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].
ShuBrew opened in 2013 in downtown Zelienople with a 3 barrel system, and has since expanded! Fans speak highly of their beers, their food, and the various can series the brewery puts out, notably the “Pixelated” IPA series (the beers are named after vintage video games). Zach Shumaker is the owner/brewer of ShuBrew, read more to find out the first beer he ever brewed, how he got started as a brewer, and more!
What was your introduction to craft beer?
Between 2004 and 2008 I was stationed in San Diego at Camp Pendleton while serving in the Marine Corps. Like all good Marines my days were spent working during the day and drinking a lot of crappy beer at night. One day I was at the PX (convenience store) near my barracks picking up a 30 of Coors when I saw a bottle of a beer called Arrogant Bastard in the cooler. The bottle was larger than I’d seen before, the name was awesome, the abv was high, and it was only $2.99 for a 22 oz bottle. I took it back to my room and drank it. I didn’t understand the flavors I was tasting at all, but I knew I loved it and wanted to try more. Fortunately for me I discovered that the brewery who made it, Stone, was located only about twenty minutes east of where I lived.
How did you get started as a brewer?
So after I found out that Stone was so close to me it became my weekly ritual to drive out to the brewery and get growler fills. I must have gone on their brewery tour fifteen times because I was so fascinated with their process, their mindset, and the free beer on the tours were a perk. On one of the tours the guide dropped that they were in the midst of opening their new restaurant and if anyone was interested in applying they could meet with the chef at the end of the tour. I was a young Marine not making much money, and I thought it would be a good idea to get a part time job. I was spending a lot of money there anyway, so why not? I applied and got a job as a dishwasher/prep cook. I had no prior experience, but I knew I wanted to help this brewery out any way I could. I spent my afternoon chopping vegetables, making soups, cleaning glassware, and making onion rings. My enlistment in the Marine Corps was just about up and I was faced with the choice of staying in another four years or moving back home to do something else. Needless to say, I moved back home to Pittsburgh to do “something else.” The day I moved home I bought a bunch of used home brewing gear off of someone on Craigslist. I knew I wanted to own a brewery, and to do that I would need to know how to brew.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
This has changed dramatically over the years. When we first opened and six years ago all of our beer sales were direct to consumer in the form of draft pours at our restaurant. Back then I would have said that any of the adjunct beer we did expressed my creativity the most. Nowadays we package a lot of different beers in cans. This has opened up my creativity to a completely different level. I would say that a major part of my job now is brand creation and development. Where I originally spent all my creativity points in recipe development alone, now I have to focus my efforts on marketing a beer or series of beers through the use of packaging and nostalgia. We now spend a lot of energy in making sure our cans don’t get overlooked on store shelves.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
The first beer I ever made was an American IPA kit that for some reason came with French Oak chips to age the beer on. That part makes no sense nowadays as everyone is hyper focused on drinking IPA as fresh as possible. I remember sitting down and cracking into my first bottle. I don’t think you could have beaten the smile off my face the whole time I consumed it. In hindsight that beer was probably terrible, but at the time I certainly didn’t think so. It wasn’t until a few batches in that I really started breaking down and analyzing my home-brew so that I could troubleshoot and improve my technique. I immediately was addicted to making beer and went out the next week and upgraded my equipment. The second beer I brewed was a slightly tweaked version of that original recipe. I entered it into a local home-brew competition and got a second place medal for it in the IPA category. That beer was tweaked about 100 more times and eventually became our Jungleboot IPA.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
I’d definitely be lying if I said I know where this industry will be in a few years. Over a decade ago I claimed that sour beers would soon be overtaking IPA as the most popular styles of craft beer. Here we are in 2019 and their demand has certain increased, but IPA hasn’t slowed down at all. I suppose if I were to make an educated guess I’d say that local beer will continue to grow. We will continue to see less and less nationally distributed beers enter the market. We will definitely lose a few more independently owned breweries to “big beer.” We will also start seeing some smaller independent breweries close due to their products not being able to keep up in an ever evolving industry. Hazy IPA isn’t going away, but I think clear beers will start being cool again, too. There will probably be five or so new styles of IPA that come and go, all of which will be dubbed “the hazy IPA killer.” If we are lucky we will have a new style that sticks in the market, but I’d think we are probably closer to 5-7 years away from that happening.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
It’s really great! Despite the new beer tax, I think the state has been incredibly flexible and welcoming to our industry. The local industry professionals have always been incredibly welcoming, too. We all know that we are in competition with each other, but no one really lets that get to them. It seems that everyone is happy for each other’s successes. At the end of the day I want more breweries around us as long as they’re putting out great beer. It only helps everyone else get better.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
We’ve always tried making ShuBrew be representative of ourselves. We’ve felt that is the only true way to make your brand authentic. It should be a reflection who you are. A lot of our beer names tell a story. Jungleboot for example pays homage to the beers that I fell in love with while stationed in the Marine Corps. Jungleboots are the boot the Marine Corps issues all new recruits when they get to boot camp. Beyond that, we have a series of hazy IPAs called Pixelated IPA. Every beer in that series is a nod to a video game that I grew up playing. For us it works, because not only are we proud of what’s going on with IPA inside our brewery, but a large portion of our demographic is around my age.. so they also grew up playing these same games.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
In 2006 I fell in love with IPAs. I haven’t fallen out of love with them by any means. Pretty much at our house I always keep a bunch of IPAs around, our Kolsch, whatever lager ShuBrew is currently putting out, and then a random selection of other local beers that most likely were given to me by customers because I unfortunately almost never get a chance to get out.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
You have to know how to make quick and effective changes to your business objectives or you will become irrelevant in the market quickly. Also, it is way more important to know your weaknesses than it is to know what you’re good at.
Thank you to Zach for talking with us! Make sure you visit Shubrew for all the latest beers, news, information and special events. And also follow ShuBrew on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
