Meet Havertown's Master of Beer

The Philadelphia area is filled with great beer. There is Yards, Victory, the Philadelphia Brewing Company, and John Reynolds, who for the past 18 years has been educating locals to the art of fresh beer at his retail store, Brew Your Own Beer.

"Sometimes you have to quit writing and do it," he explains.

After retirement Reynolds had written several business plans until he came up with the store's simple premise: a place where patrons can get do-it-yourself supplies and ingredients for beer, wine and now coffee. The focus at Brew Your Own Beer is not economics; it's about the hobby.

Reynolds has seen the changes in the local beer and points out an interesting trend in the late 1990s when the microbrews began popping up around Philadelphia, which oddly resulted in the decline of home brewing.

"When the business dipped, I can almost make a case of what was going on with the craft brewing industry in this region. When I opened in ‘93 if you wanted fresh beer you pretty much had to make it yourself," he explains.

He continues to describe when local breweries, like Stoudts and brewpubs, started it was easier to access to fresh beer.

"The folks who were in the hobby (beer making), but never really enjoyed the process, just the outcome — they jumped out fast,"  he says.

This decline resulted in several stores similar to Reynolds' closing. Luckily for Reynolds, former home brewers began turning to wine and he was there with all the supplies and know-how.

Reynolds is currently seeing a whole new generation of brewers and increased interest in the hobby. Most of the new brewers that he sees are in their early 20s and probably grew up seeing their father brew beer at home or have a greater appreciation of beer having grown up in the micro beer boom, Reynolds believes.

For those wanting to begin brewing at home, Reynolds feels there are two sides to getting into the hobby: ingredients and equipment.

A basic starter kit ($77 plus tax) includes all the equipment except a pot to brew in and bottles. And an ingredients package ($45-$55) yields about 5 gallons of beer, or two cases of average 12 oz. bottles.

The average case of Yards can run about between $25-$30, which is about the same cost as do-it-yourself personal own beer, according to Reynolds.

"I never push the economics side of it, because it’s a hobby. You usually don't go seeking a new hobby because you're going to save money. If they do, well good for them!" Reynolds explains.

Reynolds suggests beginners should start on a beer style with a pale yeast since it works better with a household climate. If the first batch is successful, people usually graduate to other styles of beer, advises Reynolds.

"All beer styles have definitions. If you put these ingredients together in this manner, you'll have 5 gallons," he says, adding that “guidelines are a big part of the starting point.”  

Many of his clientele like to create "clone" beers, which are homemade versions of famous microbrews.

Reynolds does not side with one style or even a brewery as a favorite; he seems to genuinely enjoy it all.

"We live in beer nirvana. We have access to fresh beer in this region, some places don't normally ever have. So we are really fortunate," he says, "All of these craft brewers that are in existence, a lot of them are not new startup, they've been around a while. There's a whole lot of folks in history that didn't make it for whatever reason. The people we have access to, Dogfish Head or Victory or Sly Fox or Yards or Flying Fish, they’re good and have been consistently good or they wouldn't have survived. Fresh beer, you have to love it.”