Nested in an eclectic space dressed in wood and stone accents in bustling Berwyn, La Cabra Brewing Company is one of the newer breweries in Pennsylvania’s rapidly growing lineup. Its popularity can be attributed to a staff that pride themselves on a glowing devotion to beer, food and service.
La Cabra’s draft list is impressive—it boasts a variety of styles from wild ales to IPA to lagers, and its Latin-inspired food menu delivers with fun takes on authentic dishes such as the Cubano, with smoked pulled pork, house-cured lonzino, ham, pickle, jalapeño Dijon and Manchego cheese sauce.
The crew at La Cabra will celebrate its one-year anniversary on October 21, and we caught up with partner and brewer Dan Popernack about his first year in business, his future goals and how he transitioned from homebrewing.
Give us the inside scoop on La Cabra.
One important point that informs everything we do is realizing the synergy between food, beer and service. Some of the attention that we’ve received for our food as a stand-alone part of the operation gives us hope that people are noting that there’s something different about this brewpub. Our team, including general manager Chuck Golder and chef John Hearn, is an incredible asset. As a first-time owner, I couldn’t ask for a more dedicated, talented group of professionals.
We have a 7-barrel system and shoot to brew between 700 to 900 barrels per year. We managed to do a bit over 1,000 barrels in our first year, but a good deal of this beer is sleeping downstairs in our cellar.
What makes you tick? What are some of La Cabra’s core values or philosophies?
We do have very strong core beliefs about our work and our place in the region. First, in all phases of the business, we have an earnest, workmanlike attitude toward creativity. I like to say that the beer and food is our work, not the customers’. By this, I mean whether it’s a big juicy double IPA, or foie gras pierogies, the creativity and effort we put in is our focus should make the customer’s job of just sitting back and enjoying as easy as possible.
This means that we err on the side of not “hyping” our process or talking about how special something is to us. To us, it’s the equivalent of running back a 90-yard kickoff, quietly dropping the ball in the end zone and getting back to the bench to let the game go on. We aim to be graceful in success and defeat evenly.
In terms of our corporate goals, we chose the motto, “Gran Vecino.” This means “great neighbor” in Spanish, and is on the back of each staff member’s shirt. Cooking and serving are our passion, but they are not an end in themselves; they’re not our final metrics for success as humans. Whether our IPA wins awards or if it is met with a resounding negative review, our measure of success is how much happiness we can create inside our walls and how much we can use our success to lend a hand to our neighbors.
This is not a novel concept, as brewers around the country dedicate themselves to helping their communities. Compassion and commitment to others seem to be in the brewing industry’s DNA. However, at La Cabra, this value is central to how we treat each other and our guests. It’s a reflection of our partners’ values and flows from the top down. In fact, I’ll be pouring at a charity event to benefit local conservation on our anniversary day. Hopefully, I can make it back to the brewery to catch the The Commission!
You began brewing in your home and used oak barrels for aging. When did you begin homebrewing and what pushed you to age in barrels?
I homebrewed for around 11 years before linking up with my partners to build La Cabra. It started as a business plan I wrote shortly after college and, besides homebrewing, I spent many years working for Matt Guyer at the Beer Yard to understand the industry. I think learning under Matt and how he linked me up with other professionals is the most important influence on how I view La Cabra’s place in the local brewing industry.
Brewing practice and technical training is essential, but an awareness of the industry and the market is just as important. It’s sort of like, “Okay, you know how to make wort … now what should you brew? And what is your voice among many other creative, intelligent people who can make wort?”
As for my passion for barrel aging, I fell in love with the idea of blending. Brewing can be a very mechanical, technical process and, even with barrel aging, there is a great deal of science and best practice involved. However, at the end of the day, the ability to hold an idea in your head and blend toward that idea is an intriguing process for me.
What are some of the differences between aging in barrels at home versus at a fully equipped brewery?
One primary difference between barrel aging at home and in a commercial setting is the need for protocol. At La Cabra, we have our barrels organized by project, we have tasting panels leading up to a blend where we take formal notes and we keep detailed spreadsheets for the life of each barrel to track its unique progress.
At the heart of it: I’m able to construct beers that are built to go into barrels by using those techniques in the brewhouse. Mash composition, temperature, oxygen levels and many more factors act like levers we pull to create flavors a year after brew day. It’s rare that we just throw another project into barrels to “see what happens.” There has to be a high degree of planning and communication to make sure that we are building up a library of flavors to pull from when we blend.
We need to know: What are your favorite La Cabra brews? What is the Aleatory series?
First and foremost, I’m proud of our team’s integrity and devotion to delivering a wide range of styles that are distinct from one another. If we can control our brewhouse and execute 14 different styles at one time, we can achieve anything we set our minds to.
One point of pride that I’ve developed in the work that we (Michael Marinelli, our cellarman; Chuck, our GM; Jacey Royer, our yeast lab manager) produce is that we are a flexible brewhouse. Whether we’re creating a pils, double IPA or roggenbier, we give thought to water composition, recipe formulation and protocol to execute beers that are clean and true to style. As our team gets comfortable working in the space, I’m excited to stretch to do sour IPAs, puncheon-aged saisons and herb/fruit beers.
The Aleatory series is a set of one-off blends that we produce as barrels come to fruition. We want to show folks that we can, indeed, put out some well-executed barrel-aged beers and also make sure that our blending and maintenance is solid before we start putting out singular branded products. I have a ton of people asking me to put out Brettophile because they had it when I was a homebrewer, but if they know me well, they know that I will not put anything out until it’s exactly where I want it.
Aleatory is a way of showing what we’re up to without the pressure of having to repeat blends precisely. When I do release singular brands, I demand of myself and of my team that we put out consistent, quality products. Aleatory is a chance for us to play and find our voice in a new setting while putting out some delicious beers.
La Cabra has an eclectic food menu that leans toward Latin American—where does that inspiration come from, and what are some of your favorite dishes?
The inspiration for our menu comes from my experiences living in Spain for a short time and traveling through South America eating every new food I could. I can’t count the amount of times I had a beautiful food experience with my feet in the sand, watching a fish frying away in a cauldron of oil minutes after being caught, and thought, “Man, I wish I had an American craft beer right now.”
La Cabra aims to bring back some of these experiences for guests in a familiar, comfortable setting. The man in the middle of executing this concept is chef John, and I can’t express how grateful I am to have him on our team. Come in and try his food. Period. His flavors, creativity and earnestness are exactly what La Cabra needed to go from my original concept to the unique, delicious, thoughtful menu that we have today.
La Cabra was recently named best brewpub in the ‘burbs by Philly.com! How does it feel to be recognized, and are there any big plans in the works for La Cabra?
Personally, I know that our staff and executive team is overjoyed to be receiving accolades. It doesn’t suck, not in the least.
However, we are all about being graceful in everything that we do. I tried to instill of a sense of immediacy in our team, a sense of being proud for a moment to enjoy it, then immediately turning around and thinking, “Okay. What’s next?” I sincerely believe that, accolades or not, La Cabra is only beginning to find its collective voice and we are extremely hungry to explore the next beer, the next event, the next challenge.
I can be unnervingly objective (ask my GM) about these things, and I know that with the team that we have, we will continue to question ourselves, grow and become part of a movement of brewpubs where service, food and beer are equally important. The long-term goal is to become a place to bring friends from out of town who are huge into beer, your mother-in-law who thinks your beer hobby is silly, a blind date to play foosball and break the ice … and that they’ll all enjoy it equally. Our team aims to become leaders among breweries/brewpubs with a sense of refinement and class while still maintaining the hunger and creativity that makes beer exciting in the first place.
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The Brewers of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit trade association that brings together leaders of Pennsylvania-based breweries in order to promote and protect the brewing industry in the state. Established in 2011, the Brewers of Pennsylvania serves the consuming public of Pennsylvania by encouraging brand diversity in the market. We believe in the nobility of brewing and hold dear the great traditions and history of Pennsylvania brewing.
Photos: Scott Clay
