UnCapped: Lost Tavern Brewing

Sep. 28—In this episode of the UnCapped podcast, host Chris Sands heads to Hellertown, Pennsylvania, to talk to Kenny Rampolla, cofounder of Lost Tavern Brewing. They were also joined by guest co-host Scott Peluso (on Instagram @lorenzothebeercat) to talk about steel, dive bars, the history of Lost Tavern and making reels, as well as their Hops 4 Hope festival on Oct. 8. Here is an excerpt of their talk.

UnCapped: Today, I'm at one of Lost Tavern's three locations. What were you doing before Lost Tavern was a thing?

Kenny Rampolla: I'm still involved in a family business. I sell steel for a living, fifth-generation family business.

UnCapped: Weird business for this area.

Rampolla: Yeah [laughs]. We still sell to all domestic companies. It's in the blood, so they say.

UnCapped: I grew up right outside of Pittsburgh, and Hellertown looks like basically just every small town in the Pittsburgh area. It's like a cookie cutter of how every place looks.

Rampolla: Exactly. Hellertown was a steel town. This has been a cool spot to live and kind of be a part of that revitalization of the area around here.

UnCapped: Which road here used to be nothing but bars?

Rampolla: As far as dive bars, we still have one here in town.

UnCapped: I know in the Pittsburgh area, everywhere there was an entrance to the steel mill ... either [the bars] are still there, like in South Side, or there are the skeletons of just 30-plus bars in each direction from the gate.

Rampolla: Yeah, there are quite a few remaining frames from bars down in Bethlehem, even if they're not open anymore. Luckily, I've been able to watch a lot of them turn into really cool, happening places now.

Scott Peluso: Chris really just wanted to know where we were going later, what dive bar we were finding. Usually whenever Chris enters our group, we'll find the divey-est bar that doesn't know it's a dive bar. That's how I say it's a good dive bar: when you go in and they don't even know that they're a dive bar. That's what constitutes it for me.

Rampolla: We certainly have a way of finding them as well, within our town and outside.

UnCapped: I think that's just in your blood, growing up in a steel town.

Peluso: The rust and the dive bars.

Rampolla: That's another beer name.

UnCapped: Rust & Dive Bars. What got you into craft beer?

Rampolla: I gotta give a big shoutout to my partner Tony [Gangi, co-president and head of operations] on that one. I'd been passionate about beer prior. I actually moved to Wisconsin the year after I graduated from Penn State, and Milwaukee is a great beer town. I got a quick crash course on what to drink.

Peluso: Spotted Cow? What was the beer?

Rampolla: Budget was still tight.

Peluso: Pabst?

Rampolla: Speaking of dive bars.

UnCapped: Milwaukee's Best?

Rampolla: There was plenty of that at Penn State. There was a build-your-own six-pack shop down the street from my apartment that I could walk to, and when I started to make a little bit of income, I was able to bite into that scene.

I did start my home brewing out there with one test-batch ferment. Tony, who's the true inspiration behind the beer and the producing of it at Lost Tavern, he kicked us off as our head brewer and started production.

UnCapped: What did you use to make your first home brew?

Rampolla: A kit.

Peluso: The one from Bed Bath & Beyond?

Rampolla: It was Coopers.

UnCapped: I've decided to start conducting a poll, because I feel like over 50% of brewery owners I've interviewed, the first time they home brewed was with a Mr. Beer kit. So I wanna know how many breweries in this country are a direct result of a Mr. Beer kit.

Rampolla: My sister actually bought it for me, knowing I was really starting to have a passion for craft beer. Then I moved back, and Tony had me over to the garage where he was brewing at the time, and although it was a small system, it was a huge, eye-opening experience about what we were about to dive into.

UnCapped: What was your gateway to craft beer?

Rampolla: I have to say Left Hand Milk Stout was one of my my first loves, as far as a nitro pour.

UnCapped: My wife drank so much Left Hand nitro-style after having, I think, our second daughter. She wanted a Guinness afterwards, so I went to the store and they didn't have any, so I grabbed her a Left Hand.

Peluso: What store was that?

UnCapped: They were sold out.

Peluso: What day was it, St. Patrick's Day?

UnCapped: It was just some place that doesn't have a large stock of it. Anyway, she loved it, so she drank tons of that.

This excerpt has been edited for space and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at fnppodcasts.com/uncapped. Got UnCapped news? Email csands@newspost.com.