In 2011, Shaun Harris was watching “Moonshiners”, a show on The Discovery Channel about illegal whiskey production in the Appalachian Mountains, in his Harrisburg home. He immediately was intrigued on how to go about doing this and started researching how to make liquor. Turns out, making liquor in the US is illegal without the proper license!

Further down in that initial search were details on how to brew beer, and that it was in fact legal to homebrew. Shaun bought a beer making kit right away and loved his first batch, this is when he got the itch. The start of Harris Family Brewery came along with friends Jerry “JT” Thomas and Tim White. Shaun made a batch every week, and with many friends and family to taste test these on. In 2012, just a year after getting that initial itch they home brewed a total of 52 batches!

Fast forward to 2019 and Harris Family Brewery obtained their zoning approval on November 18th from the city of Harrisburg to begin commercial brewing operations. HFB already has their TTB approval, and once they get the final approval from the PLCB, they expect to be up and running in early 2020 out of their 3,000 sq/ft industrial building at 1721 Holly St. in Allison Hill, Harrisburg.

When they open, Shaun will be the lead brewer, JT will be assisting with brewing operations, and Tim will be the operations manager; managing the marketing, sales, and logistics for HFB.

Harris Family Brewery is starting out a bit different than most breweries who open; they will operate as a wholesale-only brewery at first. This means they will be producing beer for other locations to sell. Initially their focus will be on supplying bars and restaurants in Harrisburg, especially in their home area of Allison Hill. While growing this operation, they will continue to search and build towards a second location with a taproom to serve their products.

We recently sat down with co-owner Shaun Harris to learn more about the vision of all that he is working on. “We are also looking forward to making sure Allison hill is not a craft beer desert anymore, but we will take the beer to whoever wants it, not just Harrisburg” Harris informed us.

See a full recap of that conversation with Harris below:

BIPA: What road blocks have you have run into while trying to get started?

Harris: The only road blocks we have had so far, have been lack of knowledge of this industry. Trying to figure out what was needed to do to get to next step. We needed a building to get our licenses, and that took a while. Our idea is to open this brewery and not have a lot of debt.

BIPA: What breweries have had your back and helped Harris Family Brewery’s journey?

Harris: When we first came up and started talking about brewing in Harrisburg, Zeroday Brewing jumped in right away, Brandalynn, Theo, Ben, and Hannah, were all very helpful. Our community came together and helped us to learn more.

Boneshire Brew Works was there in the beginning in as well, really providing information to help us. In addition, Harrisburg Beer Week, Poured In PA, and Fresh Fest in Pittsburgh, really put a lot of attention on us, and we cant thank them.

BIPA: How can the community support you guys?

Harris: We would love some social media help from the community, in Harrisburg, in all of PA, and anywhere else! As we get closer to opening, the focus is keeping people up to date on our progress. And of course, we will have some local events!

BIPA: What styles of beers will focus on?

Harris: Our focus will be on high gravity ales. I am a huge fan of brown ales, red Irish ales, porters, and really strong stouts. nothing too hop forward. Tim is definitely pushing for some lagers, so I am sure there will be a good mix of styles.

BIPA: Will you release crowlers/cans at your production facility?

Harris: In the beginning, we will probably do limited can and 22oz bottle releases. We need to first get a feel for the demand. 

BIPA: Anything else our readers should know about HFB?

Harris: We are trying to expand the craft beer culture a little bit. We get the feeling that people want to push back or are hesitant on what we are doing, because we call ourselves the “first black owned brewery in PA”. We know people feel a little uncomfortable, but we will spread the message of inclusivity while making all feel welcome.

We will share more details as they have updates to their space and anticipated start date of brewing. For more information on Harris Family Brewery, check out their website and also their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!