Craft Beer Review - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Thu, 16 Oct 2025 22:41:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Craft Beer Review - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 Beer Review: Lustra (Dancing Gnome) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2025/01/16/beer-review-lustra-dancing-gnome/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-lustra-dancing-gnome Thu, 16 Jan 2025 23:35:08 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=16634 Beer Review: Lustra by Dancing Gnome

It is mid-winter in Pennsylvania, with frost clinging to nearly every rooftop and a biting wind that tempts you to retreat indoors. You linger at the bar, scanning the taps for something that whispers hope. And then you see it: a hazy pour from Dancing Gnome, pouring as if the sun tried to break through the clouds and got bottled. That beer is Lustra — do not let the modest ABV fool you; there is more substance here than meets the glass.

Lustra – a Pale Ale / Hazy / American Pale Ale, 5.8 % ABV by Dancing Gnome Brewing Company

I cracked open a can of Lustra on a cold February evening — the kind of night that begs for something comforting yet bright, the kind of beer that warms your chest without drowning you in heaviness.

It pours that soft, golden haze Dancing Gnome is known for — glowing like late-afternoon sunlight caught in mist. The head is a creamy white cap, modest but sturdy, clinging to the sides of the glass as it settles. It’s the kind of pour that makes you pause a moment before even taking a sip — quiet, inviting, alive.

Aroma: Citra and Amarillo hops step forward with notes of grapefruit zest, tangerine, and a whisper of pineapple. Beneath that, there’s a subtle malt sweetness — a trace of honeyed wheat and pale grain — just enough to soften the hop edge. It’s fragrant without being loud, balanced like a good conversation.

Taste: The first sip hits with gentle sweetness — a burst of tropical fruit, soft mango and melon, that quickly folds into a clean, citrus-forward bitterness. There’s a touch of resin, a memory of pine, but it’s smoothed by the malt backbone. The mouthfeel is plush and light, easy to drink yet textured enough to feel deliberate. This is a beer built on restraint — all intention, no excess.

Finish: Clean and crisp, with a lingering grapefruit pith bitterness that tempts you back for another sip. Nothing cloying, nothing overstated. Just a refreshing echo that hangs on the palate long enough to remind you why Dancing Gnome built their reputation on beers like this.

Overall Thoughts:
Lustra is a quiet standout — an understated pale ale that rewards those who slow down and listen to what it’s saying. It doesn’t try to be the biggest, hoppiest, or flashiest beer in the room. Instead, it’s the one you finish and immediately wish you had another of. There’s poetry in its simplicity — a lesson in how precision and balance can be more memorable than bravado.

Pairing Suggestion: Try it with grilled shrimp tacos, roasted carrot soup, or sharp cheddar on toasted bread. It’s a beer that elevates light, clean flavors — the kind that let it breathe.

Rating: 4.25 / 5 on Untappd — steady, confident, beautifully made. A beer that embodies why “drink local” still means something in Pennsylvania.

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server).

We also now have a SLACK channel – which acts as a hybrid chat room, message board, Reddit style; workspace and posting area for us. You can hang out with us there and chat about all kinds of things – not just beer, but “off topic” things like movies, TV, books, podcasts, hiking, sports, and more! Join us at: The Beer Thrillers on SLACK.

We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written. The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

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

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #5 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of May 2025.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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

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

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

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It’s Pumpkin Time! (Grandma SueAnn and Amy Review Zombies and Double Zombies are People Too and Braaaiins!) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/09/10/its-pumpkin-time-grandma-sueann-and-amy-review-zombies-and-double-zombies-are-people-too-and-braaaiins/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-pumpkin-time-grandma-sueann-and-amy-review-zombies-and-double-zombies-are-people-too-and-braaaiins Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:44:58 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15499  

It’s Pumpkin Time!

So…. a couple leaves have changed color on the tree in our front yard.  So…. it’s technically not too early, right?  I can talk about pumpkin spice now?  They were the first ones I saw in the store and I had to grab a couple for me and Grandma SueAnn to enjoy.   (See: A Beer Review by Grandma SueAnn [Beer Review: Braaaiins! by Spring House Brewing Company].)

We were shopping at the local Weiss and I saw it on an end-cap and I had to have it.  Braaaiins by Spring House Brewing Company.  I grabbed the 4pack with the approving nod from the boyfriend.  I could hardly wait long enough for them to chill.  Grandma SueAnn was in agreement; kicking our pumpkin beer drinking season off with a loved classic was the way to go. The first pumpkin beer of the year, near end of August, and I had to grab it!

Braaaiins! by Spring House Brewing

Once chilled this pumpkin ale is the perfect beer to kick off Autumn with.  It is described on Untapped as “our pumpkin ale is brewed with generous amounts of real pumpkin blended into the mash.  The subtle fresh pumpkin flavor is enhanced by the addition of a touch of traditional autumn spices and sweet dough, thus creating a beer with an orange amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, a bold malt center and a crisp finish.  We are proud to offer you a balanced and delectable fall treat.  Suitable for zombies.”  It has an 8.5% ABV so I isn’t anything to mess around with.  It has an overall rating on Untapped of 3.70.

Zombies are People Too by New Trail Brewing

On another occasion we swung into West Connection Beer Vault in Hummelstown (find West Connection Beer Vault on Facebook).  Amongst the mix of six we picked out were two from New Trail Brewing. (We also scored a fantastic Barleywine by 3 Floyds Brewing – Pillar of Beasts. See Ben’s beer review of that here: Beer Review: Pillar of Beasts by 3 Floyds Brewing.)

 

Zombies Are People Too and Double Zombies, two pumpkin beers from the mid – Central PA brewery up in Williamsport. They clock in at a 5.7%ABV and an 8.5% ABV respectively. My first instinct was to see if Grandma SueAnn could tell the difference between the two New Trail pumpkin beers. (Because who better to try out new pumpkin beers with than Grandma SueAnn?) Yes, the Double Zombies has a higher ABV but Double Zombies is also supposed to be packed with, according to Untapped “twice the strength, maple syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin spice.”  Grandma SueAnn thought she tasted just a bit more spice to Double Zombies but she happily helped me drink both pumpkin beers.

Overall though we enjoyed both of the New Trail pumpkin options. In the mid-state (Harrisburg area) you can find them at your different beer distributors and bottle shops like Breski’s Beverages, West Connection Beer Vault, Brass Rail, Bradford Village Beer and Soda, as well as at your grocery stores like Wegmans, Weiss, and Giant. You might even be able to find them in some gas stations like Rutters, WaWa, or Sheetz. So be on the lookout and the hunt!

Check out our Instagram post about the pumpkin beers: Pumpkin Beers on The Beer Thrillers @ Instagram. (And be sure to follow us on Instagram at: https://instagram.com/the_beer_thrillers).

Both are wonderful beers for this time of year and will definitely get you into that fall and pumpkin season feeling!

  • Drink more beer!
    • Amy

Double Zombies by New Trail Brewing

More Pumpkin Beer Reviews by Grandma SueAnn and Amy

Looking for more pumpkin beer reviews by Amy and Grandma SueAnn? Then check these out:

More New Trail Beer Reviews

Amy’s Column Series

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #5 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of August 2024.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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

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

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

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The Battle of the Breweries (2024) – Galaxy Conference: Round of 4 https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/03/25/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2024-galaxy-conference-round-of-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2024-galaxy-conference-round-of-4 Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:02:01 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=14665

The Battle of the Breweries – The Conference Round of 4

The Battle of the Breweries (2024) – Galaxy Conference: Round of 4

We are down to just sixteen (16) breweries left in the competition! Four (4) in each of the conferences! Each of the remaining breweries are just a few wins away from being crowned the 2024 Battle of the Breweries Champion! (All that’s left is the Conference Round of 4, the Conference Finals, and then the Finals Fatal Four – Way).

Voting Rules

You can vote once per day, for each conference. Each day you can visit each of the Conference Articles and scroll down to the voting block, and vote once for each brewery duel. Each day you will be able to come to the site to make your votes in the polls. It will be set-up by IPS, so it limits you to voting just once per day per vote. You can vote as many times as you want per round, but only once per day.

We encourage you to share on all of your various social media accounts the pages to help maximize the votes your favorite brewery (or breweries) will receive.

Voting for the Conference Round of Four ends at 11:59:59 PM EST on Sunday, March 31st, 2024.

VOTE HERE

 

Good luck to your favorite breweries in the tournament! Share and tell your friends to help your favorite breweries get more votes!

Schedule of Rounds

  • Preliminary Qualifiers: February 26th – February 29th
  • Round of 32: March 1st – March 10th
  • Round of 16: March 11th – March 17th
  • Round of 8: March 18th – March 24th
  • Round of 4: March 25th – March 31st
  • Conference Finals: April 1st – 7th
  • Finals Fatal Four-Way: April 8th – April 14th

Previous Pages

For all of this year’s – The Battle of the Breweries 2024 – pages, you can view them below:

The Battle of the Breweries (2024) is set up with four conferences of 32 (counting the “win and you’re in” brewery) for a total of 128 breweries in the main tournament (140 participating breweries in total). They will compete in single elimination rounds (Best of 32, Best of 16, Best of 8, Final Four, Finals) for each conference, before each conference will send their winner to the “Finals Fatal Four-Way” to determine the winner of this year’s Battle of the Breweries.

Breweries will be competing from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Arizona, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

You can see our previous topics about the tournament for this year here:

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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