This is a map of all the “new to us” breweries we visited in 2023. And by this I mean the physical locations. (So some of these will be breweries I’ve been to before, but a new location of theirs, examples would be satellite locations like the ZeroDay Outpost at MidTown Cinema.)

This list is Ben’s first time visits (mostly visited with Amy, and then later Scarlet).

Most of these breweries are in our home state of Pennsylvania and then stretch from our travels to Richmond Virginia and Maryland, West Virginia, and our trip up to the fingerlakes and hiking at Watkin’s Glen and Buttermilk Falls. I almost didn’t want to include the last brewery I visited in 2024 – BrewDog Las Vegas, just because it reshapes the map so much. (And since I visited five Las Vegas breweries already in 2025, I almost just wanted to tack it onto the 2025 map. But alas, that would be lying and cheating. So here is the map as presented.)

A map of the 2024 Breweries We Visited

The Map of New Breweries We Visited in 2024

How to Use The Map

You can zoom in, and click on each of the beer mugs with the paw prints on them to see the breweries. This will call up their address via Google Maps, as well as any other information they have supplied to Google (phone numbers, websites, etc.). You can also save this map to your Google Maps so when you call up Google Maps these locations will be pinned onto your map as an overlay.

List of Breweries We Visited

• ZeroDay Taproom Outpost – Midtown Cinema (Harrisburg, PA) (1.10)
• Interchange Brewing and Tiki Bar (Williamsport, MD) (1.28)
• Amani Brewing (Martinsburg, WV) (1.28)
• Thick n Thin Brewing (Hagerstown, MD) (1.28)
• Upper Stem Brewery (Hagerstown, MD) (1.28)
• Back Porch Brewing Company (Carlisle, PA) (2.16)
• BierHall Brewing Company (Lancaster, PA) (3.28)
• YAH Brew Retro Bar (Mount Joy, PA) (4.28)
• Happy Valley Brewing (State College, PA) (5.12)
• Voodoo Brewing – State College (State College, PA) (5.12)
• Boal City Brewing Company (Boalsburg, PA) (5.12)
• Lebanon Valley Craft Brewery (Lebanon, PA) (5.26)
• Isaac’s Craft Kitchen and Brewery (Lancaster / Greenfield, PA) (5.29)
• Lindgren Craft Brewery (Duncannon, PA) (6.7)
• The Veil (Richmond, VA) (7.24)
• Vasen Brewing Company (Richmond, VA) (7.24)
• Starr Hill Brewery and Rooftop Bar (Richmond, VA) (7.24)
• The Answer – Brewpub (Richmond, VA) (7.25)
• Triple Crossing – Foushee Street (Richmond, VA) (7.25)
• Wild Rabbit – Pies and Pints (Ever Grain) (New Cumberland, PA) (9.13)
• Bald Birds Brewing Company (Jersey Shore, PA) (10.26)
• Tin Barn Brewing (FLX) (Dundee, NY) (10.26)
• Two Goats Brewing (Burdett, NY) (10.26)
• Grist Iron Brewing (Burdett, NY) (10.26)
• Ithaca Brewing Company (Ithaca, NY) (10.27)
• Liquid State Brewing Company (Ithaca, NY) (10.27)
• Personal Best Brewing (Ithaca, NY) (10.27)
• Revelry Yards (Ithaca, NY) (10.27)
• Workhorse Brewing Company (King of Prussia, PA) (11.14)
• BrewDog Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) (12.30)

Total New Breweries We Visited in 2024: 30

Maps of Breweries in the United States of America (USA)

The below is a list of maps of the states, territories, and districts of the United States. As well as a fun map of all the breweries that The Beer Thrillers have been to. I am working on getting these done geographically, starting with Maine. (When the state is underlined and in color, means the map is done and ready to be viewed.)

States

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Territories

• American Samoa
• Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Guam
• Republic of the Marshall Islands
• Republic of Palau
• Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Districts

• Washington D.C.

Miscellaneous Maps

• Hops and Vines for Hunger Participating Breweries (2023)
• Map of Veteran Owned Pennsylvania Breweries
• Map of Dog Friendly Breweries in Pennsylvania

Fun Maps

• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Have Visited (Total)
• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Visited (in 2024)
• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Visited (in 2023)
• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Visited (in 2022)
• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Visited (in 2021)
• Map of All the Breweries that The Beer Thrillers Visited (in 2020)

Pennsylvania Breweries

Two additional resources we currently have to offer for Pennsylvania Breweries:

• List of All Pennsylvania Breweries
• Map of Veteran Owned Pennsylvania Breweries
• Map of Dauphin County Breweries
• Map of Lebanon County Breweries
• Map of Dog Friendly Breweries in Pennsylvania

If we decide to add any future maps, we will update the page if necessary. If you have any map suggestions for us, please feel free to comment, contact us, or e – mail us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We are also now on BlueSky as well, so make sure to check us out there also. 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.)

The holidays always bring on a waves of nostalgia for me.  Cooking the Thanksgiving Turkey in Grandma’s roaster and trying our best to mimic her stuffing recipe always makes me smile.  With this feeling it reminded me to finish off my birthday present of the Muppet RAR beers.  I had Part-Ay- Part-Ay, It Wasn’t easy and Kissy Kissy left to celebrate my Birthday and RAR celebrating their 10 year anniversary.

The first grab out of the fridge was the Part-Ay- Part-Ay RAR Brewing.  It is described on Facebook as “Our lactose sour base conditioned over Strawberry, Funfetti Cake, and Pastry Cream.”  It is coming in with a 6% ABV and an overall 4.22 rating on Untapped.  That first sip feels like I got punched in the face with strawberries.  When I realized what character this one was in reference too I practically spit it out with laughter.  This sour beer is a party in your mouth.  It made me second guess there wasn’t more berries in this one and I misread. 

The next grab out of the fridge was the “It Wasn’t Easy” (again by RAR Brewing). And yes, this beer is legit green.  Not the green kind you normally see on St Patrick’s day, but the pastel green version of pink Pepto Bismol. (Almost looked similar to RAR’s “Green Milk“.)  It is described on Facebook as “Our lactose base conditioned over Pineapple juice, Lemon Lime, Coconut, and Pasty Cream.” It comes in with a 6% ABV and a 3.89 overall rating on Untapped.  Alright, alright, alright; I have a little bit of a problem with the Green color.  I have to look away when sipping it.  It reminds me of the purple ketchup that came out in the early 2000s and I couldn’t eat that either.

A few mornings ago, I was desperately searching through the Disney app for something new for Scarlet to watch so I don’t hit that millionth time watch of Encanto anytime soon.  The Muppet Babies was an option to watch.  I quickly remembered these beers again. The flood of memories from always having this as a part of my Saturday AM cartoon watching.   I thought I’d try to introduce it to Scarlet.  I desperately miss the Muppet Babies when I was a kid and I must find a way to watch those with Scarlet. I just know she’ll love them as much as I did growing up. How could she not?

(See Dinosaur Dracula’s Facebook page for video. I’ll also have more YouTube videos of this below.)

I knew there would be improvement from this gem of technology but am I that old person?

The graphics were so different these looked like entirely new characters and where did Summer come from?  I couldn’t watch much of the newer version of muppet babies and Scarlet was busy tearing apart another part of the living room.  I caved and put Encanto on again while Scarlet came and sat in my lap to watch it with me. 

I saved Kissy Kissy for last.  It is described on Facebook as “Our lactose base conditioned over strawberries, cotton candy, Lemon-Lime and Vanilla Ice Cream.”  It has a 6% ABV and comes in with an overall rating of 4.24 on Untapped.  I was afraid with Kissy Kiss and Part-Ay- Part-Ay both being conditioned over strawberries that they would be similar.  But they are entirely 2 different sour beers.  Kissy Kissy is creamy and light while Part-ay Part-ay, like I said above, punches you in the face with Strawberries. 

My favorite of this series is easily Woka Woka Pie. (See my previous article – RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series – for more information.) I loved this series because your girl loves sours and the wave of nostalgia.  I am going to recommend all to watch Emmitt Otter’s jug band Christmas.  I read it was on the Disney app and I intend to introduce this one to Scarlet too.  If you are a Jim Henson fan, you will love it. 

• Drink More Beer!
• Amy

Amy’s 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:

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

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

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cushwa Brewing is Expanding

It would seem that Cushwa Brewing Company is expanding into Columbia Maryland. At 7:30 AM this morning on Facebook they posted a “now hiring” post (screenshot above) stating that the openings were for their Columbia location, opening “later this summer”.

The announcement reads:

Come work for our team at our Columbia, MD taproom location, opening later this summer.

We are hiring for “Full & Part-Time Bartenders.”

If you are interested, review the job description at:

cushwabrewing.com/job-openings

Email resume to:

cushwacolumbiacareers@gmail.com

Cushwa Brewing Company – Facebook Announcement

To my understanding, this is the first they’ve announced a Columbia Maryland taproom or expansion into Columbia; but we are totally on board with it.

The more Cushwa, the better.

Now Hiring

So with that said, their post does state that they are hiring. They are looking for Full and Part Time bartenders. So if you are in the Columbia Maryland area (or willing to move I suppose) this is a great opportunity to jump on board with an amazing brewery and company.

Some of Our Articles on Cushwa Brewing Company

• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing Company
• Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds (Cushwa Brewing Company)
• Cushwa Brewing Company 5th Anniversary Celebration

More Information on Cushwa Brewing Company

The following comes from Untappd. Cushwa Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Williamsport, Maryland. They have 428 unique beers, and over 213,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.08 (as of 6.13.23.) Their Untappd description reads: Based in Williamsport, MD just minutes away from the historic and scenic C&O Canal used by many for cycling, running, walking and other recreational activities. Our large modern taproom offers plenty of seating and fun while you sip on beer offerings with friends. Hungry? We have partnered with Rad Pies who offer brick-oven Neapolitan style pizza and much more! Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect.

You can follow them on social media at the following pages:

• Cushwa Brewing Company – Official Website
• Cushwa Brewing Company – Twitter
• Cushwa Brewing Company – Instagram
• Cushwa Brewing Company – Facebook
• Cushwa Brewing Company – Untappd

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:

• Other Half Brewing Company Opening Friday 2.18.22 in Philadelphia
• Midwest Coast Brewery Opening
• Boulevard Presidents Steps Down Amidst Allegations
• Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor (Camp Hill)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub (Hershey)
• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?
• Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino – Grantville – Opening Their 5th Location
• JB LoveDraft’s Grand Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• ZeroDay Opens Their New Tap Room (Harrisburg)
• Victory Brewery Fire and Explosion (Kennett Square)
• Sign of the Horse Brewery is Expanding in Hanover (Taking Over the Old Miscreation Brewery)
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh)
• Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• A Sneak Peak at the new Rubber Soul Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (Hummelstown)
• VooDoo Lancaster Closing
• River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closes
• Homaide Brewing Says Goodbye To Their First Home
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing (Mechanicsburg)
• Rally Point Tap Room Opening – Cox Brewing Company – Elizabethtown
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Aslin Beer Co. Now Ships to Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Expanding to Pittsburgh
• Rural City Beer Company Coming to Beamstown PA
• Grand Opening of Forest and Main’s New Brewpub
• New Bells-gium – New Belgium Owned Company Buys Bell’s Brewery
• Human Robot Expanding to Jenkintown
• High Road Brewing Company Coming to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in Summer 2022
• YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
• RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop
• Arboretum Trail Brewing Company Opens Their Doors Tomorrow
• Macklin Brewing Company in Development
• Michaux Brewing Company Grand Opening
• Shy Bear Brewing Announces Two New Locations
• Newfangled Brew Works Announces Closure
• Fourscore Beer Company Celebrates Their 3rd Anniversary
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Owner’s Retirement
• Voodoo Brewing Company To Open Brewpub on North Shore of Pittsburgh – August 27th
• Truth Beer Company’s Grand Opening
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Grand New Location and Opening
• AleCraft Brewing Company Expands Into Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works Celebrates 6th Anniversary
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire Update
• Victory Taproom in Kennett Square Re – Opens
• Pour Man’s Brewery Is Moving Their Tap Room
• Qatar Bans Alcohol Sales at World Cup 2022
• Second Sin Brewery Company Celebrates Third Anniversary
• Round Guys Brewing Company’s Brewpub in Lansdale is Getting a Revamp
• VK Brewing Officially Opens at Historic Ship Inn
• Rocket Frog Brewing Company Announces Closure on December 11th
• Where to Watch the USA vs Netherlands World Cup Game – in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company Announces the Show is Ending (Brewery Closure)
• Looks Like Homaide Brewing Company Might Be Done (January 2023)
• Old Soul Brewing Starting up in Waynesboro Pennsylvania
• Cox Brewing Company Returning to Their Roots
• Helping the Hemauer Family
• Cellar Works Brewing Closing Cooper Station
• Imprint Beer Company Unveils The GNARCADIUM
• Blueprint Brewing Company Announces Their Closing on March 31st
• Pilger Ruh Brewing is Expanding into Gettysburg
• Back Porch Brewing Grand Opening
• Jigsy’s Old Forge Pizza and Brewpub is Expanding into Hershey
• LoveDraft’s Brewery Sabotaged
• Homaide Brewing Company Resurfaces
• Sign of the Horse Brewery Announces Closure of Zeichen des Pferdes and Re – Branding
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery in Palmyra Announces Closing Immediately
• The Englewood Announces Re – Opening
• AB InBev Closes Cleveland’s Platform Brewing Company
• Full Tit Brewing Closing
• Camp Hill Brewery – High Road Brewing – Plans Scrapped
• YAH Brew is Coming to Hershey in Spring 2023
• Bespoke Brewing Moving and Expanding
• BrewDog Pittsburgh Has Closed
• Isle of Que Brewing – The Que Brew Crew – Has Announced Their Closing
• Fermentery Form Announces Temporary Closure
• Separatist Beer Project Announces Temporary Closing of Both Locations
• Fermentery Form Cited for Failing Health Inspections
• Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility
• Cox Brewing Company Celebrates 8th Anniversary
• Human Robot Expands into the Schuylkill
• Despite Being Closed – Fermentery Form Selling Bottles Tomorrow
• Cape May Brewing Company Acquires Flying Fish Brewing Company
• Our Town Brewery Expanding into Philly
• Smoketown Creekside – Brewery Operations For Sale
• Founders Announce Closure of their Detroit Taproom
• The Bruery Store D.C. Is Closed
• Founders Brewing Company Sued for Racial Discrimination (Again) Just Before Detroit Taproom Shut Down
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company – New Ownership, New Beer, New Friends
• YAH Brew Grand Opening
• FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery
• The Beerded Goat Brewing Company Taking over the old NewFangled Brewery
• River Horse Brewing Company Acquires DuClaw Brewing Company
• Carbon Copy Brewing will be taking over Separatist Beer Project’s East Passyunk Location for the Summer
• Anchor Brewing Will No Longer Be Sold Nationally
• The First Hershey Beer and Music Festival Announced
• Cushwa Brewing Company Opening Second Location in Columbia Maryland
• Brewery Closings – Archives
• Brewery Openings – Archives

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.

-B. Kline

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

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

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Road Trip time! We got big plans today and tomorrow here at The Beer Thrillers! We are taking a road trip down south and around and coming back home. We’re going to be hitting Maryland area, then crossing into Delaware, and then taking the ferry to New Jersey and coming back through Philly.

Breweries

Today’s lineup of breweries we are tentatively hitting include:

• Jailbreak Brewery
• Cult Classic Brewing
• Burley Oak Brewery
• RAR Brewing
• Lokal Branch
• Burnish Beer Co
• Dewey Beer Co
• Dogfish Head Brewery
• Mispillion River Brewing
• Big Oyster Brewing
• Crooked Hammock

So we got a full day ahead of us. (I am now currently typing this, as we sit down to eat breakfast at Funck’s Restaurant in Palmyra, and I’m having a Toppling Goliath Dolphin Sparkles and 3 Floyds Zombie Dust.)

Heading Today

We’ll be heading the day near the Lewes – Cape May ferry, which we’ll be taking in the morning over to New Jersey. Then tomorrow, we will be hitting breweries in New Jersey and Philly area before heading back home to Harrisburg area.

Stay tuned for more!

Cheers all and stay healthy!

-B. Kline

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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Welcome back to round number two of the four rounds of four beers I had during the last streaming I did with Drew on Knights of Nostalgia. The first was Pixels by Seminar Brewing, this is the second, the third will be Great Notion Brewing’s Fruit Monster, and the fourth will be Elder Pine Brewing and Blending’s Villeinage. (Spoiler alert: all four beers were really good.)

Aslin Beer Company is one of the many great breweries along the East Coast. In the middle of the East Coast; Virginia, Maryland, D.C, West Virginia, Delaware area; Aslin Beer Company, Burley Oak Brewing Company, The Veil, The Answer, Adroit Theory, Dewey Beer Company, are often mentioned on “must visit” and “top breweries” and “great” lists; they are usually the sought after, the traded for (the Facebook group ISO / FT), and the breweries that people mule back from. So needless to say, it’s fantastic to see some of these breweries (notably Aslin Beer Company and Burley Oak Brewing Company) popping up in distribution (distro) in the area. Breski’s Beverage on Eisenhower Boulevard (outside of Harrisburg between Harrisburg and Middletown) has been getting some wonderful cans from both breweries, as well as many other notable breweries, and is always worth checking in to see what they currently have in stock.

The mix-a-six selection at Breski’s and similar places are phenomenal right now (…phenomenally tasting; horrible on your wallet however). Last Tuesday before stopping at Tattered Flag for their Taco Tuesday, I stopped at Breski’s and got two mix-a-six six-packs (and paid about 60$), but picked up some tremendous beers; like the Isolation Anniversary Beer, two Great Notion beers, a pilsner (Billsner) from Burley Oak, a Black is Beautiful from Non Sequitur, Stickman’s The Growfather (can’t resist a good Godfather pun), two from Stranger Root’s Experimental Ales, Alarmist, Atlantic, etc. All in all, a wonderful selection of beers that you will be seeing reviews of (at least nine out of the 12 anyway, and hopefully in a timely fashion).

So, since I have a ton of reviews to do, and limited time (don’t we all limited time afterall?) I better get right down to this and do this beer review shouldn’t I?

Ok…. lets do it!

Beer: Isolation Anniversary Beer
Brewery: Aslin Beer Company
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double Milkshake
ABV: 9.4%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Always a little disappointing to see the description left blank (its nice to see notes from the brewers / brewery, or maybe a joke or pun, or some context behind the beer or the beer name, or why or how it was brewed, if it was a collaboration, if its someone’s favorite recipe, or something at least), but I think this beer doesn’t really need a description, as it stands on its own.

Appearance is similar to that of a New England IPA; its opaque, its hazy, its bright, and orange, and glowing, but its even thicker than a normal New England IPA looks. It has ‘floaters’ especially if you don’t roll it before opening it up and pouring it. Its very well carbonated and has a great foamy white head, with a good pour it has just the right amount of head, with a bad pour I could picture this filling a whole glass with just head. The bubbles on it are nice and it leaves a nice lacing in the glass. It’s turbid, busy, and active.

The nose on this is hoppy, juicy hoppy, citrusy hoppy, but also creamy and vanilla and lactose, like silky smooth creamy milk with lots of fruity, citrus, juice, hops in it. I get mango, peach, citrus, a bit of zest, and a small whiff of grapefruit hop notes in this blended with the vanilla sweetness and cream of the lactose.

First sip… wow. Second sip… double wow. This has a LOT going on. Which is not a fault or problem at all; granted sometimes it can be, but not in this case. This has a lot going on, but all in proportion to the beer itself and within its style and how the beer is supposed to be. It’s not going off into all kinds of different places with varied and confusing mixtures of flavors, or with off flavors, or with competing notes. This just has a lot going on within it, but all with a purpose, all within the style, and all just how you should want it. Its a milkshake, its a hop bomb, its juicy, its turbid, its hazy, its strong, its delicious. Most importantly…. its delicious. And… did I mention yet…. that its delicious? This was hands down my favorite of the night, and it was the boldest, most flavorful, and had the biggest wallop of flavors, notes, aromas, hop, juiciness, and outright drinkability. I could easily kill a four pack of these, and probably in short time too; its just that drinkable. Which is scary at its 9.4% ABV, but it doesn’t feel heavy, or boozy, or knocking you on your face and teeth skittering across the cement floor of the basement kind of alcoholic; its just crushable but at a higher ABV. This is like drinking a smooth, juicy, silky, creamy, orange juice with the fruity citrus juicy hops in for extra flavor. Just like with aroma, I got mostly mango and peach with the flavor, but also got citrus, some zest, and a teeny weensy bit of grapefruit. I do have to say, as much as I could crank down a four pack of this, as someone with lactose intolerance, thats probably not a great idea. These milkshake IPAs and milkshake sours and such with some having an insane amount of lactose in them (this one probably has a rather large amount in it) typically give me some ‘gastro’ issues next morning when I wake up. One or so don’t usually hurt too much, but after that it starts pushing it, especially with the very heavy lacto ones.

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 10.25.20)

After wrapping up the beer review here, I wanted to do a bit more research on the beer for the blog, so I did a quick Google search (ASLIN ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER) and the first site was their online ordering form for the beer, which you can find here: Order Isolation Anniversary Beer. It also came with a description for the beer which reads:

“🎉 ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER 🎉 Today‘s the day we opened our (garage) door 5 years ago! 🍻In honor of the 1825 days that have passed since then, we bring you our Aslin ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER. Soft ripe yellow peach, mango, and passionfruit unite with explosively juicy results, and a full-bodied, perfectly zippy taste that finishes off with woody resin notes from Cypress & Sugar Maple wood. This is juicy fruit flesh squeezed into a hazy DIPA!! We’re raising a glass of this to all of you for your incredible support that has helped bring us to YEAR 6. Hang tight, this is not the only drop in our 5th Anniversary series! 🎉 🍻”

Also came with a picture:

Hopefully that provides a bit of closure on the beer and fills in for the lack of a description on Untappd for everyone.

As always everyone, thanks for reading, and be sure to check back soon as I do the other two beers, as well as some recent travelogues (just did a recent hike with my faithful canine companion Leela to the Pinnacle Overlook in Hamburg and stopped at 1787 Brewing Company and Schaylor Brewing Company). As always, there is a ton to check out here on the blog, so be sure to be on the lookout, hit the subscribe and follow button, and always feel free to comment, we love to hear from you!

You can see my latest beer reviews here:

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)

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

Also, in recent news, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) 2020 ended (their 34th edition; this year virtually rather than in person in Boulder, Colorado), and they’ve announced their winners. You can see what Pennsylvania Breweries won here. As well as the 2020 NAGBW Awards.

Cheers everyone, and stay safe and healthy out there with all the rises in COVID cases. Remember to mask up, remember to wash hands, and most importantly: remember to drink some great craft beers!

-B. Kline

The Ministry of Brewing was a definite ‘need to check out’ brewery for me. I’ve watched and read about their opening and the cathedral that they took over on their Facebook page as well as other places. So I knew this was a definite must see, must check out brewery. Only problem (for me) – is it’s in Baltimore. Meaning its not just a simple drive to visit place, especially with everything going on in my life as it is. That’s roughly an hour and a half drive just to check out the brewery, and then a hour and a half back, so I knew if I was going to get to check out the brewery, it’d be a part of a destination day that included being in the Baltimore area.

So, as luck would have it, on Friday the 14th (of August, 2020) the day before my oldest would turn 13, I asked her where she wanted to go, what adventure she wanted to have to celebrate her birthday. Just me and her. Daddy / Daughter day. She chose the Baltimore Aquarium. I said certainly. (She could have said the Amazon rainforests and I would have said yes…. albeit with some trepidation maybe.)

So I picked her up, around 11:30AM, we stopped at the Kondu restaurant in Harrisburg, one of her favorite places, got our food to go, and we were on the road heading to Baltimore and Inner Harbor.

We arrived in Inner Harbor, parked at one of the parking garages pretty close to Pratt Street and Inner Harbor, and walked to the Aquarium. Purchased our tickets (39.99$ for adults, and adults are 11 and up), and sat down and ate our Kondu that we had picked up.

My daughter has always been an animal, fish, insect, whatever person. She absolutely lives for and loves nature and all of the animals therein. Outside of spiders, I don’t think she’s met an animal, mammal, bird, insect, slug, or what have you that she doesn’t love in some capacity. (When she was little, she would collect slugs, and even kiss them. If she ever reads this, she will be completely pissed that I included this little factoid in it.)

So needless to say, we had an absolute blast in the Aquarium. We had been there a few times before (at least two that I can remember) as a family (me, her, her sisters, and her mom). But that didn’t change it, everything still felt ‘new’ and ‘interesting’ and we still loved it. Plus, spending the time with her, and just listening to her talk and tell me all the factoids she was reading, completely made the day.

After the Aquarium, we walked the Inner Harbor, looking at the boats, the Trade Building, and stopping at the Barnes and Noble, where as part of her birthday ‘celebration’, she got to pick out some books. She picked out Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as a few others that I’m currently blanking on.

But now it was time for dinner… …..or so we thought.

She agreed that checking out the Ministry of Brewing sounded interesting and beautiful, so we decided on going there. Not knowing enough, and not seeing anything, that they didn’t do food. We arrive, and park on a side street and walk about a half-block to get there. We get there and are asked if we have reservations…. uh oh… we didn’t, but luckily they still had seating and we were allowed in, after a long spiel about the do’s and don’ts during the pandemic at their brewery, as well as a temperature check. Which Olivia-Grace impressed the bartender who did it by timing her ‘death shot’ acting with his temperature check perfectly. I foresee a career in theater.

Now, I want to start this off – this isn’t a negative brewery review. It may sound it, and it may sound like I’m upset, but ultimately I’m not, and I enjoyed the time I spent with my daughter there. This is kind of a review of a ‘lack of good service’ or at least, being attentive in their service.

Due to walking there, I had my walking app on and it kept on while we were inside the place. That’s primarily how I know the amount of times for things. We were seated at the 10 minute mark on the app. We were quickly given a portable sign for a few seconds placed in front of our table, that we could read the beer list on, and I picked Esmeralda – a tart berliner; that could have syrups added to it – but I chose it plain, and Olivia-Grace got a birch beer. They also gave us waters, and then they took the sign away.

While in there, we chatted, and talked about the Aquarium, the upcoming school year, Baltimore, etc, etc, etc. (We did have a bit of excitement at the harbor, where apparently there was a shooting at some point in the day, and there was even a Ballistics Forensics police unit on the scene.) I finished my drink around the 35 minute mark on my phone’s app. I told Olivia-Grace since they didn’t have food we would go somewhere else in the city to get something to eat. Because we were running out of time to get home at a relatively decent time to do birthday cake and presents with my parents. I said to her I was going to get one more on draft, and get a growler (buy a growler of their’s and have it filled) with another beer. I was looking at the one IPA (an Oats IPA) to have in house, and to fill the growler with a chocolate stout.

Part of their COVID-19 pandemic rules was no leaving the table, unless you followed the direct path to the bathrooms and exit. This meant you couldn’t go near the bar, where all the employees were congregated. The employees did come out from behind the bar area and went to various tables to check on them.

They, never, once, came back, to our, table. Not once. In the entirety of the time we were there, after ordering our initial drinks. We were also in a table somewhat near their bar area, so I tried my best to flag them down, by either gesturing that I was putting my mask up (one of their rules was nobody was allowed to come to your table unless you had your mask up), staring at them, and even waving to them. All of this was ignored.

We reached the fifty minute mark, a full fifteen minutes after I finished my drink (Olivia-Grace was nursing her birch beer and it was half full yet). Still nobody approached us, checked on us, talked to us, anything. And despite a good fifteen minutes of me trying to get their attention.

At this point, I called off the idea of getting a second pint and a growler to go, mainly because til I would drink that, it would be far later getting back to my parents (since we had an hour and a half drive from their brewery to home). So sadly, I only got the one pint, and no growler, or anything, and was unable to give them more business like I wanted, and to get a better review here for the blog.

I wanted to give this a good full review, with at least two beers tried in house, a growler to try at home, etc. But they didn’t do flights, they didn’t have in-house food, so there’s obviously some parts of a typical brewery review that I just couldn’t do. Which is fine, and not fully their fault given everything going on. I understand this fully. My annoyance is more the lack of service, and how that then further impeded me on getting to try more of their beers, and to even give them a better review.

Like I said earlier, I don’t want this to come off as a negative review, or that I didn’t like them. I loved the atmosphere of the brewery. Its beautiful. Gorgeous, and a great usage of the building. The Esmeralda beer was absolutely fantastic and I loved it. (I’ll do a small mini-review here in this review, as well as a full beer review of it to be posted soon on Let Us Drink Beer’s blog, and then copied here on my own blog as well.) But, I do feel compelled to call out their service, especially in these difficult times. Because with the rules of not being able to approach their bar, we as guests were even more reliant on their service, and its even more apparent and responsible on their end to provide that service. So to have us go for 35 minutes without even checking on us while we had the first… and then another 15 minutes after that drink was finished and still no one to approach us, thats 50 minutes in total, with no one even checking on us, saying ‘hi’, or anything.

So, finally, I get up and DO approach the bar, despite the warnings. What else was I supposed to do? Nobody acknowledged us. They didn’t respond to us practically staring at them from a distance of 20 feet or so, they didn’t respond to us waving or gesturing towards them etc. I didn’t want to approach this way, but at this point, its now 55 minutes or so, and its getting late, and we need to get going. I can’t keep wasting time with an hour and a half drive home. So I approach them, get a glare, and an evil stare for ‘breaking protocol’ though nobody outright said anything or called me out on it. I ask for the check, which is a moderate and small check, (one pint, one birch beer).

At about an hour and seven minutes, we have the check finished and tip left and we are leaving. And, really, like I’ve said before, in this, and with other people, I don’t like to be negative. I typically am not with this blog. I typically will promote everything, and will talk up the positives. So please don’t misconstrue this. We had a blast, we enjoyed the atmosphere, we liked the artwork on the walls, and ceiling. The building inside and outside is beautiful. It was just a lack of good service, thats all. And hopefully, if anyone from their brewery reads this, they recognize that, and work to make it better. I really genuinely hope and assume we were an exception. A man and his daughter who was unable to drink, so we were probably relegated and forgotten about, in comparison to other tables that had two or more potential drinkers. I don’t know, maybe we were just a blind spot and forgotten about and they didn’t see my gestures or waving, or us looking. I don’t know. I know I enjoyed the beer, the atmosphere, and the building. Its just a shame that the service was less than adequate (from my perspective and our experience). I don’t think its unreasonable to be at least checked in on, or to assume that in an hour and seven minutes, I’d have more than two interactions – one of which I prompted by approaching them.

I am curious for those ‘in the industry’ what do you think of this? How long do you give a person for a pint? How often should a person be checked in on? Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, for a drink and then check in on them and see if they want a second or a check? I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a lot more knowledgeable or experienced people out there who could give a better answer than what I have, or at least some suggestions.

I want to say this, don’t NOT go to Ministry of Brewing because of this. I know if I am in the area again and will be able to – I will visit them again myself. I will hope for better service, but I do know that the beer was great, so I’m looking forward to at some point getting to try more from them.

As I said earlier, this was a brewery I was really looking forward to checking out. So maybe that factored into things, a bit of over-hyping in my own brain? Who knows. I know I enjoyed my time with my daughter, the atmosphere, and the one beer I did have. I would still recommend checking them out, if you are in the area. Like I said, I’m hoping I was the exception, not the rule on this.

But when doing a review, I’d be amiss not describing my experience, in how it happened, and not talking about it, or sugar-coating things. I haven’t embellished or changed facts, I did enjoy my time, it was a longer service time than it should have been, but the beer was genuinely delicious. So there’s my review in a nutshell. And hopefully others have had a different experience, I genuinely hope so. I want only the best for this brewery (as well as all breweries), especially in these very difficult times right now.

So, moving on to a small mini-review of the Esmeralda beer:

Beer: Esmeralda
Brewery: Ministry of Brewing
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Refreshingly tart wheat ale.

They are definitely not lying, this is a refreshing, tart wheat ale. It’s not crazy puckering tart, but there is a nice, clean, crisp, refreshing, tartness to this that provides a nice flavor. Would be interesting to try this with the different syrups to see how much change there is and how much flavor those various syrups add to it.

The base, plain Esmeralda, that I had was delicious. And at only 5% I could easily see this being a day drinking beer. A growler fill of this at a baseball game or while watching a baseball game or a summer picnic sounds perfect. Not enough to get you too drunk, but still full in flavor, with a nice refreshing coolness for a hot summer day, is exactly what you want in a beer at a time like that.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.61 (as of 8.20.20)

Be sure to see my full review for the Let Us Drink Beer blog. I will be sure to click back on this and edit it to include the link once that gets posted (hopefully Saturday or Sunday).

For more information on Ministry of Brewing, you can check out their Untappd page: Ministry of Brewing on Untappd. Which says they have 18 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.64. Their Untappd description reads: “Baltimore’s newest craft brewery located in the historic St. Michael’s Church in the Upper Fells Point-area. Opening fall 2019.”

You can also find out more about them on their Facebook page: Ministry of Brewing on Facebook.

Likewise their Twitter page: Ministry of Brewing on Twitter.

Like I’ve said, I definitely recommend them, and would check them out. The beer I had was fantastic, and hopefully everything will be wonderful when you get to visit. If you do get to visit them, or have in the past, please leave a comment. Would love to hear how your experience was!

Be sure to check out my other travel blog posts here:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• Visiting Inner Harbor Baltimore and Brewery Review: Ministry of Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)

Also, please welcome me in officially welcoming Olivia-Grace to the world of being a teenager (she turned 13 on August 15th, 2020). She is my oldest, I still have two more daughters to get to teenage years (God help me). But, Happy Birthday Olivia-Grace!

Cheers everyone, please be safe when out traveling, social distance, wash, and wear your masks. Soon, oh so soon hopefully, we can get back to enjoying pints together at our favorite breweries!

-B. Kline

This was originally posted to Let Us Drink Beer, a blog I (B. Kline) guest write for (about once a month). You can view the original article here: Let Us Drink Beer Blog: Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing). I highly recommend checking out their blog. They are Georgia and Atlanta based and have a lot of great articles, especially if you are visiting that area of the country.

Onto the review:

Hello everyone, its me, B. Kline, from The Beer Thrillers back with another post (my usually monthly post). I took my daughter to the Baltimore Aquarium and we stopped at the Ministry of Brewing in Baltimore. A gorgeous former Cathedral turned brewery, that I had been seeing stuff about on Facebook and really wanted to check out. So I was originally going to do my brewery review for my post… but, felt it would be a bit too negative to do as a guest blog spot, so I’m doing a review of one of their beers instead. I did do a review of the brewery for my blog, which you can check out here: Brewery Review: Ministry of Brewing. Spoiler: I didn’t hate the place or the beer; just the service. But, please check out the review either way, after you’re done checking out the beer review here.

But let’s not dwell on the negatives and instead talk about the positives, like this delicious beer. So that’s why I decided to use this for my monthly guest blog spot on Let Us Drink Beer.

Beer: Esmeralda
Brewery: Ministry of Brewing
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Refreshingly tart wheat ale.

They had a few variants of this through the usage of syrups; typical for Berliner Weisse’s. Some breweries will have the plain tap, and then add a cherry, or raspberry, or strawberry syrup to give it a different, more fruity flavor. I had just the original plain.

Appearance is exactly what you expect and what you are looking for in a berliner weisse. Wheat looking, ‘beer looking’ golden hued yellowish beer. A nice white thin lined foam to the head, so you know its well carbonated. Its got a good crisp, clean look that you want in a nice cold refreshing beer.

Aroma is a nice, ‘tart’ ‘funky’ smell. Pretty much once again spot-on or right on target for what berliner weisse’s and other similar style (farmhouse ales, saisons, etc.) should be. It has that distinct ‘sour’ smell, with the notes of wheat, hint of spices, and just a nice smell. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unpleasant, nothing wrong.

Flavor is refreshing, tart, crisp, relaxed, and not too ‘lethal’ at 5%. They are definitely not lying, this is a refreshing, tart wheat ale. It’s not crazy puckering tart, but there is a nice, clean, crisp, refreshing, tartness to this that provides a nice flavor. Would be interesting to try this with the different syrups to see how much change there is and how much flavor those various syrups add to it. 5% is a great middle-road ABV that lets you enjoy several of these without it becoming overwhelming or too much; that refreshing area where you can have a few and still drive home safely, enjoying them out in the sun at a picnic or baseball game. I believe they had a cherry, strawberry, lime, and blue raspberry for their flavors (though I might be misremembering). I would be interested in trying the lime and blue raspberry (not a huge fan of cherry or strawberry).

I wanted to try several other beers from them, or at least one more, while there, and take another home with a growler, but unfortunately due to them not paying me attention even after being there over an hour, and having strict rules (due to COVID) about getting up, I wasn’t able to get anymore. But… I did really enjoy this beer. Hopefully their other beers are just as good. Maybe some day I’ll get back down to Baltimore and try them out.

As for this, Esmeralda is completely on point, hitting all of its marks. Nothing completely amazing, but does exactly what you want the beer to do, and thats far more than can be said about a lot of beers.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.62 (as of 8.20.20)

Please check out my full review of The Ministry of Brewing. And as always everyone, thanks for reading, and you can check out my blog – The Beer Thrillers – where Let Us Drink Beer also guest blogs and posts. So be sure to give us both some reads and shares and likes and follows, etc. We greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

-The Beer Thrillers
-B. Kline

Yesterday was meant to be a simple trip. Had a simple plan. Simple trip idea. And should have been relatively easy to accomplish.

…..But nooooooooooooooooope. Things definitely didn’t quite work out that way (do they ever?). Checked with some knowledgeable people online (primarily Tyler Budwash – of Pilger Ruh Brewing; who is a big Civil War battlefield buff and brewery buff) about the Monocacy Battlefield as well as nearby breweries. So I figured out the itinerary (roughly) to go; leave at 10:30AM, get there at 12-noon, when Idiom Brewing would open up. Eat lunch there with the girls, do the battlefield until about 4:30PM/5PM and then go to another brewery for dinner, then be able to drop my oldest daughter off at a sleepover in Lemoyne, and take my two younger daughters for some putt-putt (Mini Golf for the layman) and call it a day. A nice, fun, family day trip vacation.

There is a LOT of good breweries in the Frederick Maryland area. Idiom Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing, Rockwell Brewing, Smoketown Brewing, Attaboy Beer, Monocacy Brewing, and many more.

We were probably going to hit just two breweries – Idiom Brewing for lunch and then most likely Midnight Run Brewing for dinner. BUT…. like I said, nothing ever seems to work out quite right.

So what started as a one-day trip, with clear target times… lasted two days, two full days (only got home at 10PM tonight), and resulted in quite possibly one of the most interesting one (turn two) day trips I’ve done in a long time.

In the past, when I’ve done multi-day trips (like my August trip with my daughters) I broke it down per day, and gave three day reports. Given the nature of how this trip went down, I’m going to just make it a single blog article about both days (especially since I’m also doing this post as well). Since all of day two was impromptu, its all a bonus anyway! What started out as probably doing a brewery review Friday night when I got home from all of the trip, and got my youngest two to sleep, has now turned into a full on report of the trip.

And no, I’m not going to give you spoilers about what all happened and why it ended up turning into a two day trip. You’ll just have to read on yourself to find out why! (Don’t worry, I don’t think you will be disappointed and most likely will be able to get a laugh or two at my expense.)

Until then everyone, cheers!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their Untappd description reads: Cushwa Brewing Company is a microbrewery located along the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD. We are passionate in creating innovative beer offerings that we are proud for you to experience and share with friends. Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect. Their Untappd description reads:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-B. Kline