Chatting With Craig LaBan: Soaking up the local beer renaissance

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat of June 8, 2016:

Craig LaBan: We're talking beer - Philly Beer Week, the Inquirer's big Brew-vitational (published last week), and the swift and sudsy rise of great brewing in South Jersey. We have a couple of guests to answer questions: Mike "Scoats" Scotese, longtime Philly Beer Week board member and draft master of Northeast Philly as co-owner of Grey Lodge Pub, Hop Angel Brauhaus, and the SawTown Tavern; also Drew Perry, the GM and head brewer of Double Nickel Brewing Co. in Pennsauken, one of the winners from the rising Jersey contingent at this year's Brewvi competition for local beer. A lot of story lines emerged from that, none more surprising than the many very new Jersey breweries. Consider this: six of the top 10 beers in the new-beer category (there were 41 entries) were made by Jersey breweries. So Drew . . . what the wort is going across the Delaware River? Why Jersey now?

Drew Perry: A new brewery seems to be opening every other week. The laws that changed in 2012 which allowed for N.J. breweries to serve beer out of their tasting room has made it a lot easier for breweries to open their doors and utilize the tasting room to market their brand and get beer to the consumers. Since the law changed, the number of breweries in the state has more than doubled, and there's another 35 in the planning stages.

C.L.: Wow, that is a huge growth for a small state! But we are clearly already starting to benefit. Meanwhile, we're now in the midst of Philly Beer Week. We have a Beer Week expert in Scoats, who has been around Philly Beer Week since the beginning. What strikes you most about the event as it continues to evolve? With over 1,000 events, 200-plus breweries, and bars participating, PBW organizers estimate 150,000 people participating during the 10-day event.

Mike "Scoats" Scotese: Philly Beer Week is huge and has been for years. It seems to have developed a rhythm now that repeats every year. It's like a well-loved song with some new verses, but with a chorus you know and love.

C.L.: Scoats, is it true you actually helped forge the Hammer of Glory?

M.S.: William Reed and I conceived it together but I wasn't at the fires of hell when it was forged.

C.L.: Scoats is one of my heroes; he quit a day job to follow his dream. Drew, what's it like for a start-up? Do you think there will be a big shake out?

D.P.: Life as a start up . . . eat, sleep, back to work. I do think there will be a plateau in this industry's growth in the near future which will shake out good beer from the bad.

C.L.: Double Nickel opened just last fall, so placing a beer in the Brewvi finals already was impressive. I was even more impressed that it was a Vienna lager – a sort of understated style when you look at the kind of flashier things that tend to win competitions (sours, hop bombs, barrel-aged stuff). The judges seemed to long for a revival of good lager. Do you think we're at the beginning of a return to sessionable, approachable, malty lagers?

D.P: I hope we are starting to see the beginning of the return to more approachable beer. While hop bombs, sours, and barrel-aged beer will always have a place, beer such as a Vienna lager or a clean pale ale is what's going to capture the attention of those making the transition from the big branded light lagers.

Reader: Session beers are for old guys like me!

M.S. Being an old guy myself these days, I'm all about session beers.

C.L.: Quick question Drew, can people bring their own food to the brewery? Like a reverse BYOB, maybe a BYOP(icnic)?

D.P.: Yes, you can bring your own food to our facility (not welcomed by all breweries). BYOF