Mike Beresky had his eyes on one goal while studying at Temple: to make delicious craft beer. This vision didn’t align with his accounting degree, but Beresky’s passion didn’t dissipate. His childhood friends Jake Howell and Phil Harris shared his aspirations and in college they set a long-term plan of opening a brewery.
“At the time, I was discussing how it might be cool to open a bar because we were all interested in beer,” said Beresky, a 2010 alumnus. “We were home brewing at that time, and it was a way for us to keep in touch during college. We’ve been friends since middle school, the three of us, so it gave us something to do when we were home on breaks and whatnot.”
The trio opened Second Sin Brewing Company five years ago in Bristol, Pennsylvania, located about 20 miles from Temple’s Main Campus. Despite its small size, the brewery attracts the attention of craft beer enthusiasts and is known for their highly-rated hazy IPAs and sours.
In May, the group created a Penn State-themed beer to celebrate Howell and Harris’ alma mater. They used white chocolate and blueberry to produce a smooth balance of sweet and sour. Beresky decided to follow suit and honor Temple with a special beer.
“I thought, ‘Hey, it’d be great if we could do the same thing but with a little Temple twist to it,’” Beresky said. “Cherries and white chocolate, it’s just a natural pairing. So, I got on the phone with Alex at Humble Parlor, and we set up this collaboration.”
As an ode to the school’s colors, the beer’s cherry and white chocolate flavoring is their unique way of honoring Temple’s spirit. With help from alumni Alex Howell and Maria Caldarise at Humble Parlor Brewing Company in Fishtown, they created the new Temple-themed beer: the Back to School Sour.
“Cherry is basically the front-runner profile of this beer,” said Alex Howell, a 2016 accounting alumnus. “The tartness really balances well with the sweetness from the cherry and the white chocolate to represent the white part of the ‘cherry and white’. It’s a really nice richness that makes you want to come back for more.”
Temple played a significant role in preparing these alumni to balance running a business with their professional careers, making this tribute even more meaningful, Beresky said.
Second Sin Brewing Co. noted on Untappd, a social media platform for beer aficionados, that their time at Temple helped spark their love of beer. Upon learning that Howell and Caldarise were also Temple alumni, they felt it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate their shared background with a collaborative brew.
Howell and Caldarise met during their junior year at Temple and opened their Fishtown location in January 2023. With Caldarise’s passion for business and Howell’s love for brewing, the pair established a bustling brewery in the same city they met.
“I always wanted to own my own business and before getting into the beer industry, we went to different breweries and kind of just explored, tried to make a list and see all of them, and we thought that was really fun,” Caldarise said. “And then my husband was brewing all the time in our kitchen, and he introduced me to different styles of beer.”
Caldarise’s initial curiosity turned into a shared passion for craft beer as she and her husband dove deeper into the brewing world. What started as a hobby of visiting breweries and experimenting with different styles at home eventually laid the foundation for their own venture.
When Second Sin approached the couple to collaborate on the beer, Caldarise and Howell couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate the institution that led to their relationship, and, eventually, Humble Parlor.
The two businesses stayed connected to their roots during the collaboration to honor the university with the Back to School Sour — a nod to the innovative drive they developed during their years at Temple.
Despite the risks and uncertainty of running a business while maintaining their 9 to 5s, these alumni have managed to pursue their interests in brewing alongside their professional roles.
“It’s always a risk doing something you like instead of something that you’re told you’re supposed to do,” Howell said. “But I like to see it as choosing a passion instead of settling for a career.”
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