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 info@breweriesinpa.com.
Mondays Brewing Company opened in October 2020 in Peters Township, PA, with a 5BBL brewhouse. The brewery has 12 taps and makes a variety of styles. You can read the profile we did on the brewery before they opened. Sam Fee is the owner and head brewer at Mondays 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?
I traveled a lot in the 90’s – especially out west where I had the chance to get introduced to craft beer in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. Craft beer hadn’t taken off as much out east aside from New England, but things were booming out west. I was fortunate enough to visit a lot of today’s large craft manufacturers when they were nothing more than microbrewery start-ups. It was a fun focus for travel, and the quality fresh beer hooked me immediately.
How did you get started as a brewer?
After college, I moved to a dry county. I had no idea such places still existed. It was a 45-minute drive to go get beer; so I learned to be self-sufficient and make it instead. I’ve been a homebrewer for a very long time and went in and out of the practice over the years. But finally, I went all-in when I realized that it was one of those passions that was never going to leave me. Mondays is the result of my building a specific brew space tailored to my vision as a homebrewer. The goal has always been to be a small community brewery rather than growing into something big.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
I honestly have yet to find a style of beer that I don’t like to make. I may not always want to keep making it – but I really enjoy making everything a few times. Good lagers require a commitment to the quality process and depending on your equipment limitations that can provide some interesting avenues for creativity. I think making good IPAs that can really stand out as distinct forces you to get thoughtful about layer hop flavor. Sours are a good time too – a lot of that creativity comes from fruit combinations and understanding the acidity and PH aren’t the same and that you can’t always specifically determine the end product with the specificity you might desire.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
Dry County Ale was my first successful beer, but honestly, most of those early beers sucked. Some even shot out of the bottles like champagne thanks to some misguided secondary fermentations. Mostly I learned that bottling was a pain in the ass. But I also managed to learn how important sanitation was for making good beer and that you could not be too paranoid about cleaning when it comes to brewing.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
For beer, I see some real traction in offering lower ABV options to craft drinkers. I also see a broader representation of styles being appreciated by customers and I hope that continues as I like to make several types of beer. At the same time, nothing is more in demand than hop-forward beers and fruited sours and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Craft drinkers are on a voyage though, and we are all making different stops; so there’s room to address all those interests and I see that broadening. It makes it a fun time to be a brewer.
With regard to the business, the Pandemic has changed a good number of things and some of those will remain – at the same time I see a return of some normalcy as taproom operations return to what we all want them to be. I suspect business will be good once we get through all this.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania has an incredible brewing scene – perhaps the most underrated in the country. Outside of PA folks aren’t as knowledgeable about what we have here. For the most part, I would describe it as broadly collaborative. It is also very no-nonsense. There aren’t a lot of conceited brewers around here, and it’s a great place to be a part of the industry.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
Beer names are hard. Fun! But hard. Mostly because people take things too seriously and you end up getting a cease and desist order from halfway across the country. So to combat that we have three different approaches:
1) Our regular offerings typically have two-word names that describe the beer. We work hard to make those original and unique. So far, so good.
2) We also name beers after members of the community that have helped or inspired us. Throwing someone’s name in a beer solves the legal problems more often than not.
3) We also have a few names based upon life experiences at the brewery (like Zombie Spider). These show up only occasionally but tend to be pretty original.
In general, we just try to avoid pop culture references or any other known trademarks. We’ve found that still gives us a lot of room for creativity. Then again, it’s our first year…
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
Right now I’m loving lager – but I should qualify this by saying that my palate goes through various stages. (I actually think most craft drinkers experience this.) I always go back to hop-forward beers, but I like to mix things up and I think it expands my appreciation for various styles. I just brewed a Vienna Lager and loved the performance of the yeast. I’m planning on putting together a Helles in the next month simply because I loved that yeast and the cleansing flavor profile it provided. I’m sure I’ll be into something different in three months.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Be patient. Virtually every mistake I’ve made so far was the result of my trying to move quickly. Beer (and yeast) sets the tempo and as a brewer, we need to respond to that natural course of events. As to the business of beer, I’d simply say: we’ve been fucked all over and we’ve got to ride this pandemic out until we get to a place where we can all experience the taproom as we once did. That being said, I’ve been astounded by the incredible support we’ve received in the community of craft drinkers as well as from my brewing colleagues.
We were only open for 5 weeks before the holiday shut-down and folks in the community stepped up to buy our beer-to-go and kept us afloat during that. At the same time, other craft manufacturers were always willing to answer questions and share shut-down experiences to help us get through. The community really is the cornerstone of craft, and I think that is the most important lesson.
Thank you to Sam for talking with us! Make sure you visit Mondays Brewing Company for all the latest beers, news, information, and special events. And also follow Mondays Brewing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.