Ohio Brewery News

Friday Six Pack with Keefe Snyder, Earnest Brew Works

Every Friday, we ask an Ohio craft brewery owner or employee to answer six questions about their path to the brewing industry, what sets their brewery apart and their thoughts on craft beer in Ohio.

Today we’ll chat with Keefe Snyder, owner of Earnest Brew Works in Toledo

 

What drew you to craft beer and brewing?

I got hooked by stouts and IPAs back in 2005-2006. I enjoy cooking a lot and figured I’d learn how to brew beer as well. It was quite the learning curve!

 

Which of your beers do your customers enjoy the most and why?

We have a rotating schedule of hazy IPAs and fruited sours that get many of our regular customers excited! For the hazy IPAs, we have been trying to make new brands distinct from our existing brands to offer new flavors and aromas to our customers. This usually means trying out new hops, hops combinations and strains of yeast. Our fruited sours have always been properly attenuated, so they don’t fill you up easily. Lately we have been focusing on combining fruits with a specific goal in mind, such as to invoke a particular flavor or accentuate one of the fruits.

 

What’s your favorite thing about your brewery?

Our employees! We have fostered a great team over the years in both the front and back of house. We try to keep things focused on the beer while also being a fun place to work at. A lot of our employees have made it a point to learn about beer styles, brewing ingredients, and techniques so they can do a great job selling the casual customer the right beer (or beers) for them when they visit.

 

Besides your own, what Ohio craft breweries impress you the most and why?

Great Ohio breweries like Great Lakes, Fat Heads, Jackie O’s, Rhinegeist, Columbus Brewing and others inspire me to brew not only delicious but high quality beer.

 

The craft beer scene in and around Toledo has grown quite a bit in the past few years. What do you think is driving demand in northwest Ohio?

Brewery taprooms have changed the Toledo market drastically. A decade ago there were very few options, but now we have more than a dozen. Taprooms are the best places to learn about new beer styles in an environment where the brewer has control from grain to glass.

 

Where do you think craft beer is headed? What do you think craft beer will look like five years from now?

I think the local taproom trend will remain strong. Also, with maturation of third wave craft breweries I think many smaller markets will see more locally packaged beer.