Bob Grossman: The Fabulous (Homebrewing) Philadelphian.

As part of our partnership with Philly Beer Scene magazine, we’re documenting Philly’s relationships between music and beer. For the most recent issue of Philly Beer Scene, G.W. Miller III talks to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal librarian, who happens to be a homebrewing champion.

Bob Grossman has been traveling with the Philadelphia Orchestra for most of the 34 years he’s been working with the Fabulous Philadelphians, as the orchestra members are known.

While touring in the United Kingdom during the late 1980s, Grossman, now the orchestra’s principal librarian, learned about a movement happening there—the Campaign for Real Ales (CAMRA). He was fascinated to see that people were standing up against the commercial beer companies that were taking over the local pubs, and they were fighting to preserve the brews and the brewing systems that had existed for centuries.

“We’re talking about fresh delivered British ales, maybe four to six weeks old, that would finish fermenting at the pub for a week or two,” Grossman recalls. “It was only good for a few days but it was full of flavors. It was live beer.”

But it was becoming a thing of the past.

Grossman, an avid cook who had been baking his own bread for years, decided to experiment with homebrewing when he returned to his home in Haddonfield, NJ after the tour.

At the time, of course, homebrewing was a relatively new thing. Supplies weren’t easy to find—Home Sweet Homebrew in Center City had only been open a few years.

“His chops as a librarian really show in his research into historical styles of beers,” says George Hummel, owner of Home Sweet Homebrew. “I mean beers that haven’t been brewed since the 1700s and 1800s. He really digs into that stuff.”

Grossman even cultured his own yeast.

“I really learned the process,” he says.

And soon after he began, he started winning awards for his creations. His cream ale and Russian imperial stout took first place at competitions held by Dock Street Brew House, and his beers were served at the restaurant. He spent a year as the president of the Homebrewers of Philadelphia and Suburbs (HOPS).

A trained bassoon player who grew up in Northwest Philadelphia, Grossman continued traveling with the orchestra. Everywhere he went, he dashed off to breweries to sample flavors, learn about processes and meet other beer enthusiasts. After a European tour, for example, he spent a few extra days in Brussels. He returned home making Belgian-style beers.

He brewed about 25 gallons per year for a long time—he’s slowed down in recent years since receiving a promotion at work.

His office at the Kimmel Center retains hints of his passion—a beer stein trophy, a few antique beer bottles, a newspaper article about him and his hobby from nearly 20 years ago.

All of that sits among a priceless collection of music scores that have notations penned by some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Leopold Stokowski, Riccardo Muti and Eugene Ormandy, who actually hired Grossman after he completed his masters degree in library studies at Drexel University.

“The orchestra opened doors for me to explore in ways that I’d never have been able to do on my own,” Grossman says.