USA, PA: Benny Brewing Company eyeing late October opening

Ben Schonfeld started making beer at home 14 years ago and has since become a brewmaster who is close to opening his own company and restaurant, Citizens Voice reported on September 8.

Schonfeld, 36, of Nanticoke, expects to open Benny Brewing Company in late October at 1429 Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Township.

Seman Tire was demolished to make way for the 6,000-square-foot Benny Brewing Company, which will include a 10-barrel brewing system that can be viewed from a restaurant and brew pub. It will also include an outdoor patio with tables from Munich, Germany, and a beer garden with hops and vines.

“I went from brewing beer commercially on a half-barrel brewing system to moving up to a 10-barrel brewing system,” Schonfeld said, while showing four 20-barrel conical fermenters and two 10-barrel fermenters that he purchased from Alpha Brewing in Nebraska.

Schonfeld declined to say how much money was invested in the new business.

He is currently distributing beer to 45 restaurants and bars throughout Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

Within the next two months, his beer also will be available in Northampton, Lehigh, Berks and Lancaster counties.

People could come into the brewery and buy beer by sixtel kegs — which hold just over five gallons, or half barrel kegs. They also could buy cases of beer, he said.

“We’re going to be canning beer,” Schonfeld said. “Cans probably will be available by the end of this month.”

Schonfeld said he is waiting for a company to come in from Canada to set up the canning line and get it ready.

“Hopefully, the beer will be in production and out to the local places by the end of September in cans,” he said.

Four core brands and four rotating seasonal brands of beer will be available in cans, he said.

His four core brands are 570 Amber Lager, Wit Belgian Style Wheat Beer, American Pale Ale and Hopenstein India Pale Ale. His four seasonal brands are Sippin Time, BennyFest, Dunkel and Oatmeal Chocolate Stout.

He also has a “One & Done” series that he said are “ever revolving recipes that are just made once and never made again.”

“It kind of keeps it fun instead of making the same beer over and over again,” he said. “It keeps the creativity in the brewery going.”

When the new business opens, people can watch beer being brewed from the restaurant or they can watch sports on eight big-screen televisions under unique bucket light fixtures.

The menu will focus on barbecue recipes and will include sandwiches and burgers with a “little bit of a twist,” he said. Other beer will be available in addition to his brands as well as liquor and wine, he said.

Outside, Schonfeld said people could pull hops off of vines to give their beer a different flavor. Catering events could be held outside, he said.

He expects to employ about 25 full- and part-time workers.

Opening Benny Brewing Company is a dream come true for Schonfeld.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “I don’t go to work. I go to do what I want to do. This isn’t work.”

08 September, 2016