Harrisburg’s New Microbreweries:

Harrisburg’s New Microbreweries:
Meeting The Brewmasters Behind the Beer

by Ed Yashinsky

An old Czechoslovakian saying states, "Blessed be the mother that gives birth to a brewer." I don’t know any of the women who gave birth to the recent onslaught of commercial brewers in the Harrisburg area, but if I ever meet any of them, I’ll give them a big hug to thank them anyway.

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you might have missed word of the opening of two new breweries in downtown Harrisburg. On May 15, The Appalachian Brewing Company at 50 North Cameron Street became Harrisburg City’s first brewery since Graupner’s Brewery closed in 1951. Right on its heels, Chris and John Trogner opened Tröeg’s Brewery at 800 Paxton St. Along with these two large microbreweries, New Cumberland’s intimate Firehouse Brew Pub completes what might be the foundation of a beer lover’s nirvana; we’re not yet talking about Denver, Colorado or Portland, Oregon proportions, but it’s a darn good start.

Why Harrisburg, and why now? "When John and I were living in Colorado and started toying around with the idea of opening a brewery, we both thought that coming back to Harrisburg made perfect sense," says Chris Trogner, a Mechanicsburg native. "We wanted to build a local brewery and serve a region. Which is exactly what we’re doing."

What each of these breweries is doing is continuing a brewing tradition that is hundreds of years old. They use the freshest ingredients to create a preservative-free product that is head and shoulders above the Budweisers and the Coors Lights of the world. In time, they will probably cut into Yuengling’s market share of Harrisburg, which has had a powerful foothold for several years. "I’m sure that some people consider Yuengling a local beer," says Artie Tafoya, Director of Operations and Brewmaster at Appalachian Brewing Company. "But when people taste our beer they will get a true understanding of local beer. All the ingredients are fresh and every place we sell our beer is within 15 or 20 minutes of the brewery."

The three regional breweries each represent a segment of the microbrewery universe. The Firehouse Brew Pub, a old fire station, is a small facility that serves its beer on site; none is bottled or available outside the pub. Tröeg’s Brewery, on the other hand, functions strictly as a brewery. It is a manufacturing facility that produces and ships beer to distributors. Appalachian Brewing Company falls someplace in between–it operates a full brewery, yet a pub resides within the brewery.

The Firehouse Brew Pub opened to much fanfare in October 1995, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. The original owner miscalculated his initial business surge and ran out of beer in three days. Current owner, Scott Harvey, reopened the facility in April 1996, but the brewery still struggled until brewmaster Kelly Ruth was brought on in December 1996. "Right now, I’m pretty much a commercial homebrewer," jokes Ruth, as he works his way through a maze of kegs and modified homebrew equipment that fills the Firehouse Brew Pub brewing area.

Ruth started out as a homebrewer. In 1991, he received a beer kit as a Christmas present and made his first batch that night. "When I tasted that first beer," says Ruth, "I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life."

And that’s exactly what Ruth started doing. He began brewing in his kitchen and quickly started developing his own recipes. "I’ve probably made more than 650 batches of beer," says Ruth, a Dover, Pennsylvania native. "I’ve made the Cherry Ale that we serve here so many times I can probably do it in my sleep. It took a lot of time to get just the right mixture of cherries and now it’s perfect."

Some of Ruth’s other specialties include a Cocoa Porter, an Imperial Stout, and a summer Coriander brew. "Because I make such small batches, I can be pretty experimental with my beers," says Ruth. "I like to make non-filtered beer, so some of my beers are a little cloudy. But, I have noticed that many of our regular customers are pretty knowledgeable about beer and they like our variety."

The Firehouse Brew Pub has been fighting a bit of an uphill battle. "There is no doubt that the initial opening of the brewpub led to some negative word-of-mouth publicity," says Jay Wise, Firehouse General Manager. "But since Kelly has joined us, our beer is much more consistent and we do have plans in the near future to purchase larger brewing equipment. It seems that more and more people are giving us a second chance since we have a new brewer."

The Appalachian Brewing Company (ABC) is a large microbrewery–you could probably fit six Firehouse Brew Pubs inside the place. Yet, even when Artie Tafoya stands in front of a several-thousand gallon fermenting tank, he still makes it feel quite intimate. "This is a large brewery, the biggest I’ve ever built," explains Tafoya, "but no matter how large it is, we’re still making small batches of a high-quality product. That’s all that matters."

Tafoya should know. He has designed and built thirteen microbreweries around the country. He is part owner of four microbreweries, and he serves as a consultant for numerous other projects. He too, started out as a homebrewer and taught homebrew courses at community college in Colorado. His initial involvement with ABC was as a consultant. "I was serving as an occasional consultant on this project and I really enjoyed working with everyone involved," explains Tafoya. "When they offered me the chance to be director of brewery operations, I couldn’t resist the new challenge."

The first challenge for ABC, explains Tafoya, is educating central Pennsylvanians about microbrew. "We have special training that begins with our employees and keeps fanning out from there. It is a different type of product and we have to be able to explain the product to our customers," says Tafoya. "Our beers are very clear, yet full in taste and body. I think people will be pleasantly surprised if they have never tried a microbrew. We have to do a good job of introducing our product and keep up the quality."

He’d better. Although first-year projections call for the production of approximately 5,000 barrels, ABC has the capability to produce 30,000 barrels a year. The bottling line will be able to fill 16,000 bottles a day. "Of course we won’t be using all the equipment every day, but the capability is there as we continue to grow," says Tafoya.

Just a little farther down Cameron Street and a half-block up on Paxton Street, Tröeg’s Brewery is undergoing a slightly quieter opening. The facility resides in a low-slung building and the only sign of a brewery is a grain silo in the parking lot. However, once you walk inside, the numerous stainless steel vats let you know you have found Harrisburg City’s second brewery.

Chris and John Trogner’s path to Tröeg’s brewery is slightly different than both Tafoya and Ruth. Chris did some homebrewing, but the microbrew bug bit him and his brother in Boulder, Colorado. "My roommate was away for a semester and I told my brother he should move out to Colorado for a while," remembers Chris. "He basically took a job away from me at one of the local breweries."

"I was at the right place at the right time," joked John. "I happened to walk into a brewery on the day someone quit. I started out cleaning tanks and moved up from there. I received a good working knowledge of the brewery from the bottom up and got the opportunity to help build a brewery from scratch."

Both continued their brewery education in the U.S. and in Europe, and now they are ready to use that knowledge. The Trogners agree with Tafoya that education of the masses will play a key role in the success of their brewery. "We know we have the capability to make a great product, but we need to make sure that it is available and recognizable," says Chris. "In some ways it is nice having Yuengling in the area. They make a nice product that we think serves as a stepping stone to many true microbrews."

Tröeg’s Brewery will initially offer two ale varieties and produce between 3,000 and 5,000 barrels in their first year, but their longterm goal is to truly become a niche brewery. "We want to offer a wide range of beer styles that are unique," explains John.

But is Harrisburg big enough for three microbreweries? "There is no doubt in my mind that this area can support three or more microbreweries," says Tafoya. "Again, it all comes down to quality of product. If another brewery opens up and makes a great beer, they will do well."

John Trogner agrees and says the breweries will share a certain camaraderie. "Even in the Denver area, where there were nearly 100 microbreweries and a lot of competition, there was always a bond among the breweries," says John. "I am certain the same thing will happen here."