Well this post was a bit of a long time in coming I suppose. This was meant to be worked on and written and finished many times throughout this week. Sunday night was the usual hang-out at Irgo’s Tavern with co-workers, so that night was definitely a no-go for writing this up. (Especially since then afterwards went back to a co-workers house and watched Elimination Chamber and left his house at 3AM.)

Monday night was a bit busy and hectic as well. A family member was taken to the hospital where she has been since. (Not coronavirus or COVID-19, so don’t worry, I’m not infected. Obviously, I mean no offense to anyone, I’m just using humor to keep things together and keep the stress at bay, much like I use this blog itself.) Tuesday night after work, was the annual co-worker fantasy draft. Typically what ends up happening at these drafts is – my co-workers get my pretty good and drunk and they let me draft for a person who can’t make it. Inevitably that team lands Top 3. Doesn’t matter the sport, baseball or basketball (the ones we do). I don’t even watch basketball, NBA, college, whatever, so I know next to nothing about it, yet the one year I drafted the team that ended up winning. (The guy only made 5 roster moves all season.) I even drafted a guy with the last name DUDLEY solely because I liked the Dudley Boyz; ECW / WWE / TNA / ROH / etc. tag team.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was spent at the hospital. With the daughters. And doing a host of other things; which also consisted of my oldest daughter’s first softball practice of the season. I had walked a combined total of 9 some miles. And this was on a day where I only got home at 4:15 from the festivities the night before. (The fantasy draft, then led to going to a bar doing Irish Car Bombs, then led to hanging out for a bit before getting home.) So needless to say, the week quickly went by and we find ourselves here at Thursday morning.

Not sure how we got here, but all I know is, we made it to this point, and its about time I do this review, and owe it to you guys. You’ve been patiently waiting, so its time I get around and get writing! (I’d say “get off my fat butt”, but I sit to write, so I literally have to sit ON my fat butt to write it.)

So where do we find ourselves at? Ahh yes, reviewing some New Trail beer. Friday night while waiting out my youngest’s ballet class, I was at Funck’s Restaurant in Palmyra. They have a pretty heft selection (56 taps). Found two good New Trail beers on tap, and enjoyed them both immensely. Now, sometimes in the past I’d do this as a double-beer review, and I’m even thinking of doing it now…. but I think I’m going to hold off and make this two separate beer reviews. (In the past I’ve done “Two Beer Review” and “Multiple Beer Review” posts; especially when its the same brewery, at the same location, drank at the same time.) I think going forward with the blog I’m going to restrain from doing that (except perhaps in particular circumstances). I’ll do multiple beer review posts for beer flights I have at breweries, and outside of that always keep it to single beer reviews.

Thus this will be a single beer review and I’ll first cover Icicle by New Trail Brewing; the next post will most likely be the Sticky Barrel Aged Porter I also had by New Trail Brewing there at Funck’s. (Unless I decide to split it up with another beer that I’ve had.)

Let’s get to this!

Beer: Icicle
Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: Icicle is a Hazy IPA brewed with a blend of oats, wheat, & spelt. Drippingly hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo, & Centennial. Expect luscious citrus flavor mixed with that earthy green. Enjoy the long thaw with us.

One thing that can be said for New Trail; they pretty much deliver spot on with their descriptions. If they say a beer tastes like 1930s bubble-gum wrapped in bacon with a hint of ranch dressing; then you better believe thats what it’ll taste like.

Appearance for this is typical straight up hazy New England IPA. (Which is pretty much typical for all New Trail beers; IPA at least; which is their bread and butter anyway.) Turbid, dank, murky, dark orange to orange juice in hue. My friend (D. Scott) ordered the same as his second beer, and his looked a bit more brighter and fluorescent than mine, but same similar appearance, and both very dank and hazy. Certainly no clarity with these beers. Slight bit of sediment, but nothing to extreme.

Aroma is hop… hop… hop bomb through and through. Citrus and strong tropical notes but all hop and all day and all throughout hop. Strong citrus, strong tropical fruit, some stone fruit, late notes of grass.

This is a New Trail IPA, through and through; meaning be prepared for a juicy, strong hoppy, New England hazy style IPA. There is no denying they know their style and ability to make these are great, but you know all this going in, and they confirm it with each new IPA they release. Your not going to get a bad IPA from them… but, overall you also probably are not getting a massive variety of IPA from them. Insofar as I mean that their substituting a few hops for a few different hops and you get a more X (say citrus) flavor and then in the next one you get more Y (say stone fruit) or something similar. They are all GREAT and AMAZING beers. I’ve yet to have had a West Coast IPA from them (not sure if they’ve even made one and released one). And like I’ve said, I’ve yet to have had a BAD beer from them. I do think with NE-IPAs that they all tend to flow together. Substitute Hop 1X for Hop Y, meanwhile keeping hops Hops 2X and 3X the same, and then in beer 2, you substitute Hop 2X for Hop Y2, etc. For just subtle, slight, nuanced variations. But they sell, and they sell good, and you can keep re-naming them all too, and super inflate your ultimate Untappd, Beer Advocate, and other beer rating platform totals. Its a great marketing idea. This isn’t a hounding on them or hating on them, just something I’ve noticed with them, and a few other breweries have done the same. Its not a horrible practice, in fact its downright smart. But enough of that, lets talk the flavor of THIS particular beer.

Like the description says, you are getting oats, wheat, and spelt; so you are getting a hazy, dank, juicy IPA. Haze. Craze. For hops they used simcoe, amarillo, and centennial, giving this a massive amount of tropic flavor. Immediately on sipping you get the tropical juice, up front, coming straight at you, then it leads itself into a bit of stone fruit, a bit dryer, a bit off the sweet side, nothing tangy, nothng off, nothing bitter, but then it ends in the earth, giving you a bit of a grassy, green, earthy finish. Like working through a weird and exotic forest; starting with tropical fruits then seguing into stone fruits before you finish on the forest floor getting the grass and earthyness. This is certainly a fun, full, luscious beer. Its nothing too dry, sweet, or cloying, its just right all over. A fun, tasty beer all around.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.07 (as of 3.12.20)

As I said at the start of this, sorry for the delay in getting this blog post out, as I’m sure you can all understand why. Depending on my night, I might do a second (I know I say this a lot and then it doesn’t happen), or I might fire one off before work tomorrow morning. Saturday, all fingers and toes and other appendages crossed, I will be attending the Kegs & Eggs at Rotunda Brewery / The Batdorf. J. Doncevic will also be there. You can find the event listing here: Kegs & Eggs 2020. Money goes towards Elliot’s CP Journey. So come on out and support a good cause.

In other blog news, I edited the Haze Charmer article to include the links and articles like I said I would at the end of it. Forgot to do that on initial release of the post.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Cheers, prost, and slainte!

-B. Kline

I debated this morning on which beer to do next. I have a few on the ‘docket’ from Friday. At Funck’s, while waiting for my daughter’s ballet class to end, I had Icicle by New Trail and their Cinnamon Barrel Aged Sticky. Both of those are ones I want to review. Also, I don’t normally do flagship beers; or full yearly releases and stuff. And thats what Haze Charmer is – its Troeg’s first new yearly in four years. But, I wanted to do a beer from Friday, and wanted to do tie it in with Seinfeld, so I figured the more recent beer I had before going. Plus, lets me do a bit of promotion for The Mill as well as handle a popular buzz-worthy beer (the Haze Charmer). I don’t normally like to do back-to-back beers from the same brewery; so I might break up the New Trail beers. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do the Sticky and then Tuesday try one of the California beers to do, then Wednesday do Icicle.

I do like to help promote local businesses and restaurants when I can; so helping out both Troegs and The Mill is kind of a win-win. And since Haze Charmer is pretty darn good, it’ll make for a good beer review. Especially since there’s a fair bit of history to do with this beer, since like Nimble Giant and some of their other beers its started off life as a scratch beer and gone through several iterations before becoming the beer you might be drinking right now.

Upon its release, this certainly got lots of media attention. Hitting all kinds of news outlets, beer blogs, beer sites, from everything from little blogs to big news sites (locally). PennLive, NewsBreak, MyBeerBuzz, BrewFinder, BrewBound, TheFullPint, etc, etc, etc. So needless to say, it’s gotten a fair amount of buzz. For good reason too. I’ll provide some links to their various sites at the end of this review – though be forewarned, I’ve come to discover most of them are just the exact same article; basically a written press release by Troegs and then copied and pasted by the various media outlets. (If you take note on this blog, I do my own news articles, I don’t like doing press release copy and paste jobs.)

My primary source for information on this beautiful beer comes from the Troegs Blog itself. Where they discuss its process a bit more in-depth (though they don’t list which exact Scratches this was, I’ve done some digging, and think I can piece it together.) Using on Untappd, I searched Troegs Beers and filtered it for “PALE ALE” and selected Newest to Oldest. And based on logos, and descriptions of “hazy pale ale” I think I’ve broken down its chain of scratches:

* Scratch 404 – Scratch 404 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale #6
* Scratch 403 – Scratch 403 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale #5
* Scratch 401 – Scratch 401 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale #4
* Scratch 399 – Scratch 399 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale

There’s also a few other scratch pale ales:

* Scratch 398 – Scratch 398 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale #2
* Scratch 397 – Scratch 397 – Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale
* Scratch 396 – Scratch 396 – Dry-Hopped Pale Ale
* Scratch 393 – Scratch 393 – Dry-Hopped Pale Ale (Azacca, Comet & Idaho 7)
* Scratch 390 – Scratch 390 – Amarillo Fresh Hop Ale
* Scratch 374 – Scratch 374 – Oat Pale Ale (w/ Azacca, Citra & Denali)

Going back further, there is even more scratches. There’s also the Trail Day Pale Ale they released in 2019, that I reviewed. I also reviewed Scratch 396 – Dry Hopped Pale Ale; as part of a flight and beer review I did a while back as well. So looking back over those, you get a semblance of an idea where they were going with the creation of this new Haze Charmer. According to Untappd Troegs has 33 Pale Ale – American beers, 5 Pale Ale – Belgians, and 1 Pale Ale – New England variants. The New England was the precursor for the Trail Day Pale Ale that they released in cans: Scratch 380 – Trail Day Dry-hopped Pale Ale.

Most of their listings are the non-specific; Pale Ale – American Ale. Which is the typical default standard setting for pale ales (made in America). Though, with the “haze” and the “flaked oats” and stuff of a few of these pale ales, they could fall under the category of “Pale Ale – New England”, so its interesting to see that they have just one listed that way.

I love how Troegs’ lists what hops, oats, grain, yeast strain, etc, that they use in their brewing process. Gives homebrewers some ideas of how to make their own near-clones and gives you a look at the process, a peak behind the curtain if you will. So let’s first take a look at the hops included in this beer.

Hops included are: Comet, Azacca, and Idaho 7.
First up on our list is Comet:

“Comet’s flavor profile rests heavily on a strong accent of grapefruit. It does feature solid bittering capabilities and traditionally brewers considered it best suited as a bittering agent for American-style lagers. Recently however, there has been a surge in its use as a dry-hop in ales and IPA’s.” (Hopslist – Comet)

Next up is Azacca:
“Even with its high alpha acids, Azacca still works well as a dual-use hop, giving off a pleasant mix of tropical fruits kissed with citrus. On the palate it’s particularly spicy, with mango, pineapple and some pine and tangerine-esque qualities. It has also been likened in nature to some New Zealand-bred varieties.” (Hopslist – Azacca)

Last is Idaho 7:
“Idaho #7 hops are known for their piney, tropical, fruity, citrusy, earthy, and floral flavors and aromas. Typically used as an Aroma/Flavor hop with high alpha acid levels and average cohumulone content. Its strong hop character makes it ideal for IPAs, APAs and any other hop forward beer.” (MoreBeer – Idaho 7)

Now we’re starting to piece together this beer. Getting an idea of how it ticks. We’re going to skip over the yeast involved, primarily because there’s not much to discuss. And for homebrewers its not something they can really do anything with. The label lists the yeast strain as “DIPA Ale”, meaning their in house Double IPA strain. It is important to point out that their using a Double IPA yeast strain rather than a regular IPA yeast strain, so their using a strain able to handle a higher ABV and hop usage (even though Haze Charmer only clocks in at 5.5% ABV).

Moving to the grains, they list: Pale Malt Oats and Unmalted Wheat.

For Pale Malt Oats, Deer Creak Malt House has this:
“Pale Oats are versatile with plenty of character for Saison or Pale Ale recipes. Also well suited to add body and mouth-feel to Stout, Porter, and IPA recipes” (Deer Creek Malthouse – Pale Malt Oats)

Northern Brewer has this to say about Unmalted Wheat:
“This is raw wheat kernels that haven’t been malted – perfect for some traditional styles like Wit and Lambic. It adds a ton of mouthfeel and provides a very cloudy finished beer in a Wit or Hefeweizen. A multi-step or decoction mash is recommended.” (Northern Brewer – Unmalted Wheat)

I think we got a good idea what kind of beer we have now. We’ve broken down the scratch beer process to get from Point A to Point B; we’ve taken a look at the ingredients – hops, yeast, grain; now its just time to actually sit back, drink it, and review it!

Beer: Haze Charmer
Brewery: Troegs Independnt Brewing
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: Haze Charmer emerges from a soft, swirling cloud of oats and unfiltered wheat. Vigorous dry-hopping adds a second phase of Haze, propping up the oils of El Dorado and Citra hops. Each step delivers notes of juicy pineapple, fresh grapefruit and candied peach balanced by a hint of white pine and low bitterness. We taste: juicy pineapple, fresh grapefruit, candied peach, hint of white pine.

Firstly, let me say this paired wonderfully with The Mill burger and fries. Love my hamburgers rare, and this was practically still mooing. Good delicious bloody, where I need the fries to soak up all the grease and fat and blood. Delicious! (And yes, I know I’ve said on here time and again, how I’m not a foodie, but when I do eat, I EAT.) Definitely try out their burgers sometime if you’re ever in the Hershey area. Fantastic. Great fries too.

Anyway, appearance for the beer is pretty spot on for a hazy, danky, New England IPA. Except its a pale ale, and not “technically” considered a New England Pale Ale. Pouring this from the bottle to glass at the bar, it takes on a beautiful bright orange hue. Almost yellow, but definitely golden. Its bubbly, got a great fluffy super well carbonated head. Good bubbles, various sizes, good lacing, great carbonation, great color.

Aroma is fantastic too. Out of the bottle and into the glass, you get strong notes of the fruity hops involved. A lot of pineapple hop notes, peach, a hint of mango perhaps, some grapefruit – juicy not tart, sweet, not tart, with a bit of a foresty earthy musky hint underneath all of these great strong fruity hoppy notes.

This just tastes like a wonderful beer. And thats where this beer really shines, and where all beers either fall or live up to its standards, not by appearance and color, and smell and aroma, but by taste. Yes, we first eat (and drink) with our eyes, but the flavor, the taste, determines how much we love or like or hate a beer. But have no fear… you won’t be hating this one! This is juicy, straight delicious juicyness. No bitterness, nothing detracting or taking away from the floral and fruity hop notes. Juicy grapefruit, rather than tart grapefruit, juicy peach, with kind of a carmalized candyness to it, kinda like those peach ring fruit gummies, pineapple in spades, a hint of earthy musky, forest, perhaps pine or cedar, something like frosted tips, perhaps vanilla. There is certainly a smoothness to this. There is no off flavors, nothing detracting from this, its just a smooth sweet, juicy, delicious, tasty beer, that goes down quick. And at 5.5% there is no massive buzz or anything to this. Could easily kill a six-pack of this myself while watching a game, and come summer time this beer will be even more delicious sitting out on a patio or after mowing. And six-packs of this at Sheetz and such are only going for 11-13$. Can’t beat that price at all!

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 3.8.20)

After my father and I finished our meal at The Mill, we went to the Hershey Theater, and saw Jerry Seinfeld do his stand-up comedy. Mario Joyner was his opening act. Both guys killed it, was a fantastic show. But in a typical Seinfeldian bit, my dad and I didn’t even sit next to each other. My dad doesn’t buy or do anything online, so he went to the actual box office to get tickets. Well, by the time he got there, they were practically sold out, but had two tickets remaining… just in different sections. So, my dad got the tickets because… well, tickets are better than no tickets. Overall, it was a great show. His Pop Tarts bit was probably my favorite, followed up by maybe the horse bit. Mario’s bit on why the GPS is great was also really good.

Finally, a last shout out to The Mill in Hershey. Fantastic food, great servers and bartenders, and a beautiful restaurant. Located close to the Giant Center, Hershey Theater, etc. Pretty good selection of beers as well (nothing crazy, but better than just Coors and Miller). So be sure to check them out if your in the area.

This definitely turned out to be a much longer review than intended, but I like it. Hope you all did too. Look for some New Trail beer reviews coming up. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and click the subscribe and like buttons here on the blog.

Slainte!

-B. Kline

CITATIONS and SOURCES:

• The Full Pint – Troegs to Release Haze Charmer
• BrewBound – Troegs to Release Haze Charmer
• PennLive – Troegs to Release Haze Charmer
• NewsBreak – Troegs Releases Haze Charmer
• MyBeerBuzz – Troegs to Release Haze Charmer
• Troegs Craft Brewery Press Release on Haze Charmer
• Troegs Blog Announces and Discusses Haze Charmer

In the immortal words of Eminem:

Look
If you had
One shot
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture it
Or just let it slip?Yo
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin’
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won’t come out
He’s chokin’, how, everybody’s jokin’ now
The clocks run out, times up, over, blaow!
Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He’s so mad, but he won’t give up that easy? No
He won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes
It don’t matter, he’s dope, he knows that, but he’s broke
He’s…

Eminem: Lose Yourself

I can’t possibly be the only person who as soon as they read the can “Back to Reality” started hearing the lyrics to Lose Yourself in the back of their head right? Yea, I know, the can label is all about Back to the Future complete with the Deloreaon, but still…. ….I’m not the only one right? Right?

Maybe I am, maybe everyone else mentally runs with the Back to the Future imagery and goes with that. Perhaps its my generation, who grew up on Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Creed, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Staind, Disturbed, Korn, etc, etc, etc, that might think of Eminem. Maybe I just have a wire loose in the old noggin. (Most likely that…. 13 concussions and all that……)

So lets snap back to the present (…or to reality…………) and talk about this fun, delicious, bright beer. Sadly, I’ve only had a handful of beers from Three 3’s Brewing, but nothing has disappointed, that’s for sure. I’ve enjoyed them all and they’ve all been fun, delicious, tasty brews. They’re another of a handful of fun breweries doing fun beer names and labels. And luckily, unlike some breweries, they actually have the beer brewing chops behind them to insure you still get a good beer rather than like some that just coast on beer name and label alone on the hopes of you buying their beer. This is The Way by Broken Goblet is a good example of a beer name, label, (can art), and backstory that will sell cans… but is also a really good beer. Sadly, for every good example like This is the Way and Back to Reality, there is an equal or larger number of beers that don’t deliver despite their cool name and can art.

But before we get into the future, or go too far into the past, let’s stay in the moment, in the present, in reality, and review this tasty delicious beer:

Three 3’s Brewing Co. is a micro brewery out of Hammonton New Jersey. On Untappd they have 130 unique beers listed with a global average rating of 3.8 (as of 2.18.20). Their description on Untappd reads: “Stop in for a pour, taste and to grab a growler to go! Follow us for tap list updates and events! Just 30 mins from A/C & Philly.”

Beer: Back to Reality
Brewery: Three 3’s Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: A bright IPA in the truest sense. Heavy additions of wheat and oats create a lush mouthfeel. We walloped this one with some of our favorite American hops (Amarillo, Mosaic and Simcoe) in the whirlpool and dry hop. Notes of ripe orange peel, fresh picked tangerine and citrus. An all-day crusher that won’t tire the palate.

I love it when a description for a beer uses a word I’ve used several times (without me even knowing its in their description). It either makes me think I’m smart (to some degree anyway) or makes me wonder (and go insane doing so) if I had read the description and the word has entered my subconscious about the beer. The word for this one is: bright. I used it a few times talking about its appearance, and it is certainly bright. It has a orange hue, bright, a bit dank and hazy, not fully filtered, but not completely unfiltered either. There is a nice white foamy head and it left nice lacing on the glass.

Aroma is a blast of hop. You can definitely pick out the citrus of the Amarillo and the defined notes of Mosaic and Simcoe hopes. The dry hopping for the beer really brings these to the forefront, particularly Amarillo’s citrus and Simcoe’s defined, unique hop aromas and notes. The hops leave you with notes of citrus, tangerine, orange (mainly peel / rind) but you also get some distinct blood orange aroma notes.

Firstly, this is a smooth beer. There is no hop bite, and its all the more citrus and citrus fruit notes, so there’s no pine, no earthy, no musky, nothing but the bright fruit flavors that go with these kind of citrus notes. Been using the term ‘bright’ for this beer quite a bit in this review, but its just so apt. From appearance to aroma to taste, it just feels bright, it feels flavorful, it feels bold, it feels open, fruity, citrusy, it feels light. This feels like walking through a Florida orange orchard or grove or farm or whatever the terminology is for orange trees and growing and farming and what not. (I’m pretty sure its orchards… like apple orchards… etc.) Great orange, tangerine, blood orange, citrus, zest, all kinds of the bright orange fruit flavors just pounce on you as you drink this down. And it is incredibly smooth and easy to drink. Its practically like drinking orange juice. Luckily the low ABV (6%) makes this not a problem at all. Sadly I only had one can to drink, because I could easily drain a four pack of this in an hour’s sitting no problem at all.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.85 (as of 2.18.20)

This was one of many beers D. Scott had picked up from Breski’s Beverages mix-a-six. They have a wonderful selection of New England IPAs, singles, and great cans and bottles from a variety of breweries you won’t be getting at your normal distributors. Well worth checking them out for that.

So I know I said I might do the Intemperance last night as a double-blog-day, but I ended up at D. Scott’s where we worked on finishing his keg of Nugget Nectar and watched RedLetterMedia and talked about upcoming podcasts.

So a Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar… is the podcast that my friends D. Scott, Esteban, and myself and a random assortment of other people do. They recently did a commentary track for “My Bloody Valentine (1981)“, so be sure to check that out. Me and Esteban will be finishing up the series on LOST soon, we’ve done one for Seasons 1 and 2, and will be doing two follow up ones – for seasons 3 and 4; and 5 and 6.

Speaking of podcasts, exciting news for me – B. Kline. I am going to be on two upcoming podcasts (dates and times to be determined). John Wilcox has invited me out to Exton PA to do a podcast with him about beer. John’s podcasts are called “Might Be Brews“. And Tony Russo in Maryland is going to have me as a call-on on his podcast “Beers with Strangers“. They have a nice, full complete library of podcasts you can listen to here: Beers with Strangers Podcasts. You can check out both Might Be Brews and Beers with Strangers on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Also, exciting news, Rubber Soul Brewing (soon to open here in my hometown of Hummelstown) has invited me out in the upcoming for a check-out of the facility and building. So I should be able to give an in-depth write-up soon. I’ve been wanting to write up about them opening, but been waiting to pull the trigger on it. Breweries in PA jumped me a bit by doing a write-up yesterday (2.17.20) on them. If you’ve been following our Facebook page you’ll see some pictures I’ve taken of the building when I’ve walked by it recently.

Speaking of Facebook, we’re currently at 399 followers. Can’t wait to hit 400, hopefully today! If you have friends, invite them to the page and let them know!

You can also see some of our recent posts – I Cannot Tell a Lie, Florence, Loki – Wild IPA, Brewery Visit to Mellow Mink, Doppelganger, Beer Share at Tattered Flag, and Valentine’s Day Beers.

Until next time everyone, peace, and cheers!

-B. Kline

Some things work out. Like when you stop at a brand new brewery after work and find its at max capacity so you stop at Pizza Boy… and they have Hill Farmstead on tap (Florence) and Revision Brewing on tap. Not often we get to see Revision here in the Central PA area.

Revision Brewing Company is a microbrewery out of Sparks, Nevada. As per Untappd: “Revision Brewing Company was formed in August of 2015 when Jeremy Warren, Founder and Brewmaster of Knee Deep Brewing Company chose to pursue a new avenue of creativity and excellence in craft beer. Revision Brewing Company opened in March 2017 in Sparks, Nevada. We have a core lineup of hoppy beers, complemented by our lagers, Humulus Lupulus series, experimental brews and a pretty rad Barrel-Aging program. Thank you and cheers!” They have 183 unique beers listed on Untappd for a global rating of 4.05.

Its nice when you find breweries from regions you don’t get too often in the local area, and its nice to give them a try, especially when its a brewery I’ve heard a buzz about online before. So after I ordered the Hill Farmstead Florence while waiting til Liquid Noise would empty out a bit before getting to check them out, I ordered this as well and definitely enjoyed it.

I had to search and put up a picture of the can art on this beauty, love it. Makes you wonder who this mythical and legendary Pete was…. and what his secret stash… (…I mean Stache….) included….

Beer: Pete’s Secret Stache
Brewery: Revision Brewing Company
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 35
Untappd Write-Up: Pete pedaled deep into the Sierras, dead set on a legendary expedition. Along the way he ran out of rations, and when he finally arrived at the brewery he wasn’t the same dude, he was in a HAZE. He was babbling about discovering an oasis where Amarillo and Citra glowed pink in the Sierra sunset. Pete’s Secret Stache… unchained, unfiltered and hazed out.

Certainly sounds like this Pete is a mythical and legendary creature rivaling the legends of old, possibly surpassing them. Luckily the beer does homage to that and is a fitting testimony to this legendary figure.

Appearance is hazy through and through, complete opaque and bright orange. Nice small head to it and very bubbly and effervescent. Completely unfiltered, little bits of floaters bouncing about in the glass, and it is certainly hazy and dank.

Aroma is super hoppy. Bright hoppy notes as soon as you come within three foot of the glass. Like a good hazy New England IPA should be. This is a strong and vibrant nose of hops. You have the two most citrusy forward hops on the market in this bad boy – Citra hops (gee where’d they ever up come up with the name for these hops?) and Amarillo hops. The combination is bountiful and makes this so aromatic.

Just like the aroma punches you right away with the hops, so does the taste. At first sip your tongue just lights up with all of the citrus from these hops. If you don’t like citrus, this might be a bit too much for you, but I don’t think its really an issue. Its just an abundant, great, fantastic taste. This has a bright smooth wallop of the hops and citrus. There is no bitterness at all this to it, you wouldn’t expect 35 IBU or any IBU’s to be honest. Outside of that genuine hop flavor you’d have no idea this was an IPA its that smooth and with no hop bite or bitterness. There is a slight creamyness to it, that makes me feel there has to be some lactose in this (to some degree anyway), probably not enough to really call it a Milkshake IPA (but then again, the lines are so blurred on New England IPA, Haze IPA, Milkshake IPA, etc, that their all basically interchangeable at this point). It could be just that its that smooth that it feels like there should be lactose in it as well, don’t know. But this is a very easy drinking beer (I think I finished it super fast, all but gulping it down). It was extremely enjoyable and easy to drink that fast too, luckily at only 6.5% its not much of an issue.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.94 (as of 2.16.20)

For those new to the blog, if you want to check out some of the recent beer reviews and event happenings we’ve been involved with, they include: Valentine’s Day Beers (chocolate cherry, strawberry, and all things similar; local to Harrisburg, Hershey, and Middletown beers), Doppelganger by Tree House (part of my Tree House series of beer reviews that include Sap, Autumn, Julius, Haze, and Intemperance), Loki (a Wild IPA) by Karl Larson at Newfangled Brew Works, This is the Way – the Mandalorian themed beer by Broken Goblet, and Scratch #400 by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing. As well as the Beer Bottle / Can share at Tattered Flag last Saturday (2.8.20).

If you like New England IPAs or IPAs in general, you can click the Category: IPA or you can check out some other IPA beer reviews like: Fuzzy Nudge, Inexplicably Juicy, Ghost in the Machine, Colonization, Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart, ETA IPA by Wild Leap, or Eukanaot Astronaut by BAREBottle.

As always be sure to click LIKE, RATE, and FOLLOW us. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter (click the icons below) and make sure to LIKE and FOLLOW us on there as well. Subscribing to us and putting your e-mail in the box below will keep you notified and updated the second a new blog post goes live and will be the fastest and easiest way to keep track of us.

Thank you all for the support and reading this. We love to hear from you, so be sure to leave comments and feedback.

Cheers and prost everyone!

-B. Kline

It is the end of January already, and I’m finally finishing this article. I started it up while waiting to finish the Mellow Mink visit blog entry, and I started it the day we got the small snow storm. (January 8th, 2020.) I’m just now finishing this up (editing, everything else was mostly written, except for this small introduction). Just got home from work, binging the final episodes of season 6 of BoJack Horseman while I finish this up, and ending my January sipping on some Pink Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works. If you’ve never watched BoJack Horseman, do yourself a favor, and immediately start doing it as soon as you’re done reading this blog. Or do both at the same time. But definitely check it out!

(And with that being the new stuff after editing this and inserting hyperlinks, I’ll now move onto what I had written back on January 8th.)

Whats better than having the day off? Shoveling on your day off! And no, its not a snow-day day off, this is my natural day off. It’d be one thing if it was a free day, a new day off, a snow-day day off. But nope…. just a day off where it snowed and therefore I have to shovel. *GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE*. But…. you know what does make it ok? And passes the time while shoveling?

….Beer…..Especially…. REALLY…. STINKING…. AMAZING…… GOOD Beer!

And that is definitely what this is. It is simply tasty and amazing, and one of the few Tree House beers I’ve had before this time (actually had it three other times before this.) This was part of the five-pack my good friend D. Arndt brought back from his trip up north with his fiance. The five pack he brought back was: Sap, Haze, Autumn, Julius, and Doppelganger. So far I have reviewed the first four (counting this one), and will soon have my Doppelganger review up.

I’m not super full tilt “haze craze” but I do love hazy beers. Then again…. I do like (well crafted) beers of all styles. This certainly meets the criteria of ‘well crafted’, and it also meets the definition of ‘haze’, and I do love it. Going back to when I first had this beer a few years ago, it was the first Untappd beer I gave five stars to. And my opinion of it hasn’t changed much either. Even with so many newer, more flashier haze beers, and so many new options to choose from, this is still a phenomenal beer.

So let’s break it down:

Beer: Julius
Brewery: Tree House Brewing Company
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 72
Untappd Write-Up: Bursting with pungent American hops, Julius – our flagship American IPA – is a bright, juicy beer filled with flavors and aromas of mango, peach, passionfruit, and a melange of citrus juice. A soft, pillowy mouthfeel and rounded bitterness ensure Julius will never tire the palate – a true joy to drink!

Bursting with pungent hop – is the perfect way to describe this when you crack the can open. Its like opening a bag of hops and taking a big whiff. This is just a powerful punch of hops right up your nose, like Mike Tyson put on hop gloves and has his way with your face. You get notes of mango, peach, citrus, orange rind, and a bit of pine (very subtle). Theres a zestyness to this that helps pack that punch as well. Though I’ve never picked up passionfruit from this despite the description.

Appearance is a beautiful orange. Hazy, unfiltered, dank, cloudy, murky, with a great retaining head. It leaves a wonderful lacing on the glass as you gulp and quaff and drink this one down – and by that, I mean, you’ll be drinking this down faster than you intend to. Its too beautiful, its too aromatic and inviting and smells so good, and more importantly – its too tasty!

Drinking this, I feel like it comes at you in waves. First sip – overall hop blast. Second sip, mellow mango, third sip fruity peach, fourth sip all kinds of citrus notes and zesty tastings that lead into the fifth sip that offers a bit of pine and hop bitterness, and then wraps it all back up as you then drink it more steadily. You get all that unfiltered, hazy, dank, joy mixing together, tasting amazing. You get the hop notes, the mango, the peach, the citrus, the zest, all powerful playing out as you drink. The melody of notes plays like a fine orchestra piece across your palate and is just simply amazing.

My Current Untappd Rating: ****.75
My Original Untappd Rating: *****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.51 (as of 1.31.20)

So the next up, and final Tree House (for now) will be Doppelganger. I’ve started that article and just need to edit / link it up / finish it and will probably do so in the next few days. I do have a whole host of beers to review yet; This Is The Way by Broken Goblet, Pink Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works, their latest stout for the 717 R&D, Revision’s beer I had at Pizza Boy, some of the Liquid Noise beers, and a whole host of other’s I’ve had in January.

I just sent a beer package this morning, and will be receiving some cans from California. All small local breweries from the Eureka area. So who knows what I’ll get, but I’ll do some reviews of them then as well.

Hopefully your January didn’t feel like a year already. February is shaping up to be a fun month here at The Beer Thrillers. We got the Tattered Flag / Breweries in PA beer / bottle share on the 8th, and much more. So be on the lookout and keep checking in regularly!

Cheers y’all!

-B. Kline

(Editorial Note: This article first appeared on the blog LetUsDrinkBeer.blog where I contribute as a writer. They are a Georgia based beer blog. I have written a few articles for them, this one included. You can read the original copy on their blog here: Let Us Drink Beer – Beer Review: Haze. It was published on January 18th, 2020. I have left this article fully intact, outside of providing a few links, this editorial note, and correcting a spelling mistake.)

First off, let me first say – sorry – that its been a while. We, The Beer Thrillers, have been quite busy lately. We did a brewery tour and visit of Mellow Mink Brewing Co., and have been working on a big article for them, so that’s taken most of our time. (I will be posting it here as well to get as many people to be able to see it.) But, I did want to get a new beer review up for you guys down south, and decided what better beer to do – than the one I had on New Years Eve night (technically Day by that point).

Tree House Brewing has a cache name value to it by this point. Even though they don’t distribute, and even though they are far north, they are still known America-wide and even internationally. They are regularly touted as one of the Top 10 craft breweries in America, and widely considered one of the best .

I had the lucky opportunity to get a couple of these great beers brought down for me from a friend who was up north visiting who stopped in at the brewery. I have already reviewed on my blog – Sap and Autumn, and will soon be reviewing Julius and Doppelganger as well. So please be sure to check those out, I think you’ll enjoy those reviews if you enjoy this one.

So let’s jump into this tasty beer, and believe me, its certainly tasty!

Beer: Haze
Brewery: Tree House Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 8.2%
IBU: 90
Untappd Write-Up: Our Double IPA! We smell a ton of peach on the nose, with complimentary notes of orange and passionfruit. The flavor is similar with a blast of citrus fruit & peach quickly followed by a bounty of tropical fruit. A lingering and pleasant saturated hop oil finish awaits. . . . A real juice bomb of a beer!

Now there’s a key thing to remember about Tree House and this beer in particular… these were created and crafted before there was a thing called “New England IPA”…. this is the forerunner, essentially the child of New England IPAs. The spirit animal of NE-IPAs, the progeny, etc, etc.

So you could consider these NE-IPAs but they won’t be listed as that. Tree House, Trillium, and others up north created the style, the rest of the world ran havoc with it.

Breaking this down, lets start with the color. Its a golden hue. Like very bright orange juice. There’s a good head to it with great retention and it leaves wonderful lacing on the glass. Its unfiltered, and to invoke its namesake its certainly hazy.

Smell is delicious hop aroma through and through. Upfront very peach hop forward followed by all the tropical fruity hop notes you expect from this. This is an explosion of aroma as soon as the can is cracked, filling the room with its hop presence.

By this point, after pouring it, seeing it, smelling it, its time to taste it before you drool too much. This is just one fantastic beer. Well crafted, tasty, delicious, mouth watering good, and so simple to drink. This is a very easy drinkable beer, that if your not careful you’re finishing in no time. And at the 8.2% ABV it’ll hit you. This is typical for NE-IPAs, very smooth, very crushable (despite ABV), juicy, filled with fruity hop notes that play across your tongue. The surprising and unique thing to this one, as opposed to Julius, or Sap, or Doppelganger, is there’s a bitterness at the end. After all the juicyness, the fruity hop-ness, there’s an underlying hop bitterness, to let you remember that “oh yea, I’m drinking an IPA”. And it works so beautifully and perfectly.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.4.9 (as of 1.14.20)

Sorry for the delay in reviews, but with the new year came a lot of new things, and life’s been hectic, not just for the blog, but for myself. Doing podcasts – which we just wrapped up LOST Seasons 1 and 2 and The Mandalorian & Rise of Skywalker.

As always, please be sure to check out our Facebook page – The Beer Thrillers on Facebook – and our Twitter page – The Beer Thrillers on Twitter. Make sure to follow and like us.

Also, please be sure to check out our blog and click the follow, subscribe, and all of that good stuff. Plenty of great articles coming out soon! As always, cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

I’m sure most of you out there by now have heard the name “Cushwa Brewing Company” or at least “Cushwa”, as they are quickly gaining a reputation in the brewing world, especially in the day and age of ‘haze craze’. And for good reasons too! All of the beers I’ve had from them (six in total) have been phenomenal and top notch.

I first heard of Cushwa prior to March 2018 when I saw their release of a can artwork for an upcoming beer of their’s – “Peace Among Worlds”. I got to try it (can muled up from Maryland) in March, and it was fantastic.

As a fan of Rick and Morty (but don’t worry, not one of those annoying fans) I had to give it a try, and I was very happy with it, and very much enjoyed it. And as my first Cushwa I made sure to keep them bookmarked for future beers (can releases) and a future brewery visit.

(By the way, Peace Among Worlds was very positively reviewed and loved, getting a 4.13 overall global rating since it was released.)

And so, finally, I had my chance to try out the brewery yesterday after a visit to Antietam Battlefield in nearby (to Williamsport) Sharpsburg, Maryland.

So after a long, sweltering hot day in early August, with two young (a day shy of being 12, and a 10 year old) daughters, and after our customary ‘leaving a place bathroom break’ for my 10 year old (she has the bladder of a 93 year old man), I made my way to Cushwa.

Located amongst a plethora of businesses in a strip mall on Governor Road, next to Robbie’s Billards, you’ll find Cushwa Brewing Company (the last building on the strip, to the far left when facing the front). There is ample parking in the front, and the back.

So, let’s break down Cushwa Brewing Company, by some statistics, provided by the Untappd page on them.

First, their a Microbrewery from Williamsport, Maryland. As of 8.15.19 they have received a total of 45,792 check-ins, with 8,647 of them being unique. In August they are currently up to 929 check-ins total (glad I could contribute 4 of them). They have produced a total of 144 unique beers, and have a global Untappd rating of 4.08. Their Untappd page can be found here: https://untappd.com/CushwaBrewingCompany

Their Untappd description reads: Cushwa Brewing Company is a microbrewery 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. Their Untappd description reads:

As befitting their strip mall location, they do have a small brewery set-up. The seating area is rather large with multiple styles of chairs and tables, at various heights, and they have the bar in the very front.

Food seemed to be BYOF with occasional food trucks that would appear (there wasn’t much signage on this, and not being a foodie, I didn’t do the biggest look-around, plus, unfortunately with the girls in tow, I was on a short leash time wise). They did seem to have an open policy with dogs (saw two indoors while there, and saw one leaving as I pulled up to park).

It had a very open vibe to the bar and brewery. Numerous patrons came up to the two bartenders and were recognized by name, I was called out and asked how I was doing as soon as I walked in the door by the female bartender (and thats a good 20 feet from door to bar).

They offer draft, flights of 1-8, crowlers, and cans when they’ve done their canning runs. Their flights are on a per-beer basis as for pay, the stout was 3.50$ for a 4oz pour, whereas their Cushwa Light was 2.00$ for a 4oz pour. All beers were 6$ for the draft – exception being the stout which was 7$ – but the pour sizes varied based on style/abv.

Due to my limited time, I did a quick flight of four, and stuck with mostly the cheaper and lighter beers. My flight consisted of : Ricky Clicks (which was brand new, having just been tapped earlier yesterday), Fog at Daybreak, Abundance of Caution, and Cushwa Light.

Spoiler alert: all four were extremely good and well done. I won’t do a complete break-down of the four beers that I tried, because that will be a future blog post, don’t worry, but I will give a quick “its this style, this was my rating” and move on.

Risky Clicks:
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England
ABV: 8%
IBU: 30
My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.06 (as of 8.15.19)

Fog at Daybreak
Style: Pale Ale – New England
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 67
My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 8.15.19)

Abundance of Caution
Style: Pale Ale – New England
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.14 (as of 8.15.19)

Cushwa Light
Style: Cream Ale
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 16
My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 8.15.19)

Apparently with my phone crashing today, I wasn’t able to upload the last two pics I had taken of the Cushwa building. One was a view of the brewery from the hallway leading into the bathroom, the other was the proto-typical bathroom “wall of stickers” which had two locals on the wall (Boneshire Brew Works and Moo-Duck Brewing Company). Sadly, with my phone taking a massive dump tonight, it seems those pictures were/are lost to the sands of time. (Unless by miracle Verizon can figure out something tomorrow for me, who knows.)

But I certainly can’t recommend this place enough. If you find yourself visiting Antietam or Sharpsburg or Williamsport (MD) you need to stop in. From the Hershey-Harrisburg area its about a one hour and forty minute drive. From Antietam / Sharpsburg its about a fifteen to twenty minute drive. The beers are fantastic, the atmosphere is great, the staff was super friendly and helpful, so all are aces in my book, and means this is definitely a stop worth making.

So, until next time, which… well… I find myself backlogged once again with a massive amount of content to post. So much for my week off involving lots of blog updates and posts. It seems the busier I am the busier the blog is, which means the writing isn’t as busy.

Tomorrow morning is a canning run at Tattered Flag, so hopefully I’ll be able to post a recap of that. As well as finish my hop harvest, which will also hopefully involve another blog post about that, and then in the evening Boneshire and Harris Family Brewing is releasing their smokey collab; which…. fingers crossed, will result in a third blog post, or at least another beer review in the near future.

Plus with the beer mail I received from Parish, Southern Prohibition, and Natchez, means I should have more and more beer reviews in the near future. As well of course the beer flight I showed in this brewery review.

So be on the lookout for plenty of upcoming content everyone! In the meantime stay hydrated! It is the dog days of August afterall!

-B. Kline