A Look Into the Future

Let’s take a look into the future and see what the crystal ball sees. Its the start of a new year and with that comes ideas of what the future might hold. People start resolutions (and quickly drop them), people try new habits, people (the horror… the horror…) do “Dry January”, people work out more (for a week or so), etc.

Every year its a time of reevaluation, looking at the past – in this case the year of 2022 – and looking into the future – 2023 and beyond. Seeing what the new trends will be, and having interviews and articles like this let us take a gauge of all of that. It also then lets us look back at the end of the next year to see what we got right, what we got wrong, and why. Its a great launching point for speculation and thought, as well as serving as a great look back and retrospective and way to see the changes in trends, in the business, in brewing and craft beer in general.

Tyler Budwash – co owner of the Pilger Ruh Brewing Company out of Pottsvillle Pennsylvania, was nice enough to reach out to me with his chats and interviews with some of his friends and co – workers in the industry. He chatted with the brewers from Robin Hood Brewing Company, Bright Path Brewing Company, Mount Gretna Craft Brewery, Copperz Brewing Company, as well as the labelist and artist for Rotunda Brewing Company, and they all graciously allowed us to share their thoughts on 2023 and beyond.

I want to say thank you to all involved for this. I will make sure to thank you each individually at the end of the article. Also, if you like the breweries involved here in the article, be sure to check to the bottom where I will have a list of other articles with each of the breweries involved. Thank you.

Robin Hood Brewing Company

Caleb Peachy is the head brewer of Robin Hood Brewing Company. As per Untappd, they are a Brew Pub out of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. They have 212 unique beers with over 33,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.7 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Robin Hood Brewing Co. is a small-batch brewpub in Bellefonte, PA specializing in IPA’s and high quality experimental brews.”

When asked about future trends, Caleb Peachy said:

I think we will still see the trendy beers continue to be king. Such as the hazy IPA’s and fruited sours. But I do think we will start to see some fatigue with the hazy’s. Instead of having all IPA’s on tap, taprooms are going to need to have a variety. We will also continue to see breweries push creativity with what can be put into beers. I’d personally like to see more west coast IPA’s and easy drinking lagers become popular throughout the year. Nothing beats a crispi boi anytime of the year. 

Caleb Peachy

For more information on Robin Hood Brewing Company:

• Robin Hood Brewing Company (Untappd)
• Robin Hood Brewing Company (Official Website)
• Robin Hood Brewing Company (Instagram)
• Robin Hood Brewing Company (Facebook)

For more articles about Robin Hood Brewing Company, see the end of this article.

Pilger Ruh Brewing Company

Tyler Budwash is the co – owner of Pilger Ruh Brewing Company. According to Untappd they are a nano brewery out of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. They have 159 unique beers and over 6,000 ratings with a global average rating of 3.87 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Community Crafted Nano Brewery in Pottsville PA with 12 rotating taps, local wine, spirits, and cocktails. Beer to go available. Ask about our food menu!”

I’m not sure how the conversation went, but I like to think Tyler Budwash asked himself out loud what his thoughts were going to be on the trends of 2023. This is what he had to say:

Well let’s start with saying, I don’t think hazy IPAs, fruited sours, pastry stouts, or seltzers are going anywhere and we can officially say lagers are “back”. So in 2023 I think we will continue to see more approachable beers hit taps, as in lower abv and more of the classic styles returning. I’d personally like to see more milds.

Tyler Budwash

For more information on Pilger Ruh Brewing:

• Pilger Ruh Brewing (Untappd)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing (Official Website)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing (Instagram)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing (Twitter)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing (Facebook)

For more articles on Pilger Ruh Brewing please check the end of this article.

Bright Path Brewing

Alex Franco is co – owner and brewer at Bright Path Brewing Company. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. They have 20 unique beers and 2,900 ratings with a global average rating of 3.7 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Small craft brewery located in Jim Thorpe, PA focusing on lagers and session ales.”

Tyler Budwash asked Alex Franco what he foresees in 2023, and this was his response:

For 2023 I think lagers continue to grow but I hope that beer drinkers catch up to brewers. Hazy IPAs are everywhere and hard to distinguish between most of them so I hope beer drinkers start to see the wide array of beer styles and branch out to try different things.

Alex Franco

For more information on Bright Path Brewing:

• Bright Path Brewing (Untappd)
• Bright Path Brewing (Official Website)
• Bright Path Brewing (Instagram)
• Bright Path Brewing (Facebook)

For more articles on Bright Path Brewing, please see the end of this article.

Mount Gretna Craft Brewery

Brad Moyer is the brewer of Mount Gretna Craft Brewery. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery from Palmyra, Pennsylvania. They have 193 unique beers with a total of 19,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.64 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Hand-crafted beer inspired by a place where people share culture, art and ideas amid the lakes, trails and forest – historic Mount Gretna.”

When asked by Tyler Budwash what he saw coming in 2023, Brad Moyer said:

I think the thing I see most coming is diversification of Beer styles there’s been a lot of breweries recently, who hang their hat on 1 to 2 styles and that’s all they do. Now I’m not saying that they don’t do them well , it’s just people are demanding more these days and we are seeing a resurgence of lots of lagers and other styles that were one time not so sexy to brew. In a market where there is literally a brewery every 5 to 10 miles you have to be doing something that sets yourself apart and if you hang your hat only on, let’s say hazy IPA people will come but ultimately will want different choices and venture up the road.

Brad Moyer

For more information on Mount Gretna Craft Brewery:

• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery (Untappd)
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery (Official Website)
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery (Instagram)
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery (Facebook)

For more articles on Mount Gretna Craft Brewery, please see the end of this article.

Rotunda Brewing Company

Stevie Glick is the artist and can labelist for all of the beautiful can art you see from Rotunda Brewing Company. Their logos, artwork, and can labels adorn their social media and their promotional material as well as both brewery locations (the brewery and restaurant in Annville and the brew pub in Hershey). Rotunda Brewing Company is a micro brewery out of Annville Pennsylvania with 458 unique beers, 83,000 ratings and a global average rating of 3.94 (as of 1.4.23) according to Untappd. Their Untappd description reads: “Stop by at 11am on Saturdays to get your RBC 32 oz Crowlers TO GO! Quantities are limited and go fast! We are conveniently located at 245 West Main Street, Annville PA. Parking is available in the back. Call us today with any questions as we have a very knowledgeable staff on hand that can handle any beer questions you may have!”

When confronted by Tyler Budwash and asked about the future, this is what Stevie Glick had to say:

I don’t see much changing at all honesty.
Maybe everyone fine tuning their skills with heavily fruited sours.
We’re adding nitrogen to a lot of things – especially the Swheat Tart series 

I most definitely see the bigger craft brewing company’s from the surrounding states are either setting up shop in PA or are finally getting some stretch with distro into their surrounding states. 

Covid brought us Aslin Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, and Other Half Brewing; and that’s amazing but may also bring the little breweries competition selling out of six pack shops. 

I’m hoping to see more collaborations between little brewing companies and bigger ones. 

And lastly. no one’s ever going to stop trying to push the boundaries of what should or could be in beer or what can be made from it – so who knows maybe a new unique style may pop out again that no one thought of. 

Stevie Glick

For more information on Rotunda Brewing Company:

• Rotunda Brewing Company (Untappd)
• Rotunda Brewing Company (Official Website)
• Rotunda Brewing Company (Instagram)
• Rotunda Brewing Company (Facebook)

For more articles on Rotunda Brewing Company please see the end of this article.

Copperz Brewing Company

Justin Kershner is the brewer for Copperz Brewing Company, a brew pub out of Hamburg Pennsylvania. Based on Untappd they have 38 unique beers, 2,100 ratings, and a global average rating of 3.68 (as of 1.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Opened in December 2021, our 5bbl brewhouse supplies 10 rotating taps with a wide variety of styles. Full kitchen offering great food and a limited bar featuring PA liquors.”

When asked by Tyler Budwash what he thinks 2023 will hold, Justin Kershner stated this:

Ha, I wish I knew where it was heading. That’s kinda the fun part right? We don’t know. Just gotta roll with it.

Justin Kershner

For more information on Copperz Brewing Company, check out their social media pages:

• Copperz Brewing Company (Untappd)
• Copperz Brewing Company (Official Website)
• Copperz Brewing Company (Instagram)
• Copperz Brewing Company (Facebook)

More Articles

Looking for more articles we’ve written here on The Beer Thrillers about the above breweries? Check these out below:

Robin Hood Brewing Company

• Our Trip up to Bellefonte and Beyond (Hiking James Cleveland Trail, Visiting Axemann Brewery, Robin Hood Brewing Company, Short Bus / The Bus Brewing Company, and Shy Bear Brewing Company) (December 10th, 2021)

Bright Path Brewing Company

• Visiting Jim Thorpe with Friends (Bright Path Brewing Company and Stoker’s Brewing Company) (June 25th, 2021)
• Brewer Interview: An Interview with the Bright Path Brewing Brewers
• Bright Path Brewing Company Opens in Jim Thorpe

Pilger Ruh Brewing Company

• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help
• Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• Beer Review: Social Distancing (Tattered Flag, Abomination Brewing, and Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• Prototype Brewery Invitational
• Beer Review: Should Have Put Him in Custardy (Tattered Flag) (Collaboration)
• Beer Review: Abbra Collabra 6 Way Banana Split Milkshake IPA (Tattered Flag) (Collaboration)

Mount Gretna Craft Brewery

• Multiple Beer Reviews: Kettle Sour Gose, ESB, Dandy-Lion Saison, TropiKolsch (Mount Gretna Craft Brewery)
• Hike: Governor Dick Tower Trail (Manheim, Pennsylvania)
• A Word From Brad Moyer of Liquid Noise Brewing (when he worked there) (COVID-19) (2020)

Rotunda Brewing Company

• Drunk Phils Fans and Rotunda Brewing Company Team Up With ‘Jam The Batter’ Collaboration
• Beer Review: Irish Car Bomb Nitro Stout (Rotunda Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart (Rotunda Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart (Rotunda Brewing Company)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub
• Brews and Bands for Bart
• Looking for good local stouts or green beer this St. Patty’s Day?
• Valentine’s Day Beers

Copperz Brewing Company

• Hike: Pinnacle Rock (Hamburg, Pennsylvania)

Brewer Interviews

One of my favorite (B. Kline writing here) features of the blog, and one of my favorite things to do is get to interview brewers, people in the industry, and just people in general for the blog. The following is a list of interviews we’ve done for the blog.

• Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• Brewer Interview: Rod Stahl (Axemann Brewery)
• Brewer Interview: Sean Gorzynski (Logyard Brewing)
• Brewers Interview: Alex Franko and Dillon Smith (Bright Path Brewing)
• Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Thanks For Reading

Firstly I’d like to thank Tyler Budwash who reached out to me and did ther interviews and talked to his friends and co – workers. He messaged me wanting to do this end of the year / looking forward to 2023 and reached out to the fine folks above about it. We are always glad here at The Beer Thrillers to showcase and support the brewers and breweries that don’t always get ‘mainstream’ attention, and the attention and support they deserve. Especially with some of these being local and Pennsylvania based breweries, its nice to give them the attention and shout outs that they don’t get from other blogs and sites and groups on the web. Thank you Tyler for reaching out to them and for writing the article. (I, as B. Kline, did just editing, and adding this ending to the article.)

With that, I would like to thank Caleb Peachy, Brad Moyer, Alex Franco, Stevie Glick, and Justin Kershner for answering Tyler’s messages and questions.

Peel back the cover of the blog a bit, I started editing and formatting the article this morning at 8AM to try and have it done by 9AM so I could get ready for work… when 9:20AM rolled up and I realized “oh crap I’m gonna be late” and had to put it on hold to after work. So my apologies for not getting this out this morning, but I jumped on it right after work, and despite WordPress’s best attempts at being super slow and glitchy for some reason at just the moments I didn’t need or want it to be, here it is.

I hope you all enjoyed the article. Please make sure to stop out at these great breweries. We will be definitely hitting some of these places in the near future.

Let us know in the comments what you think will be the trends of 2023 and going forward in the world of craft beer. Think it will eventually become “The Year of the Lager” despite a big blog and group saying for four years that it will be? Think we’ll get even heavier stouts? More fruity sours? Who knows! Let us know your thought and opinions.

Also, please like, subscribe, and follow the page. Also make sure to check out our social media pages and follow us on there. Thanks so much for reading!

Cheers All! And a very Happy New Years!

-B. Kline

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(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”.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After dropping my oldest off with her mother in Campbelltown, off of Lawn Road, I was right there by the brewery, so I just had to stop in right? I mean, I couldn’t say no to a brewery that is literally right on the same road as me…. so I had to stop. Had to.

So this is all a direct continuation of Friday night. I know I meant to post this blog update after work yesterday…. but well…. I got distracted by drinking. (It happens… don’t stare at me like that.) My friend Drew called me out after work so I stopped there, and we pounded some beers with another friend (Dan) and discussed everything and anything pop culture and then watched Terror in Beverly Hills. Which, is a must see if you are a big FRANK Stallone fan. Anyway, you might be seeing some articles on here by Drew in the future, or at least the podcasts he is working on. Which I will be participating in as well. (Gaming and beer related podcasts, where we drink and play old NES or SNES video games. So be sure to check them out whenever we get them done and posted, and I will be putting links to them here on this blog.) We did drink some quality beers last night, Spundae by Spring House, Velvet Cake by Spring House, Key Lime Pie Confectioner by D9, Atomic Pumpkin by New Belgium, and then we segued into drinking Natty Daddy’s, Naturdays, and Miller Light…. and random liquors around his house. Yea… it devolved pretty quickly and into one of those kinds of nights.

But have no fear, I’m up early, sober, and with minimal hangover, so its time to write this beer review of the flight I had at Mount Gretna Craft Brewery, just like I promised, …only a few (14-ish) hours late(r).

Decided to do a flight of all light, tart, sour-ish beers. But unfortunately the one kicked so I stuck an ESB in the middle, which still isn’t bad. So my flight went Gose, ESB, Saison, Kolsch. I can handle a nice flight like that, especially after a night at Troegs and eating tacos and soft pretzels and drinking pale ales and IPAs.

Beer: Kettle Sour Gose
Brewery: Mount Gretna Craft Brewery
Style: Sour – Gose
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: 11
Untappd Write-Up: German-style beer with a refreshing tart lemon verbena mixed with a touch of Summertime Salt. 4.3 ABV / 11 IBU

This is a very typical, light, airy, nicely tart kettle sour / gose. Its crisp, its tart, its light, its relatively smooth, it has a nice bit of a pop to it. Its nothing extraordinary, but its far far far from bad. Its a good beer.

Appearance is clear, bit of fiz head to it, has the light look of a gose and tart sours. Like an off-hue of lagers and pilsners, there’s that translucent quality to goses and most sours that you can just tell its going to be tart.

Once again aroma is that tartness, bit of lime and lemon whiff you get from kettle sours. Not a lot of adjuncts or anything to differentiate it from other similar goses and kettle sours.

Taste is also exact for kettle sours and tart goses; its clean, crisp, refreshing, effervescent, a nice clean beer. Summertime calling type beer. I wish I had more descriptors and could go on more about it, but I really don’t have much to say about this. Its just a nice, plain, generic kettle sour beer thats good but won’t wow, its tasty, nothing bad to say about it, just nothing amazing to say about it.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.55 (as of 9.15.19)

The odd-ball of my flight, the non-sour/non-tart/non-refreshing/non-crisp beer of my flight. The only “dark” beer on the flight. Sadly, it didn’t quite hold up, and not in the least because of the style.

Beer: ESB
Brewery: Mount Gretna Craft Brewery
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: 37
Untappd Write-Up: The British version of a pale ale.  Made with traditional European malts and hops, it’s a balance between bitterness of the hops and sweetness of the malts.  An earthy, floral flavor profile and aroma with a hint of residual sweetness.  Pairs well with chicken, fish & chips, cheeses.

Sadly, this just felt off and tasted off to me. Not exactly to tradition, and not exactly the beer style’s fault, this was more of a problem with the beer recipe I think (or perhaps production, but I think it wasn’t bad brewing, just not a good recipe).

Appearance is dark, malty, typical for ESB’s. Its brown, bready looking, and kind of with a slightly unfiltered look, little bit of floaters. There is some clarity, and it has a lager-ish look (albeit darker), and appearance is good and on point for the style.

Aroma is bready, malty, and heady. Some roasty notes but not much, you get some of the hops in the aroma, all bitterness and no fruity hop notes. Still nothing out of the ordinary and everything looks and smells fine with this beer.

Taste is straight up bitter. Which isn’t necessarily a problem, but there is no sweetness of malt, just bitter hop, bitter malt, bitter roast, and with an astringency. The sheer overwhelming bitterness is what makes me think its a recipe problem and not a brewing problem. Just too much bitter hops, too much bitter malts, too much everything bitter, and nothing to kind of thin it out or to mellow it even the slightest. Like the style was ramped up massively. This is what leads me to believe its the recipe, that they took the style and tried to overachieve with it. There is nothing too off about the beer outside of all this, some astringency, and some after-taste thats a bit bad, but could just be from the massive amounts of bittering rather than anything else.

My Untappd Rating: ***.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.45 (as of 9.15.19)

Catalogue this one under good but weird after-taste.

Beer: Dandy-Lion Saison
Brewery: Mount Gretna Craft Brewery
Style: Farmhouse Ale – Saison
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Write-Up: French style saison with a seasonal kick of sunflower seeds and dandelion heads. This might yellow ale boasts a foamy white head that finishes dry with an herbaceous hint of dandelions

This was delicious, just left a weird after-taste. Let me be up front about that. I really enjoyed the beer, up until after I finished it and then it just had a weird after-taste that kept me burping a bit with a bad taste in my mouth. Not really horrible, and not enough to knock it crazily, but, was unpleasant.

Appearance is a mellow yellow, a soft translucent, clear, see-through off-key Belgian-esque orange that is far more yellow. Little bit of a head to it, but not much due to just being a taster.

Aroma smells like an open field. Grassy, full of summer time air. Dandalions being picked by kids, sunflower seeds, garden plants, grass dewy yet.

Taste is refreshing and crisp, you get the sunflower seed flavor, but not roasted sunflower seeds like you sucked on and chewed and spit out when you were a kid in little league. This is like fresh picked sunflower seeds. Nice refreshing tartness to this.

….but then that aftertaste. After I sat down the sampler for the last time, it kicked in, and got me. A wave of funkyness from the beer. Just something off, and it made me burp a few times, and not pleasant “oh I get to taste this again” burps, but almost like a funky brett or funky sour kinda taste. Maybe it was a one time thing, or maybe its the beer, I don’t know.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 9.15.19)

The last of my flight, a Kolsch by Mount Gretna Craft Brewery. This one was the fruitiest of the bunch, and perhaps my favorite of the flight as well.

Beer: TropiKolsch
Brewery: Mount Gretna Craft Brewery
Style: Kolsch
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 21
Untappd Write-Up: Campbelltown Kolsch has a clear, sun-bleached straw color with a medium white head that doesn’t stick around very long. It is light in body with delicate fruit and bread notes and good carbonation. A balanced beer with soft malty sweetness and a smooth crisp mouthfeel. With the addition of mango! Pairs well with salads, chicken and fish

This was very refreshing, light, and good. The appearance, like the kettle sour gose, is light, translucent and see-through, clear and refreshing looking. No sediments, no floaters, no haze, just simple, clean, crisp, clear beer.

Aroma is fruity and bright. Hop notes of like cirtra and the other fruit forward hops. Some mango and possibly peach aroma.

Taste is crisp, refreshing, cool, and smooth drinking. Nothing cloy, nothing clinging to your mouth, nice light mouthfeel. Mango flavor dominates a bit, but it has an overall crisp fruityness to it. Tart and refreshing but not sour and no punch to it.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.26 (as of 9.15.19)

So, it didn’t come out when I promised (last night, 9.14.19, after work), but it came out now, and I’m off for work. While I’m busting and working hard, you all need to root on the Bengals vs. the 49ers for me. Its only fair afterall!

Keep enjoying the suds!

-B. Kline