By Jessica Easthope
What used to be St. Joseph’s Monastery and Schoolhouse is now Breaker Brewing Company. The classrooms are now tap rooms, and the aroma of holy incense has been replaced with hops and grain.
Co-owners Chris Miller and Mark Lehman can’t shake what’s left of the holy ground, no matter how much foam and fizz is here today.
“I never knew I’d be working here every day,” Lehman said. “I never knew that it would be part of life in the future, this little church, but that worked out.”
Many brews have been born in this place, but none have been blessed as their latest creation. Like the brewery, its name tells a story that ties the past to the present.
“That research kind of led us down to this path of the 40 Days doppelbock we have today,” said Father Brian Van Fossen, the pastor of St. Faustina Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Wilkes-Barre. “It’s based on that German understanding of beer and has a relatively low alcohol content and a rich, vibrant flavor, but also a lot of really good things in it.”
The Lenten Lager is called 40 Days Brew. Father Van Fossen said the beer serves a dual purpose. One of those purposes is to pay tribute to the history of the beverage once brewed by monks, and the other is to give back. The beer was created to help fight hunger and homelessness in the area.
“The connection with Breaker Brewery is just the connection to the area; you know it’s rooted in the area,” Father Van Fossen said.
The sleepy coal mining community’s roots run straight through Breaker. The 40 Days Doppelbock German-style beer has amber hues and flavors from fruit dark like the coal that put Wilkes-Barre on the map.
The beer that comes out of this tap is more than its ingredients; it’s community. Father Van Fossen said this Lent, instead of giving up a vice, focus on virtue.
So the next time the bells toll at Breaker Brewing Company, it might be that a new beer was created.
If you believe in the power of beer in bringing people closer to each other and, in turn, closer to God, this is a call to action. The Diocese of Scranton’s goal is to sell enough 40 Days Brew to raise $200,000. Breaker Brewing Company keeps only what it costs to make the beer.
The money will go to an initiative called Rectory Set Cook, which will see $2 from every four-pack and $1 from every 40 Days Brew sold, which will be donated to the program that helps those in need in the Diocese of Scranton.
Though this is the first year the Diocese is making beer part of its giving back, the idea started decades ago. Father Van Fossen, co-owner Mark, and a Diocese of Scranton development official, Sandy Snyder, went to Catholic high school together.