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].
Collision Tap Works has been open since 2016 and is located in downtown York, Pa. They operate a 7BBL brewhouse with 24 taps at the bar and a full food menu.
Jared Barnes, co-owner, studied at the World Brewing Academy where he received his Master Brewer’s certificate. Through this program, he was able to travel to Munich, Germany for 7 months to study the art of brewing beer. Barnes is not afraid to go outside the box with his beers, and really loves to experiment.
What was your introduction to craft beer?
My intro to craft beer was starting a job at Bullys Restaurant and Pub in Columbia. At the time, they had 37 different beers in bottles plus another 12 on draft, which was quite impressive back then. We then expanded to 65 craft beers and started the Bullys Beer Bible. I started really getting into it more and more, and finally started homebrewing in their second kitchen in the basement two or three times a week with a kit my father had gotten for me for christmas.
How did you get started as a brewer?
I attended the Master Brewers program at Siebel in Chicago and Doemens Academy in Germany in 2011. From there I scored a job as a cellarman at Southern Tier working with all post hot side brewing, i.e. pitching, fermentation, dry hopping, transferring and carbing. From there I ran 3 other breweries in Florida, Delaware, and one briefly in Pennsylvania until I decided to open my own.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
Every style can allow you to be creative if you let it. We have brewed what I believe to be around 470 different beers since Collusion opened in September of 2016. We have done brown ales with black garlic and black truffle, IPAs with chocolate vanilla and strawberry, fruited sours, wild fermented barrel aged beers, barrel aged imperial stouts, you name it.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
First beer I ever brewed 100% by my self professionally was an IPA with Cascade, Nugget, and Columbus hops. That is when I learned that Florida beach water was shit, and I was going to need to make adjustments from then on for every beer style I made.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
I see a lot more breweries starting to close their doors. The trend used to be drink craft, then drink local, and now its drink good. The ones that can not continue to refine their recipes or keep up with growing trends are going to fail. You can’t just make beers that were popular 15 or 10 or even 5 years ago, or just stuff that you want to drink yourself. People are demanding a variety of new beers constantly, and those who forget about their customers wants and needs will fall by the wayside.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is a great state to be a brewer, but still behind on the times in some aspects. I have brewed in 4 different states, and if there was a way to combine the beer registration laws of Florida with the distribution laws of Delaware and add those to Pennsylvania’s laws of allowing state produced alcohol to be served in your tap room, we would be sitting really nicely. The people in PA are great as well. We recently did a Pennsylvania Stout Showcase at our location with 18 other breweries and we had an absolute blast.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
Pretty much anything and everything. Some of our names come from books, video games, things people say in the tasting room, inside jokes, ancient alchemy and metalurgical practices, and different languages. We don’t really stick to one certain way of naming things.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
Any well made pilsner. I will crush a nice crisp dry pilsner every time.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Write shit down. Even if its bad.
Thank you to Jared Barnes for talking with us! Make sure you visit Collusion Tap Works for all the latest beers, news, information and special events!
