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].

Second Sin Brewing Company opened its doors in November of 2019, in Bristol, PA. The brewery has already made a name for itself with top-notch beer, and some big can releases recently! Jake Howell is the head brewer at Second Sin Brewing Company. Read more to find out his introduction to beer, where he sees the craft beer industry heading, and more!

What was your introduction to craft beer?

When I first got to college and started going to parties, I thought that I didn’t like beer. Fortunately, it turns out that I just really didn’t like Natty Light and Milwaukee’s Best. I eventually became friends with someone that always had some craft beer available and I learned that beer could actually taste great. I think my first craft beer was Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Once I turned 21 and could pick for myself, that’s when things really picked up momentum. I think when I first had a Bells Hopslam was when, whether I knew it at the time or not, my fate as a brewer was sealed.

How did you get started as a brewer?

As I mentioned before, I didn’t really like most beer that I’d get at parties and I thought that I should try my hand at making something better. I picked up a homebrew kit when home from college on a break, and brewed it with my roommates (including Phil, my best friend, and co-owner of Second Sin). It turned out terribly and I quit brewing for almost a year, during which time I came of legal age and started tasting every beer I could get my hands on. Eventually, I was drawn back to brewing, and somewhere in the neighborhood of our third batch, Mike (my other best friend and co-owner of Second Sin) and I had the brilliant drunken idea to open our own brewery. The rest is history.

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

I know it’s kind of the cool thing today to shit on hazy IPA because it can feel like that’s all consumers want, but I’d actually say that’s the style that affords me the most creativity. I personally just love the art and science of brewing, regardless of what style I’m making. Due to the popularity of NEIPA, I brew more of that than anything else, and as a side effect, I get to iterate on my brewing process for that style more than any other. At Second Sin, we constantly rotate our beers and have only ever re-brewed a beer once thus far. With our NEIPAs, however, there’s enough in common from one to another that I can get really granular with changes like water chemistry, yeast, etc.

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

The first beer I brewed was a Belgian Wit, which as I mentioned, turned out horrible. In fact, to this day, Phil still hates witbiers and I think that’s why. Looking back on it now, the recipe kit wasn’t great – it was too bitter, not the correct ingredients, etc. Ever since that first batch, every beer that I have brewed for us has been of my own creation, for better or worse, and that has led me to have a pretty good understanding of a wide range of ingredients.

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

Man, with COVID, I don’t even know what the industry is going to look like in a few months. Once we get past Winter, hopefully, the industry and the rest of the world at large can get back to some sense of normalcy. Regardless of what I predict, I’ll probably be wrong, so let’s just say I hope that everyone that makes it through keeps making great beer and we continue to push PA forward as one of the best beer states in the country.

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

As is kind of the case with the industry pretty much everywhere, I’m always surrounded by great, friendly, hard-working people. Over the last couple of years getting Second Sin off of the ground, we’ve been a bit disconnected from other breweries, even ones fairly local to us. We’re hoping to change that in the near future and get to know a lot more of the other brewers in the state. Other breweries, if you’re reading this, stop by Second Sin and ask for one of the owners, we’re always down to talk shop.

What is the inspiration behind your beer names?

A lot of our names are references from some of our favorite TV shows (The Simpsons, Seinfeld), but just as many are stupid names that come up during the course of brewing or working together for hours on end. For example, Phil bought a pair of green shorts, so Mike and I started calling him Mr. Green Shorts, which is actually a very deep cut King of Queens reference. When we went to brew a Double version of MGS, Phil suggested “Mr. Green Shorts? That’s My Father’s Name!” as a play on that old joke, so that’s what we went with. Most of the names have some stupid story like that behind them.

What is your favorite beer to drink right now?

I’ve never been more particular about the beer that I drink than I am now, but I also have never had a deeper appreciation for properly made, defect-free beer than I do now. To that end, I gravitate towards well-made lagers and lighter beers because when you strip away all other BS you can really see a beer for what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I like hazy IPA and adjunct stouts/sours, but making a great Helles can tell me way more about you as a brewer. And frankly, if you can make that well, the other styles should be a piece of cake.

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

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned has come in the last 9 months since we opened our doors. It can be very easy to get tunnel vision and think that the way you’re doing something is the right way, but the fact of the matter is that you’re just one person in a sea of others. What drives me to go to visit a brewery might be completely different than what drives others. And that’s okay, but it’s important to be cognizant of the difference to make sure all of our guests have the best experience at our brewery that they possibly can.

Thank you to Jake for talking with us! Make sure you visit Second Sin Brewing Company for all the latest beers, news, information, and special events. And also follow Second Sin on Facebook and Instagram.