Mike - The Beer Thrillers

Did you miss me as much as I missed you? (A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery)

AmyMWolfe — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 02:05:07 +0000

A look back in the brewhouse at Lindgren Craft Brewery

Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

This whole mom thing IS NOT EASY. I admit, I am struggling at times. How are we supposed to juggle full time careers, kids, chores around the house…..I mean at that point forget about having any sort of social life. I am struggling to find that balance. So, I asked my Boo (Ben) to plan a date night. I just need some adult alone time.

This may have come as a shocker, but we went to a brewery! LOL! Juggling our schedules and Scarlet make it very hard to find an evening to go out together. To say I was excited for an evening at a brewery felt like an understatement. Maybe the excitement was a bit much since I pretty much drove right past Lindgren Craft Brewery! It is inside old Duncannon National Bank, and it feels so niche and cool.

A Look at Lindgren Craft Brewery

Duncannon National Bank (photo courtesy of the Perry County Heritage Trail)

According to PerryCountyHeritageTrail.com the bank was built in 1889.

This was the first building in Perry County to be devoted exclusively to banking. Before the Duncannon National Bank, the safe at the Duncannon Iron Works was used to protect large sums of money. Currency was dispatched from banks in Harrisburg and Carlisle as needed. It was common for merchants and businesses to act as banks and lenders before banks become more common in the 20th century.

If you aren’t careful, you will get lost in the Lindgren tap list. It was tough to pick out that first pint. The variety of styles and flavors is not something all breweries can encapsulate but Lindgren certainly held our attention.

I mean it had been a minute since we got out; but I started out heavy with the “To Infinity and Beyond”, a porter brewed with 86 pounds of Milky Way Bars and 23 pounds of cocoa nibs, and it was served on Nitro. I was drooling just thinking about it, so I went all in. Ben got the Diane & Ross…No Supremes, a black Kolsch. Both were amazing!

The Kolsch was deceiving because in Kolsch fashion it was light and refreshing but it was a black Kolsch. You still got some dark and roasty flavors. It was brewed with additions of Carafa malt for color. The Porter was dark and delicious, everything you expect from a well brewed porter and. I thought at first, I might be overloaded with the milky way flavor, but the sweetness was perfectly balanced out with the full bodied roastyness of the porter.

Our burger at Lindgren

We had to get some food to go along with the delicious brews (Duncannon Ghost Kitchen Food Menu). The Duncannon Ghost Kitchen run by the Old Trail Tavern & Steak is nestled inside the brewery as a separate business but they definitely blend well together (Lindgren Craft Brewery and Duncannon Ghost Kitchen Partnership). We nibbled on the Bavarian Pretzel Flight and the classic Cheeseburger. Do Not think these are your typical brewery food staples, although I hope these will be for Lindgren, The Bavarian pretzel flight wasn’t your typical giant pretzel put on display as a peacocking type of appetizer. They were pretzel bites tossed in some sort of yummy seasoning. Perfect to toss into your mouth with some beer as you are enjoying the evening. The classic cheeseburger was a mix of short rib, chuck and brisket certified Angus beef. chefs kiss

A flight at Lindgren Craft Brewery.

We decided to order a flight next and try some more styles. We picked out 4 easily with Taking Selfies with Turkeys Blonde/Golden Ale, I love Mary Jane IPA, Rebels of the Sacred Heart Red Ale and Of Lords and Ladies a Mild Dark. From the refreshing spark of the Blonde to the caramelly and gentle bitter from the Mild they all went down easily and great with the food we were sharing.

We had fun checking out the old bank vault where they house the drawers for the Keyholders membership. You even track your monthly membership pour with a draft card kept in your drawer in the safe. That is also where they sell their merchandise.

After we got done eating, Mike Lindgren stopped by again (we ran into him just as we were originally sitting down), and invited us along back with Sean and Mark from Liquid Noise Brewing Company (who won our 2024 Battle of the Breweries Tournament).

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about the brewing process. All I know is I’m a chick that likes drinking good quality craft beer. Listening to Mike and the guys from Liquid Noise geek about the craft of brewing beer was still music to my ears. That’s what I see in a brewery; a favorite community spot with an affliction to taking pride in your craft. Perhaps I’ll be requesting Liquid Noise for my next date night with my Benjamin. We do need to get together with them on hosting a big bash for them winning this year’s Battle of the Breweries tournament, why not make more of our date nights kill two birds with one stone.

As Lindgren finally gets the chance to settle in we can’t wait to see the brewery grow. Also, I can’t wait for a sign on the building so maybe I won’t blow by it.

Drink more Beer
- Amy

Pictures Amy Took Inside Lindgren Craft Brewery

(Editor Ben Note: I didn’t quite know how to work these other pictures into the article better, with their size and everything, so I am including them all into this section.)

Amy took some fantastic pictures of the Bank Vault inside Lindgren Craft Brewery, where they keep all of the Keyholder Mug Club member stuff as well as their merchandise for sale. She also grabbed some great pics of the brewhouse while Mike showed us around inside there and talked shop. Of course she also grabbed excellent pics of the beers, the atmosphere, and the food at Lindgren Craft Brewery as well. Make sure you follow us on our Instagram to see more great pictures: The Beer Thrillers on Instagram.

End Notes

(Stolen from the previous column Amy wrote, I feel this is still applicable here as well unfortunately.)

(This is Amy’s first column back after a while. Busy with Scarlet, life, and everything in general, its great to see her jumping back into her Personal Column series again. We have sorely been missing her weekly posts here on the blog, so its so wonderfully great to have her back. You can find her full list of ‘Weekly’ Personal Column series below.)

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:

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The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

BKline — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 20:38:39 +0000

Rickett’s Glen in Benton, Pennsylvania

Sunday me and my friend Ming traveled to Rickett’s Glen to hike the waterfall trails there. Planned, as I mentioned in the previous article here on the blog – A Road Trip to Ricketts Glen. We had planned this out a few weeks before, but left things kind of open ended. It was basically just a simple plan: Sunday – drive to Rickett’s Glen, walk waterfalls, drive home. With of course, a brewery on the way up, and one on the way home, possibly more if time allowed.

So, as I’ve done in the past with road trips and brewery visits, I’ll give a recap of our day here. This post was meant to go up Monday, but didn’t quite work out that way. Though, Monday did see the beer review of Boneshire Brew Works‘ Pandemic Pils go live on LetUsDrinkBeer’s blog (a site I contribute and write for occasionally) as well as on our blog here. (To see the review on their blog – click here: LetUsDrinkBeer Pandemic Pils, and to see it here on my blog – Beer Review: Pandemic Pils by Boneshire Brew Works.) I definitely knew it wasn’t going up Sunday night when we got home, just no chance of that happening.

Thus this was started on Tuesday, but unfortunately I had to pause and finish today (Wednesday) due to chores around the house, mowing, walking the dog, (yadda yadda yadda, boring crap, boring crap, boring crap), but mostly because I had to head over to D. Scott’s to do a podcast (as well as our first YouTube video) with D. Scott, Esty, and Skott. This was our time travel podcast where we discussed time travel in movies, books, and TV shows. Namely Back to the Future, Terminator, Looper, and a host of others (shout outs to Rick and Morty, Futurama, Austin Powers, and Avengers: End Game). That will be going up soon – both for the podcast and the YouTube video. I will make sure to edit this and include the links to those when they are uploaded. You can check out the Podcast channel itself here: So a Mexican and a Scott Walk Into a Bar…. (Be forewarned – language is a bit in the R category, and most of the episodes are titled “WTF Did I Just Watch”, so you can figure out and parse out what the W… T… F… stand for.) This was our first podcast / YouTube video and our first podcast with Skott on as well, so we’ll see how it goes. I enjoyed Abomz World (Ever Grain and Abomination Brewing collaboration), Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co), and Buddy Shots (Cycle Brewing) while on the video. Finishing up the night with County Line IPA by Neshaminy Brewing. (But enough about that and those beers, lets get to the road trip.)

So, like I said before I interrupted myself, me and Ming planned to take this road trip from Hummelstown (he picked me up) to Rickett’s Glen which is in Benton, Pennsylvania. (See map below). It’s a roughly 2 hour and some minutes drive (depending on speed, traffic, etc.). According to Google Maps its a 2HR-8Min drive.

The Google Maps travel route from Hummelstown Pennsylvania to Ricketts Glen Pennsylvania.

As I noted in my previous article here – A Road Trip to Ricketts Glen – we planned on hitting a brewery on the way up, and then one (or more) for dinner on the way home. Some of the breweries I had google mapped and looked up (in the vicinity of Ricketts Glen or at least along RT15 and RT11 – which are the main roads we would be on) were:

Selinsgrove Brewing
Isle of Que Brewing Co.
Jackass Brewery
Eclipse Craft Brewing
Turkey Hill Brewing
Old Forge Brewing Co.

Ming gets to my house around 11AM. We load up the backpacks, I add a four-pack in for the actual hike (New Trail’s Hammock, Troegs’ Scratch 415 and 417, Pizza Boy’s The Pen is Mightier). We head out. Stopping at the Sheetz by those strip clubs once you get near Little Buffalo and then we are fully out on the road.

Looking at the breweries on my phone, we decide to stop at Isle of Que Brewing Co. first.

Isle of Que Brewing

Its just a little over noon when we get there. We are the first to enter for the day, and as soon as walk in, the bartender / owner / brewer Mike immediately recognizes me from the blog here. Which was a bit surreal as it was definitely a first to be recognized for the blog, and especially remotely (not a local [to my area of living] bar or brewery). Was definitely a very cool moment. Ordered a flight, while Ming had a water (since he was driver and basic DD for the day).

Mike was a super cool and chill dude. We talked about podcasts, YouTube, breweries, the COVID-19, quarantine and lockdown, how its affected his business, how the local area of Selinsgrove is / was during the pandemic, etc.

My flight consisted of: Peanut Butter Ale, Coal Wrecker Region Raspberry Ale, Black IPA, and Sexual Chocolate Stout. Mike gave Ming a sample of the Queban Joe (a coffee porter) which I stole a sip of.

Black IPA
Coal Wrecker Region Raspberry Ale
Peanut Butter Ale
Sexual Chocolate Stout

My ratings for the beers on Untappd (and their global average ratings):

Peanut Butter Pale Ale – ****.25 / 3.91 (as of 6.16.20)
Coal Region Wrecker Raspberry Ale – **** / 3.93 (as of 6.16.20)
Black IPA – ***.75 / 3.58 (as of 6.16.20)
Sexual Chocolate Stout – **** / 3.47 (as of 6.16.20)

I would have ordered another flight or perhaps a pint, but Ming wanted to get to the trail, so I paid and we headed out. Selinsgrove Brewing was closed, so we were on the road to Ricketts Glen. Which we arrived at around 2-2:15PM.

For those who’ve never been to Ricketts Glen, it is absolutely gorgeous. We had a beautiful day, sunny, bright skied, no clouds, gorgeous day. Not too hot, just a beautiful early June day (June 14th, 2020). Just an absolutely beautiful gorgeous day. We had a fantastic hike with no problems. It was possibly the most ‘populous’ hike I’ve ever been on (most of the places I’ve hiked, I don’t see anyone on the trails, or if I do its a one time passing), here, its like caravans, and occasional slow-downs at different waterfalls. This is a map of our hike:

Our hike of Ricketts Glen recorded using MapMyRun (a walking / running / hiking / biking GPS recording app)

I will say there is parts of the hike that are ‘difficult’ for those who might have walking issues or leg problems. Overall, most of the hike is easy to moderate, but there is a few places at some of the various waterfall areas where the steps are tough and can also be a bit slick. Plus, if you actually get close to some waterfalls, its also tough and hard, and I wouldn’t fully recommend doing that.

Here is a gallery (of a LOT of pictures) of our hike:

My hike with Ming at Ricketts Glen, Benton Pennsylvania

The hike lasted about four hours roughly, and was a good, fun, nice, beautiful hike and trip. As you can see from the pictures, I did enjoy the four pack I brought with me; which consisted of:

Troegs Independent Craft Brewing: Scratch 415 – Witbier
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.77 (as of 6.16.20)
Troegs Independent Craft Brewing: Scratch 417 – Orange-Lemon Peel IPA
* My Rating: **** / Global Rating: 3.89 (as of 6.16.20)
New Trail Brewing: Hammock
* My Rating: ****.25 / Global Rating: 4.37 (as of 6.16.20)
Pizza Boy Brewing: The Pen is Mightier
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.89 (as of 6.16.20)

After our hike, we hit the bathroom one final time, loaded back up, and checked out the breweries map to see what is available and where we would have dinner.

There were several that we looked up – Eclipse Craft Brewing, Pine Knotter Brewing, Old Forge Brewing, and Turkey Hill Brewing. According to the Google Maps and their Facebook (I made sure to check both), Turkey Hill was going to be open til 7PM, and Old Forge was to be open until 9PM. Turkey Hill was closer to Ricketts Glen / Benton than Old Forge, so we decided we’d go to Turkey Hill Brewing, and then from there go to Old Forge Brewing since they were opened later.

Turkey Hill Brewing Co.

We arrived at Turkey Hill Brewing Co. at roughly 6:20-6:30PM, and find out their actually open until 9PM. As we got back there, our reception returned to our phone, and we started getting inundated with texts. Our co-workers were getting called back into work (with Friday, June 19th, Dauphin County Pennsylvania goes green, our work was reopening). So everyone was seeing who got called, how they got called, what information they had, etc. Everyone had different ideas, theories, and stories of their call-backs.

While Ming went and talked to Don about his department that got called back, and their evening plans, I ordered a flight. We sat outside under a beautiful tree, and had a small little table in front of us, it all felt like sitting and eating at a family picnic at someone’s house for say Memorial Day or Fourth of July or Labor Day. Very informal, very interesting, and there were couples all around on various other benches eating in a similar fashion. Due to the current circumstances they do a generic flight of six, so that’s what I got. Once Ming came back from his call, we ordered small things of food (Don was making him dinner, so we weren’t going to get a big meal – just appetizers). I got fries and Ming got Asian Tuna.

Blond Ale
Red Ale
Belgian Triple
Stout
IPA

The fries were very good, and Ming said he loved the tuna (no way was I having any as I’m allergic to seafood). The beers were also very good.

The beers (not in the particular order I had them in above):

Donny’s Irish Dry Stout
* My rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.73 (as of 6.16.20)
Inflategate NE IPA
* My Rating: **** / Global Rating: 3.74 (as of 6.16.20)
St. Abban’s Irish Red Ale
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.56 (as of 6.16.20)
Oliver’s Twisted Belgian Pale Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.3 (as of 6.16.20)
Urban Abbey Apricot Pale Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.69 (as of 6.16.20)
Barn Dance Blonde Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.44 (as of 6.16.20)

The atmosphere there was very beautiful, laid back, and wonderful. The staff was also really nice, wore their masks, handled the food and drinks and everything very nice. Wonderful all around. The beers were good as well. Overall the venue was beautiful, and I’d love to come visit it – outside of a pandemic – and get to really experience the place, as it looked wonderful.

Turkey Hill Brewing

After the dinner and flight, we looked up Old Forge Brewing, checked to make sure it was due to close at 9PM and headed off. We arrived there at a roughly 7:30-7:45PM, possibly going on 8PM. And it was closed up and locked. So either they closed early or their Facebook (as well as Google Maps) was using old – pre-COVID-19 – hours of operation. So sadly, we missed out on that. We climbed back into the car and headed for home with Ming dropping me off around 9:45PM or so; maybe 10PM. (I was probably not the best judge of time by this point.)

All in all, it was an absolute blast, and a wonderful road trip. I highly recommend both breweries – Isle of Que Brewing Co and Turkey Hill Brewing. Going to have to try this trip again on a weekday where we can hit a few more of the breweries, and do the hike, with hopefully less people, and later hours of operation for the breweries, so we can do more of them.

The venue for Turkey Hill was beautiful. The building for Isle of Que was nice and small and quaint, reminded me of the Warwick Hotel in Hummelstown. I enjoyed both places, both staffs, and both drinks. (Probably give the nod to Isle of Que’s beers over Turkey Hill; but there was nothing wrong with Turkey Hill’s beers, they were average / adequate and were very good. I’ve heard from several people online since that they have phenomenal full food, so maybe next time I’ll stop there and have a full meal.)

Of the beers I brought with, I enjoyed all four as well, though I had three of the four before (the Witbier was the only one I hadn’t had before). I did a review for Troeg’s Scratch 417 before. The Hammock is a great NE-IPA; the Scratch 417 was a delicious IPA, the scratch 415 was a very tasty Witbier, and The Pen is Mightier is an interesting and tasty Sour IPA.

I also highly recommend Ricketts Glen. If you love hiking, love the outdoors, love beautiful scenery, love waterfalls, it was all amazing, and just gorgeous. You definitely won’t be disappointed by the beauty of it all, it does get crowded on weekends, but I don’t think once you get out on the actual trail it is that bad. Right now it was a bit awkward with some close proximity to people given the nature of the pandemic and concerns over it, but overall, I don’t think it was too busy, and never felt threatened by their closeness, nor worried. Doing the full hike path that we took though (as shown above) will take you roughly three to four hours, especially if you stop and take in each waterfall, viewing them, and taking pictures. (Also, of course, depending on your speed, gait, etc.). Ming and I are in our thirties, so use that as a barometer I suppose.

I know this wasn’t a typical road trip, and we really only hit two breweries, but felt like making it into a fun little write-up and blog post. Perhaps next time I take the trip I’ll be able to hit more breweries and make it into a bigger brewery related blog post. Also apologize for the massive photo dump in the middle of this post, at least you could skip them (and the horrible pictures of myself, I apologize for anyone who I scared with my appearance).

But, as always, thank you very much for reading. I appreciate any comments, questions, feedback, etc. If you have any recommendations for trails, hike paths, or breweries, I’d love to hear them! Let me know in the comments! Also, be sure to hit the follow, subscribe, and like buttons. Share with friends, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and thank you all so very much for reading! I love writing for you guys, so its always great to hear from you!

Cheers and happy trails!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

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 waterfall at Ricketts Glen, Benton Pennsylvania