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].

No doubt you have heard of Weyerbacher Brewing. This 23 year old brewery located in Easton, has grown to be the craft brewery you recognize right away. Known for their big beers, they have continued to innovate in the industry, making them a staple of every bar and beer shop.

Matt Snyder has been working at Weyerbacher for over  5 years. He started his apprenticeship there after American Brewers Guild Brewing School, and has moved up to head brewer since.

What was your introduction to craft beer?

Craft beer was introduced to me in my early 20’s while exploring some of the more exciting restaurants of the Lehigh Valley and Philly area. Passion for food and an adventurous palate led me to  having to try just about anything I haven’t heard of yet, and ultimately to my career as a professional brewer.  Breweries like Magic Hat, Rogue, Stoudts, Weyerbacher, Chimay and Victory all had small selections available and were some of the first that I was able to find and try without buying an entire case. Pennsylvania was not very craft beer friendly back then.

How did you get started as a brewer?

As stated earlier, my love of food led me towards drinking craft beer, but my love of making food led me to brewing my first batch of beer at home. It was an IBU-bomb West Coast IPA, go figure. Almost always I would be watching the Food Network for inspiration with my cooking, and loved Alton Brown most of all. During a Valentines Day special that he did, he demonstrated how to make a beer at home and I was immediately hooked.  After that I made a few batches of beer at home with some success, I think, and started to look into how I can do this on a bigger scale or even as a living. With some research I came upon the American Brewers Guild Brewing School and enrolled in their Craft Brewers Apprenticeship Program. Two years later I was doing my apprenticeship at Weyerbacher Brewing Co. and now here I am as Head Brewer five years later.

What style allows you to be the most creative, and why?

Wild ales probably give you the most room for creativity while staying within style perimeters, if you care about such things. They can be just about anything you want them to be with as many adjuncts that you’d possibly dare to chuck in whatever type of vessel you have it in. But, you can get as creative as you’d like with any style, really, as long as you don’t care about style guidelines.

What was the first beer you ever brewed, and what did you learn from it?

As a professional, the first beer I ever brewed was called Sunshine And Hoppiness at Drop-In Brewing in Middlebury, VT, which is the brewery at the Americans Brewers Guild. It is a hop-forward Belgian-style Golden Ale and one of my favorites to drink while I was there for my residential week. Being a part of a brew that scale and with advanced brewing equipment really showed me just how beneficial all of my brewing education has been, and that safety and quality are not to be compromised.  And that graining-out can suck. And it gets really hot. And that most of the stuff around you could easily kill you.

Where do you see the craft beer industry heading in the next few years?

It is tough to project where the craft beer industry will be in the next few years, but if we follow the trends, the tap room business model will still be favored by the small and/or new breweries over distribution, as well as still chasing the haze and pastry craze. There’s also the matter of this craft beer bubble bursting, which seems to get closer with every passing year. With so many breweries still planned to open, we definitely hurl towards a saturation point, which has a lot of established breweries hunkering down and playing it safe to weather the storm.

Describe what it’s like to be a brewer in Pennsylvania.

Being a professional brewer in Pennsylvania is fantastic and competitive. There are so many breweries just in the Philly area alone that are putting out world class liquid and setting the standard for what the public should expect. That in-turn also makes it difficult for new breweries because they need to be doing the same right out of the gate. Other than that, the brewers themselves are all great people and artisans. Having such good comradery and a wealth of knowledge among peers and friends is probably my most favorite thing about this industry.

What’s the inspiration behind your beer names?

Beer names. Jeez. Some happen before the beer, some happen after. Some come to you on a whim, and others get collaborated upon within a brainstorming group. Some are good, some are horrible. Some may actually mean something related to the beer, others could just be low-brow bro humor. For me, I usually like to expand my mind, let the names come to me and hope I have my phone handy to jot them down otherwise I’d most certainly forget them.

What’s your favorite beer to drink right now?

You’re really gonna ask a brewer what their favorite beer is? C’mon… Alright, I’ve been slamming Founders Solid Gold like it’s going to save my life. Fight me.

What’s something in the beer industry you never thought you would see?

These days it’s tough to surprise me, but the one thing that I didn’t expect was just how long the gloop juice and pastry beer craze would last and how nuts it would get. Exploding cans of brite-tank-fruited kettle sours and 12.0 Plato F.G. stouts were not things we were taught to make in brewing school. Not that I’m a stickler for traditional styles or procedures, but most of that stuff is barely beer and “crafted” haphazardly. 

What is the most important lesson you learned in the beer industry so far?

So many hard lessons learned. One of the most important for your own sanity would be to learn how to deal with criticism. You product isn’t going to please everyone, but if you have confidence in your abilities and processes then you should stand proudly behind it regardless of what Carol on Untapped says.

Thank you to Matt Snyder for talking with us! Follow Matt on Instagram to an inside look at him brewing, and visit Weyerbacher Brewing for all the latest beer releases!

Make sure to follow Weyerbacher Brewing Company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.