On a Friday night, March 2, Luke Bowen was pouring beer at Exton Beverage Company – beer samples, that is.
Luke is one of the founders of a new brand of craft beer called Evil Genius Beer Company. He developed the beer brand with partners Trevor Hayward and Mark Braunwarth, and while Luke says they came up with the name while brainstorming in the basement one night, Evil Genius could easily apply to their strategy for getting into the craft beer game.
These entrepreneurs have created their own beer brand without having to build their own brewery. “We wanted to get in the beer business, but we didn’t have the capital,” Luke explained. He and Trevor graduated with MBAs from Villanova University. “We thought if we could find a brewery with excess capacity…”
So they searched and searched, calling breweries throughout the United States until they landed in South Bend, Indiana. They met the owners of Four Horsemen Brewery and struck a deal. Evil Genius Partner Mark Braunworth has been a brewer for eleven years, having worked at Rock Bottom Brewery and Swashbuckle Brewery, and he developed the recipes.
“Mark goes out to brew new styles and works with their brewer,” Luke told me. “I spend ten days a month out there.”
The first batch of beer they brewed was a golden ale, which they dubbed “Good ‘n Evil,” and which they describe as “a refreshing German Style Ale, with a mild floral flavor and a clean hop finish.” They started selling the golden ale in September, and for the first few months it was available in kegs only. Several Chester County watering holes have been carrying Evil Genius on tap over the past few months, including Side Bar & Restaurant in West Chester. Now it’s available at many area distributors such as Exton Beverage, Waywood Beverage, Pinocchio’s Beer Garden, Goshen Beverage and Beermill Inc. They hope to release their next brew, Evil Eye PA, in May.
As we chatted, Luke still had the look of wonder in his eye. “Seeing cases at a distributor for the first time is pretty cool,” he said. Greg, the owner of Exton Beverage Co., stopped by the sampling table and complimented Luke on the design of the cases. As potential customers walked by, Luke handed out samples and adjusted the ice to keep his beer cold.
Luke explained he and his partners all do a bit of everything, though he notes Trevor is best at operations while he enjoys the sales. “I like shooting the sh*t,” he said with a grin. They are working hard to get Evil Genius up and running with the hope of building their own brewery in the next sixteen months. Luke lives outside of West Chester and Trevor lives in Collegeville. Mark lives in Bloomsburg and is also a brewer at Marley’s Brewery.
“We come in at $35 a case, we want to try and stay under $40,” Luke said, noting most of their beers will be in the range of 4.5% to 6% ABV. “I want you to have more than one of these. We want to brew beers that can be enjoyed by all, whether you are new to craft beer or a craft beer aficionado.”
Luke Bowen will be sampling Evil Genius beer on Friday, March 9th at Waywood Beverage in Kennett Square from 4–6 p.m.
Learn more about Evil Genius Beer Co. by visiting evilgeniusbeer.com. More info on Exton Beverage Co. may be found at extonbeverage.com.
