Starting in the 1950s beer started getting big.  I’m not talking about Imperial Stouts, or Barleywines, I’m talking about scale.  Business.  Money.  I’m talking greed and expansion.  This for years is what we associated with beer, and brewing for that matter.  Million dollar marketing budgets, greedy guys in suits drinking their cans of fizzy yellow water.

Dogberry brewing, the idea of Chris Frede and Tony Meyer is one of hopefully the first breweries in this area that will take that formula that has worked so well for years, and literally throw it out the window and do the opposite.  Armed with an arsenal of recipes that lean toward west coast, hop forward beers, they are hoping that the beer will speak for itself when their new customers walk through their door for the first, or hundredth time.

The exciting things about their operation are things that most other breweries wouldn’t dream of trying.  From brewing in the parking lot on sunny days, to brewing what they want to brew, not what someone tells them the market is demanding.  You will see no pumpkin beers flowing from these taps.  Nor will you find a kitchen within their walls.  Food trucks? Not even on their radar.  Who says the status-quo is worth a damn anyways?

The focus of Dogberry is very beer-centric, but the focus of Chris and Tony is their families.  The brewery will be family friendly, and it’s hours will be such that they are still able to spend time at home with those that matter most to them.  It all makes sense, in the most backward way possible.  Make less beer… Make the beer we want to make… Close early so we can go home…  It all seems to fit in this nano-brewing model that is being finely tuned in West Chester.  All one needs to do is spend a few minutes talking to the duo and you will find yourself getting as excited about a 1 barrel brewery in West Chester as you would a 30 barrel brewery opening in OTR.  What makes them different, makes them special, just like Mom always said.

The taproom itself carries on this same feeling, somewhat of a “homebrewer’s basement” in the nicest way possible (Even if it might be every homebrewers dream rig and setup).  With Dogberry, it’s so much about the feeling that you get when you look at it as a whole.  It’s filling in a space in our beer scene that is sorely lacking, and hopefully it’s the catalyst to many other nano scale breweries opening up on the outskirts of our central beer scene.

Dates are still to come, but they are hoping for an October opening date, so be sure to like them on facebook, follow them on twitter, and keep checking back for updates.