History
Beer by Coleman’s mission is to create the ultimate craft beer experience for everyone, whether it’s an individual, group or business. The Founder, and CEO, Erik Coleman has a love of craft beer that has been passed down from his father and has been a part of him since his childhood. He is fortunate enough to be involved in the craft beer world for over 25 years.
His craft beer journey started by helping his father, with a group of his father’s close friends, launch the Ellicottville Brewing Club in 1990. They turned part of the Coleman household garage into a 3 tier, 2 barrel brewing system. After perfecting a few recipes they decided to enter competitions, which led to the creation of 2 Hands Brewing Company. Growing up and being surrounded with this started Erik’s obsession with good, quality craft beer!
As Erik grew old enough, he started off in the industry bartending to help pay his way through college. Over the years he gained a lot of experience with different microbreweries and their wide range of beers. Working at various breweries exposed him to the brew process and was a gateway to learn more about the behind the scenes aspects of craft brewing.
This experience gave him the knowledge and expertise to assist in opening of three of the largest breweries in Western New York, Ellicottville Brewing Company (Ellicottville, NY), Southern Tier Brewing Company (Lakewood, NY), and Big Ditch Brewing Company (Buffalo, NY). His level of involvement varied between the three, but they all consisted of assisting the brewers with the brew process, bartending, organizing events, policy creation and training, and sales & marketing.
A few years ago he decided to make his passion for craft brewing a full-time initiative and Beer By Coleman was born. This is when the magic started to happen! Beer By Coleman is a craft beer & beverage concierge & consulting business. They do everything from providing tasting experiences for small individual groups and large corporations, to consulting with individuals and business to assist in the creation and/or execution of their brewing, craft beer, beverage business.
A big accomplishment in Erik’s beerventure is partnering with Trocaire College to oversee their Brewing, Distillation and Fermentation Program. Erik strives to create a unique three-pronged approach to the curriculum at Trocaire:
Brewers - not only training them in the science of brewing, but the business side too. He also trains them to be Level 1 Certified Cicerone.
Community Outreach - offer a number of free or minimally priced experiences to the community to educate and help them understand all things craft brewing.
Hobbyist - creating opportunities for aficionado groups to elevate their knowledge base and enable them to work with professional grade equipment in Trocaire’s brewing lab.
Since opening full-time, Trocaire, with Erik’s leadership, has been able to assist the newly opened Resurgence Brewing Company in Buffalo open their doors. This includes a 20,000 plus sq. foot brewery and taproom. Not only is Erik assisting breweries through Trocaire and Beer by Coleman, he is currently serving as the Chair of the Events Committee for the Buffalo Niagara Brewers Association.
“I am excited about this adventure I’m on to help educate and train everyone, anywhere, on this delicious industry and help it grow and flourish over the years to come! Cheers!”
- Erik C. Coleman