E-Malt.com News article: USA, NY: Commercial brewing returns to Olean

A former brewery turned lumber storage facility, and later a kitchen and bath center, is getting back to its original purpose. It’s a 15-barrel brew house boasting giant, stainless steel fermenters, storage tanks and miles of hoses, Olean Times Herald reported on May 7.

But for Gregg Piechota, Jaye Beattie and Nicholas Bohdanowycz, opening Four Mile Brewing on East Greene Street is the realization of a dream.

“It’s a huge sigh of relief,” Piechota, who is also head brewer, said. “It’s been a long road to finally get here and be open. We got a lot of support from the community and local government. We couldn’t have done this without them.”

“It still feels very surreal,” Beattie said. “We feel very blessed that we can finally share our passion for craft beer with the community and we hope everyone will enjoy our beer as much as we do.”

“We’re all very proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Bohdanowycz said. “This has been a tremendous experience and was a very ambitious process.”

Four Mile Brewing officially opens to the public on May 7.

“It was fantastic,” Beattie added. “To see everyone there enjoying our product was very touching.”

“For me, I was close to tears seeing everyone come together that day,” Bohdanowycz said. “The day before, we finally received our license from the state to serve alcohol. Once we got that, we had the beer ready to go and knew nothing can stop us now.”

Since then, a few hundred craft beer enthusiasts have visited the brewery.

“It’s been very busy,” Piechota said. “Like any new business, we’re working out some of the kinks but everything has been going well.”

For nearly 15 years, more than a century ago, Four Mile Brewing’s location was home to Olean Brewing Co.

The former brewery, which closed like many others during Prohibition, was considered one of the most advanced beer brewing operations of its time.

A 1907 edition of Olean’s Evening Herald noted the brewery only used “the best malt, the highest grade of hops and rice, and the purest of water and yeast” to produce “Olean Beer.”

At its peak, Olean Brewing Co. employed between 30 and 40 “skilled men” who worked under the supervision of brewmaster Conrad Haberstumpf and could produce 30,000 barrels of beer.

Renovations to the new brewery began in early 2014.

During its first year of operations, the brewery will likely produce 1,500 barrels of beer. By the fifth year, Piechota hopes to produce between 5,000 and 6,000 barrels of beer annually.

“We really want to get our name out there to expand our brand,” Piechota said.


08 May, 2015