New owners to re-open Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville
The Rebirth of Steel City
Steel City Coffeehouse sources locally and supports fellow small businesses. They work with Elizabeth Stoudt of Wonderful Good Market in Adamstown, Crust Vegan Bakery, Rose's Gluten Free, FlakelyGF and with Baba's Brew in Phoenixville. Breakfast is available until 4pm daily and includes: a Two Egg Breakfast, our signature Poached Egg & Potato Breakfast Bowl, and an unbelievable Breakfast Flatbread. Check out the full menu offerings HERE, or call to inquire about our daily specials, soups and homemade ice cream flavors.
Steel City Coffeehouse is BYO until 1/31/2019 and available for private parties. Any occasion - fundraisers, rehearsals, small gatherings, anniversaries, business meetings, breakfast seminars, private concerts and more.
Steel City Coffeehouse is BYO until 1/31/2019 and available for private parties. Any occasion - fundraisers, rehearsals, small gatherings, anniversaries, business meetings, breakfast seminars, private concerts and more.
Owners: Ed & Laura Simpson
LAURA & ED SIMPSON
|
The dynamic duo of Laura Vernola and Ed Simpson have purchased Steel City Coffeehouse and Music Venue, located at 203 Bridge St. in Phoenixville, PA. The couple plans to continue the Steel City tradition of great coffee, delicious food and incredible live entertainment. This is the first establishment that the couple have opened together after successfully operating a boutique marketing firm together for the past three years. “When we recently heard that Steel City was closing its doors, we, along with many others in the community, were very upset. Instead of watching a beloved fixture of the town disappear, we decided to do something about it.” Says Laura.
Laura Vernola boasts an impressive resume, having worked throughout her career with the likes of Iron Chef Jose Garces and Real Estate Mogul Bart Blatstein, to name a few. Laura was also the owner of the Vegas-themed Deuce Restaurant & Bar, an award-winning, wildly popular establishment in Northern Liberties from 2004 to 2008. Ed Simpson is an amateur musician and has over 30 years of hospitality experience, most recently a seven year stint at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort in Bernalillo, New Mexico. |
HEAD BREWER:
HEAD BREWER:
SETH CLEARWATER
Seth Clearwater’s journey to craft beer and brewing was definitely more tortoise than hare. He enjoyed craft-ish beers in college (Guinness and Fosters counted in Gettysburg) and slowly expanded his interests in the years after, though he never had the “Eureka!” moment associated with any particular beer. In 2008, building off a deepening interest in food and from-scratch cooking sparked by his wife Leslie, Seth made his first beer with a basic starter kit and a classic homebrewing text. The first beers weren’t great. But they were indeed beer, they were his, and the satisfaction of drinking your own beer makes improving a labor of love. His efforts started to sing, but that momentum was hard to sustain while starting a family (Seth and Leslie have two sons, Gabe and Oliver). But in 2013, armed with a better beer palate, new brewing techniques, and a touch more free time, he dove back in with both feet. He soon joined the Stoney Creek Homebrewers and built a minimalist-yet-sophisticated basement brewery. Seth is a certified Beer and Mead Judge, organizes competitions for SCH, and has won numerous awards for brewing at local and not-so-local competitions.
His brewing philosophy these days is that “everything old is new again:” he loves to brew classic and traditional styles (English IPA, Altbier, Munich Dunkel, historic Porters, and so on) tweaked with modern ingredients and techniques. It’s his way of honoring the long tale of beer and brewing while adding a few new pages of his own. And while his brewing focuses on full-flavored but lower-alcohol beers--drinking beers, not things so intense you have to sip them from a snifter--he loves to craft the occasional Belgian quadrupel, Baltic porter, or English October beer. More than anything, Seth wants to show people that any beer can be brewed well with a surprisingly small amount of space and equipment--ingredients, skill, and intention matter most.
Like most home-brewers, he was asked often when he planned on opening a brewery, a suggestion that was usually laughed off as being too time-intensive, too expensive, too outlandish. Yet a recent trip to Asheville, NC-- just down the road from his hometown in Durham--had convinced him that a foray into brewing was bound to be somewhere in his future, even if the path wasn’t clear at the time. Two days later he learned that Steel City’s owners Laura and Ed needed a brewer with an appreciation for “cafe culture” and the technical know-how to run a small brewing operation. They had already shown a combination of skill and commitment in rescuing Steel City, and this bravura leap into what, for them, is an unknown area (neither Laura nor Ed are brewers or beer experts) piqued Seth’s interest. When Laura and Ed told him they wanted to make “damn good beer” in Steel City’s tiny basement, he was hooked.
Stars aligning, karma, fate, whatever you want to call it--Seth and Steel City found each other at just the right time and with just the right visions. Let the brewing adventure begin!
His brewing philosophy these days is that “everything old is new again:” he loves to brew classic and traditional styles (English IPA, Altbier, Munich Dunkel, historic Porters, and so on) tweaked with modern ingredients and techniques. It’s his way of honoring the long tale of beer and brewing while adding a few new pages of his own. And while his brewing focuses on full-flavored but lower-alcohol beers--drinking beers, not things so intense you have to sip them from a snifter--he loves to craft the occasional Belgian quadrupel, Baltic porter, or English October beer. More than anything, Seth wants to show people that any beer can be brewed well with a surprisingly small amount of space and equipment--ingredients, skill, and intention matter most.
Like most home-brewers, he was asked often when he planned on opening a brewery, a suggestion that was usually laughed off as being too time-intensive, too expensive, too outlandish. Yet a recent trip to Asheville, NC-- just down the road from his hometown in Durham--had convinced him that a foray into brewing was bound to be somewhere in his future, even if the path wasn’t clear at the time. Two days later he learned that Steel City’s owners Laura and Ed needed a brewer with an appreciation for “cafe culture” and the technical know-how to run a small brewing operation. They had already shown a combination of skill and commitment in rescuing Steel City, and this bravura leap into what, for them, is an unknown area (neither Laura nor Ed are brewers or beer experts) piqued Seth’s interest. When Laura and Ed told him they wanted to make “damn good beer” in Steel City’s tiny basement, he was hooked.
Stars aligning, karma, fate, whatever you want to call it--Seth and Steel City found each other at just the right time and with just the right visions. Let the brewing adventure begin!
Audio Engineer:
KENNETH C. HOMER
SOUND GUY
Ken Homer - 43 years in the music biz. House sound at Turks Head Tavern, The Original Cabaret, Joe's (The Sportsman's Lounge), Kennett Flash and for the past few years at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville. Ken toured with George Thorogood, Get Right Band, Parent-Johnson Band, Tom Larsen and David Bromberg. Plus 16 years at Longwood Gardens.
|
|
