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].
Aristaeus Craft Brewing first opened in July of 2021 at 2475 Big Oak Road in Langhorne, PA. The brewery operates in a 3,000 sq/ft building with a 5BBL brewhouse with 12 taps at the bar. In Greek mythology, Aristaeus was the son of Apollo, he mastered many and varied rustic arts such as beekeeping and fermentation of mead, wine, and beer. Harry felt “Aristaeus was the God of all things craft”, and decided it was the perfect name for the brewery.
Harry Arnold is the head brewer and owner of Aristaeus Craft 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?
My intro to craft beer started in the early & the mid-’90s. There were a host of introductory craft beers like Bass, Sam Adams, Stoudt, Anchor Steam, Pete’s Wicked, Killian’s, but Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale had me fascinated with their bottle and packaging. They seemed very regal with the gold foil around the top and a fancy label (for the times). All of these beers introduced me to a more flavorful world of beer far from the commercial beers I had known up until then. It was exciting to discover each of them. Once you go craft you can’t go back.
How did you get started as a brewer?
Back in 1996 my good friend Bill and I decided to try home brewing beer in his Mom’s kitchen. It was an electric stovetop and we had numerous boilovers. What a mess! I remember having to tear apart that stove and cleaning, a lot. Little did I know but that was my first real intro to being a professional brewer. The cleaning never stops. Not to mention cleaning, sanitizing, filling, and capping bottles was a huge pain, but it was always exciting to see if they carbonate correctly and if the beer tasted any good.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
Although my favorite style of beer is Saison one would think my answer would simply be that. However, I like variety and I don’t believe anyone’s style gives me more or less creativity. I don’t specialize in any particular style of beer and can find inspiration in nearly any style. As a lifelong consumer of craft beer, I try to always put myself in the shoes of the person drinking my beer. What do I want them to experience, see, smell, taste, and feel? I think having that as a baseline for designing recipes is what gives me the most creativity.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
I brewed a Southern English Brown Ale, and you can occasionally find my modern interpretation of that beer, appropriately named ALPHA, on tap at Aristaeus. What I learned was that brewing combined all the things I loved into one very cool hobby. It appealed to my artistic side, my love of working with my hands to create something, the science involved in brewing was amazingly cool, and most importantly that beer always brings people together which appealed to the social animal in me. I’ve learned a lot since 1996 but there is still so much to experience and learn. That is why I love this industry and one of the main reasons I retired into it as my second career.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
I have no idea where the industry as a whole is going. However, what I do see is a tremendous opportunity and lots of success in the future for craft breweries looking to be small without distribution as part of their business model. Focusing on your local market. My sense is people are pushing back against large establishment corporations controlling anything in any industry including the brewing world. Consumers are hungry for local, small craft and are willing to support those small craft breweries within their communities in a big way. Large expansion and distribution is not always the best business model anymore. Above all plot your own course and be true to your vision whatever the business model is.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
It is really amazing to be part of the brewing tradition that is a big part of the history of Pennsylvania. One of the highest craft-producing states in the nation for a reason. Good water, good access to quality ingredients, and most importantly good consumers of craft beer.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
My beer names come from many different sources and inspirations. I keep a list on my phone when a beer name or idea pops into my head. They are not all winners but I refer back to that list once I design a beer. A few examples would be my Irish Red named Bernadette after my Mother. It’s her middle name. Dark Matter Milk Stout is named for the material that scientists say makes up 85% of the universe. Big Oak Bend Rye Saison is named after the bend in the street where the brewery is located. A name could literally come from almost any inspiration. I thought about various naming conventions but ultimately I didn’t want to shoehorn into one way of naming beers. And maybe I’m just not that clever to come up with a good one. Some breweries out there are very good at it!
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
Lately have been drinking a lot of anything with rye in it like my latest creation Umber Harvest and my rye Saison, Big Oak Bend. I might be sensing a theme here. Both are very complex beers one yeast-driven and the other purely malt-driven. Admittedly I’m a very fickle drinker. What I mean is I’m not loyal to anyone beer for very long. Depending on my mood, time of day, temperature, season, and even who I’m with determines what I feel like drinking. I don’t understand people who can drink the same style of beer exclusively every time. I crave variety!
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Don’t leave the bottom valve open on a serving tank while checking beer inventory or risk walking in the morning to see that you pushed 105 gallons of beer all over the brewery floor and emptied your entire CO2 tank overnight. A messy hard and important lesson learned. But seriously, making a realistic plan with realistic goals along the way to accomplishing it is absolutely key to anything and everything you do in the craft beer world and quite frankly in life. If you can do that you will be pretty happy and successful in my humble opinion.
Thank you to Harry for talking with us! Make sure you visit Aristaeus Craft Brewing’s website to see all the latest beers, and what they have going on! Also, follow Aristaeus Craft Brewing on Facebook and Instagram.
