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].
Artillery Brewing Company first opened in July of 2019 in West Chester, and then re-opened in April 2021 at a new location at 333 Granite Alley in West Chester, PA. The brewery still has its original 2019 1-barrel system for limited-release batches but has scaled up to match demand with a 10-barrel brewing system and 20-barrel fermenters.
Sean Naughton is the head brewer at Artillery Brewing Company. Read more to find out his introduction to craft beer, where he sees the craft beer industry heading, and more!
What was your introduction to craft beer?
During my senior year at the University of Delaware, a few of my classmates found out about a craft beer happy hour at Kildaire’s Newark (rest in peace). Craft pints were $2 from 4-6pm on Fridays, whereas the usual light beer suspects were $2.50. Dogfish 90 Minute and Lagunitas IPAs were my favorites, but I recall having a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot on one occasion. It was the best two dollars I’ve ever spent.
How did you get started as a brewer?
Like many, it started in my kitchen with kits. I enjoyed the process but fell in love with drinking something of my own creation and sharing it with friends and family. A combination of an engineering degree and job dissatisfaction led me to enroll at the University of the Sciences Brewing Certificate Program. Being in a room with people who shared my enthusiasm for great beer and an infectious culture convinced me to leave a very healthy paycheck for happiness in my day-to-day work.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
No one particular style inspires creativity in me. My drinking habits tend to be all over the place and the beers at Artillery reflect that. I am a strong believer in the seasonality of beer styles and the importance of nuanced flavor. I want to make a delicious beer for the right occasion as well as have something be complex enough for the patron to order a second pint. In the taproom, you’ll only get our doppelbock in the cooler months and our sour IPA in the spring and summer. My hope is that the imbiber will recognize the intentionality of our tap lineup in each season. This being said, many of our favorites are available year-round and I hope everyone can find something they like.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
I’ll spare the reader the bore of my first homebrew batch. It was a smooth brew day and turned out fine. My first professional batch was a 19 Plato Double IPA. A 30 bbl batch used something around 45 bags of grain milled one at a time and had 5 hop additions in the kettle, plus a sizable whirlpool addition. I learned how on top of the process you need to be when brewing on a large scale. I liken it to a ship captain steering a ship in open water: Failure to make small corrections early, when needed will lead to the large variance of course in the long run.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
Choose your own adventure. I think we will see a lot of new openings in the next few years with different hopes and dreams. Personally, I hope to see a resurgence of brewpubs after the pandemic and am glad some of my favorites adapted and survived during the trials of the past two years. I feel the further a beer gets from where it is made, it loses some of its soul (not to mention age, oxidation, microbial issues, etc.) A brewery is a business, so I’ll let the business people tell me why distribution is important to growth, but I want a beer to be made for the people that wake up smelling the mash in.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
I can only speak to the Delaware Valley. The drinker here has high standards, which is the best thing for brewers here. However, for a long time, those high standards were influenced by beers brought in from other areas that were better than what was being made locally. Two of my early favorite beers were made in Chicago, but I would order them at Philly bars and pass over some locally made options. In the past five to ten years, Philadelphia beer has significantly improved where I feel it is on its way to becoming a top 5 beer region in the country. Part of that is due to a trained workforce entering the industry through the USciences Program, but also due to really good brewpubs in neighborhoods and towns all over SouthEastern PA that is better than what is coming in from outside the state.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
That is the doing of Mike Loveless, one of the founders of Artillery. The names are influenced by the local Revolutionary War history. When we can, we like to incorporate local history into the names. The Battlefield Series is a line of beers named for battlefields in the area with a portion of proceeds going to the organization that manages the site or monument. We have stayed close to our geographic area, but are branching out as we have new ideas. Other names come from namesakes or interesting stories from that chapter of history.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
In most cases, my answer to that question is “the beer in front of me”. At this moment I am drinking a pour of The Battle of Brandywine. It is a Belgian Dark Strong fermented on dark chocolate and aged in a red wine barrel on grape must for 8 months. It has been bottle conditioning and I feel it is ready for release as we approach our one-year anniversary in our current taproom. It has a prominent Belgian Trappist backbone with the chocolate and dark wine taking it to a dimension beyond your classic monk’s specialty.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
I didn’t learn this in brewing, but spending enough time in the industry has reinforced its importance: Treat others how you want to be treated. I am fortunate that I never witnessed or experienced abuse in my career, but sadly I am not surprised by the accounts that have bravely come forward recently. I was attracted to this industry because the brewers I met and worked with early on didn’t take themselves too seriously. It is an incredibly fun environment to be in, making up for hard work and low pay. However, some people buy their own hype and ruin the fun for everyone else. I left my last job because of it and almost left brewing for good. It took a few conversations over some good beers to remind myself what brewing is all about – making good beer for good people. Deep down, that’s what I want to be most evident in what I do every day.
Thank you to Sean for talking with us! Make sure you visit Artillery Brewing Company’s website to see all the latest beers and news! Also, follow Artillery on Facebook and Instagram.
