Brewer Interviews - The Beer Thrillers

Brewer Interview: Sean Gorzynski (Logyard Brewing)

B. Kline — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:06:32 +0000

Logyard Brewing Company Logo

Back At It

Sean Gorzynski (photo courtesy of Sean)

Well we’re back at it, with some interviews from brewers. This fun series looks deeply into a brewer (or brewers) from some of your favorite breweries, and asks them questions about their past, present, and future; as well as the brewery they work for. I’ll have a list of some other brewer interviews later in the article.

Today’s brewer interview is with Sean Gorzynski – head brewer of Logyard Brewing out of Kane Pennsylvania. Back in 2019 I got to visit Kane Pennsylvania and stopped in at Logyard Brewing with my daughters after we visited Kinzua Bridge earlier in the day. Loved the brewery, loved the beers (and all other beers I’ve had from them since), and my daughters also loved the place – my one daughter still asks about the beer cheese they used for their nachos – Lily loved it that much.

So without further adieu, let’s get on with the interview and meet Sean Gorzynski.

The Interview

Logyard Brewing Facebook Profile Pic

(For ease of the interview, after the first few initial questions, I will refer to myself / the blog as “TBT” rather than The Beer Thrillers or B. Kline; and I will refer to Sean Gorzynski as “SG” rather than continually using the long form of his name and my own and the website itself. This should make the interview flow smoother. Also, the interview follows a clean style of question – answer, question – answer, question – answer, etc. Names of The Beer Thrillers and Sean Gorzynski will be bolded and the answers will be in regular font.)

The Beer Thrillers: When and how did Logyard Brewing start?
Sean Gorzynski: Logyard Brewing was started by Michael Dunn, Royce Novosel-Johnson and Tim Roberts. They started out with a 1bbl system in Kane, PA. The brewery started operations in 2019.

The Beer Thrillers: Who was involved in the creation of Logyard Brewery?
Sean Gorzynski: There were numerous people involved but it was primarily the 3 mentioned above that got the place off the ground.

TBT: Why Kane Pennsylvania?
SG: Kane is Royce’s hometown and it’s going through quite the revitalization. We’re right in the Allegheny National Forest and there are tons of activities to do around here.

TBT: What is the size of the brewery? (Taproom size, brewery size, barrel production, etc.)
SG: The taproom is right around 5000 square feet, as is the brewery. We have a 15bbl brewhouse with 3x15bbl FVs and 5x 30bbl FVs. Currently doing around 4500bbl/year but are quickly expanding.

TBT: Does Logyard Brewing have a canning line or bottling line?
SG: We operate a two head Wild Goose canning line.

TBT: Does Logyard Brewing have distribution?
SG: Logyard distributes throughout the state of PA currently with further markets in mind as we
continue to grow and expand.

TBT: What is your background Sean? Tell us about you – your age, education, past breweries, etc.
SG: I am 36 years old, went to school for music recording technology; and for some silly reason and here I am. I’ve previously worked at Berwick Brewing, Troegs, Lagunitas and Victory with a few in between.

TBT: How did you get started in beer and craft beer in particular?
SG: My step dad drank craft beer and one day I found a bottle of Blithering Idiot from Weyerbacher in the refrigerator and asked to try it. I hated it, it was way too much at the time but I found it really interesting and that piqued my interest in craft beer.

TBT: How did you get started in brewing? Did you homebrew?
SG: I started helping out with a small project at Berwick Brewing and a little while later was offered a job as a brewer. That was a much better option than working at Lowes as a manager so I went with it. I had never homebrewed prior to brewing on a commercial level.

TBT: Initial favorite beers (when you were first getting into craft beer)?
SG: Probably something from Dogfish Head. I recall 90 Minute IPA being really interesting but really bitter so I tried 60 Minute IPA and found that to be a nice compromise.

TBT: Favorite early breweries (when you were first getting into craft beer)?
SG: I really enjoyed the wacky stuff Dogfish Head did. The local breweries of course, Troegs, Victory, Sly Fox. I also started to really enjoy Belgian beers like Rochefort, Westmalle, Chimay.

TBT: As a consumer; What styles and types of beer do you enjoy?
SG: German Pilsners are by far my favorite beer style. If I have a beer on a consistent basis though, it’s High Life because it’s a crisp, clean beer that always tastes the same. I’ll also say the cliche “I enjoy a little bit of everything” as I still can appreciate a nice dry, bitter West Coast IPA or a big chewy milk stout.

TBT: What are some of your favorite breweries?
SG: Wayfinder out in Portland, OR make some amazing stuff that we unfortunately don’t see here on the east coast. Allagash, Troegs and Dancing Gnome all make some awesome beers and would be up there for me. I’m also biased due to my time working there but Lagunitas put out some of the best IPAs you can get.

TBT: Do you like to travel to breweries or rather drink at home?
SG: I don’t get to visit as many breweries as I’d like to just because of life being busy but I definitely enjoy going and seeing new breweries / taprooms.

TBT: As a consumer, what do you look for in a beer, what flavors, or styles, or ingredients / hops do you enjoy?
SG: I look for crisp and clean styles. I like the earthy, herbal and crisp profile of a Pils and the chocolate and roastiness of a stout or dark lager. As for hop combos, Mosaic/Citra/Simcoe is the holy grail in my mind.

TBT: What styles and types of beer do you enjoy making?
SG: I like making everything to be honest. Kind of a boring answer but I really just enjoy brewing no matter what the style.

TBT: What are some of the more creative ways you like to brew?
SG: Messing around with different yeast strains is fun. It can get cost prohibitive at times but there are a lot of nice dry yeast strains out there to help cut costs down a bit and make it reasonable. Yeast is such a driving factor in flavor profiles of beers and I like to see what different strains can do.

TBT: What have been some of your favorite beers or recipes that you have brewed?
SG: Trees Louise West Coast IPA turned out even better than I expected so that was awesome. We just recently packaged Prognosticator Pils, a German style keller pils. Heavily hopped in the kettle with Spalt Select, it turned out very crisp and herbal/floral, just what I was looking for.

TBT: Have any preferences – West Coast vs. New England? Porter vs. Stout?
SG: West Coast IPAs for sure. I can appreciate some hazies but always find that a single 16oz can leaves me kinda bloated and not interested in food or beer afterwards.

TBT: Thoughts on the ways consumers now view and treat breweries and beer? Preferences on things like pints vs. flights? Bottles vs. cans?
SG: Flights are a necessity but I do feel bad for the bartenders with them at times. As for bottles vs cans, I like cans better because they can be recycled for eternity and while they have higher total packaged oxygen initially, they allow less oxygen in over time. There’s always the debate of bottles tasting better than cans but that’s different from person to person.

TBT: Things that you enjoy about being a brewer?
SG: I like the creativity of brewing a lot. I’m not an especially artistic or creative person but when it comes to brewing and brewing processes I feel I can get weird with it sometimes. I also really enjoy the camaraderie in the industry. I’ve made a ton of friends in brewing over the years and stay in touch with most of them even without having seen them in person in years.

TBT: Things that annoy you about being a brewer?
SG: I don’t deal with it anymore but rotating shifts all the time and never getting into a rhythm in terms of sleep or social life wasn’t very fun. It’s all part of the game though and could be much worse.

Let’s do a quick round of ‘favorites’:

Sean working in the brewhouse (photo courtesy of Sean and Logyard Brewing)

TBT: What is your current favorite non-Logyard Brewery?
SG: I’d have to say Wayfinder Brewing. Their lagers crush and every style I’ve had from them has been on point.

TBT: What is your current favorite non-Logyard beer?
SG: That’s a tough one. As I said earlier, I really enjoy High Life but from a craft perspective either Sunshine Pils from Troegs or Braumeister Pils from Victory.

TBT: Favorite/Best state for beer traveling?
SG: I really enjoyed traveling around the Bay Area in California while I lived there. Driving one hour north or one hour south of where I lived offered a huge variety of breweries doing all kinds of different things.

TBT: Favorite/best city for beer traveling and drinking?
SG: San Francisco, hands down. Good breweries and bars with beers from everywhere. Toronado on Haight Street is by far my favorite bar. It’s a little grimey but they always have a killer bottle and tap list and the vibe there is awesome.

TBT: Favorite beer you’ve made?
SG: Back at Berwick Brewing I made a beer called “Couple Two’Tree Pale Ale”. It was about 5% ABV with Cascade and Citra hops. I brewed it for my wedding and it turned out exactly how I wanted and it holds a special place in my heart.

TBT: Favorite beer you’ve done a collaboration with? Favorite brewery to do a collaboration with?
SG: I haven’t actually done too many collaborations in my time so I can’t really say. I have a few in planning that I’m looking forward to though.

Let’s look into the future….

Sean Gorzysnki looking into the brewhouse (photo courtesy of Sean Gorzynski and Logyard Brewing)

TBT: Where do you see craft beer in the future? In the next 5 years, the next 10 years? The next 20 years?
SG: Unfortunately I see the craft beer industry slowing a little for the next few years. The pandemic messed stuff up as we all know and everything has gotten so expensive across the board, it’s almost weekly that I’m getting emails of price increases. I think in a few years or so things will stabilize again and we’ll start to see the industry pick back up again.

TBT: Where do you see Logyard Brewing in the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
SG: Continuous growth at the right pace. Balancing growth and quality is a big deal, you don’t want growth to get ahead of quality control. I’d like to think in the 5-10 year range we’re starting to look into upgrading to a bigger brewhouse, FVs, etc.

TBT: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
SG: Kind of the same thing from the previous question, I imagine I’ll be helping to grow this company and start planning out the new equipment and things of that nature. 20 years from now? I’m back out in California. My aching body won’t be enjoying the cold weather at that point in life.

TBT: (the interview questions were developed and sent at the beginning of December, 2022): 2023 is right around the corner, what do you think will be the big trend of 2023? The big trends going forward in craft beer?
SG: Bioengineered yeasts. Speaking to other brewers, there is a lot more interest in these strains. Hops are expensive and shipping them is pricey as well. If you can use an engineered yeast to create some hop flavors and have to put less hops in your batch and get a better yield, why wouldn’t you?

TBT: Where do you see more breweries putting emphasis in 2023? In person/taprooms, distribution, bottling, canning, etc.
SG: Normally I’d say more focus on taprooms but the pandemic may have changed that. Again, with the price of everything going crazy it makes sense to focus on taproom sales as that’s where you make your money, especially if you’re in a bigger market.

TBT: What would be some advice you would give to a starting home brewer?
SG: Don’t worry or get frustrated if your beers aren’t great to start. It takes time to get processes dialed in.

TBT: What would be some advice you would give to an advanced home brewer looking to start his own brewery?
SG: Get a job at a brewery for a bit before starting your own place. There’s quite a bit of stuff to learn on the commercial level and it will only make it easier to start your own spot. There’s a big difference between brewing 5 or 10 gallons at a time to 500 gallons at a time.

TBT: Any last comments, or things you would like to say or plug for Logyard Brewing? Or any new beers you would like to promote?
SG: We’ve recently released a new Blueberry Sour that turned out great. We haven’t done too many sours here in the past so it was a nice change of pace.

I would like to thank Sean Gorzynski and Logyard Brewing very much for the opportunity for the interview. I appreciate the time and effort taken to give the answers so thoroughly here. It really means a lot to us here at The Beer Thrillers, as well as I’m sure it does to our readers. Thank you very much!

Logyard Brewing

For more information on Logyard Brewing, let’s first look to Untappd. According to Untappd Logyard Brewing is a micro brewery from Kane, Pennsylvania. They have 137 unique beers and 47,700 ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.77 (as of 1.18.23). Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can find them on their social media platforms:

For More of Our Articles

Wanting to read more about Logyard Brewing, check out our articles here:

Our Trip To Logyard Brewing

Interested in More Interviews?

Interested in reading more of our interviews? Check these out:

Thanks For Reading

Firstly, once again I want to thank Sean Gorzynski of Logyard Brewing as well as Logyard Brewing themselves for doing the interview with me. At the end of the year with everything happening (holidays, end of year, etc), they graciously took time to do this and I greatly appreciate that.

Please, if you are even remotely near Kane Pennsylvania, make sure you stop by and check them out. They are making some tremendous beers there.

Secondly, if you are a brewer, brewery, or brewery personnel and want to do an interview with us here at The Beer Thrillers – please be sure to reach out to us at: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. We always love hearing your side of the stories and we love telling your stories here.

Now, I want to thank all my readers as I always do, thank you for reading, and viewing the blog. I’ll do my typical blogger / YouTuber / content creator spiel here – please like, follow, subscribe, smash that button, do this, that, and the other thing, yadda yadda yadda. Ultimately though, it really does help and matters. So thank you for all of you that do.

Once again I want to call attention to the Hemauer family. They had a devastating fire that destroyed their entire home and will be making it difficult to brew for their brewery – Hemauer Brewing Company. You can read more about it here:

Helping the Hemuaer Family

You can also go directly here to their GoFundMe page to help support the family – they are currently at 32,000$ and the goal is 50,000$: Hemauer GoFundMe

Please – if you are able – please help and donate. Or at least get the word out. Thank you.

Once again, thank you all for reading. Be sure to follow us, as there is a load of great content on its way, so keep checking back in with us!

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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Brewers and the Industry Look Into 2023

Tyler Budwash — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 02:07:29 +0000

Tyler Budwash asks some of his friends and co workers in the industry what they foresee for 2023.

A Look Into the Future

Let’s take a look into the future and see what the crystal ball sees. Its the start of a new year and with that comes ideas of what the future might hold. People start resolutions (and quickly drop them), people try new habits, people (the horror… the horror…) do “Dry January”, people work out more (for a week or so), etc.

Every year its a time of reevaluation, looking at the past – in this case the year of 2022 – and looking into the future – 2023 and beyond. Seeing what the new trends will be, and having interviews and articles like this let us take a gauge of all of that. It also then lets us look back at the end of the next year to see what we got right, what we got wrong, and why. Its a great launching point for speculation and thought, as well as serving as a great look back and retrospective and way to see the changes in trends, in the business, in brewing and craft beer in general.

Tyler Budwash – co owner of the Pilger Ruh Brewing Company out of Pottsvillle Pennsylvania, was nice enough to reach out to me with his chats and interviews with some of his friends and co – workers in the industry. He chatted with the brewers from Robin Hood Brewing Company, Bright Path Brewing Company, Mount Gretna Craft Brewery, Copperz Brewing Company, as well as the labelist and artist for Rotunda Brewing Company, and they all graciously allowed us to share their thoughts on 2023 and beyond.

I want to say thank you to all involved for this. I will make sure to thank you each individually at the end of the article. Also, if you like the breweries involved here in the article, be sure to check to the bottom where I will have a list of other articles with each of the breweries involved. Thank you.

Robin Hood Brewing Company

Caleb Peachy is the head brewer of Robin Hood Brewing Company. As per Untappd, they are a Brew Pub out of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. They have 212 unique beers with over 33,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.7 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Robin Hood Brewing Co. is a small-batch brewpub in Bellefonte, PA specializing in IPA’s and high quality experimental brews.”

When asked about future trends, Caleb Peachy said:

I think we will still see the trendy beers continue to be king. Such as the hazy IPA’s and fruited sours. But I do think we will start to see some fatigue with the hazy’s. Instead of having all IPA’s on tap, taprooms are going to need to have a variety. We will also continue to see breweries push creativity with what can be put into beers. I’d personally like to see more west coast IPA’s and easy drinking lagers become popular throughout the year. Nothing beats a crispi boi anytime of the year.
Caleb Peachy

For more information on Robin Hood Brewing Company:

For more articles about Robin Hood Brewing Company, see the end of this article.

Pilger Ruh Brewing Company

Tyler Budwash is the co – owner of Pilger Ruh Brewing Company. According to Untappd they are a nano brewery out of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. They have 159 unique beers and over 6,000 ratings with a global average rating of 3.87 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Community Crafted Nano Brewery in Pottsville PA with 12 rotating taps, local wine, spirits, and cocktails. Beer to go available. Ask about our food menu!”

I’m not sure how the conversation went, but I like to think Tyler Budwash asked himself out loud what his thoughts were going to be on the trends of 2023. This is what he had to say:

Well let’s start with saying, I don’t think hazy IPAs, fruited sours, pastry stouts, or seltzers are going anywhere and we can officially say lagers are “back”. So in 2023 I think we will continue to see more approachable beers hit taps, as in lower abv and more of the classic styles returning. I’d personally like to see more milds.
Tyler Budwash

For more information on Pilger Ruh Brewing:

For more articles on Pilger Ruh Brewing please check the end of this article.

Bright Path Brewing

Alex Franco is co – owner and brewer at Bright Path Brewing Company. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. They have 20 unique beers and 2,900 ratings with a global average rating of 3.7 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Small craft brewery located in Jim Thorpe, PA focusing on lagers and session ales.”

Tyler Budwash asked Alex Franco what he foresees in 2023, and this was his response:

For 2023 I think lagers continue to grow but I hope that beer drinkers catch up to brewers. Hazy IPAs are everywhere and hard to distinguish between most of them so I hope beer drinkers start to see the wide array of beer styles and branch out to try different things.
Alex Franco

For more information on Bright Path Brewing:

For more articles on Bright Path Brewing, please see the end of this article.

Mount Gretna Craft Brewery

Brad Moyer is the brewer of Mount Gretna Craft Brewery. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery from Palmyra, Pennsylvania. They have 193 unique beers with a total of 19,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.64 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Hand-crafted beer inspired by a place where people share culture, art and ideas amid the lakes, trails and forest – historic Mount Gretna.”

When asked by Tyler Budwash what he saw coming in 2023, Brad Moyer said:

I think the thing I see most coming is diversification of Beer styles there’s been a lot of breweries recently, who hang their hat on 1 to 2 styles and that’s all they do. Now I’m not saying that they don’t do them well , it’s just people are demanding more these days and we are seeing a resurgence of lots of lagers and other styles that were one time not so sexy to brew. In a market where there is literally a brewery every 5 to 10 miles you have to be doing something that sets yourself apart and if you hang your hat only on, let’s say hazy IPA people will come but ultimately will want different choices and venture up the road.
Brad Moyer

For more information on Mount Gretna Craft Brewery:

For more articles on Mount Gretna Craft Brewery, please see the end of this article.

Rotunda Brewing Company

Stevie Glick is the artist and can labelist for all of the beautiful can art you see from Rotunda Brewing Company. Their logos, artwork, and can labels adorn their social media and their promotional material as well as both brewery locations (the brewery and restaurant in Annville and the brew pub in Hershey). Rotunda Brewing Company is a micro brewery out of Annville Pennsylvania with 458 unique beers, 83,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.94 (as of 1.4.23) according to Untappd. Their Untappd description reads: “Stop by at 11am on Saturdays to get your RBC 32 oz Crowlers TO GO! Quantities are limited and go fast! We are conveniently located at 245 West Main Street, Annville PA. Parking is available in the back. Call us today with any questions as we have a very knowledgeable staff on hand that can handle any beer questions you may have!”

When confronted by Tyler Budwash and asked about the future, this is what Stevie Glick had to say:

I don’t see much changing at all honesty.
Maybe everyone fine tuning their skills with heavily fruited sours.
We’re adding nitrogen to a lot of things – especially the Swheat Tart series

I most definitely see the bigger craft brewing company’s from the surrounding states are either setting up shop in PA or are finally getting some stretch with distro into their surrounding states.

Covid brought us Aslin Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, and Other Half Brewing; and that’s amazing but may also bring the little breweries competition selling out of six pack shops.

I’m hoping to see more collaborations between little brewing companies and bigger ones.

And lastly. no one’s ever going to stop trying to push the boundaries of what should or could be in beer or what can be made from it – so who knows maybe a new unique style may pop out again that no one thought of.
Stevie Glick

For more information on Rotunda Brewing Company:

For more articles on Rotunda Brewing Company please see the end of this article.

Copperz Brewing Company

Justin Kershner is the brewer for Copperz Brewing Company, a brew pub out of Hamburg Pennsylvania. Based on Untappd they have 38 unique beers, 2,100 ratings, and a global average rating of 3.68 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Opened in December 2021, our 5bbl brewhouse supplies 10 rotating taps with a wide variety of styles. Full kitchen offering great food and a limited bar featuring PA liquors.”

When asked by Tyler Budwash what he thinks 2023 will hold, Justin Kershner stated this:

Ha, I wish I knew where it was heading. That’s kinda the fun part right? We don’t know. Just gotta roll with it.
Justin Kershner

For more information on Copperz Brewing Company, check out their social media pages:

Looking for more articles we’ve written here on The Beer Thrillers about the above breweries? Check these out below:

Robin Hood Brewing Company

Our Trip up to Bellefonte and Beyond (Hiking James Cleveland Trail, Visiting Axemann Brewery, Robin Hood Brewing Company, Short Bus / The Bus Brewing Company, and Shy Bear Brewing Company) (December 10th, 2021)

Bright Path Brewing Company

Visiting Jim Thorpe with Friends (Bright Path Brewing Company and Stoker’s Brewing Company) (June 25th, 2021)
Brewer Interview: An Interview with the Bright Path Brewing Brewers
Bright Path Brewing Company Opens in Jim Thorpe

Pilger Ruh Brewing Company

Mount Gretna Craft Brewery

Rotunda Brewing Company

Copperz Brewing Company

Hike: Pinnacle Rock (Hamburg, Pennsylvania)

Brewer Interviews

One of my favorite (B. Kline writing here) features of the blog, and one of my favorite things to do is get to interview brewers, people in the industry, and just people in general for the blog. The following is a list of interviews we’ve done for the blog.

Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
Brewer Interview: Rod Stahl (Axemann Brewery)
Brewer Interview: Sean Gorzynski (Logyard Brewing)
Brewers Interview: Alex Franko and Dillon Smith (Bright Path Brewing)
Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Thanks For Reading

Firstly I’d like to thank Tyler Budwash who reached out to me and did ther interviews and talked to his friends and co – workers. He messaged me wanting to do this end of the year / looking forward to 2023 and reached out to the fine folks above about it. We are always glad here at The Beer Thrillers to showcase and support the brewers and breweries that don’t always get ‘mainstream’ attention, and the attention and support they deserve. Especially with some of these being local and Pennsylvania based breweries, its nice to give them the attention and shout outs that they don’t get from other blogs and sites and groups on the web. Thank you Tyler for reaching out to them and for writing the article. (I, as B. Kline, did just editing, and adding this ending to the article.)

With that, I would like to thank Caleb Peachy, Brad Moyer, Alex Franco, Stevie Glick, and Justin Kershner for answering Tyler’s messages and questions.

Peel back the cover of the blog a bit, I started editing and formatting the article this morning at 8AM to try and have it done by 9AM so I could get ready for work… when 9:20AM rolled up and I realized “oh crap I’m gonna be late” and had to put it on hold to after work. So my apologies for not getting this out this morning, but I jumped on it right after work, and despite WordPress’s best attempts at being super slow and glitchy for some reason at just the moments I didn’t need or want it to be, here it is.

I hope you all enjoyed the article. Please make sure to stop out at these great breweries. We will be definitely hitting some of these places in the near future.

Let us know in the comments what you think will be the trends of 2023 and going forward in the world of craft beer. Think it will eventually become “The Year of the Lager” despite a big blog and group saying for four years that it will be? Think we’ll get even heavier stouts? More fruity sours? Who knows! Let us know your thought and opinions.

Also, please like, subscribe, and follow the page. Also make sure to check out our social media pages and follow us on there. Thanks so much for reading!

Cheers All! And a very Happy New Years!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

B. Kline — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 14:03:19 +0000

Fueled by Hops LLC – Ryan Galiotto’s Company

Setting up the Interview

With the upcoming “One Sweet Afternoon 90’s Throwback Party” brewfest, I decided to reach out to Ryan Galiotto, owner and head of Fueled by Hops, and ask him some questions about a whole host of things. He was gracious enough to answer our questions and talk to us, so please, enjoy the following interview.

The Interview

After the first question, I will abbreviate ‘The Beer Thrillers’ to TBT and will abbreviate Ryan Galiotto to RG (as per standards with written interviews).

The Beer Thrillers: Who “is” Ryan Galiotto? Where did you grow up? Education? Interests? Hobbies? Etc.
Ryan Galiotto: I consider myself to be just an average guy who likes beer. I grew up in Easton, PA, just down the street from Weyerbacher Brewing, before moving to Pittsburgh (so I’ve covered both ends of PA). After I finished college, I moved to Chicago which is where I fell in love with beer. Since 2007, most of my hobbies revolve around craft beer. Well, that and spending time with my wife and daughter.

TBT: How did you get into beer? First remembrances of beer? Favorite initial drinks/beer?
RG: I was in Chicago and lived very close to a Goose Island location. I made my way throw their beer list before moving on to Fat Tire, Dogfish Head and all the popular craft breweries of that era. Once I discovered Garret Oliver and Brooklyn Brewing, I was absolutely hooked. I couldn’t believe that Brooklyn Brown Ale could taste as well as it does (and I still think that).

TBT: Progression into craft beer – what was your first craft beer? First breweries you went to?
RG: I can’t recall the first, but it was probably Yuengling. My early memories though revolve around Goose Island and Dogfish Head, which were also my first breweries.

TBT: How did you become interested in beer more than just a drinking habit? (ie. the site/writing/etc)
RG: I ran a craft beer bar back in 2008-2009ish. We handled about 125 brands of craft beer back then which is a TON of beer for that era. The idea for Fueled By Hops was actually born back then, however, I shelved it. I wanted to learn everything about beer at that point before I started any kind of business. Fast forward to 2017-2018ish and craft breweries were popping up around me, I knew it was time to act on my idea.

TBT: How did Fueled by Hops begin? (When did it begin, who all was involved, what all did you do, etc.)
RG: It all started on March 9, 2019 when I was drinking a Hitchhiker Brewing BA Woke. The idea was already created long before, but I didn’t know how to execute it. After noticing a lot of beer groups on Facebook (most of which were very toxic), I decided to start my own and get rid of that toxicity. We started with 8 members, and three of them were my brother, my brother-in-law, and my wife along with some other friends I met at breweries.

TBT: Where did you envision Fueled by Hops going or becoming when you first started it?
RG: I always just wanted a beer blog and cool community that hosted meetups and stuff. I never really evisioned it getting much bigger than that. However, after I incorporated, I started seeing different avenues where we could grow and started pushing the brand in those directions.

TBT: How has Fueled by Hops grown since it first started? Who all has helped out? What all has changed? What was it like Day 1 til today?
RG: We’ve grown our Facebook group from 8 members to 5,300 today. We probably could have many more members, however, we’re trying to make sure the group doesn’t get too large and lose it’s “good vibes only” nature. So it’s a slow grind up. Since Day 1, we’ve added on a merch store, multiple podcasts, a blog (which is now defunct) and have hosted a bunch of cool events and festivals. Most of this is all handled by myself and my business partner, Nick Adams.

TBT: Where do you foresee Fueled by Hops going/doing in the future? What all would you like to do with it? Bucket list goals for it?
RG: It’s weird to say but I think I see us growing in to a “beer-focused” media company. Some would argue that we’re there now, however I still want the “community” to be the front-facing part of the brand. I want to eventually release more podcasts and social content for the beer nerd. It may not all be about beer, but it’s certainly going to be relevant to people just like me. As long as the brand serves my beer friends well, I really don’t care how large it grows. I think that attitude helps the brand maintain it’s vibe as it scales up.

TBT: Talk us through the Best Brunch Ever brewfest. How did it come about, who all was involved, how did you brainstorm it, how successful was it?
RG: Best Brunch Ever was thought up actually AT Drink The Cookie Table. Nick and I were just walking around and said “hey, we should do this with brunch foods”… and then we just ran with it. He and I work well together and we really complement each other’s creative sides. So, Best Brunch was in my opinion, one of the most creative beer fests in a segment of the beer industry that’s becoming dry. It was also incredibly successful, selling out one session in just a day.

TBT: Was there any other brewfests before it? Or any other big events you had done before Brunch?
RG: There was one festival before it: Drink The Cookie Table, our ode to the Pittsburgh cookie table concept where all the beers were focused in the “dessert” direction. We called it “The sweeeetest event of the year”. It was our first festival and also our first sellout event. For being our first festival, I think we nailed this one. It’ll always be special to me. In fact, it’s actually being written about in a book releasing later this fall.

TBT: Moving onto the new brewfest – One Sweet Afternoon, how did it come about? What all ideas did you have behind it? Why Erie? etc.
RG: We wanted to move away from the “food” concept and do something our followers would love. So we had the idea to do a throwback event and being as most of us were kids in the 90s, it was a natural fit. All the beers at this event will themed around being a kid in that decade: cosmic brownies, Ninja Turtles, East Coast Rap, Nesquick, and sooo much more.

We deemed this one a “party” rather than a festival because it seems like our events have more of a Party vibe to them. When we plan fests, we don’t just plan them for beer nerds. Our motto is: you don’t need to be a beer nerd to enjoy our events, but if you’re a beer nerd, you’ll enjoy our events!

We chose Erie because that’s the second largest following of our brand. It wasn’t fair for Pittsburgh to get all the love so we wanted to a big festival for the Erie market (which we love). It’s also smack in between Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland, three great beer markets. It just made sense. As a result, we were able to assemble an amazing list of breweries from those regions.

TBT: How do you see One Sweet Afternoon doing? How is attendance looking currently? Are tickets still available?
RG: With this event being in a new market, we expected attendance to be lower than our Pittsburgh festivals. With that said, tickets are moving nicely and this will be a nice crowd.

TBT: Any future brewfests planned?
RG: After OSA, we’re going straight into planning Drink The Cookie Table 2! More details will follow on this one.

TBT: Any future events planned?
RG: We always have events on the horizon. Follow us on Instagram @fueledbyhops_ for those details!

TBT: What do you foresee coming down the pipelines in the remainder of 2022, and looking forward – in 2023, 2024, and even 2025?
RG: That’s hard to say, but I do want to focus more on charitable giving. Right now, we run a scholarship program for the Point Park University Brewing Science Academy. This program helps a member of an under-served / marginalized community learn how to brew beer professionally. I’d like to host some events that will allow us to expand this program.

TBT: What are your favorite breweries? Favorite beers? Favorite styles?
RG: My favorite brewery of all time is The Answer. I’ll drink anything from there. Other than that, my favorite beer of all time is Brooklyn Brown Ale.

TBT: Trends – where do you see the future of craft beer going? What trends do you see on the horizon?
RG: I think the term “craft beer” is dying. Let me explain… I’m not saying the industry is dying, but rather that it’s maturing in to just “beer”. Two years ago, we all chased ‘hype’ beer but now we ‘expect’ good beer when we go to a brewery. In my opinion, COVID really shifted distribution of beer and now good beer is readily available at our local distributors and breweries. As a result, the ‘hype’ has died down.

I think the focus is going to shift more on the experience the brewery can deliver rather than the beers it makes. Look at breweries like Trace Brewing bringing in DJs and drag shows, or The Answer who’s hosting hip-hop nights during the week, or Hop Farm that hosts comedy shows. Breweries are going to need to work a little harder to get consumers in their tap rooms.

But I’d really like to see more ‘niche’ breweries, rather than those that try to make every style of beer. I think Golden Age Beer coming out and focusing on just lager was a very progressive move. I know if I want a great lager, I’m going to Golden Age, just like if I want great pizza, I go to Fiori’s in Pittsburgh. Focus on what you do best and own it.

TBT: Where do you see the future of online medium for craft beer – podcasts, Youtube videos, blogs, websites, etc?
RG: I think social media and online mediums are going to always be pivotal to this industry. I just wish the major networks were more friendly to the beer industry. We’re seeing Instagram and Facebook take down posts and actual whole accounts of breweries, and it’s just not fair. I think industry leaders need to lobby these social networks to allow our breweries to operate online without fear of ‘getting in trouble’.

Otherwise, tag me in your favorite beer podcasts because I listen to a TON of them.

TBT: Finally – Any plugs? Merchandise? Ticket links, etc?
RG: Head over to OneSweetAfternoon.com to grab tickets to our next festival. They are still available! And all of our latest merch is at FueledByHops.com. As an exclusive for Beer Thrillers, we’re dropping TWO surprises tees this week!

TBT: Any final comments?
RG: We’re two guys running a business and throwing events that cost us more than the cars we drive (no joke!). Your support allows us to continue to innovate and evolve the beer industry. Every ticket sale, t-shirt sale, glassware sale etc, just helps us continue our mission. Remember to SUPPORT SMALL!

Thank You Ryan

I’d like to take the time here to say thank you Ryan Galiotto for so graciously answering our questions and taking time out of his busy schedule for us here. Be sure to check out the brewfest “One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party” on September 17th, in Erie Pennsylvania. For more information, check out our article here: One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party Brewfest.

Fueled by Hops

For more information on Fueled by Hops, you can check out their social media pages at the following:

Fueled by Hops Related Articles

The following is some Fueled by Hops related articles here on The Beer Thrillers:

Best Brunch Ever – Brewfest
One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party – Brewfest
Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Interviews

The following is some of the interviews we’ve done through the blog:

Brewer Interview: Rod Stahl (Axemann Brewery)
Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Thanks For Reading

As always, thank you everyone for checking out the blog and reading. And a special thanks to Ryan Galiotto of Fueled by Hops for doing the interview with us. Be sure to check out some of our recent articles about our trips to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Canton, and other spots in Pennsylvania and Ohio; as well as our book reviews, beer reviews, and lots of other news articles. There are a ton of great articles (over 550+) to check out here on the blog, so be sure to search around and look through the different category heads – you’ll find them on the right. Thank you so much everyone for reading! Hopefully you’ll get to check out the “One Sweet Afternoon – 90s Throwback Party” on September 17th in Erie. Sounds like it’ll be an absolute blast!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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