Philadelphia, PA-based Sacred Vice Brewing started as a small nanobrewery when they first launched in 2018. The brewery was founded by cousins Matt Brodsky and Justin Steinberg who, as most professional brewers do, started out homebrewing.

Sacred Vice

Matt and Justin grew up together and spent a lot of time hanging out. The “bug” for brewing started when a book about the history of Philadelphia’s beer brewing was gifted by Justin to Matt. They were all in on eventually starting a business together.

Sacred Vice is named after what they considered a sacred day spent together brewing beer, their favorite vice! The name fits perfectly and has a great meaning behind it. It’s not often that you get to do something you love as a job and do that job with a close family member.

Both Matt and Justin consider themselves extremely blessed to be able to build a dream into reality. The reality of becoming part of Philadelphia’s long and epic brewing history. The booming craft beer scene they joined spans from the north side of Philadelphia from Callowhill to Northern Liberties, to Fishtown through Kensington.

A Building With History

Their first taproom is nestled in the bowels of an old textile mill. The textile mill was redeveloped decades ago into a special community of artisans and artists. Called Richmond Mills, it’s still the home of many painters, glassblowers, word-workers, pottery studios and other artisanal businesses. That list of businesses also includes Sacred Vice and one other brewery. “The vibe in our Amber Street location is your great-aunt’s living room, with photos and keepsakes from the co-founders’ family watching over the place,” said Matt Brodsky.

“Our new taproom’s home is also, you guessed it, a former textile mill called Clifton or Chatham Mills,” said Matt. It’s at the corners of Berks and Howard streets. This makes complete sense, since Philadelphia was known as the “World’s Greatest Workshop” and was once one of the world’s biggest manufacturing cities. “For atmosphere at our second location, we mirror the first with eclectic and family decorations and comfort and community being the key,” said Matt. Their new location has one big difference though, windows and natural light!

Rubbish

Rubbish is a carefully crafted New England Style IPA named after head brewer and partner, Andrew Rubenstein. Matt explained that Andrew’s nickname is Ruby, with Rubbish being a derivation of that when partners want to poke a little fun.

Rubbish, the beer, is a New England style IPA stripped down to its simplest parts. Pilsner malt, flaked wheat and oats in the mash, single hopped with Citra. “Ruby came up with this recipe, and many recipes at this point,” noted Matt. The team still harkens back to recipes from time to time that were started by Justin or Matt as well.

Rubbish is an absolute delight of a beer! The initial taste is that of citrus, strawberry and candied fruit, with a lingering zest at the end. Incredibly low bitterness paired with the flaked oats and pilsner malts create a soft, pillowy mouthfeel. If you’re a fan of this style, it’s definitely one to seek out, it’s hazalicious!

Rubbish comes in at 6% ABV, so you can enjoy a few without going overboard, and it doesn’t fill you up to where you feel bad for partaking in said few beers. You honestly don’t get the beer bloat from this beer, which is very nice for us consumers!

Overall, Rubbish is a textbook New England style IPA. It’s hard to believe that this sensational tropical fruit bomb is only single hopped with Citra. I’m not sure what resident wizard Andrew did so differently to make this stand out so much, but he absolutely nailed it! Our compliments to the brewer.

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