Brothers Sean and Andy Arsenault have joined the Philly craft beer scene and set up a brand new brewery on West Passyunk, which will distribute through Penn Distributors as Brewery ARS.
 

This brewery, dreamed up by Sean and Andy in 2007, is a long-term passion project in the making after the two of them began experimenting with homebrewing. Andy headed off to UC Davis to study brewing and followed that up with a few years at Victory in Downingtown, and Sean traveled throughout Europe, visiting countries like Germany and Belgium and focusing on breweries. “Whoever opened the door [at the brewery], I would just go in and pick their brain about how beer should be made,” said Sean when we spoke to him over the phone. After living in France for 4 years, Sean returned to the states to work with Andy once more, saying, “This brewery is a culmination of everything we learned throughout Europe, California, and Victory.”
 

Brewery ARS was funded solely through private donations and investors (the brothers held tasting events in their living room to find interested parties) and through a Kickstarter that raised $30,000 (which was a few thousand over their initial goal). The brothers then spent awhile looking for garage-style spaces in residential neighborhoods, finally finding one on West Passyunk. “The support we’ve had on West Passyunk has probably been the most humbling thing about this experience,” Sean said.
 

Since the location is just 1600 square feet, Sean told us that the space would mostly be the brewery itself, but they hope to introduce monthly tours sometime next summer and set up a casual, coffee-shop style space as a tasting room. Their beers will be distributed to local restaurants in kegs only, and Sean and Andy will focus specifically on saisons, hoping to eventually introduce 20 beers. Their debuts will be called the Starving Artist and the Antiqu’n, respectively.

Keep an eye out for Brewery ARS brews heading to restaurants near you, and we’ll update when they release more brews or debut their tours.

Photo via Brewery ARS