By Dean Wells
As anyone in business can tell you, rendering under Caesar can be a painful process.
Sometimes excruciating.
A sudden steep increase in tax on tobacco sales in New York State, however, set the stage for the creation of a pair of successful local brewpubs in northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern NY.
Rob Roth owned two cigar stores at the time—Nice Ash in Buffalo and Rochester—when sales tax on tobacco products went from 37 to 75 percent. Instead of taking a stiff uppercut to the jaw, Roth rolled with the punch and quickly came up with a plan.
He bought a building in Warren, Pa. with three storefronts, opened a third cigar store and used that as his base of operations for his tobacco internet sales.
Weller. On Dec. 20, the brewery won silver and bronze medals at the national
Ultimate IPA Competition held in Denver for it’s “Rake N’ Ride” West Coast IPA
and “Too Many Boblems” IPL.
“The tax was kind of a really big deal,” Roth said in a phone call from Montana, where he was recently visiting his daughter. “If we bought a cigar for a buck wholesale, the state wanted 75 cents by the 20th of the next month, even if we didn’t sell that cigar. They wanted a 38 percent floor tax. I was making out checks for $20,000, $30,000 for stuff we were holding in inventory.”
That’s when he started actively searching for real estate in Warren, 20 minutes south of the NY border.
The loss of a tenant in the new building set things in motion for an unexpected new venture.
But first, back things up a few years.
Roth was born in Jamestown, NY. His family lived in Kennedy before his father accepted a job offer and moved them to California. The family returned to Frewsburg when Roth was 12. He attended Jamestown Community College and Fredonia- SUNY, where he majored in Accounting. He held various accounting jobs before moving into sales, traveling across the globe.
“That’s when I started a side hustle,” Roth said.
That side hustle was selling higher quality cigars, first at golf courses, and later in gas stations using his own display cases. A brick and mortar store followed, and then a second, followed by the third in Pennsylvania.
“I lost a tenant in (the Warren building),” Roth said. “I put a ‘for lease’ sign up. It sat empty for almost three years.”
Roth said he was in his office in his cigar store in Buffalo when a friend came in and saw him with his head down. The friend asked him what he was doing.
“I told him I was thinking about putting a brewery down in Warren,” Roth said. “He said, ‘If you do this, I want in.’ A couple minutes later, two guys came in from the cigar lounge and said they wanted in. And just like that, we had 10 investors.”
Wicked Warren’s was born—a brewpub featuring craft beers and wood-fired pizzas.
Why a brewery?
“It was hot at the time,” Roth said. “It was happening. I figured it could generate some money.”
Enter Drew Erlandson, Wicked Warren’s award-winning brewmaster.
“We put an ad in the paper,” Roth said. “We knew that (the region) had a lot of brewers. We were hoping to find one.”
The ad landed inquiries from the State College area, along with Chautauqua County. “We did our due diligence and then we invited two candidates to come in so we could taste their beers. Drew brought his in. We had a panel of 3 or 4 people. We sat down, tried his beers, liked what he did. It just clicked. We got lucky.”
The brewpub’s first year was rough as the new business dealt with the pandemic and staffing issues. “But we were eventually seeing progress,” Roth said. Looking to expand, he made inquiries about the vacant Jamestown Brewing building in Jamestown. Wicked Warren’s purchased the building, located in the former Grant’s Department store, and held their grand opening in July 2024. The move increased the company’s brewing capacity from a 3-barrel system in Warren to a 20-barrel system in Jamestown. The brewery has also started canning its product.
“It’s not a big system, but it serves our purpose,” Roth said.
In the meantime, Wicked Warren’s beers are garnering national attention.
On Dec. 20, the brewery won silver and bronze medals at the national Ultimate IPA Competition held in Denver for it’s “Rake N’ Ride” West Coast IPA and “Too Many Boblems” IPL.