Buffalo Distilling Company sits in a converted warehouse space on Seneca Street in Buffalo’s industrial corridor, bringing craft spirits production back to a city with deep distilling roots. Founded by Mike Beehler and Dave Peters in 2017, the distillery emerged from their shared passion for craft beer and spirits after years of homebrewing together. Both men left corporate careers—Beehler from finance and Peters from engineering—to pursue their vision of creating quality spirits that reflect Buffalo’s blue-collar spirit and industrial heritage. The operation centers around a custom 500-gallon copper pot still system that allows them to produce bourbon, rye whiskey, and rum in small batches. Beehler serves as head distiller while Peters manages operations, and they’ve built their approach around traditional techniques with modern precision. The distillery sources grains locally when possible and ages their whiskeys in full-size barrels despite their smaller production scale, believing this approach creates better flavor development than the quarter-barrels many craft distilleries use. Visitors find a working distillery first and tasting room second, with exposed brick walls, concrete floors, and the constant hum of fermentation tanks creating an authentic industrial atmosphere. You can watch the entire production process during tours, from mashing and fermentation through distillation and barrel filling. The space feels unpretentious and genuine—exactly what you’d expect from two guys who left desk jobs to make whiskey in Buffalo.