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].
Track 3 Brewing opened in May of 2019, in Dresher, PA. They opened with five 7 BBL fermenters, and a unique Brewha electric brewing system. Each beer is named after track 3 of their favorite albums. Track 3 also is a coffeehouse, sourcing local coffee from Ambler’s Wake Coffee, and we recently featured them here. Joe Burdo is co-owner of the brewery with his wife, and is the head brewer. Read more to find out what his introduction to craft beer was, where he see’s the craft beer industry heading, and more!
What was your introduction to craft beer?
I went to college at Western Michigan University in the early 90s, and while most of my drinking at that time revolved around Thursday night kegs of Busch Light and Friday morning regrets, it was also when Kalamazoo Brewing Company was gaining in popularity in town. I still remember meeting Larry Bell at one of the local pubs and shooting the breeze about the product and the process, and pretty quickly fell in love with Solsun, which is now their Oberon. That started a life long love affair with quality beer.
How did you get started as a brewer?
My wife and I moved to San Diego from central PA in 2003, and I started homebrewing with a good friend I met out there not long after. We started with extract kits bought from Ballast Point’s homebrewing store, back before they decided to become a $1 kazillion dollar company. The first few batches turned out better than they probably should have, and I was hooked for life. Around that time, I also fell in love with craft coffee. I roasted beans in a popcorn popper for several years while living in PA, partly to learn about the process, and partly because there weren’t any good roasteries near where we lived. The move to San Diego also provided us with access to a lot of quality coffee, and coincidentally my friend Dan that I started homebrewing with is now the owner of Revolution Roasters in San Diego.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
If I had to pick one individual style, I would say our coffee beers allow us a high level of creativity. Most people are only familiar with coffee in a stout, so we’ve tried to expand their palates a bit by brewing cream ales and IPAs with coffee, in addition to stouts. We have several beer blends and beertails that incorporate coffee, and it’s very enjoyable seeing the positive reaction of our customers who don’t really know what to expect before their first sip.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
The first beer I ever brewed was probably a pale ale from the Ballast Point extract kit. I learned that I wanted more!
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
That’s the million dollar question. The mid sized breweries have really gotten squeezed over the last several years, and it seems like most of the growth has happened at the extreme ends of the craft brewery size spectrum. If craft beer is going to reach the 20% by volume market share level that’s been discussed for some time, I think it’s going to be the neighborhood brewpubs that provide those who may have not experienced craft beer yet with their first taste, ultimately winning over new converts.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
Brewing is great fun, and even the cleaning that makes up ~90% of all back of house activities is enjoyable when you know it’s all for the cause of making something that will bring smiles to your customers faces. Especially when I can make my assistant brewer do the bulk of the cleaning and heavy lifting while I’m engaged in 11am quality control. Throw in “brewery owner” to that question, and the answer expands to “terrifying”, “exhilarating”, “exhausting”, “energizing”, “the best job in the world”, and “what the hell was I thinking?”, all sometimes within the same day.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
My co-owners and I are all music lovers, and we enjoy the same type of music in general. Track 3 Microbrewery and Coffee House was named after music tracks, and the brewpub has a music theme that carries throughout the space. The majority of our beers are named after a particular track 3 song that we love, like our Alive Cold Brew Coffee IPA from Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album, Fearless New England IPA from Pink Floyd’s “Mettle” album, and Crushing Day, our Peach Gose from Joe Satriani’s best album, “Surfing With The Alien”.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
The one I’m holding in my left hand while I peck out the responses to this with my right hand! I still love well done New England IPAs, having lived in Massachusetts and Vermont for many years and having been one of those suckers waiting in line for 2 hours at Treehouse in sub freezing temperatures on several occasions. Trillium’s Fort Point Pale Ale is probably my desert island beer, I’ve never gotten sick of that one despite having funded a good portion of their Canton, MA brewing facility expansion at the expense of my wallet (and liver).
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Just like any other endeavor, try to surround yourself with people who have expertise that you do not. I used to teach college back in the day, and one of the points I would always try to get across to my students is that while it’s important to have a good breadth of knowledge, you can only have real depth of knowledge in a very limited scope. Building good relationships with people who can help you advance your goals is just as important as gaining new knowledge, if not more important.
Thank you to Joe for talking with us! Make sure you visit Track 3 Brewing for all the latest beers, news, information and special events. And also follow Track 3 Brewing on Facebook and Instagram!
