Joel is the author of the new book Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey. As the host of the popular “Brewery Travels” podcast, he hit the road (and the sky) to visit nearly 1400 breweries across all 50 states, including 26 in PA. He began his travels
in 2017 and his book releases on December 17th . I caught up with him by phone to share a beer and a quick chat.

Flights Across America – Cover

Three Questions

Flights Across America – blurbs

1) What was the biggest takeaway from all the breweries you visited?

Not surprisingly, that they’re all different. Breweries are sort of like fingerprints—they’re unique. But in their uniqueness, they all have a story to tell. Sometimes it’s an owner’s story about how he or she got into the business. Other times, it’s the story about a particular beer they make and why people like it. And yet another story might be about how the location for the brewery was chosen. All in all, every brewery has a story to share with the community.

2) What would people be most surprised to know about your beer travels?

Oh, how much work I put into the project. From being a hobby to visit breweries in a state where I was with my family to becoming a true obsession of visiting them in every state. We would re-route trips in order to visit a brewery. It was pretty meticulous planning at times; it wasn’t willy-nilly. While it wasn’t a job, it was still a lot of work.

3) If someone wanted to plan a “beercation” to visit a bunch of breweries, what are few things they should know before they go?

I have a few sections in my book about beer tourism and how to plan your visits. The two big tips would be to make sure to double check a brewery’s hours. Sometimes they’re inconsistent and you don’t want to make a big plan and show up on say a Thursday when a brewery is closed, thinking its hours are like the weekend’s. Or, if it is closed for maintenance or some other reason. And two, might sound obvious, but find out what type of beer the place serves—if you don’t like a certain type of beer—like sours or IPA—but that’s the type of beer a brewery specializes in, you may want to skip it.

You can see Paul’s other ‘Three Questions and a Pint’ here:

• Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Noah Reighard

Flights Across America – Promotional

The Pint

Joel was spending some time back at home with his kids while we were talking and wasn’t having a beer. I was enjoying a Sierra Nevada Narwhal as we talked. (Sierra Nevada Narwhal.)

You can follow Joel Gaier on his Instagram at — @brewery_travels.

You can purchase the book from Amazon here: Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey

You can read more about it on GoodReads here: Flights Across America: A Brewery Lover’s Journey (GoodReads).

Paul R. Kan

Paul R. Kan is the author of Hawai’i Beer:  A History of Brewing in Paradise which was a North American Guild of Beer Writers’ award winner and a #1 new release on Amazon’s Books on Beer.  He has written for Good Beer Hunting and is Editor-at-Large at The Beer Thrillers.  Along with beer reviews, book reviews and interviews, he also writes about the interesting ways beer intersects with people and society.  His current book project is Red, White and Brew:  The Beers and Battles that Shaped America. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

ʻOi kau ka lā, e hana i ola honua (While the sun yet shines, do all you can).

Paul R. Kan Articles

The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:

• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Twofer Brewfer Brewery Reviews: Gearhouse Brewing Co. and Liquid Art Brewing
• Tapping into Heritage and Hope on Maui
• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Noah Reighard
• Visiting Four Breweries in Phoenix: Getting to Visit Tombstone Brewing Company, Wren House Brewing, PHX Beer Co, and OHSO Brewery and Distillery
• Book Review: Revenge of She-Punks (Vivien Goldman)
• Beer Heists: Stealing and Dealing Your Beer
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Joel Gaier

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

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• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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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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Sworn Brewing (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company)

Sworn Brewing One Year Later

Its been just over a year since we visited Sworn Brewing in Mechanicsburg, PA and got to hang out with owners Jesse and Amanda. As we came to see them about their grand opening and pick their brains about the new brewery, this time we came to pick their brains one year later on. On the verge of their first anniversary, their one year anniversary, we stopped in – Josh, Amy, and myself (Ben), to take a seat with them, outside in the gorgeous (super) sunny weather.

(See: Getting Sworn In – A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company)

Just like we did with that article, we are breaking down this article as well, taking a look at it from the perspectives of Josh, Amy, and Ben; with each of us writing a section. (As a preview of how we did it, here’s a look back at the Getting Sworn In article):

The Set – Up

Amanda and Jesse are married and co – owners of Sworn Brewing Company. Jesse is also head brewer. We heard about them opening up their new brewery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and I reached out to Amanda when I saw a post of hers’ on one of the beer groups. We locked down a meeting date – July 24th, 2023 – and all set to go. So Josh, Amy, and myself met with Amanda and Jesse and got a walk through and a sneak peek look at the upcoming brewery.

For this article, I’m going to let Josh start us off, then switch over to Amy, and then I’ll wrap things up and conclude the article. Please let us know in the comments section what you think of this, and if you like how this article looks and reads. (Josh and I did a similar article when we got a behind the scenes look at Mellow Mink – and Amy and I did similar with a sneak peek of The Beerded Goat).

– Getting Sworn In – A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company

And just like with that article, I’m going to let Josh start things off, then we’ll tag Amy in, and then I’ll wrap things up.

Josh – Getting Sworn Into Dedication

Token to Midnight by Sworn Brewing Company

On a very warm, sunny and oddly rainless day in Central Pennsylvania, Ben, Amy & myself sat down outside of a little brewery nearing its one year anniversary with two of our friends to discuss how far 365 days have brought them. Those two friends are the husband and wife team that run Sworn, Jesse & Amanda Mills.

While drinking in their company and beer, we learned a thing or two about what happens to a brand new brewery that was set up and dedicated to providing excellent craft beer. Wait a second, has it actually been a year already? Almost from the day the brewery launched back in August of 2023, the writing team of Ben, Amy, and myself have been jonesing for Sworn’s one year anniversary. Why? Because when Jesse & Amanda invited the three of us to sit down with them just before their official opening, we all felt a similar sense that whatever this new brewery was going to be, it was going to run roughshod over everyone’s expectations. And that’s just what’s happened.

In a repurposed garage, then catering outfit, now burgeoning micro brewery nestled behind Atlantis Pools on E Trindle Road, Sworn has become the destination that beer nerds clamor for parking spaces four days a week. As mild-mannered and laid back as brewmaster Jesse aims to be, his beer and patrons tend to be the exact opposite when it comes to speaking to an incredible talent located in Mechanicsburg. A constantly rotating beer list should be an indicator there’s been no shortage of foot traffic when the doors are open, but that’s really just a fraction of the story.

From the outset, the mission statement is a simple one for Sworn: Make the best beer possible and keep that promise. Period. And how does one do that, you might ask? While there are many ways to answer this question, I can really only think of two answers. One, be Jesse Mills. Two, and on a more serious note, keep batches small and pay absolute attention to even the smallest of details. But that’s the everyday vision. When pressed for the five and ten year plans, Jesse gave us an answer with real gravity to it. Five years out, there is no plan to expand the brewery. You may scoff, but this is on purpose. In fact, everything about Sworn is purpose driven and calculated. In a time where breweries seem to be closing as fast as they open, a level headed approach to a new business is what’s needed. Not spending money on things that only look fancy, yet ultimately do not add to the bottom line is something that the Mills have avoided and intend to keep it that way. Ten years out … admittedly, ten years out is a long way to look, but if the past year is any kind of template for the success Sworn has achieved, then the years to come are bright indeed.

From opening the doors for the first time, pouring at the Hoppy Valley Brewfest, to collaborating with some of PA’s biggest and best breweries, Sworn is here to stay. Happy One Year Anniversary, Amanda and Jesse. Forever may your fermenters be full and your lines be long.

Amy – Getting Sworn Into Quality

Sworn Brewing Mexican Lager

Am I too much when I tell you I am writing my article about Sworn Brewing company while wearing my Sworn Brewing company shirt? It’s seriously a comfy shirt. It’s not your regular T-shirt that after a few good washings softens up, it was a well-made T shirt. I could live in this T-shirt.

Every time I am walking into Sworn, I think of the quote from their Facebook page “We will strive to make sure the highest quality items we can get our hands on will be used in every single process. Everything that comes out of our taps, every single small batch of beer that we make will go through a rigorous quality control process. If it does not meet our standards, it will never be consumed by the customer. We are not here to cut corners, we are here to make sure we can provide you with the best possible experience that you deserve, what the craft brewing industry deserves!”

I still remember quoting this a year ago and we are delighted to celebrate the 2 years of Sworn Brewing Company. Each time I see how quickly their beer kicks or a standing room only Friday night I can’t clap hard enough, and I can’t wear this comfy T-shirt any more proudly.

Every aspect of Sworn Brewing company embodies this level of quality in all their products. When Sworn Brewing posts a beer was just tapped you need to leave your house immediately or you aren’t going to get to taste it. Jesse

brews the beer in manageable smaller quantities, it keeps the impeccable quality on point.

We sampled several different brews they had on tap during our visit last month. They are probably long gone by now. But you’d also hope that, so the beer is always fresh. I also tried a glass of the house made non-alcoholic

cream ale. It lasted maybe 30 seconds in front of me. Having non-alcoholic options is inclusive for whatever the reason. (See: I’ve Missed Drinking A Lot.)

On our visit we also enjoyed some of the beloved queso. This house made queso is the perfect pairing with Sworn beer. I do believe the boyfriend understands this is a must order each time we frequent Sworn. It seems natural to wonder why they aren’t expanding and growing? The question stemming from Jesse and Amanda was “why?” And the obvious, they won’t let the level of quality decrease in the slightest. Why not consider how detail oriented their attempt at brewery perfection is?

Ben – Getting Sworn Into Craftsmanship

Sworn Brewing

I get to see Jesse and Amanda fairly often at work, and when I get the chance I break away and stand around chatting with them for quite a while. We talk shop, the business, the industry; we brainstorm ideas like creating a tap handle out of an old PlayStation or NES controller for their “Gamer” series of beers. Amanda will tell me how we need to start up a podcast – which we do – and which we are constantly planning on doing – and we get to chatting about new beers at my work, as well as at their brewery, etc.

The biggest thing we would discuss is how we needed to do a follow up article for them. Discussing their one year mark. How everything has changed – or nothing has changed. (And in that year, a lot has and hasn’t changed.) We’ve gotten to stop over at Sworn’s brewery in Mechanicsburg several times in the course of the year, we’ve gotten to hang out with them at the Hoppy Valley Brewfest, they’ve grown in what they sell for beer, for drinks, for merch, and even doing crowlers and growlers.

Speaking of growlers… we come to the one (and seemingly only) regret Jesse really has of their first year of operation. When asked, and prodded about what he would change; he said he would go back and not sell those growlers. (But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.)

Amy and I arrived about 5 – 10 minutes after Josh, who was already a stout deep; we joined him and then Jesse and Amanda outside in the beautiful sunny patio area. Over the past year I’ve become horrible with checking into beers on Untappd, even going full brewery visits without checking into beers, but throughout the course of our time there in the late July days, we (between myself, Amy, and Josh) got the entire board of beers. And that list ran the gambit from a stout, to IPAs, to pale ales, a Mexican lager, and a sour. All were – as always – fantastic.

Some of the various topics we discussed were things like collaborations. Like their recently completed collaboration – Storm the Field – with Troegs Independent Brewing, Antifragile Brewing, and Warwick Farm Brewing. We discussed how they were going to do a collaboration with Adroit Theory and then it didn’t quite work out. The nuances to collaborations are a very tricky thing.

This brings me back to how once again, just like in previous times we’ve done interviews with people, Amy, Josh and I, like to take a non-journalistic approach of ‘chatting’ and ‘hanging out’ rather than note taking, writing down, jotting every last thing said, quoting and using tape recorders and such. We much more prefer an open, relaxed, fun style of chatting and then going through our recollection to make our articles (when we do these sneak previews or sit downs with brewers and breweries, like we’ve done with Couch Brewery, Mellow Mink Brewing, Lindgren Brewing, Beerded Goat, etc.)

One of the many things we discussed over and over was Untappd. Amanda certainly has some strong opinions and thoughts on the app. We discussed the pros / cons to it – as a whole, for the industry, as well as to Sworn Brewing in particular. Jesse told us about how they reached out and approached him about making their brewery a “verified venue” because of how well Sworn Brewing was doing.

Amanda getting frustrated at the kegging cleaner at Collusion Tap Works (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing)

Jumping back up to the discussion on collaborations, we discussed their Clayton Bigsby beer (if you know, you know), a collaboration with Collusion Tap Works. Its a black kolsch. Jesse and Amanda both discussed their love for Collusion Tap Works and for Jared, and their working agreement with them (mostly Amanda begrudgingly discussing how she has to go there to clean kegs).

Some of the most interesting parts of the discussion was listening to Jesse talk about the art and the craft of brewing beer. How much he loves their small model, getting to do so many new batches (they are already past 100 batches for the brewery, and Jesse himself is over a thousand commercially and professionally). Jesse absolutely loves his small system, his model of making beer the way he wants to, the designs and recipes that he wants to, and being able to just constantly tweak, to constantly update, to constantly fiddle with everything to the way he wants. Like an artist sculpting. Or a painter painting. And he very much views this as an art, his art. He gets to craft it, near daily, making the batches he wants, with the recipes he’s worked on and the brewing system he created.

Jesse and Amanda

There are many things to say, but looking back over our pictures, and this one grabs my thoughts on it, is that I really wanted to point out is the dedication and enjoyment, and love that these two have for what their doing. Jesse obviously loves the brewing process, brewing, crafting, honing his beers. But they both love doing this. They genuinely enjoy running the brewery, talking to guests, sitting there and hanging out with people, chatting about beer, with beer, to people. They both have an extreme passion for the business, for the quality, for the art, for the beer, for what it means to people, to the community, to what it means for everyone. These two love getting to work with and for the people of not just Mechanicsburg, but all the people who visit their brewery. Who have taken home crowlers and given them to friends or tasted them with their friends. Nearly every single person that walked into that brewery on July 18th, knew Jesse and Amanda, they shook hands, hit fists, clapped shoulders, etc. Bantered with each and every person. Watching them with the people coming into their humble brewery, you can see why they do this, why they continue to do this, and why they want to continue to do this. Plus, I think it lets them keep giving their daughter (part time bartender) enough crap every day. (What parent wouldn’t want that?)

Throughout the course of our chat, we enjoyed the full menu, while Jesse and Amanda enjoyed their lager, we joked, we chatted about the past year, how crazy it all felt just a year ago sitting down to chat about the place to be, and how its ‘grown’ in that year. Grown being a relative term really. The brewery and the building itself is the same size, but there are so many differences. The patio area outside is bigger, theres a larger area to make food, and something that Jesse wants to do much more of. Theres the sense of how its grown in popularity, in community, and in spirit. We joked about things they could do or would do or would not do with the building and the area, we joked about things from their opening like the black drop down ceiling tiles, etc.

Funnily enough there isn’t much of anything Jesse wants to change, or even grow, in the sense of ‘getting larger’ materially. He enjoys his size, his location, their heartbeat of a brewery. They enjoy just what they have, not wanting to get ‘too big’ or to ‘outgrow’ themselves. We talked about satellite and second locations, and discussed how this doomed or severely hurt many other breweries. We discussed some financials of the industry and Sworn itself, but generally this was a dog best left to sleep. I think the biggest thing we could say as a takeaway is contentment in this aspect. They are secure, happy, and content with the creation, the situation, the brewery; not content in a “resting on their laurels” kind of way, but content in what they created, a happiness brought on by all the hardwork, sweat, and straight up work in the brewery; a contentment more born on satisfaction and not wanting to destroy whats already there. Progress will be made obviously, but not for lack of reason, lack of logic, lack of strategy and idea. Progress for Sworn will be in an essence a tactical idea.

Moving back to the beer aspect of our conversation, we chatted and discussed styles. We talked about IPAs, hazy and west coast, we talked about saisons, lagers, we talked about stouts and porters. Basically we covered the spectrum of craft beer, and how Jesse loves to brew and try them all. The challenge of coming up with new recipes for different styles is always forefront, but a challenge Jesse looks forward to, a challenge he wants and in almost an aspect its something that drives his brewing edge, his creativity. He keeps him a younger man in a sense. (Which I’m sure Amanda appreciates.) But that spark of creativity and wanting to try different approaches, different styles, different recipes, is the genesis and main thrust of The Gamer series. Jesse’s version of research and development, his system to test out new recipes and methods and variants, “what if I change this hop or tweak this grain bill”, etc.

The area around the smoker and cooking area for Sworn Brewing

Amy took the above picture of the ‘food prep’ area at Sworn Brewing, the smoker and outdoor grill area. And of course had to grab a shot of the award that Jesse won. Later in the conversations, Jesse talks about how awards and things like the Untappd stuff and tournaments and medals don’t appeal to him, so of course we had to poke at him, and mention how he “prominently displays this award”. (He promptly then removed said award, in a bit of a good natured huff.) When visiting the brewery, make sure you look for this award and point it out to Jesse.

Speaking of things that annoy Jesse, we would be amiss if we didn’t mention the stickers bearing his likeness. There is a sticker of Jesse’s head. And needless to say Jesse loves that this is a thing (maximum sarcasm involved here). We have discussed using the image for panties, as well as pasties, and other sorts of merchandise and memorabilia. One can only hope one day we’ll be able to buy Jesse themed pasties and panties from Sworn Brewing. (The ball is in their court.)

Wrapping This Up

We are fast approaching the 3500 word mark, and its best we get this wrapped up. As always, we had a wonderful time visiting. And even more so, we had a fantastic time chatting with Amanda and Jesse. They are absolutely phenomenal people to get to hang out with, and pick their brains about beer, the industry, brewing, everything really. They really are wonderful people, and its a blast getting to spend time with them, and getting to be at their brewery. And they don’t make bad beer either, so thats certainly a plus.

I can’t say enough great things about them, Sworn Brewing, and am constantly recommending the brewery to people that come into my work or that I meet out. The community aspect is top notch, and the place is welcoming, the beers are good, the food is great, and the vibe is perfect.

We are so happy to see how well they are doing, and wish them a Happiest Anniversary. One down, many more to go! (Here’s to revisiting this article and writing about their 50th anniversary!)

I want to again thank Amanda and Jesse for inviting us out and having us chat with them and getting to not just write the first article but this second article as well. I want to thank Josh and Amy as well for writing and helping craft this article. We visited on July 18th, and we wrote our portions somewhat from there, some in increments, but mostly in the later more recent time, so any errors and mistakes are due to our faulty minds, especially since “we had a few that day”.

I do want to apologize for some of the tardiness of this article, it was originally intended to get prepared and finished around the 10th of August, but real life (four daughters and all) tends to get in the way, and this article is just a mere 10 days late. My apologies.

I want to give one final shout of: “WHOOOOOO DEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY” to fully wrap this up.

More Articles About Sworn Brewing Company

• Sworn Brewing’s September Opening: Celebrating the Mechanicsburg Community
• Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company
• Troegs Brewing Teams Up with Sworn Brewing, Antifragile Brewing, and Warwick Farms Brewing for Storm the Field
• Beer Review: Storm the Field (Troegs Brewing, Antifragile Brewing, Sworn Brewing, and Warwick Farms Brewing)

More Information on Sworn Brewing Company

The following comes via Untappd.

Sworn Brewing Company is a nano brewery from Mechanicsburg, PA. They have 121 unique beers, and over 9,100 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.19 (as of 8.20.24). Their Untappd description is currently blank.

You can find them at the following social media platforms:

• Sworn Brewing Company – Official Website
• Sworn Brewing Company – Facebook
• Sworn Brewing Company – Instagram
• Sworn Brewing Company – Untappd

Some Articles Written by Josh

If you are looking for more articles written by Josh, check these out:

• Beer Review: Colonization (Ghost 779) – Adroit Theory
• Beer Review: EBK – Gashadokuro (Ghost 782) – Adroit Theory
• Multiple Beer Review: Envie & Envie 4XDH (Parish Brewing Co.)
• Beer Review: B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle-Conditioned, 2017) – Cox Brewing Company (CBC)
• Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Octagonal Stairway (Ghost 859) – Adroit Theory x Pig Destroyer
• Josh on Central PA Pour

Amy’s Column Series

• Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
• Happy Father’s Day
• What is Your Summer Time Go To Beer?
• Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles
• Baby’s First Ffej
• We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company
• Beer Review: Pocono Punch (Barley Creek Brewing Company)
• Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing
• Beer Review: Tropical Stout (Troegs Independent Brewing and Windy Bridges Brewing LLC)
• RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series
• Happy Birthday to Ben
• Brewery Review: Cold Spring Inn and Brewery
• Hummelstown Doesn’t Deserve Maritza
• Enchilada Stuffed Peppers and Sunshine Pilsner
• Master of Pumpkins, Cupcakes, Cookies, and Bacon Cheeseburgers
• A Beer Review by Grandma SueAnn (Beer Review: Braaaiins! by Spring House Brewing Company)
• Grandma SueAnn and More Beer: Beer Reviews of: Zoktoberfest (KCBC – Kings County Brewers Collective) and Devious Imperial Pumpkin (Fegley Brew Works)
• Oh Ever Grain: 7 Years, 7 Beers
• Pumpkin Beer Review with Grandma SueAnn – Abomination Brewing: Forbidden Pumpkin, Greater Good Brewing: Giant Pumpkin, and Pizza Boy Brewing: Sunny Side Up Double Coffee Pumpkin
• Grandma SueAnn Helps Review More Pumpkin Beers: 2 out of 3 Ain’t So Bad
• Halloween Candy and Beer Pairings
• Brewery Review: Otto’s Pub and Brewery
• Munching on some Thanksgiving leftovers?
• The Holidays Always Bring On Waves of Nostalgia For Me
• YAH Brew and Desserts Pairing
• Christmas Cookies and Beer Styles Pairing (Pairing Christmas Cookies with Beer)
• New Years Day
• Winter Beers
• Two Years Later: Brewfests with Anxiety
• It’s Been a Long Year Already, Wait Its Only April?
• Did you miss me as much as I missed you? (A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery)
• These Summer Beers Are Slapping… Again
• Benefit for CJ (at YAH Brew Hershey)
• There is Something About Those Back Patio Beers
• Grilling and Beer’ing
• Sworn Brewing a Year Later – A Sit Down with Jesse and Amanda
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

For More Articles from Ben

• Beer Review: I’m 40% Galaxy (Local Craft Beer)
• Urban Artifact Brewery Files Federal Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Over Online Beer Sales Restrictions
• Rollacrit Partners with Voodoo Ranger IPA for New Kickstarter, Heroes of Barcadia: Heroes for Hire Tabletop Game
• Book Review: Big Two Hearted River (Ernest Hemingway)
• Beer Review: Two Hearted Ale (Bell’s Brewery)
• Mastering the Art of Craft Beer Tasting: Your Ultimate Guide to Flavor and Aroma – How to Describe Beer Like a Pro
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Green Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Vader (Mispillion River Brewing)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)

All Of Us

• Seen Through a Glass – Season 2, Episode 31: Let’s Talk Beer (our interview with Lew Bryson)

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

• Crystal Ball Brewing Closing
• Stoudt’s Brewing Closing
• Full Pint Brewing Closing
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Other Half Brewing Company Opening Friday 2.18.22 in Philadelphia
• Midwest Coast Brewery Opening
• Boulevard Presidents Steps Down Amidst Allegations
• Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor (Camp Hill)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub (Hershey)
• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?
• Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino – Grantville – Opening Their 5th Location
• JB LoveDraft’s Grand Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• ZeroDay Opens Their New Tap Room (Harrisburg)
• Victory Brewery Fire and Explosion (Kennett Square)
• Sign of the Horse Brewery is Expanding in Hanover (Taking Over the Old Miscreation Brewery)
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh)
• Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• A Sneak Peak at the new Rubber Soul Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (Hummelstown)
• VooDoo Lancaster Closing
• River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closes
• Homaide Brewing Says Goodbye To Their First Home
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing (Mechanicsburg)
• Rally Point Tap Room Opening – Cox Brewing Company – Elizabethtown
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Aslin Beer Co. Now Ships to Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Expanding to Pittsburgh
• Rural City Beer Company Coming to Beamstown PA
• Grand Opening of Forest and Main’s New Brewpub
• New Bells-gium – New Belgium Owned Company Buys Bell’s Brewery
• Human Robot Expanding to Jenkintown
• High Road Brewing Company Coming to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in Summer 2022
• YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
• RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop
• Arboretum Trail Brewing Company Opens Their Doors Tomorrow
• Macklin Brewing Company in Development
• Michaux Brewing Company Grand Opening
• Shy Bear Brewing Announces Two New Locations
• Newfangled Brew Works Announces Closure
• Fourscore Beer Company Celebrates Their 3rd Anniversary
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Owner’s Retirement
• Voodoo Brewing Company To Open Brewpub on North Shore of Pittsburgh – August 27th
• Truth Beer Company’s Grand Opening
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Grand New Location and Opening
• AleCraft Brewing Company Expands Into Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works Celebrates 6th Anniversary
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire Update
• Victory Taproom in Kennett Square Re – Opens
• Pour Man’s Brewery Is Moving Their Tap Room
• Qatar Bans Alcohol Sales at World Cup 2022
• Second Sin Brewery Company Celebrates Third Anniversary
• Round Guys Brewing Company’s Brewpub in Lansdale is Getting a Revamp
• VK Brewing Officially Opens at Historic Ship Inn
• Rocket Frog Brewing Company Announces Closure on December 11th
• Co – Hops Brewery and Cannery Appears to be Closed
• Where to Watch the USA vs Netherlands World Cup Game – in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company Announces the Show is Ending (Brewery Closure)
• Looks Like Homaide Brewing Company Might Be Done (January 2023)
• Beltway Brewing Closing at the End of the Month (January 2023)
• Old Soul Brewing Starting up in Waynesboro Pennsylvania
• Cox Brewing Company Returning to Their Roots
• Helping the Hemauer Family
• Cellar Works Brewing Closing Cooper Station
• Imprint Beer Company Unveils The GNARCADIUM
• Blueprint Brewing Company Announces Their Closing on March 31st
• Pilger Ruh Brewing is Expanding into Gettysburg
• Back Porch Brewing Grand Opening
• Jigsy’s Old Forge Pizza and Brewpub is Expanding into Hershey
• LoveDraft’s Brewery Sabotaged
• Homaide Brewing Company Resurfaces
• Sign of the Horse Brewery Announces Closure of Zeichen des Pferdes and Re – Branding
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery in Palmyra Announces Closing Immediately
• The Englewood Announces Re – Opening
• AB InBev Closes Cleveland’s Platform Brewing Company
• Full Tit Brewing Closing
• Camp Hill Brewery – High Road Brewing – Plans Scrapped
• YAH Brew is Coming to Hershey in Spring 2023
• Bespoke Brewing Moving and Expanding
• BrewDog Pittsburgh Has Closed
• Isle of Que Brewing – The Que Brew Crew – Has Announced Their Closing
• Fermentery Form Announces Temporary Closure
• Separatist Beer Project Announces Temporary Closing of Both Locations
• Fermentery Form Cited for Failing Health Inspections
• Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility
• Cox Brewing Company Celebrates 8th Anniversary
• Human Robot Expands into the Schuylkill
• Despite Being Closed – Fermentery Form Selling Bottles Tomorrow
• Cape May Brewing Company Acquires Flying Fish Brewing Company
• Our Town Brewery Expanding into Philly
• Smoketown Creekside – Brewery Operations For Sale
• Founders Announce Closure of their Detroit Taproom
• The Bruery Store D.C. Is Closed
• Founders Brewing Company Sued for Racial Discrimination (Again) Just Before Detroit Taproom Shut Down
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company – New Ownership, New Beer, New Friends
• YAH Brew Grand Opening
• FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery
• The Beerded Goat Brewing Company Taking over the old NewFangled Brewery
• River Horse Brewing Company Acquires DuClaw Brewing Company
• Carbon Copy Brewing will be taking over Separatist Beer Project’s East Passyunk Location for the Summer
• Anchor Brewing Will No Longer Be Sold Nationally
• The First Hershey Beer and Music Festival Announced
• Cushwa Brewing Company Opening Second Location in Columbia Maryland
• Guinness Baltimore Blonde Beer Production Moving to New York
• Black Rock Brewing Company – Downtown Pottsville – Will Not Be Re – Opening
• Jim Thorpe Brewing Needs Your Support
• Cinderlands Foederhouse Temporary Closure
• Appalachian Brewing Company Coming Soon to Carlisle
• Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery Is Up For Sale
• New Belgium Teams Up with Magic the Gathering for Vastwood Seer IPA
• Anchor Brewing Could Be Sold Tomorrow
• Anchor Brewing Company Ceasing Operations and Liquidating Business
• A Sneak Peek of The Beerded Goat Brewery
• Allusion Brewing Company Appreciation Party
• Allusion Brewing Company Expanding to the North Hills
• Sworn Brewing Company Opening in September
• With Heavy Hearts Tattered Flag Announces Last Day
• Appalachian Brewing Company Pairs with The Vegetable Hunter to Release Plant Based Beyond Beer Collaboration
• Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Peek at Sworn Brewing Company
• Arboretum Trail Brewing is Closing Their Taproom
• Mastic Trail Brewing Company Setting into the Sunset – Closing on September 2nd
• A Look at Local Time Brewery
• Second Sin Beer Announces Second Tap Room Location
• Rumor Mill: Snitz Creek Brewing To Take Over Mt. Gretna Brewing’s Old Location
• Howling Henry’s Not Looking to Finish Out the Year
• Brewery Fire Celebrates Their Fourth Anniversary: The Power of the Fourth
• Devil’s Eye Brewing Announces Closure on September 30th
• Walk to End ALZ at Lost in the Wilds Brewing – September 28th, 2023
• 12 Pennsylvania Breweries Collaborate on Buckeye Tears
• Stickman Brews Announces Immediate Closure
• Spring House Brewing to Open The Coffin Bar on Friday the 13th
• Cox Brewing Company Announces Closure at the End of 2023
• High Road Brewing Company Announces Grand Opening Celebration at High Road Taproom in Mechanicsburg
• Circle of Life – A Fond Farewell to North Austin’s Oldest Brewery
• BierHall Brewing Coming to Lancaster
• Smuttynose Brewing and Five Boroughs Brewing Joining Under the Ownership of Finestkind Brewing
• Highway Manor Brewing Has Seemingly Been Closed
• Tree House Opening a Saratoga Springs Location
• Cartel Brewing and Blending Announce Their Moving
• Cartel Brewing and Blending Grand Opening of Their New Location
• Wacker Brewing Announces Upcoming Closing
• Mindful Brewing Company Temporarily Closing
• Highway Manor Brewing Temporarily Closed For Remainder of 2023
• Snitz Creek Brewing is Coming to the Old Mt. Gretna Craft Brewery
• Chatty Monks Brewing Company Has Exciting News
• Liquid Noise Announces Opening Soon
• Jackass Brewing Company Adding Williamsport Location in 2024
• Truth Beer Company Announce New Lancaster Taproom
• Truth Beer Company Opening a Taproom in Lancaster
• Moss Mill Brewing Company of Huntingdon Valley is Closing
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company Sets Grand Opening for December 29th
• Three Beards Brewing Announce Closure
• Ingenious Brewing Announces the Upcoming Closure of their Brewery
• Allusion Brewing is Opening a Second Spot in McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park
• Breweries that Opened in Pennsylvania in 2023
• Cox Brewing Company Close Out Celebration
• A New Owner Takes Over Olde Bedford Brewing Company
• North Country Brewing is Closing the Corn Crib at Freedom Farms Farmers Market
• Compass Mill Tap House is Temporarily Closed Down for Cleaning and Maintenance
• Aldus Brewing’s Dolphin and Anchor Pub in Downtown Hanover Set for Grand Opening
• HiJinx Brewing Company Adding Second Location
• Truth Beer Company is Having Their Grand Opening on Saturday – January 20th
• Wissahickon Brewing Company to Add a Second Taproom
• Hell in a Bucket Brewery is Moving to Marietta
• Smuttynose Brewing to Acquire Wachusett Brewery
• Sign of the Horse Bierhaus is Closing
• Anheuser-Busch InBev Closes Two Craft Brewpubs
• Species X Beer Project Opening Soon in Columbus
• The Alementary Announces Their Closure
• Our Town Brewery Taproom Set to Open in Philadelphia
• Mount Hope Brewfest is Cancelled
• Hoppy Valley Brewfest Announced for Beaver Stadium
• Grist House Brewery Will Be Taking Over the Taproom at Freedom Farms Farmers Market
• Necromancer Brewing Temporarily Closing
• Hysteria Brewing Company For Sale
• AleCraft Brewery Bel Air to Close
• Necromancer Brewing Permanently Closing
• YAH Brew Looking to Expand
• Voodoo Brewing Company Names New CFO and Employee Owner, Reinforcing Its Dedication to a Diverse and Dynamic Community
• Country Trails Brewing To Open in April
• Voodoo Brewing – Seven Fields Coming Spring 2024
• Allusion Brewing Company’s Second Location is Having Their Grand Opening Saturday
• Kennett Brewing Company is Closing
• Dough Daddy Brewery Coming to Gibsonia
• Willow Creek Brewing Company to Close Permanently
• YAH Brew to Open YAH Brew’s Retro Bar in Mount Joy
• Twelve78 Brewing Company To Open Its Doors on May 17th In Phoenixville
• Ballast Point Shutting Down Production
• Wander Back Beerworks: Vineland’s Newest Brewery Gears Up to Join South Jersey’s Craft Beer Scene
• Pour Man’s Brewing Acquires St. Boniface Brewing
• BrewDog’s James Watt Stepping Down as CEO
• Insurrection Ale Works Closing Saturday
• Hoppy Valley Brewersfest is Tomorrow
• Mindful Brewing is Transforming into Chimera Brewing
• Liquid Hero Brewery’s New Spot
• A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery (Amy’s Column)
• Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery is Up for Auction
• Ross Brewing Company is Closing Their Taproom in Port Monmouth
• Source Brewing Expanding to Manayunk
• Broken Chair Brewery Announces They Will Be Closing
• Rubber Soul Brewing to Open New Taproom Saturday
• Brew Monkey to Close Thursday
• Bissell Brothers Closing Their Three Rivers – Milo – Brewery
• Mellow Mink Brewery is Closing
• Mad Princes Brewing Announces Upcoming Closure
• Truth Beer Closes Akron and Moves Brewing to Lancaster
• Tied House Abruptly Closes
• 2 Dogz and a Guy Brewing Announces Closing
• Grand Illusion Cider’s Last Week of Operations
• Stony Run Brew House Sells to a Local Brewery
• Breckenridge Will Open Third Taproom
• Sign of the Horse Brewery Bought Stony Run Brew House
• Selin’s Grove Brewing Closing Until Further Notice
• Urban Artifact Brewery Files Federal Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Over Online Beer Sales Restrictions
• J. Wakefield Brewing Announces Closing of Wynwood Taproom
• When it Rains it Pours – ZeroDay Production Slowed Down by Flooding
• J. Wakefield Brewing is Moving
• McAllister Brewing Company Transitions Completely to The Carriage House Restaurant
• Böser Geist Brewing Announces Closure
• Vault Brewing Company Easton is Coming Fall of 2024
• Sworn Brewing a Year Later – A Sit Down with Jesse and Amanda
• Brewery Closings – Archives
• Brewery Openings – Archives
• The Craft Beer Conundrum: Navigating the Troubled Waters of the Craft Beer Industry

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #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!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Our podcast with Lew Bryson is now up and downloadable for all to enjoy! As we noted before – Seen Through a Glass Podcast Appearance – we got to meet with the esteemed Lew Bryson at Boneshire Brew Works on January 6th.

It was a wonderful experience, and we probably ran longer than he anticipated / wanted (Josh and I have a tendency to get a little windy, especially when drinking, and we also had Amy with as well who tried to curtail us somewhat). We sat in the back of the brewhouse at Boneshire Brew Works, drinking beer (I had the Barleywine x2 in my Mug Club mug, Josh had his trusty Mug, Lew got to try the Testify, and Amy had the Green Machine with coconut), we also got to enjoy a marzen from New Glarus, and we had ourselves a wonderful time despite the snow.

Speaking of the snow – the day was a beautiful snowy day…. that just kept piling up. Soon after our interview, Boneshire Brew Works closed for the day, as did most of the breweries in the Central PA area.

(One could make a comment that its that good old fashioned “Farm Show” weather.)

Season 2, Episode 31: Let’s Talk Beer

To listen to the podcast directly at the website, you can visit here:

• Seen Through a Glass: Season 2, Episode 31: Let’s Talk Beer

Or you can download it via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, PodBean, Spotify or Player FM.

The full description of the page reads:

Mass beer hysteria!

I wanted to get more beer content in the podcast, so I invited The Beer Thrillers! Ben Kline, Amy Wolfe, and Josh Doncevic write The Beer Thrillers blog, which is…mostly about beer in Central PA, but they do book reviews (and not just beer books), beer trips well outside the area, and…well, a lot of stuff. We got together at Boneshire Brew Works on a snowy Saturday, ate great pizza and drank great beer while talking about hazy IPAs, the resurgence of classic styles, and why so many Central PA breweries went under recently. 

What else? A quick Farm Show report (Goat Sloppy Joes!), and a description of the Burns Night dinner my wife and I are hosting; the annual commemoration of Scottish poet Robert Burns. 

Next episode: a town profile episode, because I know you love ’em! Cheers!

This episode uses these sounds under the following license:
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

“Champ de tournesol” by Komiku at https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

“People Talking in Small Room” effect from https://pixabay.com//

“Auld Lang Syne” (traditional), performed by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

“Glow” by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au
Music promoted by https: //www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

All sounds sourced by STAG Music Librarian Nora Bryson, with our thanks.

Season 2, Episode 31 – Lets Talk Beer

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

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

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Three Questions and a Pint

Everyone has a story and sometimes it’s best when shared over a beer. Three Questions and a Pint is a brief interview featuring someone with an interesting story I’ve met at a brewery, along with their review of the beer they were drinking during our conversation.

Noah Reighard

Noah Reighard is a Boiling Springs, PA native who now lives and works in D.C. He started running as a kid at the encouragement of his mom who ran 5ks. “She would tell my friend and me to run before doing our homework. I used to pretend I was finishing the Boston Marathon.” He came full circle when he eventually ran the Boston Marathon in 2019. I caught up with him at Red Bear Brewing Co. in D.C. just before he ran the Marine Corps Marathon. He would come in 5th place out of over 19,000 runners with a time of 2:33:54.

Three Questions

What the hell do you think about when you’re running for hours?

I’m mostly doing math in my head; I’m thinking about my times and splits. Also every few minutes, I do a check-in diagnostic—how does my body feel; am I hydrated; how’s my running posture and form? At the beginning of a race, sometimes I’m talking to other runners in the pack. I’m also thinking about the people who came out to support me. I try to think very little about much of the run is left.

What’s a stereotype that most people have about marathon runners that’s kinda unfair?

That we’re neurotic. [laughs] I guess we are a little. I keep track of my running times when I train and I can geek out with other runners about shoes and on running apps. But the stereotype that running is selfish or solitary is a little misplaced. Many runners cheer for other runners; I usually say “good job” when I pass someone or stay at the finish line for a little while to cheer for the other finishers.

What’s your advice to someone who’s thinking about running a marathon?

Oh, to find your “why,” your reason to run such a long distance. What’s the intrinsic reason you want to run a marathon? It could be for the challenge or for a charity or a cause. Definitely find something that is going to keep you motivated to train for it and then to run it.

The Pint

Beer Review: Because he wasn’t drinking the day before the big race, here’s my review of Red
Bear’s DC Dirt that I had. It’s a smooth porter with roasty flavors with an ABV of 5.6%.

Three Questions and a Pint Series

• Three Questions and a Pint: Josh Dourte
• Three Questions and a Pint: Noah Reighard

Paul R. Kan

Paul R. Kan is the author of Hawai’i Beer:  A History of Brewing in Paradise which was a North American Guild of Beer Writers’ award winner and a #1 new release on Amazon’s Books on Beer.  He has written for Good Beer Hunting and is a regular contributor at The Beer Thrillers.  His current book project is Red, White and Brew:  The Beers and Battles that Shaped America.

Paul R. Kan Articles

The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:

• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Twofer Brewfer Brewery Reviews: Gearhouse Brewing Co. and Liquid Art Brewing
• Tapping into Heritage and Hope on Maui
• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Noah Reighard

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

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

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Everyone has a story and sometimes it’s best when shared over a beer. Three Questions and a
Pint is a brief interview featuring someone with an interesting story I’ve met at a brewery,
along with their review of the beer they were drinking during our conversation.

Josh Dourte

Josh Dourte is an architect in Carlisle who owns Roost Architecture. He is also the coordinator
of the local Green Drinks meetups at Ever Grain Brewing Company in Mechanicsburg, PA.
Green Drinks is an international, informal gathering of people from a variety of backgrounds
and with differing experiences interested in sharing ideas about environmental sustainability.
Green Drinks meets at 5:30pm on the first Wednesday of each month at Ever Grain and is open
to everyone.

Three Questions

What has surprised you most about Green Drinks?

The biggest surprise was when we first started the group. Quite a few people came to the meetups thinking we were about marijuana. [laughs]. But, hey, we welcome everyone but eventually they stopped coming when they found out that we’re about something else.

Is there anyone famous, or infamous, you’d like to show up at a Green Drinks meetup?

I’d love a visit from Matt Risinger from the Build Show. He’s a builder that really geeks out on
building science.

What’s a good news story about sustainability and the environment?

I think the good news is the growing awareness that climate change is real and having immediate effects. Also, we’re developing the technology and the means to, not only manage the impacts, but to help build a future that is much better for our children.

The Pint

Beer Review: Josh was drinking a pint of the Astro Cat which has a 7% ABV. He said: “It’s a Hazy IPA with a nicely balanced, subtly fruity hop profile. It’s a really easy sipper.”

Paul R. Kan

Donate to Maui wildfire relief; get a free book. Paul is offering to send a free copy of his book, Hawai’i Beer: A History of Brewing in Paradise, to anyone who makes a donation of any amount to help Maui relief.  It’s on the honor system, and people can e-mail Paul at paulrkan@gmail.com, after they’ve made a donation to provide their address. If you’re looking for a beer-related way to support, Maui Brewing has a relief fund that is soliciting donations.

(Please also read Paul R. Kan’s other article about Hawaii and beer here: From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates.)

Paul grew up in Hawai’i and knows its unique culture, traditions, and history. He is the author of Hawai’i Beer: A History of Brewing in Paradise, which the North American Guild of Beer Writers awarded second place for Best New Book of 2021. He currently lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Paul R. Kan Articles

The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:

• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Twofer Brewfer Brewery Reviews: Gearhouse Brewing Co. and Liquid Art Brewing
• Tapping into Heritage and Hope on Maui
• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

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

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Setting up the Interview

With the upcoming “One Sweet Afternoon 90’s Throwback Party” brewfest, I decided to reach out to Ryan Galiotto, owner and head of Fueled by Hops, and ask him some questions about a whole host of things. He was gracious enough to answer our questions and talk to us, so please, enjoy the following interview.

The Interview

After the first question, I will abbreviate ‘The Beer Thrillers’ to TBT and will abbreviate Ryan Galiotto to RG (as per standards with written interviews).

The Beer Thrillers: Who “is” Ryan Galiotto? Where did you grow up? Education? Interests? Hobbies? Etc.
Ryan Galiotto: I consider myself to be just an average guy who likes beer. I grew up in Easton, PA, just down the street from Weyerbacher Brewing, before moving to Pittsburgh (so I’ve covered both ends of PA). After I finished college, I moved to Chicago which is where I fell in love with beer. Since 2007, most of my hobbies revolve around craft beer. Well, that and spending time with my wife and daughter.

TBT: How did you get into beer? First remembrances of beer? Favorite initial drinks/beer?
RG: I was in Chicago and lived very close to a Goose Island location. I made my way throw their beer list before moving on to Fat Tire, Dogfish Head and all the popular craft breweries of that era. Once I discovered Garret Oliver and Brooklyn Brewing, I was absolutely hooked. I couldn’t believe that Brooklyn Brown Ale could taste as well as it does (and I still think that).

TBT: Progression into craft beer – what was your first craft beer? First breweries you went to?
RG: I can’t recall the first, but it was probably Yuengling. My early memories though revolve around Goose Island and Dogfish Head, which were also my first breweries.

TBT: How did you become interested in beer more than just a drinking habit? (ie. the site/writing/etc)
RG: I ran a craft beer bar back in 2008-2009ish. We handled about 125 brands of craft beer back then which is a TON of beer for that era. The idea for Fueled By Hops was actually born back then, however, I shelved it. I wanted to learn everything about beer at that point before I started any kind of business. Fast forward to 2017-2018ish and craft breweries were popping up around me, I knew it was time to act on my idea.

TBT: How did Fueled by Hops begin? (When did it begin, who all was involved, what all did you do, etc.)
RG: It all started on March 9, 2019 when I was drinking a Hitchhiker Brewing BA Woke. The idea was already created long before, but I didn’t know how to execute it. After noticing a lot of beer groups on Facebook (most of which were very toxic), I decided to start my own and get rid of that toxicity. We started with 8 members, and three of them were my brother, my brother-in-law, and my wife along with some other friends I met at breweries.

TBT: Where did you envision Fueled by Hops going or becoming when you first started it?
RG: I always just wanted a beer blog and cool community that hosted meetups and stuff. I never really evisioned it getting much bigger than that. However, after I incorporated, I started seeing different avenues where we could grow and started pushing the brand in those directions.

TBT: How has Fueled by Hops grown since it first started? Who all has helped out? What all has changed? What was it like Day 1 til today?
RG: We’ve grown our Facebook group from 8 members to 5,300 today. We probably could have many more members, however, we’re trying to make sure the group doesn’t get too large and lose it’s “good vibes only” nature. So it’s a slow grind up. Since Day 1, we’ve added on a merch store, multiple podcasts, a blog (which is now defunct) and have hosted a bunch of cool events and festivals. Most of this is all handled by myself and my business partner, Nick Adams.

TBT: Where do you foresee Fueled by Hops going/doing in the future? What all would you like to do with it? Bucket list goals for it?
RG: It’s weird to say but I think I see us growing in to a “beer-focused” media company. Some would argue that we’re there now, however I still want the “community” to be the front-facing part of the brand. I want to eventually release more podcasts and social content for the beer nerd. It may not all be about beer, but it’s certainly going to be relevant to people just like me. As long as the brand serves my beer friends well, I really don’t care how large it grows. I think that attitude helps the brand maintain it’s vibe as it scales up.

TBT: Talk us through the Best Brunch Ever brewfest. How did it come about, who all was involved, how did you brainstorm it, how successful was it?
RG: Best Brunch Ever was thought up actually AT Drink The Cookie Table. Nick and I were just walking around and said “hey, we should do this with brunch foods”… and then we just ran with it. He and I work well together and we really complement each other’s creative sides. So, Best Brunch was in my opinion, one of the most creative beer fests in a segment of the beer industry that’s becoming dry. It was also incredibly successful, selling out one session in just a day.

TBT: Was there any other brewfests before it? Or any other big events you had done before Brunch?
RG: There was one festival before it: Drink The Cookie Table, our ode to the Pittsburgh cookie table concept where all the beers were focused in the “dessert” direction. We called it “The sweeeetest event of the year”. It was our first festival and also our first sellout event. For being our first festival, I think we nailed this one. It’ll always be special to me. In fact, it’s actually being written about in a book releasing later this fall.

TBT: Moving onto the new brewfest – One Sweet Afternoon, how did it come about? What all ideas did you have behind it? Why Erie? etc.
RG: We wanted to move away from the “food” concept and do something our followers would love.  So we had the idea to do a throwback event and being as most of us were kids in the 90s, it was a natural fit.  All the beers at this event will themed around being a kid in that decade:  cosmic brownies, Ninja Turtles, East Coast Rap, Nesquick, and sooo much more.

We deemed this one a “party” rather than a festival because it seems like our events have more of a Party vibe to them.  When we plan fests, we don’t just plan them for beer nerds.  Our motto is:  you don’t need to be a beer nerd to enjoy our events, but if you’re a beer nerd, you’ll enjoy our events!

We chose Erie because that’s the second largest following of our brand.  It wasn’t fair for Pittsburgh to get all the love so we wanted to a big festival for the Erie market (which we love).  It’s also smack in between Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland, three great beer markets.  It just made sense.  As a result, we were able to assemble an amazing list of breweries from those regions.

TBT: How do you see One Sweet Afternoon doing? How is attendance looking currently? Are tickets still available?
RG: With this event being in a new market, we expected attendance to be lower than our Pittsburgh festivals. With that said, tickets are moving nicely and this will be a nice crowd.

TBT: Any future brewfests planned?
RG: After OSA, we’re going straight into planning Drink The Cookie Table 2! More details will follow on this one.

TBT: Any future events planned?
RG: We always have events on the horizon. Follow us on Instagram @fueledbyhops_ for those details!

TBT: What do you foresee coming down the pipelines in the remainder of 2022, and looking forward – in 2023, 2024, and even 2025?
RG: That’s hard to say, but I do want to focus more on charitable giving. Right now, we run a scholarship program for the Point Park University Brewing Science Academy. This program helps a member of an under-served / marginalized community learn how to brew beer professionally. I’d like to host some events that will allow us to expand this program.

TBT: What are your favorite breweries? Favorite beers? Favorite styles?
RG: My favorite brewery of all time is The Answer. I’ll drink anything from there. Other than that, my favorite beer of all time is Brooklyn Brown Ale.

TBT: Trends – where do you see the future of craft beer going? What trends do you see on the horizon?
RG: I think the term “craft beer” is dying.  Let me explain…  I’m not saying the industry is dying, but rather that it’s maturing in to just “beer”.  Two years ago, we all chased ‘hype’ beer but now we ‘expect’ good beer when we go to a brewery.  In my opinion, COVID really shifted distribution of beer and now good beer is readily available at our local distributors and breweries.  As a result, the ‘hype’ has died down.

I think the focus is going to shift more on the experience the brewery can deliver rather than the beers it makes.  Look at breweries like Trace Brewing bringing in DJs and drag shows, or The Answer who’s hosting hip-hop nights during the week, or Hop Farm that hosts comedy shows.  Breweries are going to need to work a little harder to get consumers in their tap rooms.

But I’d really like to see more ‘niche’ breweries, rather than those that try to make every style of beer.  I think Golden Age Beer coming out and focusing on just lager was a very progressive move.  I know if I want a great lager, I’m going to Golden Age, just like if I want great pizza, I go to Fiori’s in Pittsburgh.  Focus on what you do best and own it.

TBT: Where do you see the future of online medium for craft beer – podcasts, Youtube videos, blogs, websites, etc?
RG: I think social media and online mediums are going to always be pivotal to this industry.  I just wish the major networks were more friendly to the beer industry.  We’re seeing Instagram and Facebook take down posts and actual whole accounts of breweries, and it’s just not fair.  I think industry leaders need to lobby these social networks to allow our breweries to operate online without fear of ‘getting in trouble’.

Otherwise, tag me in your favorite beer podcasts because I listen to a TON of them.

TBT: Finally – Any plugs? Merchandise? Ticket links, etc?
RG: Head over to OneSweetAfternoon.com to grab tickets to our next festival. They are still available! And all of our latest merch is at FueledByHops.com. As an exclusive for Beer Thrillers, we’re dropping TWO surprises tees this week!

TBT: Any final comments?
RG: We’re two guys running a business and throwing events that cost us more than the cars we drive (no joke!). Your support allows us to continue to innovate and evolve the beer industry. Every ticket sale, t-shirt sale, glassware sale etc, just helps us continue our mission. Remember to SUPPORT SMALL!

Thank You Ryan

I’d like to take the time here to say thank you Ryan Galiotto for so graciously answering our questions and taking time out of his busy schedule for us here. Be sure to check out the brewfest “One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party” on September 17th, in Erie Pennsylvania. For more information, check out our article here: One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party Brewfest.

Fueled by Hops

For more information on Fueled by Hops, you can check out their social media pages at the following:

• Official Website – Fueled by Hops
• Facebook – Fueled by Hops
• Instagram – @fueledbyhops_
• Twitter – @fueledbyhops
• One Sweet Afternoon – Event Page

Fueled by Hops Related Articles

The following is some Fueled by Hops related articles here on The Beer Thrillers:

• Best Brunch Ever – Brewfest
• One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party – Brewfest
• Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Other Pittsburgh Related Articles

For those interested in Fueled by Hops and native to the Pittsburgh area, here are some other Pittsburgh related articles:

• Arboretum Trail Brewing Is Opening Their Doors
• Aslin Beer Company Coming to Pittsburgh
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap: On The Move Towards Pittsburgh (Juniata Brewing Company and Levity Brewing Company)
• The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack.
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap: Landfall in Pittsburgh and Shenanigans (Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Hop Farm Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Macho Man (Couch Brewery)
• BREW: The Museum of Beer – Is Set to Launch Their Online Exhibit
• Untappd (Next Glass) Purchases Hop Culture
• Cinderlands Beer Company is Expanding to Their Third Location
• Grist House Shipping Statewide in Pennsylvania
• Couch Brewery Announces Upcoming Closure
• Allusion Brewing Company Wins Two Awards
• Tortured Souls Brewing Company Kickstarter Campaign
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Retirement
• Troegs Brewing and Wigle Whiskey Team Up to Bring Peach Whiskey Back
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Their Expanding Into Pittsburgh
• Punk in Drublic – Pittsburgh Brewfest
• Voodoo Opening Brewpub in North Shore of Pittsburgh on August 27th

Interviews

The following is some of the interviews we’ve done through the blog:

• Brewer Interview: Rod Stahl (Axemann Brewery)
• Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Thanks For Reading

As always, thank you everyone for checking out the blog and reading. And a special thanks to Ryan Galiotto of Fueled by Hops for doing the interview with us. Be sure to check out some of our recent articles about our trips to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Canton, and other spots in Pennsylvania and Ohio; as well as our book reviews, beer reviews, and lots of other news articles. There are a ton of great articles (over 550+) to check out here on the blog, so be sure to search around and look through the different category heads – you’ll find them on the right. Thank you so much everyone for reading! Hopefully you’ll get to check out the “One Sweet Afternoon – 90s Throwback Party” on September 17th in Erie. Sounds like it’ll be an absolute blast!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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 #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. 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!

Sometime around last summer, last fall area, we had gotten an e-mail from Axemann Brewery about checking them out and doing some beer reviews. As with most things in the world – timing is just a crucial thing to everything. We didn’t get up to Bellefonte until later that year (December 10th), got to do a little hiking, check out Axemann, as well as a few other breweries in the area (Robin Hood Brewing – as well as hitting some breweries on the way back home to Hummelstown – Short Bus Brewing and Shy Bear).

Unfortunately it didn’t work out with us getting to do a sit-down with the brewers and owners of Axemann Brewery, but we were still able to conduct an interview over e-mail for everyone. We are definitely planning on coming back up to the Bellefonte area for some hiking and brews though. And that time we will make sure we get to do a sit-down with them.

The Battle of the Breweries (2022)

Also, if you’ve been living under a rock, or not really checking out our blog – you might not know it, but Axemann Brewery has reached the final four of the tournament. This was a 128 brewery tournament similar in vein to March Madness, that has condensed down into a final fatal fourway. (Because we don’t do anything normal on this blog.) Pitting Axemann Brewery up against Bunnyman Brewing, Gearhouse Brewing, and Von C Brewing.

You can go and vote here: The Battle of the Breweries (2022) – Finals Fatal Fourway.

The Interview

(For ease of interview and reading, after the initial question, I will be referring to ‘The Beer Thrillers’ / myself as ‘TBT’ and Rod Stahl as ‘RS’. This keeps the interview reading in line with how most online interviews are written out as per New York Times style, and makes the ease and flow a lot simpler.)

The Beer Thrillers: Who all is involved with Axemann Brewery?
Rod Stahl: I’m Rod Stahl, the founder and owner of Axemann along with my wife Dorothea who
helps to manage administrative processes including accounting and purchasing. Steve Hirlinger and I worked on the recipe for Blue Stripe, our flagship beer, for about six years before the brewery even opened, and he nailed it. Steve helped plan and design the brewhouse and continues to mastermind brewing formulas. Joe Jaglowski and Jeff Brungard are also instrumental members of the brewing crew. Joe has been managing the production operations and inventory since we opened. Cristina Barnes manages the marketing department for Stahl Sheaffer Engineering, of which I am a co-owner, and she began assisting with labels and marketing materials years before the brewery opened. She continues to lead marketing efforts for Axemann. Mike (Mo) Olmstead is our General Manager. He has more than 15 years of experience managing bars, and he has done a great job with hiring and training staff, setting up and running the taproom, and coordinating events.

TBT: How did it all come to be? How did you decide on the name ‘Axemann Brewery’?
RS: People seemed enthusiastic about the beer when we were home brewing, and we started taking it to festivals. I had a dream of opening a production brewery mainly for distribution with a small tasting room, but somehow it evolved into a 27,000 square-foot multi-level space. We decided to name it Axemann Brewery because we are on Axemann Road, which in turn derived its name from the Mann Axe dynasty that originated near here. If you visit the taproom, you’ll see original Mann axes repurposed as handles on our front doors. (You can see them in the picture we took that is at the top of the article, from our Instagram.)

TBT: In that same vein, why was the area (Bellefonte) chosen for the brewery? How did you pick
out the brewery location?
RS: It was a long search, but when I looked at this facility, I realized it was a great location. It’s bigger than I anticipated, but very cost effective. The historical features of the building with the streamside location and an active railroad made it possible to create a unique experience in this region. We loved the industrial feel of the building and maintained and repurposed many of the fixtures, including the original doors from the lockers of the Cerro Metal Factory employees. We wanted people who spent their careers working here to come in and recognize pieces of their personal or family history. Plus, Bellefonte is undergoing a renaissance, with more planned development along with a distillery, cideries, and our brewery. It’s a great destination. And our location gives us access to the phenomenal natural spring water of Big Spring!

TBT: What are your favorite brewing styles? Your favorite beers to make? Your favorite
Axemann Brew?
RS: I’m really proud of our German beers that are authentic to the style. My favorite is Blue Stripe, and like I mentioned, our head brewer did a great job – people who are familiar with the kolsch style often comment that it’s one of the best.

TBT: How did you get into brewing? What are some of your non – brewing hobbies?
RS: I lived in Harrisburg in the mid 1990’s, and a colleague in the engineering industry there
introduced me to brewing. Since then, I continued home brewing for many years with a dream of one day opening a brewery. Gradually it became a more realistic goal. Running and mountain biking are pretty serious hobbies, and I enjoy the physical part of keeping Axemann running, like building tables, assisting with brewing and canning, and addressing all of the issues that come up when you run a business in an old industrial building.

TBT: What from your past experiences has most prepared you for the brewery and brewing life?
What do you recommend for other brewers / home brewers or people looking to get into
brewing, or running/starting a brewery?
RS: Having an engineering degree and co-owning Stahl Sheaffer Engineering definitely helped me prepare for setting up the brewery and running this business. All of the years I’ve spent sampling and enjoying different brewing styles and craft beers didn’t hurt either! My wife and I have traveled to the west coast and other parts of the US and different countries in Europe. Finding brewpubs and trying the local beers is always a priority.

TBT: How was the opening of Axemann Brewing? How did things go at the beginning? How was
everything throughout the pandemic and COVID-19? How did you handle things in the
brewhouse and in the sense of upfront (financials, marketing, etc)?
RS: After more than a year of construction and several years of brainstorming and planning,
we were finally set to open in April 2020, so the timing of the pandemic was particularly bad. However, we were able to start packaging beer to meet the increased demand of distribution for people who had nowhere to go to buy beer on tap. So the production side of the business carried the weight until we officially opened the taproom in July of 2020. Of course capacity was limited, but we used that as an opportunity to really nail down our systems and serving processes. Given that our space is so large – we can accommodate over 500 guests – we were able to provide more than the required social distancing and ensure that our guests had the best possible experience. And we have garage doors along the stream side of the building that we opened up as much as possible to maintain a circulation of fresh air. The brewhouse maintained operations with a limited number of employees who were able to work apart from each other due to the large space.

TBT: Where do you see Axemann Brewing going in 2022? What is a 5 year goal for Axemann
Brewing and a 10 year goal for Axemann Brewing?
RS: We are currently looking at opportunities for one of more satellite locations within Pennsylvania. Within 5 to 10 years, we hope to have an expanded distribution footprint throughout the Mid Atlantic states. We currently have several different distribution agreements that cover approximately 40 counties in PA. We are also making changes and constantly updating our craft beer selections in the Taproom to grow our reputation as a destination brewery.

TBT: What are some of your favorite breweries? To visit? To drink? What are some of your
favorite styles to drink? Favorite beers to drink?
RS: Besides Axemann? Troeg’s and Appalachian Brewing Company are favorites. I also really enjoyed the Santa Fe Brewing Co when I was in New Mexico last year. As I mentioned I prefer the authentic German styles. I really like a lot of the Founders beers as well as Oskar Blues and Harpoon.

TBT: What are some trends you foresee on the horizon for craft brewing? What would you PREFER
or RATHER see become more popular – as far as styles go, or brewing processes, etc?
RS: I see brewing trends going back to traditional and authentic styles but with a craft quality in regard to the hops and grains versus mass production. That is a strong focus of ours, and it is noticed by our beer aficionados, whether an IPA, pale ale, German sour, or kolsch.

TBT: What breweries have you done collaborations with? And would like to do collaborations
with in the future?
RS: We haven’t done a beer collaboration yet, but we have discussed potential collaborations and look forward to it. We are currently brewing a barrel-aged series with a local spirits distillery.

TBT: Do you think there is such a thing as a ‘craft beer/brewery bubble’? Do you see more
breweries opening in the future or more breweries closing up? What are some things you’d
like to see breweries in your area do, or Pennsylvania in general?
RS: The number of new breweries is still high but growing at a slower rate.

TBT: And lastly – is there anything else you’d like to talk about or mention? Any pictures or
promotional material you’d like to include? Any upcoming events or brewery activities or
beer releases you’d like to talk about?
RS: We currently host a cornhole league, open mic nights, and a weekly trivia night as well as special events to raise funds for non profits. We are planning for more outdoor activities, and more events. Our taproom features a game area with shuffleboard and giant jenga as well as cornhole. We release small batch brews periodically (Bierfass Friday), and assess how they are received to potentially add them to our regular lineup. We will be having our third annual Oktoberfest this year. Watch for details!

The Wrap – Up

I would like to thank Rod Stahl very much for taking the time to answer our questions and to do this interview with us. As well as Christina Barnes for reaching out to us in the first place. We greatly enjoyed our visit last December, and can’t wait to come up and get to hang with you guys and drink some beers.

For those who haven’t been to Axemann Brewery, it is a fantastic brewery and facility. You can find it in Bellefonte, PA at this location:

• 2042 Axemann Rd Suite 125, Bellefonte, PA 16823

Be sure to follow Axemann Brewery on all of their various social media platforms and stay informed:

• Facebook – Axemann Brewery
• Instagram – Axemann Brewery
• Untappd – Axemann Brewery
• Website – Axemann Brewery.com

More Interviews

For more interviews, click here (more will be forthcoming too!) :

• Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• First Sip Brew Box Has Teamed Up With Kweza Craft Brewery (Rwanda) (Interview and Article)
• Brewer Interviews

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone. We always greatly appreciate everyone taking their time to check out the blog. Hopefully you enjoyed the interview. It was great getting Rod to answer our questions! If you can think of any breweries (or are a brewer yourself) that we should interview next, let us know in the comments!

Also, make sure you don’t forget to vote in the Brewery Battle, which ends on Good Friday (April 15th, 2022) at 11:59PM EST. You can vote by clicking here: The Battle of the Breweries (2022) – Finals Fatal Fourway.

As always, thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Cheers Everyone!

-B. Kline

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

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Coming soon, in the upcoming days we will be introducing a new segment to the blogs – Brewer Interviews. This segment is pretty straight forward. We, The Beer Thrillers, conduct an interview with a brewer (or brewers). Be it in person, over the phone, or through e-mail. Local to Central PA or far away, the game plan will be interview all types of brewers from all different types of breweries.

I think it’ll be a fun and informative new segment to the blog. We’ll get to hear from new voices, different people, and all learn all kinds of things about the different brewers, breweries, and brewing methods. Plus, it’ll provide some exposure to the brewers and breweries (as well as ourselves), so it seems like a win all around.

I know A. Parys is already working on an interview with a beer scientist from Cape May Brewing Company. I have talked to Tyler Budwash of Pilger Ruh Brewing, as well as several other brewers, so we are set to go with some exciting interviews to kick this new segment of the blog off.

Similar to how our beer reviews are prefaced such as: “BEER REVIEW: X (X)” where X is the title of the beer and (X) is the title of the brewery, the new brewer interview series will be similar. They will be titled, for example: Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing). So you know who the brewer is, and what company he is brewing for (at time of interview).

This is likely to expand greatly, and will include all manner of people working in the beer and craft beer and specifically brewery industries. From brewers to owners, to bartenders, to beer scientists, lab workers, hop farmers, home brewers, you name it. As well as expand regionally, going from the Central PA area to cover all sorts of areas, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Vermont, and the list will just continue.

Of course, if you are a brewer and would like to be interviewed, please contact us, you can contact us through the page here – CONTACT PAGE – or you can contact us on our FACEBOOK page through the messenger system. Or even contact us through TWITTER message or INSTAGRAM message. All will work. (Best results will be the CONTACT PAGE and FACEBOOK MESSENGER).

Hope you guys will find the new segment fascinating and interesting. And hope to hear from some brewers interested in being interviewed. Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline