Ship Bottom Brewery will open its long-awaited Blendery and Barrel House in early Feb 2022. The Blendery will be located at 5 Park Ave in Swarthmore, PA.

Owner Rob Zarko had a dream of setting up a unique beer experience away from the beach, closer to home. In an old lawyer’s office across the street from the Swarthmore, Pennsylvania train station, the blendery will seat roughly 80 customers inside and 30 outside, weather permitting.

The experience will be all about the beer and unique barrel-aged creations. This will not be a sports bar or garage door brewery setting, but a cozy barrel-aged conversation piece. Barrel-aged beer is deeply appreciated by the most discerning of consumers who have an affinity for barrel-aged libations. Zarko says they will be working with anything from bourbon to red wine and tequila barrels and will also produce Koelschip spontaneous fermentation brands as well. The blendery will also serve some of Ship Bottom’s most popular brands such as Shack IPA, Hop & Hazy, Barnegat Lager, Swell Dorado, Mermaid Blonde, Hard Cider, Seltzers, select seasonals, and limited release products.

Zarko includes, “This project is very unique from other projects that we have done in the past. The focal point and the fermentation process whether in wooden or spirited barrels. We will have a blast developing funky sours, Saison’s & barrel-aged stouts for our friends to enjoy. We will use a lot of local ingredients in our concoctions We are looking forward to harvesting a yeast culture from different locations in our Borough.”

The force of nature behind the Blendery creations will be Hannah Gohde. Hannah Started Homebrewing in College. She worked at Keystone Homebrew Supply between 2013 and 2015. (This is where she met Rob Zarko). Hannah started brewing professionally in July 2015 with Free Will Brewing Company as brewer and event coordinator and was most recently the head brewer for Naked Brewing.

To quote Hannah, “I’m an intentional brewer. From start to finish, everything is part of the story. I do everything with intention. From designing a recipe, to hop choices, to unique ingredients, to the label art, to even envisioning the experience that I hope people will have while drinking that beer, it’s all done with intention. One of the things I love most about this industry is the connections that I have had the opportunity to make. Connections to people, places, things, memories, it’s what makes me really tick. I like to think that those intentions and connections help to give a little something extra to each batch that I brew.”

She continues, “I’m an aggressively friendly storyteller with beer that has a penchant for Genny Cream, bubbles, smashing the patriarchy, funky beer, yoga, themed brew days, the beach, fun costumes, good energy, pushing for a more inclusive and equitable beer industry (and the world), being creative, kayaking, summertime, friendship tattoos, music I can move to, being 1% better every day, #shotgunfriday, traveling, whiskey (Scotch in particular), and lipstick. I always have on lipstick. It’s the one piece of femininity that I can easily display among the hard, physical, grueling labor of being a brewer.”

Hannah is a member of the MBAA DEI Task Force (Master Brewers Association of the Americas), BOP Equity & Inclusion Committee (Brewers of Pennsylvania), and the Pink Boots Society.

Zarko is thrilled to have Hannah on board and says “We are very excited to have someone as talented as Hannah join our crew. She has so much experience and we can’t wait to see the incredible brews that we will have for our customers.”