The Brew Gentlemen — Asa Foster and Matthew Katase — made a big splash in 2012, when they introduced their own beer for a Carnegie Mellon University class project. But after a stint spent pouring at dinners and street festivals — always in their charcoal-gray logoed jackets — the duo basically disappeared.
The reason is simple: Because their marketing efforts had to (literally) make the grade, Katase says, "We were forced to be more public than we wanted to. We weren't ready for that." So they backed off the promotional campaign, and focused on raising money from private investors and a Kickstarter campaign. That financed a move to Braddock, where they built a brewhouse and taproom.
Now they're ready to go public again: Their brewery is set to open the day this issue hits the streets.
"I think we have everything dialed in right now," says Katase. "It's not as variable batch-to-batch as it used to be."
Brew Gentlemen will serve four flagship beers: White Sky, a chai-spiced wheat; General Braddock's, an East Coast IPA; Business Casual, a low-alcohol red ale; and Build and Destroy, a wheat stout. It's also producing special releases and experimental brews in what the brewers call their "Rapid Prototype Factory Series."
An example of that is Chipotle Mango IPA. But don't let the untraditional blend fool you, says head brewer Brandon Capps, who moved from Georgia to work with Foster and Katase. "It's always, always, always at its core beer," he says. "But sometimes I like adding complexity."
The brewers are betting that beer enthusiasts will make a trip to Braddock, where their polished taproom is open 4-10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and features smart details like USB chargers under the bar.
All this is just the beginning, Katase says: "Who knows how long it will take, but in the next few years we want to build a production facility in Braddock that's larger in scale, and then start distributing outside of the state."
