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].

Locust Lane Craft Brewery first opened in April of 2017 at 50 Three Tun Rd Suite #4 in Malvern, PA. The founders of Locust Lane Craft Brewery met while at Penn State University. This sparked their 25+ year friendship, and create Locust Lane Craft Brewery, named after a street at PSU. The brewery operates a 15 BBL system and recently created a large outdoor space and added a complete food menu.

Tom Arnold is the head brewer and co-owner at Locust Lane Craft Brewery. 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?

I was obviously well versed in drinking beer at Penn State but the first craft beer experience I remember well is having a pitcher of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Jason, one of the other owners here, had his dad in town and he took us out to lunch. We could never have afforded such extravagance so it was with Jason’s dad paying where we first had what I would call a craft beer. We did drink a LOT of Yuengling back in the day but that to me doesn’t count although it is technically considered craft.

How did you get started as a brewer?

I really was just starting to fool around with brewing at home, back in maybe 2005 or 2006. My wife and I started making wine but I didn’t have the patience to wait months so we switched to beer kits and it grew from there. My first professional brewing was here at Locust Lane on Feb 14th, 2017 making ESB. We made the mistake of setting up our first brew day on Valentine’s Day (whoops!).

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

So I’m more of a process guy with regard to creativity having an accounting/engineering type mindset so I like brewing beers where we change something in the process. I love figuring out how to use our equipment in a new way. Anything new is fun like the first time we did our Farmhouse Pils and had to figure out a step mash or the first time we tried to cool down our whirlpool before hopping when the FAM guys wanted to do that brewing a collab with them. So to answer the question on style, anything new where we need to work out a new process gets my creative juices going.

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

The first beer as I noted in #2 was our ESB. First, we learned that you can’t use a flexible dryer duct to run milled malt into a mash tun. That was a HUGE mistake! We spent maybe an hour continuously shaking that duct to the malt would move through it. I still have bad dreams about that. We also learned how much more efficient a big brewhouse was compared to home brewing. These things are designed so well that we can be up to 90-95% efficient which to me is pretty awesome but that’s my process-driven mind working.

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

Honestly, I wish I knew. As far as styles, I’m hearing a lot of noise about the classic styles coming back like Pilsners and the like but I heard the same noise about brut IPAs and you can see where that went. As far as the number of breweries, I think we’ll continue to see new breweries pop up and a few close but overall craft will continue to grow in the number of breweries. I do see smaller breweries sticking around and fewer large ones in the future.

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

Honestly, it’s pretty cool. Overall we’ve good a good bunch of guys and gals working in this industry. The Brewers of PA group is very helpful as are other breweries. We get help and give help to a good number which is pretty rewarding on its own.

What is the inspiration behind your beer names?

It really depends on what’s going on at the moment. Early on we didn’t want to give names to our beers. We wanted to keep the simply crafted mantra but over time we’ve given some a few names to help describe them or help our drinkers know what hops are in them. Some of our best names have been simply what someone’s first impression of a beer is. For example, Fluffy Sunshine is how that beer was described the first time one of our staff saw it.

What is your favorite beer to drink right now?

It’s cold and dark at the moment, so currently I’m a stout and porter guy. I tend to change with the seasons but I normally stick to the malt-focused beers as opposed to IPAs. That being said though if it’s free I’ll drink anything.

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

That a rising tide lifts all boats. If we make solid beer along with everyone around us, then more people will give all of us a try. If someone has a bad experience at another place, then they may not try ours, so all of us need to keep producing the best product possible.

Thank you to Tom for talking with us! Make sure you visit Locust Lane Craft Brewery’s website to see all the latest beers and news! Also, follow Locust Lane on Facebook and Instagram.