In Spring Garden, Triple Bottom Brewing taps a socially conscious side of the beer business

The beer scene along Spring Garden Street east of Broad Street has exploded in the last few years, with Yards, Love City, and Roy-Pitz.

How about a fourth for the so-called Spring Arts District: Triple Bottom Brewing, opening its taproom and brewing facility on Sept. 12 in a former Reading Railroad building at 915 Spring Garden St., across from Roy-Pitz and the forthcoming Lucky Well barbecue restaurant.

“Triple Bottom” refers to what owners Tess Hart; her husband, Bill Popwell; and brewmaster Kyle Carney call the “triple bottom line” — the impact on beer, people, and the planet. Hart and Popwell’s backgrounds are in community development, and they frequent brewpubs. “We started noticing that people were making connections there that they weren’t making anywhere else,” she said. “We started noticing how vibrant they were as community gathering places.”

They’re partnering with Project HOME, the Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project, and the Mural Arts Restorative Justice Program in various facets of the business, including providing employment.

They call Triple Bottom Brewing a “fair-chance business” that recruited some employees from a pool of applicants who struggle to find work in the mainstream economy because of barriers such as having experienced incarceration or homelessness.

They’ve been working with the neighborhood for a while. Among the take-aways, the partners decided to add a good selection of nonalcoholic drinks. “Not everyone wants a beer,” Hart said.

The neighborhood also can use Triple Bottom’s back room, which has a sliding door for privacy. Hart said they want to use it for bingo nights or musical performances.

Triple Bottom’s eco-friendly practices will extend to power, as all of the electricity is offset by wind power renewable energy credits, and all brewing wastewater is treated before being sent down the drain. The spent grain goes to local farms, as well.

Carney, who worked for Weyerbacher, is working on a 10-barrel system. Along with beers, the taproom will serve a small food menu, including oversize cookies baked with malt syrup (created in-house), caramel, pretzels, and chocolate chunks. Local keg wine from Karamoor Estate and cider from Hale & True will be offered.

Hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.