LAKEWOOD, N.Y. — ​Craft beer continues to boom. It’s an industry that has more than 9,000 brew operations across the country, not to mention the millions of dollars the brews are adding to the economy.

One longtime brewery in Chautauqua County has a new expansion project on tap.

"It's just really a unique product, kind of unlike any other. There's bitterness, there's sweetness. I mean there's a whole spectrum of flavor of beer depending on what you drink. Look forward to having all of our customers and guests back to our tasting rooms that have been running at limited capacity for many, many months," Phin DeMink, Southern Tier Brewing Company founder, said.

For almost 20 years, DeMink has been serving those customers and guests as co-founder and owner of Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, one of more than 400 or so licensed breweries across New York State and contributors of an annual state economic impact of more than $3 billion.

DeMink started the company in 2002, after moving back to the area from Chicago with his wife Sara, and was the first tenant in an incubator at the General George Stoneman Business Park, where they brewed, bottled and kegged craft beer from day one.

"Our focus wasn't on a restaurant; our focus wasn't on a bar. We were focused on getting into grocery stores across the whole state. And not just small independents but also trying to really crack the code and get into the chain stores," DeMink said.

In 2009, DeMink acquired land from Chautauqua County's Industrial Development Agency and later built a 20,000 square foot brewing facility across the street from the old one. Fast forward to today, Southern Tier continues to add on to the building, complete with new tanks and equipment.

"I always joke and I say we've never had a year where we haven't been in construction. You know it's phenomenal, this started as an obsessive hobby and it turned into a career," DeMink said.

And what a magical career it has been, inside the 110-barrel brew house built in 2012, where the step by step process begins, complete with all the essential ingredients needed to brew beer. A process carefully monitored from inside the brew house control room, where crews keep a watchful eye on the tanks, temperatures and valves.

DeMink says quality is key, as technicians and scientists in-part remove any carbon dioxide from the liquid, and run it through equipment that measures alcohol content and density.

"There's lots of science, lots of chemistry. You're kind of sitting in the heart of it. This is where we check the beer every day to make sure it’s consistent, it's got the right alcohol, it's got the right flavor profile," DeMink said.

Beer is then bottled or canned, in the brewery's state of the art high-speed can line, which runs about 250 per minute.

Once all the oxygen is removed and the lids are on, the cans are flipped upside down to make sure they don't leak and then flipped right side up before they're boxed and wrapped.

"It's got a lot of moving pieces and a lot of very sophisticated equipment. It really is a team effort. It takes everybody doing their part to deliver every day," DeMink explained.

It's that team effort that enables Southern Tier to distribute its beer to 30 states nationwide. The brewery also serves its full complement of beers and other spirits to guests both inside and outside the Empty Pint taproom.

"I mean, we brew chocolate stouts, dessert beers creme brulee, hoppy IPAs. We have milkshake IPAs that actually have strawberry in them. The great thing about craft beer is that it is accessible to everybody. It's not like buying a really expensive bottle of wine or a really high-end bourbon," DeMink said.

To make it even more accessible, the brewery recently teamed up with Pegula Sports and Entertainment to announce plans to convert 716 Food and Sport into a new taproom at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo.

"It was kind of a dream come true. We were the pioneers and we have deep roots in that community. We're really excited to actually have a brick and mortar presence in the city of Buffalo, which has been our number one market almost since the day that we opened," DeMink said.

DeMink says he hopes to open the new taproom in Buffalo this summer.