“I moved to New Jersey and I came back. I moved to Philly and I came back… I came back because it’s home.”
Ed Generose was born and raised “down the Valley,” as many would say, in Hazleton. The famed “Mountain City” was a playground of curiosity for a kid with a bike and a little bit of time on his hands. Later, at Bishop Hafey, Ed claimed a certain degree of bookishness – as long as it didn’t interfere with time at the pool hall or hanging out at “the Strippins.”
In the late 80s, he ventured north (about 25 miles) to attend Wilkes University. There, he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering and rented real estate on barstools all over the Wyoming Valley. Then, the 90s came along and brought with them the start of what he’d call his secondary education – an education in craft beer. His first job landed him in Carteret, New Jersey, and wound up taking him all over the U.S. oddly enough, it just so happened that, all over the U.S., at the time, craft beer had begun its ascendence.
For Ed, life after college was one spent studying and enjoying the craft beer scene. Soon, he blended together his “real life” job as an engineering supervisor with his new favorite hobby — homebrewing. Along the way, he became a certified BJCP beer judge, worked prestigious beer competitions and fell in love with, you guessed it, another beer nerd. And though he put it off for decades, finally, in 2020, Ed and a few good friends opened Groove Brewing. It was the first craft brewery Scranton had seen in over 20 years.
We caught up with Ed at Groove Brewing in Scranton’s up-and-coming Pine Brook neighborhood. And amid the racket and delectable funk of a brewhouse on a brew day, we hit him with some tough questions, like Why NEPA?
How long have you lived in NEPA?
Well, my entire life, basically. And I’ve been “up the Valley” for 24 years.
What do you love about your town?
So, NEPA – it’s a good place. There’s quite a bit to do. You know, we have really good movie theaters. We have a multitude of craft breweries now. There are meaderies and cider places. And even though I’m not into the nightlife anymore, there’s plenty of nightlife around. I cut my teeth at the Backyard Ale House. You know, just hanging out there, great beer, good people. And the culinary scene in NEPA just keeps getting better and better. And we’re so fortunate that we have all these different kinds of pizzas throughout our region. It’s insane!
What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?
Ok…ok. I’m gonna’ throw a couple out there. So, Sabatini’s is good – sweeter sauce pizza and a great craft beer selection. Pizza Althea in Pittston is knocking it out of the park with gourmet pizza, which is really kind of in line with craft beer. They actually started out here. We were the first location where they did a pop-up.
And then uhh… Jeez, what’s my favorite restaurant? I guess I’ll have to go with Cusumano in Old Forge. Great place. Everything’s good. There’s nothing bad on the menu. Their shrimp and long hot pizza is the best around. And the wild boar ragu… And their cocktails are insane. But wait… maybe I should go with Picchiocchi’s here in Scranton. Yeah, they’re my favorite. Maybe they’re all my favorite.
What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?
Well, I’m a beer nerd. And my wife’s a beer nerd. So, we love to hit all the breweries and going out to do pub crawls and maybe going to Sabatini’s to sample all the different beers.
What’s next for you?
I have a year or so for retirement from my real-world job. And I plan on a little more dedication to trying to expand Groove Brewing – more distribution, potentially including a distillery. Yeah, That’s the future, I think.
Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?
So, for this one, I’ll pinpoint right here where the brewery is in Pine Brook. It seems like a lot of money is being invested in this section of the city. For us, that means it’s nothing but up from here. We got in here. The Lace Village is over there. They’ve done beautiful work there. A couple years ago, people said in ten or fifteen years, this was going to be booming over here. And we’re seeing that. I think Scranton is growing. Wilkes-Barre is on its way as well. You know, if that train from New York happens… It could bring a lot of good. But you can’t just twinkle your nose and make it happen. It’s a lot of work.
Why NEPA?
The reason I do what I do in Northeastern Pennsylvania is simple. And that’s because it’s home.
Groove Brewing
