Back Pew Brewery - Interview with Bobby Harl

As much as I appreciate performing artists, painters, and all of the typical types of “artists” one thinks of when hearing the word “art,” I couldn’t help but think there are other forms. And there are! Wood makers. Glassblowers. People who create jewelry… I thought to myself, “Brew masters are artists.” People don’t really think about making beer as an art form, but it is. Whether it’s sticking with the original ingredients and playing around with different ratios, or going out on a limb and adding things, it’s art. 

I want to support local small businesses. I easily could have gone to Saint Arnold or Karbach, the big names in Houston. I didn’t want to do that. When I was at Spec’s, I stumbled upon something spectacular. 

I was contemplating between 8^thWonder and Saint Arnold when a new colored can caught my eye. Blue Testament. I picked up a can. I observed it carefully. It was clearly a church-themed brewery. As a lifelong Lutheran, I appreciated it. I quickly did a Google search and read more. I loved it all. I HAD to meet the owner and interview him. It was too perfect. I think I sent off an email that afternoon. Within a few weeks I was driving up to Porter, Texas.

I pull up to the brewery and it looks like what used to be an old church. I adored it already. I walked inside and patiently waited for Bobby to finish up some work. I’m sitting inside taking it all in and observing people. It felt like I was at a church. You know how after church, there are people participating in “fellowship?” Talking and drinking coffee? Laughing and catching up? Just all around enjoying each other’s company? That’s what it was. Just trade coffee for beer. It reminded me of my old church from when I was young. The nostalgia was strong. 

I never really come up with too many questions for interviews. I prefer to lead with open-ended questions and let things take their own course. Meet Bobby Harl, founder of Back Pew Brewing.

Question: How did you get into brewing?                           

Response: I was an engineering student. I’m a huge nerd. One part of bioengineering is yeast growth. I thought it was an application of the science…I had a cousin buy this kit and we got together. We brewed the kit and it was good. We thought, “We got this.” Then we tried it on our own. It was not good. 

I was homebrewing at school and started hanging out with the guys at Little Harpeth Brewing Company.I thoughtitwould be a good time to do this back home. I got experience with everything hands-on. I won an entrepreneur contest, and I had some investors. 

Came back in December 2014. Got the space in 2015. We had beer out the door in November. 

Question: How do you choose the types of beers you make, and where did you get the idea for saints/sinners?

Response: The Houston palate typically likes lighter-body, not super malty IPAs, or they want really big imperial stouts, porters, things like that. However, a lot of the IPAs taste similar. There are enough of those.

When I have the opportunity, I like to sit and drink a few beers. When a beer is made right, and has a certain profile, you can do that…It’s a marathon. I don’t drink to get hammered. I like the flavors.

German style lagers. A lot of what we do is around that heritage. It’s malt-forward not hop-forward. It’s a refinement. You have to want to do it. It’s worth the time and energy to make those products the right way. 

What do I want a beer to go back to? Drawing, not my forte…I had an aha moment when I was coming up with my market plan. I was doing market research, aka, I was watching people buy beer.

People will spend time looking at beer…But then they go back and get Coors. There are all of these craft beers, but there’s a higher price point. And these cans and bottles, you can’t tell what’s in them. You’ll have to do extra research. The decision matrix is really big. You need a tool to help fix that. 

I want something light and easy to drink. Or I want something that is going to kick my ass.

Saints and sinners. Unoriginally, I called the brewery the Saints and Sinners Brewing Company. There were some cool spaces in Eado, but the properties weren’t worth it for renting. 

We found this property that had been here for two years. Old church. There was a name that we inquired. Long story short we got rejected. 

A few marketers were looking to do a side project. That’s where Back Pew thing came from. That’s where the saints and the sinners sit. The saints sing the loudest, you put them in the back so you can hear the preacher. And the sinners are usually the ones still drunk from the night before. A lot of our beers are in line with that theme. Sometimes if you have a cool name or idea, you don’t have to stick with it. We might be getting a little further away from that. 

Question: Mental health. Let’s talk about it. 

Response: Mental health is very important. You’ve seen my background. I’m a huge nerd. When I was at Vanderbilt, I met a lot of researchers. Asperger’s interested me. It used to be clinically a separate disease. The amount of debate around it intrigued me. It is spectral, and it needs attention. People are somewhat ashamed of it. I understand that it’s very difficult. But the worst thing you can do is to just do nothing, ignore it, or try to put it in a box. It becomes difficult to see. Additionally, there are so many things. My brother suffers from ADHD. And he’s trying to find the right dosage. There’s no one small conversation about mental health. It’s a large conversation. 

Question: Anything else?

Response:

A few things Back Pew has been supporting – 

• ·     Addi’s Faith
• ·     Festival of Abilities

If you like trying new beer and supporting local businesses, I highly recommend you take a trip up to Porter during one of Back Pew’s many events.