Reed Jaskula
Brewer/Owner, Platform Beer Co. | Cleveland
NOVEMBER 2016
Reed Jaskula lived another life before finding ultimate joy, and ultimate IBUs, in brewing. He’d gone into sales after college and found himself working as an executive for Target. Things might have plodded along for Jaskula had his friend Paul Benner not been operating a small but adventurous homebrew supply shop. Jaskula loved brewing, and when presented with the opportunity to go professional or go back to Target, Jaskula chose beer.
Benner opened Cleveland’s largest homebrew supply shop, with terrain vast enough for Jaskula’s imagination to run wild. The next step was the formation of Platform Beer Co. in Ohio City, a partnership between Jaskula, Benner, and Justin Carson. Jaskula is head brewmaster and boldly innovates on the legacy of hops and malt that came before (just imagine a 260 IBU IPA that’s not only drinkable, but craveable). An inventive, hands-on brewer, Jaskula and the Platform team attracted even more would-be brewers to their inner circle and launched an education-oriented brewing incubator to keep the good suds flowing in Cleveland.
In early 2016, Platform expanded with a location in Columbus, Ohio, and Jaskula began experimenting with sour beer production. Later that year, his experiemtental approach won him a StarChefs Rust Belt Rising Star Award. His affinity for tackling anything new and fermented has also led him to take on the task of updating America’s cider roster, making European-style, dry, and (inevitably) innovative ciders brewed with old school cider apples. And, of course, some joy.
