on the regional craft beverage industry. Email story tips to Scott@WNYcraft.com.