By Steve Orbanek Posted May 27, 2018 at 2:00 AM
Nostrovia, with its homemade brewing system, will be located on East Lake Road.
Jeff Lukasik has an idea of how he will feel the night that his brewery, Nostrovia Brewing Co., officially opens its doors.
“I can only imagine that it’s going to be like our wedding night,” said Lukasik, who brings 15-plus years of home brewing experience to Nostrovia. “You’re so excited, but you’re also exhausted by the end of it.”
To say Nostrovia Brewing Co., which will open sometime this summer at 4415 East Lake Road, has been a labor of love might be an understatement. It was eight years ago that the Buffalo native first toyed with the idea of opening a brewery.
Now, for the past four years, he has worked on making the dream a reality. It has not been the simple case of applying for a business loan, finding a location, securing equipment and then opening. Instead, Lukasik and his wife, Amy, have taken significant steps to minimize risk.
The most notable step is that Jeff Lukasik, who works full-time as a mechanical engineer at Cummins Inc. in Jamestown, N.Y., has completely built Nostrovia’s entire 10-barrel brewing system on his own. He even sold a customized Dodge Charger RT to pay for the raw stainless steel and materials that he used to create the 11 tanks that make up his 10-barrel system.
“That’s where my engineering background was so helpful,” Lukasik said. “I knew I wanted a 10-barrel system, but if someone were to a start a 10-barrel brewery and purchase the tanks, it would cost about $100,000. I probably put about 800 hours into designing these tanks, but we were able to do this without taking out any loans, and we probably saved about $70,000.”
That’s just been one of the major steps toward getting the brewery ready to open. The 2,520-square foot building where Nostrovia will be located originally opened in 1980 as Lawson’s Deli and Dairy and was later reconstructed as a carpet and flooring store.
To prepare it to be a brewery, some concrete had to be removed and re-poured, the electrical system had to be reconfigured, an HVAC system had to be installed and bathrooms, a kitchen, a serving area and kitchen had to be constructed.
It’s been a lot of work, but Lukasik is confident in the location. The vast majority of the Lake Erie Ale Trail’s breweries are either located downtown or on the city’s west side. Aside from Erie Brewing Co., Nostrovia will be the only brewery on the east side
“I think it will be really nice to have something like this on the east side,” said Lukasik, who moved to Erie after meeting Amy, who works as an actuary at Erie Insurance. “I myself know how it takes a lot of motivation to drive back into the city after a night of work, so hopefully this will give folks an option if they do not want to drive back downtown.”
As for the brewery’s name, Nostrovia is purposely an American phonetic spelling for the Russian word Na Zdorovie, which means cheers. Lukas used it as a way to pay homage to Erie’s large Russian and Polish populations. Once the brewery’s full kitchen opens, he plans to offer several cultural dishes like pierogis, baked pasta and schnitzel.
Jeff and Amy Lukasik, who also have a 2-year-old daughter Brooke, know the next few months will be full of surprises as they prepare to become first-time business owners, but it’s a challenge they relish.
“I know every day is going to be its own reward and its own challenge at the same time,” Lukasik said. “But it will kind of be like a choose-your-own-adventure book. You make it become what it ends up being.”
STOP AND SAY HI
While Nostrovia Brewing Co. is not expected to officially open its doors until July or August, Jeff Lukasik welcomes interested persons to visit the brewery on Saturday afternoons at 4415 East Lake Rd.
Lukasik will likely be working on final renovations, but he’s happy to welcome anyone who is interested in seeing the space. Nostrovia Brewing Co. also already has plenty of swag available for purchase, including hats, t-shirts, growlers, glasses and bottle openers. LEL