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Would you say the beer drinkers in Lancaster are any different than the beer drinkers in L.A. proper?

Yes, but not as much as I thought they were going to be. The beer culture out there is virtually non-existent, but it turns out that’s just because nobody’s gone out there yet. People work in L.A., or they lived in Los Angeles before and moved out there. So they definitely have the thirst for craft beer, but there’s just no market for them. We’ve opened up, and now the Bravery’s opened up. We’re definitely filling that niche. We opened up without an IPA, because I thought it would be my job to be a preacher, to proselytize and teach about good craft beer. It turns out when we opened up, we had our core four. We had a pale ale, no IPA, and the people were indignant. They’re like, “Where’s your India Pale Ale? Where’s your IPA at?” I was like, “I didn’t think you’d be ready for that yet. I didn’t think you people existed.” “We want IPA!”

And now you have one?

We do, yes.

As far as naming beers, what’s your approach?

That it fits the Kinetic mold. Kinetic, mostly meaning energy, but it means motion. We’re in an aerospace area. We built the space shuttle, we broke the sound barrier. We don’t do that much anymore, so now the region is more about alternative energy. Solar power. Wind power. And Kinetic just fits into all of that. Aerospace, aviation, energy, motion, so our beers are named Ignition, Velocity, Fusion, Test Flight, Potential Blonde, Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, so we definitely have a science/engineering feel to them.

What’s your top selling beer?

Either Potential Blonde or Rusted Gear. It kind of goes back and forth. And over the summertime we do a White Tie, which is a witbier with Kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass.

Why do you think those are your best sellers?

The Potential Blonde is the closest thing we have to a Bud Light. So in that market it kind of works. While there are craft beer fans out there, we still do have to do a lot of proselytizing and teaching, so we get a lot of Bud Miller Coors converts. Potential Blonde is the closest thing we have to that, it’s a German style Kolsch. And then the Rusted Gear, I refer to that as our gateway beer. It’s kind of like a Fat Tire, or a Newcastle. It’s an amber, malty, lightly hopped beer. That’s a little more craft. It’s like, “Oh, you like the Potential Blonde? Here, try this beer.” And you kind of go to pale ales and IPAs and saisons and whatnot from there.

What was the most recent beer that you brewed, and what was your inspiration?

The most recent on tap is Oktoberfest because it’s that time of year, but we brewed that back in June. Lately, we’ve actually just been doing our core brands, trying to keep up, because we have a lot of beer going out of the bar. We have a biergarten at the stadium. There’s a Single A minor league baseball team, so we have a biergarten out there. Baseball’s over now, but we sold 35 barrels of beer to them over the course of five months. As far as fun beer, the prickly pear was recent, yes. Our First Gear, our first anniversary beer, was brewed back in July. We put that into Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. We’re aging that for our December 29 release.

What’s your favorite part about working with beer?

Everything and nothing. It’s a chore, especially being a business owner. But the people. Working with people, getting to see the people enjoying your product. Putting smiles on people’s faces. It’s very fulfilling.

What’s the biggest challenge about working in the beer world?

Just one? We have a restaurant as well. We’re a brewpub, and that’s been my biggest headache. I don’t come from the restaurant world. I come from an engineering background, and everything fits into neat little squares and circles in the engineering world. The restaurant’s not like that at all.

How are you able to maintain balance in your life, if you’re even able to?

I have a very, very, very helpful and forgiving wife. I’ve got two small kids, a four-year-old and a six-year-old, and it’s challenging. It’s really challenging ,but you just have to go home at night and leave work at the door and go in and see your family and be with your family and pick that up at the door and head back to work. Separating work at home is a challenge, but that’s what keeps me grounded, that separation from work and home, and then my family helps to give me that balance that I need.

If you could only drink one more beer, and you could not brew it, what would it be and why?

It would have to be a Belgian Lambic, probably Cantillon, but I would settle for Drie Fontinien.

How come?

I just love sour beer, especially the Lambic style. Also, I love all sours. Berlinerweisse, Geueze, but definitely the Lambic Geueze is by far my favorite.