Wyoming Valley Homebrewers Celebrating Their 30th Anniversary With Collaboration Beers

I’m excited to wish our pal Chuck Yarmey and everyone at the Wyoming Valley Homebrewers a Happy 30th Anniversary. The club will be celebrting their borthday with several collaborations. The first will be a Kolsch-style beer that will hit 5%-AbV & 30 IBU. This beer was brewed with out pal Ben Schoenfeld from Benny Brewing in WIlkes-Barre, PA and it is available now in 12oz cans and on draft at Benny Brewing.

The next collaboration beer will be brewed at Back Mountain Brewing in Dallas, PA in a few weeks. I’ll update this post with more details so stay tuned for updates.

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About Benny Brewing:

It all began when Ben Schonfeld left for Myrtle Beach on an annual golf vacation with a group of friends. After the group finished a round of golf, they ended up at a local brew pub near the course. (the “19th hole” as many golfers would say!)

After sampling a few of the brew pub’s handcrafted beers, Ben was inspired by the flavors and aromas. The experience of handcrafted brew was unlike the rest. Ben immediately developed an appreciation for the time, thought and imagination behind the final product! Handcrafted beer was very different from the all-too-common profile of the well known “one-size-fits-all” beers.

While at the brew pub, Ben had the opportunity to meet with the brewmaster and talk with him about the brewing process.

Upon returning, Ben began to research the art of making craft beer. After several months of compiling ideas, recipes, and procedures he built his first ten gallon brewing system.

Two years of recipe development, test batches, and sampling flew by. Throughout that experience, Ben focused on providing handcrafted brew with fresh ingredients. The product was provided to family and friends, and was well received by all. Shortly thereafter Ben realized that with the support and encouragement of his family it would be possible to provide his products to the public through his family business at Marty’s Blue Room in Nanticoke, PA.
One year later on June 10th, 2010 Ben opened Benny Brewing Co. In a small room connected to the restaurant bar, a storage area was converted into the nano-brewery where Ben began brewing on a 30 gallon SABCO system. This brewing system supplied 4 taps at Marty’s Blue Room. Six months later, Ben expanded his product to five other local spots which still continue to support Benny Brew today.

Currently Ben produces 4 core brands that are available year round and 4 seasonal brands that are available at different times throughout the year. Benny Brewing Co. also offers many special release beers that are inspired by a variety of ingredients, social and cultural trends and food pairings.

Benny Brewing Co. is looking forward to the continuation of this journey. And we look forward to the opportunity to continue serving current and new patrons with consistency, accountability, and innovation.

About Back Mountain Brewing:

Clay and Charity Cadwalader are both Back Mountain natives, graduating from Lake-Lehman High School. Clay grew up at Harvey’s Lake and Charity in Sweet Valley. They have been together since the 10th grade. Clay joined the United States Army in the summer of 1999 immediately after graduation and was stationed in Germany as Artilleryman/Forward Observer. This was Clay’s first experience with world class beer even though he didn’t fully appreciate it just yet. In 2002 Clay returned to Pennsylvania where he and Charity were married before they moved to Georgia to start their lives together as a military family. Clay and Charity moved around from Georgia to Alaska, sampling beers everywhere they went. In 2008 Clay was selected for the United States Army Special Forces, the Green Berets. Charity and Clay spent time at Fort Bragg North Carolina where Clay completed the year and a half long Special Forces Qualification Course and graduated as a Special Forces Communications Sergeant. They moved to Olympia Washington where Clay was assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) and shortly after, in 2009, welcomed Miss Faith Cadwalader to the family. The Cadwaladers would spend the rest of their time with the military in Washington. In between Clay’s frequent trips to exotic locations in the Middle East they could be found enjoying everything the South Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest had to offer, especially world class craft beer. Charity and Clay decided in 2011 to start home brewing and enjoying their own beers along side all the amazing beers in the Pacific Northwest. Most of the breweries on the West Coast served as motivation and inspiration for the two. They spent many years perfecting their beers with more than a few hiccups along the way. It was a natural progression from extract brewing, to brew in a bag, to all-grain brewing. During this time the Cadwalader family was making trips throughout Washington and Oregon seeking out hiking spots and local craft breweries to sample their libations. In 2017, with retirement fast approaching, Clay was still unsure what he wanted to do once Uncle Sam wasn’t paying the bills. Fortunately a unique opportunity presented itself and Clay was accepted to the first cohort for the South Puget Sound Community College Craft Brewing and Distilling Program. Throughout the next two years Clay transitioned out of the military, worked toward his degree, and continued to hone his skills for a career in the craft beverage world. The Craft Brewing and Distilling Program offered the opportunity to not just learn how to make beer, but to learn and understand the science and art behind the craft. The program also opened doors for an internship brewing at a local 5 Barrel Brewery and subsequently a job as assistant brewer at a local 10 Barrel Brew Pub. In June of 2020 Clay graduated from the program with an Associate of Applied Science for Craft Brewing. Currently the Cadwaladers are living in Sweet Valley and working to figure out this brewery ownership thing.  Back Mountain Brewing Company looks forward to serving you and we are excited for what the future holds.

About The Wyoming Valley Homebrewers:

We are an American Homebrewers Association (AHA) registered homebrew club based in Exeter, Pennsylvania. Please stop by our monthly meeting to meet our members and learn more about the club. Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month at 7pm (unless that Wednesday falls on a holiday, then we meet the following Wednesday). Our wonderful host has been Sabatini’s Pizza in Exeter (directions). 

Annual membership dues can be paid in person at the monthly meetings or via the PayPal link in our About Us/Contact section.

Stay up to date by joining our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wvhbc

ounded in September 1995, we are an American Homebrewers Association (AHA) registered homebrew club based in Exeter, Pennsylvania. We meet monthly to discuss homebrewing methods and ideas, sample homebrew, host club picnics, participate in homebrew contests, promote homebrewing, and of course, make beer/mead/cider! If you are in the Northeast Pennsylvania area and are interested in brewing your own beer, wine, or mead, please stop by our monthly meeting. Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month at 7pm (unless that Wednesday falls on a holiday, then we meet the following Wednesday). Our wonderful host has been Sabatini’s Pizza in Exeter (directions).




2025 Officers:
President – William Johns
Vice President – Steve Walski
Treasurer – Dan Schreffler

Club By-Laws Found Here
Annual Membership Dues
Single – $20      Joint – $25
Make Check Payable to and mail to:
Wyoming Valley HomeBrewers Club
% Dan Schreffler
207 N Apple St, Dunmore PA 18512
Or online via: Join The Club: