I went to another Brewfest and didn’t have a panic attack. Two years later and it’s still a major win. A crowded event is always a stressor, even just a crowded restaurant can send me into a tailspin. Coming back to the Cushwa Brewing Co for the 7th Anny Brewfest celebration I was reminded of the 5th anniversary two years ago. (Brewfests with Anxiety)
Cushwa Brewfest Glassware
The 7th Anny was held at the Cushwa Brewing Co. tasting room shared with Rad pies. It was a congested area and bumping into other Brewfest goers was inevitable. I think by the end we all were done apologizing to each other for it.
It was a decent weather day for a Saturday in January. I was so glad we could take advantage of the picnic benches outside of the tasting room. For some reason I had an idea in my head that I needed to feel as carefree as I did two years ago; that I had to absolutely not feel any anxiety about entering a crowded event space. I am not sure why we build these unfair expectations in our minds sometimes but it’s a silly waste of energy.
Also it’s been a crazy two years since the last Cushwa Brewfest: I got a new job, I moved in with my boyfriend and we had a baby together. I’ve had a rough time adjusting to motherhood in my forties and I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have him.
The beers at the brewfest were absolutely wonderful. We loved the RAR offerings, the Crooked Crab barrel aged beers were fantastic, Fidens was a good TIPA, and there were so many different options and different styles. It was nice to see that it wasn’t just “here’s an IPA” “here’s another IPA” “and oh look, another IPA”, there were lots of varieties and different styles, and from breweries from all over which was a nice change of pace too.
Ben Taking Over
His and Hers Cushwa Glassware
Amy has been working on this column piece since… pretty much since we got back from Cushwa and Williamsport, MD. After the brewfest we did a small share with friends at the hotel, just like we had two years ago, and the day after we hit a few breweries on the way back home (we hit Interchange Brewing, Amani Brewing, Thick n Thin Brewing, Upper Stem Brewing, and Fourscore Beer). She asked me to help finish our the column for her since she’s been struggling with it a bit. Its certainly not easy doing weekly columns, and especially about one with such a serious and delicate issue – and even moreso because of how close it hits to the bone on this one.
This is a serious matter, and one that is definitely not to be taken lightly or a joke. Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc are all big deep issues, and something many, many, many, many, many people face. Most without having someone to talk to about it. Most without having a chance to discuss their very serious issues and thoughts with someone.
Thank you to Amy for talking about her issues, and her fight against anxiety. Its great to see her being able to step out of that, to overcome it, and get to go have fun at events like this. Her Brewfests with Anxiety post is perfectly worded and she does an absolutely amazing job of discussing it.
The Overnight Walk
Dealing with mental illness is NOT easy either by living with it yourself or supporting a loved one living with mental illness. This summer I will be walking 16 miles overnight in Boston in the out of the darkness walk. This walk is very important and supports the American Foundation for Suicide Prevent in Funding Research for Suicide Prevention, Create and Distribute Education Programs, Advocate for Public Policy and Support Those Affected by Suicide. Please consider donating here: https://www.theovernight.org/participant/45186
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:
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.
Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, 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!
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.)
After a one year hiatus – the Cushwa Brewing Company Anniversary Beer Fest is back. Two years ago in 2022 they had their 5th Anniversary Beer Fest; and now in January 2024 – its back with their 7th Anniversary Celebration.
Ready to join us in celebrating our 7th Anniversary?
Believe it or not, we’re turning lucky number , and we can’t wait to blow out the candles with you on January 27th! We’ve invited an incredible lineup of over 50+ of our best beer buds to pour their favorites just for you. And let’s talk about the food – @radpiesmd will be serving up championship Detroits all day, while @eatfiftyfifty’s food truck will be smashing out their signature patties. To keep the vibe alive, @dj_bizzy will be spinning throughout the fest, join us in Williamsport, MD for a day you won’t want to miss.
There ain’t no party like a Cushwa party, so mark your calendars now and snag your tickets before we sell out!
The original Facebook announcement by Cushwa shows just how much they love their brewfests:
Everyone knows you can’t have a 7th Anniversary Beer Fest without amazing food and music. Rad Pies Rad Pies will be serving up championship Detroits all day, while Fifty Fifty food truck Fifty Fifty will be smashing out their signature patties. To keep the vibe alive, DJ Bizzy will be spinning throughout the fest.
Swipe left to witness our stellar brewery lineup that’s expanding by the day – more surprises brewing soon! Secure your tickets and join us
to celebrate some of the best beer from across the country on Saturday, January 27th from 12-4pm at our Williamsport taproom location! Ticket purchase includes 7th anniversary taster glass and unlimited sampling.
General Admission tickets available through the direct link below or our Linktree in the bio. Designated Drivers, join us for free—no ticket needed!
Cushwa 7th Anniversary Brewfest – List of Featured Breweries
This is one heck of a list of breweries. You have some of the absolute best of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Washington D.C., and even further – some coming from California, Tennessee, Florida, etc.
This is an absolute star studded lineup, and we can’t wait. Amy and I will be going. Looking to meet up with a lot of the Central PA Whalerz and hopefully doing a beer share afterwards as well. (Because… why not do a beer share after a mammoth four hour brewfest?)
Unlike the 5th Anniversary Event where Amy and I took the Friday off, and made a huge brewery trip out of it, this year, we’re just going to be going down Saturday morning, hitting up the brewfest, spending the night, and then hitting a few breweries on the way home Sunday. Still a lot of fun, but possibly a little bit more laid back. (Possibly.)
Tickets
Tickets… tickets… tickets here! Did you get your tickets yet? What? You didn’t? Why not! Get them right here:
The following comes from Untappd. Cushwa Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Williamsport, Maryland. They have 465 unique beers, and over 231,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.07 (as of 12.26.23.) Their Untappd description reads: Based in Williamsport, MD just minutes away from the historic and scenic C&O Canal used by many for cycling, running, walking and other recreational activities. Our large modern taproom offers plenty of seating and fun while you sip on beer offerings with friends. Hungry? We have partnered with Rad Pies who offer brick-oven Neapolitan style pizza and much more! Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect.
You can follow them on social media at the following pages:
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.
Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, 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!
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.)
Cushwa Brewing Company is now hiring for their new location in Columbia, Maryland for this summer.
Cushwa Brewing is Expanding
It would seem that Cushwa Brewing Company is expanding into Columbia Maryland. At 7:30 AM this morning on Facebook they posted a “now hiring” post (screenshot above) stating that the openings were for their Columbia location, opening “later this summer”.
The announcement reads:
Come work for our team at our Columbia, MD taproom location, opening later this summer.
We are hiring for “Full & Part-Time Bartenders.”
If you are interested, review the job description at:
To my understanding, this is the first they’ve announced a Columbia Maryland taproom or expansion into Columbia; but we are totally on board with it.
The more Cushwa, the better.
Now Hiring
So with that said, their post does state that they are hiring. They are looking for Full and Part Time bartenders. So if you are in the Columbia Maryland area (or willing to move I suppose) this is a great opportunity to jump on board with an amazing brewery and company.
The following comes from Untappd. Cushwa Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Williamsport, Maryland. They have 428 unique beers, and over 213,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.08 (as of 6.13.23.) Their Untappd description reads: Based in Williamsport, MD just minutes away from the historic and scenic C&O Canal used by many for cycling, running, walking and other recreational activities. Our large modern taproom offers plenty of seating and fun while you sip on beer offerings with friends. Hungry? We have partnered with Rad Pies who offer brick-oven Neapolitan style pizza and much more! Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect.
You can follow them on social media at the following pages:
Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:
If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!
Cheers.
-B. Kline
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.
Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, 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!
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.
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:
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
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!
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.
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This is the poll for the FACEs Conference – The Rock Division – Round One. You can vote once per day, and you can vote once per poll (there is a poll for each division in round one). Be sure to share and send to your friends and breweries to let everyone vote!
Any questions, concerns, or comments about the brackets, or tournament, or breweries in question, you can leave in the comment section or message us directly through our Contact Page.
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Since this is the landing page post – survey, I will keep all of the voting links here for quick reference and jumping point, and so they don’t get lost in all the muddle.
(Updated: 10AM – March 1st, 2021. Continue on for the original introduction to The Battle of the Breweries [2021] – March Madness tournament – article.)
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)
Who’s ready for some March Madness? Like everyone else, in March, that means we need to fill out some brackets! And we here at The Beer Thrillers are no different!
BUT….
Instead of filling out NCAA or college basketball brackets, we are doing our own take on it – The Battle of the Breweries (2021)!
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)
So how’s this going to work? Who all is invited? What all breweries are going to be in it? How many breweries? How’s voting going to work? Who decides whose in and whose out? Whats the seeding? Why is Rick such a jerk to Morty? Why is Jurassic Bark the saddest episode of Futurama ever? Why is it also B. Kline’s favorite episode? What does that say about him? Why is the sky blue?
Ok…. enough with the questions!
The procedure for this ‘tournament’ will be similar to most other March Madness style tournaments. Similar to the ones you’ve seen Untappd and Breweries in PA have done, but with a bit of a twist. Because we here at The Beer Thrillers have a terrible time making full fledged decisions, the list of competitors will be 48 instead of the normal 32.
How did I decide what breweries will be involved? Simple. Only breweries that I have physically visited in person. The voting is based on the brewery and their beers; but to be included on this list, I personally had to have been to one of their locations.
How is seeding decided? Thats also pretty simple, the seeding is based on global average Untappd ratings. So the decision of the seeding is out of my hands. Also, bonus, you can’t get mad at me for the seeding. “Why is X above Y? Why is Z below D?” Its all decided by Untappd.
So whats the tournament structure? One total grouping of 48 breweries (in lieu of teams), divided by two conferences of 24 each, which is divided further into a total of four divisions of 12 each. So break down is simple: 4 divisions of 12 each, with two divisions per conference, of 24 teams in each, for a total of 48 competitors / teams / breweries.
How did we decide on who is in what division? Simple – random number generator. I rolled the dice (a D4 to be exact, thank you to my old nerdy DnD days, I just ‘happened’ to have one of these lying about). Rolled the dice for each brewery to locate them into a division. If one division was understaffed and another overstaffed, I re-rolled until they were evened out.
Let’s Meet Our Competitors
So who all do we have facing off in this crazy free for all of brewing expertise? Quite an assembly of breweries actually. There are a heavy abundance of local (Central PA local) breweries but there is an assortment of breweries from my various travels and across a few states. We have a few breweries from the Rochester area of New York; some breweries from Maryland, a Delaware brewery, some from Ohio, one from Indiana, and one from Kentucky as well.
Surprisingly; it actually took a while to curate the list. At even 48 entries, I still had many more to include, and even removed a few to make it a bit more diverse. I wanted to try and make this as diverse as possible (so removed a local brewery for one out of state, etc.). Possibly in the future, maybe the 2022 iteration of this, or the 2023, who knows, it’ll expand to even more breweries.
This has taken up pretty much my entire night to create the list, and to roll the dice for their divisions, and then checking their Untappd scores to get them into the correct seedings. In the case of matching Untappd scores, I did make my own decision, and that was primarily based on my thoughts of their size, notoriety, branding; so there is a few judgment calls due to a few ties, but there isn’t too many of them.
Conferences and division names…. I had to decide on what to pick. I was going to go by hop names, but I saw at last second, that the Breweries in PA have done that this year, instead of their normal divisions based on geography, it appears they decided to use hop names for their divisions, so thats out. I debated doing Jedi and Sith for the conferences and then doing different Jedi or Sith Masters for the division names…. but… instead decided to go with WWF/E names due to WrestleMania 37 approaching.
So I present you two conferences. One is based on HEELs and one is based on FACEs. The names of the breweries are listed in the order of their seedings, and will have their location and their Untappd (global average) rating behind their names.
The Heels Conference
First up, is divisions one and two of the HEELS conference. Triple H and Ric Flair.
Division One: Triple H
Fourscore Beer Company (Gettysburg, PA) (4.09)
Urban Artifact (Cincinnati, OH) (3.90)
Mad Chef (East Petersburg, PA) (3.79)
Levity Brewing (Indiana, PA) (3.77)
Swiftwater Brewing Company (Rochester, NY) (3.77)
Braxton Brewing Company (Covington, KY) (3.75)
Sun King Brewery (Indianapolis, IN) (3.71)
Highway Manor (Camp Hill, PA) (3.70)
Gearhouse Brewing (Chambersburg, PA) (3.68)
ZeroDay Brewing (Harrisburg, PA) (3.69)
The Ministry of Brewing (Baltimore, MD) (3.64)
Black Forest Brewing (Ephrata, PA) (3.62)
Division Two: Ric Flair
Dewey Beer Company (Dewey Beach, DE) (4.08)
Rotunda Brewing Company (Annville, PA) (3.96)
Yellow Bridge Brewing (Pittsburgh, PA) (3.88)
Troegs Independent Brewing (Hershey, PA) (3.79)
Twisted Bine Brewing Company (Mount Joy, PA) (3.79)
Cox Brewing Company (Elizabethtown, PA) (3.71)
Chatty Monks (Reading, PA) (3.71)
Land-Grant Brewing Company (Columbus, OH) (3.70)
Saucony Creek Brewing Company (Kutztown, PA) (3.70)
Desperate Times Brewing (Carlisle, PA) (3.69)
Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh, PA) (3.60)
The Faces Conference
The faces conference is made up of two divisions led by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. First up, is Division Three, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Division Three: Stone Cold Steve Austin
Ever Grain Brewing (Mechanicsburg, PA) (3.93)
Idiom Brewery (Frederick, MD) (3.90)
Breaker Brewing (Wilkes-Barre, PA) (3.85)
ShuBrew (Zelionople, PA) (3.85)
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Company (Columbus, OH) (3.84)
Liquid Noise (Marysville, PA) (3.84)
Boneshire Brew Works (Harrisburg, PA) (3.83)
Rough Edges (Waynesboro, PA) (3.82)
Tattered Flag (Middletown, PA) (3.79)
Rubber Soul Brewing Company (Hummelstown, PA) (3.74)
Three Heads Brewing (Rochester, NY) (3.71)
Mount Gretna Craft Brewery (Palmyra, PA) (3.58)
Division Four: The Rock
Cushwa Brewing (Williamsport, MD) (4.11)
Jackie O’s Brewery (Athens, OH) (4.02)
Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (Enola, PA) (3.88)
Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg, PA) (3.84)
Moo-Duck Brewing (Elizabethtown, PA) (3.83)
Logyard Brewing Company (Kane, PA) (3.78)
Molly Pitcher Brewing (Carlisle, PA) (3.75)
Olde Bedford Brewing Company (Bedford, PA) (3.75)
Taft’s Brewing Company (Taft’s Ale House) (Cincinnati, OH) (3.72)
Isle of Que Brewing (Selinsgrove, PA) (3.69)
The Church Brew Works (Pittsburgh, PA) (3.56)
Alright, that’s all 48 competitors. Tomorrow the brackets will be published and you will be allowed to vote on the first round matchups. Here’s where things get a bit screwy…. mainly because I don’t do math so good (sigh, sad subject, really, since I work at a job where I do math all day). Well, what really happened, is that I didn’t think through the breakdown. 32 breaks down easily for each round…. 48…. not so much. So…..
Week one will be divisions with 6 matches in each divisions. After that, the divisions will break for week two, and it will be by conference, with 6 matches in each conference. After this, we break apart the conferences, and do another 6 matches. This leaves us with 3 final competitors, for a triple threat for the ending.
So…. I kinda sorta walked myself into a corner…. and kinda… sorta…. walked my way out of it. Glad I chose to use wrestler themed people, so that the finale “Triple Threat” makes more sense.
*Smacks head* D’oh!
But anyway, there will be 7 days of voting for each round. With the final round taking the remainder of the month and ending on the 31st.
Voting
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.
Following each round, I will update the brackets and post them and make up the new polls for voting. Round one begins on March 1st, 2021 and will last until March 7th at Midnight, when it will then become the next round.
I suggest helping your breweries out and sharing the poll pages so that as many of your friends and brewery lovers can vote as well. Good luck to all of the competitors… err… breweries!
As always, please like us and follow us here and on our social media pages to stay up to date on The Beer Thrillers. We have plenty of content to check out, so be sure to stop by often to see what we have coming out. Beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, events, news, and more!
Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA’s Bottle Share (February 8th, 2020).62+ Tickets were ‘sold’. Packed house down in the brewhouse of Tattered Flag. (Thats me in the red Pizza Boy shirt, and my friend D. Scott to my left.) (Photo Courtesy of Chad Balbi – Breweries in PA).
On February 8th, 2020, Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA co-hosted an event at the Tattered Flag Brewery in Middletown PA. It was a ticketed event and promoted across Tattered Flag’s social media and Breweries in PA’s social media (their Facebook page and their Facebook group). Tickets were free. Welcome to all that were to come out. According to Justin (brewer for Tattered Flag) 62 tickets were given out. Myself and my friend were two of those tickets, and so let me take you through the event.
Let’s back this up a bit from the time of the event. Starting with the event itself. It was first announced near the beginning of the year. Luckily it was a Saturday I was able to get off from work (a rarity in my case). And my friend D. Scott was also off and along for the idea. So, the premise of the event is simple – bring 2-3 (or more) beers. Everyone who comes to the event, does so, and once the event is underway you place your beers in the corresponding coolers (IPA, Sours, Wheats and Kolsches, Stouts), and then after everyone has grouped up, you start cracking beers and sampling and moving on.
The premise is simple and neat. Anyone whose ever done a beer / bottle / can share or swap at home with friends, its the same premise just on a much larger scale. (A 62+ person scale that is.)
Leading up to the event my friend stopped at Breski’s Beverage and picked up a four-pack of larger beers to bring with. He grabbed Thief Share (2016) by Strange Roots Experimental Ales, Blue Farm (2017) by Free Will Brewing Co, a German Chocolate Cake Stout from a brewery I’m drawing a blank on, and New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk (2019).
I had set up to do a beer trade with a guy from Eureka California. We were both set to send our packages on either January 31st, or February 1st. (I sent on 31st and showed proof.) He unfortunately, kept saying he would get to it… and get to it….. and he kept NOT getting to it…. and NOT getting to it. Finally, he promised he would expedite it next day to make up for its tardiness…. and I get a message from him “Sorry, it’d be 200$+ to expedite, so I sent it regular. Sorry it won’t be there in time.” …..Massive annoyance and disappointment on those fronts. So at last second, I had to figure out what I was bringing.
Unfortunately I had just ran through my cans from Tree House brought home by my friend D. Arndt. If I would have known…. I would have brought the Sap, Autumn, Julius, Haze, or Doppelganger I had. So I likewise stopped at Breski’s Beverage and picked up some beer for the event. I got Grimm Artisanal Ale’s I Still Love the Old World (2018), Lickinhole’s Virginia Black Bear, Clown Shoe’s Coffee Sombrero, and Trial by Wombat (mainly for the name and picture).
Saturday morning comes and I do my typical morning chores and errands and take Leela (my border collie) for a run. D. Scott is Ubering to Tattered Flag, and I’m going to meet him there. Planned to get there at 10:40, but ended up getting there closer to 10:50 with our tickets and my beer and meet him just inside the door. He shows me the beer he’s bringing and we go over our small sample size. At just a bit before 11AM, Justin comes through and tells everyone to follow him down into the brewhouse.
Since 2018 I’ve done some volunteer canning work with Tattered Flag – though recently they’ve stopped using volunteers now that their employee force is big enough to keep it all done in-house, so I’m quite familiar with their brewhouse and back of the brewery operations and location.
At the time, there’s not too many people yet. Maybe 15-20. Justin goes over the rules. (Big rule: don’t touch any valves. Little rule: throw your trash away. Big rule: DON’T TOUCH ANY VALVES. Little rule: put your beers in their appropriate tubs.) They had bussing tubs with a label for each: IPA, Sour / Saisons, Wheats / Kolsches, and Stouts. Bigger bottles were kept in the front or where room was for them.
The guys from Breweries in PA introduced themselves. And then we were off to the races (…or beers). Talked with the lady from Breweries in PA and she was saying how the Dayman can was the last “known in the wild” can to exist, due to them getting hit with a Cease and Desist from Disney. And we talked about Disney with recent news, and how past places have gotten hit with some C & D’s.
After sampling Dayman, and then Nightman, I saw a lovely looking Smoked Porter big bottle. Unfortunately I forget the name of it, and it appears I never checked it into Untappd (something I didn’t do too good of a job of). (Just like pictures, unfortunately I took no pictures of the event either, so I have no pictures of my own, and had to try and remember the beers I tried for Untappd later on.) So whoever brought the big bottle Smoked Porter, I’d love to know what it was. ….but also… oh boy that carbonation! As soon as I popped the cap on it, it just gushed. Foam everywhere, so much so that I had to set it down under the table over the grate, it just wouldn’t stop, for a good solid 2 minutes it kept going. (So yes, I apologize for being ‘that guy’, but….. it wasn’t my fault!)
A cache of the beers at the bottle / can share. Photo courtesy of Justin Hoak.
Me and D. Scott kinda hovered over the Stouts area. Talked to Justin and his girlfriend Aimee, about recent events with Tattered Flag, as well as Hibrewnation that took place, as well as the upcoming Prototype Brewery and Meadery and the Prototype Invitation Brewing Event.
The beer share at Tattered Flag. Photo courtesy of Justin Hoak.
After a few more samples, me and D. Scott headed back into the caverns a bit, where there was more space, as by now we were likely up to about 40+ people in attendance. And out by the brite tanks and fermenters it was getting pretty crowded. After a bit, the guys from Breweries in PA brought a few of the bussing trubs out into the side-room where we used to do the labeling for Tattered Flag’s canning run. They brought out a few beers of each type as well and so there was now a more mixed variety in the different areas.
While in the side-room, I branched out a bit from my stouts and sours and had a few IPAs. Bearded Iris’ Homestyle, Psycho Simcoe by Three 3’s, Ex Novo Brewing’s Spirits of the Dead, and Double Luv by East Branch Brewing. Hanging out, talking with D. Scott and some of our fellow drinkers in the area, we also cracked open the Black Tuesday (2017) by The Bruery, which was amazingly fantastic. While discussing the ridiculously high ABV on it (19.5%), one of the guys talked about the beer he brought from Nimble Hill, a Maple Stout in their Mysteria Series, that was a 25%. I’ve always been a huge fan of big ABV beers…. so my ears and eyes and nose, and mouth, all perked up. The kind gentleman went back and got it and brought it out. After a bit of a struggle getting the cork off of it, we each drew a good sample size of it (and I won’t lie and say I didn’t have two samples of it).
The description on Untappd for it reads:
MAPLE SYRUP STOUT This super limited creation is an off shoot of Turbo Diesel. But instead of using hops, we added a few gallons of maple syrup and a dash of molasses and fermented it to the limits. The result is a thick dessert stout with a strong maple syrup and imperial stout finish, followed by hearty warming from the 25% abv. Served without carbonation for a smooth and velvety finish.
It was smooth, dry, but with an amazing maple syrup flavor. Tasted like drinking a maple syrup wine. It was pretty much fantastic. And the nice 25% ABV to it, certainly didn’t hurt. I would like to throw a shout out to Ryan Haraschak. Fantastic, gorgeous gem to bring to the bottle share! Kudos my man!
We also tried a gentleman’s RIS Homebrew that was wonderful as well. And somehow, quickly, we realized we were approaching the end of the time for the bottle share, so me and D. Scott went back by the fermenters to try some of the beers still over there.
While hanging out there, and chopping on some tortilla chips, the Harris Brewery guys came in. Got to talk to Harris guys for a long time about their upcoming brewery, black culture in brewing and craft beer, Allison Hill, the impact their hoping to make, the old Coke-Cola building / factory on the corner of 19th and Derry, the obstacles their having to overcome for their brewery, their GoFundMe vs. the Kickstarter, and much more. We also drank from their growler of their collaboration with The Vegetable Hunter which was fantastic. If you would like to support the Harris Family Brewery, and add to their GoFundMe you can do so here:
Shaun Harris posing at the end of the bottle share. Photo Courtesy of Harris Family Brewery.
As the time dwindled down, we quickly tried to sample a last few beers. There was an Intuition Ales that I tried with a large dragon on it (wax sealed originally, no idea on the name), as well as two Hegemony Anniversary Beers from St. Boniface. Also back to back Black IPAs; one from Pour Man’s Brewing – Black Market, and the other from Heavy Seas – Night Swell. Also tried the 2SP and WaWa coffee stout – Winter Reserve. As well as a last sampling of the Candy Hearts by New Trail Brewing.
As it wrapped up, they told us to take anything we wanted that was unopened. Seeing my Lickinghole Virginia Black Bear unopened I grabbed that, as well as an IPA from Mainstay Brewing and one of the bakeries from The Bruery. My buddy grabbed a couple and we put them in the six-pack holder and took them out to my car and then came back in to use our free beer and food discount.
Tattered Flag with the (free) ticket, being the gracious host was giving one free pour with the ticket as well as 10% off food. D. Scott got an order of loaded chips, and I got Because I Was Inverted (Chocolate Covered Strawberry). His free drink was either the Custardy Tropic Like Its Hot or the Custardy Black Crumble. We had also sampled these in cans during the bottle share.
My list of beers sampled (that I was able to record on Untappd) was: * Nightman (Stable 12 Brewing Company) * Schmoojee Strawberry Orange Banana (Imprint Beer Co) * Bible Belt (2019) (Evil Twin Brewing) * Frucht: Fruit Punch (The Bruery Terreux) * Churro Sombrero (Clown Shoes) * Autumn Friend (Forest & Main Brewing Company) * Spirits of the Dead (Ex Novo Brewing) * Psycho Simcoe (Three 3’s Brewing Co.) * Black Tuesday (2017) (The Bruery) * Maple Stout, Mysteria Series (Nimble Hill Brewing) * Double Luv (East Branch Brewing) * Kriek Marriage Parfait (2015) (Brouwerji Boon) * Black Market (Pour Man’s Brewing Company * Night Swell (Heavy Seas Beer) * Pack & Brass Coffee IPA (Wallenpaupack Brewing Company) * I Still Love the Old World (Grimm Artisanal Ales) * Bourbon Barrel Aged Hegemony Anniver7ary Reserve (Blue Wax) (St. Boniface Craft Brewing Co.) * Bourbon Barrel Aged Hegemony Anniver8ary Reserve (Blue Wax) (St. Boniface Craft Brewing Co.) * Cold Pro (Union Craft Brewing) * Winter Reserve Coffee Stout (2SP Brewing Company / WaWa) * Candy Hearts (New Trail Brewing Co.) * Homestyle (Bearded Iris) * Custardy: Blackberry Crumble (Tattered Flag) * Custardy: Tropic Like Its Hot (Tattered Flag) * Thief Share (2016) (Strange Roots Experimental Ales) * Blue Farm (2017) (Free Will Brewing Co.) * Gingerbread Crunchee (Other Half Brewing Co.) * Double Vice Coffee Porter (Grist House Craft Brewery) * Chili Nelson Hazy Habenero (The Vegetable Hunter) * Winter Wassailand (The Vegetable Hunter / Harris Family Brewing) * Dayman (Stable 12 Brewing)
These are the ones I remembered / checked-in on Untappd anyway. There were so many more I didn’t get to try, some I definitely wanted to. I saw some Aslin cans, I believe 4th Anniversary Sours, that I missed out on, as well as a few Other Half’s and similar. In the comments – for those of you who went – I’d love to see what you brought, had, and what was your favorites.
This was a fantastic event. I’ve been to some friend / home beer bottle / can shares, and its always a blast. Passing around beers, sampling, and talking about beer and just hanging out with good people. The craft beer community is an exceptional and diverse community and its so great to talk to so many different people. Bottle shares are like mini-brewfests in a way, sampling a ton of different beers from different places / breweries that you most likely won’t get into contact with. Its not a bad way to kill a Saturday morning, thats for sure.
My favorites that I got to sample were: Black Tuesday (2017) by The Bruery and the Nimble Hill Maple Stout Mysteria (the 25%). D. Scott said his favorite was also the 25% Maple Stout as well as the Custardy: Blackberry Crumble.
It was great of Tattered Flag to put up some of their own beers in the share, a great gesture on their part. Also, humorous note, I think I did see a Blue Moon in one of the tubs, not 100% sure though, but I think I did. Kudos to whoever brought that. I did think it’d be funny to bring a single Coors Light bottle or Miller Lite High Life bottle and sneak it in, but didn’t know how it’d go over.
The Kill Shot from the Beer Share at Tattered Flag hosted by Tattered Flag and Breweries in PA. (Photo courtesy of: Chad Balbi)
As you can see from the kill shot, there was a ton of great beer brought in, and sampled and served. Breweries from all over Pennsylvania, as well as numerous other big breweries like Other Half, Bearded Iris, Aslin, Dogfish Head, Brewery of Omnegang, Grimm Artisanal Ales, as well as some homebrew, and some heavy PA hitters like Free Will, Tattered Flag, Strange Roots, Imprint Beer Co, Dancing Gnome, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing, and New Trail, and even upcoming brewery Harris Family. It was a wonderful and diverse selection, bottles, bombers, growlers, crowlers, cans, and even wine bottles.
We are currently listed on FeedSpot’s Top 100 Beer Blogs at #9, and have been there for a few weeks now (moved up from #11). (If you would like to write for us, you can contact us through our contact page. Or if you would like us to write for you.)
You can check us out on Facebook as well as Twitter. Or just search for us – Facebook – The Beer Thrillers – and on Twitter – @thebeerthriller.
The blog is ran by me – B. Kline, and mainly written by me, but other writers for the blog include J. Doncevic, AJ Brechbiel (of Default Brewing). We also have Let Us Drink Beer Blog do some contributions as a guest writer.
I also do podcasts with D. Scott and Esteban – So a Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar… where we discuss beer, pop culture, movies, TV shows, and much more. Always hilarious and always insightful, so make sure to check that out as well.
(Ok, that concludes the article for Breweries in PA. The rest from here on out, is just for the Beer Thrillers faithful and my blog only. Its also a little more personal and detailed than the above, so keep reading if you want to hear more.)
So as per usual with me, after the beer share event, my night didn’t end. It was about 3:30-4PM by the time we finished up at the Tattered Flag bar. Way too early to call it a day. Being in the area, we decided to check out the Lancaster Brewing spot off of Eisenhower Boulevard in Harrisburg. Neither me nor D. Scott had ever been there. And this checks off a “new brewery location” that I want to do each month. (January was Liquid Noise Brewing, so February will be Lancaster Brewing, and hopefully March – before they close up – will be Stoudt’s.) Its funny that neither of us have ever been here to this location. Its so close, and we’ve jumped and hit all of the Harrisburg breweries numerous times before.
While there we met up with friends D. Arndt, Youngblood, and Youngblood’s girlfriend. I did a flight, D. Scott got a draft of their eggnog, and I have no recollection of what the others got. My flight included: * Jam Series #22 Mexican Style Lager * Jam Series #21 Gingerbread Spiced Brown Ale * Lancaster Lager * Jam Series – Track #20 Eggnog Blond * Jam Series – Track #19 Chili Smoked Baltic Porter * Winter Warmer
Lancaster Brewing Company’s Spiced Gingerbread
All were pretty tasty. I enjoyed the Smoked Porter the most with the Spiced Gingerbread coming in second. Wasn’t a huge fan of the eggnog blond, but I’m not a fan of eggnog so kind of knew that going into it. Drew loved his, but then again, he’s a huge eggnog fan. So mileage may vary on that type of beer.
Lancaster Brewing Company’s Mexican Lager
Finally around 730-8PM or so we left and went to D. Arndt’s house, where we hung out with him and his fiance Kat and his dogs (the one of which is a Corgi named Indiana Bones). While there he had a can of Intemperance by Tree House which was absolutely delicious.
Intemperance by Tree House Brewing
Look for me to be adding the Intemperance to my series on Tree House. Also, most likely tonight Doppelganger will be going up to finish what was originally the series. But now, with the addition of Intemperance, the series will be going from 5 to 6, making it a nice easy and sensible six-pack. Makes sense for a beer blog (a beer blog making sense?!), I like it.
So, this was supposed to be written and was supposed to go up Sunday, the 9th. But… work was crazy, as it was a ticket promotion give-away and we were swamped there, and afterwards, I was supposed to go to D. Scott to watch the Oscar’s (and drink the remaining of the beer share beers), but… Haley forgot the crowler of Rotunda Brewing Company’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’ that I got her, so I had to swing back to work and then deliver it to her at Irgo’s Tavern. Where I then proceeded to stay and play pool with several co-workers until 1AM. So obviously… no posting that night.
Then Monday I did go over to D. Scott’s and we watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (finally got around to seeing it, fantastic movie, and Tarantino is still just as good as he always was). So once again, no blog posting Monday. But, last night I did start this, and sadly, only after editing, getting to finish it this morning. Sorry for the delay in things, but I rather edit and make sure I like the way blog looks, and that there’s no misspellings or grammar problems or anything (though I’m sure one or two will still sneak through). There’s two ways to write:
“You either write sober and edit drunk, or write drunk and edit sober.”
I also finally got that California beer mail Tuesday. Looks like some delicious brews to drink down and dive into and review for you all.
California beer mail.
California beer mail
So definitely expect to see some beer reviews come out of that 10-pack. There’s a lot of tasty ones (I am super looking forward to the Chocolate Donut porter.)
Blog news – I am going to be trying to get 2 blogs up a day for the next few days to catch up some of the beer reviews I’m behind on. Fingers crossed anyway. This blog post is also going up on Breweries in PA’s website, so you’ll be able to check it out there (albeit abbreviated). Once its live, I’ll come in and edit this to include it here.
Tomorrow (Thursday, the 13th), I have yet another funeral to go to. This time my Uncle (mother’s brother in law) passed away. (Last Thursday was a funeral for my Great Uncle, my father’s Uncle.) In the evening Funck’s in Palmyra is doing a tap takeover for New Trail. I might be stopping out for that (might not, depends on time). New Trail makes some great beers, so I’d love to check it out.
Some beer reviews that are due up are Doppelganger and Intemperance, New Heights I Cannot Tell a Lie, Boneshire Brew Work’s Anagnorsis, Revision’s Pete’s Stache, Rivertown’s Triple Belgian, and much more. So be on the lookout for a lot of beer reviews coming at you in the upcoming days.
Like I said earlier in the post (mainly for the Breweries in PA page), please check out our Facebook, Twitter, and other social medias, and please click follow, like, subscribe, both on those platforms and here on the blog itself. You can enter your e-mail at the bottom to get notifications immediately whenever a new blog post hits the internet, and we’d greatly appreciate it. We also love it when you use the ‘rating’ at the bottom so we know how we are performing, and click the LIKE down below as well. Also, even more importantly, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, feedback. So leave us a comment, or two, or three, or forty-four. I try to respond and reply as quickly as I’m able to. And if you ever want, you can contact us at our contact page and leave me a message.
Thanks everyone so much for reading, and hopefully you enjoyed it, and if you were at the event, hopefully you had as much of a blast as I did (and D. Scott). (Which speaking of, be on the lookout for some new podcasts on LOST Seasons 3 & 4, Fullmetal Alchemist, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and potentially / possibly / hopefully BoJack Horseman.)
Cheers everyone!
-B. Kline
Tattered Fag and Breweries in PA’s February 8th, 2020, Beer Share – the final kill shot.
The 2019 Holiday Reserve by Boneshire Brew Works, our first stop on our brewery hopping journey.
Want to take a trip with us? A journey along Harrisburg? C’mon, it’ll be fun. You get to hang out with me, and my buddy, and we basically do nothing but chat about Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Coen Brothers movies, how we were so disappointed by the sequel trilogy, about the blog, about the podcasts, we run into other friends, chat with bar patrons, and generally have a good time.
So why not join us? We hit several stops in the Harrisburg area. Not as many as originally wanted, and not all of the places we wanted, but we jumped around, had some fun, and called it a day and were happy. So no complaints there! Can never be upset with a day out with friends, beer, and no stress. Plus…. we got to pet a baby corgi… so there’s that too!
I have written a bit, here on this blog, and for Breweries in PA, as well as the Let Us Drink Beer blog about the breweries around Hershey and Harrisburg and Hummelstown Pennsylvania. Mostly recap articles on the locations, taps, places, atmosphere, beers, etc. The bigger – main article can be found here: “Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg“. The blog post that is primarily a link to the Breweries in PA article with a few bits of new information can be found here: “Touring Through the Breweries that Surround Harrisburg“. The actual Breweries in PA article is here: “Breweries Around Harrisburg (BiPA)“. And of course, the last article of the series, the larger one yet – that also delves into the breweries of Hershey PA can be found here on the blog Let Us Drink Beer: “Breweries Around Hershey and Harrisburg PA.” I do guest work and contribute to the Let Us Drink Beer blog, so make sure you check them out and my other articles there, like my review of the Pretoria Fields Collective Walker Station Stout. (I also did a review of it here for my blog: Walker Station Stout. For more information on Let Us Drink Beer’s Blog and to just check them out, their blog home page can be found here: “Let Us Drink Beer“.)
Lets start off with the pre-adventure details. First off, the events of this day occurred on December 27th, 2019. A Friday – and my day off (my days off are Thursdays and Fridays for now, before they change soon after the new year). Having worked the week, including Christmas, and spending the night of Christmas with family, and then spending Thursday with more family, Friday was a day for me and friends. I still got some crucial stuff done pre-noon, I finished reading a chapter book with my youngest daughter, I got the Autumn beer review blog up, did some minor editing on the Sap Beer Review and The Hog beer review (website formatting changes) and I walked my dog. So, noontime, dog home, I shower up, and head out to Boneshire Brew Works to meet up with Drew for the first leg of our trip.
(A final in-line, late note, just before publishing this, instead of listing the beers with the brewery we had them at, I decided to put them at the end, categorized by brewery / location and gave bare-bones information from Untappd on them. I’ll leave my rating with them as well, but not go into a full break-down beer review of them. So if you wish just to see what Drew and I drank, you can jump to the end of the article.)
Boneshire Brew Works – stop number one.
As anyone who knows me and has read this blog, Boneshire Brew Works is typically home base of operations. Its about three-five minutes from my house, right by Rutter’s, right off of Nye’s Road and on Derry Street. Close enough for my friend Drew to meet us there, and its also not too far out from where Dan lives (near Breski’s Beverage). A lot of other friends are close by too, from the Hummelstown, Middletown, and Harrisburg areas. Even from Hershey – its not a stretch of a drive. So its always a great place to meet up; plus the beer is superb, the atmosphere is nice, the bartenders and beertenders all know us, and its just a great place to hang out.
I got there about five minutes before Drew, and ordered the newest beer on the menu – The 2019 Holiday Reserve. A tradition now, at Boneshire, its always a glorious beer to end the year on. One of a handful of great NE-IPA style beers in the area, its usually one of the best, and always fantastic straight from the tap. And this year’s was no exception. After Drew gets there he orders the same, and we spend a good twenty minutes nursing our first beer of the day at lunch-time while discussing the intricacies of Star Wars; including The Mandalorian’s season finale (which had just dropped that morning), as well as how bad Rise of Skywalker was and the sequel trilogy as a whole, how bad the prequel trilogy was, how there’s now more bad to good movies in the Star Wars canon, how some of the books fit into the movies, etc.
We also talked about the next jump on the tour – The Vegetable Hunter, about them teaming up with the Harris Family, and other things beer related in the area. We discussed maybe checking out the BBQ place that is home to Pizza Boy’s secondary location; but decided to skip it, and decided to skip Newfangled Brew Works since with Drew, thats basically home number two. I’ve been to The Vegetable Hunter one time, but quite a long time ago, soon after they added the mini-micro-nano-brewery part to it. So I settle up the tab with James behind the bar, talk a bit about heading on some brewery jumping, and then we’re off to the city proper.
Now, it should be noted, number one, I am horrible at getting to any place. I’ll get there. No doubt about it, but it won’t be right, will consist of wrong turns, driving on one way roads, and being a bit late…. but I’ll get us there. And case in point was getting here. Next thing we know, we’re crossing the bridge and the river and turning around on Erford Road and heading back, finally finding a parking spot in front of the restaurant turned brewery.
Brother of Thor! by The Vegetable Hunter
I don’t know much about The Vegetable Hunter unfortunately. I do know its a super tiny micro / nano – brewery, and I know that Tim Myers is the head brewer. He is also the head brewer for River Bend Hop Farm – you can check out a review of their Dry Irish Stout I did. I was there at their brewery a year ago (on the 28th, it came up in my ‘memories’). Fantastic brewery and facility and the beers were great. Tim definitely produces some great beers.
I’m not vegan or vegetarian, and neither is Drew. So we didn’t order anything to eat. (Not saying you HAVE to be vegan or vegetarian to eat there, but its more likely to appeal to those who are.) Not sure if they do flights of beer there or not, I think they might, but the two kids behind the food counter who were finishing up an order for the family that was in the place eating (six or seven people with a small child) and doing a lot of cleaning (dishes / glasses) didn’t mention it. We each ordered a pint. I ordered the Brother of Thor! and Drew ordered Today’s Tom Sawyer. Their on-screen board listed only four beers. But their Untappd app lists six. I have also heard (after the fact) that they have an upstairs. Not sure if that was open when we got there or not, but they probably have more taps up there.
Brother of Thor! was tasty and delicious. Drew also said the Today’s Tom Sawyer was also good. Both are IPAs and were neither super hoppy or super bitter, but also not NE-IPAs. We would both recommend them to anyone traveling in the area. Can’t say anything about the food (sorry), but we both enjoyed our beers, the relaxed, hipster, like atmosphere, and overall thought it was a pleasant time there. We didn’t stay long, (not long enough to use our full hour of parking meter time – 3$, right in front of the restaurant), but we enjoyed our beer, and chatting, and stayed for probably twenty – thirty minutes.
After leaving, we decided the next stop would be The Millworks, since its close by. Did a few turns here and there and parked next to the Market. And went inside to the Millworks, which even at 2:30-3PM was pretty full with the bar nearly packed (luckily found two seats together) with lots of people eating.
A beer flight from The Millworks; stop number three on our trip.
Sidled ourselves up to the bar and plopped down. Ordered myself a flight, Drew ordered a pint, and got himself the brisket pizza. Drew typically always does pints rather than flights, and I typically will do flights whenever possible – to try as much as I can. Especially if its a venue I’m not likely to get to all that often.
My flight consisted of Winter Saison, Cherrywood Rauchbier, Kiwi Berry Gose, Triple IPA. Drew ordered the Market Day Session IPA.
Once we ordered and he ordered his food, the pizza arrived pretty quickly. I enjoyed the Saison, the Rauchbier was a nice, smokey, malty tasty drink, the Gose was a little bland, and not quite as interesting as I’d hope, but the Triple IPA made up for it and was very tasty, juicy, and hoppy. Drew enjoyed his Market Day IPA (I had it once before and found it enjoyable myself).
Drew said the brisket pizza was delicious. While here, we discussed various ongoing TV shows that we are still watching and looking forward to of upcoming seasons, like Fargo, HBO’s Righteous Gems, and of course still The Mandalorian. We broke down Coen Brothers movies, like A Serious Man, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and talked about how interesting it was for that show to be made (the Fargo show). We also talked about upcoming podcasts including me and Esteban doing one about LOST, a show which Drew had never watched.
While closing out and debating how far to stray from Harrisburg and getting texts from Dan Arndt that he’s getting off work and wants to jump in on the festivities, the bartender pointed out that it was 4:15PM and that The Sturgis Speakeasy was doing their happy hour from 4-6. So since Dan usually likes to meet up at ZeroDay when in the city, we figured we’d stay local, hit up Sturgis, then meet him over there. So off we were to a “pit stop” on the brewery tour.
Goggles by New Trail Brewing Co. at The Sturgis Speakeasy, our pit stop before hitting up ZeroDay Brewing.
A hop skip away from The Millworks we found ourselves good parking beside The Sturgis Speakeasy and headed in. They had a nice tap list including several noticeably good beers, quite a few New Trail Brewing Co. beers on tap, and a pretty good bottle and can listing. Drew asked for one of the bottles on the list and was told they just sold out, and so he then settled on the New Trail Porter – Sunset. I ordered the NE IPA Goggles from New Trail which everyone has been raving about in various Facebook beer groups I’m in.
You can’t go wrong with New Trail, they seemingly haven’t made a bad or even mediocre beer yet (at least that I’ve had). I’ve had several from them before – Broken Heels, Double Broken Heels, Corvus, and I believe a sour of theirs that name eludes me at the moment. Goggles was another fantastic New England style IPA, this time a Double Imperial New England IPA. At 8.8% ABV it does give you a good punch and with the large pour at Sturgis it was really good. For my second beer I got the Porter, which was a very nice chocolate porter. Not too overpowering, not too heavy chocolate, pretty much just the right amount. A nice mixture of flavors and complexities to keep it tasty.
On the background TVs was an English Premier League soccer (or “football”) game. A roar went up at one point from the denizens of the bar as the one team scored, and me and Drew talked about my years playing and coaching soccer. Also discussed Christian Pulisic a bit and how I grew up knowing the family due to his father – Mark Pulisic – and his days playing for the Harrisburg Heat. Christian is a great kid, and Mark was a great player, coach, and all around guy. His wife (and Christian’s mom) Kelly is also a wonderful person. So its so great to see the family achieve so much success. Hopefully it also translates to the US Men’s Team finally getting better and possibly winning a World Cup some day (obviously not the next one…. ….since we didn’t even qualify….. ugh……). Side note here: if you ever want to discuss soccer – make sure you see Owen, bartender for Boneshire Brew Works, the men has forgotten more about soccer (due to concussions) than most people will ever know. Plus he’s a great dude, especially after a few.
Nearing our end at the speakeasy a nearby bar patron started chatting us up about local Harrisburg politics, and all kinds of manner of other things. Now, me and Drew will often get chatty about politics, philosophy, religion, etc – but only with ourselves, and more quiet, …and usually when we’re a lot more drunk. We tend to not jump into these kind of conversations with people we don’t know, because well… you never know how the conversations are going to go, and typically we like to follow the bar rule of “No Religion. No Politics. No Gender.” discussions. But we allowed him to talk to us about it, and we stayed neutral and listened. (Always remain neutrality when listening, always the best case scenario.)
We paid up, said goodbye to the friendly bartender lady who was very nice, and chatted to us a bit about The Mandalorian (noticing a theme with our day yet?), as well as Netflix and other TV in general, thanked her for the good beer, and we were on our way to ZeroDay.
My beer flight at ZeroDay
We park back behind Midtown Cinema and head into ZeroDay. Finding a spot at the bar we jump up, Drew orders the Financial Panther, and I get myself a flight. I also try their hard seltzer, one of the first craft brewery hard seltzers I’ve had. And I just have to say…. the style does nothing for me. No White Claws for me, no Truly Hard Seltzers, just… nope. White Claws mean no Laws is BS and I stand by it. I’ve never been a fan of carbonated water or seltzer to begin with, so making it slightly alcoholic doesn’t do enough for me. The first time I tried a hard seltzer was at Ffej of July this year from Karl Larson’s group. This was my first time trying it from a craft brewery.
My flight consisted of: Accidental Fluffer, Grievance, Smooth Metal, Mister Bubz, North St. Stout, and ZeroDay Dunkel. With an additional taster of plain Automatic Refresher (the hard seltzer).
We hung out inside for about fifteen minutes before our friend Youngblood and his girlfriend arrived. After about another five or so minutes Dan arrived, but had to stay outside because he had his corgi with him – Domino Thunderthighs. And yes, thats its actual name, and yes, the dog is totally a babe magnet and the most adorable thing since Baby Yoda – The Child. So we went outside and hung out at the picnic table, and watched the slow human avalanche of people finding out theres a nine month old corgi outside as they all came out to pet him and either go back in or head to their cars. Even the bartenders took turns coming outside to pet the dog.
Outside was a nice brisk evening, and we stayed out there til 9PM. Youngblood does stand up comedy work for various places, so we chatted some about that, his upcoming shows, some bits, we talked with Dan about his work (lung respiratory nurse), talked about our jobs (Drew as bartender, me at the casino, etc.), we talked about dogs (my border collie Leela and my new pitbull / black lab mix – Tink), Dan’s two dogs the corgi Domino Thunderthighs and his other dog Indiana Bones. Dan talked about his latest trip with his fiance Kat at Tree House Brewing Company where he brought back the beers I’ve done reviews of – Sap and Autumn. Talked about the places we stopped at today – Boneshire Brew Works, The Vegetable Hunter, and The Millworks. Talked about local breweries in general, places like Iron Hill, Troegs, Moo-Duck, Cox Brewing, The Vineyard and Brewery at Middletown, and Spring Gate.
We got into our normal shenanigans and revelry and had a good time hanging out together. Killing an afternoon / evening. At about 915 or so, we discussed evening plans, I had to take Drew back to Boneshire Brew Works for him to get his car and I was gonna head home, Dan, Youngblood, and Youngblood’s girlfriend were going back to their apartment after Dan dropped off his dog. As usual partings go, we cleaned up and took our glasses back in, gave our goodbyes to each other, walked to our cars and left. Knowing we’ll all be doing this again in a few days most likely, just chilling, relaxing, hanging out, having a good time, and drinking beers at places like ZeroDay or Boneshire or Troegs or at bars like Chick’s, Sturgis Speakeasy, The Manor, Gin Mill, The Boro, Warwick Hotel, etc. There is few things on this planet that are better than hanging out with friends, having fun, laughing, not being stressed by life or cares and just taking care of each other through communal friendship and just being with each other as we drink and bond. Its easily one of the best things about craft breweries is the communal nature of the small local craft breweries. The atmospheres and the venues and the way it brings people together to talk, hang out, have fun, and drink good delicious beers. Not even macro beers at big time bars can deliver the same kind of intimate friendship and kinship that craft breweries can give you, just based on the structure of how different the two are.
After we departed, took Drew back to Boneshire Brew Works and let him get his car. It was 9:45PM and Boneshire was soon closing for the night. Made our safe returns and trips, and had ourselves a fantastic trip basically over Harrisburg and the suburb of it a bit. We got to drink at Boneshire Brew Works, The Vegetable Hunter, The Millworks, The Sturgis Speakeasy, and ZeroDay Brewing. Had great beer, Drew had some great food, lots of great conversations, lot of fun, and much laughter. Was a fantastic day, and a nice leadup to the end of 2019 and the end of a decade and to the start of a new year, new decade, and certainly many more adventures.
As a final note before listing the beers, I started writing this up Sunday December 29th 2019 early in the morning before work, had to go to work, wanted to finish it after work, but had a retirement party for a co-worker at Thoroughbred’s, and after that it was late and I was unable to finish it. So I am now finishing this up (started at 5:30AM when I woke up, and now finishing it at 7AM). And since its December 30th now, I can safely say to Drew happy birthday, as the old man is now 35. So in his honor, make sure you listen to some of his podcasts and mentally give him a shout out and happy birthday.
And now onto the lists!
Boneshire Brew Works:
Beers:
2019 Holiday Reserve
The Hog
Beer: 2019 Holiday Reserve Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works Style: IPA – New England ABV: 8.5% IBU: None Untappd Write-Up: What we have here is a small Christmas miracle! This year’s batch of Holiday Reserve is a NEIPA brewed with 12 varieties of hops and copious amounts of Flaked Oats, Wheat, and Barley and clocks in at 8.5% abv. This batch is brewed with Apollo, Cashmere, Columbus, Simcoe, Warrior, Motueka, Amarillo, Azacca, Lemondrop, Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic. This NEIPA is sure to please everyone for the holidays. My Untappd Rating: 4.25 Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: The Hog Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works Style: IPA – Triple ABV: 9.8% IBU: 51 Untappd Write-Up: Our collaboration with Muggers of the year 2018-2019. Mike Luckovich and Dan Ploch dreamed up this big hoppy fruit forward IPA. Brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo, Zythos, and Citra hops. My Untappd Rating: 4.50 Global Untappd Rating: 4.16 (as of 12.30.19)
The Vegetable Hunter
Brother of Thor!
Today’s Tom Sawyer
Beer: Brother of Thor! Brewery: The Vegetable Hunter Style: IPA – American ABV: 6.5% IBU: 27 Untappd Write-Up: Hoppy IPA with the Viking/Norwegian yeast strain Loki. My Untappd Rating: 3.50 Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Today’s Tom Sawyer Brewery: The Vegetable Hunter Style: IPA – American ABV: 5.6% IBU: 70 Untappd Write-Up: West Coast IPA – Slappin’ da bass hops! Nugget, Equinox, Citra, Amarillo, and Columbus hops. Drew’s Comments: Good, hoppy, tasty. Global Untappd Rating: 3.45 (as of 12.30.19)
The Millworks
Market Day Session IPA
Winter Saison
Cherrywood Rauchbier
Kiwi Berry Gose
Triple IPA
Beer: Market Day Session IPA Brewery: The Millworks Style: IPA – Session / India Session Ale ABV: 5% IBU: 30 Untappd Write-Up: Light body, hop forward ale. Orange-golden in color. Floral and citrus in the aroma and flavor. Restrained bitterness that is noticeable but not overwhelming. Easy drinking, lower alcohol session ale.
Malts: Pale, Vienna, Cara Pils
Hops: Nugget, Cascade, Chinook, Crystal Drew’s Comments: Tasty, crisp. My Untappd Rating (from previous time): 3.50 Global Untappd Rating: 3.66 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Winter Saison Brewery: The Millworks Style: Farmhouse Ale – Saison ABV: 7.9% IBU: 30 Untappd Write-Up: Medium body, dark spiced farmhouse ale. Deep mahogany in color, lightly spiced with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, and french oak chips. Fermented with spicy belgian saison yeast. My Untappd Rating: 4.25 Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Cherrywood Rauchbier Brewery: The Millworks Style: Rauchbier ABV: 5% IBU: 20 Untappd Write-Up: Classic Rauchbier brewed with local PA Cherry Wood smoked malt. Mild smokiness balanced with sweet bready malt My Untappd Rating: 3.75 Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Kiwi Berry Gose Brewery: The Millworks Style: Sour – Fruited ABV: 4% IBU: None Untappd Write-Up: PA Preferred beer brewed with Deer Creek Malt and 350 lbs of Kiwi Berries from Threefold Farm My Untappd Rating: 3.75 Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Triple IPA Brewery: The Millworks Style: IPA – Tripel ABV: 11.5% IBU: 80 Untappd Write-Up: Full bodied IPA brewed with Amarillo, El Dorado, and Idaho 7 hops My Untappd Rating: 4 Global Untappd Rating: 3.96 (as of 12.30.19)
The Sturges Speakeasy
Goggles
Sunset
Beer: Goggles Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co. Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England ABV: 8.8% IBU: None Untappd Write-Up: Goggles is a Hazy Double IPA focussing on some of our favorite hops. Brewed with a mixture of wheats and oats. Heavy handedly hopped with Galaxy and Citra. Goggles is excessively fruity and dank. My Untappd Rating: 4.50 Global Untappd Rating: 4.21 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Sunset Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co. Style: Porter – Other ABV: 6% IBU: None Untappd Write-Up: Sunset is a Chocolate Porter brewed with layers of dark and chocolate malts, rested on Cacao Nibs from Ghana. Expect a rich porter layered with deep chocolate flavor reflecting both dark and milk chocolates. Brewed for the early winter sunsets and long dark nights. My Untappd Rating: 4.25 Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 12.30.19)
ZeroDay Brewing
Automatic Refresher
Financial Panther
Accidental Fluffer
Grievance
Smooth Metal
Mister Bubz
North St. Stout
ZeroDay Dunkel
Beer: Automatic Refresher Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Hard Seltzer ABV: 5% IBU: 0 Untappd Write-Up: Hard Seltzer brewed for you! We brewed a blank Hard Seltzer and provide the flavors for you to add how you please! Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Financial Panther Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: IPA – New England ABV: 6.5% IBU: 47 Untappd Write-Up: Inspired by the hard work it takes to not only make the beer, but the prowess required to run the business, we are excited to release Financial Panther, our newest IPA double dry hopped with copious amounts of Motueka from New Zealand. With notes of crushed lime and bright citrus, it’s sure to start your weekend right. Drew’s Comments: Had this before, second favorite from ZeroDay behind Mango Hab My Untappd Rating (from previous time): 4 Global Untappd Rating: 3.77 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Accidental Fluffer Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Malt Liquor ABV: 6.7% IBU: None Untappd Write-Up: A Zeroday holiday classic, Accidental Fluffer is one of our most creative libations. Peppermint flavor and aromas shine in this malt beverage from the addition of pounds of candy canes in the fermenter. This fresh, minty characteristic is complemented by a sweetness derived from a light grain bill, milk sugar, and copious amounts of Marshmallow Fluff. My Untappd Rating: 3.25 Global Untappd Rating: 3.36 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Grievance Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Winter Warmer ABV: 8.5% IBU: 15 Untappd Write-Up: (Blank) My Untappd Rating: 3.75 Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Smooth Metal Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Red Ale – Other ABV: 7.3% IBU: 50 Untappd Write-Up: Smooth Metal showcases a balance between a smooth caramel malt backbone and an assertive floral hop bitterness. The American grown Nugget and Cascade hops provide a classic hop character for this full-bodied ale. Smooth Metal is soft spoken at first, but definitely has a lot to say. My Untappd Rating: 3.75 Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: Mister Bubz Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Dunkelweizen ABV: 5.6% IBU: 16 Untappd Write-Up: Our dunkelweizen is brewed to the traditional German style. This dark wheat ale (“dunkel” means “dark” and “weizen” means “wheat” in German) is a wheat-based beer with dark malt components. While the malt supports a smooth backbone, the yeast is what shines in this beer. Banana and clove aromas and flavors really standout in this dark brown easy-drinking wheat beer. My Untappd Rating: 3.75 Global Untappd Rating: 3.46 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: North St. Stout Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Stout – Coffee ABV: 8.3% IBU: 5 Untappd Write-Up: A vanilla-latte inspired Stout brewed in collaboration with the Elementary Coffee Co. My Untappd Rating: 4 Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 12.30.19)
Beer: ZeroDay Dunkel Brewery: ZeroDay Brewing Co. Style: Lager – Munich – Dunkel ABV: 4.2% IBU: 20 Untappd Write-Up: Light in body, dark in color, this Munich Dunkel brings forth notes of roasted malts and chocolate. My Untappd Rating: 3.50 Global Untappd Rating: 3.45 (as of 12.30.19)
Hopefully you enjoyed this travelogue of our jumpings and hoppins around of Harrisburg. Was a fun day for us, and we do this somewhat often (less now as we get older though). Hopefully there will be more articles like this in the future of more different / diverse places like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, etc. I’m looking forward to 2020 and hoping it has a lot more great breweries in store!
For some other articles and beer reviews and brewery reviews, you can check out these past written articles:
As always, there is tons of things to see, read, and do here on the blog. You can also head over and listen to the podcasts me and my friends – Drew, Esteban, Dan, Andrew, and Andy all have done and created. We talk about beer, movies, pop culture, TV, you name it. You can see the podcast listings here: So a Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar…
Please help us out with word of mouth, share, like, comment, re-tweet, re-blog, whatever works for you. We love to hear from you guys, so please leave a comment. There is still time to get in what you think was the best beer or breweries of 2019, as I’m hoping to have that article fully done and up before the end of 2019. Fingers crossed!
Thank you for reading this long, rambling, blog post. I know its a bit different than some of our past articles. I’m looking to try and expand what all this blog has to offer, so there’ll be tons of different times of articles to read in the future. Not just beer reviews, but brewery reviews, beer related book reviews, home brewing articles, hop growing articles, beer event reviews, news, brewery opening news, travelogues, and so much more!
I have a packed schedule coming up. Looking like at the end of the day on New Years Day I’ll be doing a LOST podcast, Seasons 1 and 2, and then on January 2nd, me and Josh are traveling to Mellow Mink to do a write-up and have some fun with the head brewer Matt Miller. So be on the look out for that. That should be lots of fun!
I also just want to give a shout out – we just hit 100 Followers on Twitter. Thank you all so much for subscribing and following us on Twitter! If you aren’t following us already, you can click here: The Beer Thrillers on Twitter and follow us. That way you won’t miss any great announcements, pictures, and updates! You can also follow us on Facebook at: The Beer Thrillers on Facebook. Thank you everyone!
As always, thank you everyone for reading, and cheers, and Happy New Year!