Tom Pastorius had modest goals in 1986 when he opened Penn Brewery — brew real German beer, served in a real German beer hall environment. 

Now, 22 years later, Pastorius, credited with introducing the microbrewery/brewpub/craftbrewer industry in Pennsylvania, is stepping down from his creation. On Friday, the hometown guy with the deep German roots announced his retirement, effective in September, from what today is known as Penn Brewery Restaurant. 

Pastorius is looking to sell his remaining 20 percent interest in the business.

“There’s never a best time to leave, especially when you create something, but when I sold 80 percent of the business five years ago, I said I’d stay five years,” Pastorius said. “I’ll be 64 years old, I want to do some other things.

In 2003, Pastorius sold majority ownership in Pennsylvania Brewing Co. to private equity firm Birchmere Capital, a move spearheaded by Jack Isherwood, a former chief executive of Pittsburgh Brewing Co. — now Iron City Brewing.”I met Jack at a party,” Pastorius said. “He had always been interested in the beer business and about that time my children, then in their 20s, had determined they didn’t want to be in the business. I wasn’t looking to sell, but I had to think of who would take over.”

Pastorius’ goal when he opened for business at the foot of Troy Hill, site of the former Eberhardt & Ober Brewery, was to brew 10,000 barrels of premium German-style beer annually.

“We’ve blown right past that number,” Pastorius said.

Today, das Bierhaus that Pastorius built is an interstate, multi-beer enterprise, which includes a restaurant that opened in 1989 that does more than $1 million annually in food sales.

The 1989 opening was historic because it was Pennsylvania’s first tied house — in which a brewery operates in conjunction with a restaurant — since Prohibition.

 

“The thing about Tom is his desire for this business — it’s as solid as the wooden tables he built for the pub,” said Lew Bryson, a professional writer who covers the beer and ale industry in Pennsylvania. “With Tom, if you order a sandwich, he’s the one who makes it. If you buy a case of beer, he’s the one who gets it. I don’t know if that’s the German in him or not, but that’s Tom.” 

The brewery’s flagship brew, Penn Pilsner, and six sibling beers are available, depending on the time of year, throughout Pennsylvania, New York City, Delaware and major portions of Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and North Carolina. Annual beer revenues: $4 million, Pastorius said.

“My biggest surprise was how fast we grew,” Pastorius said. “I certainly didn’t intend to get into the food business. This area has a lot of people with German ancestry and they, and even a number of German visitors to the area, make this a stop for authentic food and beer.”

Pastorius certainly had the lineage to be successful. His great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Franz Daniel Pastorius, was a friend of William Penn, led the first group of German immigrants to the Americas in 1683 and founded Germantown, now a Philadelphia neighborhood.

Pastorius lived and worked in Germany for 12 years, so when he and wife, Mary Beth, relocated back to Pittsburgh, he determined the city needed a real German beer and a realistic German beer hall.

“We made a lot of people happy in this town, but I’m looking forward to not being here every Saturday night until midnight or 1 a.m.,” Pastorius said.