Don’t look now, but Pennsylvania craft beer continues to grow as a new brewery will soon be opening in Mechanicsburg, PA. Sworn Brewing is set to open at 5222 E Trindle Road officially on Thursday, September 7th.
To learn more about the future brewery we spoke with owner and head brewer Jesse Mills who has had a passion for craft beer going as far back as the early 2000s. As Mills shared with us when he first set out to enjoy craft beer his options in PA were fairly limited (as there were less than 80 operational breweries in PA in the early 2000s). “Troegs and Appalachian Brewing were really the only breweries around at the time” Mills shared about the early days.
As time would go by he would start exploring craft beer even more until he started homebrewing with the purchase of hist first homebrew kit in 2010 (eventually even working for commercial breweries) and the idea of opening Sworn came to him. As Mills said, “most breweries are opened by homebrewers, so let’s give it a try.”
The brewery will open in an 1,800 square foot space that was once home to a deli and catering business. They will feature seating both inside and outside with all services being walk up/ bar service. Food trucks will round out the dining experience on the weekends with in house snacks (pretzels, chips, etc) being offered daily. In addition to 8 taps of draft beer, Sworn plans to also offer cider and wine as well. Future plans are to offer PA spirits (but not immediately).
Sworn will operate on a small scale by design, opening with a 1 barrel brewhouse. Mills confirmed that his goal is to “do what I have been doing at home for the past 13 years. To turn beers frequently on a small scale size.” He would go on to say that by operating this way he can put a “stronger focus on higher quality, full flavored beer.” Mills went on to say that he enjoys the feel of a small town brewery, and is not looking to scale up too large.
The plan is for Sworn to offer a wide variety of beer with a strong focus on fruited sours, New England IPAs, and “some big stouts.” Mills also shared that he is a “big fan of continental style pilsners” as well. The brewing system at Sworn will be open and inviting for guests to view how the product is made while in the taproom.
As of this writing, Sworn plans to be open under limited hours from Thursday to Sunday, with evening hours to get started. Mills said that Sworn will be a family-run business, and that the majority of people you see working in the taproom will be family members. In addition to the family friendly atmosphere Sworn plans to be community focused. “Any time we get a chance to use a product from a local, small business we will,” Mills said about in-house production.
As Mills shared, the name Sworn comes from his passion to do right by his community and his customers. “A SWORN oath to produce a product that has the highest quality items that we can provide to you. The beer and customer are going to get the respect they deserve.”
You can see more about that “Sworn” oath from a recent Facebook post from the brewery below.
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As mentioned above, the current plan is for the brewery to open in September of 2023. For now, be sure to follow the brewery on Facebook and Instagram to see the progress of their brewery buildout and keep up with all of their latest news.
