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(left to right) Breaker Brewing Company Co-owner Chris Miller toasts to patrons Michael “Hock” Hockenbury, Jim Gillespie and fellow co-owner Mark Lehman.

According to Breaker Brewing Company co-owners Chris Miller and Mark Lehman, this is “where the magic happens.” Their latest concoctions are initally brewed in these large barrels, which the duo built themselves.

WILKES-BARRE — At the far end of East Northampton Street sits Breaker Brewing Company, a peculiar little place that is, like the beer flowing freely from the taps in the brewery’s tap room, innovative, whimsical and thoroughly unexpected.

“This tap room used to be a classroom,” said Chris Miller, co-owner of Breaker Brewing Company. “Everything in here is re-purposed from those times — the wood we use for these tables and the bar, the chalkboards, everything.”

“This place basically sat abandoned for years before we took it over two years ago,” said Mark Lehman, co-owner of Breaker Brewing Company.

Miller and Lehman began brewing together around 2004. Previously, both gentlemen were engineers.

“We had really good day jobs before this,” Miller said.

“In April of last year, once we got our pub, we left those jobs and dedicated our time to the brewery,” Lehman said.

“Everything you see in here was built or painted by us. We didn’t go out and subcontract the work. I think that’s a big part of our appeal,” Miller said. “We don’t work for a big corporation, so no one is pushing us to make something we wouldn’t drink ourselves. We brew because we love to, not to make a quick buck.”

Breaker Brewing Company has received much notoriety for the brewery’s imaginative concoctions.

“We’re actually working on a Piña Colada IPA right now. That should be ready in a couple of weeks,” Lehman said.

According to faithful patron Michael Hockenbury of Swoyersville, “Breaker is the freshest brew in town. The beers aren’t shipped from anywhere far away. They are served to you within a few days of fermentation. You can’t get beer any fresher than that in the valley.”

“When I first tried a beer brewed by Chris and Mark, I instantly thought, ‘This stuff is a notch better than the rest of what’s out there,’” said Jim Gillespie of Hanover Twp. “Breaker’s beers showcase the sort of experimentation and variety you don’t see too often with other guys.”