Simple Brewing Company Press Release

Press Release:

Simple Brewing Company LLC, a workers cooperative

02/06/2026, New York, NY

For immediate release

Brew good beer. Give back to the community. It’s that simple.

Simple Brewing Company is a workers cooperative social enterprise brewery in NYC, fixated on wonderful beers and giving back to our community. We brewed our first commercial batch in March 2025 and opened a taproom in June 2025. What if by drinking good craft beer, you made the world a better place, one sip, dollar, and conversation at a time?

As Simple approaches our one-year anniversary, we are excited to get the word out and grow our community even further. People are already taking notice: At the end of 2025, SBC was named as one of the country's best new breweries on VinePair's annual round-up.

If Simple Brewing Company is of interest for coverage, please reach out to us. Here's more on what's been happening!

Brewing up change as a worker-owned cooperative.

• Simple Brewing Company has always done things a little differently. Over a decade of learning, growing, planning, experimenting, collaborating, and refusing to take any shortcuts or compromise any values, this business has evolved as a worker-owned cooperative.

• Everyone who brews, pours, cleans, serves, designs, markets, and strategizes for the brewery also owns the brewery. This model provides equity in ownership and argues for equality and shared vision amid an economy where these tenets are all too often forgotten.

Simple Brewing Company’s mission as a social enterprise.

• SBC’s worker-owned model is part of its establishment as a social enterprise. A social enterprise business is mission-driven, responsible in its decision-making, and prioritizes people over profits. It reimagines business as a force for good.

• A social enterprise does not rely on fundraising or donations: It operates as a business, something people can interact with in their daily lives, and it funnels its earnings to charitable organizations, initiatives, and causes.

Beer made with intention.

• SBC’s original brewing location started in Farmingdale, LI, where we had an alternating proprietorship agreement with Lithology Brewing Co. In early 2026, Lithology went out of business, forcing us to pivot and find a new brewing location. As of May 2026, we moved production to our home borough of Brooklyn and started a new alternating proprietorship agreement with Forever Brewing, a brewery, taproom, and homebrew shop in the Gowanus neighborhood.

• SBC brews with a New York Farm Brewery license under which we source the majority of our ingredients locally. This captures local flavors, celebrates surrounding agriculture, and translates to less shipping and therefore a smaller carbon footprint.

• SBC is a lager-focused brewery and truly believes that time is an ingredient. Instead of racing to grow and cutting corners, SBC takes our time to lovingly craft lagers. Even IPAs and pale ales are fermented cold with lager yeast strains and naturally carbonated for a refined bitterness. No filters, no finings, no carbstones!

• Because SBC puts so much thought and care into our beer, we want to make sure the pouring and serving of it to the customer is just as important. Guests can experience these labor-of-love lagers—as well as hoppy ales that drink as refreshingly as lagers—on Lukr taps, Czech faucets that pour beer with silky yet cloud-like caps of foam, dialing beer’s aromas up to 11.

• SBC considers pouring the beer in traditional Czech ways the final step in “making” the beer. The bartender role is as important as the brewing of the beer itself.

Inviting the community to the table.

• True to its values, Simple Brewing Company has established its taproom in the member-cooperative space of Prime Produce in New York City. There, guests can experience the beer the way the brewers intended it to be. While you can find Simple at an array of NYC bars, you won't find a better pour than at the source.

• From social enterprise principles to belief in the beauty of lager and styles brewed in the fashion of lager, Simple has created a foundation we look forward to building upon: welcoming in future worker-owners, crafting new beers, and uniting taproom guests and imbibers in a mission to drink good beer and do good things.

BIO:

Formed in 2015, opened in 2025.

Current Team:

• Emily Richard, Worker/Owner, Founder, Taproom Lead

• JP Houchens, Worker/Owner, Founder, Brewing Lead

Featured Beers:

Ashleigh

Ashleigh is a Helles lager, a traditional German-style pale lager from Munich. It is a clean, crisp, and refreshing golden beer with a focus on sweet, bready malt flavors balanced by subtle noble hops.

Lager Series

The Lager Series is our take on a German Keller Bier that features a different new world hop with each batch. The Lager Series creates a pale lager with bready and toasty notes that give way to a balanced hop bitterness. Late kettle and whirlpool additions of a featured hop give this beer a new world flair. It’s not exactly traditional, but totally crushable. Featured hops in series past have included Idaho 7 and German-grown Amarillo.

Bam Bam

Bam Bam is a crisp, clean light lager with a grainy sweetness balanced by an herbal, slightly spicy hop aroma. Subtle additions of smoked barley from Weyerman Malting in Bamberg, Germany add a touch of smoke. Rustic yet easy drinking, this beer was inspired by a trip to Franconia.

Zen Mower

Zen Mower is a crisp, straw-colored classic American pale ale with a bready cracker character and a slight caramel finish. The Cascade and Centennial hops provide a classic pine and zesty grapefruit citrus combo, complemented by earthy lemongrass and a slight dankness from the Sorachi Ace hops. Cold-fermented, naturally carbonated, and conditioned for three weeks, this easy-drinking, refreshing beer will help you find your Zen after mowing the lawn.

Vinny

Vinny is a pale, bright American West Coast IPA with pronounced hop bitterness giving way to tropical, citrusy notes. Additions of white wheat malt help to smooth out the mouthfeel, while the combo of Citra and Idaho 7 hops give a dry and modern finish. Dry hopped with German Amarillo; cold-fermented and conditioned for two weeks.

Dark Crystal

Dark Crystal is a hybrid dark lager that is visually opaque black with a lighter body and a smooth, clean taste without a harsh, burnt flavor. Using dark crystal malts, it balances roasted notes, which can evoke coffee and chocolate, with moderate hop bitterness and a dry finish. Crystal hops give it woody, floral, and spice notes, with subtle citrus undertones.