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].
Geronimo Brewing first opened its doors in December of 2018 at 1 West Court Street in Lilly’s Jury Room in Doylestown, PA. Geronimo was founded on the idea that there are way too many quality and interesting ingredients in the world to drink the same thing over and over. Drew Scott is the Owner and head brewer of Geronimo Brewing. Read more to find out how his introduction to craft beer, where he sees the craft beer industry heading, and more!
What was your introduction to craft beer?
My intro to craft beer was surprisingly Yuengling’s Black & Tan. My dad always had various Yuengling beers in the fridge (Lord Chesterfield, Lager, Black & Tan). When I was able to buy beer myself, I would bring cases of it up to college. I ran out so I started making my own black and tans with either Bass and Guinness or Harp and Murphy’s. Eventually, I just started drinking the beers on their own and branching out from there.
How did you get started as a brewer?
Freshman year of college at an Engineering school leads to a lot of crazy “we can make ____ ourselves”. And since there was a homebrew store in town, and we couldn’t buy beer in general, a couple of us figured let’s try making it. Needless to say, it wasn’t very good, and we went back to mainstream beers. But it was incredibly fun to make or at least attempt to make. After school, I wanted to give it a go again and bought all of the starter stuff you need, plastic buckets, stainless pot, ingredient kits, etc from Keystone. That was in 2002 and I’ve been going strong ever since.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
While I enjoy Wee Heavies the most, I would say that to me Porters/Stouts allow for the most creativity. Utilizing just the different grains and different proportions, you can create such a varied flavor profile from roasted, rich with bakers chocolate notes to more of a coffee profile using Crisp’s Brown malt. Toss in a little (really little) peat-smoked malt and you can add a campfire element to it, all while not adding adjuncts or flavorings. Add in rolled oats or cacao nibs/vanilla/barrel aging etc, and you can create some really complex beers!
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
The first beer I ever brewed (not counting the one that didn’t work out in our college dorm room!) was a coffee porter. And honestly, it was fantastic! I can still remember it now, I was really nervous that it would suck, or that it would get infected, or that it just wouldn’t turn out, and if that happened I may have just gone back to buying beer. But it actually was really good. Friends and I drank the whole batch really quickly which made it a no-brainer to brew a second batch and then a third batch – of different beers of course. I can’t say that I learned a lot from that first batch other than general processes for brewing and sanitize, sanitize, sanitize, but I did learn that I really enjoyed making beer as much, if not more, than I enjoy drinking beer.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
Oh boy, can I answer “who knows?” and I say that seriously. IPAs sell, and people love them and buy them. But if you ask people, I’m hearing more and more say they are burned out on them (although they still buy them). Pilsners and Kolsches are definitely increasing in popularity, and I’d love to see this continue into more Dunkels, Bocks/Doppelbocks, Vienna Lagers, etc. But I would absolutely love to see more interest in Wee Heavies.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
It’s pretty awesome. My day job is construction, and everyone is pretty cut-throat, but the brewing industry is different. I haven’t met one person who won’t help you out if you’re short a bag of grain, need some type of hop, need to bounce ideas off of them, etc. I think the brewers out there first and foremost enjoy making beer and talking about beer. We all enjoy collaborating on beers, causes, etc, and that is something that I think is definitely unique to the brewing world.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
So I’m a World War 2 buff, and I try to use the beer names to bring interesting parts of that history to people’s attention. The brewery’s name itself is from the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (sorry 509ers). I try to use the style of beer to fit the name with a specific story from the war. For example, Geronimo is the US Army 501st PIR, the British equivalent is the 1st Airborne, known as the “Red Devils”. So my ESB is named after them. I occasionally make an IPA that I use Kviek in, so that beer is named after Operation Gunnerside, a Norwegian resistance/British SOE raid on the Vemork Hydroelectric power plant. This was a crucial part of preventing Hitler from developing the bomb. Our fruited beer, “Fr.Uit.B.A.R.” is a play on FUBAR which is always fun to watch someone realize that on their own and crack a smile. I could go on but when I name beers and don’t just call them “Vienna Lager” or “Wee Heavy”, I want the name to have a story behind it. Not everyone will notice or care but those that do hopefully find it interesting.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
My favorite beer of my own is our 5% Pub Ale. It’s not fancy, it’s just beer. Loosely styled on a British Bitter, it’s not a beer that’s going to get a ton of ratings, or make you say “wow this is the most interesting beer I’ve had”. It’s just good. My favorite beer made by someone else would be Traquair Jacobite Scotch Ale or Einstok’s Wee Heavy. Both are fantastic Wee Heavies, and while you don’t see it often if it’s on the beer list, I’m buying it.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Don’t be a dick….Seriously. People drink craft beer for the social aspect, the atmosphere, the conversations. The brewers that I have met have all been really cool, and everyone helps each other out. The second most important lesson, not every beer you make will be good, and some people will like one, while others don’t. Take the good comments with the bad and let it roll.
Thank you to Drew for talking with us! Make sure you visit Geronimo Brewing’s website to see all the latest beers, and what they have going on! Also, follow Geronimo Brewing on Facebook and Instagram.
