Howling Henry's - The Beer Thrillers

Beer Review: Up The Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)

BKline — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:32:26 +0000

Thomas Creek’s Up The Creek Extreme Ale

I always enjoy getting to review (and obviously drink) beers from out of state, ones that I most likely wouldn’t come in contact with. Don’t get me wrong, I love drinking and reviewing local beers and getting them some publicity, and I also love traveling and visiting breweries (just yesterday I was in Wellsboro Pennsylvania, visited the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, and visited the restaurant and brewery – The Wellsboro House), but its also nice getting beers to review, from family, co-workers, and friends. (Hint…. hint…. for any friends, family, etc reading this…. )

A co-worker, Jam, was coming back from South Carolina, and he stopped at a bottle / can shop and grabbed a few beers for me and other co-workers. From Jam, I received a bottle of ‘Up The Creek Extreme Ale’, a can of Sidestepper (Charles Town Fermentary), a can of Pixels (Seminar Brewing), and a can of of a Red Ale / IPA by a collaboration with a radio station (the name eludes me and I left it in my friend’s fridge; but it had a tiger on it, thus why Jam got it for me due to me liking the Bengals). So this is the first of the South Carolina series of brews I’ll be reviewing. (I’ll be doing Sidestepper soon, because I just recently drank that; haven’t gotten to drink the others yet, will probably do the Pixels beer while streaming with D. Scott over at Knights of Nostalgia).

Quickly, before I go too much further, I want to throw a quick shout out to Josh; who is jumping back into the reviewing game (don’t call it a comeback son, he never left). He will have his first review since his Beer Review of Adroit Theory’s COLONIZATION back on November 11th, 2019. Stay tuned, I’m sure you won’t want to miss his newest beer review!

Also, in industry news, Howling Henry’s in Hummelstown just opened this week, as well as Rubber Soul, and Spigot Brewing in Ford City has announced they will be closing.

Now…. onto the review!

Up The Creek Extreme Ale (IPA) by Thomas Creek Brewery

Beer: Up The Creek Extreme Ale
Brewery: Thomas Creek Brewery
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 12.5%
IBU: 143
Untappd Description: Up The Creek is a hoppy behemoth of a beer with its 12.5% ABV well hidden under heavy layers of malt. The hops come through powerfully in the mouth, with rich roasted malt, sweet caramel, and a burst of vinous fruit. The finish is malty sweet and fruity, while the hops dissipate. Use caution or you’ll be Up The Creek!

Ok…. so firstly, let me just say, this is the highest IBU we’ve reviewed here on the blog. Probably by a pretty far margin. The highest IBU I’ve ever had, according to the Untappd records of beers I drank is – Gyroscopes and Infrared by Broken Goblet. It was 174 IBU. After that it was the Mean Manalishi Double IPA by Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, clocking in 168 IBU, and in third place is Mango Bomb by Pizza Boy – clocking in at 162 IBU. Up The Creek Extreme Ale is number 7 on my list (according to Untappd), and if you count home brews (at a home brew event I had one that would be number 5 on my list; called Idiot Parade by McCarthy Brewing.)

IBU is a term for IPAs that means: “International Bitterness Units are a chemical/instrumental measurement of the number of bittering compounds, specifically isomerized and oxidized alpha acids, polyphenols, and a few other select bittering chemicals, that make your beer taste bitter. (Last Call for IBUs: Fact, Fiction and What They Mean in Your Beer – May 3, 2017). Overall, its a term that’s not being used as much in the industry anymore, and many brewers aren’t even bothering with testing it or listing it when listing their beers on platforms like Untappd or Beer Advocate. But its still a valuable tool and measurement when it is listed, and I still like to keep track of it, and include it when doing the beer reviews here. Its just not the be – all – end – all it used to be in terms of understanding IPAs (especially since New England IPAs seem to be more mainstream now, actually, being made more than regular old school West Coast style IPAs).

This is an old fashioned high octane ‘pushing the envelope’ West Coast style IPA. Appearance and look for this is on the malty end of IPAs (West Coast IPAs). It has a brown / amber hue, slightly transparent, but mostly opaque. Malt colored and malt looking like a malt bomb through and through. Caramel colored. It has a very rich, frothy, foamy head to it, thick, creamy looking with lots of bubbles.

Aroma is caramel, sweet roasted malt, and then pungent face-punching, nose walloping, hop explosion (can’t even call it aroma, its about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the gonads). You get the idea that this is going to be bitter just by the hop nose to it, and the malt sweetness does nothing to cover it past that initial whiff of the malt.

This doesn’t quite live up to the description provided by Untappd. The Untappd description gives you the impression there’s a bit of hype to this, that there’s more complexity to this than there really is. It starts off with the barest of traces of sweet, or caramel, malt. And then takes a very heavy swan dive off the cliff into a sea of hops. A sea of bitterness, of super hop flavor, super hop bitterness, super hop everything. Overpoweringly so. Too much so. A blend and cornucopia of hops, that doesn’t let you really even distinguish and unique hop flavors or notes. Its just straight hop bitterness in such an overwhelming display of raw power and hop (bitterness) that it doesn’t leave you tasting much of anything else. The malt taste is so minuscule and minimal you don’t taste any of it as soon as you get your first taste of the hops. Unlike the description, the hops don’t really ‘dissipate’, they stay there, punching you like a… like a… like a hop drinking punching bag…. yea… like that! There is definitely no dissipation here. I also don’t really get any ‘fruity’ ending to this. Maybe subtle stone fruit notes… but I think its so awash from the hop bitterness that its too hard to tell, and its too hard to differentiate between hop notes and fruit (stone or otherwise) notes. I think its all just a blend, and whatever notes are supposed to be in there, are so overpowered by the hop bitterness, that its too impossible to tell or to be able to pull them out and take note of them or actually savor them. Now… all of this is to say its not a bad beer; its just not… a great beer. And particularly not my style as much anymore. I do like West Coast style IPAs, and the New England IPA craze hasn’t diminished that; its just… this is too much. Too bitter, too hoppy, not enough actual flavor to it, and too hard to differentiate and tell the various hop notes apart from each other. I’m sure theres lots of ‘ultra’ or ‘uber’ hop heads or hop nerds or beer nerds out there who will love this, and all the better for it and for them, this just isn’t particularly my favorite or something I would outright pursue again.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.60 (as of 10.10.20)

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Peace, cheers, and prost!

-B. Kline

Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)

BKline — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 13:25:20 +0000

Howling Henry’s Brewery logo – the latest brewery to open; opening on October 9th, 2020.

To little or no fanfare, the latest brewery, and another to Hummelstown, opened on October 9th, 2020 (yesterday). They had posted on their Facebook page their permit and that they would be opening soon, but, to my surprise, I had seen no notice of their actual opening date.

Howling Henry’s Permit

Their last Facebook post was on September 28th, and with the above picture, it stated:

“A temporary permit was given to me to open my taproom this morning. Shooting for October 9th for the grand opening of Howling Henry’s Taproom. Check my website for more information.”

I had seen this notice and post and re-shared it on our Facebook page, but for some reason, the little notice of “shooting for October 9th” I overlooked. I unfortunately, despite having my day off was out of town with friends (we went to Wellsboro, PA for the PA Grand Canyon), so I was out of town and unable to attend the opening.

They are the second Hummelstown brewery to open this week. Rubber Soul Brewing Company opened on Monday, October 5th, 2020, along South Hanover Street (across from the Rita’s) in the former borough building.

Howling Henry’s Merchandise Stand

Howling Henry’s has been around for a while in the Hummelstown area. They have been at the Mount Hope Renaissance Faire brewfest for several years (with their unique stand and jockey box of the doghouse). They have also been selling their bottles to the local shops and bars (JoJo’s Pizza Shop Restaurant on Main Street often carried their bottles in their cooler), and they distributed some kegs to local bars (Warwick Hotel would occasionally have them on tap). They’ve also been selling their bottles in the recent year or so at various farmer’s markets (the Hershey’s Chocolate Street Market primarily).

COVID-19 (the coronavirus) has certainly played an interesting issue in their opening this year, and has delayed much in the way of the taproom opening. Several other breweries opened amid the pandemic – Hemauer, Rubber Soul, Highway Manor, Cox’s Rally Point, etc. This is certainly an interesting time and a hard time for businesses to open, thrive, and grow their brands. There has been a lot of uncertainty, but it’s great to see Greg get to realize his dreams and open Howling Henry.

Greg – the owner and brewer for Howling Henry’s (per their Twitter)

Howling Henry’s taproom is located at 35 East 2nd St in Hummelstown. This is located near the exit of Hummelstown (the underpass) heading towards South Hanover (where South Hanover street becomes Grandview leading out towards Route 39 and East Hanover / Hershey). It is across the street from M&S Auto (a used car shop and garage). It is about three blocks down from the square of Hummelstown (Main Street / South Hanover crossing).

A walking map of Hummelstown, showing Howling Henry’s and Rubber Soul

This will become the second brewery / taproom in Hummelstown now (coincidentally both opening this week as well, going from 0 to 2 in five days flat!). The above map shows a walking path from Howling Henry’s to Rubber Soul. Making the town a nice tourist stop for craft beer enthusiasts now.

The Hummelstown Area enlarged (Howling Henry’s and Rubber Soul route by car shown)

Howling Henry’s joins a growing community of breweries within five-fifteen minute driving distance from the Hummelstown area. Including:

Troeg’s Independent Brewing (Hershey)
Iron Hill Brewing (Hershey)
Tattered Flag Distillery Lounge (Hershey)
Tattered Flag (Middletown)
Rubber Soul Brewing (Hummelstown)
Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
The Englewood (Hummelstown / Hershey)
Boneshire Brew Works (Rutherford)
Official BBQ – Pizza Boy (Rutherford)
Newfangled Brew Works (Rutherford)
The Millworks (Harrisburg)
ZeroDay Brewing (Harrisburg)
Appalachian Brewing Company (Harrisburg)
The Vegetable Hunter (Harrisburg)
Lancaster Brewing Company – Harrisburg Location (Harrisburg)

You can use the Brew Baron’s App to find more in the larger (Central PA) area. So as you can see from the above list, and the app, within just this small subset local area of Central PA there is many brewery choices. All good and well done establishments with wonderful beer offerings. You can see an older (and mostly outdated article I wrote about the breweries in the Hummelstown area here: Breweries On the Outskirts of Harrisburg 9.6.19).

Currently, on Untappd, Howling Henry’s is listed as a Nano Brewery, and recently updated their description page with the following: “Opening our taproom on October 9th at 6 PM. Howling Henry’s Brewery is crafting beer without rules, which causes our beers to be an nontraditional representations of their contemporaneity styles. Are you ready for a different take on traditional beer styles, then you should give Howling Henry’s a try? Our beers are not filtered, so we can offer as much flavor as possible. Tap room coming to Hummelstown soon; check my website out for details.” They have 11 Unique Beers listed, with a global average rating of 3.21 out of 3,825 ratings.

Their hours on their Facebook page for the taproom are listed as:

MONDAY: CLOSED
TUESDAY: CLOSED
WEDNESDAY: 5:00PM – 10:00PM
THURSDAY: 5:00PM – 10:00PM
FRIDAY: 5:00PM – 10:00PM
SATURDAY: 11:00AM – 6:00PM
SUNDAY: CLOSED

They use the old Theo’s Attanasoff pizza warehouse to brew their beers in a corner of the building. The old Theo’s warehouse is located at the corner of Duke and 2nd Street in Hummelstown, and is now primarily used by Pnuma Outdoors. (You can see a map of the Howling Henry’s brewing location and taproom below). The brewing location is off limits to tourists though.

Howling Henry’s to Pnuma Outdoors

Howling Henry’s has several social media outlets which you can keep abreast of their activities. Including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also check out their website.

On their website you can read their backstory, which is:

My brewing story began after a department store wine kit was hauled off by the trashmen. Yes, a wine kit started my passion with brewing beer, and in time my business. I trashed the kit because I lacked knowledge in the process of wine-making, and more frighteningly, in how to clean and sanitize the equipment. The instructions emphasized sanitization, but the concern that I may get someone sick caused me to drop kick the kit into the waste can.
I then read a magazine article about home brewing. Who doesn’t like beer, right? This article made it clear that cleanliness is a very important part of the process, but as I read, I realized that I was overthinking it. I began to understand that all of debris needs to be removed from the brewing equipment, and then a sanitizer is added to the equipment to kill most of the bacteria, so that your pitched yeast has no competition when it infects your bitter wort. Simple! I am a simple guy, and I figured that I can do that.
I bought my first brewing kit: 5 gallon brew kettle, a 5 gallon carboy, and a 7 gallon food grade bucket. The recipe was a brown ale. It was good for a month or two, and then it started losing flavor. I came to realize that bottling introduces oxygen to the finished beer. Oxygen in finished beer after time will degrade that beer’s flavor.
After a year of making my own recipes my wife and I were seated at a local watering hole for lunch (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving). She said, “Why don’t you start a brewery?” To be honest it was in the back of my head, but I figured that thought would never become a conversion with my wife. So, I agreed with her, as a good husband would do. Although, at the time, neither of us really understood what we were getting ourselves into.
I started reading from a website devoted to the entire brewing process. With this knowledge, I began brewing beers around ingredients I knew a little brewery could access without to much hassle. Through this site I also learned of a movie made in the mid 90’s called ‘Frankenbrew’. This video showed me that one guy with some determination, out of the box thinking, and hard work could start a brewery without investors, a bank loan, or a truck load of cash. I then followed the movie’s suggestions on what to buy from the used dairy equipment market. This offset the price of starting a new brewery significantly, since I had already priced out a real brewery’s equipment prior to seeing the movie. I knew I could never come up with a million or so dollars myself, and I wanted this brewery to be mine. Yes, you read that correctly! I am the only owner, investor, employee, brewer, boss, maintenance guy, and janitor. I did it all with help from some wonderful family members and great friends when they had time to help. It is a wonderful feeling to know I only have me to answer to.
Years later, I had the stainless steel equipment needed. I found a space three blocks from my home. By this time, I realized that I needed a real brew kettle. Having well over 200 gallons of boiling wort would be very dangerous in anything less than a proven kettle, so I ordered and purchased a 10 bbl Bennett Forgeworks brew kettle. I then started getting the paperwork inked with both the Federal and State government agencies. Approvals took a lifetime, okay about 6 months (a lifetime for a guy with barely any budget).
Please check out the pictures of my equipment here (if you’re interested in seeing what my frankinbrew system looks like).
Howling Henry’s Backstory.

So when in the Hummelstown area, be sure to check out the newest brewery – Howling Henry’s. Make sure you are in town during their hours (5PM-10PM on Wednesday through Friday and Saturday 11AM-6PM). The taproom is limited currently due to COVID restrictions, but its still a place to check out. Be sure to do so!

Howling Henry’s Brewery – of Hummelstown, PA – logo

Be sure to check out our other articles on brewery openings:

Cheers everyone! Hopefully I’ll see you at Howling Henry’s. Its just a few blocks away and within walking distance, so I’ll be sure to be there a time or two. Cheers!

-B. Kline