Our Story
- The 1/2bbl fermenter set up in Chris G’s garage.
Best friends since high school, Chris Reigrut and Chris Garner, owners of Halfpenny Brewing Company, share a love of beer that goes back almost as far as their friendship. Even before they met, brewing was a part of their identities. Chris Reigrut grew up in Germany, mostly in Bavaria, a part of the world steeped in brewing tradition. Chris Garner’s great-grandfather was a brewer and distiller in Pennsylvania who had to shut down the family business during Prohibition.
With brewing in their blood, the two started homebrewing together in 1996–first in 5 gallon batches, then with a half-barrel all-grain system. Despite the larger production, they found they barely had a six-pack apiece after fulfilling the requests of thirsty friends, neighbors and family. They were making beer worth sharing!
After many years of dreaming about opening a brewery “someday,” they realized in 2014 that they had a brief window of opportunity between their respective families’ college tuition needs and began planning to “turn pro.”
In early 2016, after almost two years, dozens of locations scouted, and thousands of hours of construction, they finally opened the doors to Halfpenny Brewing Company so they can share their love of beer with the rest of the world.
The Name
In 2014, Chris and Chris realized that they had a short window of opportunity to try to open the brewery-either that, or wait until they were closer to retirement. Jumping in with both feet, they committed to getting the brewery opened by the time they turned 50 – a “Half Century.” After a while, this morphed into “Half Cent” and finally “Halfpenny.” In honor of their age and with a nod towards their love of traditional English and German beers, they had their name! The best part was, no other breweries were using it.
The People
Chris R
Owner / Brewer
Chris is one of the owner/brewer pair of Halfpenny. He's an avid sports fan, decent cook, computer geek, world traveler and loves to try new things. When he's not at the brewery, you'll likely find him taking his kids to their multitude of activities!
Chris G
Owner / Brewer
The other of the two owner/brewers of Halfpenny, Chris G enjoys skiing and used to be a runner before opening the brewery. With most of the kids out of the house now, he has been using all his free time to, well, open a brewery.
Chris R
Owner / Brewer
Chris is one of the owner/brewer pair of Halfpenny. He's an avid sports fan, decent cook, computer geek, world traveler and loves to try new things. When he's not at the brewery, you'll likely find him taking his kids to their multitude of activities!
Chris G
Owner / Brewer
The other of the two owner/brewers of Halfpenny, Chris G enjoys skiing and used to be a runner before opening the brewery. With most of the kids out of the house now, he has been using all his free time to, well, open a brewery.
Chris R
Owner / Brewer
Chris is one of the owner/brewer pair of Halfpenny. He's an avid sports fan, decent cook, computer geek, world traveler and loves to try new things. When he's not at the brewery, you'll likely find him taking his kids to their multitude of activities!
Chris G
Owner / Brewer
The other of the two owner/brewers of Halfpenny, Chris G enjoys skiing and used to be a runner before opening the brewery. With most of the kids out of the house now, he has been using all his free time to, well, open a brewery.
FAQ
Brewery & Taproom
We have food trucks most nights, but we also sell hot Bavarian pretzels and other snacks. You're also welcome to bring your own or order food from one of our neighborhood restaurants.
If your pet is friendly, we're pet friendly! Pets must be on a leash at all times. Please keep pets off of the furniture. Out of respect for our musicians, pets are not allowed inside during performances.
No. When it comes to alcohol, we can only serve the beer that we brew (or partner with another brewery).
Absolutely! We have several spaces available for events. Just give us a call or email us and we'd be happy to reserve one for you.
Absolutely! We welcome people of all ages. We have water, coffee and a variety of sodas. If beer and conversation isn’t enough to keep everyone occupied, we have cards and other games, as well a library full of books and magazines (mostly about beer). We also sometimes put on family events, like movie nights.
Policies
Due to tax reasons, we can only ship gift cards.
You are always welcome to return or exchange new, unused items.