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].

Altered Genius Brewing Company first started offering beer in May of 2020 at 411 Merchant Street in Ambridge, PA. In what was once a former hot dog shop and barber school, the brewery operates a 10 BBL brewhouse. There is an onsite kitchen where they pair handcrafted food with the beer on their 12 tap system.

As the story goes, the two brewers behind the brewery (Mike and Donnie) originally worked together as teachers in alternative education (hence the name….Altered Genius). Mike Hass and Donnie Cardone are the owners and brewers at Altered Genius Brewing. Read more to find out their introduction to craft beer, where they see the craft beer industry heading, and more!

What was your introduction to craft beer?

Donnie: I started hanging out at a few places after college that carried craft beer, Fat Heads being most notable. At the time they had a book that you could use to track the beers I was drinking and I earned rewards. Through that process, I learned how much I enjoyed a lot of beers I had never thought to try.

Mike: I think it’s natural to gravitate towards something that tastes better and has more variety. Honestly, I believe some of my appreciation for craft beer can be linked to a couple of wine trips I took in my early 20s as I began to view craft beer tasting through a similar lens. After that, a few beer trips through Colorado and Vermont really solidified my passion for craft beer.

How did you get started as a brewer?

Donnie: I had a friend who brought some of his home brew to my camp. I remember thinking, “I can make my own beer!?” Soon after that, Mike and I met and we began brewing together in our garages. Gradually, we began to get better at the process and started upgrading our equipment. After many years of brewing together, we decided to make the most of our opportunity to open Altered Genius.

Mike: I have an affinity for DIY projects and I like beer, so naturally I was interested in trying the process; so, I received a homebrew kit as a gift. At the time, Donnie and I shared a classroom where we teach and we began talking about the shared interest. We brewed together for 10-11 years (and took some courses to better educate ourselves) before we began adjusting some recipes to pilot on a 2bbl system in preparation for Altered Genius.

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

Donnie: We generally brew a variety of beer styles. Typically we focus on traditional beer styles, but that doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate our creativity as well. We have done some very creative, unique beers in a variety of styles.

Mike: I think we offer a stylistically robust portfolio of beers and that in itself shows creativity. However, we probably get the most creative with some of our seasonal offerings. Jekyll and Hyde, our pairing of Fall seasonal brews, is a great example of using a creative approach. When we started this recipe 8 or 9 years ago, we were in agreement on the malts and hops, AND the fresh, roasted sweet potatoes, the nutmeg, the brown sugar, and the maple syrup, but we had two different ideas about what yeast profile we wanted. We decided to brew two batches and try both, a traditional English Ale yeast and an Abbey Style yeast. As a result, we offer a pairing experience of Jekyll and Hyde, showcasing the impact of those yeasts in two strikingly different, complex beers that only differ in fermentation.

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

Both: As homebrew, I think we brewed a brown ale that probably taught us exactly how little we knew about brewing at the time. We do have a few recipes from back in the homebrew days that we still brew now. One of the first beers we brewed on our “professional equipment” was our Just Wright IPA, a beer we’ve been making for a long while.

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

Both: We both expect IPAs to remain very popular, and are optimistic to see some resurgence for the West Coast style. We can definitely see the rise in popularity of lagers coming. And we believe in saisons.

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

Both: It’s incredible. We are overwhelmed by how welcoming the community of breweries is. We are certainly proud of the quality of beers made in our region and throughout the state. I love to think about the mentality as being: “The better we all do, the better we all do (as an industry)”.

What is the inspiration behind your beer names?

Both: We try to play on the genius theme but without the need to be genius in the traditional sense. As educators in alternative education, we both recognize genius from a perspective of understanding multiple intelligences and varying fields of expertise. Some of our beer names are obvious and some very obscure references to someone or something that we consider a genius, whether it be Hoptruvian IPA (referencing the perfect proportions of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man), or something less traditionally considered genius, like Lazy Chestnut Brown Ale (referencing the genius that is Mike Myers as Dr. Evil). We enjoy the conversation that the beer names can generate and often have long debates about what to come up with next.

What is your favorite beer to drink right now?

Donnie: I generally prefer a darker, more malt-forward beer in cold weather months- an Imperial Stout would be great.

Mike: I don’t necessarily have a single favorite specific beer that stands out above all others. I do enjoy drinking styles based on seasons/weather or even with food pairings, but I would have to say my favorite beer style overall is saison.

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

Both: Work together as a community and be willing and ready to adapt. Since we opened during the pandemic, it’s been consistently inconsistent. We have learned to be creative and collaborative.