Q & A with Saint Benjamin Brewing Co.'s founders

Christina Burris and Tim Patton atop a tank at the Saint Benjamin brewery's HQ.
Hillary Petrozziello

The enterprising duo behind Saint Benjamin Brewing Company chose wisely when adopting our city's most widely known symbol of indiscretion for their logo. Mr. Franklin's love of booze is firmly ingrained in his legend, and this South Kensington brewery, launched in 2014, is the latest exemplar of the robust brewing culture that the Northern Liberties/Fishtown/Kensington area has nurtured on-and-off for decades. Saint Benjamin beer is already on tap at American Sardine Bar and Johnny Brenda's, with a reach expanding across the city. Their brews range from a traditional English mild ale to a brisk German Kölsch infused with coffee from nearby ReAnimator. City Paper sat down with co-brewers Tim Patton and Christina Burris (who, along with two others, brew all of Saint Ben's beer) at their three-barrel brewing headquarters, located at Fifth and Cecil B. Moore, to talk about the brewery's origins, the neighborhood's brewing history and their ambitious plans for 2015.

City Paper: How did the brewery start?
Tim Patton: I got the idea to start the brewery in January of 2010. I was looking for a career change, and had been home-brewing. I took my beers on a vacation with me, served them to some friends and they were so well-received that people suggested I start brewing as that other career.
Christina Burris: I was an architectural conservator, and was actually working on another brewery startup with others that didn't pan out. Tim and I had become good friends throughout that process, and we decided that we worked well together, so we teamed up on this venture. That was about a year and a half ago.

CP: You're located within a stone's throw of Yards and Philadelphia Brewing Company (PBC), two of the city's most heralded breweries. Do you see yourself as competitors with these more-established breweries?
CB: Absolutely not, it's a very cooperative and supportive industry. Whether it's sharing information or expertise, selling equipment, it can be a very supportive industry. I wouldn't see it as direct competition at all.

CP: Besides those two breweries, this neighborhood has had a long history of brewing, with Schmidt's and Ortlieb's having been brewed just a few blocks south for decades. Do you see yourself as a part of that history? Is being in this neighborhood, important to you?
CB: Oh, very much so. The building we're sitting in now was the stable house for the Finkenauer Brewery, which went under during Prohibition. We're very much a part of that history.
TP: We very much want to be part of a resurgence in various craft industries that we're seeing in South Kensington. There's at least one distillery in planning for the neighborhood. At some point, someone is going to want to open up another small brewery, and this neighborhood's pretty ideal for that.

CP: Do you feel a connection to South Kensington as something distinct from Fishtown or Northern Liberties?
TP: The people who are in South Kensington have a bit of an identity that is separate from the Fishtown, East Kensington and Northern Liberties thing. I'd say there's a lot of people over here who are really involved in making things. We'd like for us to be a hub for this neighborhood, and we want to reach out to the other ethnic and social groups in this neighborhood to show that this is a place for everyone.

CP: Some of your beers, like the Koffee Kolsh, have unique flavors, while others are much more traditional. Do you have a preference for one or the other?
TP: Well, I would say that we always strive for the flavors to be balanced. We'd never do weird combinations just for the sake of it. Every time I've added something to the beer — for instance, with the Koffee Kölsh, there's still a really good Kölsch that we'd stand behind even if we took away the coffee. We'd never want to use the ingredients to hide the fact that the beer wasn't great.

CP: Would you say that brewing is a calling?
CB: Yes, and for me, it was also an adventure. It was being able to go into business with a very good friend, and to create something and be involved in the neighborhood on a daily basis to create something to sell. And that's an adventure that I think will go on for decades.

CP: So, ultimately, what do you hope for the future of Saint Benjamin?
TP: We definitely plan to have tours, tastings and special brewery events here, once we're better set up for it.
CB: And there will be a pub eventually, too.
TP: And yeah, further down the road, we'll have a fully functioning pub with a kitchen, to serve draft beer.