Brewhouse - The Beer Thrillers

Did you miss me as much as I missed you? (A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery)

AmyMWolfe — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 02:05:07 +0000

A look back in the brewhouse at Lindgren Craft Brewery

Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

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

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

A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our burger at Lindgren

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

A flight at Lindgren Craft Brewery.

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

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

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

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

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

Drink more Beer
- Amy

Pictures Amy Took Inside Lindgren Craft Brewery

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

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

End Notes

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

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

Amy’s Column Series

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

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What problems should be paid attention to when using beer equipment?

micetgroup — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 10:58:00 +0000

MICET Group

What problems should be paid attention to when using beer equipment?

In the process of beer brewing, we often encounter some problems when using beer equipment. For novice beer brewers, any problems may cause a lot of obstacles to our brewing process, so we should try to avoid these as much as possible. The problem, which requires us to continuously accumulate experience in the process of brewing beer, can easily solve these problems when we encounter these problems again, we will list them from the beginning of equipment purchase to the overall process of beer brewing for you. Some common questions, hope to help you.
Learn More About Micet Craft

How to buy suitable beer equipment?
How to brew good quality beer?
Don’t forget to sanitize beer equipment
Standardized operation of beer equipment

How to buy the right beer equipment?

There are too many beer brewing equipment and tools on the market now. When you choose to buy a beer equipment, it must be very difficult for you to choose. You need to choose beer equipment according to your brewing process and actual business conditions. If It is said that the water quality in your local area is very poor, and the tap water often contains some impurities and chlorine, then you first need to purify the water with a water treatment device. If you are a novice or want to save the time and cost of purchasing beer equipment, then you can Micet buys the most suitable beer equipment for you, and they will provide you with a customized turnkey solution according to your specific needs, which can save you time and effort to the greatest extent.

How to brew good quality beer?

The premise of brewing good-quality beer is that you must use fresh and high-quality raw materials. If you want good taste, you must start with strict requirements from the raw materials. No matter how good beer equipment is, it is not as good as fresh raw materials, even if you The equipment is very good, and if the raw materials are not fresh, you can’t make good quality beer. When choosing raw materials, you must choose carefully, and you must supervise and be responsible for the quality of raw materials from beginning to end.

Don’t forget to sanitize beer equipment!

If you don’t sanitize your equipment, it can have an immeasurable impact on the beer you produce, and if you buy a new set of beer equipment, you can start brewing beer with a simple cleaning and sanitizing process, but If you are using a set of old equipment, then you need to thoroughly clean and sanitize it, because the old equipment will definitely not be as clean as the new equipment, and also, while you are cleaning and sanitizing the beer equipment, it is necessary to Make sure your hands and other tools are sanitized. If you don’t sanitize your beer equipment, you can allow bacteria to grow during the brewing process, which can cause the brewed beer to smell bad and even make the person drinking it sick, so sanitizing is a very important step.

Standardized operation of beer equipment

MICET Group Brewing System – 1000L Small Batch System

Because beer equipment is a high-power machine, it may cause some danger if you are not careful during operation and use, so this requires every employee to go through professional learning before operating beer equipment independently, learn how to operate beer equipment and How to deal with problems when they occur equipment.

The above is the whole content of (what problems should be paid attention to when using beer equipment?), if you have not purchased beer brewing equipment, you can contact Micet, we can recommend the most suitable beer equipment for you according to your needs and customize it for you Customized design and manufacture of the beer brewing equipment you want. Micet is looking forward to working with you.

For More Information

For more information you can visit the MICET Group website:

Previous MICET Group – The Beer Thriller Advertisements

MICET Group: Fully Automatic Brewing System

This article was written as a paid advertisement by the MICET Group. Written by them and to be published on The Beer Thrillers. They have paid for this publication space.

MICET Group

Thanks For Reading

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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The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

MICET Group: Fully Automatic Brewing System

micetgroup — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 14:15:22 +0000

MICET Group: Innovation for Everyone

Fully Automatic Brewing System

Quick Links:

Why you need an automated brewing system?

There are more and more options for automated brewing systems on the market. MICET’s
range of Intelligent Design, ease of use and customizability will make brewing super fun and
efficient. You’ll love brewing with this high-quality and great-looking technique.As much as we
love brewing beer, but we also understand that not everyone is eager to uncover every detail of
the brewing process. The key is use automated systems to produce quality beer.
The less automated the system, the more you need to do yourself. This could be adding
grain, adding hops, putting the beer in a fermenter, or filling it in a keg or bottle. So automated
systems can reduce a lot of labor during the brewing process. A fully automated system will
basically do it all for you. You only need to press a few buttons.

Brewing system (Photo courtesy of MICET Group)

Does automatic brewing system cost high?

Many people believe that an automated brewing system will be a huge investment.
Actually the automation of micro breweries is very different from the automation of large
breweries. It does not require a large investment, because only the necessary automation
processes are automatically designed, not all. Due to the reasonable introduction of automation,
equipment with a high level of automation not only ensures the brewing fun of brewers, but also
free up a lot of time and energy. There are several automatic levels of brewhouse depending on
the size of brewery equipment for your options, including semi-automatic PLC control system
and fully automatic PLC control system with remote control.

What function does automated brewhouse can realize?

The main function will realize through pneumatic butterfly valve, regulating valve, temperature
sensors, flow sensors, liquid level sensors, and other measurement and control hardware, with
the software programming control program of Siemens PLC, can realize continuous and
automatic brewing.
Mash tun: Mashing temperature, multi-stage temperature control parameters, and mixing speed

can be pre-edited. According to the different requirements of different beer on the mashing
process, the brewing formula can be input, and the temperature control parameters can be
automatically loaded by clicking the formula.
Lauter tun: All lautering process parameters such as feeding, static, reflux, filtration, sparging,
water flow, etc. can be set in advance. The speed of the tiller and the height of the tiller can be
automatically controlled by the turbidity sensor.
Boiling: Set the boiling process parameters in advance, including the boiling start time and end
time, configure the hop filler to put the hops in advance, and automatically add the hops
according to the set time. MICET design with high advancement and stability, and can realize
continuous mashing production (one batch of wort every 3 hours).
Whirlpool, wort cooling and water control: Can set cooling parameters of wort, after complete
wort cooling, the wort enters the fermentation through the heat exchanger for automatic
temperature control, cold and hot water can realize automatic liquid level control and automatic
valve to add water.

What advantages does Micet Group fully automatic brewing system have?

1) Automation level can be selected
Each equipment is equipped with the reasonable collocation and process connection, and
reasonable automation (although the automation can be infinitely improved, it is recommended
that each customer choose the degree of automation according to their own conditions, such as
the most core and The important production process is fully automated, and the auxiliary labor
intensity is not high, and manual assistance is also a good choice).

2) Visualization of brewing recipes and automatic brewing procedures
This process can set brewing formula parameters, controls the feeding process, and will
automatically adjust the water temperature, water speed, etc., so as to better mix the material
and water; when the process is over, stop the relevant actuators, and there will be related
sensors and inverters to protect the process.

3) Segmented leaching brewing
Most brewers hope to achieve segmented leaching brewing, but for small equipment,
saccharification and filtration are mostly integrated. Due to the existence of rake knives, electric
heating pipes cannot be installed. Therefore, if you want to achieve staged brewing, steam
heating is the most commonly used method.

4) Save labor while maintaining stable beer quality
It can realize the production of any beer types and is easy to operate, as long as there are
formulas and process parameters, which solves the problem that high-end brewers are hard to
find, and also solves the problem of high labor costs in the production process.).

5) Easy for brewery expansion
With high scalability, the brewhouse equipment pipeline and control system constitute the core
of efficient and high-quality production, and the power system provides sufficient supply. In the
future, the production capacity can be expanded only by increasing the number of fermentation
tanks.

6) Off-site monitoring and remote access
With the site manager installed on your phone, no need for on-site monitoring during the
fermentation process, we can use the mobile phone to remotely monitor and understand the
progress of fermentation in real-time.
In this case, the brewer’s time is greatly liberated. When you are out, you can open your mobile
phone and check the real-time situation of your fermenters.

Here we mainly introduce the four-vessel brewhouse system, That is, mashing tank, lauter tun, kettle tun, whirlpool tank. Each processing unit has an independent pump/valve station with a complete pipeline inside, pneumatic butterfly valve, regulating valve, temperature Sensors, flow sensors, liquid level sensors, turbidity sensors and other measurement and control hardware, with the software programming control system of Siemens PLC, can realize continuous and automatic brewing.

1. Malt milling: For small systems, a pair of roller miller are mostly used, the outlet is directly connected to the material-water mixer, and the start-stop button of the miller is used as the program start signal, the temperature and flow rate of the water for mashing tank are set in advance, and the opening of the regulating valve and the speed of the hot water pump are automatically controlled by PLC.After mixing, the mixture is directly pumped by mash pump from the bottom of the mashing tank. After the milling process is completed,the system will automatically run the CIP flushing program when the miller is turned off.

Of course, for large-scale brewery equipment, it is recommended to use wet malt miller with grain case weighing.

2. Mashing tank: All steps can be edited in advance, such as preheating temperature, multi-stage temperature control parameters, stirring speed, opening and opening of steam valve during automatic operation, When the temperature rises, the stirring motor and the steam valve start at the same time. Stirring delay stops during heat preservation, and the liquid level is displayed. When the pumping mash process is about to end, the system will automatically add water add water to drain the remaining mash, it will stop the pump valve when the material is empty, and then automatically run the CIP program.

Finally, the interface prompts that the mashing process is completed, and the next batch of mash can be fed. You can edit the mashing formula according to the different requirements of different beer varieties on the mashing process, and click the formula according to your needs during production, the temperature control parameters can be automatically loaded.

3. Lauer tank: Set all process parameters such as water at the bottom of the tank, feeding, static, reflux, filtration, bad washing, and measurement in advance according to the process requirements.The lauter tank has been prepared with water works before the mashing tank is discharged, waiting for feed. All the water for paving and washing is automatically added through the flow setting, and the flow is adjusted according to the liquid level, and the filtration is completed in the shortest time. During this period, the rotating speed and height of the rake knife are automatically controlled by the turbidity sensor. After the filtration is over, the pump valve will be automatically closed and start discharging the grain , after that ,it’ll automatically run the CIP program.

4. The kettle tank: In the form of an internal heater, the wort can be heated evenly and form strong convection,Configure the deflector cap to form an umbrella-shaped spray surface to improve DMS volatilization. The boiling process parameters can be set in advance, including the start and end of the boiling, configure a hop filler, you can put hops in advance, and automatically add hops according to the set time. The boiling tank runs automatically according to the wort level, and automatically stops the pump valve and runs the CIP program after discharging.

5. Whirlpool tank and wort cooling: Set the parameters of feeding static time and wort pipeline, sterilization parameter setting, wort cooling parameter setting in advance, and association control with the boiling tank,set the feeding end time as the automatic start time, and 30 minutes before the end of the static time, the high temperature sterilization is automatically turned on. The program will automatically start high-temperature sterilization, starting from the wort cooling plate to the wort inlet pipeline of the fermentation tank, and returning to the hot water tank, then the wort goes through the cooling plate for automatic temperature control and enters the fermentation. During this period, the temperature and flow are automatically operated according to the pre-set parameters. Stop the pump valve and run the CIP program.

6. Brewing water tank and Hot water tank: The liquid level is displayed and controlled in real time, and the liquid level can be set to automatically control the valve to add water.

The temperature of the hot water tank has been maintained at 78-80 degrees Celsius, and the cycle time of the hot water automatic control pump can be set to make the temperature more uniform.The hot water pump and brewing water pump are automatically started while the mashing feed water and the lauter tank are washed and the bottom water is working.

7. CIP cabinet: The cleaning of hot water tanks, hot alkali tanks, acid tanks, all pots and tanks and the high temperature sterilization of the wort lines etc. are all configured and performed with the CIP station.

Control board (Photo courtesy of MICET Group)

The mashing system is equipped with a CIP distribution jumper, which controls each channel separately; the fermentation system is equipped with a pump and a circulation pipeline to avoid conflicts with other cleaning. All pump valves, temperature and liquid level in the CIP station operate automatically according to the program.

8. Cold water tank and ice water tank: Real-time display and control of liquid level. The cold water tank is used to cool the mashed wort, refrigerate the brewing water to 4°C, and after heat exchange with the wort, it reaches 80°C then into the hot water tank for feeding&scrubbing, the ice water tank is used for fermentation, the refrigerant is ethylene glycol, the temperature is usually maintained at -4 °C, and the ice water pump will be automatically started by the program when the wort cooling and fermentation cooling work.

9. Fermentation tank: The temperature of the fermentation tank is controlled in two stages. After the wort enters the tank, you can set a separate temperature curve for each tank. After setting, click to run, and the system will automatically control the temperature and pressure according to the set value.

Fermentation Tanks (Photo Courtesy of MICET Group)

When encountering key nodes, it will be reminded to sample or wait for confirmation to avoid quality problems. The compressed air, carbon dioxide, wine inlet pipe, wine outlet pipe, CIP supply and return of the fermentation tank can be set independently. After the setting is completed, a pipe row is formed, and use a jumper to connect with the fermentation tank. When each tank operates independently, it will not affect the work of other tanks.(Example: tank No. 1 is feeding wort, tank No. 2 is pressurizing wine with carbon dioxide, tank No. 3 is blowing with compressed air, tank No. 4 is cleaning CIP, etc., without interfering with each other.

Fully Automatic Brewing System (Photo courtesy of MICET Group)

Summary: The MICET design scheme is complete and perfect configuration, with high advancement and stability, and can realize continuous mashing production (one batch of wort every 3 hours).

For More Information

For more information you can visit the MICET Group website:

This article was written as a paid advertisement by the MICET Group. Written by them and to be published on The Beer Thrillers. They have paid for this publication space.

MICET Group

Thanks For Reading

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

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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.