Harris Family Brewing Company - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:51:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Harris Family Brewing Company - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 End of the Year – 2019 https://thebeerthrillers.com/2019/12/31/end-of-the-year-2019/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=end-of-the-year-2019 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 14:46:39 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=1877  

(Just a quick note, late addition on this, this is going to be a two-part article. First part a look-back at The Beer Thrillers articles of 2019, and the second part about our top beers, top breweries, and other happenings of 2019 for myself personally and the blog, and some of our friends in general. So make sure to check out both parts.)

So its the end of the year… end of decade even…. and thus its time to reflect back on where we came from, how we got to where we are, and where we are going. Humanity, since the inception of time, and creating of calendars and years and New Years Eves and New Years Days have always taken the last few days of each year to look back on their year, their life, and reflected, and thought about how they could better themselves, come up with “resolutions” for the upcoming year, and join in with friends and families as they ring in the new year. “New Year New You.”

We here at The Beer Thrillers are going to do something …. similar. Not fully introspective though, because we don’t take ourselves that seriously. But just a fun look back at the year that was 2019. I can’t speak for my co-writers, but I can say for me, personally, 2019 had its fair share of ups, downs, in-betweens, lefts, rights, diagonals, crosses, bounces, turns, jukes, and jives. But I’m still here and better for it all. But I’m not going to go on and on too much about myself personally.

Rather, I’m going to write about how the blog has done, where we started from, where we’re headed, etc. And yea, I’ll probably get a little personal. But nothing deep or philosophical or introspective. More along the lines of what were some of the best beers, breweries, or events I’ve done of the year. So don’t worry, the blog will uphold the Seinfeld idea of “Nobody learns, nobody grows, nobody hugs”.

 

 

Scratch 375 – CocoNator by Troegs Independent Craft Brewery

I started this blog back on May 17th, 2019. (This year!) It was a Thursday, my girls (my daughters) were at school, I was bored, and trying to figure out what I’m doing / was doing. I needed something for my days off while the kids were at school, something that was fun, something I was passionate about, something that let me feel like I was being creative, using my talents, and something I knew about. I’ve been reading blogs, and news sites, and all kinds of things about beer for so long, and I have a lot of experience drinking… …and writing… that I figured why not combine the two? I was feeling like I was in a rut, my job is the same its been for the past seven years, I wasn’t doing anything outright ‘creative’ and needed an outlet for it, and we are in a review culture. I do all kinds of reviews all the time, in small nondescript and unimportant ways. Like reading books when I’m finished, I write up a review of them when I check them off on GoodReads. Same with Untappd, when I drink a beer, I write up a small (Tweet size) review of it. I also felt, I was in a unique spot to start this up. I was getting to a spot where I knew enough people “on the inside” or “in the business”, and I was also doing stuff beyond just being a consumer; like home brewing, growing hops, helping can at Tattered Flag, being engaged in conversations with home brewers and professional brewers a lot, that I felt like I could provide some interesting conversations and articles to the world.

Mainly…. I was looking to not be bored, and to do something I love doing – writing and drinking beer.

So I started the blog up on May 17th, 2019. Basically having no clue what I was doing. I started up using WordPress and here we are. Its still WordPress, albeit the ‘weaker’ version (fingers crossed come sometime the new year, I switch over to the more advanced version, where I have more control over the site and the appearance). I did a little bit of research, chose a name – which to be frankly speaking – the name “The Beer Thrillers” just popped up to me. Nothing too deep or crazy or interesting behind it. I was honestly conjuring up the idea that it would be me, and a few of my friends writing, thus the “Thrillers” and not “Thriller”. I thought me, Drew, Dan maybe, and a few others would all writing all kinds of blog posts and contributing. Maybe some of the insiders in the business I know too… …while this hasn’t happened exactly; I have enlisted friends and other writers over the year to help out. (More on that as I get to their participation.)

Outside of creating the home page and starting up the site, my very first article on the blog was a beer review of Troegs’ Scratch 375 – The CocoNator. As far as first time articles go, I have no problems with it. Counting the writing of my colleagues and fellow contributors and cowriters to the blog, we’re now up to 130 blog posts (this being #131). I definitely think I’ve come a long way from that first blog. But I also like to think I laid the foundation there. I set up a system for how the beer reviews (I do) are written, presented, and I hope they are written in a fun, interesting, educational, and most importantly entertaining way.

Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro by Tattered Flag and Wolf Brewing Co.

When I started this in May, I had just gotten a couple of cans from my shift manager at work – Jordan and used them a the base for my first few beer reviews. The CocoNator was quickly followed by two South County beer reviews – Painting with Light (May 19th) and Sundrifter (May 30th). Also during this time, from my recent volunteer work helping can at Tattered Flag I worked with and gotten quite a few of their cans (hard work and sweat at their brewery resulted in many cans of whatever beer was being canned that day, as well as lots of other cans they still had from past canning runs). Two of these resulted in the beer reviews of Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro (May 22nd) which was a collaboration between Derek Wolf of Wolf Brewing Co. and Tattered Flag and You Hoppin’ On Me? (May 24th).

Canning Day at Tattered Flag

I was trying to write fast, furiously, and get some articles out there as a starting blog, I knew content was going to be the main driving force (and still is). Quality content even better. Hopefully I provided the quality content. I guess thats all up to you guys to decide, but I like to think I did (or at least, like I said, hope I did). As you can see from my picture of the Imperial Churro; often times in the background or foreground or beside the beers you’ll see some of the recent books I’m reading, as well as my dog Leela – especially if I’m drinking at home where she typically has to get her nose into the business of all involved. On May 27th, I conducted a bit of a science experiment when I found an old (over a year old) Black and Blue Tastee from The Veil. I had gotten a four pack from one of my favorite bartenders – Chris – who had traveled down and muled some back up. I wrapped up May, my first month of writing for the blog, with my first beer review from a bar – Warwick Hotel – on May 31st with a beer review of Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

May finished, and my first month done; even if I had only started late in the month on the 17th, I felt accomplished with the blog. I published 9 total blog pages; which included the home-page, the author-bio page, the contact page, and other necessary background pages. Word was slowly trickling out about the blog, I was up to 59 visitors and 121 views. Not a bad first month – especially considering it was basically just two weeks (the 17th through the 31st). Lets say I was “pleased as punch” with the start of the blog. June was looking bright!

June started with a beer review from the Bissell Brothers Brewing Company – Baby Genius on June 3rd. Followed up by a bottle of LazerSnake by Three Floyds on June 9th.

Baby Genius by Bissell Brothers

On June 13th, I did my first multiple beer review, and my first beer flight review – from Troegs Independent Craft Brewing – of course. What other place would I do my first beer flight review? Troegs was basically my initiation into the craft beer scene when I was ….cough turning 21…. and was the start of my craft beer love. Troegs is still a wonderful brewery, a fantastic venue there in Hershey, and overall holds a definite soft spot in my craft beer loving heart.

A flight of beers from Troegs Brewery

June 14th ended up being my first “double blog post” day. Earlier in the day I had stopped in at Tattered Flag to pick up a four-pack, had a beer, and when home, wrote a review, and later that night, with my daughters, I stopped in at Boneshire Brew Works, had a beer, and did a review before bed. At Tattered Flag I had the Abra Collabra beer, and at Boneshire I had the Sunburst beer. A week later I did my first brewery review, when I took my oldest daughter to Gettysburg for the day to visit the battlefields and monuments. Before visiting the sites, we stopped for lunch at the Battlefield Brew Works. A day later I was back at Warwick for another beer and review – Manayunk’s King Crunch.

An interior picture of the Battlefield Brew Works brewery.

Around this time, looking to expand, I enlisted the help of a buddy and fellow craft beer aficionado and enthusiast, and Boneshire lover – Josh Doncevic. We had a few talks at Boneshire Brew Works, and we chatted on the Central PA Whalerz group, and discussed this and that and everything beer related, and I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the blog – and he is and still has been. And on June 27th, he took his plunge into the world of blogging with his first beer review Northmont by Yellow Bridge.

Northmont by Yellow Bridge, J. Doncevic’s first beer review here on The Beer Thrillers.

A flurry of beer reviews followed – Should Have Put Him in Custardy, a beer flight from Hershey Biergarten, helped close out June and start July with Josh’s review of Ectogasm. June saw the blog grow by massive leaps and bounds, we went from 59 visitors in May to 848 visitors in June with 1100 some views. July was looking to be a great month for The Beer Thrillers, and it certainly delivered some amazing beer reviews! Pink Guava, Inexplicably Juicy, Miami Vice, Old 51, Dillston, Saison and Hurry up and Wait, a beer flight from Tony’s travels up north at the Black Gryphon, Wolf Prints, and Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart.

On July 19th we launched our Twitter page. Which just a few days ago, we hit our 100th follower! (Time for me to plug in here and suggest everyone head over there briefly to follow us, then come back here.) On July 23rd we also started our Instagram page. I will be the first to admit that we don’t do as much with Instagram, primarily because I don’t know enough about it yet. Looking to learn more about it in 2020 and get that page going a lot more.

July continued with some more beer reviews like Enigma, Green Zebra and Next Coast, Good Walk Spoiled, another beer flight from Troegs, and Road Less Traveled. I ended the month by discussing my upcoming road trip with my daughters.

July also saw some fun and interesting events I got to do for the first time. I lost my Ffej of July cherry, getting to make it out to possibly the biggest, baddest, most sickest birthday bash / lawn party ever. Me and Drew also attended the Moo-Funk Home Brew event as well. July was certainly a fun month, but August was looking to be even better.

Straub’s Brewery in St. Mary’s

August started off with a bang, I took my daughters up north PA to visit Elk Country, then we visited Straub Brewery, then we went to Kinzua Bridge and after that stopped at Logyard Brewery and next door to it was Twisted Vine Brewery. That was Day One. Day two saw us hitting the Pittsburgh area. First at dawn we hiked McConnell’s Creek, then went to ShuBrew before going into Pittsburgh proper and visit the city where we did a whole slew of things like see Fort Pitt, take the Duquesne Lift, check out medieval Catholic relics, stop by a Jewish synagogue, see the outfield wall still standing, and we also checked out a few breweries like Cinderlands Warehouse, The Church Brew Works, and we finished the day staying at a motel right next door to Yellow Bridge Brewing. Day Two was a lot busier than day one, but just a much fun.

The altar at Church Brew Works
Olde Bedford Brewing in Bedford PA

We didn’t slow down for Day Three. We had a whole host of driving to do on day three. We started at Bushy Run to watch the reenactment and check out the events, then went to the Alleghany Portage and Railroad Museum, and then went into Johnstown to see the Johnstown Flood Memorial and there we checked out the brewery Stone Bridge Brewing. From there we Staple Bend Tunnel Trail and then we stopped and paid our respects at the Flight 93 Memorial. On the way back home to the Hershey area we stopped at Olde Bedford Brewing.

Was a fun three days where we got to see lots of cool places, museums, memorials, monuments, and nine breweries to boot. Can’t beat that!

The beer reviews weren’t going to slow down in August either. Ghost in the Machine by Josh, a beer flight at Twisted Bine, Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart, and Caucus Race 6.0. Then shortly before my oldest daughter’s birthday I took her and my second oldest down to Antietam to see the battlefield there and on the way back home we stopped at Cushwa Brewing. Which I did a brewery review of.

Cushwa Brewing in Maryland

They have since moved out of that building but they are still close by to the location. August still had plenty more beer reviews for you guys starting with Harrishire, Kettle Sour Series – Raspberry, Ghost in the Machine by B. Kline, Good Vibrations, and then I did a dual beer review from two beers I had at a Harrisburg Senators game – a Pineapple Kolsch and a Dry Irish Stout, Reve Coffee Stout, Rye for an Eye (my birthday blog post and beer), and that closed out the month of August. As for events in August, me and my friend Ming went to the Lancaster Brewfest and afterwards went to Mad Chef Brewing (my first time there) which was an overall fun event.

Taco and a Beer – a fantastic birthday treat, even belatedly

Moving onto September started with my cashing in my birthday taco coupon at Newfangled Brew Works and had a really tasty Kettle Sour from them. In September I wrote a piece for Breweries in PA and also posted it on my blog – the version on the blog is found here: Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg (9.6.19). It has become one of the most popular pieces on our blog, and I believe it has done very well for the Breweries in PA crew as well. Beer reviews certainly didn’t slow down: a flight of Levante and Tattered Flag beers, a flight of Troegs beers, Fresh Fest and Trail Day Pale Ale, a flight of beers from Mount Gretna Brewery, and Spundae.

September also saw me do our first listicle articles. With two – one celebrating our oldest posts and one celebrating our most viewed posts. Followed by, as always, more beer reviews – Key Lime Pie, They Burn Them All Away, AuZealand, a flight of Ever Grain beer, Vanilla Ice Cream Stout, and a Sour Blueberry wrapped up September.

October started off with a couple of Boneshire Brew Works beers – Tried and True (Mango) and Iscariot. I then got to attend Dr. Alison Feeney’s seminar and event at Mid-Town Scholar “For the Love of Beer“. Afterwards I went to The Millworks and had a flight. I did a book review of Dr. Alison Feeney’s book – For the Love of Beer. We finally joined Facebook on October 17th, you can find our Facebook page here. We are now up to 154 followers on Facebook, hoping to grow more! Did a beer review of Salted Caramel Moo-Hoo next.

Midwest Coast Brewing

I was contacted back in September by Midwest Coast Brewing Company to do an advertisement article and announcement article about their brewery opening. And I think it turned out very well. This was the first time a brewery reached out to us and asked us to do a piece for them and I think it turned out very well. I did a bit of an interview with the owners / brewers, and talked about their brewery’s opening. This has led to Mellow Mink reaching out to us and inviting us to their place to check them out and do an article (January 2nd we’ll be doing that).

J. Doncevic did a review of Ekaunot by Barebottle. We then covered Rotunda Brewing Company’s rebranding of Irv’s Pub into Rotunda Brew Pub. Also did a news article on Pennsylvania breweries that won at the 2019 GABF. That was my first straight up news article for the blog.

More beer reviews: Athena, Sour Me Peach, Irish Table, Envie and Envie 4X, Yuengling’s Hershey’s Chocolate Porter, and to wrap up the beer reviews of October I did Fatum Series: Member Berries. We also covered Boneshire Brew Works’ 3rd Anniversary Celebration.

 

November was a crazy month for me. I challenged myself to doing 30 blog posts, one per day – MINIMUM, and I am proud to say I achieved that and met my goal. It was certainly daunting a task, but I did achieve it.

Here’s the list of my articles in November: Pumpkin Stout, St. Thomas, Walker Station Stout, a flight by ZeroDay, King Sue, Intergalactic Warrior, s’Mores LazaRIS, There’s Nuttin Butter Than a Nice Pair of Camo Pants, Secret Machine, Broken Heels, Animal Adjective, 556 Stout, Boat Drinks, a flight of Tattered Flag – Newfangled Brew Works – and Cox Brewing beers, Alpha Abstraction, Double IPA, Lager, Birra Di Levante, Tickle Parts – Passionfruit, a flight of beers from Appalachian Brewing Company, Default Brewing, Darwin’s Salted Forehead, Newfangled Pils, Gotta Get up to Get Down, Paradise Lost, Moon of Vega, Citraquench’l, Azathoth, a flight of Troegs including Mad Elf, and finally a review of Official BBQ and Burgers – Pizza Boy’s second location. WHEW! That was a lot to get out, you can read about it in the November Recap.

November also saw Default Brewing join us here at The Beer Thrillers. Headed by AJ Brechbiel, they are a group of home brewers who will be providing home brewing articles for the blog from time to time. They gave us a welcoming post in November: Cheers from Default Brewing.

I also started up a collaboration with Let Us Drink Beer blog. Where we would be guest writing and contributing to each other’s blogs occasionally. They are down south, and with us being here in PA, it seemed like it’d be a nice fit. Provide some information and beers and breweries that readers might not normally get to see. They posted their first article “Five Must See Breweries in Atlanta” in November.

Josh also wrote two beer reviews in November: Ghost 782 and Ghost 779.

 

December started off a little slower here for us, probably because I was a bit tired from November, or perhaps just because its the holiday season, I don’t know. But my first beer review was Ice Dreamz. I did a few more beer reviews in December – My Watch Has Ended, The Hog, Scrooge IPA, Sap, and Autumn.

Default Brewing gave us an introduction to their crew: “Meet The Crew at Default Brewing“.

I covered the guest blogging that was going on and Let Us Drink Beer gave us a review of Koki Bunni.

 

Finally, the last article posted in all of 2019 (outside of this one now) was a travelogue of me and Drew brewery hopping around Harrisburg. Starting at Boneshire Brew Works, and going to The Vegetable Hunter, The Millworks, The Sturges Speakeasy, and ZeroDay Brewing. Was a fun day jumping around from place to place.

 

Hopefully you enjoyed this look back on 2019 with The Beer Thrillers. The second part of this article will most likely be posted January 1st, possibly before work, possibly after work. I have to leave for work now, and work until (at least) 8PM, and will most likely be going right out to enjoying New Years Eve festivities with my daughters. Tomorrow I work 10-6, and afterwards will be doing a podcast with Esteban about LOST.

The second part of this series will cover top beers, top breweries, and other things about the year for The Beer Thrillers and myself. For example – podcasting.

 

So make sure you check out part two then as well!

 

As always, I hope you have a Happy New Year, enjoyed the blog, and continue to do so! Without you, we don’t need to write, so we hope you are having as much fun and entertainment with this as we are!

 

-B. Kline on behalf of The Beer Thrillers staff.

My hop arbor in the rain
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Our Most Viewed Articles https://thebeerthrillers.com/2019/09/19/our-most-viewed-articles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=our-most-viewed-articles Thu, 19 Sep 2019 12:09:57 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=675 Another listicle for everyone, this time its a list of our most viewed articles posted here on The Beer Thrillers. So take your time, enjoy viewing these classics of ours. Hopefully you’ll like them just as much as everyone else has. (Or if you remember reading these, they’ll make a nice memory trip and a revisit of some of our favorites from the past.)

 

As always, make sure to click like on the articles you enjoyed the most, that way we know what’s liked. Leave comments telling us what you like (or dislike) and what we can do to improve the blog. Always looking to make this better and better and to help you, the readers, more and more. Thank you!

 

Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

#1. Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

 

Harrishire by Boneshire Brew Works

#2. Harrishire by Boneshire BrewWorks

 

Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

#3. Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

 

Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour by Newfangled Brew Works

#4. Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour by Newfangled Brew Works

 

Caucus Race 6.0 (Zappa Hops) by Boneshire Brew Works

#5. Caucus Race 6.0 (Zappa Hops) by Boneshire Brew Works

 

Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

#6. Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

 

Good Walk Spoiled by Boneshire Brew Works

#7. Good Walk Spoiled by Boneshire Brew Works

 

Reve Coffee Stout by Parish Brewing Company

#8. Reve Coffee Stout by Parish Brewing Company

 

The Road Less Traveled by Boneshire Brew Works

#9. The Road Less Traveled by Boneshire Brew Works

 

Ghost in the Machine by Parish Brewing Company (Josh’s Review)

#10. Ghost in the Machine by Parish Brewing Company (J. Doncevic’s Review)

 

Thank you for taking a look back over this second listicle. These are fun to create and hopefully give new viewers and readers a chance to look back on some of our older posts. Like I always say, we always enjoy hearing from you guys, any comments, questions, or suggestions are more than welcome. You can reply in the individual blog posts, or you can use the contact form and message us directly. Use the like the button to let us know what blog posts are your favorite, and share on social media to let others know about certain beers. We appreciate it all. We are here for you – the readers – guys, thanks so much!

 

-The Beer Thrillers Staff

 

 

 

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Beer Review: Harrishire (Boneshire Brew Works) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2019/08/18/beer-review-harrishire-boneshire-brew-works/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-harrishire-boneshire-brew-works Sun, 18 Aug 2019 14:29:54 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=410
Harrishire – a collaboration beer between Boneshire Brew Works and the Harris Family Brewing Company, both out of Harrisburg. (Boneshire BrewWorks is located on Derry Street in Rutherford outside of Harrisburg, and Harris Family Brewing will soon open in Harrisburg on Allison Hill.)

This was meant to be written and to go up last night, but after being up at 5AM and then working, and going to a carnival, and all that involves with that (grumble grumble kids, grumble grumble), its only getting written now. Sorry, but deal with it.

So you’re getting the review now, which I could have written up Friday night, but didn’t, and could have written last night – but didn’t, but hey, at least you’re getting it. (I will go into more detail about the other blog posts that are getting shuffled all around and why this got pushed back a bit, at the end, so as not to bore people who don’t really care.)

Some basic information on this beer and the breweries before delving into the actual beer itself.

Harris Family Brewing Company
While technically not open yet, they are planning to open (soon-ish) in Allison Hill in Harrisburg (PA). They will be Central PA (and possibly all of Pennsylvania’s) very first fully owned black brewery. They have done a few fests and brewfests and such, but I have unfortunately not gotten to try any of their straight up self-made beers yet (outside of this, Harrishire, collaboration). Their Untappd page, as of 8.18.19 looks as such:

Write-up: Central Pennsylvania’s first Black-owned Brewery! Harris Family brewery is your Urban Craft Brewery! One step into our taproom and you will be immersed in hip hop culture in an experience unlike any other craft brewery in Pennsylvania. Our brews pack a punch and taste great, and every sip will remind you of every step we took to get it into the bottle or can that is in your hand. We started brewing small batches in the kitchen right here in Harrisburg, inside the city…..in the hood. Friends would come and see what we were doing and say “Yall jokers crazy black people don’t make beer”. Yeah we was crazy alright, crazy about doing something new, something different something that would pop off and set us apart from the rest of the hustlers and entrepreneurs in our neighborhood. See we would go to craft breweries locally and feel out of place, and we liked craft beer. It just seemed like it wasn’t for us until we started making our own. After a couple of batches that came out stinky or sour we finally figured out how to make the whole thing work, and at a backyard cookout in 2014 we finally heard those words “Yo you made this? In your Kitchen? Yo pour up another one” and another one and another one until every time I made a batch it was gone before I could even enjoy it. That’s when we knew we had to get on the stage and share our style with everyone. Cheers to the hustlers…..welcome to Harris Family Brewery.

Link: https://untappd.com/HarrisFamilyBrewery

Beers: 7 unique self-made beers, with a global average rating of 3.62 (out of 39 ratings). Their beers currently made are: Street Dreams (Pale Ale), Smoke’em if you got’em (Smoked beer, similar to the Harrishire), Cupid Must Die (stout), I Left My Wallet in El Segunda (Farmhouse Saison), Forumula 58 (wheat beer), HF Lager (Lager), Bando Black (Pale Ale), they have also done two collaborations – Its Poppin (with Zeroday Brewing Company), and the Harrishire (with Boneshire Brew Works).

They also have Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and their own website, they can be found here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HARRISFAMILYBREWERY/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/harrisfamilybrewery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harrisfamilybrewery/
(I would suggest not clicking on the “website” link on their brewery page at Untappd as it leads to a porn page, unless… you know….. you want that….)

Boneshire Brew Works, as most of you are probably well aware of, is a brewery from Rutherford / Harrisburg area, located on Derry Street near the Rutter’s and next to the 7-1-7 Armory. We have done several beer reviews from them on here (Sunburst, Dillston, Caucus-Race 6.0, Road Less Traveled , Good Walk Spoiled , and I’m sure we’ll be doing plenty more in the future.)

So needless to say, I think if you’ve been a faithful reader of this blog/page, you’ve seen much about Boneshire, the brewery, the venue, and of course their beer. But if you are wanting more information, you can leave a comment and we’ll discuss with you, or you can click their Untappd brewery page link here: Boneshire Brew Works.

Ok, I think we’re finally caught up enough to get into the beer Harrishire, so lets do it.

Harrishire by Boneshire Brew Works and Harris Family Brewing

Friday night (8.16.19) was their big release of this in the midstate area (at the Boneshire Brewery), and it even showed Shawn Grant bringing back the Nomad BBQ for a one-night special (hope you all grabbed some because it was delicious!) to go along with this great release.

Needless to say, the brewery was packed from start to finish, and a large reason for that was how delicious and well made this beer was. Its a smoked beer, which can be a bit heavy in the summer, but this wasn’t, and complimented Shawn’s BBQ wonderfully, and just made for a perfect sipping beer listening to music and the huge amount of chatter that was going on in the brewery.

Beer: Harrishire
Brewery: Boneshire Bew Works (with collaboration from Harris Family Brewing Company)
Style: Smoked Beer
ABV: 7.3%
IBU: N/A
Untappd Write-Up: Collaboration with Harris Family Brewery. Brewed with 7 different malts, which creates a roasted, sweet, almost bacon-like character. It has a moderate amount of bitterness and it screams SMOKE. We used a hefty amount of smoked apple wood malt.

The beer is a beautiful dark black with a nice brownish foamy head. Not jet – fuel – black like an Aslin stout, but a dark brown into black that is opaque and perfect for its style. The head is brown and malty looking with nice bubbles on the surface. Head retention stays and its well carb’ed.

Aroma is sweet malts, dark grains, earthy, and smokey. There is a subtle hint of apple and wood, but you get much more smoke and earth from the aroma. There is a slight sweet caramel and caramelization smell to it like bacon on a fryer or something smoked and sauteed.

The taste is spot-on smokey. Its definitely a sipper not a gulper or easy to down one of these bad boys in a minute. Its a sweet smokey, and not an overpowering or ‘wham’ smokeyness. There is the subtle underflowing taste of apple, sweet malts, caramelization, and a bit of earthyness to it. You get the wood on the back of your tongue and it all kind of mixes together before you finish the beer into a very fine mixture and beer.

If you’re looking to grab some of this, I’d be quick on it, as I’m not expecting it to last long in house, and it is definitely one you are going to want to try at least one, two, maybe even more drafts of, or even grab a growler fill of it to go and sit outside by a bonfire with this.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.14 (as of 8.18.19)

Ok, time for some boring post-blog stuff to write about, about other blog posts.

Firstly, the Caucus-Race 6.0 beer review ha been updated to show a Global Untappd rating now. (And its looking to stay consistent with the other Caucus-Race beers in the series.)

Friday was my last day of vacation, and it was a ‘long day’. Starting at 930AM I was at Tattered Flag helping them do a double-can run, which ran into problems on the second run, and so we only did one beer canning, and I left there at 1:45 and got home around 2PM.

Then did some of my hop harvest with the kiddos, but didn’t get that completed either due to a rolling thunderstorm that came into the area.

In the night was the Harrishire (as you see here) beer release, so I attended that.

There will be a post about the canning day, and about the hop harvest, and yes, I still promise the Moo-Funk Homebrew event and Ffej of July will both get posted. As well as the trip recaps and brewery visits I did on our Western PA tour.

Likewise there will be beer reviews from my beer mail package that came with Southern Prohibition, Parish, and Natchez Brewing.

I really wanted to get a post done a day on my vacation, but that obviously didn’t happen, (nor did my reading a book a day, and many other things on my vacation), but then again, I know this going in, and I know it never works the way I want/plan it to anyway. Just got to go with the flow.

So until next time, keep doing what you do everyone.

-B. Kline

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