Cushwa Brewery - The Beer Thrillers

Big 3 Day Weekend

BKline — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 13:00:00 +0000

Breweries and Events for the big 3 day weekend

Big Weekend

Got a big weekend lined up for us here at The Beer Thrillers. With the kingpin of the trip being the Cushwa 5 Year Anniversary Celebration.

Just about to head out as soon as my friend arrives. Today might be the biggest part of the trip, with the plan being:

Friday

Leave Home
Stop at the bank
Get gas at Sheetz

Then its time to hit the breweries:

Dogfish Head Brewery
Burley Oak Brewery
Tall Tales Brewery
Burnish Beer Co
Loakal Branch Brewery
RAR Brewing
Cult Classic Brewery
Street Car Brewing
City – State Brewery
Audacious Ale
True Respite Brewery
Harper’s Ferry Brewing
Antietam Brewery

And then end the day at our hotel. And then Saturday, the main event begins:

Saturday

Uber from Hotel to Historic Springfield Barn for the Cushwa Brewfest
Uber to Cushwa Brewery
Walk to Homaide Brewery
Uber back to Hotel

Sunday

Sunday will be a bit more of a peaceful day, as far as drinking goes. It will still be a fun and eventful day.

Leave Hotel
Antietam Battlefield
Harper’s Ferry
Harper’s Ferry Brewery (if we don’t get to it on Friday)
Abolitionist Ale Works
Charlestown Casino
Appalachian Trail C.O. Canal Towpath
Milkhouse Brewery
Fourscore Beer Co
Gettysburg
Home

We’ll see how it goes. Tomorrow morning before the brewfest, I’ll give a recap of how Friday (today) went. And then Sunday morning, I’ll give a recap of the brewfest. And then after Sunday some point, I’ll do a full article of our travels just like my previous travelogues. Be sure to check in for all of it!

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you can follow along with our wacky adventures, and hopefully we’ll get to most of the breweries on the list. (I always overbook the itineraries.)

Be sure to check in each day with the recaps!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, 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!

Cushwa Brewing Company 5th Anniversary Celebration

B. Kline — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 03:25:00 +0000

Cushwa Brewing Company 5 Year Anniversary Celebration

Five Days Away

We are five days away from the five year celebration. So its a perfect time to run it down and get hyped about it. Sadly, the VIP and the general admission tickets have been sold out (for quite some time), but for those of us able to go (myself and writer friend) it will certainly be an event not to be missed. The first brew fest of the year (for us anyway) and we can’t wait for it!

This one certainly looks like a doozy and one that will be remembered for quite some time.

Let’s take a look at the brewery’s Facebook photos as a gallery to get an idea:

What the Event Is

Cushwa 5 Year Celebration Event

Firstly, as you can see – the VIP and General Admission are both sold out. You might be able to find tickets second hand online, but be very cautious of scammers. Cushwa has posted on their photos page that they have caught some people selling fake or scammed up tickets.

The VIP session is 75$ and lasts from 12 – 5, (giving the attendee an extra hour), as well as a second glass and a specialty bottle. The bottle alone really makes the extra 25$ worth value right there, but add in the perks of an extra hour of drinking, plus a second glass, and its definitely worth it.

The general admission is from 1 – 5, comes with a commemorative taster glass (like most brewfests do), and allows unlimited sampling. For both sessions there is over 50 breweries, which we will get to in just a bit.

There is also DD (designated driver / aka ‘non drinking buddy’) access to the event as well for just 5$.

Who All is Invited

List of Participating Breweries

So, this is one hell of a list of breweries that is coming and serving up liquid gold for everyone. With many stand – outs.

The full list of breweries include:

Adroit Theory
Amani Brothers
Aslin Brewing
Barrel Culture
Bearded Iris
Black Flag Brewing
Bluejacket Brewing
Branch and Blade
Burnish Beer Co
Charles Towne Fermentory
Commonwealth Brewing
Crooked Crab
Crooked Run Fermentation
Dancing Gnome
Definitive Brewing
Deciduous Brewing
Dewey Beer Co
Divine Barrel
Ever Grain Brewing Co
Finback Brewing
Fourscore Beer Co
Good Word
Graft
Heavy Reel
Heist Brewing
Homaide Brewing
Imprint Beer Co
Inu Island
Kings
Mortallis
Mountains Walking
Ocelot Brewing
Odd by Nature
Oozlefinch
Other Half Brewing
Prototype Brewing
RAR Brewing
Resident Culture
Sapwood Cellars
Schilling
Sojourn
Southern Grist
Suffolk Punch
Thin Man Brewing
Triple Crossing
Troegs Independent Craft Brewing
Untold
Vitamin Sea
Wet City
Widowmaker
Beer Zombies
The Maryland Mob

Woooooooheeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Thats a line up! Some stand out favorites and interests are definitely Adroit Theory, Barrel Culture, Bearded Iris, Deciduous, Dewey Beer Co, Finback, Fourscore, Good Word, Mortallis, Ocelot, Oozlefinch, Other Half, RAR, Southern Grist, Triple Crossing, and Vitamin Sea.

But you certainly can’t go wrong with any from that list! Its a nice combination of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Pennsylvania breweries, as well as some other heavy hitters thrown into the mix.

Food

Food Vendors

The food options are:

Food For Thought
The Highroller Lobster Co.
Rad Pies

So there is some variety and enough food choices to be had for the four or five hour sessions. (If you see me veering for the lobster in a drunken haze, just kick me away so I don’t trigger my shellfish allergies. Thanks!)

Anything Else Fun?

DJ and Glassware Also Announced

There will also be a DJ on hand – DJ Bizzy, and just recently announced Thicc Bois Glass will also be on hand selling some dope hand blown glassware. They’ve worked with Tattered Flag and a few other breweries in the past to make some really fantastic glassware.

Pumped

Are you pumped? Are you going? I’m pumped. I have finally gotten my days changed at work – and now have off Friday and Saturday (rather than Thursday and Friday); only took me 10 years of working at the casino, to finally get up to having off a weekend day. I also put in a special request and got the Sunday off for travel home.

With the can release for Burley Oak the day before (Friday – Jan. 21st), we are looking to make this quite a trip. Coming down from the Hummelstown area to get to Burley Oak, and then make our way over towards Cushwa (a bit over three hours across Maryland, after driving three hours to Burley Oak), we will be stopping and hitting some fabulous breweries on the way. Then spending the night in the Williamsport area, before stopping by Antietam and maybe Monocacy Battlefields (again), and a few more breweries before making our way back home up into Pennsylvania.

Be sure to check out our travelogues and travel stories here on the blog for many of our wacky adventures through the Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia states that we’ve had the recent months. Also, be sure to check out the following Cushwa articles:

Thanks For Reading

Will you be attending? Know anyone who is? Thoughts on the brewfest or the line up of breweries? Let us know in the comments or on our various social media platforms! Can’t wait to hear from you!

(Also, be sure to stay tuned for a special ‘cold’ beer review tomorrow, and another Star Wars beer review on Wednesday, which will likewise be a ‘cold’ beer review.)

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds (Cushwa Brewing Company)

BKline — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 13:21:00 +0000

Peace Among Worlds by Cushwa Brewing Company

Happy Father’s Day

Well, let’s first get it right out of the way – Happy Father’s Day to everyone. To all the hard working, hard drinking, rooting, tooting, son of a gun’s….. or… well, you know…. just the dads. The everyday scmucks, the real slubs, the dads of the burbs. The men who work and the men who help. The men who just make it through each week somehow by the skin of their teeth.

No matter what – no matter how you cut it, thank you to all the dad’s out there. Because, let’s be honest, if it weren’t for them, in a biological speaking sense – we wouldn’t be here. Hopefully all the dads out there can sit back, relax today, watch a baseball game, or the US Open (the 121st US Open), have a beer (or two, or three), a cigar (if he so chooses), and some nice grilled steak or burgers.

…..Unlike me, who is spending the day working. Le. Sigh. x1000.

Anyway…. moving on….

Peace Among the Worlds

Can such a thing really happen? Can there be peace amongst the worlds? Can there be peace on our own world? Best we ask Rick and Morty, well, specifically Rick.

In the sixth episode of season two – “The Ricks Must Be Crazy” – Rick demonstrates that “flipping the bird” means “peace among worlds” to aliens. A basic synopsis of the episode can be described as such: “When Rick’s car breaks down, he and Morty go inside its battery. Morty discovers that Rick has created a miniature universe inside the battery.” (The Ricks Must Be Crazy – Rick and Morty Fandom – Wikipedia Page)

If you YouTube “Peace Among Worlds” you’ll see its Rick and Morty coming down into the cube to figure out why the battery is no longer working. Rick tells Morty to wait for the ramp to fully land, that the people love it, and then he tells Morty to flip all of the inhabitants off. Morty seems hesitant, but Rick tells him he explained it to the inhabitants as meaning “peace among worlds”.

Cushwa Brewing Company

You can read our brewery review of their original location (back on August 15th, 2019) here: Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing Company. You can also read about me and Ming’s hike at Catoctin Mountain and then visiting several area breweries including Cushwa Brewing at their new location, as well as Homaide Brewing which is located at the OLD Cushwa Brewing Company’s building.

They are located in Williamsport, Maryland. Close to the Antietam Battlefield, and not too far from Pennsylvania and only a hop skip and a throw from Central PA where we are located here at The Beer Thrillers.

Their new location is a lot bigger than their old facility (A LOT BIGGER, and a lot more impressive, better looking, and all around better). Not to say that the old place is horrible, or anything, just to show the scale of how they’ve grown. Homaide is making good use of their old place.

On Untappd they list Cushwa Brewing Company as a Micro Brewery from Williamsport MD. As of June 20th, 2021 they have 263 unique beers and a total of 112,000+ ratings. Their average rating is 4.11. Their Untappd description reads: Cushwa Brewing Co. is located along the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD. We are passionate in creating innovative beer offerings that we are proud for you to experience and share with friends. Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect.

I honestly cannot recommend them enough, having been to both brewery locations, as well as picking up several of their beers (be on the lookout for more beer reviews from them on the future here on The Beer Thrillers), I have loved every single one I’ve had from them. They are 100% a must-visit and must-try brewery.

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds

Ok, so finally, if this is what you’ve been waiting for, we’ve arrived at it – the actual beer review. So let’s finally get to it then!

Peace Among Worlds by Cushwa Brewing Company

Beer: Peace Among Worlds
Brewery: Cushwa Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Imperial Double / New England
ABV: 8%
IBU: 35
Untappd Write-Up: Peace Among Worlds, our collaboration with White Rabbit Gastropub in Frederick, MD was brewed to commemorate our one year anniversary. This hazy DIPA is loaded with Citra, Mosaic, Vic Secret, and Enigma hops.

For those unfamiliar with my beer reviews, you can see and read more of my beer reviews (as well as Josh’s and LetUsDrinkBeer’s) through the tag / category at the link here – Beer Reviews. Basically I break it down into three categories – aroma, appearance, and taste, and I discuss each of these categories. So, cracking open the beer and pouring it out, and of course, got to keep the cartoon vibe going, so using a Bob’s Burger’s glass. (Keeping it classy.)

As soon as you crack this, you get a great whiff and instant aroma of hop. Its bright and juicy smelling hops straight through. The Vic Secret and Mosaic hops really pop out give a very distinctive aroma. Enigma hops are a relatively newer hop breed and variety coming from Australia. There is so many exciting hop varieties that are new from Australia and New Zealand, that are all so perfect for New England style IPAs. The Enigma adds a slight nuance to this with its ‘red fruit’ aroma and taste.

Appearance is pretty much on par with 99.999999% of the New England IPAs and DIPAs and even TIPAs that you’ve seen. There’s not a whole ton of variation in the style for New England IPAs really. Which isn’t a bad thing, but doesn’t leave much to say about it. If you’ve seen three or four NE-IPAs, you’ve seen ’em all just about. (Though I have had some interesting ones, and some poorly done funky ones that just looked bad.) That seems to be the easier thing, is finding which NE-IPAs are BAD NE-IPAs by the way they look. This one, is certainly, not bad. By, any, stretch, of any usage of definition. This is a bright orange hazy glow, not fully opaque, but definitely not transparent either. Some sediment and haze, but nothing too bad, no crazy floating chunks that make it look disgusting. Pretty beer all around. Small foamy head.

But let’s take a moment to appreciate the taste of this bad boy. And hmmm, this is a delicious beer. This is a juicy New England (Double) IPA bomb. Full juice, full taste bud explosion here. Happy Father’s Day. Happy Rick and Morty Season Premier day. Happy beer day! This is certainly fruity, citrus, and hoppy. The Mosaic, Vic Secret, and Enigma hops really shine and you get their full flavor profile in this intense beer. The Citra hops round out these and give it just a powerful citrus hop flavor profile. This is very tropical and juicy from the mosaic hops, with just a bit of earthy undertones; from the Vic Secret you get a bit more Vic Secret provides some notes of pineapple, passionfruit, it also helps gives some pine notes to the Mosaic’s earthy undertones, lending a bit of a resinous taste. The Citra hops are obviously providing a more heavy citrus flavor to the beer, lending it notes of grapefruit, melon, lime, and this just boosts the overall juicy flavor of the beer. The enigma hops are interesting in this, as they give off notes of red fruit and berry, you get somewhat of a white raspberry or even grape like taste from it, a bit of a wine – like flavoring profile to go along with the fruity and citrus and tropical juice notes of the other hops. It all makes for a really wonderful and interesting balance. The mouth feel for this is really good too, nothing is watery, nothing is too thin, it just tastes like a beer, proportionate and with a wonderful consistency. Nothing cloying, nothing off flavored, no off flavors or aromas or anything wrong with it. This is a really well crafted beer, not surprising at all coming from Cushwa Brewing, as I’ve yet to have anything less than even average or subpar from them. They know how to create their beers, that’s for damn sure. If you happen to be in the Williamsport (Maryland) area, or just want to make the drive, or find their beers on the shelf; do yourself a favor and stop in or pick up the beer and try them out. You won’t be disappointed at all.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.12 (as of 6.20.21)

Thank you everyone for reading. Hope you all have a wonderful Father’s Day today, and I hope the Rick and Morty Season premier tonight lives up to the hype. (I have no doubt it will.) Love me some Rick and Morty. Such a fantastic show.

Leave your favorite Rick and Morty quotes in the comments section! Also, be sure to check out our other Pop Culture and Nerd Culture beer reviews below.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Star Wars: