Big things are brewing (and distilling) over at Broken Goblet Brewing in Bensalem! If you’re a local craft beer fan, you’ve probably already sipped a pint or two at this beloved spot, but now there’s a whole new reason to visit: The Mixing Room – a brand-new distillery and taproom.

Broken Goblet, in collaboration with the Mutual Respect Brewery Collective (a name that screams local camaraderie), has truly upped the ante. They’ve transformed a once-abandoned space into something special: a 6,000-square-foot hub that’s part distillery, part taproom, and soon-to-be kitchen. And yes, it’s right next door to the original brewery.

Broken Goblet Mixing Room (photo courtesy of Broken Goblet)

A Bit of Background: From Dormant to Delightful

The space originally had a different future in mind. It was meant to house Key Spirits and a pizza restaurant until the pandemic threw a wrench in those plans. The property sat empty for years until Broken Goblet stepped in with their vision. Now, thanks to their hard work, The Mixing Room is alive, thriving, and serving up something for everyone.

This new space is part of the growing Mutual Respect Brewery Collective, which includes:

• Broken Goblet Brewing
• Trauger Brewing
• Lucky Cat Brewing Company
• CaféDilla
• And a soon-to-be-revealed distilling brand (yes, the suspense is real!).

Inside The Mixing Room: Inviting and Intimate

Everything is made with Mutual Respect at Broken Goblet (photo courtesy of Broken Goblet)

So, what can you expect when you walk into The Mixing Room? Think cozy and chill vibes. The taproom offers a mix of seating options:

• Low tables for laid-back hangs
• High-tops for a group night out
• Lounge couches for maximum comfort

With seating for about 75 people and a bar that fits 10, the space is designed to feel personal and relaxing. Whether you want to enjoy a beer in peace or catch up with friends away from the usual buzz of the main venue, this is your spot. As co-owner Mike Sweeney puts it, “This was an answer to the questions, ‘Where do we go to get away from the noise?’ and ‘What if we just want to visit for a beer?’”

Beer, Spirits, and Seriously Good Cocktails

Craft beer lovers, don’t worry – you’re still covered. There are 16 taps pouring beers from all Mutual Respect brands. Grab a pint to stay, or pick up some cans and four-packs to go.

But here’s the exciting part: craft cocktails. While the distillery waits for its official Pennsylvania license, they’re serving drinks made with PA-based spirits. And to make those cocktails sing? Meet Anders, the new in-house mixologist with over a decade of experience working at top-notch speakeasies and whiskey lounges like Philly’s iconic Hop Sing Laundromat and The Local in New Jersey. Whether you’re a cocktail connoisseur or just looking to try something new, Anders has you covered.

Once the distillery gets rolling, expect clear spirits like vodka, gin, and white rum to kick things off. Down the road, they’re planning to dive into aged spirits, fun liqueurs, and maybe even some canned cocktails. If you’re into sipping locally-made spirits, keep your eyes on this space – big things are coming!

A New Taproom, But the Music Still Plays

If you’ve visited Broken Goblet before, you probably know their large music venue space. Here’s the deal:

• The original taproom is now officially the Music Room, a space for private events and live music shows.
• The Mixing Room is your go-to for a laid-back beer (or cocktail) experience.

It’s a win-win: grab a drink and relax in the new taproom, or head next door for live tunes when the mood strikes.

Hungry? CaféDilla Is Coming Soon

No taproom is complete without good food, and The Mixing Room is no exception. CaféDilla – one of the Mutual Respect Collective partners – is prepping to open their full kitchen this spring. For now, they’re serving up a limited menu, with more details to come as things heat up. Keep an eye out for updates because good beer + good cocktails + great food? That’s the trifecta.

The Verdict: Why You Should Visit The Mixing Room

Broken Goblet has always been a gem in the local craft beer scene, but The Mixing Room takes things to the next level. It’s intimate, creative, and brings together beer, spirits, and community all under one roof. Whether you’re stopping by for a fresh pint, exploring their cocktail menu, or just checking out what’s new, there’s something for everyone to love.

So, grab your friends, check out this new space, and support the folks at Broken Goblet and the Mutual Respect Brewery Collective. Cheers to great beer, excellent cocktails, and a little bit of local magic!

For More Information on Broken Goblet

The following comes via Untappd.

Broken Goblet is a brew pub in Bensalem Township, PA. They have 570 unique beers and over 52,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.78 (as of 2.29.24). Their Untappd description reads: “Broken Goblet Brewing is changing your perspective of how you experience craft beer. Summer 2014 – We show you that broken can be BEAUTIFUL.”

You can follow them at these social media platforms:

• Broken Goblet – Official Website
• Broken Goblet – Facebook
• Broken Goblet – Instagram
• Broken Goblet – Twitter
• Broken Goblet – Untappd

For More Articles on Broken Goblet Brewing

• Beer Review: This is the Way (Broken Goblet)
• Beer Review: They Burn Them All Away (Broken Goblet)

Right away, I blame Scarlet, I hear Cookie Monster yelling “Coooookie” This is where the visualization changes from Cookie Monster chowing down on some cookies to me destroying some Christmas Cookies.  You might have guessed it by this point, I also have a beer in hand.  So let’s figure out the best way to enjoy the holidays with cookies and Beer!

Christmas Cookies and Beer Styles

But let’s be honest you are either making the Christmas cookies or you are baking the Christmas cookies.  Let’s kick it off with The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie.  I’d grab a stout to wash down some Classics.  I don’t just mean that because it is stout season!  The sweetness from the chocolate chips will pair nicely with a full-bodied stout with incredibly rich and creamy flavor.

(See our beer review: Wookies and Cream by Tall Tales Brewing Company)

I’ll just go down the list of the classic Christmas cookies I remember over the years.  The next cookie I think of is any sort of sugar cookie!  My Grandma used to make a recipe of her own that was a very soft sugar cookie.  I think she actually called them sugar biscuits.  These need to be paired with a Belgium blonde.  My mouth is watering thinking about this combination again.  Honestly a sugar cookie could pair decent with a wide selection of brews but this will bring some flavors out that you didn’t notice before.

(We didn’t do any reviews of Belgian Blondes, but Josh did do a review of a Belgian Dubbel – so we present: B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle-Conditioned, 2017) – Cox Brewing Company (CBC)).

The next cookie I think of is the peanut butter blossom.  My Aunt used to make these every year.  She knew these were my favorite too.  There are a couple different ways we could go with this one.  We can get a little crazy and pair with any sort of fruited sour and it feels like a grown up PB&J. 

(Some beer reviews we suggest: Scarlet Sunrise – Blackberry and Blueberry (Mellow Mink Brewing), Kettle Sour Series (Raspberry) (Natchez Brewing Company), and Sour Blueberry (Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company))

I am the person that believes the best invention, besides beer, was the combination of peanut butter and chocolate.  Obviously why this cookie is my favorite but also try it with a chocolatey stout or porter and it brings out more of the chocolate flavors.

(Some chocolatey beer reviews we recommend: Grand Cacao (Troegs Independent Brewing), German Chocolate Cake (Wicked Weed Brewing), Chocolate Covered Pretzel (Blown Gasket) (Braxton Brewing Company), Chocolate Confidential (Sudwerk Brewing Co.), and of course – Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery).

I kind of feel bad for even writing about this one but, the red-headed stepchild of cookies, the oatmeal raisin.  I meant to grab a container of chocolate chip cookies at the bakery in the local grocery store but I accidently grabbed oatmeal raisin in my haste to get to Ben’s parent’s house for a picnic.  I’ll never forget the pure look of heart break on his brother in law’s face at the picnic when he cracked open the container and realized they indeed oatmeal raisin and not chocolate chip like I announced.  Ever since then it’s been a joke to make sure I get the right cookie.

An oatmeal raisin cookie needs the help of a Belgian quad.  The golden almost molasses like flavor of most Belgian quads will bring out the natural raisin flavor.  And it will pair nicely with the oatmeal flavor especially if it is an oatmeal raisin cookie has a bit more cinnamon flavor to it.

(A beer review to check out: They Burn Them All Away (Broken Goblet Brewing))
(Or for a Belgian Heavy / Belgian Dark: Mad Elf (Troegs Independent Brewing))

I am summing this up by making sure you know which beer to leave out for Santa with his cookies this year.  Ditch the milk.  Santa wants beer!

• Drink more Beer
• Amy

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:

• Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
• Happy Father’s Day
• What is Your Summer Time Go To Beer?
• Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles
• Baby’s First Ffej
• We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company
• Beer Review: Pocono Punch (Barley Creek Brewing Company)
• Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing
• Beer Review: Tropical Stout (Troegs Independent Brewing and Windy Bridges Brewing LLC)
• RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series
• Happy Birthday to Ben
• Brewery Review: Cold Spring Inn and Brewery
• Hummelstown Doesn’t Deserve Maritza
• Enchilada Stuffed Peppers and Sunshine Pilsner
• Master of Pumpkins, Cupcakes, Cookies, and Bacon Cheeseburgers
• A Beer Review by Grandma SueAnn (Beer Review: Braaaiins! by Spring House Brewing Company)
• Grandma SueAnn and More Beer: Beer Reviews of: Zoktoberfest (KCBC – Kings County Brewers Collective) and Devious Imperial Pumpkin (Fegley Brew Works)
• Oh Ever Grain: 7 Years, 7 Beers
• Pumpkin Beer Review with Grandma SueAnn – Abomination Brewing: Forbidden Pumpkin, Greater Good Brewing: Giant Pumpkin, and Pizza Boy Brewing: Sunny Side Up Double Coffee Pumpkin
• Grandma SueAnn Helps Review More Pumpkin Beers: 2 out of 3 Ain’t So Bad
• Halloween Candy and Beer Pairings
• Brewery Review: Otto’s Pub and Brewery
• Munching on some Thanksgiving leftovers?
• The Holidays Always Bring On Waves of Nostalgia For Me
• YAH Brew and Desserts Pairing
• Christmas Cookies and Beer Styles Pairing (Pairing Christmas Cookies with Beer)
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

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

Thank You For Reading

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

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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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 #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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I always enjoy getting to review (and obviously drink) beers from out of state, ones that I most likely wouldn’t come in contact with. Don’t get me wrong, I love drinking and reviewing local beers and getting them some publicity, and I also love traveling and visiting breweries (just yesterday I was in Wellsboro Pennsylvania, visited the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, and visited the restaurant and brewery – The Wellsboro House), but its also nice getting beers to review, from family, co-workers, and friends. (Hint…. hint…. for any friends, family, etc reading this…. )

A co-worker, Jam, was coming back from South Carolina, and he stopped at a bottle / can shop and grabbed a few beers for me and other co-workers. From Jam, I received a bottle of ‘Up The Creek Extreme Ale’, a can of Sidestepper (Charles Town Fermentary), a can of Pixels (Seminar Brewing), and a can of of a Red Ale / IPA by a collaboration with a radio station (the name eludes me and I left it in my friend’s fridge; but it had a tiger on it, thus why Jam got it for me due to me liking the Bengals). So this is the first of the South Carolina series of brews I’ll be reviewing. (I’ll be doing Sidestepper soon, because I just recently drank that; haven’t gotten to drink the others yet, will probably do the Pixels beer while streaming with D. Scott over at Knights of Nostalgia).

Quickly, before I go too much further, I want to throw a quick shout out to Josh; who is jumping back into the reviewing game (don’t call it a comeback son, he never left). He will have his first review since his Beer Review of Adroit Theory’s COLONIZATION back on November 11th, 2019. Stay tuned, I’m sure you won’t want to miss his newest beer review!

Also, in industry news, Howling Henry’s in Hummelstown just opened this week, as well as Rubber Soul, and Spigot Brewing in Ford City has announced they will be closing.

Now…. onto the review!

Beer: Up The Creek Extreme Ale
Brewery: Thomas Creek Brewery
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 12.5%
IBU: 143
Untappd Description: Up The Creek is a hoppy behemoth of a beer with its 12.5% ABV well hidden under heavy layers of malt. The hops come through powerfully in the mouth, with rich roasted malt, sweet caramel, and a burst of vinous fruit. The finish is malty sweet and fruity, while the hops dissipate. Use caution or you’ll be Up The Creek!

Ok…. so firstly, let me just say, this is the highest IBU we’ve reviewed here on the blog. Probably by a pretty far margin. The highest IBU I’ve ever had, according to the Untappd records of beers I drank is – Gyroscopes and Infrared by Broken Goblet. It was 174 IBU. After that it was the Mean Manalishi Double IPA by Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, clocking in 168 IBU, and in third place is Mango Bomb by Pizza Boy – clocking in at 162 IBU. Up The Creek Extreme Ale is number 7 on my list (according to Untappd), and if you count home brews (at a home brew event I had one that would be number 5 on my list; called Idiot Parade by McCarthy Brewing.)

IBU is a term for IPAs that means: “International Bitterness Units are a chemical/instrumental measurement of the number of bittering compounds, specifically isomerized and oxidized alpha acids, polyphenols, and a few other select bittering chemicals, that make your beer taste bitter. (Last Call for IBUs: Fact, Fiction and What They Mean in Your Beer – May 3, 2017). Overall, its a term that’s not being used as much in the industry anymore, and many brewers aren’t even bothering with testing it or listing it when listing their beers on platforms like Untappd or Beer Advocate. But its still a valuable tool and measurement when it is listed, and I still like to keep track of it, and include it when doing the beer reviews here. Its just not the be – all – end – all it used to be in terms of understanding IPAs (especially since New England IPAs seem to be more mainstream now, actually, being made more than regular old school West Coast style IPAs).

This is an old fashioned high octane ‘pushing the envelope’ West Coast style IPA. Appearance and look for this is on the malty end of IPAs (West Coast IPAs). It has a brown / amber hue, slightly transparent, but mostly opaque. Malt colored and malt looking like a malt bomb through and through. Caramel colored. It has a very rich, frothy, foamy head to it, thick, creamy looking with lots of bubbles.

Aroma is caramel, sweet roasted malt, and then pungent face-punching, nose walloping, hop explosion (can’t even call it aroma, its about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the gonads). You get the idea that this is going to be bitter just by the hop nose to it, and the malt sweetness does nothing to cover it past that initial whiff of the malt.

This doesn’t quite live up to the description provided by Untappd. The Untappd description gives you the impression there’s a bit of hype to this, that there’s more complexity to this than there really is. It starts off with the barest of traces of sweet, or caramel, malt. And then takes a very heavy swan dive off the cliff into a sea of hops. A sea of bitterness, of super hop flavor, super hop bitterness, super hop everything. Overpoweringly so. Too much so. A blend and cornucopia of hops, that doesn’t let you really even distinguish and unique hop flavors or notes. Its just straight hop bitterness in such an overwhelming display of raw power and hop (bitterness) that it doesn’t leave you tasting much of anything else. The malt taste is so minuscule and minimal you don’t taste any of it as soon as you get your first taste of the hops. Unlike the description, the hops don’t really ‘dissipate’, they stay there, punching you like a… like a… like a hop drinking punching bag…. yea… like that! There is definitely no dissipation here. I also don’t really get any ‘fruity’ ending to this. Maybe subtle stone fruit notes… but I think its so awash from the hop bitterness that its too hard to tell, and its too hard to differentiate between hop notes and fruit (stone or otherwise) notes. I think its all just a blend, and whatever notes are supposed to be in there, are so overpowered by the hop bitterness, that its too impossible to tell or to be able to pull them out and take note of them or actually savor them. Now… all of this is to say its not a bad beer; its just not… a great beer. And particularly not my style as much anymore. I do like West Coast style IPAs, and the New England IPA craze hasn’t diminished that; its just… this is too much. Too bitter, too hoppy, not enough actual flavor to it, and too hard to differentiate and tell the various hop notes apart from each other. I’m sure theres lots of ‘ultra’ or ‘uber’ hop heads or hop nerds or beer nerds out there who will love this, and all the better for it and for them, this just isn’t particularly my favorite or something I would outright pursue again.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.60 (as of 10.10.20)

Be sure to check out some of our recent beer reviews:

• Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Unicorns Stomping Spotted Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Company)
• Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing)
• Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)

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

Peace, cheers, and prost!

-B. Kline

What a better time to review this than after the release of The Mandalorian season two trailer. ….What…. you haven’t seen it yet? How can you be reading this if you haven’t seen the trailer for the second season of Mandalorian yet? Go here now… quickly! And then come back and check out this review. I mean, seriously, read my review… but also seriously… check that trailer out and tell me you aren’t hyped and pumped for season two. The Mandalorian Season Two Trailer.

This is my second Mandalorian themed beer review. Certainly not going to be my last I’m sure given the popularity of the show, and how craft breweries love using pop cultural references for can labels and beer names. You can read my review for This is The Way by Broken Goblet here. As many readers of the blog will have taken note by now, I am a big Star Wars fan, so any Star Wars themed beers I can find, I try my best to get my hands on them. Sometimes this is good… the beers are good …. sometimes this is bad… and the beers were bad and they used the name / label / reference as a means to sell their otherwise less than stellar beer. But thats a risk you have to take when trying beers by beer name / label rather than brewing company recognition or reviews or whatever. Its a risk I know going in and usually willing to take.

You can check out a few my other Star Wars (and one Space Balls) related beer reviews:

• May The Fourth Be With You
• This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For
• Moon of Vega

I was able to acquire this as a crowler in a trade. (Thats the only way RAR released this beer, was in crowler form, unlike their other Out of Order series of beers which they’ve done in 4pks – to the best of my knowledge). The second hand market on this beer was getting a bit ridiculous (had a guy offer to sell it to me for 48$ plus I pay the shipping for him to send it from VA to PA), so I was happy to find a decent trader on it.

Time to break down this crazy looking beer.

Beer: Out of Order: Blue Milk
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Made in collaboration with Brad at Cold Stream Studios and Main Street Gallery, “Blue Milk” is made with milk from a Bantha, but also tastes like a blue raspberry float.

At least it’s from a Bantha and not that creature Luke drank from in The Last Jedi…

Apparently its called a Thala… and Luke finds it delicious….

Personally, I’d stick with the blue milk he had in A New Hope….

OR…. better yet…. I’d just try this beer here from RAR Brewing…. (Ahh…. such a good segue huh?)

Let’s start with the appearance… this is a beautiful light creamy looking blue. Like a hazy cloudy sunny day blue. Or if you had fruit loops or some other fruity sugary cereal and ate all the cereal, this is what your milk would look like afterwards. It has a creamy, almost like melted ice cream look and texture to it.

Aroma is interesting, it has a vanilla heavy smell, but you get a raspberry and berry heavy nose too. Kind of has the smell of melted soft serve ice cream that used the raspberry flavoring.

The texture, consistency, and overall look follows suit. It has the texture, a light grittyness, but still overall smooth of a drink still, of melted ice cream. Everything about this just has the appearance of melted ice cream, which I think is the overall attempt of it. Its like many of the sour fruited slushee like beers, but a bit smoother, more silkier, but still has some of that gritty texture to it. This has the taste of those yogurt drops, I remember my daughters loved them when they were babies, their small, almost Hershey kiss shaped drops of yogurt, smooth, fruited, and easy to digest for babies. This is similar in flavor to a raspberry one of those. If you had a berry, fruity bowl of raspberry (primarily raspberry) fruited flavored cereal, this is the milk from after you ate the cereal. This isn’t quite as powerful raspberry, its subdued, possibly the result of being “blue raspberry” versus whatever regular raspberries are called I guess. Not quite sure what the differences are between the two (if there is such a thing). This reminds me of sitting down to watch Saturday morning cartoons and draining the bowl of milk afterwards (though for me it was that bad lactaid free milk). Memberries and nostalgia galore here with this beer! I do like this beer overall. I think some might be put off by the color, the texture, even possibly the scent, and appearance, but overall I like it, and I enjoyed it. I think 48$+ is ridiculous for it, and the second hand market on this is driven by the label and logo (which I have noticed now, that some crowlers are coming without the label due to them running out). I think its worth the attempt to find and try if you are able to, especially if you are able to cheaply, but I wouldn’t go crazy searching for it at some of those second market prices.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.37 (as of 9.16.20).

I have had a few other Out of Order (OOO or OoO or OO) variants from RAR Brewing. I like the series and I do like RAR Brewing overall. I previously here for the blog reviewed Jon Voight’s Car, make sure to check that out.

As always please like, subscribe, follow, and share. Love hearing from you guys the readers in the comments section as well. So be sure to let me know what your thoughts are on the beer, the label, the brewery, Star Wars in general, or anything else on your mind’s.

Thanks for reading and cheers!

-B. Kline

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!)

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Version 2.0 of AuZealand hit the taps about a week ago, and just like its predecessor, has quickly become a fan favorite at Boneshire. For good reason too, this is a delicious, smooth, lovely bordering on New England style IPA.

AuZealand, the original, now listed as AuZealand 1.0 was very well received. The original hewed much closer to a Western (regular / typical / original) Coast (or West Coast) Style IPA. The new AuZealand is much closer to a New England Style IPA.

There’s a few other differences between the two recipes. The hops involved are different. Both use Pacific hops, but just different ones. AuZealand 1.0 uses New Zealand Pacific Gem and Australian Galaxy Hops. AuZealand 2.0 uses New Zealand Wai-iti and Australian Summer Hops. AuZealand 2.0 also has lactose, whereas 1.0 does not (which gives it the near-NE style quality, over its predecessor). The ABV has also dropped a bit, where AuZealand 1.0 was a 7.1% the second version is a 6.3%. Neither has an IBU listing.

It has been a little while since I’ve had the original AuZealand, June 18th 2018 to be exact. So it would be neat in the future maybe to see both versions on tap and get to try a side-by-side to see which I ultimately like better. I do recall liking the original very much and gave it a solid ****.50 on Untappd. It currently has a global 3.81 as of 9.23.19 (but, as I look down at some recent check-ins for AuZealand 1.0, they are clearly meant to be AuZealand 2.0, and people are just checking in the wrong beer, so take this all for what its worth.)

Time to break down AuZealand 2.0 and discuss this delicious brew.

Beer: AuZealand (2.0)
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: No IBU Listed
Untappd Write-Up: IPA brewed with New Zealand Wai-iti and Australian Summer Hops. We also added lactose to this batch.

So, this was the second beer I had when I was supposed to be out running errands Friday. Needless to say the errands got pushed back til after the girls got out of school, because after the Belgian Quad – They Burn Them All Away (which is 13%) and then this, I needed to take a break before getting them.

This was certainly a nice switch going from the 13% dark and heavy Belgian Quad. This was a nice, smooth, easy drinking lactose laced 6.3% IPA. Made for a very nice transition and palate changer.

While me, D.Scott and Shawn (bartender and former owner of Nomad BBQ) discussed politics, sports, BBQ, the casino business, everyday life, beer, and just about everything else, we sat and we drank, (and didn’t know things… thank god for Google), but ultimately, we drank and we talked.

Starting off with the appearance, this has a nice NE-IPA looking orange hue. Not quite pure orange juice look, but definitely more on the NE-IPA spectrum than a West Coast IPA (WC-IPA I guess?) would look. A glowy orange straw color. There was a nice foamed head to it that while not large was pillowy, soft, with large and small bubbles.

Moving on to aroma and it is a lovely smell as soon as its sat in front of you. Hop forward you can smell the distinct New Zealand / Pacific hops. The New Zealand / Australian (and even South African) hops just have a very distinct smell. Not as familiar with the Australian Summer Hops and the New Zealand Wai-iti hops as I am some other Pacific hops, but they definitely have a distinct smell and it is lovely. I am much more familiar with the Galaxy hops and others used in the previous batch. For some information on these new hop varieties, you can check them here: Australian Summer Hops and Wai-iti Hops. Both links direct you to hopslist (a site that gives reviews, and information about all of the various varieties of hops). There is a very heavy peach, passionfruit, a citrusy backbone to these hops in the new AuZealand. Looking it up, this comes primarily from the Summer Hops which I think dominate over the Wai-iti hops (or at least to my nose they do). It works well with the style and definitely with the lactose. Giving it a smooth look, a smooth clear peach and fruit heavy aroma, and a smooth and crisp taste.

The flavor is exactly what you are hoping for, and exactly what its appearance and aroma dictates that it should be. Its a clean, smooth, juicy IPA. Its delicious, its clean, its an entirely fun beer to drink. There is a wide range of flavors and notes you get from the New Zealand / Australian hops. Its fruity and possibly one could describe it as ‘milkshake – esque’ but not really. Its got some qualities of that with the peach and passionfruit notes taking front and center stage, and with the lactose making it smooth and easy it gives it kind of a creamy quality that goes with some milkshake IPAs but this isn’t that heavy of it and doesn’t fully lend to that. I have to assume the lactose is in a small dosage here (in the recipe) and it works for this, making it smooth, adding to the peach and passionfruit and not detracting from the beer at all.

All in all, its just a wonderful, tasty, delicious IPA that I would highly recommend anyone looking for a nice, clean, smooth, IPA to sit and enjoy. Could easily drink one or a four pack of these beauties.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.91 (as of 9.23.19)

I got to go to the Lititz Brewfest yesterday (Sunday, September 22nd) so look for a review on here (and most likely Breweries in PA as well). That should be done sometime this week. Also, I am most likely stopping at Ever Grain tomorrow after work, as I need to pick up that new pastry stout for a girl at work, and will probably do a flight while there (can’t NOT do a flight or at least one beer, at a brewery whenever I stop). So look for that review then either tomorrow night or the next day.

Keep drinking and keep commenting people, always love to hear from you all!

-B. Kline