Welcome to our “Meet The Brewer” series! Where we interview brewers in Pennsylvania, from breweries small to large. Let us know if you know anyone who should be featured, email us at [email protected].
Abjuration Brewing opened in November of 2017, in McKees Rocks. Brewing on a 1bbl brew system, co-owners Dave Hallam and Tom Glover opened up Abjuration in the Parkway Theatre. They brew a variety of beers, with unique ingredients, and serve them in their special beaker glasses! Dave Hallam is the head brewer of Abjuration. Read further to see how he got started as a brewer, the first beer he ever brewed, and more!
What was your introduction to craft beer?
In late college and shortly after, we would make beer runs and of course get a case of something cheap and serviceable but we made it a point to get a case of something new to try. Lots of misses for me in those early days of craft beer but a few where eye opening. I didn’t catch the bug until I started hitting places like Mad Mex, The Sharp Edge (RIP), and the Church Brew Works in their early years.
How did you get started as a brewer?
The pretty typical story, my wife got me a home brew kit for one of my birthdays about 10 years ago, and things kept escalating from there. Tom (the other half of Abjuration) joined in soon after I started homebrewing. After some positive homebrew competitions and beer festival feedback, a brewery was the next logical step.
What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?
Tough question for a little brewery like us because we get a lot of artistic freedom being so small. But I have to give the nod to hoppy beers here. There is just so many hop varieties with so many flavor profiles and those extra variables allow for more creativity. Not to mention all of the different hopping techniques, procedures and products. Closely followed by crazy adjuncted beers.
What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?
Pale ale from a homebrew kit. I learned that while it was serviceable I had a long way to go till I could make something that tasted like I could buy down the street. Our first batch at the brewery was a Norwegian Farmhouse Ale with spruce tips. Well, I threw those spruce tips straight into the boil kettle…huge mistake. They clogged everything, total nightmare for our first batch. Lesson learned? Don’t just throw things in the boil, not sure I have learned that yet.
Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?
Local. Craft beer will continue to get hyper local. From a beer standpoint though I don’t think the low calorie, low sugar, easy drinking alcohol beverages are going to go away. I don’t mean just seltzer, lower abv smooth lagers, hoppys, sours, etc. There will be a lot of breweries’ responses to that trend.
Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.
Well, Pennsylvania certainly didn’t make it easy on us to get open, and the recent tax enforcement is a bit of a head scratcher but the law changes over the past 5 years have been a really big plus for PA breweries. Our local brewer community is pretty tight knit and the outright love we have received from some of them has been humbling. There are great things coming from the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild. Not to mention the local podcasts, media and beer groups, including you Breweries in PA, this is such a great industry to be apart of.
What is the inspiration behind your beer names?
So we don’t actually ‘name’ our beers. Their names are a style/description of the beer with an acronym and a version number. For instance, “India Pale Ale (IPA v1.3)”. The version number indicates the tweeks to the beer over time. The minor part of the version number is used for minor tweeks to the recipe and a major version change for a significant change. This idea comes from software engineering and to us fits our brewing style which is never-ending improvement and tweeks of our beer.
What is your favorite beer to drink right now?
Right now I’m coming off of a big Marzen/Oktoberfest push and looking for those roastier, darker, and maltier options. But anyone that knows me knows that nine times out of ten there is a hoppy beer in my glass and Pittsburgh is churning out some fantastic hop saturated goodness right now.
What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?
Just be nice to everyone and don’t ever become complacent with your beer.
Thank you to Dave for talking with us! Make sure you visit Abjuration Brewing for all the latest beers, news, information and special events. And also follow Abjuration on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
