J. Doncevic - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Tue, 20 Aug 2024 15:09:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 J. Doncevic - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 Sworn Brewing a Year Later – A Sit Down with Jesse and Amanda https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/08/20/sworn-brewing-a-year-later-a-sit-down-with-jesse-and-amanda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sworn-brewing-a-year-later-a-sit-down-with-jesse-and-amanda Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:13:35 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15431

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

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:

Some Articles Written by Josh

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

Amy’s Column Series

For More Articles from Ben

All Of Us

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:

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:

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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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.)

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Josh on Central PA Pour https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/03/04/josh-on-central-pa-pour/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=josh-on-central-pa-pour Mon, 04 Mar 2024 23:57:35 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=14786

Josh appearing on the Central PA Pour

Josh Appeared on the Central PA Pour Live Recording from the Winter Brew Fest

On the 24th of February, Josh attended the Winter Brew Fest at Double Road House in Red Lion, enjoying the brewfest while Ben and Amy worked / took care of Scarlet. Central PA Pour – found here: Central PA Pour Podcasts and Videos on YouTube – happened to be there hosting a live Podcast. They invited Josh on for part of their recording. To watch Josh’s segment, you can click this link and go directly to his segment: Josh on Central PA Pour. To watch the video in it’s entirety, you can click here: Central PA Pour at the Winter Brew Fest at Double Road House in Red Lion.

Central PA Pour

Make sure you check out Central PA Pour on their YouTube page. They are great guys and do some wonderful podcasts and videos. Subscribe and follow, I highly recommend them.

You can see our other articles with them here:

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:

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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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.)

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Seen Through a Glass – Season 2, Episode 31: Let’s Talk Beer (our interview with Lew Bryson) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/01/25/seen-through-a-glass-season-2-episode-31-lets-talk-beer-our-interview-with-lew-bryson/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seen-through-a-glass-season-2-episode-31-lets-talk-beer-our-interview-with-lew-bryson Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:44:05 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=13681 Our Interview is Up

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:

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:

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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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.)

 

 

 

 

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Happy Birthday Josh https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/09/25/happy-birthday-josh/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=happy-birthday-josh Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:40:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12538 Happy Birthday to Josh

Today is Josh’s birthday, so please – would everyone join me in wishing him a wonderful Happiest of Birthdays?!

Josh has been a contributing writer since 2019 and has greatly helped the blog grow. He has written a lot of beer reviews, as well as joined us on brewery visits and tours (notably Mellow Mink and Sworn Brewing). He also joined us for our podcast with Central PA Pour (YouTube Video – Central PA Pour).

Currently you can find Josh out and about hopping and hitting up breweries and we cover his gallivanting on our Instagram page.

So let’s take a look back on some of the articles Josh has written for us…

Josh’s Articles

Here’s a look back at all of Josh’s articles and contribution works to The Beer Thrillers:

Beer Review – Northmont (Yellow Bridge Brewing)

Josh’s first article for us was a beer review of Northmont by Yellow Bridge Brewing. A DIPA by the wonderful near Pittsburgh brewery.

Beer Review: Ectogasm (Drekker Brewing Co.)

His second beer review was Ectogasm by Drekker Brewing Co.

Beer Review: Miami Vice J.R.E.A.M. (Burley Oak Brewing Co.)

Josh switched things up here with a review of a sour by Burley Oak Brewing Co, one of the first JREAMS to get reviewed on the site.

Beer Review: Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart (Rotunda Brewing Company)

Sticking with the sours, and moving closer to home on this one, Josh’s next review was from Annville’s Rotunda Brewing.

Beer Review: Enigma (Anchorage Brewing Company)

Josh then returned back to the IPAs for his next beer review, this time from esteemed Anchorage Brewing Company.

Beer Review: Ghost In The Machine (Parish Brewing Co.)

His next was his most popular review – and most popular article – the fantastic Ghost in the Machine by Parish Brewing Company.

Beer Review: Ekuanot Astronaut (BAREbottle Brewing Co.)

Josh went into space to review this wonderful beer from BAREBottle.

Multiple Beer Review: Envie & Envie 4XDH (Parish Brewing Co.)

Josh’s first multiple beer review article.

Beer Review: EBK – Gashadokuro (Ghost 782) – Adroit Theory

Josh’s next several beer reviews are all Androit Theory beers.

Beer Review: Colonization (Ghost 779) – Adroit Theory

Another IPA by Androit Theory.

Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink

Josh joined Ben for a backstage tour of the Mellow Mink Brewery.

Beer Review: The Octagonal Stairway (Ghost 859) – Adroit Theory x Pig Destroyer

Josh took a little bit of time off, but came back with an Androit Theory and Pig Destroyer collaboration.

Beer Review: Terpenes In Time (BAREbottle Brewing Co.)

In rapid fire, Josh was back three days later with a nerdy beer review – Terpenes in Time by BAREBottle.

Beer Review: B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle-Conditioned, 2017) – Cox Brewing Company (CBC)

Josh’s last beer review for us (hopefully just for now) was a “big damn beer” by Cox Brewing Company (CBC) – the B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle Conditioned – Vintage 2017).

Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing

Josh returned to help us get a sneak preview of Sworn Brewing Company. Josh, Ben, and Amy co-wrote this monster of an article.

Happy Birthday To You…

So let us all wish a Happy Birthday to Josh, as well as try and guilt trip him into writing more for the blog again.

 

Thanks Josh and Happy Birthday!

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:

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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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.

If you would like to help keep the blog running soundly and smoothly, you may donate to us to help us keep the costs of the blog to a minimum. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. (Clicking this link will take you to the page to make a donation. Thank you very much for helping us stay afloat!)

(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.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/08/08/getting-sworn-in-a-sneak-preview-of-sworn-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=getting-sworn-in-a-sneak-preview-of-sworn-brewing Tue, 08 Aug 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12179
Head Brewer and Co – Owner Jesse Mills greets Amy, Josh, and Ben at Sworn Brewing Company to give The Beer Thrillers a sneak peek of the brewery.

Getting a Look at Sworn Brewing

This is going to be a long post about the soon to be brewery – Sworn Brewing Company coming to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Josh, Amy, and I (Ben) got to come out and visit Jesse and Amanda at Sworn Brewing and get to hang out for a bit and check out the place in a behind the scenes look.

Firstly, I want to say sorry for it taking so long to get this article out. It has been super hectic here at The Beer Thrillers HQ, and with all of us writing this article. We had a crazy busy weekend – and busy week – when we got out to visit. (Saturday – Amy and I were in Vandergrift celebrating Allusion Brewing Company’s Battle of the Breweries Win; Sunday – a friend of mine invited me to go with to Philly to watch the Premier League games, and then Monday – Amy, Josh, and I got to visit Sworn Brewing Company.) (And this was all on top of the other stuff we had going on, most of which is articles you can find on here.) (Speaking of that – you can read the Allusion Articles here: Allusion Brewing Company Celebration Party and An Alluring Trip Out To Vandergrift For Allusion Brewing Company’s Appreciation Party.)

I have also been very busy with our “Futurama Monday” – which has been a new blog article as well as new YouTube video essay each Monday.

This is also Josh’s first time jumping back in and writing with us since 2021. So welcome back Josh! Good to have you back buddy!

So before I hand things over to Josh, I’ll give a quick set up to this, and then we will go from there.

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 Behind the Scenes Look at Sworn Brewing Company

The entrance to Sworn Brewing Company in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Oh … hey there. It’s that other beer nerd that used to do beer reviews. Long time no see, right? An even longer time since I’ve written a review, let alone been here to co-author a brewer interview. Perfect time to come back, right? Thought so. I could waste your valuable time reading more drivel or I could just cut to the chase. Probably best if I just got stuck in about the visit Amy, Ben, and I had at a small brewery called Sworn Brewing Company located off East Trindle Road.

Sometimes one just needs to let opportunity in when it knocks, lest one be left out in the cold, so when the chance to visit a brand new, not yet open, brewery came across my notifications, I may have had to invite myself (okay, who am I kidding, I totally invited myself) to check the place out and get to know the new face. Truth be told though, Jesse Mills is no new face in the brewing scene. He knows his way around a Fermenter and Brite tank as he’s got some serious chops, having been in the business for over a decade. An excellent starting point and will make for great conversation. Upon arrival, I’m greeted with a quaint location tucked behind the Atlantic Pools and slot in near a black Subaru WRX STi (don’t worry about the car bro, we’re here for beer). Ben and Amy haven’t yet arrived, but no harm I figure, I’m early so I’ll just walk in and introduce myself. Step through the glass door with a small sign denoting what was once a catering business is now a brewery and step into a remarkable little place. I’d never have guessed that Jesse and his wife Amanda had been working tirelessly for a month prior to put the place right. A month? Wait … *checks notes* … yep, a literal month since the spot was purchased, did the new owners turn the key and renovate the inside. And what a transformation they’ve done. The floors still bear the character of tire prints from being a garage and then the spots and spills of a catering hub, but they are as clean as ever, given the elbow grease put into them. A corrugated metal and Australian wood bartop adorn the rear quarter of the space, adding function, form, and beauty. The walls were painted dark to add an air of comfort and warmth, and the overhead Edison lights help to drive that feeling home. Even with the place 80% complete, I feel immediately welcome, as if this brewery has been here forever. Jesse is gleefully explaining how things will look when Ben and Amy finally walk through the door. FINALLY! We can get down to business and talk shop with the rightfully excited owners.

Sworn Brewing Company Patio

There’s something beautiful in watching someone who is passionate about their field of expertise talk about what makes them happy. In the few hours we spent with Jesse, I don’t recall ever seeing the mile wide smile leave his countenance. His joy was infectious and I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. The brewery is small on purpose, not because droves of people aren’t invited, but because a personal, individual approach is more easily achieved. Customers aren’t going to be seen as a number, but as friends or family. While that will come off as a negative to some, personally I see it as their greatest strength. In keeping things small, the beer will only benefit from this approach because scaling production up means many of the nuances and subtleties are glossed over or don’t have the chance to be experienced. I could go on and on about what was discussed, but there are two other authors waiting for me to finish gushing over the splendid time and laughs shared, so I’ll button up and discuss one of the liquid libations afforded to our visit.

Sworn Brewing Tap List

One such drink was called “Dreams Debunked”. This pineapple and strawberry kettle sour sits low on octane and high on enjoyment. With the outside reaching deep into the 80’s (and 90’s the week after), this sweetheart of a sipper could function quite nicely as a break from midday chores or a sweet treat at the end of the summer’s day. Tropical waves wash over your sense of smell and suddenly the absence of sand beneath your feet becomes apparent. You’re still in Central PA, but your nose is on a beach (lucky devil). Honestly, I could have lived in the nose of Dreams Debunked, but not tasting it would have been a disservice to our hosts, so … bottoms up! As in the description, so too on the tongue does pineapple show up first. And it does so in a very dominate fashion, almost to the point where I questioned if strawberry was included. Almost. You see, there was a bit of a time element to this tart concoction and not enough of it had elapsed. There was plenty of time left in our visit, which meant there was plenty of time to get acquainted with our hosts and this beverage. Good thing too, as the more my taste buds became used to the liquid, so too did more flavor notes appear. The once king pineapple had abdicated its throne to allow its equally tart and sweet partner time in the limelight. The bottom third of this sample is glorious, almost jammy (or marmalade for our Commonwealth constituents) strawberry. The flavors and fruit mentioned in the description are, in fact, present and accounted for. All it needs is a little time and patience. Speaking of time and patience, Sworn Brewing Company is not yet open, though the target is set for September. I’ll be honest, I can’t wait to get Sworn in. How about you, Amy?

  • Josh
Dreams Debunked by Sworn Brewing Company

Sworn To a Good Time at Sworn Brewing

It was just a few weeks ago The Beer Thrillers gang was invited for a sneak peek of the new Sworn Brewing company and taproom.  Owners Jesse and Amanda Mills were there to show us their second home.  The minute you walk in you can tell these 2 have poured their heart and soul into opening this nano – brewery. 

I mean that type of passion should be evident by this 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!”

We also got the sense of feeling pretty comfortable like they were trying to create a second home for us and the rest of our beer drinking friends.  Well actually, there are plans to accommodate our liquor and wine drinking friends as well, stay tuned.  Jesse Mills adds using local distilleries and wineries is very important to him and the rest of the Sworn family. 

When they served us our first taster of beer Amanda has put down some chips with queso and some salsa as well.  The queso and salsa were house made and intentions of putting it on the menu were also discussed.  Both Amanda and Jesse started talking about the same passion about these ingredients as they did about the beer they just served us. 

Chips, queso, salsa, and Dreams Debunked

But let’s back up a second.  We were given a taste of the Dreams Debunked fruited sour with Pineapple and Strawberry.  This lightly fruited sour has an ABV of 4.2% and lightly dances on the tongue.  The fruit is not overpowering in anyway.  What excited me the most was the pairing of the smoked queso along with the Dreams Debunked.

Dreams Debunked by Sworn Brewing Company
Homer Drooling Over Dreams Debunked

The smokiness of the queso with the salt from the chip paired with the sweet from the Dreams Debunked also helped accent the two different flavors.  When I first started drinking DD I tasted strawberry by the end and including the queso I tasted the pineapple.

Jesse also commented, when they are setup and ready, they will be making fresh bread to go along with the house made queso as well as other items for dipping. 

Happy Hump Day!!!!

So… We hung up some lights and made some bread for a test run 🍞😍 we are more than excited to share additional details as we continue to progress. Opening date info is coming soon just a few more items to complete 🍻

Sworn Brewing Company – Facebook Post About Bread

(Photos courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company’s Facebook Page)

Sworn will be welcoming food trucks to go along with their beverage pairings. 

Don’t let the unyielding passion for high quality products steer you away thinking it is a serious crowd.  When you walk into the bathroom you are greeted with a picture of Mr. Jones above the toilet and as you would turn to use the toilet or hopefully walk towards the sink to wash your hands you are greeted with a picture of Craig Jones the Movie Friday.

Jesse and Amanda are giggling right along with us as they tell us they can’t wait to hear the first customer walk in there and bust out laughing from seeing the pictures. 

This is your place to hang out and for everyone wanting an excellent product, welcoming atmosphere and something relaxing and not so serious.  We can’t wait to add this spot to our frequent stops. 

  • Amy

A Look Behind The Sword at Sworn Brewing Company

As I said at the top of the article, discussed getting to meet with them, and we did get to on Monday – July 24th. Amy and I dropped Scarlet off at my parents after Amy came home from work and then we were off to Mechanicsburg. Hit a little traffic on the bridge, but got there in no time.

Josh beat us there, but we were immediately greeted by Amanda and Jesse. Both super awesome and wonderful people. They showed us around the place, talking about the brewery’s past – as a catering business (twice over) and a car shop.

It was great listening to their plans for the building itself. They discussed the bar top, the wood of it, the corrugated steel for the outside of it, the epoxy used on the wood, etc. The attention to detail is incredible with Jesse.

The story of them trying to pain the tiles of the ceiling for the bathroom was hilarious, and thus why only the bathroom has the black tiles and not the whole brewery.

Jesse is very focused on his beer and discussed his past brewing experience – both professionally and as a home brewer. The brewing system at Sworn Brewing Company is going to be a 1 BBL system. Not much bigger than home brewing for Jesse. He said he prefers it this way – it lets him be more precise, dialed in, and make the exact beer he wants.

With Jesse and Amanda we got to discuss a great number of topics big and small. From the brewery itself, to past brewing experiences, to consumer experiences, to new breweries in the area – and old breweries in the area – to competitions in brewing, to traveling for beer (Vermont, New Hampshire, The Answer, etc.), we discussed beer groups and beer blogs – both good and bad – online, Untappd, and the other factors that will play into how successful a brewery is.

Amanda and Jesse are very community focused. They love their location, love Mechanicsburg, and want to see both thrive. They live in Dillsburg which didn’t have any good locations suitable for them, so they opened up shop on Trindle Road.

Dreams Debunked (photo courtesy of Sworn Brewing Company’s Facebook page)

Dreams Debunked was absolutely amazing. A wonderful, delicious sour. From this alone – I know I can’t wait for the brewery to open up and get to try the rest of that tap list he’s preparing.

The brewery itself is very inviting. With the roll up bay door and the entrance leading you right to the bar, with all of the available seating (including a table reserved for their parents at all times – complete with LEGO Flowers), the entire place is just very homey.

Sworn Brewing Company (photo courtesy of their Facebook page)

Listening to Jesse and Amanda discuss their plans for the future – with food trucks, home made bread, the world renowned hot dog vendor that they know personally, and so much more – it will be fantastic. This will certainly be a great boon to the town and the brewing community in the area.

Jesse Mills comes with a great brewing background, having home brewed, and brewed professionally. He’s beaten some great local breweries in home brewing competitions, as home brewed with a group and worked with Derek Markel, and professionally brewed with Sign of the Horse Brewing.

(Plus rumor is that they are Bengals fans… so I mean… right there they gotta be good folk right?! Can I get a Who Dey?!)

This is what we love about the small breweries. Seeing how much they support, impact, and help out communities. And knowing that your money is going to a family that loves what they do, and wants to give back to their community, want to grow in their craft, and support their family and friends.

Congratulations to Jesse and Amanda Mills, we cannot way to come back for Sworn Brewing Company’s opening – and many more times in the future after that.

  • B. Kline

Sworn Brewing Company

For more information on Sworn Brewing Company, you can find them on the following social media pages:

Josh, Amy, and I

Again – I want to reiterate that Josh, Amy, and I (B. Kline) greatly appreciated the opportunity to come out and get to check out Sworn Brewing Company. It was a wonderful time getting to hang out with wonderful people and we can only help this gets them more attention before their opening. If you are reading it – I cannot recommend that you stop out and visit them enough.

Look for them to be having announcements about grand openings, soft openings, and more around the beginning of September.

Josh

We welcome Josh back after a hiatus of writing. At the end of this article I will post a link to Josh, Amy, and Ben’s most viewed articles. But for now, check out his Beer Review of Ghost in a Machine by Parish Brewing Company.

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:

Author Articles

Amy’s Weekly Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

(And please take a moment to fill out Amy’s survey on her ‘Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles‘ column.)

Josh

Some of Josh’s beer reviews:

B. Kline

Some of Ben’s articles:

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:

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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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.

If you would like to help keep the blog running soundly and smoothly, you may donate to us to help us keep the costs of the blog to a minimum. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. (Clicking this link will take you to the page to make a donation. Thank you very much for helping us stay afloat!)

(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.)

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Central PA Pour https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/12/17/central-pa-pour/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=central-pa-pour Sat, 17 Dec 2022 14:55:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=10148
The Central PA Pour – Podcasters out of the York area of Central Pennsylvania

Long Time Coming

Oh boy, if you could only see the back and forth e – mail chains between myself and Bret, you would know this was a long time coming. (Since March this year actually.) But finally it’s happening. Tomorrow, Josh and myself (B. Kline) will be traveling down to Dover / York area to head into the Central PA Pour’s studio to do a podcast with them.

They have been so generous in getting Josh and I to come down and just basically “shoot the shit” on their podcast. We don’t have any real topics that we will be hitting or going on and on about, but instead just chatting and hanging out. We will be discussing the blog – The Beer Thrillers, we will be discussing craft beer, the Central PA beer scene, and a whole host of other things, who knows what all.

I have done a few podcasts with friends in the past when they ran a (now defunct) podcast “WTF Did I Watch” and “A Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar…” as well as I have been on “Beers with Strangers”. This will be Josh’s first podcast (so hopefully they will be gentle with him.)

So What’s Going On

They originally really tried to get us on back in March at the start of our Battle of the Breweries, unfortunately with how busy I was, and with everything we had going on (myself, Amy, my work, Amy’s pregnancy, Josh, Josh’s work, as well as the Central PA Pour themselves) it didn’t work out. But we will be on Season 2 (shame we missed out on Season 1).

As I said above, we will be just shooting the breeze and discussing a wide range of topics rather than anything in particular.

This episode will premier on their social medias and their YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts roughly around the end of the year or the first week of the new year. It will either be a NYE episode or a first episode of 2023.

Central PA Pour

The Central PA Pour is a group of guys from the Dover / York area of Central Pennsylvania. From their PodBay description:

We are a group of friends, neighbors to be exact, that have acquired a taste for a variety of craft beers. We decided to make a podcast to highlight the different craft beers in the south central Pennsylvania area. Each episode we will sample a few local craft beers with hopes of visiting the breweries and meeting the brewers to discuss their love of craft beer. Join us on this journey into the independent breweries and what makes it so special.

PodBay: Central PA Pour – About Us

They are now currently on their second season, they are also filming a podcast shortly or have just done one recently with Derek Wolf of Wolf Brewing Company which will most likely be their seventh episode. We will most likely be their eighth episode of their second season. Their first season had seventeen episodes. They are currently up to about 21 videos on their YouTube channel.

The Central PA Pour consists of four guys who just love beer and talking and hanging out with each other. There is Bret, Ben, Kevin, and Dave. For our podcast tomorrow I believe it will be Dave, Kevin, and Bret joining Josh and myself. (Or, more like us joining them.)

They are on all of the social medias (more than I can keep track of, more than I do here with the blog, thats for sure). You can follow them on the following social media:

Be Sure to Follow

Be sure to go through their social media platforms and give them a follow and subscribe. It will really help them out, and it’ll keep you informed in the Central PA area.

Our Episode

When our episode will air we will be making a blog post here, and linking to the video of it. So be sure to check in and have no fear you will be the first to know when our episode airs. We will write up an article here on the site, link to their podcast / video sites for you to be able to watch it and enjoy it. It should be entertaining. Josh is a great entertainer so this should be really fun and entertaining.

Thanks For Reading

Thank you as always everyone for reading. The year is winding down, but big stuff is coming out. Like I said in previous recent posts, big stuff is happening here at the blog. Like the podcast tomorrow for example. So always keep us bookmarked, subscribed, followed, etc, so you can stay up to date with us. We really appreciate all of you reading the blog and checking out the site and all of our posts. It means a lot to us.

Cheers All!

-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 ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, 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!

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!

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10148
Let’s Take a Look Back: Our First 30 Articles https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/12/14/lets-take-a-look-back-our-first-30-articles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lets-take-a-look-back-our-first-30-articles Wed, 14 Dec 2022 21:06:11 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=10048 Let’s Take a Look Back

Lets do a little time traveling and look back over the three and a half years this blog has been up and running. Let’s go all the way back to our very beginning and take a look at our first thirty posts! (Because, why not?) This is going to be taking us back to the end of May 2019 when I first started the blog.

Back in May 2019 seems like centuries ago, it was pre – COVID, I was just starting to work through my separation and divorce and needing something to do. I was working Saturday through Wednesday at the casino with Thursday and Friday off. It was definitely a lot different back then than it is now (now, I’m with Amy, we just introduced Scarlet – my fourth daughter / her first), I am a lot happier and also now have off Friday and Saturday rather than Thursday and Friday – which makes it a lot easier to do trips and brewfests now as well. I was 34 when I started the blog, now I’m 37, and would like to say I’m more knowledgeable and smarter (about beer, about blogging, about websites, about life), but I would be lying if I told you that much.

Thirty Oldest

Why thirty? Well, why not really? I dunno to be sure. Just felt like thirty. It’s been a while since I did a list (or listicle) and felt why not. I’ll probably do a few more at the end of the year (2022 specific ones), but just felt like doing this list before getting to my daily chores (still off work – I don’t go back til December 26th). So without further adieu, lets start the list!

The Beer Thrillers First Thirty Posts

1. Beer Review: Scratch 375: Coco-Nator (Troegs Independent Brewing Company)

Coco-Nator – Scratch 375 by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing

“Welcome to the first beer/brew review of The Beer Thrillers. Since this is the first of our beer reviews, we’ll be setting up a bit of a pattern here. We’ll state the name of the beer, the brewing company, the date consumed, then run down things like ABV/IBU, malts, hops, colorings, adjuncts, and other pertinent information in that regard. As well as any backstory or Untapped information on the beer. Then we’ll write up our review of the beer as well as give our rating of it, and the “global” rating of it from Untappd just for reference sake. ‘”

Beer Review: Scratch 375 – Coco-Nator (Troegs Independent Craft Brewing)

2. Beer Review: Painting with Light (South County Brewing Company)

Painting with Light – South County Brewing Company

Another day calls for another beer review. This time, after a long day’s work (yes, I work Saturday’s, thus why I’m drinking a beer and reviewing beer) as well as some yard work afterwards results in the need for a nice, cold, crisp beer. And today’s beer is Painting with Light, a DIPA (Double India Pale Ale) by South County Brewing Company.

So, since all of my adult duties are done for the day, without further adieu lets move right on to the beer!

Beer Review: Painting with Light (South County Brewing Company)

3. Beer Review: Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro (Tattered Flag)

Boulangerie Stout by Tattered Flag and Derek Wolf (before Wolf Brewing Company opened)

The start to any weekend (and yes, my weekend begins Wednesday night, with my days off being Thursday-Friday) requires a relaxing fantastic beer to enjoy, and something strong to remove all lingering reminders of work…. and I picked a wonderful one to do it with.

This is not a new beer for me (or even a new beer period) by any stretch. And I’ll be upfront on this, I helped Tattered Flag (and Derek Wolf of Wolf Brewing Co) to can it. We canned it on 1.17.19, so roughly four months ago. But obviously, as a stout, that’s no problem, especially kept cool in my fridge from the time it came home. (And according to Untappd, I’ve checked into this now 15 times, so I’d say I’m a bit familiar with the beer).

Beer Review: Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro (Tattered Flag)

4. Beer Review: You Hoppin On Me? (Tattered Flag)

Hopping on Me (Tattered Flag)

So its been one week since I started the blog, and this will be the fourth beer review. And with a week of the blog, also comes another mowing, weekend of yard work and general house maintenance and a (not) relaxing evening enjoying a beer. For today’s beer review, I decided to do a brand new release (released today, canned yesterday), a beer I helped can and another beer from Tattered Flag (my second review of their beer).

You Hoppin On Me? is a brand new beer from Tattered Flag, both brand new recipe, and brand new release. Its a New England style hazy beer and it definitely delivers on the haze and the juice. So let’s get drinking and reviewing.

Beer Review: You Hoppin’ On Me (Tattered Flag)

5. Beer Review: Black & Blue Tastee (The Veil Brewing Co.)

Black and Blue Tastee by The Veil

Looking in my fridge after a long day of work on Memorial Day while everyone else was out picnicking and enjoying a beautiful sunny day, I was thrown all over the world in the casino working numerous different games, getting yelled at by numerous different types of guests, and just needing something to drink, like a usual night after work. This time instead of grabbing something new and familiar from the front of the beer fridge I decided to see what all might be lurking in the back of the fridge, and to my surprise, I found this.

I had traded/bought a four pack of this straight from The Veil Brewing Company over a year ago (according to my stats, my first time having it was on 2.23.18, and this is currently now 5.24.19). So this is definitely going into the “science experiment” beer drinking category. And have no fears as a review, this is going to be based on the beer when I had it the original time with my original notes on it, as well as how it is *NOW*.

Beer Review: Black & Blue Tastee (The Veil Brewing Co.)

6. Beer Review: Sundrifter (South County Brewing Company)

Sundrifter by South County Brewing Company

Another weekend in May means another chance to mow… or to try and put off mowing until you absolutely have to, which is just as wise. Even wiser when you have a fantastic beer to drink and sip and read rather than do that sweat inducing mowing!

And today’s beer for the task of procrastination is “Sundrifter” by South County Brewing Company. An absolutely fantastic and refreshing IIPA New England that is pure deliciousness.

So let’s dive into this fantastic beer!

Beer Review: Sundrifter (South County Brewing Company)

And with that, May wraps up and we keep continuing on. I don’t think it was a bad start to the blog. You can certainly tell that my writing was a lot less refined than it is now. But six articles (all beer reviews) between May 19th and May 30th isn’t too bad I suppose. I was at least getting content out there. Not sure how I was doing as far as people reading it (most likely just my friends and family clicking the links and probably not even really reading it). I unfortunately don’t have my stats anymore from 2019 or 2020 (due to switching servers and stuff, and not thinking to write stuff down).

7. Beer Review: Cinnamon Toast Brunch (Collusion Tap Works)

Cinnamon Toast Brunch by Collusion Tap Works

While the kids are in school, getting to sneak off and meet your buddy at a local craft beer bar is a wonderful way to spend an hour of the middle of your day. (One of the few perks of having Thursday/Friday off is that the kids are in school during most of your day off).

The Warwick Hotel and Restaurant is a staple in Hummelstown and predates the town’s founding. Their claim of fame, and one that is echoed in many taverns/pubs/hotels throughout the Pennsylvania area, is that George Washington once stayed the night there. (No idea on the veracity of this, but we’ll go with it).

Beer Review: Cinnamon Toast Brunch (Collusion Tap Works)

8. Beer Review: Baby Genius (Bissell Brothers Brewing Company)

Baby Genius by Bissell Brothers Brewing Company

Got a notice from my local beer trading, muling, etc., Facebook group around 4-5PM that Breski’s Beverage was getting Bissell Brother’s in. Two can limit. So I definitely had to make a stop after work, no doubts about it. Bissell Brothers is one of those “sought after” breweries, and not one readily available in the South Central PA area.

Beer Review: Baby Genius (Bissell Brothers Brewing Company)

Ahhhh 2019 when a lot of the ‘top tier’ breweries were a lot harder to get. When muling and paying above costs and such were a thing. I certainly don’t miss those days of the craft beer hobby.

9. Beer Review: LazerSnake (Three Floyds Brewing Company)

LazerSnake by Three Floyd’s Brewery

What do you do after a long day at work where you do a massive give-away that brings in hundreds of people looking to score a Harley Davidson motorcycle? …..I think we all know the obvious answer to that rhetorical question.

LazerSnake is a regular beer from Three Floyds (or 3 Floyds) that has finally started making its way into South Central PA. Its not the highly sought after beers from 3FB like ZombieDust or Alpha Station Middle Finger or obviously Dark Lord but this is a nice staple and “regular” beer to be gotten in six-packs.

Beer Review: LazerSnake (Three Floyds Brewing Company)

10. Multiple Beer Review: Brewery Flight (Troegs) – Beers – Scratch #379 – Krausened Keller Pilsner, Scratch #378 – DIPA, Scratch #377 – Oat IPA, and Scratch #376 – Passionfruit & Guava Tart Ale

A flight at Troegs Brewery

So this is going to be a bit different than my normal beer reviews, because this is a “mutli-beer review” (four for the price of 1!). Since I’m doing them only as tasters rather than as full drafts, I figure instead of doing a separate beer review for each would be a bit superfluous and decided to do it as one conglomerate post. Plus this also lets me go a bit into the detail of beer flights at breweries and how they are different at different places, and even how Troegs themselves recently changed their beer flights.

Firstly, lets go into beer flights at breweries (and some bars do them as well) in general. Typically a flight is either one you create yourself or made up by the brewery of anywhere from 3-5 (though some do much larger ones of six or even ten – Spring House and Hop River Bend do very big flights), and they are typically pours of 4oz or 5oz depending on flight size, cost, etc. Some breweries do a “choose” your own flight, where you pick X number from their tap, and some do a “here’s our flight”. Likewise some do a general price for their flight and some do a “by beer” flight cost (ie. if you pick more stouts, your flight will likely be more expensive than if you picked four hefes).

Troegs Brewery (Hershey Pennsylvania, just down the road from HersheyPark) offers two choices – a pre-set “regular” flight and a “build your own”. The pre-set “regulars” is their mainstays, Perpetual, Troegenator, When in Doubt, HopBack Amber Ale, and their current Hop Cycle beer (this time of year that is now Field Study). And this varies throughout the season with the stout being added in and with some other changes here and there.

Multiple Beer Review: Brewery Flight (Troegs) – Beers – Scratch #379 – Krausened Keller Pilsner, Scratch #378 – DIPA, Scratch #377 – Oat IPA, and Scratch #376 – Passionfruit & Guava Tart Ale

11. Beer Review: Abbra Collabra 6 Way Banana Split Milkshake IPA (Tattered Flag)

Abbra Collabra by Tattered Flag

Planned a quick stop at the Tattered Flag brewery to pick up my four pack of the “Custardy” (beer review soon coming), and lo and behold I found this on draft. Having wanted to try this, and unfortunately not getting to try it in cans I had to settle for it on draft (due note: “settle” is being used facetiously).

Tattered Flag has teamed up with several local (Central PA local) breweries to produce quite a few Abbra Collabra’s. Some of these breweries include: Wolf Brewing Co, Collusion Tap Works, Snitz Creek, Pilger Ruh Brewing, Abomination Brewing Company, Rotunda Brewing Company, as well as a brewery out in Denver Colorado.

This time they teamed up again with Wolf Brewing, as well as Pilger Ruh Brewing, Snitz Creek, Rotunda, and Abomination to release a six-way Abbra Collabra that was sold in cans and on draft at all of their locations (Wolf Brewing Company will soon have their own taproom/brewery, Abomination Brewing is a contact brewer, and Pilger Ruh Brewing is currently in the “soon to be” phase).

All six of these breweries are top notch, and many of which have won awards. Derek Wolf with Wolf Brewing Company has won a homebrewing award in all 50 states, Tattered Flag along with Pilger Ruh Brewing won for their “Should Have Put Him in Custardy” at the Schuylkill Brewfest. Likewise Rotunda, Snitz Creek, and Abomination has gotten numerous recommendations and consistently does well with ratings on Untappd and other services.

Beer Review: Abbra Collabra 6 Way Banana Split Milkshake IPA (Tattered Flag)

12. Beer Review: Sunburst (Boneshire Brew Works)

Sunburst by Boneshire Brew Works

Boneshire is about as much of a second home brewery as one comes for a person. I’m there as often as I can, and its an absolutely wonderful atmosphere that is very reminiscent of Cheers, wherein pretty much if you go once or twice, your name is remembered and everyone will know you.

So its only about time I finally get around to reviewing one of their newest offerings (as well as talking about the place a little bit). And this is certainly a fantastic beer to start off with.

Beer Review: Sunburst (Boneshire Brew Works)

13. Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works

Battlefield Brew Works

Once again, introducing a new feature to the blog, a brewery review. This won’t be about the brewery as a collective whole (ie. a review of all of their beers, styles, etc.) but more or less a review of their location and the beers I had while there. Typically this is one flight or a flight and a draft or two, depending on the amount of time I have at a brewery and a few others factors (if I’m driving, kids with, how the brewery does their samples, their tap list/size, etc.)

For most breweries I will do a review of their location (hopefully have pictures included) as well as at least a flight of their beers. I will then also make a beer review post about said flight, so it will be kind of a doubling up of blog posts and might seem redundant, but it’ll make things easier for the categorizing on the right hand side, as well as give you the option of what kind of blog post you wish to read if you don’t feel like reading both or all of the text. Also, depending on the place, I might get an extra draft (or two) that I’ll do a review of as well.

Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works

14. Beer Review: King Crunch (Manayunk Brewing Company)

King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing Company

Finding myself with some time to kill after work and getting the usual “beers” Batman alert from my friend, I decided to walk down and meet him at The Warwick Hotel in good old Hummelstown Pennsylvania.

Get there and he’s already polishing off his Lord Hobo Orange IPA and the place is slightly packed (ok… very packed for a Tuesday). Apparently now, The Warwick is doing trivia on Tuesday nights. (They’ve also started up having live music and even doing a happy hour, so, their making lots of changes and becoming more like a real bar – which is probably a plus.)

Beer Review: King Crunch (Manayunk Brewing Company)

15. Beer Review – Northmont (Yellow Bridge Brewing)

Northmont by Yellow Bridge Brewing Company

Josh Doncevic’s first beer review for the blog:

Sometimes the only thing to do after a long day of dealing with customers and mowing the lawn is to come home and crack open a cold one. Isn’t that what we all want? The question then becomes; what should I reach for? Keep reading as I attempt to answer that poignant query.

Yellow Bridge Brewing is a small, family-owned brewery located in Delmont, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh, near White Valley. If you are unfamiliar with the name, it is probably due to their distribution being centralized around Western Pennsylvania. If you know the right people (thanks Tyler!) or make the trek westward — from Central PA –, Yellow Bridge is most certainly a worthy stopping point.

Beer Review – Northmont (Yellow Bridge Brewing)

16. Beer Review: Should Have Put Him in Custardy (Tattered Flag)

Should Have Put Him in Custardy by Tattered Flag

The award winning collaboration between Tattered Flag and Pilger Ruh Brewing, straight from the Schuylkill brewfest to cans. This is one absolutely delicious and beautiful brew and deserves the award. And its a perfect beer on a 90 degree hot day in late June.

A wonderful fruity tart blueberry alcoholic drink is just what the day is calling for after mowing two yards and working on your hops (the bugger’s just won’t stop growing!).

Beer Review: Should Have Put Him in Custardy (Tattered Flag)

17. Multiple Beer Review: Dark Skies (New Trail), Blood Money (Conshohocken Brewing Company), Lost Toys #3 (Wicked Weed), Medora (Wicked Weed)

18. Beer Review: Ectogasm (Drekker Brewing Co.)

Ectogasm by Drekker Brewing

It’s the eve of the day many consider to be the birthday of America. Sorry, ‘MURICA! The day before ‘MURICA celebrates 243 years by blowing up the sky with sound and colors.

Speaking of colors, just look at that can art. Certainly grabs your attention, doesn’t it? Also makes me want to play Dungeons & Dragons or read a superhero comic. NERD ALERT!

Beer Review: Ectogasm (Drekker Brewing Co.)

19. Beer Review: Fatum Series: Pink Guava (Tattered Flag)

Fatum: Pink Guava by Tattered Flag

Picking up the Pink Starburst IPA (Inexplicably Juicy – review forthcoming) I had to try some beer at the bar (can’t stop at a brewery and not get a beer!).

This time its the latest iteration of their Fatum series. The fatum series is pretty much all various types of small batch sours and wild ales and they have done A LOT of various types so far. Strawberry rhubarb, just rhubarb, just strawberry, imperial strawberry, blackberry, blackberry lactose, peach, mango, kumquat, apple cranberry, blueberry, blueberry and raspberry, melon star, elderberries, maple kumquat, sangria… etc, etc, etc. (the entire blog would just be a list of all of the different styles/adjuncts).

Beer Review: Fatum Series: Pink Guava (Tattered Flag)

20. Beer Review: Inexplicably Juicy (Tattered Flag)

Inexplicably Juicy by Tattered Flag

Don’t worry, I promise I’m not a complete Tattered Flag shill. But still… this is a pretty good and tasty brew and you should make an attempt to try it out. Wouldn’t hurt you any anyway.

First off Happy 4th of July to all those American readers (or Happy Traitor’s Day if your British). As you can see, this was my drink of choice today on America’s 243rd birthday. And I think it was a fantastic choice.

The beer has a beautiful colorful straw typical of IPA and NEIPA. The head was small but there and retained. It had a crisp and fizziness to it that popped a bit as it poured.

Beer Review: Inexplicably Juicy (Tattered Flag)

21. Beer Review: Miami Vice J.R.E.A.M. (Burley Oak Brewing Co.)

Miami Vice JREAM by Burley Oak Brewing

What does a 1980’s cop-duo drama starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas chasing after cocaine smuggling criminals in sunny Miami have to do with beer? Nothing really. I just decided to bring it up since this little brewery in Berlin, Maryland saw fit to name a beer after the show.

If you’ve heard of Burley Oak, you have no doubt, heard of their incredible J.R.E.A.M. series of sours. If you’ve never heard of Burley or their J.R.E.A.M. series, I have one question; what rock have you been living under?

Beer Review: Miami Vice J.R.E.A.M. (Burley Oak Brewing Co.)

22. Beer Review: OLD 51 (Oxbow Brewing Company)

OLD 51 by Oxbow Brewing Company

I got a draft of this at the Black Gryphon in Elizabethtown (a wonderful bar, stop by, and talk to Toeny Morgan [he’s the blur in the background of this picture] for a while, great dude who will talk your ear off, more about the bar at the end of this review), and the pour is beautiful. Wonderful caramel notes. Beautiful frothy and foamy head. Lovely bubbles on the top of this. It’s just a downright gorgeous beer.

This is a beer’s beer. From the aroma, to the color, to the head, to the pouring style, to the taste. Everything about it is traditional beer. My first time trying this style and I was instantly in love with it (same goes for the brewery as well). I just love the look and appeal of the beer, the aroma is a wonderful malty breadyness that just begs you to drink it.

Beer Review: OLD 51 (Oxbow Brewing Company)

23. Beer Review: Dillston (Boneshire Brew Works)

Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

Post work and post errands found me out on Derry Street in the Rutherford area… so what else am I supposed to do but stop in at Boneshire? Sure, it’s Monday, and the place is doing their D&D night (which I used to play, but haven’t since roughly the beginning of 3rd Edition), but I made myself at home at the bar to start watching the Phillies-Dodgers game….. …oh no…..

As you can see from the picture, I actually snapped the shot right as Kingery hit his home run and put the Phills ahead 1-0 over the Dodgers…. (and good god did this game go south fast!). But anyway, enough about a depressing baseball game and much more about a delicious beer.

Beer Review: Dillston (Boneshire Brew Works)

24. Beer Reviews: Saison and Hurry Up And Wait (Newfangled Brew Works)

Newfangled Brew Works Sign

Welp… Newfangled Brew Works isn’t even around anymore, so this makes my beer reviews of their beer kind of interesting reads for nothing more than historical and nostalgic value.

So an impromptu night out with a friend for a few drinks means…. an impromptu chance to do a beer review (or two). And as you can tell, being an impromptu review session, the pics aren’t quite up to snuff (being out with friends will make it a bit harder to get the best quality pictures, especially because I do more yapping as I drink and forget to grab that nice beautiful shot as soon as I get my beer). But I’ve been wanting to get back to Newfangled Brew Works (was there for their opening and one other time), so I’ve been wanting to show them some love here on the blog and do a review or two of their beers, and the Hurry Up and Wait was a big huge ‘deal’ so that deserves a review.

Beer Reviews: Saison and Hurry Up And Wait (Newfangled Brew Works)

25. Multiple Beer Reviews: No Use For Smugglers (Brick and Feather Brewery), Strong Suit, Glimpse (River Roost Brewery), Realism, Double Obsession (Obercreek Brewing Company) [Toeny’s Travels Flight]

Toeny’s Travels Flight at Black Gryphon

Wednesday last week (July 10th) kicked off a nice three day weekend for me (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), with beer events on Friday night and Saturday night, and getting to try new beers each day of the weekend (including what was my Friday night – Wednesday). Got out of work at 6PM, drove immediately to the Willowood Swim Club for my oldest two daughter’s swim meet and then as that ended at 9PM I found myself in Elizabethtown for a little while with nothing to do.

Moo-Duck closed at 9PM, so that nix-nay’d the idea of trying out their brewery (haven’t been there in quite a few months) and knowing that I was going to be at the Funk Brewery on Friday for the Moo-Funk Homebrew Event, I decided to try out the Black Gryphon.

So at 9PM on Wednesday I got to kick off my weekend of beer events and beer fun and shenanigans in a great way. Stopping in at one of the preeminent craft beer bars in the area will certainly do that.

Upon arriving and walking in I immediately run into a good friend Christopher d’Puia (who happened to be out on a date). After a brief chat where we discussed upcoming beer events (Moo-Funk Homebrew and the Ffej of July) I went and grabbed a seat at the bar and started chatting with Toeny Morgan.

The Black Gryphon has a very impressive tap, can, and bottle list, as well as a few specialties and limited items that pop up from time to time, like the flight (one of two) that I ordered.

Toeny Morgan had recently done a vast trip to the North East (VT, NH, CT, etc, etc, etc) and brought back many gems from the various breweries he hit up there. (Anyone following him on Facebook or Untappd could have seen his travels and the various breweries and craft bottle shops he hit up.)

Multiple Beer Reviews: No Use For Smugglers (Brick and Feather Brewery), Strong Suit, Glimpse (River Roost Brewery), Realism, Double Obsession (Obercreek Brewing Company) [Toeny’s Travels Flight]

26. Beer Review: Wolf Prints (Imprint Beer Co.)

Wolf Prints by Wolf Brewing Company

So somehow this got lost in the interwebs and I was able to manage to pull this out. (In other words, I drunkenly saved it into drafts instead of publishing it, and now getting around to touching it up and publishing it, my apologies all around to all those who were told this was coming out and it never did).

But have no fear, if I tell you it’s going to get published, it’s going to get published, it might be old, and all, but it’s still going to get published.

Beer Review: Wolf Prints (Imprint Beer Co.)

27. Beer Review: Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart (Rotunda Brewing Company)

Mango Guayabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

I had an opportunity to make a quick trip out to Annville, PA to a micro brewery nestled neatly besides another landmark, the Batdorf Restaurant located roughly a quarter mile from the Annville square. Rotunda has become well known across Pennsylvania with the likes of their solid Annville IPA. But there is a style I feel they do better than many. Sours. More specifically their “sWheat Tart” series. Eric Stubbs, RBC’s Head Brewer, will tell you that he never set out to be “the sWheat Tart guy”, but with beauties like this Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart, you would swear he was fibbing.

Beer Review: Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart (Rotunda Brewing Company)

28. Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

I’m just going to lump the next three articles all into one spot here. I made individual posts (who knows why) announcing that I had set up Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts.

The Beer Thrillers Social Media:

29. Beer Review: Enigma (Anchorage Brewing Company)

Enigma by Anchorage Brewing Company

Enigma: e·nig·ma/iˈniɡmə/noun a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.

What the definition above misses is that “Enigma” can also refer to a German band from the 90’s, a cryptic coding machine, or for the purposes of this article, a beer. With regards to the beer, the only mystery is how Anchorage manages to keep turning out hit after hit.

Beer Review: Enigma (Anchorage Brewing Company)

30. Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

Green Zebra by Founder’s Brewing at poker night at Arooga’s

Not every beer can be a “whale” and extremely hard to get and worth chasing down and dropping 20$ for some guy to mule it ontop of the 8$ the can costs. Some are going to be regular beers you drink at a bar while playing bar room poker. Some are going to be 3$ happy hour beers that you enjoy for the time being.

Thats the nature of the game and while they might not be the greatest beers you’ll ever have, there is still some decent beers, and doesn’t mean we can’t give them a little write-up and review.

So that’s exactly what I’m doing here. Giving two beers that most blogs and most reviewers will overlook a write-up. Why? Well, because I drank them, so why not? But also to highlight that there is so many different beers in the world, and so many different styles and ways to consume beers (draft, can, bottle, at home, away, at a bar, at a party, with friends, while playing poker, while doing trivia, etc.). Beer is just as much as the company you are with as it is the quality of the beer itself. The right company can make a Miller Lite taste acceptable. Or it can even make a JREAM or Utopias taste like swill. (And obviously there is times where the quality of the beer impacts the quality of the company as well. Everything is a two way street after all …..except one way streets…. they are just annoying.)

Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

Man, I remember when we used to have poker nights at Arooga’s… but that has gone the way of many things due to the pandemic / COVID – 19. But anyway, thats my first 30 articles. (Still not sure why I picked 30, and yes, I picked the 30 before looking at the articles; and also yes – technically its really my first 32 articles since I combined three articles into one above.)

The article above (Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)) brought us to July 25th. So about 3 months from when I started the blog.

Wrap It Up

Firstly, thank you for reading. If you would like to see some of our other listicle articles, here’s some of them:

 

Also be sure to check out our most recent article:

 

Thanks For Reading

As I like to do at the end of the articles, I like to give a final shout out to you – the readers – thank you so much for reading. We just got back from our big Virginia trip, which you can read above, and this Sunday we will be doing a podcast with Central PA Pour (CPP). Be sure to check them out and check us out when we’re on it.

Lots of stuff still happening before the end of the year. So be sure to like, subscribe, follow, and comment. Cheers All!

-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.

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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!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beer Review: Terpenes In Time (BAREbottle Brewing Co.) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/10/15/beer-review-terpenes-in-time-barebottle-brewing-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-terpenes-in-time-barebottle-brewing-co Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:00:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4713 NERDS! Yes, you beer and pop-culture nerds alike. Gather round and feast your eyes on the following:

Hero in a half barrel. Brewing power!

You guys remember that cartoon from the late 80’s about the sewer dwelling, pizza-loving reptiles with shells on their back and mad karate skills? I’m not talking about the alligators that supposedly inhabit New York City storm drains. No, I’m referring to the turtles with Renaissance artist names. You remember that lot, right? The ones in the live action movies from the late 90’s (those are classics even though they changed April for the second and third films). Raph, Don, Mikey, and Leo. Or maybe you remember them by the color of their masks: Red, Purple, Orange, and Blue. Hey wait a second, didn’t they have a rat as their master? Master…takes sip of beer…Splinter! Coolest rat ever, right? Actually, if I’m honest, Splinter is the only rat I wouldn’t mind seeing as he walked out of the sewers. Might have been old, but the guy could kick some tail. Right, before I get too distracted, I should probably get down to business. Before I officially start the review, I’ll try not to make too many “radical!” or “dude!” references. No promises though.

The Beer

Beer: Terpenes In Time
Brewery: BAREbottle Brewing Co.
Style: New England IPA (Hazy IPA)
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: N/A
Untappd Description: “Shreddin’ some of our favorite lots of Citra and Amarillo selected in Yakima, with notes of candied melon and jolly rancher candy.”
Enjoy In: Teku, IPA glass, Half Shell
Enjoy At: 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit

Some breweries just give you beer. BAREbottle gives you hope.

The Review

I saw this beer on Tavour, probably about midday and from the can art alone I knew I had to purchase it. Humans are visual creatures and I admit that it’s been the impetus of my buying impulse on more than one occasion. With so many references in just the art alone, I felt like I’d have a serious case of FOMO. That, and like I’d have let the little kid in me down in some way (which is weird considering we’re talking about a beer). What got me wasn’t the green color, though. The first thing I noticed was the font that “BARE” was written in. I thought “I know that from somewhere”, and like a bolt of lightning (or a nunchuck to the face), BAM! the jingle from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon started playing in my head. Nostalgia is a powerful thing. I applaud the breweries that manage to do that. Most are through artwork and fewer still might be through taste. This is the former. And it’s the details that really start to shine as you inspect the can. The designs that make the label look like a shell. The piece of melty cheese & pepperoni pizza. The font of all the words. The different colors “Cowabunga” is written in. All of these little things come together and form a cavalcade of awesome. Or rather everything forms something that’s “totally radical!”

Now I want pizza.

Crack open the can and your nose is met with, and tingled by a mix of bitey hop odor and sweet tropical fruits. Grab a favorite glass and begin pouring. No, that’s not the Ooze that will exit this 16oz. beauty. Instead, there’s a soft golden orange haze sloshing about whatever you’ve chosen to enjoy this brew from. The next thing you’ll notice is the light, fluffy, and bubbly head that springs forth if you manage to pour too quickly. Actually, whether you’re too quick or not, you’ll still get the same result, though perhaps not quite as much as I did. Take a few sips and that head leaves excellent lacing behind. It’s a wonder to beh- oh, you’ve already swirled the beer around the glass, haven’t you? Ah well, no matter because the beer is the important bit, isn’t it? Speaking of which, Terpenes in Time is one smooth beverage. Not just in delivery, but the flavor(s) rolling around in 7.2% bliss never overwhelm each other, giving each drink a thick, weighty, and sweet fruit flavor that is more reminiscent of juice than it is a beer. While you’re at it, you’ll notice a hint of hop bitterness at the very end. Want another drink yet? More like, want another can? Yeah you do. Cowabunga it is!

Krang demands you find and drink this beer!

My Untappd Score: ****-1/4
Global Rating: 4.05/5 (as of 10/14/20)

PROST!

J.Doncevic

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Beer Review: The Octagonal Stairway (Ghost 859) – Adroit Theory x Pig Destroyer https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/10/12/beer-review-the-octagonal-stairway-ghost-859-adroit-theory-x-pig-destroyer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-the-octagonal-stairway-ghost-859-adroit-theory-x-pig-destroyer Mon, 12 Oct 2020 17:00:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4680 The entire world has descended into madness. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d have to type, let alone believe. It’s the very thing that Hollywood would bake into a movie plot. Then again, 2020 has certainly given us a LOT to reflect on. Start with an entire continent on fire, most of us probably thought “that’s probably as crazy as it’s going to get” and then…murder hornets? WHAT?! But 2020 wasn’t done with the surprises and in late March, lockdown for COVID-19 happened. Masks everywhere and businesses across the globe shut their doors. Wild and crazy times indeed. But you’re not here to learn about current events or what’s happening on celebrity TV. No, you’re here for a much more important purpose. You’re here to read a beer review! Speaking of those, long time no review, huh? WhyY, I see you man, so sit tight as I unravel my next tale of suds.

“I hid undercover and waited for my orders”

I awoke with a grail in my hand
I sipped it as I went down the octagonal stairway

The Beer

Beer: The Octagonal Stairway (Ghost 859)
Brewery: Adroit Theory (Collab with Pig Destroyer)
Style: Imperial Milk Stout
ABV: 10.5%
IBU: 50
Untappd Description:This is a collaboration with the band Pig Destroyer, and was brewed to coincide with their new EP: The Octagonal Stairway. This is a brand new Imperial Milk Stout. Rich, Creamy, and Decadent. And enough ABV to remind you that Adroit Theory + Pig Destroyer are not to be toyed with.
Enjoy In: Belgian Tulip, Goblet, The Stairway, Pig’s head, whatever…
Enjoy At: 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit

The Review

Compassion was my weakness
I declared war for no reason

Pour the deep, rich, dark liquid into your drinking vessel of choice and prepare to be assaulted by furious guitar rifts made for your tastebuds! Hang on, that’s not how music and beer works. Is it? No, you can’t hear with your tongue! At least, humans can’t. Either way, this brew is raucously delicious and I’m not just saying that because I’ve got the song blaring into my eardrums at nearly unsafe levels. Clearly I’m doing something wrong if I can still think straight, right? Too many questions, not enough content.

Okay! So what does a beer made by a brewmeister and a band look like? Better question is; what does it drink like? I tried not to ask more questions, but I promise it’ll be worth it, because one does not simply put sip a 10.5% stout from Adroit Theory after they’ve collaborated with prolific Virginian Grindcore band called Pig Destroyer. No, what you do is blow out your audio equipment and thump your skull while you chug can after can of the stuff. Don’t spill it! How dare you spill a drop of this velvet elixir! Of course, this is all just a suggestion because this wonderful stout shouldn’t actually be slammed down your gullet. It should indeed be savored and enjoyed to the delightful sounds of music. In fact, what are you listening to, and why is it Pig Destroyer’s Octagonal Stairway EP? Lavish in its silky smooth texture and bathe in the drinkability of a stout that, based on ABV alone, should not go down this easy. This bittersweet highway sits idly behind the glass. Tight, toffee brown head serving as the thin veil between lips and rowdy lactose laced comfort. Brutal milk and dark chocolate notes pummel your tongue as the Big Damn Beer races down your esophagus. There is nothing left but take another glug. Raise your vessel and begin the process again!

The final drip…drip

My Untappd Score: ****-1/2
Global Rating: 3.93 (as of 10/9/20)

Editor’s note: The Octagonal EP may or may not have been blasting through my headphones while this review was being written. Pig Destroyer’s influence may or may not have found their way into some of the paragraphs herein.

PROST!

J.Doncevic

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Beer Review: Up The Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/10/10/beer-review-up-the-creek-extreme-ale-thomas-creek-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-up-the-creek-extreme-ale-thomas-creek-brewery Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:32:26 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4690
Thomas Creek’s Up The Creek Extreme Ale

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

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

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

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

Now…. onto the review!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure to check out some of our recent beer reviews:

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Peace, cheers, and prost!

-B. Kline

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