Category Archives: New in Town

Chester – yes, Chester – gets a brewery

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Matt Lindenmuth, who opened Saucony Creek Brewing 6 years ago, is turning his side project – The Larimer Beer Co. – into a real brewery. Founded two years ago as a gypsy brewery that made beer in Colorado, The Larimer will build an R&D brewery with taproom in Chester, next to Talen Energy Stadium, home of the Philadelphia Union.

It’s a bold move, given Chester’s rep. In 2018, the city had the second highest murder rate in the nation, behind only East St. Louis, Ill., and ahead of Camden, N.J. With a population of about 34,000, it is also one of the largest Pennsylvania towns without its own brewery. (See below.)

Lindenmuth – formerly a professional vert skater who competed in the X-Games – is optimistic about his brewery’s chances for success. For one thing, he noted that the feds and local government are plowing economic redevelopment money into the region.

“The stadium sells out every game, 19,000 people,” he said. “Plus, there are a lot of industrial jobs along the riverfront. We’ll see a lot of customers.

“Maybe this is what it takes,” he continued. “Somebody like us to show you can exist down here. I hope it helps open the gate.”

In fact, there is ample evidence that small breweries can improve neighborhoods, through boosting tourism, jobs and providing a source of civic pride. A recent study by researchers at the University of Toledo found that breweries can increase nearby residential property values.  (One caveat: the positive effect is amplified by the presence of a cluster of breweries, which attract even more visitors.)

The brewery will be small – only a 3-barrel outfit. That gives Lindenmuth an opportunity to experiment more freely with unusual styles. When I spoke with him this week, he was the midst of a collaboration brut IPA brew at Dogfish Head, with Bryan Selders.

He’ll brew larger batches at the Mainstay Independent in the city, where the beer will be canned for wider distribution. Look for 99 Problems, a peach and ginger kettle sour  and La Resistance, a pink Himalayan salt gose (both above), and Regulators IPA.

Construction has begun and the brewery has its federal permit. Lindenmuth hopes to be open by late May, in time for Philly Beer Week.

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Chester is the sixth-largest town in Pennsylvania without its own brewery. Here are the state’s top (bottom?) 5 most unfortunate towns: *

1. Upper Darby (pop. 82,795) – To those who’d blame this on the general lack of breweries in Delaware County, I have one word: Aston. The Delco town (pop. 16,706) has two breweries.

2. Scranton (pop. 77,118) – Closest brewery is in Moosic. Moosic?

3. Bensalem (pop. 61,500) – This grievous absence will come to an end when Broken Goblet moves into its new State Road facility later this year.

4. Levittown (pop. 52,407) – Is there even a craft beer bar in this town? And, no, I’m not counting Sparky’s.

5. Norristown (pop. 34,370) – Well, there’s a distillery. Otherwise, troop across the DeKalb Street Bridge to Conshohocken’s Bridgeport Brewpub.

*Haverford Township (pop.  49,000) also lacks a brewery, but it does have a full taproom from Conshohocken Brewing.

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A new brewery in Lansdale will brew old-time Philadelphia beer

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One of Philly’s newest breweries is going to look – and taste – a lot like one of its oldest.

It will re-create long-lost beers that helped establish Philadelphia as the brewing capital of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Brands like Robert Smith’s India Pale Ale, Tiger Head Cream Ale and Robert Hare’s Colonial Porter will soon be brought back for the enjoyment of modern-day beer drinkers.

And the new brewery will feature open fermentation and krausening – traditional beer-making methods that – though they create a distinct, flavorful character – have been largely discarded in America.

Lou Farrell

Ür Brewery, slated to open in Lansdale (Montco) in May, is the brainchild of longtime brewer Lou Farrell and business partner, Chuck Schoeder.

“We’ve spent a lot of time researching these old styles,” said Farrell, who told me they’d already trademarked a dozen Philadelphia brands produced between 1790 and 1965. “We’re re-creating them with authentic equipment and formulas.”

In an era when so many breweries have launched with nouveau sours and ultra-hopped IPAs, this project is both unique and ambitious.

Old methods

For one thing, Ür (pronounced “your,” a Germanic term meaning “original”) will use only open fermentation. That’s a method, still practiced by traditional European lager brewers (and notably by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing), in which fermentation vessels are uncovered.

These days, most American beer is fermented in closed vessels, for ease and prevention of contamination. Open fermentation, however, produces increased esters, yeast flavor and a unique aroma that enhances a beer’s character. (As an example, compare the superb character of an authentic Bavarian hefeweizen, fermented in an open vessel, with a typically less distinctive American wheat beer.)

Also, open fermentation – with its exposed, billowing foam top – just looks cool.

CLICK HERE
SIDEBAR: Philly beers brought back from the dead

“We can talk all day about why open fermentation makes better beer,” Farrell said. “But bottom line, it makes better beer.”

Farrell said Ür Brewery will make heavy use of krausening, a German method in which the foam from fermenting wort (called krausen) is added to finished beer to promote carbonation.

“It’s a really great technique because it pushes down final gravity and brings in the character of young beer,” Farrell said. “You really can’t do cream ale without it.”

In another intriguing nod toward tradition, the brewery will also make a stock ale, a high-gravity brew that is aged for four months or more, then blended with young, mild beer. The method was quite common 200 years ago in Britain, where publicans often performed the blending. But outside of sour beer producers who sometimes age a stock ale for blending, I’m unaware of any American brewer who regularly uses the method for producing more common pale ales.

Beer-making cred

Chuck Schroeder

Farrell, one of the early brewers at Dock Street Brewery on Logan Square, more recently brewed at Tower Hill in Chalfont (Buxco). I last mentioned him in 2014, when he helped brew a re-creation of East Fall’s historic Hohenadel lager.

With his degrees in history and archaeology, the production of historic beers is right up Farrell’s alley. He said he’d consulted extensively with Rich Wagner, a Pennsylvania beer historian who has written extensively about Philadelphia’s old brands.

The brewery will include a 10-barrel brewhouse with enough fermentation and aging capacity to produce 4,000 barrels a year – an ambitious goal, compared to the 1,000 or so barrels most start-ups are aiming for.

“It’s lots of capacity,” Farrell acknowledged. “But that, to me, screams bock beer I can sit on for six months.”

Ür Brewery would be Lansdale’s third brewery, located at 320 Madison Street, just steps from Round Guys and Well Crafted Beer Co.

Too many for a small town? Nah, Farrell said.

“I don’t really see anyone in Lansdale as competition,” he said. “Everyone has their own lane. Our focus is going to be more traditional and food that goes with beer.”

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SIDEBAR: Philly beers brought back from the dead

New Brewery Alert in Lansdale, Montco

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Well Crafted Beer Co.

Where: 310 Madison St, Lansdale (Montco). The 100-year-old former Masonic temple was most recently used as an arts center.

What: Joining Round Guys as Lansdale’s second brewery, the space features a 7-barrel brewhouse, 20-tap tasting room and open-air seating within steps of Lansdale’s newly renovated SEPTA train station.

Who: A group of alumni from Rochester Institute of Technology, including head brewer Rick Solomon (former Barren Hill apprentice) and marketing director Nica Bellenger. “Our friendships flourished around craft beer,” Bellenger said of the group. “Sharing and talking about bee, traveling to breweries. That’s what inspired us to pursue opening our own brewery.”

When: Open Thursday-Sunday.

Etc.: The name comes from the brewers’ use of well water for their homebrewing batches. Though they’ll use municipal water here, they’ll treat it as necessary to duplicate the original content.

Well Crafted website

Well Crafted on Facebook

Philly Beer World listing.