Guild Member Spotlight: Lost Tavern Brewing

(Left to Right: Kenny Rampolla; Evan Holland; Derek Lutz; Ken Rampolla; Anthony Gangi)

As mentioned in previous spotlights, the Lehigh Valley offers a rich history that can be felt throughout the area. It is great to see that businesses can pay tribute to this history, and use their understanding of it to shape the future of the Valley.

“Honor the Past. Craft the Future.” That is the slogan of today’s Guild Member Spotlight: Lost Tavern Brewing. We toured Lost Tavern’s new production facility, in Hellertown with the owners and brewers, having great conversations that mirrored the theme of their slogan. All of this was very fitting, as they celebrate their 6th anniversary this weekend, honoring their hard work, their town, and the history that brought us Lost Tavern.

Lost Tavern Brewing first opened its doors in Hellertown on July 1st, 2016. Since then, the Main Street location has been a watering hole for residents with plenty of others from the Lehigh Valley making their way over to Hellertown. This location offers both indoor and outdoor seating, games such as shuffleboard and darts, regular live music, and great craft beer.

In May of 2019, their second taproom opened within the Moravian Bookstore on Main Street in Bethlehem. Both locations have continued to grow their presence, along with the brand as a whole, requiring the recent opening of a new production facility, also located in Hellertown. This new production facility hosts a 15 barrel brew system with a number of fermenters and brite tanks. The state of the art system will push Lost Tavern into the future and allow them to grow at their own pace.

The Lost Tavern leadership takes great pride in Hellertown as their headquarters. Ken Ramolla, CEO of Lost Tavern, tells us, “The intentions have always been to leave a positive stamp on our hometown.” Even the name, “Lost Tavern” is a nod to the original tavern of Hellertown. This original tavern’s location is unknown and the only remnant is a tavern license purchased by Christopher Wagner in 1746.

While the story of Wagner’s Tavern may be lost, Hellertown’s “new” Lost Tavern is building a Tavern that wants to stand the test of time. Current Co-President and Head of Operations, Anthony Gangi turned a passion for homebrewing into a business idea for a Hellertown brewery. In his search for a location, he heard that the Ramolla family owned a beautiful historic location on Main Street, which had a vacant first floor. Anthony brought the brewery idea to Kenny Rampolla (Ken’s son), who then both presented the idea to Ken. Having built successful businesses and being up for more entrepreneurial endeavors, Ken agreed to go into business, turning the first floor of his 90+ year old building into Lost Tavern.

The building was built in 1927 as an automobile garage and later served the community as both a bowling alley and hardware store. This setting was the perfect location for a business wanting to honor the history of the town. Before this year, Lost Tavern’s walls were a shared brewery/taproom space.

From the start, Ken, Kenny, and Anthony planned to grow this business into one that would bring recognition to Hellertown on a regional and even national level. They not only wanted to be successful in terms of their own business but help out their community. They were able to accomplish this by expanding their reach via the second taproom in Bethlehem, building a great team of brewers, managers, and staff, and expanding their beer production through the opening of a new production facility.

It takes a lot of people and dedication to get a brewery up and running, and even more to grow it to the level Lost Tavern is currently operating. From the few hours spent with the Lost Tavern team, we noticed great camaraderie among the owners and brewers. Head Brewer, Derek Lutz, along with Assistant Brewers Evan Holland and Mike Calzola, bring a fun but dedicated dynamic to the brewing team. All three brewers were very sincere and attributed their success to “taking criticism and being open about making it better the next time”. In addition, all members of the team we spoke to mentioned how proud they are of their taproom teams and of their General Manager, Dina Robles, all of whom create a great experience for the patrons.

The success of Lost Tavern is definitely a team effort that stems from the family-like relationship shared among the staff. We saw this in action at a recent Lehigh Valley Brewers Guild sensory training event, where Anthony brought his entire team to ensure they were all trained on how to make out the different characteristics of beer. It was great to see their entire team working together and bonding over the event. It is also comforting to see how seriously the staff takes the beer they produce. The brewing team should be proud of their diverse beer list of both traditional and experimental beers, and of the quality that has come to be expected from Lost Tavern.

All of this success allows Lost Tavern to give back to the community and run a number of collaborations and fundraiser events. One of their largest events is Hops 4 Hope, which is to support Penn State's THON: A collaborative fight against Pediatric Cancer. This ticketed beer event had over 20 breweries present last year and is expecting a larger turnout this year! Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 8th, 2022 and look for details in the coming months.

It is amazing to see how much has been accomplished by Lost Tavern Brewing. We at the Lehigh Valley Brewers Guild are excited to see what they have in store for years to come! Please visit them this July 4th Weekend to celebrate their 6th year anniversary and experience everything they have to offer!

Lost Tavern Website Link

Lost Tavern Facebook Link

Newest Beers Below (as of July 1st, 2022)