Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery - The Beer Thrillers

With Heavy Hearts Tattered Flag Announces Last Day

B. Kline — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 12:40:00 +0000

With Heavy Hearts Tattered Flag Announces Their Last Day of Operation

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery announced on their social media just minutes ago (at 8:30 AM) when their last day of operation will be. Saying with heavy hearts that Sunday, October 1st of 2023 will be their last day of operation.

We had previously announced their sale – Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery For Sale – which is a complete buy out / turn key sale. All product, all equipment, full brand, full building sale. (More on the sale later in this article.) The sale was announced to the public on July 7th, 2023 (it had been internally and privately on sale for a solid month before that).

Today, July 28th, 2023 just minutes ago (8:30 AM) Tattered Flag announced their upcoming closure. The following was their announcement on Facebook:

It’s with heavy hearts that we announce that after seven incredible years, our final day of operation will be Sunday, October 1st. Had we known the pandemic was coming, we would not have expanded as quickly as we did. When the Covid shutdowns happened, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would likely go out of business…but Pat said, “Let’s do as much good as we can before the end.” So we made hand sanitizer and fought like hell to survive. Unfortunately, the pandemic and the resulting inflation/labor crisis have finally caught up to us. Many of you will ask how you can help. We ask that you come see us several more times in the next two months, and when you do, take good care of our amazing staff.

We want to thank everyone who supported us…our Middletown neighbors and friends, near and far, who raised a flag with us. We shared good times and great experiences that we will cherish forever.

#sevenincredibleyears #drinklocal #raiseaflag
Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery – Facebook Post

Lancaster, Gettysburg, and Hollywood Casino Operations

The Lancaster Barrel House, the Gettysburg Tap Room, and the Hollywood Casino Upstairs Bar have been closed for several weeks now. Their tap room and bar lounge in Hershey has been previously leased to YAH Brew.

They were up to five locations at one point – the main brewery and restaurant location in Middletown PA, their Gettysburg PA tap room, their barrel house in Lancaster PA, the Hershey PA bar lounge, and their upstairs restaurant and tap room at Hollywood Casino in Grantville PA.

Tattered Flag Brewery For Sale

The following comes from our article about their sale:

The Middletown brewery and distillery appears to be up for sale. Nearly ten years in business, they opened in 2015, as a veteran owned brewery and distillery (the first in the state). In recent months (less than two years or so) they have opened a location in Lancaster – their barrel house – as well as took over the upstairs bar and restaurant at Hollywood Casino (Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino).

They previously also had a location in Hershey – the Tattered Flag Bar and Lounge – which they are sub leasing to YAH Brew.

PennLive broke the story this morning:

Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works in Middletown is for sale.

The nearly 10-year-old brewery and distillery at 1 S. Union St. is listed for an undisclosed price by Nik Sgagias of NAI CIR, a commercial real estate company in Lemoyne. Tattered Flag remains open for business.

The sale includes a 13,000 square-foot state-of-the-art brewery with canning and bottling lines, distillery, and full service restaurant with seating up to 200 guests, according to the listing.Dauphin County brewery / distillery with restaurant listed for sale – PennLive

In 2020 they announced they would be shipping statewide with their “Supply Drop” feature, letting you order their beers anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania.

Their locations in Lancaster (the Barrel House) and Gettysburg (the tap room) are currently listed as temporarily closed.

Justin Hoak, a former head brewer of theirs, now runs his own brewery – YAH Brew – at their former location in Hershey, next to Duck Donuts.
Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery For Sale

Our Articles About Tattered Flag

Looking to read more about Tattered Flag, check out our articles here:

Tattered Flag Brewery Information

The following comes from Untappd about Tattered Flag Brewery – they are a micro brewery from Middletown, Pennsylvania, with 637 unique beers, and a global average rating of 3.78 (as of 7.28.23). They have 119,110 ratings. Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can follow them on the following social media pages:

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!

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MAPS OF BREWERIES

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Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery For Sale

B. Kline — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 14:31:54 +0000

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (photo taken by The Beer Thrillers pre-COVID)

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery Is Up For Sale

The Middletown brewery and distillery appears to be up for sale. Nearly ten years in business, they opened in 2015, as a veteran owned brewery and distillery (the first in the state). In recent months (less than two years or so) they have opened a location in Lancaster – their barrel house – as well as took over the upstairs bar and restaurant at Hollywood Casino (Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino).

They previously also had a location in Hershey – the Tattered Flag Bar and Lounge – which they are sub leasing to YAH Brew.

PennLive broke the story this morning:

Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works in Middletown is for sale.

The nearly 10-year-old brewery and distillery at 1 S. Union St. is listed for an undisclosed price by Nik Sgagias of NAI CIR, a commercial real estate company in Lemoyne. Tattered Flag remains open for business.

The sale includes a 13,000 square-foot state-of-the-art brewery with canning and bottling lines, distillery, and full service restaurant with seating up to 200 guests, according to the listing.
Dauphin County brewery / distillery with restaurant listed for sale – PennLive

In 2020 they announced they would be shipping statewide with their “Supply Drop” feature, letting you order their beers anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania.

Their locations in Lancaster (the Barrel House) and Gettysburg (the tap room) are currently listed as temporarily closed.

Justin Hoak, a former head brewer of theirs, now runs his own brewery – YAH Brew – at their former location in Hershey, next to Duck Donuts.

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery

The brewery, restaurant, and distillery were a staple to the Middletown (Dauphin County), Pennsylvania community. Located on Union Street in the center of Middletown, it was typically a very busy restaurant.

Over the past year or so there has been a lot of changes with them. Their head distiller left to move to the Caribbean, they’ve changed multiple brewmasters and brewer staff (Dave Marrow, Cliff Plank, Justin Hoak), and at one point they were up to five locations (the Middletown location, the bar and lounge in Hershey, the Lancaster Barrel House, the Gettysburg tap room, and the Bar and Restaurant at Hollywood Casino). There was even talks at one point of them opening a bar and restaurant in other Hollywood Casino properties – not just the one in Grantville, Pennsylvania.

A few months ago a former employee of theirs had lamented to me that he felt they might have “over reached” and “over stepped” themselves, coming out of COVID – 19 and the coronavirus pandemic. Opening and spreading a bit too far and too wide.

This wouldn’t be the first or last brewery (or business in general) that has done that.

As per the sales listing the owners are willing to stay on to assist the new owners in the transition of the company.

Tattered Flag dates to 2015 when military veteran Pat Devlin and his Susquenita High School friends opened the brewery and restaurant at the former Elks building following a major renovation project. They converted the two-story building including three storefronts and a meeting room into the brewpub and distillery.
Dauphin County brewery / distillery with restaurant listed for sale – PennLive

Sales Listing

From the sales listing, the building is listed as being built in 1910. They offer the following specs for potential buyers:

Property Description

Unique opportunity to purchase turnkey, award-winning brewery and distillery in the heart of Dauphin County, PA. Sale includes 13,000 SF state-of-the-art brewery, distillery, and full service restaurant with seating up to 200 guests. Must see property that features a big city vibe located in Middletown, PA. Tattered Flag was founded by a military veteran and several of his friends and business partners in 2015. Since then, the company has evolved into a brand recognized throughout Pennsylvania for both quality and customer service experience. The Tattered Flag brand is known for quality and innovation in producing award-winning hand-crafted beer, spirits, and cocktails. Upon sale, ownership is willing to stay on to facilitate a smooth transition to new owners.

Highlights

Award-winning brewery, distillery, and restaurant for sale

13,000 SF building with 6,000 SF fully-functional lower level

Includes all bottling and canning lines

All FF&E included in sale

Downtown Middletown, PA , less than one (1) mile to PSU Harrisburg

Tattered Flag Brewery – NAicir

It is zoned retail, commercial, and offers 13,000 square feet. The listing site also gives information on demographics in the area, a map to the location, and more if you are interested in purchasing the brewery (no price listing directly on their page).

The Beer Thrillers and Tattered Flag

Canning Day at Tattered Flag

I really sincerely hope that someone comes and buys the brewery and wants to do good with it. Its a beautiful building, a beautiful brewery, and much can be done with both the brewing and distillery options of the building.

Personally I’ve had a lot of good memories in the building. I used to help Justin, volunteering, on canning days for beers, and helping to can, label, and move beers on beer release days. Myself, Amy, and Scarlet also enjoyed going their for the food and atmosphere, having recently gotten to go to their big St. Paddy’s Day fest.

Hopefully someone with good intentions, and good brewing, and good business knowledge will purchase them.

Our Articles About Tattered Flag

Looking to read more about Tattered Flag, check out our articles here:

Tattered Flag Brewery Information

The following comes from Untappd about Tattered Flag Brewery – they are a micro brewery from Middletown, Pennsylvania, with 637 unique beers, and a global average rating of 3.78 (as of 7.7.23). They have 119,110 ratings. Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can follow them on the following social media pages:

Articles About YAH Brew

For articles about YAH Brew (the brewery owned by one of their former head brewers), you can check them out here:

YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
YAH Brew Coming to Hershey in Spring 2023
YAH Brew in Hershey Now in Open (Soft Opening)
Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brew)
Happy Father’s Day (Amy’s Weekly Column Series)

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

MAPS OF BREWERIES

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery

B. Kline — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 18:33:13 +0000

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery Logo

The Final Four

This is the final week (the last few days) of voting for The Battle of the Breweries (2023), and I said that one per day, I would cover each of the final contestants. First up is Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery. Tomorrow we will be covering Allusion Brewing Company, and then AleCraft Brewing Company, and finally Mad Chef Brewing.

You can vote in the tournament here: The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way.

In this article we are going to discuss Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery as a whole, then discuss how they did in this year’s tournament, and offer links to all of our related articles, as well as a history of the tournament this year.

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery

Tattered Flag Brewery and Still Works – Veteran Craft

First, let’s start with the words straight from their own mouth, this is how Tattered Flag describes themselves, from their new Tattered Flag Supply Drop website:

What started as a dream in the mountains of Afghanistan has now become a brand that is recognized for quality and innovation. We are honored to have been named “Simply the Best Brewery” (2019/2020) and “Simply the Best Distillery” (2018/2019/2020) in Central Pennsylvania by Harrisburg Magazine. To check our our full website, including the individual pages for each location, please head to www.tatteredflagbsw.com.
Tattered Flag Supply Drop

(Tattered Flag Supply Drop is their Shipping Service Statewide in Pennsylvania.)

Back in September 2016, Cathy Jordan, a journalist for The Burg newspaper ran an article where she interviewed owner Pat Devlin. (Pat Devlin by the way is a US Veteran, and has even done recent deployments, and been featured on FOX News.)

Hope is a tattered flag, according to a verse by Carl Sandburg, a poem that celebrates the American spirit.

According to Pat Devlin, a U.S. Navy veteran, co-owner and CEO of Tattered Flag Brewery and Still Works, a flag—though tattered—still represents what it once stood for, but with character. And it’s that character that Devlin wants to capture within the brewery, which opened in July.

The business idea brewed inside the heads of owners Pat Devlin, Matt Fritz, Tony DeLellis and Ben Ramsay for many years. The guys have known each since high school and share a common interest in craft beer. Their goal is to provide something you can’t find elsewhere.
Hoist the Flag – Tattered Flag Article in The Burg

The article goes on to mostly discuss the building they are currently in, on Union Street in Middletown, Pennsylvania:

“I traveled a lot and visited hundreds of breweries,” he said. “After my wife and I moved back home, we actually looked at six different locations. When I walked into this building, I just knew this was the place. It was unique.”

That unique find was the 105 year-old Elks building, which means the brewery is stocked with nostalgic charm. The Elks moved out years ago, and, since then, the building has housed a variety of businesses, including a sporting goods store, a florist shop, an upscale men’s clothing store and a shoe store. Its basement now hosts an open fermentation space, a brew house, canning line and grain mill. The first floor is a tasting room, while the third floor houses three private party rooms—including the “The Penn State Room” and a three-season room—along with an open kitchen, a stage, seating for more than 240 people and a standing bar.
Hoist the Flag – Tattered Flag Article in The Burg

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery in Middletown can be located here: 1 S Union St, Middletown, PA 17057.

In August of 2015, PennLive ran an article about the opening and starting up of Tattered Flag in Middletown.

The project received contingent approval from both the Middletown Industrial and Commercial Development Authority and borough council Monday night after an hour-and-a-half presentation and question/answer session in MCSO Hall.

Ramsay, of York, said they worked with marketing and development experts to find a location. “The three top areas were Marysville, Linglestown and Middletown,” Ramsay said.

“When we came to Middletown, the environment we wanted to create and some of the brand we wanted to be just fit with what we are, especially the inside of that building,” Ramsay said.

“All of us have memories of coming to dollar movies here when we were kids,” Ramsay said, referring to the Elks Theatre in the building, which is not part of the deal.

This will not be “just a small-town microbrewery,” Ramsay said. “There are a lot of things with the building we’re going to do.”
Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works to be more than ‘small-town microbrewery’

They further discuss the distillery aspects of Tattered Flag:

They see themselves on the leading edge of the distillery movement, while the number of small craft breweries is already booming in the state. There are 22 distilleries in Pennsylvania, Ramsay said, and one is planned for midtown Harrisburg. There are that many craft breweries and brewpubs in York County alone.

As for brewing experience, partner Pat Devlin said their head brewer and assistant brewer each have more than 10 years brewing experience, and the head brewer has 2.5 years’ commercial experience. Devlin said he has four years brewing experience, and nine months apprenticing in Gettysburg.
Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works to be more than ‘small-town microbrewery’

The article did discuss the four owners and partners of Tattered Flag. As far as I know, now in 2023, the only two that are still partners and owners are Tony and Pat. Their biographies from the article are:

Tony DeLellis of Marysville is an Elizabethtown College graduate who has worked three years in the mortgage industry. He was previously a teacher, and is a regional church planner.

Pat Devlin of Mechanicsburg, who completed a 10-year stint in the Navy last September, is a Penn State graduate. He has six years’ experience in the food industry, and is apprenticing as a brewer in Gettysburg.
Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works to be more than ‘small-town microbrewery’

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery opened their Middletown location in July of 2016, a veteran owned business, and one of only (roughly) 20 or so such breweries in Pennsylvania. They were the first brewery and distillery to open as a single entity.

Tattered Flag Brewery Information

The following comes from Untappd about Tattered Flag Brewery – they are a micro brewery from Middletown, Pennsylvania, with 632 unique beers, and a global average rating of 3.78 (as of 4.12.23). They have 117,996 ratings. Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can follow them on the following social media pages:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023)

Here is a look at how Tattered Flag Brewery made it to the Finals Fatal Four Way:

In the Group Stage, they were in Group H of the Chinook Conference. Tattered Flag Brewery and Rusty Rail Brewing Company emerged victorious from Group H. (Tattered Flag Brewery had 76 votes, and Rusty Rail Brewing Company had 75 votes.)

In the Chinook Conference Round of 16, Tattered Flag Brewery (122 votes) defeated Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (86 votes).

In the Chinook Conference Round of 8, Tattered Flag (136 votes) defeated Sly Fox Brewing (96 votes).

In the Chinook Conference Final Four:

In the first match up we had the number 9 seed Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery taking on the number 13 seed Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company. Tattered Flag Brewery came out on top with 140 votes against Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company’s 81 votes.

In the Chinook Conference Finals:

In the Chinook Conference we had number 9 seed – Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery – going up against fellow veteran owned number 10 seed – Cox Brewing Company. Both breweries have been on a tear in the voting, putting up big numbers in each of the last several rounds.

Tattered Flag Brewery put up an absolute dominant performance this round however. (Looking as dominant as Roman Reigns did last night… ….see what I did there… no? … ok….). Tattered Flag Brewery garnered 9358 votes this round. Besting Cox Brewing Company’s 2414 votes. Thats a 6944 vote difference.

They are going to be very tough to beat in the Finals Fatal Four Way.

(See end of article for all of The Battle of the Breweries voting and results pages.)

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery Related Articles

Here is all of our articles on Tattered Flag Brewery:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Voting and Results Pages

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way (Voting Page)

Past Results:

Group Stage Voting Pages

Group Stage Results Pages

Round of 16 Voting Pages

Round of 16 Results Pages

Round of 8 Voting Pages

Round of 8 Results Pages

Conference Final Four Voting Pages

Conference Final Four Results Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Final Four Results

Conference Finals Voting Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals

Conference Finals Results Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals Results

Thank You for Reading

I know this post and article was due yesterday, but got very busy with the beautiful weather and the yard work. So the new schedule is now – Tattered Flag (today / now / Wednesday), Allusion Brewing Company (tomorrow / Thursday), AleCraft Brewing Company (Friday), and Mad Chef Brewing (Saturday).

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the four remaining breweries and wish them all the best of luck. I have enjoyed visiting all four of them, and they certainly all rank very highly in my opinion. (Amy has been to three of them with me, and has loved the three she visited as well.)

It is a tremendous honor to get to this point in the competition – out of 160 breweries, we are down to just 4 remaining. Thats amazing to think about, and shows the love and support these breweries have.

Even the conference runner ups put in a tremendous effort and deserve some recognition too. Cox Brewing Company, Von C Breiwng Company, RAR Brewing, and Boneshire Brew Works are all amazing breweries and have loved my (and Amy as well) visits to their breweries.

As well as I want to take the moment to thank all of the 160 breweries that shared, linked, pushed, and helped make this tournament a rousing success. You all blow me away with the love, support, and energy you pour into this – as well as what you pour into your breweries (and, by relation – what you pour into my glass). Thank you all for everything you’ve done!

This tournament has been a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. So thank you to everyone for your patience.

I might be getting the Map of Vermont Breweries done today, but its not looking likely due to another gorgeous day (81 degrees today!) and having lots of yard work, as well as going to Drew’s to film some Star Wars related reels for his Knights of Nostalgia page.

We have also completed the first two Maps of Breweries – Maine and New Hampshire. You can see those here:

We are currently starting to work on creating maps of all the breweries in each state, starting geographically with Maine. So be on the lookout for these great resources to soon be popping up on the blog. Hoping to get a state done every 2 – 4 days. (Some will be quicker and easier than others, but 50 states, plus Washington D.C., will certainly take some time!)

Thank you everyone for reading and please like, share, follow, subscribe, all that good stuff you see at the end of every YouTube video.

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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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.

Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino Opening: August 22nd, 2021

BKline — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 14:47:11 +0000

Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino (Grantville) Logo

Tattered Flag’s Fifth Location Opens Today

Today is a big day for Tattered Flag and for Hollywood Casino. Firstly, as we’ve mentioned earlier (Tattered Flag to Open its 5th Location) today will be the grand opening of Tattered Flag’s fifth location. On top of having their brewery and distillery in Middletown, the lounge in Hershey (the former Hershey Biergarten), their Gettysburg location, as well as opening their barrel house in Lancaster, they are opening a dining room and pub in the Hollywood Casino at Grantville. Formerly the Skybox Restaurant in the casino (second floor), it is now going to be a dining room, pub, and restaurant for Tattered Flag.

Penn National Gaming and Hollywood Casino has recently been on a big push with their ‘myheroes’ promotion, to honor the heroes of America. Military veterans, EMTs, nurses, and other front line heroes. They have recently built a massive stage near the employee parking lot called the “myheroes stage” and tonight kicks off the start of their “Outdoor Concert Series” with Journey. Other acts include Larry The Cable Guy, John Fogerty, and Jeff Dunham.

But first, a look at the dining room and pub that Tattered Flag is opening today:

An inside look at Tattered Flag’s newest restaurant at Hollywood Casino (photo credits – Tattered Flag’s Facebook page)

Hollywood Casino

Hollywood Casino at Grantville, Pennsylvania (photo credits – Hollywood Casino and Tattered Flag’s Facebook pages)

The Hollywood Casino in Grantville is located at 777 Hollywood Blvd, Grantville, PA 17028. It is considered a “racino” because it has both a race track and a casino. It is 240,000 square feet, and has slots, table games, a poker room (which has been closed since the COVID outbreak), an indoor stage, a race track, several restaurants, a Top Golf, and now an outdoor stage. The track first opened August 30th, 1972, and the casino itself opened on February 12th, 2008.

Formerly, prior to COVID, the upstairs restaurant at Hollywood Casino was a sportsbar themed restaurant called The Skybox. After the first COVID shut – down, it did not reopen, and following the second shut – down Hollywood Casino instead turned their H Lounge area (near the indoor stage) into a quasi eatery / restaurant using the Skybox themed menu (though slimmed down). Now, finally, on August 22nd, 2021, the restaurant is reopening, but also completely rebranded as “Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino”.

Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino will boast an impressive 8,900 square foot restaurant and kitchen that overlooks most of the casino floor from the second floor. You can access it from the elevators or the main stairway near the one entrance.

Stairs leading to the second floor of Hollywood Casino (photo credit Hollywood Casino Facebook page, Tattered Flag Facebook page)

The new restaurant will be serving the distinct craft beers and spirits created at their Middletown location. They are still operating and brewing (and distilling) from just their Middletown location. For more information on Hollywood Casino, the myheroes promotions, the outdoor concert series, Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino, and much more, see the links at the end of the article.

Journey at the myheroes Outdoor Stage

Journey at Hollywood Casino’s outdoor stage “myheroes stage”

Tonight also kicks off the Outdoor Concert Series for Hollywood Casino in Grantville. With the first band performing in their series – Journey. Future concerts are John Fogerty, Larry the Cable Guy, and Jeff Dunham. The stage was just finished construction yesterday, and is located near the main drive – in entrance by the employee parking lot. (Impossible to miss as you drive in the main entrance.)

This is the first ‘big’ concert that Hollywood Casino in Grantville has scheduled. And its all a big part of their ‘myheroes’ promotion, to give back to military veterans and frontline workers who have been indispensable , especially in recent history with COVID and everything else that has gone on in the world and in America. This is Penn National and Hollywood Casino giving back. Tattered Flag’s rebranding of the upstairs restaurant also ties in with the ‘myheroes’ promotions.

For more information and links, please check out the following:

Our past articles about Tattered Flag:

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading, as always, be sure to stay safe, don’t drink and drive, and make sure you keep coming back here for great content. Hit the follow buttons, check us out on social media pages (and give a like and follow on there as well). And be sure to check out more great content from The Beer Thrillers!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Brews and Bands for Bart

BKline — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Brews and Bands for Bart

Block Party of the Summer

How do you recognize one of the baddest and coolest party throwers around? By throwing one of the biggest and baddest bashes ever in his honor! Thats just what’s in store this Saturday at Tattered Flag. We’ve discussed Bartley Kaminski here on the blog before, in numerous different ways, but recently with his passing, and with the event here and various events in the distant past.

This event has been planned out for quite a while now, but has really blown up with Bart’s passing. Tons of breweries adding their names to the list, and lots of other additions, and add – ons and groups adding to it and showing up in various ways to help the cause. It looks to be one hell of a bash, and one hell of a way to salute, and remember Bart and to throw one final rad party in his honor and memory.

Bartley Kaminiski

We talked about Bart before here, and talked about his passing previously here: Farewell to Bartley Francis Kaminski. He founded Kollision Media, Hop Hedz Gear, and has been referred to as “The Willy Wonka of Beer Events”. I could go on and on about him here. He was just a great guy, the life of the party without being too much, and everyone who knew him, or even just met him at one event or the other has amazing memories or stories to tell about him. My buddy talks about Bart’s green – suit or green – man appearance at the Atlantic City Brewfest all the time. There was very rarely an event in the Central PA area where you didn’t see a Hop Hedz Gear stand or Bart himself. And I guarantee you there was at least one person walking around in a tee shirt or hoodie that he made.

I can’t do him justice here discussing his amazing life, but we can do him justice by having one heck of a party in his honor.

Brews and Bands for Bart

The final brewery list for Brews and Bands for Bart posted today (Wednesday 8.11.21)

Look at that line-up! And word is there might be more additions to come and stuff, even though this is the “finalized” list. And I’m sure some might have their own little additions or add ons or secret hidden stashes too.

Here is a full list with all of their Untappd links:

Word is also Lancaster Brewing Company, North Country Brewing, and maybe one or two more will be unofficially added. That is one hell of a lineup right there! With breweries from out of state like Tripping Animals (Florida) and much more.

And let us not forget the bands part of this event as well!

The music lineup for Brews and Bands for Bart at Tattered Flag this Saturday (8.14.21)

Also, as posted by Hop Hedz Gear on social media:

In addition to the 40+ breweries that will be attending the fest, we would like to thank our group of vendors who will be a part of the event! Thanks so Whimsical Wonders By Kris, Thicc Bois Glassware, D&S Cigar Lounge, Dutch Country Soft Pretzels, and Feathers Feed and Jerky. Be sure to stop by these booths, as all sales will have a portion of proceeds donated to the cause!

When, Where, How

When is this amazing block party bash? This Saturday, from noon to 4PM. Where is it? At Tattered Flag Brewery on South Union Street in Middletown, Pennsylvania (Dauphin County). How do you get tickets? Check out Hop Hedz Gear, or go here: https://shop.hophedzgear.com/products/brews-and-bands-for-bart

(UPDATE: Tickets have sold out. On the day of, they will have roughly 100 tickets for purchase at the door. This will be the only way to attend the event now.)

Tattered Flag and Breweries of PA Collab

“Hard Pills to Swallow” Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA Collab

Make sure to check out the Breweries in PA tent to find the special Hard Pills to Swallow Tattered Flag collaboration that they made just for the event. It is also available in cans, and you can purchase it through the statewide shipping “Supply Drop” that Tattered Flag offers.

More Information, Facebook Event Page, and Beer Thriller Links

For more information, you can read the event page description here:

“

“As you may know, in late February, Bart Kaminski was diagnosed with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Sarcomatoid DIfferentiation. A rare form of cancer that quickly spread to his adrenal gland, lymph nodes and surrounding bone marrow.To support Bart’s growing medical expenses, we are throwing a unique brewfest! It will take place on Saturday, Aug. 14 in the block in front of Tattered Flag Brewery and Still Works in Middletown. The event is $40 (in advance) or $45 the day of the event and that gets you a pint can glass and unlimited samplings. Food will be available for purchase.This event is co-sponsored by The Beer Busters Podcast who will be recording live at the event.We are going to have a fantastic line-up of bands! Noon – 12:45 p.m. – Shannon Bobb acoustic
1:00 – 2:15 p.m. – Colt Wilbur Band
2:30 – 3:45 p.m. – The Martini Bros.Breweries will be announced every few days. Here are the breweries that have already been announced:Artiface Ales & Mead
Big Dog
Boneshire
Breweries Of PA (TF Collab)
Chatty Monks
Dancing Gnome
Englewood
Evergrain
Fahnestock & Baer
Four Score
Funk
Human Robot
Lovedrafts
Levante
Lions Head
Liquid Noise
Mad Chef
Moo Duck
Naked Brewing
Our Town
Pilger Ruh
Pour Man’s
Raney Cellars
REHAB
Root Down
Rotunda
Samuel Adams
Seven Sirens
Shy Bear
St. Boniface
Stickman Brews
Stolen Sun
Tattered Flag
Tripping Animals
Troegs
Wingcraft
Wolf
Workhorse
Yards
Zeroday

Please help us do everything we can to support Bart!

Location: Tattered Flag Brewery
1 S Union Street, Middletown

The Capital Region’s first co-branded and co-located Craft Brewery & Craft Distillery.
@tatteredflagbsw
www.tatteredflagbsw.com“

The Event Page can be visited here: Brews and Bands for Bart Event Page.

Some previous links to articles on The Beer Thrillers where we discuss Bart Kaminski:

Some Tattered Flag related articles:

Thank you everyone for reading! And hopefully see you all out and hope everyone finds it in them to contribute and donate. It really does go to a good cause and will help the family immensely. Cheers all!

-B. Kline

Tattered Flag Shipping Statewide

BKline — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 14:43:15 +0000

Tattered Flag’s Supply Drop announcement

Yesterday Tattered Flag Brewing and Distillery announced that they are the latest craft brewery in Pennsylvania to jump into the shipping game. Following breweries like Levante Brewing, Tired Hands Brewing, The Larimeer, and many others, Tattered Flag will also now be shipping to all of Pennsylvania.

While some breweries have been able to ship out of Pennsylvania, currently Tattered Flag is limited to Pennsylvania only, this is still a huge step for both the brewery and fans of great craft beer the whole state over. For people as far as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, it can be hard to get your hands on Tattered Flag, so this is a great way for them to be able to try their amazing beers and spirits.

This is not just limited to their award winning craft beers, but also their award winning spirits like their Tequila and Vodkas and their other great liquors.

They dropped this bombshell at roughly 3PM yesterday, and this was their press release on their official Facebook page:

“Introducing Tattered Flag Supply Drop – your online source for DIRECT SHIPPING of Tattered Flag’s award-winning Beer, Spirits, and Ready To Drink Canned Cocktails! Head to www.tatteredflagsupplydrop.com to create your account and place your first order! FREE SHIPPING on orders of $75 or more! We are now accepting PRE-ORDERS for shipping on Wednesday, September 9th! To celebrate, we are releasing a limited supply of our Reposado Agave (barrel aged tequila) for purchase on the website only!#tatteredflagsupplydrop #directshipping #beer #spirits #toyourfrontdoor” (with the above image)

So if you are in the state of Pennsylvania and haven’t been able to try their fantastic beers yet, be sure to jump on this fantastic new way of getting to try them, and make sure to take advantage of the free shipping (on orders over 75$).

Its great seeing some of the success stories coming out of COVID for some of these local great breweries, like Tattered Flag, and some others that are expanding or opening soon (like Rubber Soul in Hummelstown soon due to open) and The Englewood.

Be sure to check out the many beer reviews of Tattered Flag’s beers we’ve done here on the blog to get an idea of what you can order from them.

Lots of big news coming soon here to the blog, so please stay tuned, especially if you live locally in the 717 area!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Beer Review: Tattered Soul (Tattered Flag and Rubber Soul)

BKline — Fri, 01 May 2020 16:32:00 +0000

Tattered Soul – a collaboration between Tattered Flag and Rubber Soul Brewing. This marks the new Rubber Soul’s first beer.

This was meant to be enjoyed at one of the marquee Harrisburg Beer Week events – Tattered Flag’s collaboration event. This was meant to be drank on draft at Tattered Flag’s brewery, as well as the by-now opened Rubber Soul brewery in Hummelstown. Sadly, none of this happened, instead its May 1st, and Rubber Soul finally got the green-light to start back up on construction of their brewery as per Governor Wolfe’s newest rules / orders / laws / allowances / mandates / ordinances / whatever you wanna call it.

Coronavirus – the novel COVID-19 virus – has certainly thrown everything for a loop here in Central PA (as well as in the world). This was supposed to be the end of Harrisburg Beer Week, an annual event that celebrates all the great breweries and bars in the greater Harrisburg area (Harrisburg, Hummelstown, Hershey, Middletown, Elizabethtown, and surrounding areas). Every year there’s great events like Little Big Beer Fest, Little Little Beer Fest, Collaboration Week at Tattered Flag, Stouts Night, Stouts and Stilleto’s Lady Night, etc, etc, etc, (the list is extremely long lets just say), and a premier event for the Hummelstown area this year was going to be the opening of Rubber Soul’s new brewery in Hummelstown at the old borough building. (For more information on that, see my article: A Sneak Peak of Rubber Soul Brewery).

But at least one really good thing has come out of it all; and that’s this great beer. The first with the new Rubber Soul, and the first of the collaboration between Tattered Flag and Rubber Soul (I’m sure we’ll see plenty more down the road). Justin, the brewer lives in Hummelstown (and depending on the way he drives to get to Tattered Flag is going to have to drive right by the Rubber Soul Brewery), and the new head brewer for Rubber Soul comes directly from Levante Brewing – which has done a few collaborations with Justin at Tattered Flag. So I definitely don’t foresee this being the last time these two all-star breweries hook up.

Speaking of the coronavirus / COVID-19, you’ll notice a little nod to the troublesome meddler of 2020 on the can-art. (Which is beautiful can art by the way.) With the sneaker stepping down on the virus. Lovely can art that encapsulates both Tattered Flag and Rubber Soul.

Alright, enough yapping, lets get to discussing the beer!

Tattered Soul by Tattered Flag and Rubber Soul

Beer: Tattered Soul
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Collaboration: Rubber Soul Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Session / India Session Ale
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: We teamed up with our buds from Rubber SOul brewing Co to bring you a full flavor, crushable Mid-west style IPA. Using a base of american 2-row, pilsner, and a bit of caramel pils we hopped this beer in the kettle with Cascade, citra, and amarillo in style with a traditional or west coast IPA, then hit it in the whirlpool with a matching hop addition much like a typical NEIPA hop schedule. Later, we dry hopped with a generous Citra dosing and followed up with a very cold amarillo and Cascade drop. We feel this is a fantastic representation of Rubber Souls roots with a Tattered Flag twist!

This was a wonderful beer to crush by the fireplace while social distancing. Only 5% so a four-pack was easily handled with just the slightest buzz. I’ll take that any night by the firepit!

It pours a beautiful golden yellow / orange. A sweet looking IPA coloring, it has a full body appearance, not super hazy or completely clear, but with a wonderful golden glow. Slight appearance of orange juice but still a complete IPA look. Somewhere in the middle of a West Coast IPA and a New England IPA look to it. You can tell its hoppy but no crazy amount of ‘floaters’ or ‘weird stuff’ floating about in this beautiful beer.

They called this a “Mid-West” IPA, because it takes characteristics of the typical West Coast style IPA and characteristics of the New England IPA. The aroma gets a big kick from the dry hopping. The citra and amarillo really pop and burst at you in this, as soon as you crack the can and the foam comes up over the lip you are hit hard by the citrusy nature of the citra hops, then mellows into a bit of piney, earthy, grassy, but still citrus, tropical notes of the cascade and amarillo. I’m really digging this combination of hops and I think it goes really well together, especially in this beer.

This is pretty much the definition of a session beer. Light, hop bursts with a citrusy taste and feel, slightly creamy so it goes down easily with no real discernible hop bite, only 5% so it won’t get you hammered, this is everything you are asking for in a crushable session IPA. Perfect for firepits, backyard BBQs and parties, and baseball games. Once (not *IF* – *WHEN*) baseball comes back, this would be the perfect stadium beer. (Hint, hint, for say… a Harrisburg Senators game…. hint…. hint). The pilsner malt and the caramel pils gives this a great body. The more golden hue is due to the combination of the two, and provide the backbone for this super tasty beer. The hops give it the burst and kick to provide the true entertainment to the beer. Citrus notes from the cascade and amarillo hops really provides a strong burst, you get orange peel, zest, hint of lime, and then you get some more mellow notes, slight pine, slight earthy grass, from the cascade. These three hops really work well in tandem here, playing off each other, and it tastes phenomenal (and smells amazing too) because of it. This was just a great, easy, sipping, tasty, beautiful brew.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (right on the nose) (as of 5.1.20)

If this is what we have to look forward to from Rubber Soul Brewing, I cannot wait! And bonus points for only being a half mile walk from my house (and a mile back…. the difference is staggering) (….yes…. another dad joke….)

Thankfully as the restrictions begin lifting, Rubber Soul can get to finishing their brewery and soon be opened. I will keep you all updated on when that happens (hopefully soon, fingers crossed!)

To read more about Rubber Soul – check out my article on them here: A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown, PA.

Also, today is the grand opening of Hemauer Brewing in Mechanicsburg, check out my article on their grand opening here: Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing.

Peace everyone, cheers everyone, stay safe, and take care of your loved ones everyone!

-B. Kline

Valentine’s Day Beers

BKline — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 15:32:34 +0000

Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS by Boneshire Brew Works from their firkin tapping last night at their brewery. Happy Valentine’s Day!

In the Hershey – through Middletown and Harrisburg area, you go to a brewery, you can find yourself a chocolate covered…. strawberry or cherry something or other. Tattered Flag, Rotunda Brewing Company, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing, Boneshire Brew Works, and you can even make a variant at Lancaster Brewing Company. So, I’ve gone and done the legwork for all of you. I’ve traveled to the places, seen the sights, experienced the sounds and the smells, and I drank the beers, so you don’t have to …. or so you can know which ones you might like best. Or, so you can too. Either way…. whew, this is a tough gig. But I guess I’m the only one man enough for it.

So what all beers are we going to be taking a look at today? We’re going to be taking a look at: Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS by Boneshire Brew Works, Beautiful Trauma by Rotunda Brewing Company, Chocolate Cherry Stout by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing, Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Cherry) and Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Strawberry) by Tattered Flag, and finally Double Chocolate Covered Strawberry by Lancaster Brewing Company.

This is going to be a multiple-beer-review article posting. It’s a total of six beer reviews; and from five different breweries. All from the Hershey-Middletown-Harrisburg area. (Hershey’s contributions are Troegs’ Chocolate Cherry Stout, and Rotunda’s Beautiful Trauma [Rotunda Brew Pub in Hershey], Middletown’s contributions are the Tattered Flag beers, and Harrisburg’s are the Boneshire and Lancaster Brewing beers.) Most of these will still be on tap today. And possibly even the firkin at Boneshire Brew Works might not have kicked and still might be available. The Troegs Chocolate Cherry Stout was also canned yesterday (2.13.20) and still might be available in cans as well. Beautiful Trauma is still available in cans, and you can get it on draft and in crowlers at their Rotunda Brew Pub (as well as at The Batdorf attached to their brewery in Annville).

Let’s start with Middletown and break down the two beers from Tattered Flag. They have two offerings for us, and both are somewhat similar. Because I Was Inverted is their signature line of Milkshake IPAs, that they’ve done with a variety of different flavors (or adjuncts). Some notables were Mango, Kiwi, Plum, and they released two recently – Chocolate Covered Cherry and Chocolate Covered Strawberry. Both were canned and put on draft.

Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Strawberry)

Beer: Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Strawberry)
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Because I was Inverted (BIWI) black milkshake IPA blends sweet lactose with midnight wheat to bring you a subtle bitterness followed by a silky finish and earthly yet fruity notes of Mosaic. Conditioned with cocoa and strawberry puree just in time for Valentines day!

This looks like its a stout, but it tastes so much different. Appearance for this is dark black with a light foam head. Its Razor Ramone hair black (ahhhh, a term I haven’t gotten to use in a long time, been a while since I’ve reviewed a black / dark beer), fully opaque, and looking nothing like an IPA, let alone a milkshake IPA. Good carbonation, good head, and it leaves good lacing.

Aroma is pretty interesting. You definitely get notes of chocolate, and faint notes of strawberry. You get vanilla, and you get slight faint fruity hoppy notes. Nothing outstanding on the hoppy notes, nothing that blows you away, its all very subtle letting the chocolate come out much more prevalent in aromas.

This is very smooth, very tasty, very creamy. Its a bit heavy on your tongue in a way most IPAs aren’t. Strong chocolate, strong malt backbone, very vanilla and lactose and creamy, with some strawberry. The strawberry is probably a bit too subtle given that it should be more prominent, but its not too bad, and you do know its there. Strawberry can also be an overpowering addition that sometimes makes a beer far worse. There is no hop presence in taste. No bitterness, just smoothness and creamyness.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 2.14.20)

Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Cherry)

Beer: Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Cherry)
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Because I was Inverted (BIWI) black milkshake IPA blends sweet lactose with midnight wheat to bring you a subtle bitterness followed by a silky finish and earthly yet fruity notes of Mosaic. Conditioned with cocoa and sweet cherry puree just in time for Valentines day!

This might sound a lot like deja vu, but nearly everything for the above beer can be said for this one as well. Appearance is the same as the above, dark black, jet black, Razor Ramone hair black, nice foamy small head, nice lacing, good carbonation. Interspersed bubbles.

Aroma is pretty much the exact same as well. Instead of faint strawberry, you get faint cherry. Still heavy chocolate, some vanilla, faint faint faint hop, with the cherry a bit more prominent than the strawberry, but only barely, and it could just be my nostrils more open to that particular smell.

Taste is again similar, and again the only real difference is cherry puree rather than strawberry puree. Its noticeable the difference, in the same way you can notice mango instead of peach, or orange instead of kumquat. Heavy chocolate notes, vanilla notes, no hop presence, no bitterness, just super smooth, with a heavy mouthfeel. Slight cherry, possibly lighter than the strawberry, which is odd because I felt there was more of a nose of cherry on this than the strawberry had, but could all be tricks of the mind.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.72 (as of 2.14.20)

Lets move on to Hershey and their offerings, we’ll start with Rotunda Brewing Company’s Beautiful Trauma.

Beautiful Trauma

Firstly, let’s do a big shout out to Steve Glick for the great artwork on this. If you’ve seen the artwork from Rotunda Brewing, its all courtesy of Steve Glick, and he is absolutely killing it. Fantastic artwork.

Beer: Beautiful Trauma
Brewery: Rotunda Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Pastry
ABV: 8.9%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Imperial stout conditioned on strawberry puree, cocao nibs, and milk sugar.

Rotunda has been making some beautiful beers and this is no exception. Its dark black like a stout pastry should be. Fully opaque. A nice foamy head that did go away pretty quickly, but had the interspersed bubbles. There was nice lacing on the glass as you drank (or gulped) this beauty down.

Smell is fantastic. Its pure pastry. You get wonderful notes of cocao, lactose, vanilla, it smells like pastries. It smells creamy, it smells sugary, it smells sweet. Then you get hit with the strawberry under it all, and it comes up pretty strong at you, stronger than in some other versions of this beer (from other breweries).

Tasting this, you almost want to finish it all right away… but have to pull yourself back so you don’t over-indulge and drain it too fast. This is like drinking a chocolate covered strawberry pastry. You get strong grain, strong chocolate, strong vanilla, strong sugar, strong strawberry, in an absolutely wonderful blend. Its heavy on your tongue but not cloying. Its super smooth and hides its 8.9% ABV rather well.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 2.14.20)

Moving on to the next Hershey beer….

Chocolate Cherry Stout by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing

As you can see I drained this one a bit too much before taking a picture of it. (Ran into my cousin while at Troegs, and quickly got to drinking and talking more than taking a picture of it.)

Beer: Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewing
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 7.8%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: This special Valentine’s release starts with big, vibrant, red Balaton cherries. They’re sweet. They’re tart. They’re juicy. Now wrap those thoughts in a warm, roasty chocolate stout and drizzle with vanilla. It was this cherry cordial daydream that set our brewers on this path, and lo and behold, dreams do come true.

As similar to all of the above, this was a dark beer. Fully opaque. Outside of the firkin from Boneshire Brew Works, this had the biggest and most resilient head to it. Foamy off-white (leaning towards brown) creamy head that retained for quite a while. Nice full looking body. Dark black but with a hint of brown to it.

Aroma on this one was far more cherry than any of the others so far. Most likely due to the usage of real fruits rather than purees. This had a sparkling cherry smell to it. You get good notes of chocolate and you get vanilla and sugary notes as well. The malts are a roasted sort that you pick up on as well, with almost a caramelized smell to them.

This one is tart but stout tart. You get a tartness from the cherries up front that then transitions into chocolate and its heavy. Some vanilla, some cream, some sugar, but the chocolate, kind of a bitter, cooking chocolate, is the most heaviest after the tartness of the cherries subsides. Its a very nice juxtaposition between the two that works very well into a blended stout here that makes its sum far more than its parts. This is re-drinkable easily, but not a full four pack by yourself in one sitting type. Two at most I’d say, but at its 7.8% ABV thats probably a good thing. This has a full thick body like a nice brickhouse (if you know what I mean, and if you’re having a good Valentine’s Day, hopefully you do) and it has a wonderful mouthfeel. Nothing cloying. The bitterness works nice with the creamyness. The tartness works great with the chocolate.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: (as of 8:30AM, 2.14.20, there isn’t enough of a global Untappd rating yet, when there is, I’ll edit this and add it in).

Now let’s go into Harrisburg, and start off with Lancaster Brewing Company.

Double Chocolate Covered Strawberry by Lancaster Brewing Company

Beer: Double Chocolate Covered Strawberry
Brewery: Lancaster Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double Milk
ABV: 5.75%
IBU: 29
Untappd Write-Up: Mixture of Double chocolate milk stout and strawberry wheat

Firstly, you won’t typically see this on the menu at Lancaster Brewing Company in Harrisburg (off of Eisenhower Boulevard). But if you ask for it, they’ll make it. Short story on it, is that its 50/50 Double Chocolate Stout and Strawberry Wheat. Then on top they drizzle strawberry sauce. (Thus the appearance in the picture.) Troegs used to do something similar with Mad Elf and their Chocolate Stout as well as Mad Elf and Dreamweaver (Chocolate Elf and Mad Dreams respectively). Cuvees or mixing beers has been a long practice with varying results.

Appearance for this is going to be odder than most. The beer itself is fifty percent Lancaster Brewing’s Strawberry Wheat and fifty percent Lancaster Brewing’s Double Chocolate Stout. It also has the drizzle of strawberry sauce on top. So it almost has the look of a large mixed drink rather than a beer. The chocolate stout overpowers the wheat beer and makes this a black, dark, stout looking beer. Its not quite fully black due to the wheat beer, but it is still fully opaque. The mixture makes a head that doesn’t retain once the drizzle eats through it.

Smell is all over the place too due to the mixture. You get strong strawberry, strong chocolate, strong milk, strong strawberry drizzle, strong wheat. You get a lot of strong aromas all hitting you at once. Their all attacking from all sides with strong fronts and your nose has no combat for it, no defenses, and no way to guide them correctly to their proper places. Its just all a bit much.

Taste is interesting. I’m a fan of their Double Chocolate Stout, but not a fan of their strawberry wheat (at all, just one of the beers I’ve never enjoyed). But this is actually a pretty good mixture of the two, and the stout does away with the flavors and reasons I’m not a fan of the strawberry wheat. The drizzle makes it super sweet and super strawberry, but the stout provides a nice dark backbone, a nice chocolate malty support structure for the strawberry to play on. Lancaster Brewing could probably make a good strawberry stout that would be better than this rather than having to use the subpar strawberry wheat to make the mixture.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 4.19 (as of 2.14.20)

And finally, our last Harrisburg, and our last beer on the list:

Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS

Beer: Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 9.5%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Our Russian Imperial Stout, LazaRIS, with chocolate and cherry added.
Firkin.

Firkin. Firkin. Firkin. Firkin. Firkin. Its just such a wonderful word. I don’t know (or remember) if the last time Boneshire produced this variant of LazaRIS if that was in a firkin as well; but this time it was.

I will admit, I love LazaRIS and there hasn’t been a variant of it yet that I haven’t loved either. I had this variant (Chocolate Cherry) first back in March 2017, and now again on February 13th, 2020.

Appearance is dark black like all of the above. Fully opaque, but with probably the biggest and most profound head of all of them. Could be because of the firkin or the beer, either way, it had a nice white brown foamy creamy head with interspersed bubbles and wonderful lacing on the glass as you drank this down. This is jet black, Razor Ramone hair black, Snoopy writing about a dark and stormy night black, black like the souls and hearts of some on Valentine’s Day. (Ooh, I like that last one, might have to remember to use that one more often!)

Aroma is heavy stout, heavy Russian Imperial Stout. Lots of deep dark malts. Lots of heavy grain, but it gets tempered with by the addition of the chocolate and cherry in this. You get strong cocao, strong chocolate, strong cherry that rounds out the usual smell of LazaRIS. This is just an extremely aromatic beer in all of its variants. Which I think is one of the biggest reasons I love this beer so much, I love smelling, inhaling, and savoring a beer before I even take that first sip, and LazaRIS is perfect for that.

Taste is immediate dark, immediate heavy, powerful malt, powerful dark grain, roasted, caramelized to a degree, and then you get the new additions, the chocolate, the cherry, the cocao, the heavy hitters come out firing on all cylinders and punching in every direction like the Tazmanian Devil. A whirling dervish of flavors assaults you suddenly, you get the chocolate, the cherry, the malt, the rich roasted notes, and they get you and hit you hard. There is so much to enjoy in this beer as you get all of these flavors in spades.

My Untappd Rating: ****.50
Global Untappd Rating: 4.08 (as of 2.14.20)

Ok, so lets break down the beers I reviewed here, and give some stats on them. First, my Untappd Ratings for all of them:

* Because I was Inverted (Chocolate Cherry) – ****
* Because I was Inverted (Chocolate Strawberry) – ****
* Beautiful Trauma – ****.25
* Chocolate Cherry Stout (Troegs) – ****
* Double Chocolate Covered Strawberry – ***.75
* Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS – ****.50

By style:
* Because I was Inverted (both variants) – Milkshake IPA
* Beautiful Trauma – Pastry Stout
* Chocolate Cherry Stout – Milk Sweet Stout
* Double Chocolate Strawberry – Double Milk Sweet Stout
* Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS – Russian Imperial Stout

ABV:
* Because I was Inverted (both variants) – 7.2%
* Beautiful Trauma – 8.9%
* Chocolate Cherry Stout – 7.8%
* Double Chocolate Strawberry – 5.75%
* Chocolate Cherry LazaRIS – 9.5%

So thats the breakdown of all of the Valentine’s Day beers in the Hershey / Harrisburg / Middletown area. Did I miss any? Let me know! Hopefully you’ll have as much fun finding these and trying them out as I did.

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

Brewery Event: Bottle Share (Tattered Flag)

BKline — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:31:53 +0000

Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA’s Bottle Share (February 8th, 2020).62+ Tickets were ‘sold’. Packed house down in the brewhouse of Tattered Flag. (Thats me in the red Pizza Boy shirt, and my friend D. Scott to my left.) (Photo Courtesy of Chad Balbi – Breweries in PA).

On February 8th, 2020, Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA co-hosted an event at the Tattered Flag Brewery in Middletown PA. It was a ticketed event and promoted across Tattered Flag’s social media and Breweries in PA’s social media (their Facebook page and their Facebook group). Tickets were free. Welcome to all that were to come out. According to Justin (brewer for Tattered Flag) 62 tickets were given out. Myself and my friend were two of those tickets, and so let me take you through the event.

Let’s back this up a bit from the time of the event. Starting with the event itself. It was first announced near the beginning of the year. Luckily it was a Saturday I was able to get off from work (a rarity in my case). And my friend D. Scott was also off and along for the idea. So, the premise of the event is simple – bring 2-3 (or more) beers. Everyone who comes to the event, does so, and once the event is underway you place your beers in the corresponding coolers (IPA, Sours, Wheats and Kolsches, Stouts), and then after everyone has grouped up, you start cracking beers and sampling and moving on.

The premise is simple and neat. Anyone whose ever done a beer / bottle / can share or swap at home with friends, its the same premise just on a much larger scale. (A 62+ person scale that is.)

Leading up to the event my friend stopped at Breski’s Beverage and picked up a four-pack of larger beers to bring with. He grabbed Thief Share (2016) by Strange Roots Experimental Ales, Blue Farm (2017) by Free Will Brewing Co, a German Chocolate Cake Stout from a brewery I’m drawing a blank on, and New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk (2019).

I had set up to do a beer trade with a guy from Eureka California. We were both set to send our packages on either January 31st, or February 1st. (I sent on 31st and showed proof.) He unfortunately, kept saying he would get to it… and get to it….. and he kept NOT getting to it…. and NOT getting to it. Finally, he promised he would expedite it next day to make up for its tardiness…. and I get a message from him “Sorry, it’d be 200$+ to expedite, so I sent it regular. Sorry it won’t be there in time.” …..Massive annoyance and disappointment on those fronts. So at last second, I had to figure out what I was bringing.

Unfortunately I had just ran through my cans from Tree House brought home by my friend D. Arndt. If I would have known…. I would have brought the Sap, Autumn, Julius, Haze, or Doppelganger I had. So I likewise stopped at Breski’s Beverage and picked up some beer for the event. I got Grimm Artisanal Ale’s I Still Love the Old World (2018), Lickinhole’s Virginia Black Bear, Clown Shoe’s Coffee Sombrero, and Trial by Wombat (mainly for the name and picture).

Saturday morning comes and I do my typical morning chores and errands and take Leela (my border collie) for a run. D. Scott is Ubering to Tattered Flag, and I’m going to meet him there. Planned to get there at 10:40, but ended up getting there closer to 10:50 with our tickets and my beer and meet him just inside the door. He shows me the beer he’s bringing and we go over our small sample size. At just a bit before 11AM, Justin comes through and tells everyone to follow him down into the brewhouse.

Since 2018 I’ve done some volunteer canning work with Tattered Flag – though recently they’ve stopped using volunteers now that their employee force is big enough to keep it all done in-house, so I’m quite familiar with their brewhouse and back of the brewery operations and location.

At the time, there’s not too many people yet. Maybe 15-20. Justin goes over the rules. (Big rule: don’t touch any valves. Little rule: throw your trash away. Big rule: DON’T TOUCH ANY VALVES. Little rule: put your beers in their appropriate tubs.) They had bussing tubs with a label for each: IPA, Sour / Saisons, Wheats / Kolsches, and Stouts. Bigger bottles were kept in the front or where room was for them.

The guys from Breweries in PA introduced themselves. And then we were off to the races (…or beers). Talked with the lady from Breweries in PA and she was saying how the Dayman can was the last “known in the wild” can to exist, due to them getting hit with a Cease and Desist from Disney. And we talked about Disney with recent news, and how past places have gotten hit with some C & D’s.

After sampling Dayman, and then Nightman, I saw a lovely looking Smoked Porter big bottle. Unfortunately I forget the name of it, and it appears I never checked it into Untappd (something I didn’t do too good of a job of). (Just like pictures, unfortunately I took no pictures of the event either, so I have no pictures of my own, and had to try and remember the beers I tried for Untappd later on.) So whoever brought the big bottle Smoked Porter, I’d love to know what it was. ….but also… oh boy that carbonation! As soon as I popped the cap on it, it just gushed. Foam everywhere, so much so that I had to set it down under the table over the grate, it just wouldn’t stop, for a good solid 2 minutes it kept going. (So yes, I apologize for being ‘that guy’, but….. it wasn’t my fault!)

A cache of the beers at the bottle / can share. Photo courtesy of Justin Hoak.

Me and D. Scott kinda hovered over the Stouts area. Talked to Justin and his girlfriend Aimee, about recent events with Tattered Flag, as well as Hibrewnation that took place, as well as the upcoming Prototype Brewery and Meadery and the Prototype Invitation Brewing Event.

The beer share at Tattered Flag. Photo courtesy of Justin Hoak.

After a few more samples, me and D. Scott headed back into the caverns a bit, where there was more space, as by now we were likely up to about 40+ people in attendance. And out by the brite tanks and fermenters it was getting pretty crowded. After a bit, the guys from Breweries in PA brought a few of the bussing trubs out into the side-room where we used to do the labeling for Tattered Flag’s canning run. They brought out a few beers of each type as well and so there was now a more mixed variety in the different areas.

While in the side-room, I branched out a bit from my stouts and sours and had a few IPAs. Bearded Iris’ Homestyle, Psycho Simcoe by Three 3’s, Ex Novo Brewing’s Spirits of the Dead, and Double Luv by East Branch Brewing. Hanging out, talking with D. Scott and some of our fellow drinkers in the area, we also cracked open the Black Tuesday (2017) by The Bruery, which was amazingly fantastic. While discussing the ridiculously high ABV on it (19.5%), one of the guys talked about the beer he brought from Nimble Hill, a Maple Stout in their Mysteria Series, that was a 25%. I’ve always been a huge fan of big ABV beers…. so my ears and eyes and nose, and mouth, all perked up. The kind gentleman went back and got it and brought it out. After a bit of a struggle getting the cork off of it, we each drew a good sample size of it (and I won’t lie and say I didn’t have two samples of it).

The description on Untappd for it reads:

MAPLE SYRUP STOUT
This super limited creation is an off shoot of Turbo Diesel.
But instead of using hops, we added a few gallons of maple syrup and a dash of molasses and fermented it to the limits.
The result is a thick dessert stout with a strong maple syrup and imperial stout finish, followed by hearty warming from the 25% abv. Served without carbonation for a smooth and velvety finish.

It was smooth, dry, but with an amazing maple syrup flavor. Tasted like drinking a maple syrup wine. It was pretty much fantastic. And the nice 25% ABV to it, certainly didn’t hurt. I would like to throw a shout out to Ryan Haraschak. Fantastic, gorgeous gem to bring to the bottle share! Kudos my man!

We also tried a gentleman’s RIS Homebrew that was wonderful as well. And somehow, quickly, we realized we were approaching the end of the time for the bottle share, so me and D. Scott went back by the fermenters to try some of the beers still over there.

While hanging out there, and chopping on some tortilla chips, the Harris Brewery guys came in. Got to talk to Harris guys for a long time about their upcoming brewery, black culture in brewing and craft beer, Allison Hill, the impact their hoping to make, the old Coke-Cola building / factory on the corner of 19th and Derry, the obstacles their having to overcome for their brewery, their GoFundMe vs. the Kickstarter, and much more. We also drank from their growler of their collaboration with The Vegetable Hunter which was fantastic. If you would like to support the Harris Family Brewery, and add to their GoFundMe you can do so here:

Harris Family Brewery Start-Up Go Fund Me

Shaun Harris posing at the end of the bottle share. Photo Courtesy of Harris Family Brewery.

As the time dwindled down, we quickly tried to sample a last few beers. There was an Intuition Ales that I tried with a large dragon on it (wax sealed originally, no idea on the name), as well as two Hegemony Anniversary Beers from St. Boniface. Also back to back Black IPAs; one from Pour Man’s Brewing – Black Market, and the other from Heavy Seas – Night Swell. Also tried the 2SP and WaWa coffee stout – Winter Reserve. As well as a last sampling of the Candy Hearts by New Trail Brewing.

As it wrapped up, they told us to take anything we wanted that was unopened. Seeing my Lickinghole Virginia Black Bear unopened I grabbed that, as well as an IPA from Mainstay Brewing and one of the bakeries from The Bruery. My buddy grabbed a couple and we put them in the six-pack holder and took them out to my car and then came back in to use our free beer and food discount.

Tattered Flag with the (free) ticket, being the gracious host was giving one free pour with the ticket as well as 10% off food. D. Scott got an order of loaded chips, and I got Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Strawberry). His free drink was either the Custardy Tropic Like Its Hot or the Custardy Black Crumble. We had also sampled these in cans during the bottle share.

My list of beers sampled (that I was able to record on Untappd) was:
* Nightman (Stable 12 Brewing Company)
* Schmoojee Strawberry Orange Banana (Imprint Beer Co)
* Bible Belt (2019) (Evil Twin Brewing)
* Frucht: Fruit Punch (The Bruery Terreux)
* Churro Sombrero (Clown Shoes)
* Autumn Friend (Forest & Main Brewing Company)
* Spirits of the Dead (Ex Novo Brewing)
* Psycho Simcoe (Three 3’s Brewing Co.)
* Black Tuesday (2017) (The Bruery)
* Maple Stout, Mysteria Series (Nimble Hill Brewing)
* Double Luv (East Branch Brewing)
* Kriek Marriage Parfait (2015) (Brouwerji Boon)
* Black Market (Pour Man’s Brewing Company
* Night Swell (Heavy Seas Beer)
* Pack & Brass Coffee IPA (Wallenpaupack Brewing Company)
* I Still Love the Old World (Grimm Artisanal Ales)
* Bourbon Barrel Aged Hegemony Anniver7ary Reserve (Blue Wax) (St. Boniface Craft Brewing Co.)
* Bourbon Barrel Aged Hegemony Anniver8ary Reserve (Blue Wax) (St. Boniface Craft Brewing Co.)
* Cold Pro (Union Craft Brewing)
* Winter Reserve Coffee Stout (2SP Brewing Company / WaWa)
* Candy Hearts (New Trail Brewing Co.)
* Homestyle (Bearded Iris)
* Custardy: Blackberry Crumble (Tattered Flag)
* Custardy: Tropic Like Its Hot (Tattered Flag)
* Thief Share (2016) (Strange Roots Experimental Ales)
* Blue Farm (2017) (Free Will Brewing Co.)
* Gingerbread Crunchee (Other Half Brewing Co.)
* Double Vice Coffee Porter (Grist House Craft Brewery)
* Chili Nelson Hazy Habenero (The Vegetable Hunter)
* Winter Wassailand (The Vegetable Hunter / Harris Family Brewing)
* Dayman (Stable 12 Brewing)

These are the ones I remembered / checked-in on Untappd anyway. There were so many more I didn’t get to try, some I definitely wanted to. I saw some Aslin cans, I believe 4th Anniversary Sours, that I missed out on, as well as a few Other Half’s and similar. In the comments – for those of you who went – I’d love to see what you brought, had, and what was your favorites.

This was a fantastic event. I’ve been to some friend / home beer bottle / can shares, and its always a blast. Passing around beers, sampling, and talking about beer and just hanging out with good people. The craft beer community is an exceptional and diverse community and its so great to talk to so many different people. Bottle shares are like mini-brewfests in a way, sampling a ton of different beers from different places / breweries that you most likely won’t get into contact with. Its not a bad way to kill a Saturday morning, thats for sure.

My favorites that I got to sample were: Black Tuesday (2017) by The Bruery and the Nimble Hill Maple Stout Mysteria (the 25%). D. Scott said his favorite was also the 25% Maple Stout as well as the Custardy: Blackberry Crumble.

It was great of Tattered Flag to put up some of their own beers in the share, a great gesture on their part. Also, humorous note, I think I did see a Blue Moon in one of the tubs, not 100% sure though, but I think I did. Kudos to whoever brought that. I did think it’d be funny to bring a single Coors Light bottle or Miller Lite High Life bottle and sneak it in, but didn’t know how it’d go over.

The Kill Shot from the Beer Share at Tattered Flag hosted by Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA. (Photo courtesy of: Chad Balbi)

As you can see from the kill shot, there was a ton of great beer brought in, and sampled and served. Breweries from all over Pennsylvania, as well as numerous other big breweries like Other Half, Bearded Iris, Aslin, Dogfish Head, Brewery of Omnegang, Grimm Artisanal Ales, as well as some homebrew, and some heavy PA hitters like Free Will, Tattered Flag, Strange Roots, Imprint Beer Co, Dancing Gnome, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing, and New Trail, and even upcoming brewery Harris Family. It was a wonderful and diverse selection, bottles, bombers, growlers, crowlers, cans, and even wine bottles.

Interested in reading some reviews of beers from some of these places, you can check out my beer blog: The Beer Thrillers. We’ve reviewed beers from Tattered Flag like: Should Have Put Him Into Custardy, Inexplicably Juicy, Pink Guava, Fatum Series: Member Berries, and more. New Trail’s Broken Heels. Broken Goblet’s This Is The Way, Burn Them All Away. Boneshire Brew Work’s The Hog, Dillston, Harrishire (with Harris Family), Sunburst, Good Walk Spoiled, Road Less Traveled, and more. Wolf Brewing collaboration with Tattered Flag – Imperial Churro and collaboration with Imprint – Wolf Prints. Rotunda Brewing’s sWheat Tarts: Mango Guyabano and Juicy Fruit. Troegs Independent Craft Brewing’s Fuzzy Nudge, Coco-Nator, and Scratch 400. You can check out our brewery visit and recap (and review) of Mellow Mink and their Scarlet Sunrise. Or our brewery reviews of Battlefield Brew Works and Cushwa Brewery. Or the recent, unfortunate news of the closings – Crystal Ball and Stoudt’s.

You can also read our other article on Breweries in PA: Touring the Breweries that Surround Harrisburg. (Also located here: Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg.)

We are currently listed on FeedSpot’s Top 100 Beer Blogs at #9, and have been there for a few weeks now (moved up from #11). (If you would like to write for us, you can contact us through our contact page. Or if you would like us to write for you.)

You can check us out on Facebook as well as Twitter. Or just search for us – Facebook – The Beer Thrillers – and on Twitter – @thebeerthriller.

The blog is ran by me – B. Kline, and mainly written by me, but other writers for the blog include J. Doncevic, AJ Brechbiel (of Default Brewing). We also have Let Us Drink Beer Blog do some contributions as a guest writer.

I also do podcasts with D. Scott and Esteban – So a Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar… where we discuss beer, pop culture, movies, TV shows, and much more. Always hilarious and always insightful, so make sure to check that out as well.

(Ok, that concludes the article for Breweries in PA. The rest from here on out, is just for the Beer Thrillers faithful and my blog only. Its also a little more personal and detailed than the above, so keep reading if you want to hear more.)

So as per usual with me, after the beer share event, my night didn’t end. It was about 3:30-4PM by the time we finished up at the Tattered Flag bar. Way too early to call it a day. Being in the area, we decided to check out the Lancaster Brewing spot off of Eisenhower Boulevard in Harrisburg. Neither me nor D. Scott had ever been there. And this checks off a “new brewery location” that I want to do each month. (January was Liquid Noise Brewing, so February will be Lancaster Brewing, and hopefully March – before they close up – will be Stoudt’s.) Its funny that neither of us have ever been here to this location. Its so close, and we’ve jumped and hit all of the Harrisburg breweries numerous times before.

While there we met up with friends D. Arndt, Youngblood, and Youngblood’s girlfriend. I did a flight, D. Scott got a draft of their eggnog, and I have no recollection of what the others got. My flight included:
* Jam Series #22 Mexican Style Lager
* Jam Series #21 Gingerbread Spiced Brown Ale
* Lancaster Lager
* Jam Series – Track #20 Eggnog Blond
* Jam Series – Track #19 Chili Smoked Baltic Porter
* Winter Warmer

Lancaster Brewing Company’s Spiced Gingerbread

All were pretty tasty. I enjoyed the Smoked Porter the most with the Spiced Gingerbread coming in second. Wasn’t a huge fan of the eggnog blond, but I’m not a fan of eggnog so kind of knew that going into it. Drew loved his, but then again, he’s a huge eggnog fan. So mileage may vary on that type of beer.

Lancaster Brewing Company’s Mexican Lager

Finally around 730-8PM or so we left and went to D. Arndt’s house, where we hung out with him and his fiance Kat and his dogs (the one of which is a Corgi named Indiana Bones). While there he had a can of Intemperance by Tree House which was absolutely delicious.

Intemperance by Tree House Brewing

Look for me to be adding the Intemperance to my series on Tree House. Also, most likely tonight Doppelganger will be going up to finish what was originally the series. But now, with the addition of Intemperance, the series will be going from 5 to 6, making it a nice easy and sensible six-pack. Makes sense for a beer blog (a beer blog making sense?!), I like it.

So, this was supposed to be written and was supposed to go up Sunday, the 9th. But… work was crazy, as it was a ticket promotion give-away and we were swamped there, and afterwards, I was supposed to go to D. Scott to watch the Oscar’s (and drink the remaining of the beer share beers), but… Haley forgot the crowler of Rotunda Brewing Company’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’ that I got her, so I had to swing back to work and then deliver it to her at Irgo’s Tavern. Where I then proceeded to stay and play pool with several co-workers until 1AM. So obviously… no posting that night.

Then Monday I did go over to D. Scott’s and we watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (finally got around to seeing it, fantastic movie, and Tarantino is still just as good as he always was). So once again, no blog posting Monday. But, last night I did start this, and sadly, only after editing, getting to finish it this morning. Sorry for the delay in things, but I rather edit and make sure I like the way blog looks, and that there’s no misspellings or grammar problems or anything (though I’m sure one or two will still sneak through). There’s two ways to write:

“You either write sober and edit drunk, or write drunk and edit sober.”

I also finally got that California beer mail Tuesday. Looks like some delicious brews to drink down and dive into and review for you all.

California beer mail.
California beer mail

So definitely expect to see some beer reviews come out of that 10-pack. There’s a lot of tasty ones (I am super looking forward to the Chocolate Donut porter.)

Blog news – I am going to be trying to get 2 blogs up a day for the next few days to catch up some of the beer reviews I’m behind on. Fingers crossed anyway. This blog post is also going up on Breweries in PA’s website, so you’ll be able to check it out there (albeit abbreviated). Once its live, I’ll come in and edit this to include it here.

Tomorrow (Thursday, the 13th), I have yet another funeral to go to. This time my Uncle (mother’s brother in law) passed away. (Last Thursday was a funeral for my Great Uncle, my father’s Uncle.) In the evening Funck’s in Palmyra is doing a tap takeover for New Trail. I might be stopping out for that (might not, depends on time). New Trail makes some great beers, so I’d love to check it out.

Some beer reviews that are due up are Doppelganger and Intemperance, New Heights I Cannot Tell a Lie, Boneshire Brew Work’s Anagnorsis, Revision’s Pete’s Stache, Rivertown’s Triple Belgian, and much more. So be on the lookout for a lot of beer reviews coming at you in the upcoming days.

Like I said earlier in the post (mainly for the Breweries in PA page), please check out our Facebook, Twitter, and other social medias, and please click follow, like, subscribe, both on those platforms and here on the blog itself. You can enter your e-mail at the bottom to get notifications immediately whenever a new blog post hits the internet, and we’d greatly appreciate it. We also love it when you use the ‘rating’ at the bottom so we know how we are performing, and click the LIKE down below as well. Also, even more importantly, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, feedback. So leave us a comment, or two, or three, or forty-four. I try to respond and reply as quickly as I’m able to. And if you ever want, you can contact us at our contact page and leave me a message.

Thanks everyone so much for reading, and hopefully you enjoyed it, and if you were at the event, hopefully you had as much of a blast as I did (and D. Scott). (Which speaking of, be on the lookout for some new podcasts on LOST Seasons 3 & 4, Fullmetal Alchemist, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and potentially / possibly / hopefully BoJack Horseman.)

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

Tattered Fag and Breweries in PA’s February 8th, 2020, Beer Share – the final kill shot.

End of the Year – 2019

BKline — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 14:46:39 +0000

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

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

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

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

Scratch 375 – CocoNator by Troegs Independent Craft Brewery

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canning Day at Tattered Flag

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

Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

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

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

Baby Genius by Bissell Brothers

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

A flight of beers from Troegs Brewery

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

An interior picture of the Battlefield Brew Works brewery.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Straub’s Brewery in St. Mary’s

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

The altar at Church Brew Works

Olde Bedford Brewing in Bedford PA

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

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

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

Cushwa Brewing in Maryland

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

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

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

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

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

Midwest Coast Brewing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My hop arbor in the rain