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].

Rock Bottom is an 18 year old award winning brewery and restaurant with 28 locations all across the country. They are true tank to table breweries, and pride themselves on the consistent quality of their beer. Rock Bottom is dedicated to letting the personality, experience and particular expertise of each Brewmaster shine through. Pittsburgh’s location features a 12bbl brewhouse on which they brew a different array of beers, not the same beers as all the other locations!

We recently sat down with head brewer of the Rock Bottom Pittsburgh location, Meg Evans. Read more about her introduction to the industry, where she sees the future of Pennsylvania beer and much more on her life in craft beer.

What was your introduction to craft beer?

I’m originally from Western NY, so Southern Tier Brewing Company was in my backyard. I had friends who worked there, so STBC was really my first introduction to craft beer. Homebrewing followed suit. A friend who not only worked at STBC but also, was into homebrewing would take me to these homebrew meetings in a town about 45 minutes away. I was underage at the time, so it was a good variant to the typical macro stuff that would be drank at parties. It really put alcohol into perspective to me and really opened up my eyes to the social and collaborative focus that craft beer can have.

How did you get started as a brewer?

Tenacity is probably the best word to describe how I got started. Innately, if I want to do something there’s not much that will stop me. I had applied to STBC at least three times before I got a call from a manager/friend who offered me a job that was “just over minimum wage, but it’s 40 hours a week Monday-Friday.” I’ll take it! I was living in Pittsburgh at the time and within two weeks moved back to Western NY, into my old bedroom at my parents and started at STBC. Anything I was asked to do, I did. If someone needed helped, my hand went up first. That led me to their bottling line. During that time my eagerness got the best of me and I applied to Oregon State University for their Food Science – Fermentation Science program. I was accepted and within a year of starting at STBC I was living in Oregon. Right after my first term, STBC offered me a job in their cellar and that’s where my career as a “brewer” really took off. It was an incredibly hard decision to make leaving OR, but I knew that I wanted to be a brewer and that path was right there in front of me.

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

This might be a bogus answer, but I think you can find creativity in most styles. By nature, American brewers take the old and make it new, but also create new/varied styles. I can tell you that what really gets me hyped is mixed culture/spontaneous brewing. I’m excited to be working on my first spontaneous beers this year. You have to have a solid foundation and skill at brewing to be able to execute these beers. On top of that, as a brewer you also have to trust nature and use your instincts to create a final product. We all use our senses and palate to judge our own beers, but this type of brewing takes it to the next level. You not only have to understand the flavors you get from each barrel, but also have the vision to see where they could go in a blend. It’s just exciting to think about. So maybe I take back my bogus answer and say that this is probably the most creative thing to be doing in beer.

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

The first beer I ever brewed was a homebrew and it was named Bruce. Bruce was a coconut porter. I really learned that most of what we do as brewers is problem solve. I really had no idea what I was doing, but when we (two friends and I) needed to prep the coconut (an actual coconut), we had to figure out how to open a coconut – thanks youtube! When we were unprepared to cool down this wort, we had to figure that out too because what’s an immersion chiller? So, thank you Western NY winters! I describe it as the best and worst beer I’ve ever been part of creating.

Commercially? Since I was only in the cellar at STBC, I really cut my teeth with Rivertowne Brewing Company. I honestly don’t recall the first batch I brewed there, but it was probably Maxwell’s Scottish.

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

I’ve been in this industry for 8 1/2 years now. From when I started to now, it’s an incredibly different landscape. There’s much more focus on aesthetic over content. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not just being seen in the beer industry. It is certainly bringing more people to craft beer. With that being said, I think we will see breweries push the bounds of creativity and flavor profiles for beer. I believe that we will see more niche breweries pop up (all lager focused / all sour focused / etc…). Lastly, I also believe we will continue to see a focus on smaller, localized craft breweries – or neighborhood breweries.

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

PA is really rich in beer history, but still feels young within the beer industry today. PA was an appealing state to move to six+ years ago because I felt that there was a lot of educated consumers but I also felt that there was still so much opportunity. As a brewer, that had felt limiting at times because our consumers were still learning about newer styles and I’ve experienced some reluctance, but the balance has been rewarding because I’ve also experienced a beer drinkers first time trying a beer style. That was incredibly cool. We as an industry in PA are shaping our beer communities. That’s really impacting to be part of. Flash forward to today’s market, we can literally try anything. It’s amazing to see the creativity flow among the breweries.

What is the inspiration behind your beer names?

I fully admit that I’m pretty terrible with coming up with names. I often turn to my favorite bands, books I’ve read, or random stuff that comes up in life. I keep a note on my phone for when I come up with a name or see something that could be a good name. Sometimes in these cases a name can inspire a beer idea too.

What is your favorite beer to drink right now?

Well that’s always hard, but I did just experience the Coquito Porter from Roundabout Brewery. That was pretty perfect. I’m still thinking about it. I also recently had the pleasure of drinking at Wayfinder Beer in Portland, OR and that place has all the beers that I’d drink all the time.

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

Be humble, always be open to learning, and be ready for the unexpected.

Thank you to Meg Evans for talking with us! Make sure you visit Rock Bottom Pittsburgh for all the latest beer releases, and say hi to Meg!