It's taken years, but Tim Patton's dream of opening a nanobrewery at 1710 N. 5th St. in South Kensington is on the verge of coming true. A couple of summers ago, we told you about Patton's plan to turn a home brewing hobby into a legit business called Saint Benjamin Brewing Company. Now, after navigating the complex zoning, permitting, and licensing processes, the business is nearly ready to start brewing beer for the masses.
Patton and co-brewer Christina Burris will be unleashing particularly crafty beers upon Philadelphia, highlighting unusual and occasionally forgotten malt flavors. Their first beers will include Cream Ale, Coffee Kölsch, Lavender Saison, Orange Blossom Ale, and Le Bon Bock, according to a press release. The plan is to have their first batches of beer ready for Philly Beer Week, which is now a month away. To start, they will only sell beer to bars and restaurants, and won't have any offerings on the premises. By the summer, though, they're hoping to have growlers for sale to the general public. Long term, there are plans to use part of their 15,000 sqft home as a brewpub.
Philadelphia has turned into a big time beer town in the last decade, and it's exciting that a new brewery is joining the fray. It's perhaps even more exciting that this business will be making its home near 5th & Cecil B, in an area that's part up-and-coming neighborhood and part post-industrial wasteland. Hopefully, Saint Benjamin's will experience staggering success and the brewpub will appear in the very near future. This will, ostensibly, draw new people to the area, increasing its visibility, and hopefully lead to the redevelopment of some of the many vacant lots and buildings nearby.
And even neighborhood revitalization stemming from the opening of the nanobrewery is pie-in-the-sky thinking, we're still salivating at the idea of a Lavender Saison. Philly Beer Week, you can't come soon enough!