Philadelphia area beer lovers probably already know Bryan Kolesar, author of the newly released book Beer Lover’s Mid-Atlantic. He has been writing the popular beer blog The Brew Lounge since 2005, has participated as a judge at the annual Philadelphia Inquirer Brew-vitational and is a staple at many area beer-related events. Fun fact: he’s also a Malvern native.
Now, beer geeks from New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the rest of Pennsylvania can get to know him, too. In celebration of the release of his first book, I spoke with Bryan to find out about his Mid-Atlantic adventures.
PA Eats: When did you first discover a love for craft beer? Is there a particular beer or brewery that influenced your early craft beer memories?
Bryan Kolesar: Wow, we jumped in feet first with this one, the ol’ epiphany beer question! I can’t say that I had that epiphanous moment. It was actually more of a never-ending curiosity and growing interest in what just plain and simple tasted better to me. No doubt there was plenty of less-than-interesting beer consumed during college and just after, but in the book I call out to Dock Street’s Royal Bohemian Pilsner, Illuminator Double Bock and Amber Ale along with Stoudts’ Gold Lager as extremely enjoyable local beers that caught my attention early as not-your-typical beers.
How did you become so knowledgeable about beer, and what made you decide to write a book?
I think it really grew from my borderline obsession with information and communication. From the early days of keeping notes out of newspaper and magazine articles about chefs and where their careers bounced them around to, their cuisines and menus, then later following the same type of industry activity on brewers, their brands and styles and production output, I’ve got a brain that likes to soak it up and, as many of my friends will attest, spreadsheets to back it up.
As for the book project, at the risk of coming off sounding arrogant about it, I did not solicit this book deal. I was approached just after Christmas of 2013 by the publisher via email. The short and funny story is that I deleted the email without even looking at it. Truth was I thought it was spam just by the subject line. But then something made me pull it back from the recycle bin and I’m pretty certain I can say I’m glad I did. To bring me back down to the earth, I remind myself that even though they claim I was their first choice, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was much lower down on the list and was just the first to accept their offer.
Your book covers breweries, brewpubs and beer bars in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. How many places did you visit, and how many miles did you travel?
I need to revisit this number to be sure that it’s still accurate, but after submitting the manuscript, I came up with a number of 379 establishments from my record keeping. Remember, this book covers the entirety of the four states, so time management was critical in trying to visit so many places across such a crazy geography in a short amount of time while not forgetting that I still would need to sit down behind a desk and computer to actually, well yeah, write the book you know?
Oh, and the miles—not to be too precise or anything—came in at 9,444 miles. I was also on subway, light rail, trains, buses and rental cars and visited airports (for the “travel section”).
What was your favorite part of your “research” for the book?
This is much more complicated an answer than at first thought. Those 9,000+ miles? Sort of tedious at times, but also a great time to catch up on unplayed podcasts, rediscover “lost” music and catch up with friends and family via hands-free calling.
Meeting all sorts of new people along the way. Breweries and brewers that I’d only heard of from a distance before I finally had the right excuse to meet in person on their turf. Say what you want about “it’s just beer,” but to many thousands across the country, it’s the paycheck that takes care of the family. Seeing the passion that so many put into their jobs to be successful from the small town breweries to the big city bars was truly rewarding.
Then, oddly perhaps, the More-to-Come section at the back of the book that gave me a chance to state for the record that the book would be out-of-date by the time people were reading it. Showing a list of around 70 brewing establishments that are due to premiere sometime between late 2014 and 2016 was an interesting endeavor as I vetted the list down from around 135 to begin with. Getting to understand the life cycle of these young brewers’ dreams was a pleasure as well.
If I wanted to plan a beer-centric trip to a unique locale, where would you suggest I go?
Great question. At the end of each chapter, with the exception of non-Baltimore Maryland and northern Delaware, there’s a chapter-ending Pub Crawl recommendation. I feel like these do a pretty decent job of bringing attention to a concentration of great beer on display.
I think, from a Pub Crawl perspective, Jersey City’s availability of great beer makes it a contender. Philadelphia is a no-brainer in its sheer breadth and depth of great beer and its respected position in the beer world. But, for a truly unique beer-centric locale, I’ll settle on Rehoboth Beach. It’s got a Dogfish Head brewpub where the one-offs you’ll find can be pretty darn unique in their own right. Beer is found in good restaurants like Henlopen City Oyster House and dive bars like Arena’s. And it’s all right there in the charming walkable town by the ocean.
Where can we get a copy of the book? What events do you have coming up?
You can get it at your local brick-and-mortar bookstore or all the online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
As for in-person events, I’m trying to capitalize on Philly Beer Week, so I’ve got at least seven appearances scheduled including Opening Tap on May 29. For a full listing of events, you can check out my Facebook page.
Anticipating Father’s Day and Graduations as perfect occasions for gift-buying, I’ll also be doing appearances/selling/signing at Iron Hill in Ardmore (6/13), Local 44 (6/15), Free Will Brewing Company (6/19), Barren Hill (6/20) and Yards (7/2).
Then, I’ll be venturing farther abroad to the likes of Baltimore, Erie, Jersey City, Pittsburgh and places in between to promote the book. I met so many great people along the way that are eager to help me do the same and I’m looking forward to it. This could take a while; better grab a beer! See you out there!
Bryan shares his picks for the most interesting beers he discovered during his travels and some can’t miss food pairings in part two of this interview.
- Photography: Brew Lounge
