g n i w e r B Vortex d n a y n a Comp hip s d n e i r the F It Behind BY JJ SHE
FFER | D
COMM IRECTOR,
UNIT Y PR
OGRAMS
Vortex Brewing Company began, as so many great
Thirty years later, a job change for Janiak coincided with Foard’s
things do, as an idea sketched on a napkin. After three
retirement from the construction industry, and they decided it
decades of drinking beer together, owners Ed Janiak
was time to create a public gathering place that would offer the
and Richard Foard decided it was time to open their
comfortable, communal feel of Janiak’s basement, as well as his
own brewery. They’ve come a long way from the napkin
craft brews, to others.
sketch; the brewery is currently under construction in New Freedom and will open in early fall of this year.
“We looked at a lot of spots, but were drawn to New Freedom,” Foard says. “We fell in love with the town.” Their completed building,
Head Brewer Janiak’s interest in beer began when he
next to Northern Central Railway in downtown New Freedom, is within
was in the Navy in the 1980s and discovered British,
100 yards of the York County Heritage Rail Trail, so they’re making
German, and Dutch brews while serving abroad. He
plans to accommodate bikes and dogs and visitors to the train station.
came home and began to seek out craft beer – far less prevalent in the U.S. in those days – and eventually got a
“Our intention is to build the best possible space that we can for
part-time job at a local brewery, where he learned how
the community,” Janiak says. Once the space is open, the visitor
to brew. When his wife gifted him a home brew kit, he
experience will focus on good beer – as well as other beverages,
began hosting a weekly home brew night for his friends,
such as ciders, seltzers, and beer slushies – and good service.
including Foard and their wives, and everyone would
Janiak is eager to start brewing on their new system and introduce
gather in his basement to hang out and enjoy
guests to a variety of beer styles and seasonal brews, presented
the beer.
with perfect pours.
“We always wanted to have a place that we could do
“I think customer service is a big deal,” Janiak says. “Nothing is
something like that publicly,” Janiak says, “and be able
more satisfying as a customer than them putting that coaster
to make and serve my beer, and have a place our
on the bar, pouring that perfect beer, having that rocky head,
friends and family and the neighborhood can come to
that perfect presentation, sitting it in front of you and it tastes
and have a great pint of beer and great conversation in
perfect. That, to me, is the epitome of what bar service should
a communal place and enjoy each other’s company.”
be for craft beer.”
10 • YoCo CONNECT | SUMMER 2022 • Vortex Brewing Company and The Friendship Behind It
