Welcome to our “Meet The Brewer” series! Where we interview brewers in Pennsylvania, from breweries small to large. Let us know if you know anyone who should be featured, email us at [email protected].

Rock God Brewing Company first opened in April of 2017 at 459 Rooney Avenue, in Danville, PA. The brewery features 6 taps with variations of their 15 recipes. Rock God offers classic styles and seasonals while showing their appreciation for good music.

Ben Yagle is the co-owner and head brewer at Rock God Brewing. Read more to find out his introduction to craft beer, where he sees the craft beer industry heading, and more!

What was your introduction to craft beer?

In the early 2000s when one of my best friends who went to MIT and lived in Boston was home visiting, we went to a local bar where I tried my first IPA. I thought it tasted like perfume in a glass, so I went to the dark side for a long time and drank stouts and porters. Eventually, I grew up and can appreciate just about any beer now.

How did you get started as a brewer?

My same buddy who introduced me to craft beer got me into brewing. After he moved back to PA and got his own place, he really got into brewing. Sometimes I would visit him on the weekends and we would drink the latest brew he had on tap. One day he said, you should try brewing a beer. I had never helped him out on one of his brews or anything, so at first, I was very resistant to it. I just really enjoyed drinking great beer. Eventually, he talked me into it and it was at the right time when you could order supplies online. My Dad had tried making wine before so he gave me most of the equipment I needed and one day I made an oatmeal stout on my own and fell in love with the whole process.

What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?

I hate to be cliché and say IPAs but they are just so much fun to brew. There are so many sub-styles within the category that you don’t have to make the same IPA every time.

What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?

I kind of have two first beers. The first one I brewed on my own and the first one I brewed with my business partner Gary Ernest who is the other half of Rock God Brewing Company. My first beer was an oatmeal stout. It turned out pretty good. I got some direction from my buddy and I can’t remember if the online store didn’t have an oatmeal stout kit or what but I bought the oats separately and turned a stout kit into an oatmeal stout. I guess I learned that I could make it my own. I didn’t have to follow the recipe and make what everyone else was making. I may have started out as an extract brewer but rarely did I ever stick to the ingredients that just came in the kit. I was always thinking of ways to change it.

After my son was born I got out of brewing for about a year and my wife and I moved back to my hometown of Danville, I ran into Gary, an old friend from school who I have known since the 4th grade and he wanted to start brewing beer so we did and we brewed a black IPA. It turned out so well that we started brewing more and that’s when we got real serious about really learning how to brew for real and trying to understand all the science behind it. We went to all-grain brewing and really tried to hone our skills as brewers. Learning anything we could to get better at it. We had no intention of starting a brewery. That was never the goal. We looked at it as a way to create and it was like our art and we did it because we loved it. We just wanted to get as good as we could at it. I guess you could say we learned that there was a lot we had to learn.

Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?

I’m not really sure. I haven’t seen any numbers in a while to see where it’s at now. I do know the price of everything keeps going up and that is certainly not going to help things.

Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.

For the most part, it’s great. Most other brewers are more than happy to help you out. I know over the five years we’ve been open we’ve needed help and we call up one of our fellow brewers in the area and they help us out and we do the same for them when they call. It’s a great community to be a part of.

What is the inspiration behind your beer names?

At Rock God, we are all about two things, beer, and music. So we mix the two together. We usually try to connect a beer to a song. We like to think we’re being clever but most of the time we’re not but we have a lot of fun doing it. Naming beers after songs is something I’ve done since I started brewing. I always have music playing while I’m brewing. Music inspires me not only in my own playing but in brewing as well.

What is your favorite beer to drink right now?

Right now we have a double hazy IPA on, Whole Lotta Love Double Hazy with Lactose. It doesn’t have a lot of lactose in it so it’s not a milkshake IPA but it has just enough to sweeten it slightly and really brings out the juiciness in the hops.

What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?

I think the biggest lesson has been that beer can bring people together. I’ve met so many great people that I would’ve never met if it wasn’t for beer. When you sit down to enjoy a hand-crafted beer with a friend or with someone you just met it’s like putting the world on pause. It allows you to step out of the craziness of day-to-day life and focus on that moment.

Thank you to Ben for talking with us! Make sure you visit Rock God Brewing’s website to see all the latest beers and news. Also, follow Rock God Brewing on Facebook and Instagram.