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Voodoo Brewing Announces Their North Shore Location is Closing

B. Kline — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 20:25:28 +0000

Voodoo Brewing Announces Their North Shore Location is Closing

Voodoo Brewing announced via social media that their Pittsburgh, North Shore location is closing. Tuesday – June 3rd, 2025 will be its last day where you’ll be able to have a chance to go in and grab a beer. They opened August 27th, 2022. (Voodoo Brewing to Open Pittsburgh North Shore Location on August 27th) The Pittsburgh Pub is located on the North Shore at 337 N Shore Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 (in between PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium; formerly Heinz Field).

Several Voodoo Brewpubs closed in 2024 and even already in 2025.

Voodoo North Shore Brewpub Announces Closing

Voodoo Pittsburgh Pub in North Shore Announces Closing

Yesterday via social media at 12:48 PM EST they announced that their brewpub on the North Shore (near the PNC Park and Southern Tier’s location) will be closing, with the “last day to grab a beer with us here” is Tuesday (June 3rd, 2025).

Their post reads:

What a blast it’s been serving the North Shore.

After almost three years, we’ve made the call to close the pub so we can double down on what we do best: brewing world-class beer and making it more available throughout Pennsylvania. This shift will allow us to improve our production, expand distribution, and support our growing network of franchise locations across the country.

We’re entering the final days of our North Shore pub and Tuesday will be the last chance to grab a beer with us at this location. We will be open tomorrow, Monday June 2nd, at 2 PM serving up $5 draft beers.

Thank you to everyone who stopped in and supported us on the North Shore and to our staff who made it happen every single day. If you’ve been meaning to visit, now’s the time.

Come raise a glass and help us close things out right. It’s not good bye, it’s I’ll see you later.

– Voodoo Brewing Co. – Pittsburgh Pub (Facebook Post)

The comment section is certainly interesting, with a mixed reaction of “oh no” to “wow, only two days notice for employees” to “what a shocker, another Voodoo Brewpub closing”. One commenter in particular saying:

woohoo 30 people no longer have jobs and they gave everyone a 2 day notice during the busiest time of the year. another amazing business choice. ill never forget when they decided to lay off several people on christmas eve and when the owner TRIED to make us take down our pride flags. i hope this brand goes to shit as its clearly on its way there.

V’s down

With a follow up reply to that comment:

I was hoping someone would call them out on this one! I don’t understand why companies think that’s ok! I’m sure most of the hiring for summer has already taken place so that leaves these employees in an even tougher spot!

The comments followed up with rumors of what might be going into the location – possibly a “Shorty’s”.

They later posted this, at 6:09 PM via Facebook:

Voodoo Brewing Co. Pittsburgh Pub Talking About Monday’s Hours

We will be open tomorrow, Monday, June 2nd beginning at 2pm for $5 Draft beers. Come see the gang one last time on the North Shore before we close our doors Tuesday Night.

– Voodoo Brewing Co. Pittsburgh Pub (Facebook Post)

Just as before, mixed comments were left. Voodoo Brewing hasn’t responded to any as of my time of writing this (4:00 PM June 2nd).

One comment saying:

I do not understand why anyone would want to waste their time and money for a company that has zero respect for their employees.

For your business to give your employees no notice that they are losing their jobs is absolutely absurd and speaks volumes.

You guys fucking suck, this is a blessing in disguise for your whole crew. They deserve better

Voodoo Brewpubs Closing

Seems to be a rash of Voodoo Brewing locations closing not just in 2024, but continuing into 2025. They are a franchise based brewery, so there is numerous locations. Some as far away (from Pennsylvania) as Reno Nevada (which has closed), which you can read about here: Voodoo Brewing Closes Reno Location.

Voodoo Brewpubs That Closed in 2024 or 2025

As of June 2025, at least six Voodoo Brewing Company locations have closed during 2024 and 2025:

Fort Worth, Texas: Opened in July 2024 and closed by late October 2024 due to insufficient revenue to cover operational costs.
Fort Myers, Florida: Opened in April 2024 and closed on March 30, 2025, after facing challenges such as bridge and road closures and two hurricanes.
Meadville, Pennsylvania (Arch Street location): Closed on January 2, 2025, after over a decade of operation. The company transitioned operations to “The Compound,” their production facility.
Grand Prairie, Texas: Originally a Voodoo Brewing franchise, it rebranded as Rios Brewing Co. in early 2025, ending its affiliation with Voodoo Brewing Company.
Reno, Nevada: Opened in 2023 and closed May 2024.
North Shore, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Opened in 2022 and closing now (June 2025).

Additionally, the Murrells Inlet, South Carolina location announced a closure in December 2024 but remained open due to community support.

Voodoo Brewing Company Closures (2024–2025)

As of June 2025, at least six Voodoo Brewing Company locations have permanently closed during 2024 and 2025:

Fort Worth, Texas
- Opened: July 2024
- Closed: Late October 2024
- Reason: Inability to generate enough revenue to cover operational costs.
- Source
Fort Myers, Florida
- Opened: April 2024
- Closed: March 30, 2025
- Reason: Economic impact from bridge/road closures and hurricanes.
- Source
Meadville, Pennsylvania (Arch Street location)
- Closed: January 2, 2025
- Reason: Operational shift to “The Compound” production facility.
Grand Prairie, Texas
- Rebranded: Early 2025
- Note: No longer affiliated with Voodoo Brewing; now operates as Rios Brewing Co.
- Source
Reno, Nevada
- Opened: January 28, 2023
- Closed: Around May 2, 2024
- Reason: Closed without public announcement; status listed as permanently closed.
- Source
North Shore, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Opened: August 27th, 2022
- Closed: June 3, 2025
- Reason: Announced on Facebook on June 1st, 2025.

News and Updates

When we get more information, we’ll be sure to update this, and possibly make further articles with more news and updates about Voodoo Brewing, this location, and reasons for the closing.

For More Information on Voodoo Brewing

We have the following articles you can read:

Voodoo Brewery to Close in Reno, NV
Voodoo Brewery Closing Arch Street Location in Meadville, PA
Voodoo Brewing Company Names New CFO and Employee Owner, Reinforcing Its Dedication to a Diverse and Dynamic Community
Voodoo Opening Brewpub in North Shore of Pittsburgh on August 27th
Voodoo Brewing Seven Fields Coming Spring 2024
Voodoo Brewing to Open in Reno, NV
Voodoo Brewing Co. Brings Craft Beer Magic to Reno
Voodoo Brewery Lancaster is Closing

For more information on Voodoo Brewing, the following comes via Untappd.

They are considered a “micro brewery” by Untappd, and listed as located at Meadville, PA. They have 691 unique beers and over 571,000 (just thirty – four shy of 572,000) ratings, with a global average rating of 3.94. As I click and open up their Untappd bio, I am going to assume it was hacked (or possibly an employee about to lose their job or just lost their job that still has access to the Untappd login ability) because this is what it says:

This is Voodoo Brewery, based in Meadville, PA, that opened a location in Valrico, FL. They have horrible beer that they brew themselves and skunk beer from other breweries; the service is atrocious and the vibes are mid at best despite their budget. Do not go to this expansionist corporate hell hole

Before clicking the “read more” you are just shown: “This is Voodoo Brewery, based in Meadville, PA, that opened a location in Valrico, F”

(I am quite curious when this update and change to their Untappd bio was made.)

You can visit them on their social media accounts at:

Voodoo Brewing – Official Website
Voodoo Brewing – Facebook
Voodoo Brewing – Instagram
Voodoo Brewing – Untappd

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beeradmin23 — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 18:34:03 +0000

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beeradmin23 — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 16:39:11 +0000

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

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beeradmin23 — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 03:39:10 +0000

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

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

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Rumors and Round-Ups (Rumor Mill 5.23.24)

B. Kline — Thu, 23 May 2024 16:45:55 +0000

An anonymous post made in the Breweries in Planning group.

Rumors and Round-Ups (Rumor Mill 5.23.24)

We’re back with another (smaller) rumor mill. This time localized to a singular thing, rather than a more full listing of rumors and round-ups.

(See the previous Rumors and Round-Ups from January 2024.)

Occasionally, we get some information, snippets and things that I feel might be worth posting about, but not sure if they could be a full article on their own, and as I do research and look into things, I don’t have a lot more to go on other than insider business talk.

So this will be an infrequent series I suppose here at the blog, of just “rumors” “possible news” and things that might never come to fruition, might never blossom, etc. Things will be kept track of though.

5.23.24

As you can see with the photo attached to this article, an Anonymous Post was made to the Facebook group “Brewery in Planning” which is an international Facebook group designed for brewers, owners, and other brewery staff that are currently in operation or soon to be operation, or for people looking to possibly open their own brewery and wanting to get some feedback, advice, or just answers to their questions.

The post reads:

Posting for a member who wishes to remain anonymous

We are majority owners of a 7bbl production brewery and restaurant located in York County PA with gross sales of 1.2 million dollars for 2023. Life circumstances have necessitated we relocate and we are seeking to sell our shares by the end of the summer. If you were to purchase our shares, it would come with running the business on a daily basis. Please contact the admin for this page if you are interested in learning more information

Currently, the following is a list of breweries in York County, PA:

Aldus Brewing
AleCraft Brewery
Aviator Brewing
Big Bottom Brewery
Black Cap Brewing
Buon Appetito Ristorante
Collusion Tap Works
Fat Bat Brewing
Gift Horse Brewing
Gunpowder Falls Brewing
Hell in a Bucket Brewery
Lydian Stone Brewing
Mexitaly
Mudhook Brewing
Scrubby’s Craft Brewery
Sign of the Horse Brewing
Something Wicked Brewing
South County Brewing
Staggered Leg Brewery
Stony Run Brewhouse
Vortex Brewing
Warehouse Gourmet Bistro & Brew Pub
Winding Path Brewing

Going back up to the post, the interesting statistics to look at are:

7 BBL System
Production Brewery
1.2 Million Dollars in Gross Sales

The other interesting note is that they are looking to sell their shares so that they can relocate. So they are looking to sell, not close, and the owner(s) are looking to relocate or are already relocating elsewhere. The post doesn’t say if they will be opening a new brewery at their new location (my assumption is that they won’t be since they are selling shares and full production brewery).

We will keep you updated as we get more information. In the meantime, its interesting to speculate on which brewery of those 23 it might be.

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MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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

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

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River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closing

BKline — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 14:52:08 +0000

River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery logo

Just minutes ago today – November 6th, 2020 – River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery announced they will be closing on their Facebook page, citing COVID-19 as the main cause.

As many of you know, in today’s climate with Covid-19, it has become more and more difficult to continue to keep River Bend’s doors open with the regulations we must follow. After 3 wonderful years of bringing you carefully cultivated craft beer to drink, local musicians to listen to and beautiful views to enjoy, we are closing our doors. Know that this decision has been a difficult one.To all that made River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery a destination, thank you for navigating the road less traveled and supporting us at Perry County’s Oldest (and 1st) Brewery. We will be forever grateful to our patrons for allowing us to serve you!
Thank You Again,
Tom & Melissa Beers
Denny & Wendy Browne
River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Facebook

River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery’s Facebook post

Unfortunately today’s blog post is a sad one. River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery is the latest to be closing their doors. The above post doesn’t go into too much detail about how, when, or what capacity they are closing, but it looks to be in complete. Hopefully the venue will stay for restaurant purposes or weddings in the future, and their hop yard will still be used, but as of this posting above, it doesn’t state.

I got to go there once about two years ago, and enjoyed the beers wonderfully. I was there with my (now ex)-wife, and my three daughters, on a cold foggy Friday night nearing Christmas. They were selling Christmas trees by their parking lot, and it was about as dangerous to get to their place as possible in the fog and darkness, but once there, the old barn turned brewery was absolutely beautiful, the workers and staff were all super friendly and nice to my children, and the atmosphere was fantastic. The beers were delicious and we had a good time, and left with full stomachs and happy memories. So it is very sad to see them closing their doors.

They join other recent breweries announcing their closing like Spigot Brewing, Stoudt’s Brewing, Crystal Ball Brewing, and Mikkeller NYC.

We would like to extend the condolences and sadness with everyone exiting and losing this great brewery, venue, and restaurant. And we would like to wish Tom and Melissa Beers, and Denny and Wendy Browne happy trails and good success in the future and hope for the best.

COVID-19 has been exceptionally rough on the service industry. From restaurants to breweries to small mom and pop stores. Please, now is the time everyone to support local. Buy from the small stores, go to the small restaurants to eat, shop where you know the person the money is going to, eat where you know the servers by first, last, and middle name. Let’s help support local now more than ever! The winter months will be especially hard for many restaurants, breweries, bars, etc. We can all do this, we can all pull together and help out, so let’s do it. Wear your masks, keep your distances, help the staff, be nice to the workers who are already extremely stressed. We got this people, we can do it!

Cheers Everyone. If we all stick together, stay safe, and help each other out, soon, before you know it, we’ll be all hanging out, maskless, at our favorite breweries drinking some cold crisp drinks together!

-B. Kline

You can read about more brewery closures here:

And in better, happier news, check out our articles on brewery openings:

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River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery

The Beer Thrillers (Facebook Group)

BKline — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 02:33:36 +0000

We now have a Facebook group page that you can JOIN and follow along with. For those familiar with Facebook – groups on Facebook are more of an old-school chat room / message board forum style way of conversation with people. You can join the group and immediately begin posting. You just need a Facebook account.

While on the Facebook group, you can post pictures of beers you are having, comment about the blog, talk to us – the blog writers – and other fans of the blog, discuss beer trends, discuss local breweries, give your own reviews of beers and breweries, and discuss beer related events and activities. We do ask that you remain civil, calm, and considerate of others. To keep political and religious and other potential offensive material off the group, and to keep it relatively PG-13 level of discussion. (No need to get crazy swearing or vulgar, plenty of other places for that if you feel the need.)

While on Facebook, make sure you to LIKE and FOLLOW us on Facebook as well. Same with Twitter and Instagram.

You can see a direct link to the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBeerThrillersGroup/

Thanks for joining us!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Beer Thrillers (Facebook group) logo

Beer Review: Sunshine and Opportunity (Almanac Beer Company)

BKline — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:20:01 +0000

Sunshine and Opportunity (by Almanac Beer Company) was the perfect choice of beer for a gorgeous, sunny, warm, February day in Central PA. A rare opportunity for lovely sunshine had to be taken advantage of!

Imagine this: its February 19th in Central PA; its usually cold, blustery even, possibly snow on the ground or snowing, icicles usually hang from gutters and roofs and trees, nobody is outside walking their dogs, nobody is outside period – unless forced to shovel – schools might even be cancelled due to snow or bad roads, cars stay parked along the roads, plowed in by local governments snowplowers, …..this is your usual February 19th right? Not 2020. Instead, its 2PM on February 19th, 2020, in Hummelstown Pennsylvania, and my phone says its 45 degrees, sunny, with the warm rays warming me more than the 45 even suggests. There’s a slight breeze. I take a pause from my yard work and long dog walks to sit outside and enjoy a delicious beer and read some books.

My first beer from the California beer mail I did a few days prior, and my first of that batch to be reviewed for the blog. When going through the beers in the fridge looking to find one to drink on this beautiful day, the name of this one leaped out to me (for obvious reasons) and thus became the de facto first pick.

My beer mail from California

My beer mail consisted of Almanac Beer Company, The Booth Brewing, Fallen River, Sudwerk Brewing, and one Sierra Nevada can. Ironically, while sitting out and enjoying me beer and reading, my friend Dan, who had gotten me the Tree House Brewing Company beers that let me do my series (Sap, Autumn, Julius, Haze, Doppelganger, and Intemperance), texted me that he was currently in the San Diego area of California. That he had just left Belching Beaver and was wondering if I knew of any other really good breweries in the area. (I let him know about Modern Times and Pizza Port, and then used Hop Plotter [which is going away soon by the way] to locate some others.) He told me you can’t walk more than five minutes down the streets without running into a brewery there. Oh what a problem to have!

Other than just the name of this beer, the beer caught my attention for how interesting it is. Its a barrel aged, dry hopped sour. Seems like a very interesting combination to me. You don’t typically see barrel aged, sour, and dry hopped, all combined, let alone any combination therein (barrel aged sours, or dry hopped sours, or barrel aging and dry hopping), so this called out to me all the more for it.

The side of the can explaining its madness – Sunshine and Opportunity.

The picture might be hard to read, and its not listed on their Untappd profile for the beer, so I’ll re-write it here:

“This is NOT a kettle sour. This mixed-culture farmhouse ale was aged in oak barrels with pear juice. A delicate dry-hop of Citra, Sabro, and Mosaic imparts a transcendent tropical aroma. Shine on! HOPS: Citra, Sabro, Mosaic. MALT: Admiral Pale, Oats, Wheat, Aromatic.”

So as you can see, there is definitely a lot going on with this bad boy.

Almanac Beer Company is a regional brewery out of Alameda California. According to Untappd, they have 286 unique beers listed with a global rating (as of 2.20.20) of 3.98. Their description on Untappd reads: “Our motto, “Farm-to-Barrel”, means brewing beers inspired by the great brewing traditions of the world with the best in locally sourced ingredients. Almanac Beer Company was founded in 2010 by Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan.”

Sunshine and Opportunity by Almanac Beer Company

Beer: Sunshine and Opportunity
Brewery: Almanac Beer Company
Style: Farmhouse Ale – Saison
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: None Listed
Hops: Citra, Sabro, Mosaic
Malts: Admiral Pale, Oats, Wheat, Aromatic
Untappd Write-Up: Mixed fermentation saison, aged in oak barrels and dry-hopped.

This is certainly an interesting beer. As I cracked it open, the aromatic and citrusy and summer smelling, sunshine beaming, fruity and citrusy hops burst free, the pear juice, burst free, all of these things just from cracking the can. I poured it into my Ffej of July glass, making me think about the super fun party in July and envisioning even more sunshine and great weather, it almost looked like pouring champagne. It bubbled, it was effervescent, it was bubbly and happy and excited to be poured out. Its bright yellow / orange / wheat like golden hue was bright, bubbly, looking like a cross between a pilsner, champagne, and a saison. It had a big white fluffy bubbly head, with huge interspersed and diverse bubbles. This guy was carbonated and ready to play. As I drank, it left lacing. And as I drank, it still bubbled, tickling your nose with little pops as you drank.

This is also jam packed with a variety of smells. It is definitely an aromatic beer. Your nose is getting a workout with this one. First impression of the nose is pear and citrus and sunshine hops. You get a definitive pear juice presence right off the bat, as well as the Citra, Sabro, and Mosaic dry hopping. Quick background on those three hops:

— Citra: “American aroma hop Citra was created by John I. Haas, Inc. and Select Botanicals Group joint venture, the Hop Breeding Company. It was released to the brewing world in 2008. Now one of the most coveted high-impact aroma hops in the US, particularly among craft brewers, it boasts a complex lineage that includes the likes of Hallertau Mittelfrüh (father), Tettnanger (US), Brewer’s Gold and East Kent Golding.” (Hopslist)
— Mosaic: “Released in 2012 by the Hop Breeding Company, LLC, Mosaic hops feature complex but clean flavor characteristics and are known for their triple-use profile encompassing bittering, flavor and aroma. They have high alpha acids but low cohumulone which makes them pleasantly hoppy, carrying flavors of mango, pine, citrus and herbs and aromas of tropical and stone fruit. Mosaic is the first daughter of Simcoe and Nugget as has been humorously referred to by some as “Citra on steroids”.” (Hopslist)
— Sabro: “Sabro is an aroma hop that is notable for its complexity of fruity and citrus flavors. It imparts distinct tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit, and stone fruit aromas, with hints of cedar, mint, and cream. Sabro’s pedigree is the result of a unique cross pollination of a female neomexicanus hop.” (Yakima Valley Hops)

So as you can see, these three hops really impart a very fruity, citrusy, juicy hop characteristic. Especially for aroma. Full of mango, citrus, spicy herbs, tangerine, stone fruits, tropical fruits like coconut, kiwi, passionfruit, stone fruits, you get a large rang of gamut with these hops. And they work kind of like a trifecta together. On top of the complexities of the dry hoping with these hops, and the strong presence of the pear juice, you get the distinct oakyness of the barrel aged process in which this beer went through, imparting it with the characteristics and notes of oak barrels. This is a bit fainter, especially on the nose, but the oak is there, as well as some of the spices and the yeast strain notes that accompany farmhouse saisons and ales, a bit of a background funkyness that you know is trying to peak and stick its head through when nobody is looking.

Enough blabbering about appearance and smell, lets get to the fun part of beer – drinking it. Do you have socks on? You better have shoes on too then, because if you don’t, first sip is going to knock those socks right off. One sip, first sip, barely in your mouth, and you get an explosion of complexities. You get the dry hopping, you get the pear juice, you get the oak barrel aging, you get the funkyness of farmhouse ales and saisons, you get a full rich and immersive beer on that first sip. So lets try and break this down (if I can!). Breaking it down by drinking it is the best approach I think because this beer changes as you drink, and you get more of the complexities evening out into their own compartments and it gets kind of sectionalized. First as you take your sip, those bubbles get you. This is almost like drinking champagne, I immediately felt the bubbles tickling my mustache, could feel the interesting yeast right away, a combination of champagne yeast and farmhouse saison style yeast. Beyond this then, you start to really pick up the pear juice, and this is where the tartness and a bit of the sweetness of the beer comes through. You get that funky Saison taste, that deep tartness unlike sours (or kettle sours or even berliner weisse’s), you get a funky, resonating tart with pear notes. Then blammo the hops take over. You get the citrus and sunshine bright hops exploding like mortar blasts all around you, like the trailer of 1917 as the guy is running criss-cross through the battlefield and blasts are going off around him. Citra. BAM. Mosaic. BAM. Sabro. BAM. Pop. Pop. Pop. BAMMMM. You get citrus, tangerine, coconut, pineapple, mango, more pear, kiwi and passionfruit, some cedar, some pine, stone fruits like plum and apricot, all blending in the hops and exploding rapid fire around you. And finally, you are left with the oak, the oakyness of the barrels, like a lasting, impression on your tongue as the beer fades away. It adds to that funkyness, it adds to the tartness, and it really brings out the Saison and Farmhouse aspects of the beer. The beer is also only a 5.8% so there’s not even really a buzz afterwards. There is nothing cloying, or upsetting about this, nothing heavy, or too dry, the juice is there, the tart is there, its slightly thin, but not problematically. This is just all around unique, tasty, and fun to drink.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.85 (as of 2.20.20).

I am currently in the process of going back and editing a bit of some of the recent blog posts. Namely, the Loki – Wild IPA, the Valentine’s Day Beers, I Cannot Tell a Lie, and the Back to Reality. Adding some references and stuff to the beer titles and things like that. Nothing altering the actual review of the beer, but just providing some extra information about the beer, its name, cultural underpinnings of it all, etc.

As I said in my last reviews, Back to Reality and Intemperance, we are really starting to hit our stride here at The Beer Thrillers. I will be on several podcasts in the near future – Might Be Brews, Beers with Strangers, and the one with my friends So A Mexican and A Scot Walk Into a Bar…, as well as lots of writing news as well. Invites to Rubber Soul Brewing opening (or re-opening) in Hummelstown (my hometown), Liquid Noise, and an interesting e-mail about doing some writing about breweries for Visit Hershey. (This could be potentially about the brewery that might be opening at the Chocolate Town area – which will be the new entrance to Hershey Park. I don’t know for sure, but I’m eagerly awaiting this meeting with the representative to find out more and let you all know.)

We are up to 412 followers on Facebook now, which is absolutely fantastic, and 128 followers on Twitter. We are currently listed as the # 9 blog on FeedSpot’s Top 100 blogs. The blog is certainly growing, we just hit 150 total posts recently (this is post number 152). The blog has only been live since near the end of May 2019. I am very excited for the growth its gone through and its continual growth. Our friends at LetUsDrinkBeer blog are also about to have their latest review of a brewery from Georgia for us.

We are primarily a Central PA beer blog, but we are also very much more, we’re doing beer reviews of beers from all over thanks to beer mail trades as well as Tavour (J. Doncevic’s favorite), we are also hitting up a lot of beer events this year (upcoming for me will be the AC Brewfest in early April as well as Little Big Beer Fest, and J. Doncevic will be hitting the big Prototype Invitational with Rotunda Brewing. With the guys from LetUsDrinkBeer, we are reporting on stuff down in Georgia. We are also getting invites to podcasts and writing for other blogs as well as brewery openings and events too. So we are going to have no shortage of things to report on. And with the guys from Default Brewing, we’ll have more homebrewing articles in the upcoming months as well. (Fingers crossed they’ll get something posted soon.)

For those interested, the books behind the beer in this blog post are: “I Am C-3PO” by Anthony Daniels, and “Desert Wisdom” by Yushi Nomura and Henri J.M. Nouwen. You can read my reviews of books at my GoodReads page.

As always (I feel like a robot on repeat saying this), please click the follow, like, and subscribes. Enter your e-mail to get up to date news on new blog posts. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see posts and pictures and videos that don’t always make it onto the blog.

All of us here at The Beer Thrillers, from the writers like me and J. Doncevic and AJ Brechbiel, as well as those tangentially tied in (D. Scott, Esteban from the podcast; D. Arndt and others who have helped to contribute) we all greatly appreciate you reading.

We love to hear from you; so if you have anything at all, comments, suggestions, questions, writing tips, information, news, queries about writing for us, or queries about us writing for you, be sure to leave a comment or use the Contact Us page to send us some direct feedback. We love to from all of you! Be sure if you enjoyed reading this, to rate it and like the blog post as well (that also helps with the SEO and page algorithm on sites like Google, Bing, Dogpile, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.).

Thank you everyone, and cheers, and enjoy these all too few beautiful February days!

-B. Kline

Beer Review: Intemperance (Tree House Brewing Company)

BKline — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:31:37 +0000

Intemperance by Tree House Brewing Co.

This was supposed to be a five part series. Consisting of Sap, Haze, Doppelganger, Autumn, and Julius. But then like Disney buying Star Wars…. along came another, like a new movie to add to the series, I present you number six – the final, epic, saga ending beer review – of Intemperance.

Thats probably a bit hyperbolic, but you get the idea. This wasn’t intended, but we’re going to go with it. I don’t mind doing Tree House beer reviews, thats for sure. I could do them all the time, I’ll gladly accept any Tree House beer donations in lieu of reviews. No problem, no questions asked. (Who can turn down delicious wonderful near perfect beers anyway right?)

This is going to be different than the previous installments though. Whereas the others were IPAs (Double / regular) or a pale ale; this is the first dark brew I’ll be reviewing from Tree House. Intemperance is a Double Milk Stout. A fitting conclusion to the series. Epic? Maybe not. Ending to a massive saga on the scale of Episode IX? Probably not. A fantastic beer? Definitely! A good beer review? Hopefully so!

Just want to give a final shout out to D. Arndt for these fantastic beers. Tree House certainly never disappoints. Thanks Dan!

Intemperance by Tree House Brewing Co.

Beer: Intemperance
Brewery: Tree House Brewing Co.
Style – Stout – Imperial / Double Milk
ABV: 9.9%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Intemperance is an imperial milk stout brewed with cinnamon, vanilla cream, Christmas cookies, and a hint of chestnut. Throwing the kitchen sink of authentic holiday-themed ingredients at this beer results in a truly unique, exciting, nostalgic-tasting beverage that doesn’t take itself too seriously. As it warms you can truly pick out the flavor notes of its individual constituents. Put on some pajamas, start a fire, and let this beer take you into the night.

This is a perfect fireplace beer. Christmas Eve, all the kids presents wrapped and under the tree and finally getting to fall asleep to A Christmas Story playing on loop in the background.

Appearance is the darkest of dark black. Like the souls and hearts of….. ahh, gee, thats too dark for something so tasty, frivolous, and fun. I’ll fall back on my motor oil comparisons and Razor Ramone hair comparisons and jet fuel and other similar ones. This is too much fun drinking to go too too dark on the descriptors. There is a lovely light brown creamy head to this that just floats on the dark waters. Lacing runs down the glass as you drain this gorgeous beer.

Aroma is so much, such complexity, just so much to take in through the nose. Aroma for this is pure Christmas. Baking cookies, yule log, milk, eggnog, dark bready notes, ginger, hazelnut. Like someone made a Bath and Bodyworks candle out of Santa Clause’s cabin. Notes of cinnamon, vanilla, hazelnut, ginger, molasses, chestnut, all swirl around with a roasted malt and grain bill with some nice earthy bread notes.

This is an amazingly smooth beer for a 9.9% stout. Its not annoyingly sweet or cloying. But it is dangerously smooth. The vanilla just gives it that added boost. You immediately taste like a child waking up Christmas morning after only getting one hour of sleep because you spent all night at your bedroom door waiting for Santa. This is dark and heavy, with a wonderful, full body and mouthfeel. But surprisingly you can sort of taste the high ABV but not fully feel the high ABV, and even then, its all levels of subtlety that get hidden amongst the complexities of the flavors. You get all of the flavors of Christmas cookie baking; vanilla, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, chestnut, hazelnut, and they all blend together with nothing overpowering anything else. Like a fine choreographed dance, everyone working together – every flavor working together – to build to a far bigger whole and better beer as a whole for it. There is no off putting flavors or aromas, no bad lingering aftertaste, just a great, well rounded, well created, well crafted, beautifully made and delicious beer. This could easily be a ‘final beer’ (before I go) type beer, and all would be content.

My Untappd Rating: ****.50
Global Untappd Rating: 4.24 (as of 2.19.20)

Blog news:

This was meant to go up last night after work as a double-blog day, but that didn’t really come about. Yesterday was pretty busy, and after stopping at the library, and dinner with the kids, and everything after work, the night kind of slipped away. (The Flyers did crush last night, so there was that too.)

But yesterday was a big networking day for the blog. With breweries reaching out for us to do scheduled tours and interviews. Podcasts reaching out to us for interviews and discussions. All around a very busy day.

We also hit number 400 on Facebook. Our four hundredth like on Facebook was Rory Dibeler. We are now up to 410 and looking forward to number 500. We are also up to 128 followers on Twitter. So if you aren’t a follower on either platform, please do so. You can also follow us on Instagram, where we are looking to further our presence in the upcoming months.

As always, be sure to like and follow us. Check out some of our older articles and beer reviews and news stories. You can read up about openings and closings, brewery reviews, beer reviews, brewery events, and even some book reviews. We appreciate all the views, likes, comments, suggestions, and feedback.

Cheers all!

-B. Kline