SCRANTON, Pa. — It's been a long time coming. Pouring a beer at Cooper's Seafood House is nothing new, but pouring one that was brewed in the basement sure is.
"We've been trying to do this – or we thought about doing this – since 1985. But if we can't do it right, we're not going to do it," said chef Mark Cooper. "So, we got it right. We got the right guy for it."
It turns out that in 1985, "the right guy" just hadn't been born yet.
"I used to work in biotech, and a lot of people that work there were really into brewing, and I kind of got into it," said brewmaster Jesse Cooper. "Me and my cousin started brewing like crazy, and once I started, I couldn't stop."
It wasn't long before Jesse Cooper's uncles and father, co-owner Paul Cooper, got a hold of his craft brews.
"We had a happy hour — me and my brothers had a happy hour on a Friday night. We were going to sample some beers, and Jesse brought down four different styles. We tried them and were like, 'Wow, these are not good; they're phenomenal!'" said co-owner Jack Cooper.
So Jesse went from brewing out of his home to brewing out of the cellar of the family business.
"It was definitely a lot of work. I mean, this building's from the 1900s. We turned an old boiler room into a small brew space," Jesse said.
Starting Tuesday night, the Cooper family is saying "cheers" to a new venture, tapping the first kegs full of their very own recipes. It's called "Cooper's Family Brewing."
"It keeps you young. It keeps the business vibrant and moving forward," Jack said.
"Every time we do something new, you get that excitement that builds with everyone in the place, including us. And like Jack said, it keeps us young. There's nothing like it," Mark said.
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