Brewery Tour - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Tue, 20 Aug 2024 15:09:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Brewery Tour - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 Sworn Brewing a Year Later – A Sit Down with Jesse and Amanda https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/08/20/sworn-brewing-a-year-later-a-sit-down-with-jesse-and-amanda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sworn-brewing-a-year-later-a-sit-down-with-jesse-and-amanda Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:13:35 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15431

Sworn Brewing (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company)

Sworn Brewing One Year Later

Its been just over a year since we visited Sworn Brewing in Mechanicsburg, PA and got to hang out with owners Jesse and Amanda. As we came to see them about their grand opening and pick their brains about the new brewery, this time we came to pick their brains one year later on. On the verge of their first anniversary, their one year anniversary, we stopped in – Josh, Amy, and myself (Ben), to take a seat with them, outside in the gorgeous (super) sunny weather.

(See: Getting Sworn In – A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company)

Just like we did with that article, we are breaking down this article as well, taking a look at it from the perspectives of Josh, Amy, and Ben; with each of us writing a section. (As a preview of how we did it, here’s a look back at the Getting Sworn In article):

The Set – Up

Amanda and Jesse are married and co – owners of Sworn Brewing Company. Jesse is also head brewer. We heard about them opening up their new brewery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and I reached out to Amanda when I saw a post of hers’ on one of the beer groups. We locked down a meeting date – July 24th, 2023 – and all set to go. So Josh, Amy, and myself met with Amanda and Jesse and got a walk through and a sneak peek look at the upcoming brewery.

For this article, I’m going to let Josh start us off, then switch over to Amy, and then I’ll wrap things up and conclude the article. Please let us know in the comments section what you think of this, and if you like how this article looks and reads. (Josh and I did a similar article when we got a behind the scenes look at Mellow Mink – and Amy and I did similar with a sneak peek of The Beerded Goat).

Getting Sworn In – A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company

And just like with that article, I’m going to let Josh start things off, then we’ll tag Amy in, and then I’ll wrap things up.

Josh – Getting Sworn Into Dedication

Token to Midnight by Sworn Brewing Company

On a very warm, sunny and oddly rainless day in Central Pennsylvania, Ben, Amy & myself sat down outside of a little brewery nearing its one year anniversary with two of our friends to discuss how far 365 days have brought them. Those two friends are the husband and wife team that run Sworn, Jesse & Amanda Mills.

While drinking in their company and beer, we learned a thing or two about what happens to a brand new brewery that was set up and dedicated to providing excellent craft beer. Wait a second, has it actually been a year already? Almost from the day the brewery launched back in August of 2023, the writing team of Ben, Amy, and myself have been jonesing for Sworn’s one year anniversary. Why? Because when Jesse & Amanda invited the three of us to sit down with them just before their official opening, we all felt a similar sense that whatever this new brewery was going to be, it was going to run roughshod over everyone’s expectations. And that’s just what’s happened.

In a repurposed garage, then catering outfit, now burgeoning micro brewery nestled behind Atlantis Pools on E Trindle Road, Sworn has become the destination that beer nerds clamor for parking spaces four days a week. As mild-mannered and laid back as brewmaster Jesse aims to be, his beer and patrons tend to be the exact opposite when it comes to speaking to an incredible talent located in Mechanicsburg. A constantly rotating beer list should be an indicator there’s been no shortage of foot traffic when the doors are open, but that’s really just a fraction of the story.

From the outset, the mission statement is a simple one for Sworn: Make the best beer possible and keep that promise. Period. And how does one do that, you might ask? While there are many ways to answer this question, I can really only think of two answers. One, be Jesse Mills. Two, and on a more serious note, keep batches small and pay absolute attention to even the smallest of details. But that’s the everyday vision. When pressed for the five and ten year plans, Jesse gave us an answer with real gravity to it. Five years out, there is no plan to expand the brewery. You may scoff, but this is on purpose. In fact, everything about Sworn is purpose driven and calculated. In a time where breweries seem to be closing as fast as they open, a level headed approach to a new business is what’s needed. Not spending money on things that only look fancy, yet ultimately do not add to the bottom line is something that the Mills have avoided and intend to keep it that way. Ten years out … admittedly, ten years out is a long way to look, but if the past year is any kind of template for the success Sworn has achieved, then the years to come are bright indeed.

From opening the doors for the first time, pouring at the Hoppy Valley Brewfest, to collaborating with some of PA’s biggest and best breweries, Sworn is here to stay. Happy One Year Anniversary, Amanda and Jesse. Forever may your fermenters be full and your lines be long.

Amy – Getting Sworn Into Quality

Sworn Brewing Mexican Lager

Am I too much when I tell you I am writing my article about Sworn Brewing company while wearing my Sworn Brewing company shirt? It’s seriously a comfy shirt. It’s not your regular T-shirt that after a few good washings softens up, it was a well-made T shirt. I could live in this T-shirt.
Every time I am walking into Sworn, I think of the quote from their Facebook page “We will strive to make sure the highest quality items we can get our hands on will be used in every single process. Everything that comes out of our taps, every single small batch of beer that we make will go through a rigorous quality control process. If it does not meet our standards, it will never be consumed by the customer. We are not here to cut corners, we are here to make sure we can provide you with the best possible experience that you deserve, what the craft brewing industry deserves!”
I still remember quoting this a year ago and we are delighted to celebrate the 2 years of Sworn Brewing Company. Each time I see how quickly their beer kicks or a standing room only Friday night I can’t clap hard enough, and I can’t wear this comfy T-shirt any more proudly.
Every aspect of Sworn Brewing company embodies this level of quality in all their products. When Sworn Brewing posts a beer was just tapped you need to leave your house immediately or you aren’t going to get to taste it. Jesse
brews the beer in manageable smaller quantities, it keeps the impeccable quality on point.
We sampled several different brews they had on tap during our visit last month. They are probably long gone by now. But you’d also hope that, so the beer is always fresh. I also tried a glass of the house made non-alcoholic
cream ale. It lasted maybe 30 seconds in front of me. Having non-alcoholic options is inclusive for whatever the reason. (See: I’ve Missed Drinking A Lot.)
On our visit we also enjoyed some of the beloved queso. This house made queso is the perfect pairing with Sworn beer. I do believe the boyfriend understands this is a must order each time we frequent Sworn. It seems natural to wonder why they aren’t expanding and growing? The question stemming from Jesse and Amanda was “why?” And the obvious, they won’t let the level of quality decrease in the slightest. Why not consider how detail oriented their attempt at brewery perfection is?

Ben – Getting Sworn Into Craftsmanship

Sworn Brewing

I get to see Jesse and Amanda fairly often at work, and when I get the chance I break away and stand around chatting with them for quite a while. We talk shop, the business, the industry; we brainstorm ideas like creating a tap handle out of an old PlayStation or NES controller for their “Gamer” series of beers. Amanda will tell me how we need to start up a podcast – which we do – and which we are constantly planning on doing – and we get to chatting about new beers at my work, as well as at their brewery, etc.

The biggest thing we would discuss is how we needed to do a follow up article for them. Discussing their one year mark. How everything has changed – or nothing has changed. (And in that year, a lot has and hasn’t changed.) We’ve gotten to stop over at Sworn’s brewery in Mechanicsburg several times in the course of the year, we’ve gotten to hang out with them at the Hoppy Valley Brewfest, they’ve grown in what they sell for beer, for drinks, for merch, and even doing crowlers and growlers.

Speaking of growlers… we come to the one (and seemingly only) regret Jesse really has of their first year of operation. When asked, and prodded about what he would change; he said he would go back and not sell those growlers. (But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.)

Amy and I arrived about 5 – 10 minutes after Josh, who was already a stout deep; we joined him and then Jesse and Amanda outside in the beautiful sunny patio area. Over the past year I’ve become horrible with checking into beers on Untappd, even going full brewery visits without checking into beers, but throughout the course of our time there in the late July days, we (between myself, Amy, and Josh) got the entire board of beers. And that list ran the gambit from a stout, to IPAs, to pale ales, a Mexican lager, and a sour. All were – as always – fantastic.

Some of the various topics we discussed were things like collaborations. Like their recently completed collaboration – Storm the Field – with Troegs Independent Brewing, Antifragile Brewing, and Warwick Farm Brewing. We discussed how they were going to do a collaboration with Adroit Theory and then it didn’t quite work out. The nuances to collaborations are a very tricky thing.

This brings me back to how once again, just like in previous times we’ve done interviews with people, Amy, Josh and I, like to take a non-journalistic approach of ‘chatting’ and ‘hanging out’ rather than note taking, writing down, jotting every last thing said, quoting and using tape recorders and such. We much more prefer an open, relaxed, fun style of chatting and then going through our recollection to make our articles (when we do these sneak previews or sit downs with brewers and breweries, like we’ve done with Couch Brewery, Mellow Mink Brewing, Lindgren Brewing, Beerded Goat, etc.)

One of the many things we discussed over and over was Untappd. Amanda certainly has some strong opinions and thoughts on the app. We discussed the pros / cons to it – as a whole, for the industry, as well as to Sworn Brewing in particular. Jesse told us about how they reached out and approached him about making their brewery a “verified venue” because of how well Sworn Brewing was doing.

Amanda getting frustrated at the kegging cleaner at Collusion Tap Works (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing)

Jumping back up to the discussion on collaborations, we discussed their Clayton Bigsby beer (if you know, you know), a collaboration with Collusion Tap Works. Its a black kolsch. Jesse and Amanda both discussed their love for Collusion Tap Works and for Jared, and their working agreement with them (mostly Amanda begrudgingly discussing how she has to go there to clean kegs).

Some of the most interesting parts of the discussion was listening to Jesse talk about the art and the craft of brewing beer. How much he loves their small model, getting to do so many new batches (they are already past 100 batches for the brewery, and Jesse himself is over a thousand commercially and professionally). Jesse absolutely loves his small system, his model of making beer the way he wants to, the designs and recipes that he wants to, and being able to just constantly tweak, to constantly update, to constantly fiddle with everything to the way he wants. Like an artist sculpting. Or a painter painting. And he very much views this as an art, his art. He gets to craft it, near daily, making the batches he wants, with the recipes he’s worked on and the brewing system he created.

Jesse and Amanda

There are many things to say, but looking back over our pictures, and this one grabs my thoughts on it, is that I really wanted to point out is the dedication and enjoyment, and love that these two have for what their doing. Jesse obviously loves the brewing process, brewing, crafting, honing his beers. But they both love doing this. They genuinely enjoy running the brewery, talking to guests, sitting there and hanging out with people, chatting about beer, with beer, to people. They both have an extreme passion for the business, for the quality, for the art, for the beer, for what it means to people, to the community, to what it means for everyone. These two love getting to work with and for the people of not just Mechanicsburg, but all the people who visit their brewery. Who have taken home crowlers and given them to friends or tasted them with their friends. Nearly every single person that walked into that brewery on July 18th, knew Jesse and Amanda, they shook hands, hit fists, clapped shoulders, etc. Bantered with each and every person. Watching them with the people coming into their humble brewery, you can see why they do this, why they continue to do this, and why they want to continue to do this. Plus, I think it lets them keep giving their daughter (part time bartender) enough crap every day. (What parent wouldn’t want that?)

Throughout the course of our chat, we enjoyed the full menu, while Jesse and Amanda enjoyed their lager, we joked, we chatted about the past year, how crazy it all felt just a year ago sitting down to chat about the place to be, and how its ‘grown’ in that year. Grown being a relative term really. The brewery and the building itself is the same size, but there are so many differences. The patio area outside is bigger, theres a larger area to make food, and something that Jesse wants to do much more of. Theres the sense of how its grown in popularity, in community, and in spirit. We joked about things they could do or would do or would not do with the building and the area, we joked about things from their opening like the black drop down ceiling tiles, etc.

Funnily enough there isn’t much of anything Jesse wants to change, or even grow, in the sense of ‘getting larger’ materially. He enjoys his size, his location, their heartbeat of a brewery. They enjoy just what they have, not wanting to get ‘too big’ or to ‘outgrow’ themselves. We talked about satellite and second locations, and discussed how this doomed or severely hurt many other breweries. We discussed some financials of the industry and Sworn itself, but generally this was a dog best left to sleep. I think the biggest thing we could say as a takeaway is contentment in this aspect. They are secure, happy, and content with the creation, the situation, the brewery; not content in a “resting on their laurels” kind of way, but content in what they created, a happiness brought on by all the hardwork, sweat, and straight up work in the brewery; a contentment more born on satisfaction and not wanting to destroy whats already there. Progress will be made obviously, but not for lack of reason, lack of logic, lack of strategy and idea. Progress for Sworn will be in an essence a tactical idea.

Moving back to the beer aspect of our conversation, we chatted and discussed styles. We talked about IPAs, hazy and west coast, we talked about saisons, lagers, we talked about stouts and porters. Basically we covered the spectrum of craft beer, and how Jesse loves to brew and try them all. The challenge of coming up with new recipes for different styles is always forefront, but a challenge Jesse looks forward to, a challenge he wants and in almost an aspect its something that drives his brewing edge, his creativity. He keeps him a younger man in a sense. (Which I’m sure Amanda appreciates.) But that spark of creativity and wanting to try different approaches, different styles, different recipes, is the genesis and main thrust of The Gamer series. Jesse’s version of research and development, his system to test out new recipes and methods and variants, “what if I change this hop or tweak this grain bill”, etc.

The area around the smoker and cooking area for Sworn Brewing

Amy took the above picture of the ‘food prep’ area at Sworn Brewing, the smoker and outdoor grill area. And of course had to grab a shot of the award that Jesse won. Later in the conversations, Jesse talks about how awards and things like the Untappd stuff and tournaments and medals don’t appeal to him, so of course we had to poke at him, and mention how he “prominently displays this award”. (He promptly then removed said award, in a bit of a good natured huff.) When visiting the brewery, make sure you look for this award and point it out to Jesse.

Speaking of things that annoy Jesse, we would be amiss if we didn’t mention the stickers bearing his likeness. There is a sticker of Jesse’s head. And needless to say Jesse loves that this is a thing (maximum sarcasm involved here). We have discussed using the image for panties, as well as pasties, and other sorts of merchandise and memorabilia. One can only hope one day we’ll be able to buy Jesse themed pasties and panties from Sworn Brewing. (The ball is in their court.)

Wrapping This Up

We are fast approaching the 3500 word mark, and its best we get this wrapped up. As always, we had a wonderful time visiting. And even more so, we had a fantastic time chatting with Amanda and Jesse. They are absolutely phenomenal people to get to hang out with, and pick their brains about beer, the industry, brewing, everything really. They really are wonderful people, and its a blast getting to spend time with them, and getting to be at their brewery. And they don’t make bad beer either, so thats certainly a plus.

I can’t say enough great things about them, Sworn Brewing, and am constantly recommending the brewery to people that come into my work or that I meet out. The community aspect is top notch, and the place is welcoming, the beers are good, the food is great, and the vibe is perfect.

We are so happy to see how well they are doing, and wish them a Happiest Anniversary. One down, many more to go! (Here’s to revisiting this article and writing about their 50th anniversary!)

I want to again thank Amanda and Jesse for inviting us out and having us chat with them and getting to not just write the first article but this second article as well. I want to thank Josh and Amy as well for writing and helping craft this article. We visited on July 18th, and we wrote our portions somewhat from there, some in increments, but mostly in the later more recent time, so any errors and mistakes are due to our faulty minds, especially since “we had a few that day”.

I do want to apologize for some of the tardiness of this article, it was originally intended to get prepared and finished around the 10th of August, but real life (four daughters and all) tends to get in the way, and this article is just a mere 10 days late. My apologies.

I want to give one final shout of: “WHOOOOOO DEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY” to fully wrap this up.

More Articles About Sworn Brewing Company

More Information on Sworn Brewing Company

The following comes via Untappd.

Sworn Brewing Company is a nano brewery from Mechanicsburg, PA. They have 121 unique beers, and over 9,100 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.19 (as of 8.20.24). Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can find them at the following social media platforms:

Some Articles Written by Josh

If you are looking for more articles written by Josh, check these out:

Amy’s Column Series

For More Articles from Ben

All Of Us

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

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If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

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We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

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Did you miss me as much as I missed you? (A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/06/09/did-you-miss-me-as-much-as-i-missed-you-a-look-at-lindgren-craft-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=did-you-miss-me-as-much-as-i-missed-you-a-look-at-lindgren-craft-brewery Mon, 10 Jun 2024 02:05:07 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15128

A look back in the brewhouse at Lindgren Craft Brewery

Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

This whole mom thing IS NOT EASY.  I admit, I am struggling at times.  How are we supposed to juggle full time careers, kids, chores around the house…..I mean at that point forget about having any sort of social life.  I am struggling to find that balance.  So, I asked my Boo (Ben) to plan a date night.  I just need some adult alone time.

This may have come as a shocker, but we went to a brewery! LOL! Juggling our schedules and Scarlet make it very hard to find an evening to go out together.  To say I was excited for an evening at a brewery felt like an understatement.  Maybe the excitement was a bit much since I pretty much drove right past Lindgren Craft Brewery!  It is inside old Duncannon National Bank, and it feels so niche and cool.

A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery

Duncannon National Bank (photo courtesy of the Perry County Heritage Trail)

According to PerryCountyHeritageTrail.com the bank was built in 1889.

This was the first building in Perry County to be devoted exclusively to banking.  Before the Duncannon National Bank, the safe at the Duncannon Iron Works was used to protect large sums of money.  Currency was dispatched from banks in Harrisburg and Carlisle as needed.  It was common for merchants and businesses to act as banks and lenders before banks become more common in the 20th century.

If you aren’t careful, you will get lost in the Lindgren tap list.  It was tough to pick out that first pint.  The variety of styles and flavors is not something all breweries can encapsulate but Lindgren certainly held our attention.

I mean it had been a minute since we got out; but I started out heavy with the “To Infinity and Beyond”, a porter brewed with 86 pounds of Milky Way Bars and 23 pounds of cocoa nibs, and it was served on Nitro.  I was drooling just thinking about it, so I went all in.  Ben got the Diane & Ross…No Supremes, a black Kolsch.  Both were amazing!

The Kolsch was deceiving because in Kolsch fashion it was light and refreshing but it was a black Kolsch.  You still got some dark and roasty flavors.  It was brewed with additions of Carafa malt for color.  The Porter was dark and delicious, everything you expect from a well brewed porter and.  I thought at first, I might be overloaded with the milky way flavor, but the sweetness was perfectly balanced out with the full bodied roastyness of the porter.

Our burger at Lindgren

We had to get some food to go along with the delicious brews (Duncannon Ghost Kitchen Food Menu). The Duncannon Ghost Kitchen run by the Old Trail Tavern & Steak is nestled inside the brewery as a separate business but they definitely blend well together (Lindgren Craft Brewery and Duncannon Ghost Kitchen Partnership). We nibbled on the Bavarian Pretzel Flight and the classic Cheeseburger.  Do Not think these are your typical brewery food staples, although I hope these will be for Lindgren, The Bavarian pretzel flight wasn’t your typical giant pretzel put on display as a peacocking type of appetizer.  They were pretzel bites tossed in some sort of yummy seasoning.  Perfect to toss into your mouth with some beer as you are enjoying the evening. The classic cheeseburger was a mix of short rib, chuck and brisket certified Angus beef.  chefs kiss

A flight at Lindgren Craft Brewery.

We decided to order a flight next and try some more styles.  We picked out 4 easily with Taking Selfies with Turkeys Blonde/Golden Ale, I love Mary Jane IPA, Rebels of the Sacred Heart Red Ale and Of Lords and Ladies a Mild Dark.  From the refreshing spark of the Blonde to the caramelly and gentle bitter from the Mild they all went down easily and great with the food we were sharing.

We had fun checking out the old bank vault where they house the drawers for the Keyholders membership.  You even track your monthly membership pour with a draft card kept in your drawer in the safe.  That is also where they sell their merchandise.

After we got done eating, Mike Lindgren stopped by again (we ran into him just as we were originally sitting down), and invited us along back with Sean and Mark from Liquid Noise Brewing Company (who won our 2024 Battle of the Breweries Tournament).

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about the brewing process.  All I know is I’m a chick that likes drinking good quality craft beer.  Listening to Mike and the guys from Liquid Noise geek about the craft of brewing beer was still music to my ears.  That’s what I see in a brewery; a favorite community spot with an affliction to taking pride in your craft.  Perhaps I’ll be requesting Liquid Noise for my next date night with my Benjamin. We do need to get together with them on hosting a big bash for them winning this year’s Battle of the Breweries tournament, why not make more of our date nights kill two birds with one stone.

As Lindgren finally gets the chance to settle in we can’t wait to see the brewery grow.  Also, I can’t wait for a sign on the building so maybe I won’t blow by it.

 

  • Drink more Beer

    • Amy

 

Pictures Amy Took Inside Lindgren Craft Brewery

(Editor Ben Note: I didn’t quite know how to work these other pictures into the article better, with their size and everything, so I am including them all into this section.)

Amy took some fantastic pictures of the Bank Vault inside Lindgren Craft Brewery, where they keep all of the Keyholder Mug Club member stuff as well as their merchandise for sale. She also grabbed some great pics of the brewhouse while Mike showed us around inside there and talked shop. Of course she also grabbed excellent pics of the beers, the atmosphere, and the food at Lindgren Craft Brewery as well. Make sure you follow us on our Instagram to see more great pictures: The Beer Thrillers on Instagram.

End Notes

(Stolen from the previous column Amy wrote, I feel this is still applicable here as well unfortunately.)

(This is Amy’s first column back after a while. Busy with Scarlet, life,  and everything in general, its great to see her jumping back into her Personal Column series again. We have sorely been missing her weekly posts here on the blog, so its so wonderfully great to have her back. You can find her full list of ‘Weekly’ Personal Column series below.)

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

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Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/08/08/getting-sworn-in-a-sneak-preview-of-sworn-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=getting-sworn-in-a-sneak-preview-of-sworn-brewing Tue, 08 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12179
Head Brewer and Co – Owner Jesse Mills greets Amy, Josh, and Ben at Sworn Brewing Company to give The Beer Thrillers a sneak peek of the brewery.

Getting a Look at Sworn Brewing

This is going to be a long post about the soon to be brewery – Sworn Brewing Company coming to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Josh, Amy, and I (Ben) got to come out and visit Jesse and Amanda at Sworn Brewing and get to hang out for a bit and check out the place in a behind the scenes look.

Firstly, I want to say sorry for it taking so long to get this article out. It has been super hectic here at The Beer Thrillers HQ, and with all of us writing this article. We had a crazy busy weekend – and busy week – when we got out to visit. (Saturday – Amy and I were in Vandergrift celebrating Allusion Brewing Company’s Battle of the Breweries Win; Sunday – a friend of mine invited me to go with to Philly to watch the Premier League games, and then Monday – Amy, Josh, and I got to visit Sworn Brewing Company.) (And this was all on top of the other stuff we had going on, most of which is articles you can find on here.) (Speaking of that – you can read the Allusion Articles here: Allusion Brewing Company Celebration Party and An Alluring Trip Out To Vandergrift For Allusion Brewing Company’s Appreciation Party.)

I have also been very busy with our “Futurama Monday” – which has been a new blog article as well as new YouTube video essay each Monday.

This is also Josh’s first time jumping back in and writing with us since 2021. So welcome back Josh! Good to have you back buddy!

So before I hand things over to Josh, I’ll give a quick set up to this, and then we will go from there.

The Set – Up

Amanda and Jesse are married and co – owners of Sworn Brewing Company. Jesse is also head brewer. We heard about them opening up their new brewery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and I reached out to Amanda when I saw a post of hers’ on one of the beer groups. We locked down a meeting date – July 24th, 2023 – and all set to go. So Josh, Amy, and myself met with Amanda and Jesse and got a walk through and a sneak peek look at the upcoming brewery.

For this article, I’m going to let Josh start us off, then switch over to Amy, and then I’ll wrap things up and conclude the article. Please let us know in the comments section what you think of this, and if you like how this article looks and reads. (Josh and I did a similar article when we got a behind the scenes look at Mellow Mink – and Amy and I did similar with a sneak peek of The Beerded Goat).

Getting Sworn In – A Behind the Scenes Look at Sworn Brewing Company

The entrance to Sworn Brewing Company in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Oh … hey there. It’s that other beer nerd that used to do beer reviews. Long time no see, right? An even longer time since I’ve written a review, let alone been here to co-author a brewer interview. Perfect time to come back, right? Thought so. I could waste your valuable time reading more drivel or I could just cut to the chase. Probably best if I just got stuck in about the visit Amy, Ben, and I had at a small brewery called Sworn Brewing Company located off East Trindle Road.

Sometimes one just needs to let opportunity in when it knocks, lest one be left out in the cold, so when the chance to visit a brand new, not yet open, brewery came across my notifications, I may have had to invite myself (okay, who am I kidding, I totally invited myself) to check the place out and get to know the new face. Truth be told though, Jesse Mills is no new face in the brewing scene. He knows his way around a Fermenter and Brite tank as he’s got some serious chops, having been in the business for over a decade. An excellent starting point and will make for great conversation. Upon arrival, I’m greeted with a quaint location tucked behind the Atlantic Pools and slot in near a black Subaru WRX STi (don’t worry about the car bro, we’re here for beer). Ben and Amy haven’t yet arrived, but no harm I figure, I’m early so I’ll just walk in and introduce myself. Step through the glass door with a small sign denoting what was once a catering business is now a brewery and step into a remarkable little place. I’d never have guessed that Jesse and his wife Amanda had been working tirelessly for a month prior to put the place right. A month? Wait … *checks notes* … yep, a literal month since the spot was purchased, did the new owners turn the key and renovate the inside. And what a transformation they’ve done. The floors still bear the character of tire prints from being a garage and then the spots and spills of a catering hub, but they are as clean as ever, given the elbow grease put into them. A corrugated metal and Australian wood bartop adorn the rear quarter of the space, adding function, form, and beauty. The walls were painted dark to add an air of comfort and warmth, and the overhead Edison lights help to drive that feeling home. Even with the place 80% complete, I feel immediately welcome, as if this brewery has been here forever. Jesse is gleefully explaining how things will look when Ben and Amy finally walk through the door. FINALLY! We can get down to business and talk shop with the rightfully excited owners.

Sworn Brewing Company Patio

There’s something beautiful in watching someone who is passionate about their field of expertise talk about what makes them happy. In the few hours we spent with Jesse, I don’t recall ever seeing the mile wide smile leave his countenance. His joy was infectious and I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. The brewery is small on purpose, not because droves of people aren’t invited, but because a personal, individual approach is more easily achieved. Customers aren’t going to be seen as a number, but as friends or family. While that will come off as a negative to some, personally I see it as their greatest strength. In keeping things small, the beer will only benefit from this approach because scaling production up means many of the nuances and subtleties are glossed over or don’t have the chance to be experienced. I could go on and on about what was discussed, but there are two other authors waiting for me to finish gushing over the splendid time and laughs shared, so I’ll button up and discuss one of the liquid libations afforded to our visit.

Sworn Brewing Tap List

One such drink was called “Dreams Debunked”. This pineapple and strawberry kettle sour sits low on octane and high on enjoyment. With the outside reaching deep into the 80’s (and 90’s the week after), this sweetheart of a sipper could function quite nicely as a break from midday chores or a sweet treat at the end of the summer’s day. Tropical waves wash over your sense of smell and suddenly the absence of sand beneath your feet becomes apparent. You’re still in Central PA, but your nose is on a beach (lucky devil). Honestly, I could have lived in the nose of Dreams Debunked, but not tasting it would have been a disservice to our hosts, so … bottoms up! As in the description, so too on the tongue does pineapple show up first. And it does so in a very dominate fashion, almost to the point where I questioned if strawberry was included. Almost. You see, there was a bit of a time element to this tart concoction and not enough of it had elapsed. There was plenty of time left in our visit, which meant there was plenty of time to get acquainted with our hosts and this beverage. Good thing too, as the more my taste buds became used to the liquid, so too did more flavor notes appear. The once king pineapple had abdicated its throne to allow its equally tart and sweet partner time in the limelight. The bottom third of this sample is glorious, almost jammy (or marmalade for our Commonwealth constituents) strawberry. The flavors and fruit mentioned in the description are, in fact, present and accounted for. All it needs is a little time and patience. Speaking of time and patience, Sworn Brewing Company is not yet open, though the target is set for September. I’ll be honest, I can’t wait to get Sworn in. How about you, Amy?

  • Josh
Dreams Debunked by Sworn Brewing Company

Sworn To a Good Time at Sworn Brewing

It was just a few weeks ago The Beer Thrillers gang was invited for a sneak peek of the new Sworn Brewing company and taproom.  Owners Jesse and Amanda Mills were there to show us their second home.  The minute you walk in you can tell these 2 have poured their heart and soul into opening this nano – brewery. 

I mean that type of passion should be evident by this quote from their Facebook page “We will strive to make sure the highest quality items we can get our hands on will be used in every single process.  Everything that comes out of our taps, every single small batch of beer that we make will go through a rigorous quality control process.  If it does not meet our standards, it will never be consumed by the customer.  We are not here to cut corners, we are here to make sure we can provide you with the best possible experience that you deserve, what the craft brewing industry deserves!”

We also got the sense of feeling pretty comfortable like they were trying to create a second home for us and the rest of our beer drinking friends.  Well actually, there are plans to accommodate our liquor and wine drinking friends as well, stay tuned.  Jesse Mills adds using local distilleries and wineries is very important to him and the rest of the Sworn family. 

When they served us our first taster of beer Amanda has put down some chips with queso and some salsa as well.  The queso and salsa were house made and intentions of putting it on the menu were also discussed.  Both Amanda and Jesse started talking about the same passion about these ingredients as they did about the beer they just served us. 

Chips, queso, salsa, and Dreams Debunked

But let’s back up a second.  We were given a taste of the Dreams Debunked fruited sour with Pineapple and Strawberry.  This lightly fruited sour has an ABV of 4.2% and lightly dances on the tongue.  The fruit is not overpowering in anyway.  What excited me the most was the pairing of the smoked queso along with the Dreams Debunked.

Dreams Debunked by Sworn Brewing Company
Homer Drooling Over Dreams Debunked

The smokiness of the queso with the salt from the chip paired with the sweet from the Dreams Debunked also helped accent the two different flavors.  When I first started drinking DD I tasted strawberry by the end and including the queso I tasted the pineapple.

Jesse also commented, when they are setup and ready, they will be making fresh bread to go along with the house made queso as well as other items for dipping. 

Happy Hump Day!!!!

So… We hung up some lights and made some bread for a test run 🍞😍 we are more than excited to share additional details as we continue to progress. Opening date info is coming soon just a few more items to complete 🍻

Sworn Brewing Company – Facebook Post About Bread

(Photos courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company’s Facebook Page)

Sworn will be welcoming food trucks to go along with their beverage pairings. 

Don’t let the unyielding passion for high quality products steer you away thinking it is a serious crowd.  When you walk into the bathroom you are greeted with a picture of Mr. Jones above the toilet and as you would turn to use the toilet or hopefully walk towards the sink to wash your hands you are greeted with a picture of Craig Jones the Movie Friday.

Jesse and Amanda are giggling right along with us as they tell us they can’t wait to hear the first customer walk in there and bust out laughing from seeing the pictures. 

This is your place to hang out and for everyone wanting an excellent product, welcoming atmosphere and something relaxing and not so serious.  We can’t wait to add this spot to our frequent stops. 

  • Amy

A Look Behind The Sword at Sworn Brewing Company

As I said at the top of the article, discussed getting to meet with them, and we did get to on Monday – July 24th. Amy and I dropped Scarlet off at my parents after Amy came home from work and then we were off to Mechanicsburg. Hit a little traffic on the bridge, but got there in no time.

Josh beat us there, but we were immediately greeted by Amanda and Jesse. Both super awesome and wonderful people. They showed us around the place, talking about the brewery’s past – as a catering business (twice over) and a car shop.

It was great listening to their plans for the building itself. They discussed the bar top, the wood of it, the corrugated steel for the outside of it, the epoxy used on the wood, etc. The attention to detail is incredible with Jesse.

The story of them trying to pain the tiles of the ceiling for the bathroom was hilarious, and thus why only the bathroom has the black tiles and not the whole brewery.

Jesse is very focused on his beer and discussed his past brewing experience – both professionally and as a home brewer. The brewing system at Sworn Brewing Company is going to be a 1 BBL system. Not much bigger than home brewing for Jesse. He said he prefers it this way – it lets him be more precise, dialed in, and make the exact beer he wants.

With Jesse and Amanda we got to discuss a great number of topics big and small. From the brewery itself, to past brewing experiences, to consumer experiences, to new breweries in the area – and old breweries in the area – to competitions in brewing, to traveling for beer (Vermont, New Hampshire, The Answer, etc.), we discussed beer groups and beer blogs – both good and bad – online, Untappd, and the other factors that will play into how successful a brewery is.

Amanda and Jesse are very community focused. They love their location, love Mechanicsburg, and want to see both thrive. They live in Dillsburg which didn’t have any good locations suitable for them, so they opened up shop on Trindle Road.

Dreams Debunked (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company’s Facebook page)

Dreams Debunked was absolutely amazing. A wonderful, delicious sour. From this alone – I know I can’t wait for the brewery to open up and get to try the rest of that tap list he’s preparing.

The brewery itself is very inviting. With the roll up bay door and the entrance leading you right to the bar, with all of the available seating (including a table reserved for their parents at all times – complete with LEGO Flowers), the entire place is just very homey.

Sworn Brewing Company (photo courtesy of their Facebook page)

Listening to Jesse and Amanda discuss their plans for the future – with food trucks, home made bread, the world renowned hot dog vendor that they know personally, and so much more – it will be fantastic. This will certainly be a great boon to the town and the brewing community in the area.

Jesse Mills comes with a great brewing background, having home brewed, and brewed professionally. He’s beaten some great local breweries in home brewing competitions, as home brewed with a group and worked with Derek Markel, and professionally brewed with Sign of the Horse Brewing.

(Plus rumor is that they are Bengals fans… so I mean… right there they gotta be good folk right?! Can I get a Who Dey?!)

This is what we love about the small breweries. Seeing how much they support, impact, and help out communities. And knowing that your money is going to a family that loves what they do, and wants to give back to their community, want to grow in their craft, and support their family and friends.

Congratulations to Jesse and Amanda Mills, we cannot way to come back for Sworn Brewing Company’s opening – and many more times in the future after that.

  • B. Kline

Sworn Brewing Company

For more information on Sworn Brewing Company, you can find them on the following social media pages:

Josh, Amy, and I

Again – I want to reiterate that Josh, Amy, and I (B. Kline) greatly appreciated the opportunity to come out and get to check out Sworn Brewing Company. It was a wonderful time getting to hang out with wonderful people and we can only help this gets them more attention before their opening. If you are reading it – I cannot recommend that you stop out and visit them enough.

Look for them to be having announcements about grand openings, soft openings, and more around the beginning of September.

Josh

We welcome Josh back after a hiatus of writing. At the end of this article I will post a link to Josh, Amy, and Ben’s most viewed articles. But for now, check out his Beer Review of Ghost in a Machine by Parish Brewing Company.

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Author Articles

Amy’s Weekly Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

(And please take a moment to fill out Amy’s survey on her ‘Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles‘ column.)

Josh

Some of Josh’s beer reviews:

B. Kline

Some of Ben’s articles:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

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As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

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A Sneak Peek at The Beerded Goat Brewery https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/07/13/a-sneak-peek-at-the-beerded-goat-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-sneak-peek-at-the-beerded-goat-brewery Thu, 13 Jul 2023 16:46:26 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=11954
The Beerded Goat Brewery

The Beerded Goat Brewery

As we reported a few weeks ago – The Beerded Goat Brewing Company Has Taken Over the Old NewFangled Brewery – and tonight is their grand opening.

They were gracious enough to invite us out (thanks Jason and Brian) to their brewery to do some tastings and to check out the place.

Before we get into the tastings and discussing the wonderful, and amazing beers, let’s first talk about the brewery. Newfangled Brewery closed their doors back in August of 2022, leaving Union Station lacking a brewery, a restaurant, and a big central hub for people to meet and gather.

Since that time, Union Station has only grown. Shawn Grant’s BBQ that he was running out of Newfangled Brew Works right before they closed, moved across the street and became Nomad Pizza. Several other businesses have opened across the street from the old brewery, and the community itself has grown larger.

Located at 8001 Union Station Blvd Harrisburg, PA 17111, in the former home of Newfangled Brew Works as part of the development of “Union Station” off of Union Deposit.

The Beerded Goat Brewery – exterior. Previously the front of the brewery, will now be the back of the brewery. (8001 Union Station Blvd.)

The brewery sits as the center hub for the Union Station development and community. It is a huge spacious building with a large attached restaurant that will be used in the future. Currently the old Koda restaurant will be sitting empty, but it will be used in the future (more on that later in the article).

The Beerded Goat Interior

Mural in the doorway leading into the (old entrance of the) brewery

We were invited out to come hang out with Brian, the head brewer, at 5:30 PM. We arrived a bit early (5:14 PM to be exact) and drove the neighborhood a bit to see how different it was when I was last out (when Newfangled Brew Works closed).

We then entered from used to be the main entrance of the brewery – the entrance facing Union Station Blvd. (Jason later explained to me that this will become the back of the brewery, and will not be a usable entrance for patrons to come in. Where the back entrance, and the large parking lot is will become the new main and only entrance into the brewery.)

Inside The Beerded Goat Brewery

Once you enter the brewery, you get a true scope of just how big the place is – spoiler: its huge. There is a ton of floor space, ton of seating, and a long bar as well. In the back wall there is already some games – SkeeBall and basketball games as well as a golf simulator game. They have also added a fireplace that wasn’t there before, and removed the old hastily put together stage.

Now enough about the interior and the building, lets get to what everyone here really wants to know about…. the beer!

The Beerded Goat Beer

The aftermath of our tasting

Amy and I introduced ourselves to Brian, the head brewer, who then took us over to the bar. He was willing to sit with us and talk about all of the beers, as well as give us a tasting glass of each beer down their entire tap list (as well as a pour of their bottled beer – Sure Thing).

We discussed the brew house, how the equipment is the same from Newfangled Brew Works. That to alter, change, or add and / or remove anything would be just too much effort, money, and would have to change a lot of set up and plans.

Amy and I decided we wouldn’t take a picture of each beer. We also didn’t bring a notebook for quoting and writing down things, wanting to keep the whole preview and discussions more informal and fun and upbeat. No need to get tied up in quoting and getting exactitudes.

Brian, Amy, and I went down the list of their beers on draft, as well as their mead, and a bottle of their Sure Thing. Brian also pulled us a ‘sneak peek’ at a barrel aged stout that will soon be available at the brewery. All the while we chatted, discussed the brewery, how the soft openings went, the barrel system, and more.

As you can see above, they have a wonderful wide arrange of styles. Brian discussed with us that he prefers the more traditional German styles, preferring the Reinheitsgebot (German Beer Purity Laws) and maintaining that – to a degree. Obviously in today’s climate of craft beer, thats not a perfect solution, and no longer completely sustainable for any brewery to use that as their full emphasis (thus why you will see a Hazy IPA on the menu).

Starting right down the list, the first we got to taste was Yingstling Light. Brian explained to us this is the basic of basic beers – in so far as this is your “beer that tastes like beer”. This is the Miller Lite, the Coors Light, the Bud, etc, for your dad and grandpa and others who only typically drink macro.

Brian said it was also their best seller on the soft opening nights. Which makes the most sense, as Brian stated – it’s not going to be the highest rated on Untappd, but its going to be the most sold.

Yingstling Lager is a 4.5% ABV Lager – American Light beer. The Untappd description reads: “Beer flavored beer. Enough Said.” And there is no IBU listed for this beer.

Next up was Easy Mold. A very drinkable, light, delicious Kolsch. Easy Mode is a 5.25% ABV (no IBU listed) Kolsch; the Untappd description reads: “Brewed with Weyermann floor malted Pilsner, and a touch of Vienna and wheat malt. Hopped exclusively with Hallertau Mittlefreuh and fermented cool with a classic Kolsch yeast. Soft and gentle with subtle white grape esters”

This was a very tasty, delicious beer. We discussed Brian’s previous brewing experience – working for River Bend Brewery, Liquid Noise Brewing, and Mount Gretna Brewing. He also still loves to home brew and does so quite often. Shows just how much passionate he is about brewing, that he is basically doing it in his free time as a hobby.

The cocktail menu at The Beerded Goat

Brian told us he doesn’t like Hefeweizens. Stemming from his time at River Bend where they made that continuously. So instead, he has an American Wheat – that is definitely not a Hefeweizen. It’s called “Don’t Got Time for Bananas”. This is a 5.25% ABV (no IBU listed) American Pale Wheat beer. The Untappd description is: “Brewed with Pilsner and wheat malts. Hopped in the kettle with Centennial hops and fermented with a clean American ale yeast. Soft and pillowy mouthfeel with a strong citrus backbone. This is NOT a Hefeweizen.”

The Standard was up next, and Brian joined us for this one. This is one of his favorites he said. Its a Czech Pilsner, and it was very crisp, very delicious. Its a Pilsner – Czech / Bohemian that clocks in at 5.3% (no IBU listed) with an Untappd description of: “Brewed with 100% Weyermann floor malted Pilsner and hopped with 100% Check saaz. Spunded for natural carbonation. Crisp, clean, and crystal clear. Mild grainy notes of soft honey balanced by an assertive and refreshing bitterness. This is the Standard.” It was a slightly hopped up version of a Pilsner, but when I say “slightly” I mean – “slightly”. With it being spunded, it had a wonderful carbonation, and was downright delicious.

Next up was the Hazy IPA. A style Brian says he doesn’t really enjoy making, but understands you should always have one on tap anymore. He said a perfect world for him would be all German style beers with only one IPA on tap – once per year. They currently have two on tap at The Beerded Goat, but both are worlds apart different.

Wizard Circle is a Hazy New England IPA that comes in at 6% and is extremely fruity and pillowy. Wonderful light body to it with a wealth of flavor and fruit notes. The Untappd description is: “Brewed with Pilsner, oat and wheat malts with a touch of honey malt. Kettle hopped, dry hopped, and double dry hopped with Simcoe and El Dorado. Fermented on passionfruit. Soft, juicy, and tropical.”

The McMule is a dry cider and is an “Irish take on a Moscow Mule” as Brian would describe it. Amy’s favorite non – beer drink is a Moscow Mule so this was completely up her alley. The McMule is a very dry, crisp, ginger and lime cider. Its a Cider – Herbed / Spiced / Hopped according to Untappd and is 6.5%, the Untappd description reads: “Cider infused with fresh ginger and lime.”

We saved the barley wine for later (W. W. A. M. B.) and next went to the Double IPA – a west coast styled IPA called Bitter Trends.

Bitter Trends is a 8.1% ABV Double IPA (west coast style); Untappd description reads: “Brewed with Pilsner malt and corn sugar for an ultra dry and simple beer to showcase the hops. Hopped in the kettle, dry hopped and double dry hopped with Columbus, Mosaic, and Strata. Notes of dank tropical blueberries and mangoes with a solid bitterness to pull it all together.” This had super strong notes of mango and light notes of blueberry. It absolutely blew us away, and for not liking the style, Brian joined us in drinking it, and Amy and I agreed this was Top 3 for the night.

After this, we got to try Brian’s first try at a Dortmund Lager. And he certainly nailed it on his first try. The Dortmund Lager – Expat Lager – was wonderful. Clocking in at 6.3% it is a bit higher for lagers, and one of the higher beers that The Beerded Goat offers, but not out of the realm of “crushable”. The Untappd description reads: “Golden colored lager brewed with Pilsner, Vienna, and Munich malts. Hopped with Hallertau Mittlefreuh. A solid balance between maltiness and bitterness.”

We got to discuss with Brian styles and what he was looking at for the brewery. This is a good point to mention that he wanted to mainly focus on lower ABV beers. Other than the mead (9%) and the barley wine (12%), the rest of the beers were around the 5-6% range. The highest being 6.3% and 6.5%, and the others being mostly 5, 5.25, and 5.3%. He wants an atmosphere where people can sit, hang out for a while, and drink several, rather than have one that they’ll sip on the whole time.

Next up we got to try the mead. And this was another phenomenal drink. Its lactose, its sugary, its sweet, its strawberry – which isn’t usually particularly a flavor I enjoy but here it worked so well. It reminded me of a candy I had as a kid that I couldn’t name or think of, and Amy and Brian were no help on that end either, but I feel like its on the tip of my tongue. Brian wants to do regular releases of the mead but in different flavors, peach, chocolate, peanut butter, marshmellow, etc.

This particular one was lactose, strawberries, and Madagascar Vanilla. Its called Milkshake Mead and clocks in at 9%. The Untappd description reads: “Mead brewed with lactose, strawberries and Madagascar vanilla beans. Sweet and decadent.”

Next up was a Nitro Porter. So as you can see, they are really hitting all the different styles here. Mead, cider, nitro, dark, light, heavy, low end, etc. Which is wonderful. Amy and I often discuss how great it is to see breweries with full varied lists, rather than “IPA, IPA, Hazy IPA, Hazy IPA, Milkshake IPA, Sour, Sour, Fruited Sour, Seltzer, Pastry Stout”.

The Nitro Porter is called Heroes and Villains. It is an American Porter, and does clock in a bit higher at 7.2% on the scale, but the Nitro makes it so smooth you won’t even notice it. (Speaking of that though – the Bitter Trends is also deceptively smooth for an 8%, so be careful with that bad boy as well.) Heroes and Villains Untappd description reads: “Brewed with a base of Pilsner malt and a blend of English crystal and chocolate malts. Dark brown with ruby red highlights and creamy tan head. Notes of roasted coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Served on nitro.”

Finally it was time for the barleywine. One of my favorite styles. Titled “W. W. A. M. B.” What does that stand for? Why it stands for “What Would Angry Mark Brew”. And knowing Mark… this certainly fits the bill. It is a delicious barley wine, and while I might be slightly biased about styles and likes, this certainly fits the bill for what makes a good barleywine a good barleywine. Coming in at 12% its going to be a sipper rather than a crushable, but thats the point of it, and you’ll appreciate it. It’ll make for a great night cap to sit by the fire while reading your Canterbury Tales or Nietzsche. The Untappd description reads: “Brewed with Maris Otter malt and house made golden syrup. Hopped with East Kent Goldings and rested for many months in a Laird Apple Brandy Barrel.”

We discussed the brew system they have in place. They are going to keep it primarily all in house, with a few kegs going out to select and hand picked bars and locations. The system is set up for 40 barrel but he will be only brewing 20 barrel at a time, for ease, and to keep the kegs in house moving more smoothly. (40 barrels is a lot to move in house, and would limit the amount of styles and variations they could have on tap then. Would also hinder things from a business perspective as well.)

Brian then busted out the stout that will soon be coming on for everyone This was called Pit Master Stout. An English style stout barrel aged in Hidden Stills bourbon barrel. The Untappd description reads: “A collaboration with our friends at Smoked Bar and Grill in Hershey, English style stout aged in a Hidden Still bourbon barrel. A bit hit of bourbon on the nose with toasty notes of molasses and vanilla carry thing through the finish.”

A bottle of Sure Thing at The Beerded Goat Brewery

There was a couple a bit down from us at the bar doing some tasting with another crew member of The Beerded Goat Brewery. So we all split a bottle of the Sure Thing at the bar. Sure Thing is sold in 750ml bottles and will be available for both in house consumption and to go.

The Sure Thing is a collaboration with Cassel Vineyards. It is a wonderful 5.5% Farmhouse Ale, bitter, complex, sour, a whole host of flavors. Its wonderful. And makes for a great dinner beer in lieu of a wine. The Untappd description reads: “Mixed culture Farmhouse Ale Aged I red wine barrels with raspberries and apricots.”

Brian

(Check out our YouTube video here: Brian at The Beerded Goat.)

I want to take this opportunity to express Amy and my gratitude to Brian for taking the time to talk with us, hang out with us, and drink some amazing beers. Dude went above and beyond chatting with us about all kinds of things from small things to big things, from the brewing process, to the building, to his personal likes and dislikes and everything.

He is certainly a “back of the house” kinda guy, and you can tell he’s much more comfortable in the brewhouse than out front dealing with folks, but he did a marvelous job, and was very cool and a wonderful guy to hang out with. We spent about an hour and a half drinking the beers which is a wonderful amount of time. We can’t say enough thank you’s to him for that.

The Kitchen

After leaving the bar area, and saying goodbye and thanking Brian, we went to say our goodbyes to Jason, the gracious host who invited us out for the evening. Amy ran into an old friend and chatted with him while I got to talk to Jason for a while and pick his brain about the building, the business, and the location.

For a bit we talked about the old Taco Truck that was there when it was Newfangled Brew Works. He showed me the kitchen and how it looks and hows it going to operate as a ‘pop up kitchen’ for the restaurant. We chatted about the soft openings and how they went and how it helped get the kinks outs.

He discussed having Nomad Pizza on hand for the brewery as well. And how in the future he wants to utilize the Koda restaurant space for a steak and seafood restaurant to run with the brewery.

Jason certainly has big plans and its great to see them. He has a vision and wants to carry them out and really bring them home.

The big thing that Jason keeps circling back to is “community”. He wants this brewery to be the center of the Union Station community, and not just the Union Station community, but the whole area even. The Union Station development sits as a great straddle point for Nyes Road, Locust Lane, and several other big roads. Its also a big development with lots of houses.

Jason discussed the food menu as well a bit, and it looks wonderful and I really think the guests will love it. He said his head chef is amazing and has created some wonderful foods that he greatly enjoys.

The Patio

The Outdoor Patio area at The Beerded Goat

There is an outdoor patio at The Beerded Goat. Jason wanted me to emphasize one thing though – while it is accessible from outside; no one will know your there until you make yourself known. So don’t expect service until you come inside and let people know. Also, be respectful with your pets. While The Beerded Goat will be a dog friendly brewery, you still need to be respectful with them, and mindful of how they interact with others.

Grand Opening

Tonight is the Grand Opening of The Beerded Goat. They will be fully opening their doors at 5 PM for the masses. Please come out and visit them. Remember to park in the big parking lot in the back and come in through that entrance.

Their Grand Opening is at 5 PM tonight – July 13th, 2023. They are located at 8001 Union Station Blvd Harrisburg, PA 17111.

Lets Wrap This Up

Whew… this article took me far longer than I thought it would! And that goes to show how great of a time we had at The Beerded Goat. I can’t wait for their opening tonight! If you have the chance, you definitely need to be checking them out.

We didn’t get to sample food, and we won’t be able to make it out tonight, but I know Amy and I will be out soon and we cannot wait. But from the beers we had, this place will be an absolute must stop for anyone in the area.

I started this article last night – didn’t get too far, but figured I’d have it finished by 10 AM, and here it is noon, and I am wrapping it up. Whew. It was a blast to get to talk to Jason and Brian and learn about The Beerded Goat. We had a wonderful time, and I can’t say thank you enough to both of them for inviting us out, taking the time to chat with us, and for hanging out. It was a pleasure.

For More Information on The Beerded Goat

First, check out our previous article here:

Secondly, check them out at Untappd here:

They currently don’t have much information on themselves out there in the social media world, and Untappd is pretty scarce on them so far. (Heck, I haven’t even checked in the beers from last night, going to be doing that soon after this article is up.)

But you can also find them and follow them on Facebook here:

Tours and Visits

To see and read some of our other articles about special tours and visits to breweries we’ve gotten as part of the blog, you can check them out here:

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

The Beerded Goat Brewery

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Couch Brewery Announces Upcoming Closure https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/11/28/couch-brewery-announces-upcoming-closure/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=couch-brewery-announces-upcoming-closure Mon, 29 Nov 2021 02:46:22 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=8361
Couch Brewery (Facebook)

Couch Brewery’s Announcement

It is with complete sadness today to announce – and especially today, with it being Small Brewery Sunday – that at 6PM today (just 3 hours ago, while I was at work) – that Couch Brewery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced they will be closing.

They posted on their Facebook page today at 6PM that they will be shuttering their doors, with their last day being scheduled for Sunday December 19th, 2021.

You can read their post here:

They say all good things must come to an end and boy have we had a beautiful run. With a tear in our eye and a beer in our hand we are sad to announce our last day will be on Sunday, December 19th. It has been a pleasure to serve you all over the last few years. Having you all in our “living room” has been like sitting on a couch and chatting with family. The stories, laughs and friendships we have created are extraordinarily precious to us and we will treasure them forever. With that said, we invite you to join us for our “12 days of Christmas” to help kick our kegs. Be sure to check our hours for the next couple weeks as we do have a few private parties already booked. Soon, another fantastic brewery will be occupying our space. Tortured Souls Brewing will introduce their awesome beers as well as some of your Couch favorites. Check them out at https://torturedsoulsbrewing.comFrom the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank you for your patronage and friendship these past few years. It has been our privilege to serve you.

Facebook – Couch Brewery

This is very sad news to hear, and certainly reinforces the belief of ‘shopping small’ on today, and every day.

Couch Brewery

I got to visit Couch Brewery last year on my trip out to Indianapolis. Bobby Nacho took me around on a little tour of the brewery and gave me samples of all of their beers on tap. Was a wonderful experience, and I enjoyed the time spent with him talking beer, and enjoyed the beers as well. So this is very sad to see happen.

On Untappd, Couch Brewery is listed as a Micro Brewery from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With 136 unique beers and 14,245 ratings (as of today – 11.28.21). They have a global average rating of 3.61. They have their description section left as blank.

The Importance of Small Breweries and Shopping at Small Breweries

Today is “Small Brewery Sunday” (#SmallBrewerySunday), and this shows how vital it is to shop at the small local breweries. Helping those who give back to their communities. Those you live with as neighbors, those you see on a regular basis. Shopping at the small breweries helps your neighbors, your friends, your community; rather than helping some corporate conglomerate who is actively trying to hurt small breweries.

Bobby Nacho summed up his thoughts as a comment on the closing page:

“I really enjoyed my 11 months working there. Darren, Beth and Mel are three of the best people I’ve ever worked with with, and I’m so happy to call them my friends.”

Bobby Nacho

This shows just how much these small breweries mean to their communities. How impactful and needful they are, and how much we need to reinforce and help them. Especially in this troubling times. With COVID-19 still very much a real and present danger to communities, businesses, and the like. With economic hardships as a cause of all of this. With the rise in aluminum and grain on the horizon. We need to be shopping closer, local, and near us more and more.

Tortured Soul Brewing

There isn’t a lot of information yet on Tortured Soul Brewing, but you can visit their website here:

Their site has a load up video talking about a “craft brewery with a unique style” and “coming soon”. We will keep everyone updated on this.

Couch Brewery and The Beer Thrillers

We would like to wish our condolences to the closing of Couch Brewery and wish the best for all who helped make it, worked there, and who is affected by this closing. We hope for the best for everyone involved.

Couch Brewery’s social media links:

Our Couch Brewery related links:

Brewery Closing News:

Other Brewery News, Openings, Merges, and Other News:

Small Brewery Sunday Giveaway

We are just about to finish and finalize our Small Brewery Sunday Giveaway for #FreeBeer. You still have time to enter and win, check that out here:

Couch Brewery’s Closure Announcement

Thanks For Reading

Despite the bad news, thanks everyone for reading. Hopefully we’ll have much better news in the near future.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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Beer Review: Macho Man (Couch Brewery) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/25/beer-review-macho-man-couch-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-macho-man-couch-brewery Wed, 25 Nov 2020 19:20:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5983 Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Macho Man Randy Savage

There’s no way you didn’t read that in his voice. How can you not read “Oh Yea” and not picture Randy “Macho Man” Savage? Or hear his gravelly voice yelling that? Its one of the iconic wrestling sounds, like Ric Flair’s “WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” or the glass shattering for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance, or the gong for The Undertaker. You know exactly what’s gonna happen.

Wrestling might be a grown man’s soap opera, and it might also be beautiful, choreographed gladiator like ballet, but its also a wonderful story telling platform and media, and its also a host to some amazing characters, personas, and people. Macho Man Randy Savage is one of those people.

If you were a 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s child, you can name some of the greats of your generation I’m sure. For the 80s, I can think of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Randy Macho Man Savage, George the Animal Steele, Harley Race, Junkyard Dog, Sting, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Ultimate Warrior. For the 90s you have The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, RVD, Sabu, Taz, Mick Foley, Kane, Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, Goldberg.

Interesting fun note; Pilger Ruh Brewing’s one co-owner and partner is Anthony Deppen. A professional wrestler who will be performing at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle (2020) this year. (Super cool dude, down to earth, big craft beer fan, and great wrestler.)

But anyway… I digress. We’re here to discuss beer, not wrestling.

Not Necessarily…

No… really, we must. I insist on it!

Just Relax

Oh… we’re doing this bit again, aren’t we? Like I did in The Growfather beer review? I know the average attention span for most readers is only about three minutes…. so….

Randy Savage as BoneSaw

Sigh. I was gonna say, ‘so I better hurry up and review the beer’…. but… ugh… must we do this bit for a second time? Really?

You May Not Like It…

Double sigh. French sigh – Le Sigh.

Ok, I’m just gonna push through and do the beer review….

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat

First, I want to thank Bobby Nacho for inviting me out to Couch Brewery on a day when they weren’t even open. He gave me a tour of the place, let me sample all the beers on tap, and even sent me on my way with a four pack – Macho Man, Atomic Clock, Sofia Quemando, and Morning Wood. (This might be the first and last time anyone ever says that Bobby gave them ‘morning wood’……) Anyhoo… you can read about the brewery tour here: Brewery Tour of Couch Brewery. This was part of my trip to Indianapolis, you can check out the article on the second day of my trip (which included the tour of Couch Brewery, me visiting Vandergrift, Pittsburgh, and Washington) here – The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two.

Couch Brewery is listed as a micro brewery on Untappd. They have 120 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.59 (as of 11.25.20). They are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Now that the background is out of the way, onto the beer itself….

This has a reddish, light, wheat beer appearance. Its primarily clear but a bit dark red, and so becomes a bit opaque / cloudy / hazy in some light and as you drink it. There is a rich frothy, creamy head to this, that leaves a nice lacing on the glass.

Aroma is very heavy hibiscus, raspberry, and grain. You can very heavy raspberry and hibiscus, with the grain bill giving it a body to cling to. There is some lime aroma though its a bit fainter. Overall its floral, and pretty strong – not overpowering or pungent, but a strong floral smell that’s inviting and wanting you to drink.

I even told him at the bar when we were sampling all the beers, that I wasn’t a fan of hibiscus, that I’ve had it in a few select beers (the most notable that I can think of being Crimson Pistil; and I was not a fan) and never really cared for it. Just a flavor that I have found that I am not too keen on. But oh boy… or should I say OHHHH YEAAAAAAA…… this blew me away. Maybe its the raspberry? Or the lime? Or that its a wheat beer rather than an IPA (like the Crimson Pistil), but I was absolutely blown away by this beer, and immediately loved it. There is a lot of raspberry flavor to this, and a lot more lime than I expected from the aroma. Its got a lot of berry, a lot of floral, and a good bit of lime – giving it almost a zesty, citrus, zip to it, a bit of a kick to it. I do really love raspberries in beer (really, any berries other than strawberries, I love blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, mulberries, raspberries, etc.; just no strawberries), and this uses them very well. This is fruity, and floral, and from the raspberries, a bit tart, not fully diving into ‘tart – sour’ country, but just a wee bit of tartness and zip to give it some added taste. It is interesting for a wheat beer, that other than a little bit of the grain taste; it doesn’t taste like a wheat beer (primarily because of how much the floral and fruit flavors overpower the grain). All in all, this is a wonderful, and delicious, and interesting beer, and shows how you can bend styles to be interesting, new, and still very tasty. And hell, it even turned me into a fan of a hibiscus beer, who knew? I recommend it, and I recommend you check out Couch Brewery too. Especially on Black Friday for their Black Stout AHT 2020 event. You won’t want to miss that or this delicious beer!

My Untappd Rating: ****.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 11.25.20)

Speaking of Black Friday, do check out Couch Brewery’s website (Couch Brewery) to find out more information on their Black Stout AHT 2020 event. It sounds amazing! You can also fin out more on their Facebook page – Couch Brewery.

You can also find out more about my trip to Indianapolis, and getting to tour Couch Brewery, by the links below:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

Brewery Tour:

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow, and a safe Drinksgiving or Friendsgiving or whatever you are doing today, and a safe Black Friday on Friday. There is a lot of great local small brewery options for Black Friday; you don’t have to go crazy for the Goose Island (couch AB In-Bev) Bourbon County Stouts. Either way, whatever you do, stay safe and socially distanced! Cheers!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Randy “Macho Man” Savage

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Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/24/brewery-tour-couch-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brewery-tour-couch-brewery Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:35:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5939 Firstly, let me give a big shoutout to Bobby Nacho for inviting me to the brewery and giving me a personal tour and sampling of their beers on my trip to Indianapolis. You can read about my full day two trip (which included hiking, Vandergrift, Pittsburgh, and Washington) here: The Trip to Indianapolis – Day Two. (There will also be full links at the end of the article, for this trip, and other similar travelogues as well as similar brewery experiences.)

Couch Brewery

On Monday, as part of my drive out to Indianapolis (from Harrisburg – Hershey area) I was in the Pittsburgh area. I started in Indiana, having visited Levity Brewing the night before, and hiking The Thousand Steps trail, Monday morning I started with Rock Furnace Trail, Roaring Run Trail, and visiting Allusion Brewing Company in Vandergrift Pennsylvania.

Ahead of Monday, Bobby had reached out to me and invited me to stop in for a brewery tour and sampling. He knew I was going to be passing through the area, and he was going to be in the brewery kegging ‘The Four Horseman’ for their upcoming Black Friday event – BLACK AHT 2020. You can get the cans and tickets to the event here: Couch Brewery – BLACK AHT 2020. Technically, The Four Horseman isn’t a stout, but is a Wild Ale / Brown Ale. But its still a part of the event (and don’t worry, it is amazing!)

I met Bobby around 1-2PM or so on Monday at the brewery, and he brought me in through the loading dock and side area of the brewery (the actual brewhouse). He took me through their small brewery and brought me then to the bar. First, we stopped, and looked at the fermenters, and the various equipment, discussed their barrel size, what they’ve done is recent months, the beers they are most known for, changes, growth, etc.

I’ll admit I was unfamiliar with Couch Brewery; and had never been to the brewery before, or even had their beers before. They do not distribute out to Harrisburg, Hershey, Hummelstown area, (unfortunately!) and I’ve never had them in a trade or at a bottle / beer share. But I must say, from now, I will be on the look out for them wherever / whenever I can.

Couch Brewery Brewing System

The above picture is their brewing system and set-up. If it looks small and home-brew-ish, its because it pretty much is. This takes nothing away from the beers, or how much they produce, or what they can do however. They still brew a large amount, and a wide variety of styles. So don’t let this set-up fool you. They are still pumping out some delicious brews.

Some of the best beers I’ve had have been brewed on the smallest of set-ups and systems; and some of the worst beers I’ve had have been on the biggest, largest scales, and the most expensive looking equipment. Its all in the skill of the brewer.

Rows of Fermenters

As you can see in the above picture, they have several fermenters that are constantly in use, so there are always lots of brews in the works here at Couch Brewery. They have 12 taps at the bar in the brewery, and they keep them full primarily because of how often they brew and fully utilizing all of their fermenters. Like a large revolving door, they are moving an empty keg for a new one, and emptying fermenters and refilling, and kegging, and keeping the kegs cooled and to the side waiting to be put on tap, etc. Like a constant dance, that keeps the beers flowing smoothly and the guests happy and the continuing flow of the suds, a perfect balance.

The Four Horseman

The beer that Bobby was kegging while I was there. Its a collaboration amongst buddies. Couch Brewery (Bobby represented as Arn Anderson), Fury Brewing represented as Tully Blanchard (I believe… I might be mixing him up with Ole Anderson here), Bash Brew which is represented by Ole Anderson, and Ric Flair of course rounding out the Four Horseman.

If you don’t know anything of The Four Horseman of wrestling, at least familiarize yourself with them. Probably the best stable ever in professional wrestling, of any generation or era. You can read more about them on wiki: The Four Horseman.

For more information on Black AHT 2020, you can read this quick article on Fueled by Hops: Couch Brewery hosting Black AHT 2020 Still.

For Black AHT 2020, there is 10 stouts for the event, and then as a special entry, The Four Horseman which is a Brown Ale / Wild Ale, and there is also a Rye Barrel Aged version on draft only at Couch Brewery.

One of the brewer’s for the collaboration’s wife did the artwork shown above, which will also be on the cans, and is drawn spectacularly.

Couch Brewery’s Bar

Now, it was time to get to the bar, and actually drink some of the amazing beers Bobby has been brewing at Couch Brewery. I had the 11 beers they had on tap (out of the 12 taps), as well as the Four Horseman straight from the kegging.

  • Recliner
  • Morning Wood
  • Hippie Blackberry Sour
  • Sofa Quemando
  • Fest Bump
  • F1 Hazy IPA
  • Thicc Ric
  • Macho Man
  • Atomic Clock
  • Stardust – Mango Passion
  • The Four Horseman (collaboration)
Recloner

Beer: Recliner
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: A delicious yet unconventional oatmeal stout brewed with the wrong hops, or so you would think. It delivers a wonderful silky smooth mouthfeel with a refreshing hint of citrus, a little bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 11.23.20)

Morning Wood

Beer: Morning Wood
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Hippie Blackberry Sour Ale
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Sofa Quemando
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Mexican Stout.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Fest Bump
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: F1 Hazy IPA
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Thicc Ric
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.53 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Atomic Clock
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.57 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Stardust – Mango Passion
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Hard Seltzer
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 3.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: The Four Horseman
Breweries: Couch Brewery
Collaborators: Fury Brewing Company, Bash Brew, X
Style: Brown Ale – Other
ABV: 8.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.22 (as of 11.28.20 [EDITED]

Beer: The Four Horseman
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Collaborators: Fury Brewing Company, Bash Brew, X
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 8.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Rye barrel-aged version of Four Horsemen.
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: N/A (as of 11.28.20) [EDITED]

My favorite of the group was The Four Horseman, followed by (surprisingly to myself) Macho Man, Atomic Clock, and Morning Wood. I even discussed with Bobby about how I’m not a big fan of hibiscus in beer, and not a fan of Crimson Pistil by Troegs Brewing (an IPA that uses hibiscus) but absolutely loved Macho Man. (Look for a review of it coming soon.)

The bar and drinking area of the brewery has such an old-school lounge feeling. Like you are stuck in the 70s and Billy Joel could be in the corner playing Piano Man. An amazing atmosphere, I can’t wait to come visit sometime when they are open and get to actually sit and drink on the couches. The old school vibe is fantastic. Also, Bingo is a must when visiting Couch Brewery and an event to add to the calendar.

Bobby was an absolute blast to hang out with and talk to and we killed quite a bit of beer and quite a bit of time just discussing the craft beer industry, COVID-19, the mandates, the changes of the times, staying afloat, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, home brewing, brewing, Full Pint Brewing, professional wrestling, and pretty much everything and anything under the sun. If you ever get to have a drink with Bobby, make sure you do, he is fun, entertaining, and hilarious, and an all around great dude.

I have to say, I was reluctant to leave, but had to due to other trips and activities, and Bobby had to get back to work on finishing up his brewery duties for the day. But he did send me on my way with a four pack of Macho Man, Morning Wood, Atomic Clock, and Sofia Quemando. Which once back home, me and my buddy Drew killed the four pack together while streaming for his channel. He loved the Mexican stout.

For those in the Pittsburgh area, be on the lookout in 2021 for news on Full Pint Brewing. Big news. As many know, they closed up shop this year, which you can read about here: FULL PINT BREWING CLOSES. I don’t want to let too much out of the bag, but be on the lookout for news about them, and possibly…. dare I say it… a resurgence or resurrection? Who knows….. but like I said…. I won’t be the one to leave the cat out of the bag… Just be sure to stay tuned, and you’ll definitely hear about it here as soon as more is allowed to be said.

Again, in closing, I want to thank Bobby for a wonderful time, for opening his brewery to me, for inviting me out (on his own initiative), for the free samples, for the four pack, and for a wonderful time enjoying beers with a fellow beer enthusiast. He is a great dude, and I wish him the best with everything he does, a wonderful brewer, and a hell of a host. Thank you.

To everyone reading, be sure to check out the quality beers for the Black AHT 2020. You can read more, and get your tickets on Couch Brewery’s website, as well as through their social media pages.

Couch Brewing:

As for me here at The Beer Thrillers, thanks for reading. I always love to hear from you all, so be sure to leave comments, thoughts, your reviews, suggestions, questions, whatever you want. Also, be sure to like, follow, subscribe, you can find our social media links at the top of each page, as well as below. Also be sure to check out all of the links below for more great stories, beer reviews, brewery reviews, brewery and beer news, travelogues, and much more.

Please stay safe, and hope everyone has a great upcoming Thanksgiving. Cheers all!
-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

  • A Visit to Reading
  • The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

  • Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

  • Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

  • Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

  • Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/23/the-trip-to-indianapolis-day-two-rock-furnace-trail-allusion-brewing-company-couch-brewery-riverview-park-hop-farm-brewing-company-and-the-meadows-casino-and-racetrack/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-trip-to-indianapolis-day-two-rock-furnace-trail-allusion-brewing-company-couch-brewery-riverview-park-hop-farm-brewing-company-and-the-meadows-casino-and-racetrack Tue, 24 Nov 2020 03:40:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5747 Woke up bright and early in Indiana, Pennsylvania and checked out of my hotel early early. My first of several hotel stops, and nearly the entire trip comes undone when I can’t find my wallet before leaving. A twenty minute search finally yields it behind the bed, it must have fallen off the nightstand back behind there. Whew, dilemma and catastrophe averted, I was on my way to towards Pittsburgh.

My first stop of the day was a morning wake up hike. I was wanting to hike and see the Jackson Falls… but unfortunately, despite Google Maps saying you could access them, the land for Jackson Falls (recently?) became purchased by a water company and was considered private property and you were unable to use the road to them; it was now a private road / driveway for this water company.

The Kiskiminetas River along Roaring Run Trail

But, there was a nearby hiking trail that went along the creek called Rock Furnace Trail, and I did hike that, and it led out by the river and was a bike / walk path called Roaring Run Trail, and I walked some of that as well. The trails were located in Apollo Pennsylvania, and the river that ran alongside Roaring Run Trail is called Kiskiminetas River. It was a beautiful path (both the Rock Furnace Trail and the Roaring Run Trail), the creek alongside Rock Furnace Trail was pretty, low, meandering, and the Kiskiminetas River was big and roaring with lots of rapids. Unfortunately, no real waterfalls or cascades to see, I assume all of those were at the Jackson Falls that were now on the private property.

After hiking and walking the two trails / paths, it was about 11AM when I left Apollo and made my way to Vandergrift Pennsylvania, for my first brewery stop of day two. Vandergrift was a small, quaint, old time town, that reminded me of the town from Back to the Future. Not sure why, but it just did. I walked a few blocks of it before / after drinking and eating at Allusion Brewing Company.

Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery located in Vandergrift Pennsylvania; just outside of Pittsburgh. According to Untappd it has 18 unique beers, with 542 ratings and has an average rating of 3.8. The Untappd description simply reads: “Vandergrift’s hometown brewery.” The oldest created unique beer was on 12.26.13, but then the next wasn’t until 5.24.14. It certainly seems like it’s a relatively new and small brewery, but the beers were great, the building was beautiful, and the staff – Jim – was wonderful. If you get a chance to go by Vandergrift, make sure to stop in, visit Allusion Brewing, and see Jim as bartender, wonderful guy, very nice, informative and talkative.

I got a flight at Allusion Brewing, which was in an old card catalogue holder from a library, which was pretty neat. My flight was:

  • Oh, Bother!
  • One Inning More
  • Baker St. Brown
  • V.I.Porter
Oh Bother

Beer: Oh, Bother!
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.75%
IBU: 28
Untappd Description: A sweet malty golden colored blonde ale brewed with caramel malts and Canadian honey malt to achieve a sweet honey taste. A beer to enjoy in the Hundred Acre woods.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.74 (as of 11.23.20)

One Inning More

Beer: One Inning More
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5%
IBU: 45
Untappd Description: American Style Pale Ale brewed with Pale and Victory malts and bittered with American Willamette and Cascade hops to produce a balance beer with hints of earthy, floral, spice from the hops. Let’s hope the Mighty Casey won’t strike out so that you can enjoy another inning of entertainment and great beer.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Baker St. Brown

Beer: Baker St. Brown
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – English
ABV: 3.5%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: Traditional Mild English Brown Ale brewed with English floor malted maris otter, English chocolate malts, and English Fuggle hops for a light drinking sessionable ale with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Sit back and enjoy one while you solve your latest mystery.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 11.23.20)

V.I.Porter

Beer: V.I.Porter
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Porter – American
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 38
Untappd Description: American style robust porter brewed with various caramel malts and black mat to achieve hints of roasted coffee and dark chocolate. Sit back and enjoy your beer knowing that proceeds from each pint goes toward projects to help the local community.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Bidding Jim a farewell, I was off to Pittsburgh proper and made it to the city roughly around 12:30-1PM. For the second time now, Google Maps has led me astray with the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. I took my daughters through Pittsburgh last summer – August – and it was closed the day we were there, despite Google Maps saying it was open. Same thing, again, Google Maps listed it as open, but it was closed (closed for the season on September 15th). I have since figured out the issue – the synagogue that the garden is attached to is open year round, and Google Maps based the hours for the garden on that of the synagogue and not the actual hours for the garden. Le sigh. At some point I will get to visit the garden and walk through it. I swear it!

Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden

From there, I got a special treat, I was invited by Bobby – the head brewer for Couch Brewery – to visit Couch Brewery (on a day they were closed) for a personal tour and sampling of the beers. He was in the building kegging up their upcoming release for their Black Friday stout bash; a collaboration he did with friends (home brewers and other breweries in the area) called The Four Horseman. This was an utter blast, and Bobby is a fantastic guy, funny, down to Earth, and very knowledgeable about beer, brewing, stouts, home brewing, bars, breweries, etc. Was a blast getting to hang out for a few hours, check out the brewery, and try the entire run of their beers on tap.

I will be doing a full article on just the brewery tour (look for that most likely tomorrow), so there will be plenty more to go than just what I list here, so be sure to check that article out.

Beers I got to sample at Couch Brewery:

  • Recliner
  • Morning Wood
  • Hippie Blackberry Sour
  • Sofa Quemando
  • Fest Bump
  • F1 Hazy IPA
  • Thicc Ric
  • Macho Man
  • Atomic Clock
  • Stardust – Mango Passion
  • The Four Horseman (collaboration)
Recloner

Beer: Recliner
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: A delicious yet unconventional oatmeal stout brewed with the wrong hops, or so you would think. It delivers a wonderful silky smooth mouthfeel with a refreshing hint of citrus, a little bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 11.23.20)

Morning Wood

Beer: Morning Wood
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Hippie Blackberry Sour Ale
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Sofa Quemando
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Mexican Stout.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Fest Bump
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: F1 Hazy IPA
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Thicc Ric
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.53 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Atomic Clock
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.57 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Stardust – Mango Passion
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Hard Seltzer
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 3.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: The Four Horseman
Breweries: Couch Brewery, Fury Brewing, 2 Homebrew Collaborators
Style: American Brown Ale

There is no Untappd listing for this, and I don’t recall if Bobby gave me information on ABV / IBU / etc. (No official rating for Untappd for me or for others either then; but I would give it a 4.25.)

Bobby also gave me a four pack to go, which included Macho Man, Sofa Quemando (for Drew), Atomic Clock, and Morning Wood. Couch Brewery on Untappd is listed as a micro brewery in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with 113 unique beers, over 12 thousand ratings, and an average rating of 3.59. They have no Untappd description for their brewery.

I finally had to bid Bobby a fond adieu and promised if / when I’m back in the Pittsburgh area I would definitely be stopping in, at a time when the place is open, and hopefully with some friends. The brewery is great and he was an utter blast to hang out with.

After Couch Brewery, my next walking / hiking activity was Riverview Park at the top of Pittsburgh where the Allegheny Observatory is. I made a few mis-turns and went up and down those massively steep hills a few more times than I wished or would have liked to, and actually even went past the chapel where I took the girls last year – St. Anthony’s Chapel – (they have a piece of the cross that Jesus was crucified on) (I did not stop in) – but I finally made it to the top of Pittsburgh Hill or whatever its called, and walked the park and walking trails.

The park and walking trails were really nice. Nothing crazy intense, but just a good walking area for families and for people with dogs or what have you. Some pretty views and sights. Lots of deer too that were pretty tame an would walk right up to you. The Old Zoo trail was really nice and interesting to see old broken paths, old Zoo enclosures and buildings (like the Bear Pit) and old crumbling buildings and infrastructure. The whole area was very busy, but people were keeping distanced and walking within their own families and friends. It reminded me of ants crawling around on an ant hill with everyone going this way and that and doing their own thing, and looking at things or seeing different views, and just meandering around, getting exercise and fresh air.

Once it got dusk and dark I finally left after a good three or so hour walk. While up on Troy’s Hill I passed the Penn Brewery, but unfortunately they were closed. I still stopped for a picture of their building because its a very beautiful building.

Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh
Across the street from Penn Brewery, an old Bottling Company

My next stop was a brewery – that … fingers crossed, God Willing, and Google Maps hopeful – was open… and huzzah it was! Hop Farm Brewing Company. ….but they were at max capacity so I had to wait for someone to leave. I walked the block and came back and thankfully someone was leaving just as I came back, so I was able to snag a table.

Hop Farm Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Lawrenceville Pennsylvania. Lawrenceville is in between Pittsburgh and Washington (where the Meadows Casino is). Its still basically Pittsburgh, but not fully in Pittsburgh. Untappd lists them with 209 unique beers, over 49 thousand ratings and a global average rating of 3.65. Their Untappd description reads: “Hop Farm Brewing company is a independently partner owned brewery by Matthew and Emily Gouwens, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Our focus is on sustainability and local sourcing while producing hoppy ales, farmhouse ales, sour ales and various other interesting brews.”

While there, I had a delicious hamburger and two beers. I had the Kulak and the Pittsburgh Pale Ale.

Kulak

Beer: Kulak
Brewery: Hop Farm Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 9.8%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

Pittsburgh Pale Ale

Beer: Pittsburgh Pale Ale
Brewery: Hop Farming Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: (none listed)
IBU: (none listed)
Untappd Description: (blank)
(….well that was all very informative huh?)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

After leaving the brewery, I went to The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. I scoped the place out, talked to a few dealers about COVID and how things have been going there for them (compared to my work) and played a little bit of dice. (26$ thrown down on the table – 12 on the 6 and 8, dollar each for the dealers. Hit the 8 twice, didn’t press, got 28$, then seven’ed out, so dealers made 2$ off me, and I made 2$ and I was done. Meh.)

The Meadows Casino and Racetrack

I stopped over at the bar, and tried to have a beer with a hot dog as it was starting to get late – 10:30ish, I saw a brewery I hadn’t had before – Sobel’s Obscure Brewery and got a pint, it ends up kicking after just a little bit of it, so I ended up with a Hazy Little Thing by Sierra Nevada (the bartender didn’t quite get what I meant by “local craft beer” and kept suggesting Yuengling Lager………).

Watched a little bit of the Monday Night game while there, then got back to the hotel at 11PM, to pretty much fall straight to bed.

Tomorrow’s article should be the Couch Brewery Tour and Sampling, so be sure to check out that. Then it’ll probably be followed up with a few beer reviews, and then I will pick back up with the Trip articles. The next will be me entering Ohio, Salt Fork State Park, and Columbus and Dayton. Lots more great pictures, hikes, and breweries to go, so stay tuned and don’t miss it!

Thank you all for reading! Love to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment or talk it up with me, you can also check out our social media pages and comment and talk to us there as well.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

  • A Visit to Reading
  • The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

  • Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

  • Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

  • Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

  • Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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