For visitors, the Flying Bison Brewery may seem haphazard with scattered mousetraps in its entranceway and heaps of hop and barley sacks stacked sky high. Once inside the brewery proper, however, they are greeted by friendly and enthusiastic employees with beers in hand. In a maze of brewing kettles and fermenting vessels, the history of Buffalo’s emergent local brewery unfolds before their eyes.

With the majority of college students strapped for cash, cheap beer is the general route students take to indulge in a little weekend recklessness. But are the few cents you save on the bargain beer at your neighborhood Wilson Farms really worth it? According to Tim Herzog, creator and co-owner of Buffalo’s local Flying Bison Brewery Company, it all depends on the content of the mug. Happiness may not be a Flying Bison away, but it couldn’t hurt to pry your broke college student hands from the can of Pabst and spend a dollar or two more to support your home-away-from-home-town brew.

The Flying Bison Brewery picked up a distributor this past year, and since then, their sales have increased by 25 percent and appear to be on the rise. The company’s beer is spreading like wildfire throughout Buffalo’s pubs.

If you’re hesitant to spend those extra dollars on the beer before at least trying it, Flying Bison offers free tours at their local brewery on 491 Ontario Street. On the tour, there seems to be no part of the factory that is off limits. Tourists are taken right up to the vessels where the brewing and fermenting takes place and explained the process, all the while with a beer in hand.

Originally not a fan of beer, Herzog would bring Root Beer to drink at the bonfires he and his friends would throw. “I just didn’t like the taste of the beer they were drinking,” he says. Being part German and part Irish, he was waiting for something to click. “Guinness was the first beer that I ever had that I liked… a light bulb had gone off and I eventually started home brewing.”

The Flying Bison Brewery was established six years ago and is run by Herzog and his partner, Phil Internicola. The name of the brewery, as well as its beers, is a nod to the Buffalo area’s aviation production history. This hometown touch is not lost on those who enjoy Flying Bison.

Flying Bison is currently being distributed throughout New York, Massachusetts, and the eastern parts of Pennsylvania with attempts to bring the beer to New York City and Albany in the works. It is also available in bottled six packs in local stores like Wegmans, Tops, Consumer’s Beverage, Dash’s Market, and even at the brewing factory itself.

“We have dedicated fans,” says Herzog, who relies on word-of-mouth advertising for his Queen City brew rather than advertisements in print or on TV.

“I had my first Flying Bison beer at Colter Bay on Allen Street,” says Jason Rogers, a senior accounting major at the University at Buffalo. “It’s just hard to go back to cheap, tasteless beer when you try something as good as Flying Bison. I was hooked after my first beer.”

Jeremy Kornbluth, a UB senior cognitive science major and bartender at Allen Street Hardware, says Flying Bison “is usually one of the biggest sellers on tap.” The bar started serving it two years ago. “For about a year straight, we offered Bison’s Oatmeal Stout. It was a phenomenal seller.” Since then, they’ve switched it up and now stick to selling their seasonal offerings, and while Hardware may only have three taps, Kornbluth says, “Flying Bison has always been one of them.”

The Allen Street bartender has kind words for the founder of Flying Bison. Kornbluth first met Herzog in 1999 while working as an assistant brewer with Paul Kohler, owner of Pearl St. Bar and Grill. “Tim is such a good guy—he helped Paul get his feet wet when he first started brewing.”

Herzog and Co. have tried to make their brewery a community establishment, and they currently sponsor the Buffalo State Rugby team. “We help them with fundraising,” Herzog said. “They do different parties at bars and restaurants and we’ll provide them with a keg so that they can use the proceeds to raise money.”

The team was even invited into the factory to experiment with the brewing process and create a personalized batch of beer.

The brewing factory sells apparel, memorabilia, and beer by the keg, growler, and bottle. It’s only in the factory that exclusive beers not available in pubs or convenience stores are sold, including their newest batch, the Herc. The Flying Bison employees have dedicated this beer to the men and women who are serving our country in the 914 Airlift Wing currently stationed at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.

In the end though, Herzog’s philosophy about the inebriating beverage echoes that of many college students. “You should have fun when drinking our beer; after all, that’s what it’s all about,” says Herzog. “Beer is about escape and getting away from the stress of life.”