The town of Phoenixville is getting another brewery. In what is surely a welcomed addition to Bridge Street, Twelve78 Brewing Company has just announced plans to open at 35 Bridge Street. Their ETA to open is mid-fall 2023.
The brewery is family-owned by Steve and Kara Rogacki, Phoenixville locals with a passion for supporting their community. Twelve78 took part in our first-ever Pennsylvania Homebrew Invitational and received rave reviews on their beer.
We recently spoke with Steve to get more information on what beer fans can expect.
BIPA: What stage are you currently in?
Steve: We started about 2 years ago, we’ve been incorporated for over a year and have been hitting the festivals with a lot of success and excitement. Now that we’ve signed our lease agreement, we’ll be filing with the Federal TTB for our Brewers’ notice and the PLCB for our Brewery Permit. In the meantime, we will still be hitting a few festivals as well and beginning to build out at our Bridge St location. We have a ton of ideas and have the support from our building owner.
BIPA: How did you become initially interested in craft beer?
Steve: It all started in college almost 30 years ago in an advanced Chemistry class where anyone 21 and over brewed a beer or distilled a spirit. Being 21 and a beer lover, I went down the path of brewing a beer. I hunted down a home brew store back then in the early 90s in Bogota, NJ, and bought a full kit for like $50 bucks. I Found a pot big enough to brew in and stunk up my house making my first batch. I Fermented it in a plastic bucket and bottled it. Our final exam day was off campus and a blast, I got an A. Then, my friends and I drank the rest later that night. Their reaction is what pulled me in, I enjoyed that more than I enjoyed the beer.
Years later, I was still brewing but, because of medical reasons, I couldn’t drink them. It was all about others enjoying the beer and the entire process from creating, getting the ingredients, brewing, fermenting, and packaging. I would hear from people all the time that I should be selling this stuff and was unique to anything they have ever had. Brewing is truly an art form to me and a real passion for perfection.
As far as who is involved, we are family owned and operated. Kara and I have been married for almost 24 years (1999) and have two sons, Jake (20) who is finishing up his sophomore year at Arcadia University, and Aidan (18) who is graduating from Phoenixville High School this year and taking a gap year next year to help us launch the brewery and taproom. I’ll be heading up the brewery and marketing side of things while Kara will be running the front end and everything else.
BIPA: What styles of beers will you focus on?
Steve: We’ll be crafting some unique beers blending some classic styles with some cutting-edge technology and techniques like Thiolized Lagers, Pale Ales, and IPAs. We’ve started a nice little following with our Sour smoothie ale line that blends a sour ale base with fruit purees, ice cream, marshmallows, cake batter, and all sorts of other things.
BIPA: Can you describe the space you are opening?
Steve: There aren’t too many specifics yet on the number of seats, but we have a blank slate in a 5,000 sq foot warehouse with three big roll-up doors. The building dates back to the 40s when there was a gas station out front. The brewery will occupy an addition that was built in 1975 and was more recently Stillman’s rentals.
We plan to bring that outside feeling inside so no matter what time of year it is, or what the weather is outside, you can come here and feel like you’re sitting in a Biergarten.
We are planning on 8–10 taps, all our own beer, and will be brewing for months to prepare and build up our stock. For the brewhouse, we have a 3-vessel 3.5 BBL, and we will have both 3.5 and 7BBL fermenters.
BIPA: Will you release cans there as well?
Steve: Yes, we plan on having a variety of 4 packs to-go, including mixed 4-packs.
BIPA: Will there be food offered?
Steve: Our plan is to have food. We will not be outfitting our space with a kitchen, but we are looking into a long-term contract with a food truck that will be dedicated to us and sit on our property. We feel providing food options is important.
BIPA: Anything else our readers should know about Twelve78 Brewing?
Steve: We are family owned and operated from right here in Phoenixville. We relocated here from Northern New Jersey 10 years ago and have loved this town ever since. It was very important to us when we searched for a home for the brewery to be part of a place we could partner with and be a part of the community. We plan on partnering with the Boro to host fundraisers and become supporters of the historical society bringing that culture into our brewery and taproom.
Make sure to check out their website, and follow Twelve78 on Facebook and Instagram to see the progress of their brewery buildout. Breweries In PA will follow up once they’re ready to open!
