Our Story

Strangebird hopes to be a place to bring folks of all feathers together in a modern, approachable, comfortable, and accepting environment. A place where you can drink hand-crafted beers and eat made-from-scratch food. Our experienced team is ready to bring you high-quality, delicious beer and food.

Team

Micah Krichinsky

Founder/Brewer

With his formal education in microbiology and biochemistry, Micah brings an astute scientific background to brewing. After interning at the District Chophouse Brewery in Washington, DC during graduate school, he knew he wanted to become a brewer. After grad school, he got a job at Capitol City Brewing Company in Washington, DC. Micah left Cap City to attend the Master Brewer’s program at U.C. Davis. He was recruited to work at Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware, while at U.C. Davis. Micah was a brewer at Dogfish Head for five years.

The idea for Strangebird hatched in early 2014 while brewer, Micah Krichinsky, was working at Dogfish Head. His wife was from Rochester, New York, and he fell in love with the city’s rich beer history. After growing up in Eastern Tennessee, he even thought that Rochester’s cooler, less humid climate was ideal. He knew that Rochester was the perfect place to start his own brewery.

Eric Salazar

Director of Wood Aged Beers

With over 25 years of experience creating award winning beer aged in oak barrels, Eric Salazar is considered an expert in the craft. Eric began his career at New Belgium Brewing Company, in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1995. At New Belgium, he fell in love with the creativity and enjoyment of making beer. Over the course of his time there, he was a part of every aspect of the brewing process. Most notably though, along with a small group of folks also obsessed with the traditions of Belgian brewers, he helped pioneer the Wood Aged Beer program at New Belgium Brewing Company, producing the first widely available and traditionally made sour beer by a U.S. brewer. Originally from California and raised in Colorado, Eric now calls Rochester home, moving here in 2019 with his wife Amy, who was born and raised here.

Jeff Ching

Food and Beverage Director/Partner

Jeff was born and raised in Rochester, NY. His first restaurant job was at Don & Bob’s in Brighton while in high school. After high school he moved to Boston where he continued to work in restaurants, eventually managing at the Otherside Cafe on Newbury St. The Otherside was unique in the early to mid 2000s offering plenty of vegan and vegetarian options alongside a huge selection of craft beer. They also had a staff full of genuine and endearing misfits. Determined to open his own restaurant one day, he sought additional management experience at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and the Sheraton Kauai Resort.

In 2010 he moved home to Rochester and opened his first restaurant, the Owl House, as a nod to the Otherside. In 2015 he opened the Playhouse // Swillburger and in 2020 he helped open Pizza Wizard.

Jeff is excited to bring his more than 14 years’ experience to Strangebird and be a part of new band of genuine and endearing misfits who love craft beer.