Multiple Beer Reviews - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:42:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Multiple Beer Reviews - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 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 https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/10/22/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/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=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 Mon, 23 Oct 2023 02:45:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12732 To Pumpkin… or Not to Pumpkin… That is the Question

My offering of an afternoon of pumpkin beer was met with a quick yes when I texted Grandma SueAnn last night.  I mean, we knew I wasn’t twisting her arm. 

(We had a busy morning – went to Bill’s for breakfast, then we ran out to Memorial Lake and Levitz Park to look around, and found ourselves stopping at Bradford Village Beer and Soda – originally looking for Ever Grain Brewing Company’s Sorbetto #66, but not finding it – Ben made this mix – a – six of pumpkin beers for Amy and SueAnn.)

Sunny Side Up Double Coffee Pumpkin by Pizza Boy

Sunny Side Up Double Coffee Pumpkin by Pizza Boy

After going on a beer run we started the afternoon off with Pizza Boy’s Sunny Side UP Pumpkin double coffee stout.  The Pumpkin SSU comes in at 11.9% ABV and it is described on Untapped as an Imperial double stout.  It has an overall untapped rating of 3.97.  Ah Yes, the double coffee stout we know and love.  The coffee might be overpowering the pumpkin.  Even rocking at a 11.9 this stout didn’t taste boozy.  It kept us warm on a chilly and windy Sunday in October.  This one didn’t take long for Grandma SueAnn and I to share out of the vintage smurf glass.  This also reminds me, we need another pizza boy trip. 

Amy wants another Pizza Boy trip

 

I had to run out for a quick errand.  Grandma SueAnn couldn’t wait and was already knuckle deep in the Giant Pumpkin from Greater Good. She finally got her granddaughter to take a nap and was celebrating apparently.  This would explain the not quite full beer pic.

Giant Pumpkin by Greater Good Brewing

Giant Pumpkin by Greater Good Brewing Company

The Giant Pumpkin is described as a pumpkin/yam beer and comes in at a 8% ABV.  It is described on Untapped as “Sweet notes of creamy pumpkin pie, supplemented by hints of sugar and spice, across a clean and crisp 8% ale.’  The hints of sugar and spice definitely contained some cinnamon, that was the leading flavor we both had.   It has an overall Untapped rating of 3.84.

Forbidden Pumpkin by Abomination Brewing

Forbidden Pumpkin by Abomination Brewing Company

The third beer for the afternoon was the Forbidden pumpkin by Abomination Brewing Company, an imperial Milkshake style india pale ale.  This Imperial comes in with a 9.3% ABV and has an overall 4.06 rating on Untapped.  “Forbidden pumpkins is an Imperial Pumpkin milkshake IPA that clocks in at 9.3% brewed with malted oats and flaked wheat, double dry hopped with Citra and Mosaic then fermented atop a monstrous amount of pumpkins, vanilla beans, pumpkin spice and milk sugar.  This hazy IPA pairs perfectly with hoodies, fall hikes and nights out by the fire pit with friends!” 

This was the Grandma SueAnn Favorite of the day.  We both agreed this brew was light and creamy.  The fall flavors were not overpowering and this was sweet but just enough to entice you for another sip. 

And That Was the Day

Splitting 3 beers and the afternoon was gone.  Grandma SueAnn reminded me since we split them, it’s only 1.5 and that isn’t much.  Although I couldn’t get Grandma SueAnn to promise if she’d wait to crack open the last 3 when I was back.  I gave it a couple minutes thought contemplating if the beers were safe in her fridge.  I figure we have about a 50/50 shot.

This was a wonderful fall afternoon spent drinking beers with my mom, while Scarlet terrorized her living room and we watched some football!

  • Drink More Beer!
  • Amy

SueAnn Beer Reviews

Pumpkin Beer Reviews

Abomination Brewing, Pizza Boy Brewing, and Greater Good Brewing Articles

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:

(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:

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.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> 12732 RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/08/20/rar-brewing-brings-the-nostalgia-with-muppets-out-of-order-series/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rar-brewing-brings-the-nostalgia-with-muppets-out-of-order-series Mon, 21 Aug 2023 03:33:45 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12271
RAR Brewing gives The Muppet’s the Out of Order treatment

A Sucker For Nostalgia

I’m a sucker for nostalgia items.  I think I’ve been looking back a lot on poignant items from my childhood since having Scarlet.  Combine that with my love of drinking beer and of course I was drawn to desire the newest Out of Order series that RAR Brewing company just released. (See our article here – RAR Brewing – Out of Order – Muppet Series Can Release.)

The purchase of the RAR series spoof of the Muppets was a surprise for my Birthday next week.  I’ve managed to drink two of these tasty treats since being lucky enough to acquire my present early.  I was even lucky enough to be gifted the sweet glass they make with every out of order series drop. 

(Interjection by Ben: Quick shout out to Ryan Bushman for hooking us up. Ryan is a great dude and was going to RAR Brewing the day of the release and grabbed us the five – pack as well as the awesome glass and brought it back to Central PA for us. He let me get this as a wonderful surprise birthday gift for Amy a few days early…. psst…. she turns…. *muffled sounds*…. on the 22nd.)

Wocka Wocka Pie

Out of Order: Wocka Wocka Pie by RAR Brewing

My first choice Friday evening was the Wocka Wocka pie.  It is described on Untapped as “Our lactose base conditioned over bananas, graham crackers, cake batter and whipped cream.”  I was desperate for a sweet treat after a long week and this one stood out to me.  Maybe I could hear Fozzy Bear saying “Wocka Wocka” as I read it and that made me smile.  You smell the bananas before you taste them.  There is that subtle graham cracker taste lingering in there.  I am not sure I could tell the difference or the blending of the cake batter and whipped cream was just a sweet taste for me.   A few reviewing on Untapped also tasted hints of coconut.  I missed those too.

It is on untapped with a 6% ABV and at a 4.22 overall rating with 27 total ratings since the August 12th release.  This one made me dig out my old Fozzy, Kermit and Piggy stuffed animals that came out way back in 1988.  And you better believe I own all three. 

Holiday Huggable Muppet Babies – Muppet Wiki

Beer: Wocka Wocka Pie
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: N / A
Untappd Description: Our lactose base conditioned over bananas, graham crackers, cake batter, and whipped cream
Global Untappd Rating: 4.22 (as of 8.20.23)

Resident Daredevil

Out of Order: Resident Daredevil by RAR Brewing

The second Birthday present I cracked open was the Resident Daredevil.  It is described on Untapped as “Our lactose grape jelly, and raspberry with a splash of creaminess for the body.”  Right away I smelled the sweet grape and berries with a creaminess at the end.  I am not sure I got any of the peanut butter in the taste.  Was it just me?  One rating from Untapped describes RD as “needs more PB, still very good though.” 

I am immediately catapulted back to the scenes of the “Great Gonzo” Most notably the scenes of him being shot out of a cannon.

https://youtu.be/WngfzIRdXJY
Gonzo Shoots Himself Out of a Cannon

Resident Daredevil also comes in on Untapped with a 6% ABV and an overall rating of 4.08 and a total of 21 check ins.

Beer: Resident Daredevil
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: N / A
Untappd Description: Our lactose base conditioned over peanut butter, Concord grape jelly, and raspberry with a splash of creaminess for the body
Global Untappd Rating: 4.08 (as of 8.20.23)

Ben’s picture of him finishing Gonzo’s “Resident Daredevil” by RAR Brewing

Birthday Week

I’ll be celebrating my birthday week in style and I plan to finish out the series by next Sunday.

Drink more beer!

  • Amy

RAR Brewing

You can check out our other articles about RAR Brewing below:

For more information on RAR Brewing, the following comes from Untappd. RAR Brewing is a micro brewery from Cambridge, MD. They have 754 unique beers and over 470,000 ratings with a global average rating of 4 (exactly 4) (as of 8.20.23). Their Untappd description reads: Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.

You can find them on the following social media pages:

(Stay tuned for in the future we have a lot more Out of Order series beer reviews to post – featuring the other Star Wars beers, as well as the Christmas ones, and the Muppets ones.)

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:

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

All of Our Nerd Content

Here’s all of our nerd content, served up best in one single place. Enjoy!

I know ya’ll here for the nerd reviews. So check out our other nerd reviews below:

Star Wars:

Futurama

Lord of the Rings:

Magic the Gathering:

Zelda:

Rick and Morty:

Space Balls:

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Scrooged:

Groundhog Day:

A Christmas Story:

The Peanuts:

Pro Wrestling:

Soccer:

World Cup:

Phillies:

Matrix:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

HP Lovecraft / Cthulhu:

Seinfeld:

The Muppets:

Other:

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

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

You can check out our different directories here: Beer 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.

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

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

 

 

]]> 12271 Let’s Take a Look Back: Our First 30 Articles https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/12/14/lets-take-a-look-back-our-first-30-articles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lets-take-a-look-back-our-first-30-articles Wed, 14 Dec 2022 21:06:11 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=10048 Let’s Take a Look Back

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

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

Thirty Oldest

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

The Beer Thrillers First Thirty Posts

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

Coco-Nator – Scratch 375 by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing

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

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

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

Painting with Light – South County Brewing Company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopping on Me (Tattered Flag)

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

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

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

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

Black and Blue Tastee by The Veil

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

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

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

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

Sundrifter by South County Brewing Company

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

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

So let’s dive into this fantastic beer!

Beer Review: Sundrifter (South County Brewing Company)

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

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

Cinnamon Toast Brunch by Collusion Tap Works

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

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

Beer Review: Cinnamon Toast Brunch (Collusion Tap Works)

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

Baby Genius by Bissell Brothers Brewing Company

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

Beer Review: Baby Genius (Bissell Brothers Brewing Company)

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

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

LazerSnake by Three Floyd’s Brewery

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

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

Beer Review: LazerSnake (Three Floyds Brewing Company)

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

A flight at Troegs Brewery

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

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

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

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

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

Abbra Collabra by Tattered Flag

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

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

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

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

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

12. Beer Review: Sunburst (Boneshire Brew Works)

Sunburst by Boneshire Brew Works

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

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

Beer Review: Sunburst (Boneshire Brew Works)

13. Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works

Battlefield Brew Works

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

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

Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works

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

King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing Company

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

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

Beer Review: King Crunch (Manayunk Brewing Company)

15. Beer Review – Northmont (Yellow Bridge Brewing)

Northmont by Yellow Bridge Brewing Company

Josh Doncevic’s first beer review for the blog:

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

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

Beer Review – Northmont (Yellow Bridge Brewing)

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

Should Have Put Him in Custardy by Tattered Flag

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

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

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

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

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

Ectogasm by Drekker Brewing

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

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

Beer Review: Ectogasm (Drekker Brewing Co.)

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

Fatum: Pink Guava by Tattered Flag

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

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

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

20. Beer Review: Inexplicably Juicy (Tattered Flag)

Inexplicably Juicy by Tattered Flag

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

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

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

Beer Review: Inexplicably Juicy (Tattered Flag)

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

Miami Vice JREAM by Burley Oak Brewing

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

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

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

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

OLD 51 by Oxbow Brewing Company

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

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

Beer Review: OLD 51 (Oxbow Brewing Company)

23. Beer Review: Dillston (Boneshire Brew Works)

Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

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

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

Beer Review: Dillston (Boneshire Brew Works)

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

Newfangled Brew Works Sign

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

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

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

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

Toeny’s Travels Flight at Black Gryphon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wolf Prints by Wolf Brewing Company

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

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

Beer Review: Wolf Prints (Imprint Beer Co.)

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

Mango Guayabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

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

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

28. Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

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

The Beer Thrillers Social Media:

29. Beer Review: Enigma (Anchorage Brewing Company)

Enigma by Anchorage Brewing Company

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

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

Beer Review: Enigma (Anchorage Brewing Company)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wrap It Up

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

 

Also be sure to check out our most recent article:

 

Thanks For Reading

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

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

-B. Kline

 

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

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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 #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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]]> 10048 Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/24/brewery-tour-couch-brewery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brewery-tour-couch-brewery Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:35:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5939 Firstly, let me give a big shoutout to Bobby Nacho for inviting me to the brewery and giving me a personal tour and sampling of their beers on my trip to Indianapolis. You can read about my full day two trip (which included hiking, Vandergrift, Pittsburgh, and Washington) here: The Trip to Indianapolis – Day Two. (There will also be full links at the end of the article, for this trip, and other similar travelogues as well as similar brewery experiences.)

Couch Brewery

On Monday, as part of my drive out to Indianapolis (from Harrisburg – Hershey area) I was in the Pittsburgh area. I started in Indiana, having visited Levity Brewing the night before, and hiking The Thousand Steps trail, Monday morning I started with Rock Furnace Trail, Roaring Run Trail, and visiting Allusion Brewing Company in Vandergrift Pennsylvania.

Ahead of Monday, Bobby had reached out to me and invited me to stop in for a brewery tour and sampling. He knew I was going to be passing through the area, and he was going to be in the brewery kegging ‘The Four Horseman’ for their upcoming Black Friday event – BLACK AHT 2020. You can get the cans and tickets to the event here: Couch Brewery – BLACK AHT 2020. Technically, The Four Horseman isn’t a stout, but is a Wild Ale / Brown Ale. But its still a part of the event (and don’t worry, it is amazing!)

I met Bobby around 1-2PM or so on Monday at the brewery, and he brought me in through the loading dock and side area of the brewery (the actual brewhouse). He took me through their small brewery and brought me then to the bar. First, we stopped, and looked at the fermenters, and the various equipment, discussed their barrel size, what they’ve done is recent months, the beers they are most known for, changes, growth, etc.

I’ll admit I was unfamiliar with Couch Brewery; and had never been to the brewery before, or even had their beers before. They do not distribute out to Harrisburg, Hershey, Hummelstown area, (unfortunately!) and I’ve never had them in a trade or at a bottle / beer share. But I must say, from now, I will be on the look out for them wherever / whenever I can.

Couch Brewery Brewing System

The above picture is their brewing system and set-up. If it looks small and home-brew-ish, its because it pretty much is. This takes nothing away from the beers, or how much they produce, or what they can do however. They still brew a large amount, and a wide variety of styles. So don’t let this set-up fool you. They are still pumping out some delicious brews.

Some of the best beers I’ve had have been brewed on the smallest of set-ups and systems; and some of the worst beers I’ve had have been on the biggest, largest scales, and the most expensive looking equipment. Its all in the skill of the brewer.

Rows of Fermenters

As you can see in the above picture, they have several fermenters that are constantly in use, so there are always lots of brews in the works here at Couch Brewery. They have 12 taps at the bar in the brewery, and they keep them full primarily because of how often they brew and fully utilizing all of their fermenters. Like a large revolving door, they are moving an empty keg for a new one, and emptying fermenters and refilling, and kegging, and keeping the kegs cooled and to the side waiting to be put on tap, etc. Like a constant dance, that keeps the beers flowing smoothly and the guests happy and the continuing flow of the suds, a perfect balance.

The Four Horseman

The beer that Bobby was kegging while I was there. Its a collaboration amongst buddies. Couch Brewery (Bobby represented as Arn Anderson), Fury Brewing represented as Tully Blanchard (I believe… I might be mixing him up with Ole Anderson here), Bash Brew which is represented by Ole Anderson, and Ric Flair of course rounding out the Four Horseman.

If you don’t know anything of The Four Horseman of wrestling, at least familiarize yourself with them. Probably the best stable ever in professional wrestling, of any generation or era. You can read more about them on wiki: The Four Horseman.

For more information on Black AHT 2020, you can read this quick article on Fueled by Hops: Couch Brewery hosting Black AHT 2020 Still.

For Black AHT 2020, there is 10 stouts for the event, and then as a special entry, The Four Horseman which is a Brown Ale / Wild Ale, and there is also a Rye Barrel Aged version on draft only at Couch Brewery.

One of the brewer’s for the collaboration’s wife did the artwork shown above, which will also be on the cans, and is drawn spectacularly.

Couch Brewery’s Bar

Now, it was time to get to the bar, and actually drink some of the amazing beers Bobby has been brewing at Couch Brewery. I had the 11 beers they had on tap (out of the 12 taps), as well as the Four Horseman straight from the kegging.

  • Recliner
  • Morning Wood
  • Hippie Blackberry Sour
  • Sofa Quemando
  • Fest Bump
  • F1 Hazy IPA
  • Thicc Ric
  • Macho Man
  • Atomic Clock
  • Stardust – Mango Passion
  • The Four Horseman (collaboration)
Recloner

Beer: Recliner
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: A delicious yet unconventional oatmeal stout brewed with the wrong hops, or so you would think. It delivers a wonderful silky smooth mouthfeel with a refreshing hint of citrus, a little bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 11.23.20)

Morning Wood

Beer: Morning Wood
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Hippie Blackberry Sour Ale
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Sofa Quemando
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Mexican Stout.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Fest Bump
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: F1 Hazy IPA
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Thicc Ric
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.53 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Atomic Clock
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.57 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Stardust – Mango Passion
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Hard Seltzer
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 3.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: The Four Horseman
Breweries: Couch Brewery
Collaborators: Fury Brewing Company, Bash Brew, X
Style: Brown Ale – Other
ABV: 8.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.22 (as of 11.28.20 [EDITED]

Beer: The Four Horseman
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Collaborators: Fury Brewing Company, Bash Brew, X
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 8.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Rye barrel-aged version of Four Horsemen.
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: N/A (as of 11.28.20) [EDITED]

My favorite of the group was The Four Horseman, followed by (surprisingly to myself) Macho Man, Atomic Clock, and Morning Wood. I even discussed with Bobby about how I’m not a big fan of hibiscus in beer, and not a fan of Crimson Pistil by Troegs Brewing (an IPA that uses hibiscus) but absolutely loved Macho Man. (Look for a review of it coming soon.)

Pictures of the Couch Brewery bar area

The bar and drinking area of the brewery has such an old-school lounge feeling. Like you are stuck in the 70s and Billy Joel could be in the corner playing Piano Man. An amazing atmosphere, I can’t wait to come visit sometime when they are open and get to actually sit and drink on the couches. The old school vibe is fantastic. Also, Bingo is a must when visiting Couch Brewery and an event to add to the calendar.

Bobby was an absolute blast to hang out with and talk to and we killed quite a bit of beer and quite a bit of time just discussing the craft beer industry, COVID-19, the mandates, the changes of the times, staying afloat, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, home brewing, brewing, Full Pint Brewing, professional wrestling, and pretty much everything and anything under the sun. If you ever get to have a drink with Bobby, make sure you do, he is fun, entertaining, and hilarious, and an all around great dude.

Couch Brewery

I have to say, I was reluctant to leave, but had to due to other trips and activities, and Bobby had to get back to work on finishing up his brewery duties for the day. But he did send me on my way with a four pack of Macho Man, Morning Wood, Atomic Clock, and Sofia Quemando. Which once back home, me and my buddy Drew killed the four pack together while streaming for his channel. He loved the Mexican stout.

For those in the Pittsburgh area, be on the lookout in 2021 for news on Full Pint Brewing. Big news. As many know, they closed up shop this year, which you can read about here: FULL PINT BREWING CLOSES. I don’t want to let too much out of the bag, but be on the lookout for news about them, and possibly…. dare I say it… a resurgence or resurrection? Who knows….. but like I said…. I won’t be the one to leave the cat out of the bag… Just be sure to stay tuned, and you’ll definitely hear about it here as soon as more is allowed to be said.

Again, in closing, I want to thank Bobby for a wonderful time, for opening his brewery to me, for inviting me out (on his own initiative), for the free samples, for the four pack, and for a wonderful time enjoying beers with a fellow beer enthusiast. He is a great dude, and I wish him the best with everything he does, a wonderful brewer, and a hell of a host. Thank you.

To everyone reading, be sure to check out the quality beers for the Black AHT 2020. You can read more, and get your tickets on Couch Brewery’s website, as well as through their social media pages.

Couch Brewing:

As for me here at The Beer Thrillers, thanks for reading. I always love to hear from you all, so be sure to leave comments, thoughts, your reviews, suggestions, questions, whatever you want. Also, be sure to like, follow, subscribe, you can find our social media links at the top of each page, as well as below. Also be sure to check out all of the links below for more great stories, beer reviews, brewery reviews, brewery and beer news, travelogues, and much more.

Please stay safe, and hope everyone has a great upcoming Thanksgiving. Cheers all!
-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

  • A Visit to Reading
  • The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

  • Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

  • Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

  • Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

  • Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

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!

]]> 5939 The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/23/the-trip-to-indianapolis-day-two-rock-furnace-trail-allusion-brewing-company-couch-brewery-riverview-park-hop-farm-brewing-company-and-the-meadows-casino-and-racetrack/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-trip-to-indianapolis-day-two-rock-furnace-trail-allusion-brewing-company-couch-brewery-riverview-park-hop-farm-brewing-company-and-the-meadows-casino-and-racetrack Tue, 24 Nov 2020 03:40:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5747 Woke up bright and early in Indiana, Pennsylvania and checked out of my hotel early early. My first of several hotel stops, and nearly the entire trip comes undone when I can’t find my wallet before leaving. A twenty minute search finally yields it behind the bed, it must have fallen off the nightstand back behind there. Whew, dilemma and catastrophe averted, I was on my way to towards Pittsburgh.

My first stop of the day was a morning wake up hike. I was wanting to hike and see the Jackson Falls… but unfortunately, despite Google Maps saying you could access them, the land for Jackson Falls (recently?) became purchased by a water company and was considered private property and you were unable to use the road to them; it was now a private road / driveway for this water company.

The Kiskiminetas River along Roaring Run Trail

But, there was a nearby hiking trail that went along the creek called Rock Furnace Trail, and I did hike that, and it led out by the river and was a bike / walk path called Roaring Run Trail, and I walked some of that as well. The trails were located in Apollo Pennsylvania, and the river that ran alongside Roaring Run Trail is called Kiskiminetas River. It was a beautiful path (both the Rock Furnace Trail and the Roaring Run Trail), the creek alongside Rock Furnace Trail was pretty, low, meandering, and the Kiskiminetas River was big and roaring with lots of rapids. Unfortunately, no real waterfalls or cascades to see, I assume all of those were at the Jackson Falls that were now on the private property.

Rock Furnace Trail, Roaring Run Trail, and Kiskiminetas River

After hiking and walking the two trails / paths, it was about 11AM when I left Apollo and made my way to Vandergrift Pennsylvania, for my first brewery stop of day two. Vandergrift was a small, quaint, old time town, that reminded me of the town from Back to the Future. Not sure why, but it just did. I walked a few blocks of it before / after drinking and eating at Allusion Brewing Company.

Vamdergrift Pennsylvania

Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery located in Vandergrift Pennsylvania; just outside of Pittsburgh. According to Untappd it has 18 unique beers, with 542 ratings and has an average rating of 3.8. The Untappd description simply reads: “Vandergrift’s hometown brewery.” The oldest created unique beer was on 12.26.13, but then the next wasn’t until 5.24.14. It certainly seems like it’s a relatively new and small brewery, but the beers were great, the building was beautiful, and the staff – Jim – was wonderful. If you get a chance to go by Vandergrift, make sure to stop in, visit Allusion Brewing, and see Jim as bartender, wonderful guy, very nice, informative and talkative.

Allusion Brewing Company

I got a flight at Allusion Brewing, which was in an old card catalogue holder from a library, which was pretty neat. My flight was:

  • Oh, Bother!
  • One Inning More
  • Baker St. Brown
  • V.I.Porter
Oh Bother

Beer: Oh, Bother!
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.75%
IBU: 28
Untappd Description: A sweet malty golden colored blonde ale brewed with caramel malts and Canadian honey malt to achieve a sweet honey taste. A beer to enjoy in the Hundred Acre woods.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.74 (as of 11.23.20)

One Inning More

Beer: One Inning More
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5%
IBU: 45
Untappd Description: American Style Pale Ale brewed with Pale and Victory malts and bittered with American Willamette and Cascade hops to produce a balance beer with hints of earthy, floral, spice from the hops. Let’s hope the Mighty Casey won’t strike out so that you can enjoy another inning of entertainment and great beer.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Baker St. Brown

Beer: Baker St. Brown
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – English
ABV: 3.5%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: Traditional Mild English Brown Ale brewed with English floor malted maris otter, English chocolate malts, and English Fuggle hops for a light drinking sessionable ale with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Sit back and enjoy one while you solve your latest mystery.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 11.23.20)

V.I.Porter

Beer: V.I.Porter
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Porter – American
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 38
Untappd Description: American style robust porter brewed with various caramel malts and black mat to achieve hints of roasted coffee and dark chocolate. Sit back and enjoy your beer knowing that proceeds from each pint goes toward projects to help the local community.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Bidding Jim a farewell, I was off to Pittsburgh proper and made it to the city roughly around 12:30-1PM. For the second time now, Google Maps has led me astray with the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. I took my daughters through Pittsburgh last summer – August – and it was closed the day we were there, despite Google Maps saying it was open. Same thing, again, Google Maps listed it as open, but it was closed (closed for the season on September 15th). I have since figured out the issue – the synagogue that the garden is attached to is open year round, and Google Maps based the hours for the garden on that of the synagogue and not the actual hours for the garden. Le sigh. At some point I will get to visit the garden and walk through it. I swear it!

Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden

From there, I got a special treat, I was invited by Bobby – the head brewer for Couch Brewery – to visit Couch Brewery (on a day they were closed) for a personal tour and sampling of the beers. He was in the building kegging up their upcoming release for their Black Friday stout bash; a collaboration he did with friends (home brewers and other breweries in the area) called The Four Horseman. This was an utter blast, and Bobby is a fantastic guy, funny, down to Earth, and very knowledgeable about beer, brewing, stouts, home brewing, bars, breweries, etc. Was a blast getting to hang out for a few hours, check out the brewery, and try the entire run of their beers on tap.

I will be doing a full article on just the brewery tour (look for that most likely tomorrow), so there will be plenty more to go than just what I list here, so be sure to check that article out.

Beers I got to sample at Couch Brewery:

  • Recliner
  • Morning Wood
  • Hippie Blackberry Sour
  • Sofa Quemando
  • Fest Bump
  • F1 Hazy IPA
  • Thicc Ric
  • Macho Man
  • Atomic Clock
  • Stardust – Mango Passion
  • The Four Horseman (collaboration)
Recloner

Beer: Recliner
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: A delicious yet unconventional oatmeal stout brewed with the wrong hops, or so you would think. It delivers a wonderful silky smooth mouthfeel with a refreshing hint of citrus, a little bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 11.23.20)

Morning Wood

Beer: Morning Wood
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Hippie Blackberry Sour Ale
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Sofa Quemando
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Mexican Stout.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Fest Bump
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: F1 Hazy IPA
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Thicc Ric
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.53 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Atomic Clock
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.57 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Stardust – Mango Passion
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Hard Seltzer
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 3.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: The Four Horseman
Breweries: Couch Brewery, Fury Brewing, 2 Homebrew Collaborators
Style: American Brown Ale

There is no Untappd listing for this, and I don’t recall if Bobby gave me information on ABV / IBU / etc. (No official rating for Untappd for me or for others either then; but I would give it a 4.25.)

Couch Brewery Tour

Bobby also gave me a four pack to go, which included Macho Man, Sofa Quemando (for Drew), Atomic Clock, and Morning Wood. Couch Brewery on Untappd is listed as a micro brewery in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with 113 unique beers, over 12 thousand ratings, and an average rating of 3.59. They have no Untappd description for their brewery.

I finally had to bid Bobby a fond adieu and promised if / when I’m back in the Pittsburgh area I would definitely be stopping in, at a time when the place is open, and hopefully with some friends. The brewery is great and he was an utter blast to hang out with.

After Couch Brewery, my next walking / hiking activity was Riverview Park at the top of Pittsburgh where the Allegheny Observatory is. I made a few mis-turns and went up and down those massively steep hills a few more times than I wished or would have liked to, and actually even went past the chapel where I took the girls last year – St. Anthony’s Chapel – (they have a piece of the cross that Jesus was crucified on) (I did not stop in) – but I finally made it to the top of Pittsburgh Hill or whatever its called, and walked the park and walking trails.

Riverview Park in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

The park and walking trails were really nice. Nothing crazy intense, but just a good walking area for families and for people with dogs or what have you. Some pretty views and sights. Lots of deer too that were pretty tame an would walk right up to you. The Old Zoo trail was really nice and interesting to see old broken paths, old Zoo enclosures and buildings (like the Bear Pit) and old crumbling buildings and infrastructure. The whole area was very busy, but people were keeping distanced and walking within their own families and friends. It reminded me of ants crawling around on an ant hill with everyone going this way and that and doing their own thing, and looking at things or seeing different views, and just meandering around, getting exercise and fresh air.

Once it got dusk and dark I finally left after a good three or so hour walk. While up on Troy’s Hill I passed the Penn Brewery, but unfortunately they were closed. I still stopped for a picture of their building because its a very beautiful building.

Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh
Across the street from Penn Brewery, an old Bottling Company

My next stop was a brewery – that … fingers crossed, God Willing, and Google Maps hopeful – was open… and huzzah it was! Hop Farm Brewing Company. ….but they were at max capacity so I had to wait for someone to leave. I walked the block and came back and thankfully someone was leaving just as I came back, so I was able to snag a table.

Hop Farm Brewing Company

Hop Farm Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Lawrenceville Pennsylvania. Lawrenceville is in between Pittsburgh and Washington (where the Meadows Casino is). Its still basically Pittsburgh, but not fully in Pittsburgh. Untappd lists them with 209 unique beers, over 49 thousand ratings and a global average rating of 3.65. Their Untappd description reads: “Hop Farm Brewing company is a independently partner owned brewery by Matthew and Emily Gouwens, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Our focus is on sustainability and local sourcing while producing hoppy ales, farmhouse ales, sour ales and various other interesting brews.”

While there, I had a delicious hamburger and two beers. I had the Kulak and the Pittsburgh Pale Ale.

Kulak

Beer: Kulak
Brewery: Hop Farm Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 9.8%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

Pittsburgh Pale Ale

Beer: Pittsburgh Pale Ale
Brewery: Hop Farming Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: (none listed)
IBU: (none listed)
Untappd Description: (blank)
(….well that was all very informative huh?)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

After leaving the brewery, I went to The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. I scoped the place out, talked to a few dealers about COVID and how things have been going there for them (compared to my work) and played a little bit of dice. (26$ thrown down on the table – 12 on the 6 and 8, dollar each for the dealers. Hit the 8 twice, didn’t press, got 28$, then seven’ed out, so dealers made 2$ off me, and I made 2$ and I was done. Meh.)

The Meadows Casino and Racetrack

I stopped over at the bar, and tried to have a beer with a hot dog as it was starting to get late – 10:30ish, I saw a brewery I hadn’t had before – Sobel’s Obscure Brewery and got a pint, it ends up kicking after just a little bit of it, so I ended up with a Hazy Little Thing by Sierra Nevada (the bartender didn’t quite get what I meant by “local craft beer” and kept suggesting Yuengling Lager………).

Watched a little bit of the Monday Night game while there, then got back to the hotel at 11PM, to pretty much fall straight to bed.

Tomorrow’s article should be the Couch Brewery Tour and Sampling, so be sure to check out that. Then it’ll probably be followed up with a few beer reviews, and then I will pick back up with the Trip articles. The next will be me entering Ohio, Salt Fork State Park, and Columbus and Dayton. Lots more great pictures, hikes, and breweries to go, so stay tuned and don’t miss it!

Thank you all for reading! Love to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment or talk it up with me, you can also check out our social media pages and comment and talk to us there as well.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

  • A Visit to Reading
  • The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

  • Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

  • Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

  • Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

  • Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

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!

]]> 5747 Two Beer Reviews: Hazy Burd (Ship Faced Brewing) and Pin-Up Girl Basic Witch (Janky Brew Co) at Maxie’s Brewhouse after hiking Sunset Rocks https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/11/21/two-beer-reviews-hazy-burd-ship-faced-brewing-and-pin-up-girl-basic-witch-janky-brew-co-at-maxies-brewhouse-after-hiking-sunset-rocks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=two-beer-reviews-hazy-burd-ship-faced-brewing-and-pin-up-girl-basic-witch-janky-brew-co-at-maxies-brewhouse-after-hiking-sunset-rocks Sun, 22 Nov 2020 03:30:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=5459
Hazy Burd and Pin-Up Girl Basic Witch

So tonight’s post won’t be your typical beer review. This will be a double beer review, and even though I’ve done a few of them in the past, this is a bit different than that. I’ve done a couple of multiple beer reviews in the past (typically flights at a brewery), and I’ve done two other articles that were dual (two) beer reviews. They were: Fresh Fest and Trail Day Pale Ale (by Troegs Brewing) and Pineapple Kolsch (Desperate Times) and Dry Irish Stout (Riverbend Hop Farm and Brewing). (Riverbend Hop Farm and Brewery just recently closed their doors which makes that review interesting in hindsight, you can read about their closing here – Riverbend Hop Farm and Brewery Announces Closing.)

Today’s double review comes from Maxie’s Brewhouse in Shippensburg. Its two different breweries / brewers that I’m reviewing (Ship Faced Brewing and Janky Brew Co). Maxie’s Brewhouse is kind of interesting. Its like an agglomeration of home brewers that rotate on their tap list and you can order. A friend of mine – Matt Kauffman – who ran the beer blog TBC (Tribeeratops Beer Club), which was a blog for him and a bunch of his friends, and he began homebrewing and turned it into TBC – Tribeeratops Brewing Company.

When we stopped in, they had a sheet of their draft specials. I’m not sure what their full menu was, or how many different beers or brewers were on tap, but on the sheet they had a 4$ beer from Olde Bedford, a 4$ hard cider, and then some 3$ draft specials from Ship Faced Brewing and Janky Beer Co. I had messaged Matt on my way in, and he told me he no longer brews for them. So I’m not sure what all else they had on tap, but these were the ones they did have on tap for certain. Their Facebook page showed a flight with different beers than I saw on their draft special sheet, so they must’ve had a pretty good variety of beers on draft but I just didn’t see a menu list of them anywhere. You can find Maxie’s on Facebook here: Maxie’s Brewhouse LLC.

Yesterday, I had hiked the Pine Grove Furnace State Park and did Pole Steeple with my dog Leela. Today me and my friend Ming hiked Sunset Rocks and some of the Appalachian Trail and did some of Camp Michaux and the walking tour of it; which is all in Gardners Pennsylvania. Shippensburg was about a fifteen – twenty minute drive from the hike, and I hadn’t been to Maxie’s yet to get to try some of these new brewers, so we hopped over there for our lunch / beers.

On the Sunset Rocks / Appalachian Trail hike my hiking beers for the day were – Green Machine by Boneshire Brew Works and Animal I’ve Become by Ever Grain. Both fridge pulls that were of IPAs that are starting to get up in age (canning for this Green Machine was a bit ago), but both still held up very well and were excellent trail beers.

Animal I’ve Become and Green Machine – my hiking beers

It was a very nice hike, we did about 5 some miles of hiking counting the Camp Michaux walking tour and CCC / POW camp that we walked through, as well as the Appalachian Trail we walked through. The Sunset Rocks overlook view was very pretty, even with the cloudy weather. Temperature wise it was great, hot and sweating when we were hiking, but not too cold or too warm when we were standing still.

I’ll post some pictures of the overlook view, Appalachian Trail, and Camp Michaux at the end of the article if you want to see them. I also have some links for more information about Camp Michaux at the end as well (mainly, because I knew nothing about this camp before we hiked the area, so hopefully this will be informative for other people as well).

But in the meantime, let’s get to the two beers and review them.

First up….. Hazy Burd.

Hazy Burd by Ship Faced Brewing

Beer: Hazy Burd
Brewery: Ship Faced Brewing
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Ship Faced Brewing is listed on Untappd as a nano brewery from Shippensburg, and has 13 unique beers, 199 total ratings and an average rating of 3.76.

This is a bright yellow to golden New England style hazy IPA. Thin white head to it but with nice bubbles and left nice lacing on the glass. Its hazy and opaque with some sediment and floaters. Its light looking and a bit watery looking.

Aroma is pretty hoppy, floral and citrus. No earthy or grassy or pine hop notes. Some creaminess or vanilla aroma but very mild. Mostly floral or citrus hop notes, some peach, mango, maybe faint grapefruit aroma.

This is a pretty solid and standard New England IPA. There’s not a whole extreme lot to discuss, but it is a solid beer. Its a bit watery, a bit papery thin in mouthfeel, but it has good flavor. Its smooth and has either lactose, vanilla, or a lot of flaked oats to give it a smooth / silky taste and slickness to it. Its easy drinking and pretty crushable. No hop bite, no real IPA bitterness, just the juiciness that comes from a New England IPA. Hop flavors are peach, mango, light grapefruit, perhaps a bit of melon rind, no earthy, no zest or citrus, no grassy or pine or bitterness. I can’t say anything bad about this beer, its good, clean, juicy, tastes great, has a little bit of sediment, a little watery and thin, but nothing bad, no off flavors, no bad aftertaste, nothing you’re burping up hours later. This is a perfectly fine and delicious beer.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.77 (as of 11.21.20)

Next up is…. Pin-Up Girl Basic Witch.

Pin-Up Girl Basic Witch

Beer: Pin-Up Girl Basic Witch
Brewery: Janky Beer Co
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: Brewed with local coffee and has a dash of pumpkin spice with Tahitian vanilla bean

Janky Beer Co on Untappd is listed as a Contract Brewer through Shippensburg Pennsylvania. With 45 unique beers, 895 ratings, and an average global rating of 3.92. Their Untappd description reads: A one off one of a kind brewery working in Maxie’s Brew Pub.

This was an interesting beer. It looks and doesn’t look like a blonde ale, and doesn’t taste much like one at all. (None of these things are negatives, just statements.) It more reminds me of a pumpkin beer or yam beer than a blonde ale, especially the tastes. The appearance is a hazy, darker blonde ale than normal, with more of a darker golden orange coloring than a lighter yellow to golden look.

Aroma is one hundred and ten percent spice beer, like any pumpkin beer, the spices are overwhelming and all you smell. I couldn’t even smell coffee on this or any distinguishable characteristic of a blonde ale, but got lots and lots of spices. Nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and probably some other spices I’m not really able to distinguish. I don’t think its ‘too much’ but it is a bit overpowering, and I would go as far as saying its definitely more than a ‘dash’ of the spices.

This is an interesting and tasty beer. I got very little coffee but the spices are very overpowering on this. There might be coffee that intermingles and makes the taste of the spices jump out more, but what you take notice upfront and right away is the spices. They really leap out and tackle your tastebuds. This has a stronger and heavier mouthfeel than the New England IPA earlier (Hazy Burd), but its still somewhat light being only a 4.5% blonde ale. Its smooth to drink and has a nice slick, smooth, creaminess most likely from the Tahitian Vanilla Beans, but you don’t really taste the vanilla. This isn’t boozy or heavy, but it also feels heavy, mostly I think because it has a good mouthfeel and the spices, so its more of a sipping beer than one to drink quickly, and I certainly wouldn’t drink a four pack or anything of this at one sitting due to the spices being a bit overbearing. This was an enjoyable beer, a bit overhanded on the spices, (I was burping the taste of this beer for a few hours afterwards), but still a good, well crafted beer that I’d get again.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.21.20)

Overall both beers were enjoyable. I wish I would have asked about what their full menu was and maybe did a flight or something, got to try more than just the two, but for 6$ the two drafts were not bad. Ming got cheesesteak egg rolls for 8$ and we shared fries for 3$, so not a bad bit of food and drink for relatively low price. (They might want to do a better job of saying what all beers they have than just that special list, maybe it was on a different part of the QR code, not sure.)

If again in Shippensburg, I’ll make sure to stop in. When we were there at 3:30-4, it was empty (we were the only ones in until a couple came in right before we left). They were doing live music in the evening though so I’m sure it would pick up.

The following will be the pictures and the links about Camp Michaux.

Pictures of Sunset Rocks overlook:

Sunset Rocks Overlook at Gardners, Pennsylvania

Pictures of Camp Michaux:

Camp Michaux and Appalachian Trail to Halfway Spring

Links for further reading on Camp Michaux:

Tomorrow I will – hopefully – fingers crossed – toes crossed – hopefully – have the first article from the Indy trip done. (No matter what, I will have an article, as I’m still doing my November 30 for 30.) So be on the lookout for that.

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

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!

Thanks for reading everyone, hope you enjoyed the ‘dual beer’ review, and enjoyed the pictures from the hike.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

]]> 5459 Brewery Review: Highway Manor Brewing Co. https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/09/28/brewery-review-highway-manor-brewing-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brewery-review-highway-manor-brewing-co Mon, 28 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4447 Highway Manor Brewing Co. opened their doors (finally!) for in-house service Saturday, at 11AM (September 26th, 2020). You can read our preview article here: Brewery Opening – Highway Manor.

From Highway Manor Brewing Co’s Facebook page – a screenshot of our posting about their brewery opening

Saturday night after work got over (7PM) I got the pleasure to get to Highway Manor Brewing in Camp Hill. I left work at 7 and got there at about 7:25-7:30. There was still a decent crowd at the time when I got there (inside tables were full and the tables with the swing seats were full). I ordered the Mr. Blackberry and a Turkey Sandwich to start.

Mr. Blackberry by Highway Manor Brewing Co.

Beer: Mr. Blackberry
Brewery: Highway Manor Brewing Co.
Style: Sour – Other
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: None

First time having this, I’ve had several other Highway Manor beers at various brewfests (Lititz Brewfest, Lancaster Brewfest, possibly Little Big Beer Fest or the Mount Hope RenFaire Brewfest), and this was just as good as all of those. This was super tart, delicious, fruity, with a great berry flavor.

On Untappd I gave it a ****.25
The global Untappd rating (as of 9.27.20) is: 3.73

Soon my food was arriving, and I had already drained my Blackberry sour, so I needed a new beer to help eat the food. (By the way, the entire food menu looked amazing, the turkey sandwich was phenomenal. Top of the line, high quality food, and very cheap, and with huge portions.)

Once my sandwich arrived I needed another beer, and decided to try some of their guest taps that they had running (they had five drafts; all guest taps). I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Human Robot but haven’t had a chance yet to try anything from them, so I decided to try out their IPA – Dreams of Orgonon.

Dreams of Orgonon by Human Robot

Beer: Dreams of Orgonon
Brewery: Human Robot
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Deliciously dreamy juice bomb brewed with sweet golden promise malt and hopped intensely with Citra, Mosaic, and Idaho 7. Its like the sun coming out…

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.15 (as of 9.28.20)

This was extremely tasty, juicy, dank, and delicious. Everything you want from a New England IPA, this had in spades, plus some. All around amazing beer and went fantastically with my sandwich. By this point I had moved to the center table and sat across from the one swing. I was informed by Johnny (Johnny Compton III – owner/brewer at Highway Manor Brewing) that a friend of his bought everyone a round. I was then joined by a couple – Lucas and Kaitlin who sat next to me.

They were both wearing ‘cat’ pants (pants with dozens of cat faces all over them), and quickly from talking to them I realized Lucas was Johnny’s friend. I thanked him for the beer, and for the rest of the night there, talked with them while we all drank, as well as talked with a few others who were there and one or two that came and went.

Compton Pilsner (a collaboration by Raney Cellar Brewery and Highway Manor Brewing)

Beer: Compton Pilsner
Brewery: Raney Cellars Brewing Company
Collaboration with: Highway Manor Brewing Co.
Style: Pilsner – Czech
ABV: 5.4%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: A traditional Pilsner with Mr Johnny Compton from Highway Manor Brewing. Saaz Hops from start to finish on this Pils.

As I’ve said in the blog here before when doing reviews, pilsners are a style that can be very hit or miss for me. This was a complete hit for me. Blew me away how wonderful the flavor was, how crisp it was, no lingering aftertastes (which I sometimes get from pilsners and why they are often a miss for me). This is just a fantastically brewed beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.88 (as of 9.28.20)

Throughout the night I had been texting with the group text of guys from my work, a group of us that regularly meet to play the Game of Thrones board game (and other games) and just group text each other about all kinds of things, from beer to philosophy, to politics, to work, to movies, shows, nerd culture, etc. My one friend and co-worker in the group text decided he would spend the night throwing out some new “blog names” for me instead of using The Beer Thrillers. At this point, I’d like to take a divergence from the brewery review and highlight the best that D. Pezzuti had to offer:

  • Benjamin Buzzin
  • Get Ben’t
  • Bend Over Bens Benders
  • The Curious Cases of Benjamin Buzzin

We then discussed doing a segment of beer reviews of Nitro stouts and rate them in the style of WCW Nitro Years. With five star Nitro stouts being WCW Nitro ’97 and one star Nitro stouts being WCW Nitro ’01. We also discussed calling the faithful to the blog “Hopamaniacs”.

Anyway…. back to the program…

Time for another beer, this time I went for another guest draft – this time from Naked Brewing; Thank Frank.

Thank Frank by Naked Brewing Company

Beer: Thank Frank
Brewery: Naked Brewing Company
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: West Coast IPA hopped with Citra & Amarillo.
Refreshing and perfect for those warm September days. Notes of dank citrus & delicious sticky resin.

A traditional hoppy IPA, this was a change of pace from the crisp pilsner, the juicy New England IPA, and the super tart and delicious sour Mr. Blackberry. This was a good, hoppy, bitter, earthy IPA, old west coast style old-school vibe to it.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 9.28.20)

It was starting to get late, I had thought about meeting two friends (D. Arndt and Youngblood) at Ever Grain before Ever Grain closed (at 11 – just like Highway Manor) since they were doing their Anniversary weekend, but Youngblood’s comedy (stand up comedy) bit went on longer and they wouldn’t be leaving their show til just before 11 anyway. So I stayed til closing getting to talk to Lucas and Kaitlin and others.

At this point, we also got introduced to Johnnie’s dog – a great dane and black lab mix – named Luna. Absolutely beautiful and wonderful dog. Fun and playful and nice drinking companion (no, I didn’t give the dog any beer).

So for my final beer of the night, I tried another brewery I never had before but have heard nothing but great things about – Brewery ARS.

Unfortunately for this, I do not have a pic, as just as I was ordering, my phone died and I did not have a charger on me. (9 hour day at work, plus driving using my GPS, plus texting, plus Untappd, and other apps, for notes, etc., really drained the battery).

Beer: Embrace the Day
Brewery: Brewery ARS
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England
ABV: 8.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hazy Double IPA :: mosaic, simcoe, falconer’s flight, el dorado

Another juicy, bright, delicious New England style IPA; this time a DIPA. A great beer to end the night on. This was super easy to drink, juicy, and went down fast (also perhaps because it was the end of the night and my fifth drink, but who knows).

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.09 (as of 9.28.20)

Before leaving, I said my goodbyes to everyone, and got to talk to Johnnie Compton a bit more. He is a great dude, knows his saisons, knows his yeast, knows his beer, and very down to Earth. Thanked me for coming out, and sent me on my way with a few (free) bottles of Mr. Peach and Mr. Plum. Which I will be diving into on the next stream with D. Scott for The Knights of Nostalgia.

I will discuss the aesthetics of the brewery now. The building is small, but well laid out (even with the current COVID restrictions), it has two rooms for dining tables, and then an open patio like area. Kind of reminds you of a house in the suburbs with the patio garage area.

The swings are really neat. I am wondering if they may become a problem with an ‘intoxicated’ person, but at a brewery, I highly doubt this will come up, but you never know. The tables and seating area though is gorgeous, both indoor and outdoor. Indoors, it has a rave like vibe with the glowing lights and the glow in the dark paint. (Make sure to check out the bathroom to really see what I mean.)

Lucas summed it up when we were discussing the brewery and the area, that its a “Philly bar in Camp Hill, turned saison bottle brewery.” And thats probably the most apt way to describe it. Johnnie and I were discussing how it was like opening during COVID and everything, and he was saying how nuts he was for opening a brewery primarily based on bottles rather than draft, and to do it during a global pandemic on top of everything.

The food menu on Saturday night looked fantastic. Lamb, turkey, vegetarian or vegan sandwich, and many other options, all for 8$ or less. Not sure if that menu is permanent or if it will be changed or updated or switched, but Johnnie did say he’s hoping to have food trucks in their parking lot area and grass field area across from the brewery on weekends.

The following pictures I took Saturday night while I was there:

Highway Manor Brewing Co. (Pictures by: The Beer Thrillers) (Include: Highway Manor Brewer and Luna)

The following pictures are courtesy of Highway Manor’s Facebook page:

Highway Manor Brewing Co. Grand Opening – September 26th, 2020 (Photos courtesy of Highway Manor Brewing Co. Facebook page)

This will certainly be a stop I will make regularly when on the West Shore, and will be perfect when hitting the area to do a brewery lap. Other great local breweries include Ever Grain, Mellow Mink, Hemaur Brewing, and Pizza Boy (as well as Liquid Noise which is a bit further, but still in the general area). So lots of great options all in the area.

I personally highly recommend checking the brewery out, and trying their wonderful tremendous beers. Especially if you like farmhouse ales, saisons, tart beers, sours, lambics, or all things similar. They also will have a rotating guest draft list that looks great for the area (Johnnie said he would like to keep it relatively full of Philly area beers), so that looks great – getting to try Philly beers and Philly breweries without the 2 hour drive to Philly. The brewery has a super cool vibe. There was a food menu for kids though it might not be 100% the most kid friendly; its certainly not anti-kid, but the venue vibe seems to be aimed away from parents. It is also dog friendly.

Highway Manor Brewing Co.

Be sure to check out some of our other brewery opening articles:

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!

Thanks for reading everyone and hopefully someday I’ll see you at Highway Manor and have a beer together. Until then, virtually, cheers!

-B. Kline

(Post Script: This was meant to go up Sunday night, but everything kinda got pushed back and thus why its gone up this morning, Monday, September 28th. My parents celebrated their 40th Anniversary on Sunday the 27th, and originally – pre-COVID – we were all going to go to the Bengals vs. Eagles game at the Lincoln Center in Philly; since they are big Eagles fans and I’m a Bengals fan, but unfortunately that didn’t get to work out. Instead, we got to watch the overtime – because the game in regulation time was not aired locally – and we got to see possibly the most apathetic overtime ever played. Six punts by the two teams combined in the 10 minute overtime. Neither team trying on their last plays to score. And on top of all this, the Phillies still had a chance to make the playoffs, and all they had to do was win, against a team that was locked in at their seed, and that they had just lost to twice, ….and of course they couldn’t do it. So despite it being an 8-team playoff for each conference, the Phillies *STILL* couldn’t manage to get in. So disappointing. But needless to say despite all this, the article is now up, just a bit later. Enjoy!)

]]> 4447 Top Five Articles https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/09/13/top-five-articles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=top-five-articles Sun, 13 Sep 2020 12:57:12 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4317 Its time for another list of ‘top articles’ from our blog. And what better time then Football Sunday? Its the first full NFL Sunday of football games, so I figured today’s not a bad day to start things off with a list of some of our top articles. I like to do lists every so often so newer visitors and followers and fans of the blog can see some of our older and more popular articles. Give them an idea of the scope of the blog – we’ve been here since May 2019, and we’re up to 230+ some articles. We are currently ranked #9 on FeedSpot’s Top 100 Beer Blogs as well as #11 on FeedSpot’s Top Pennsylvania 30 Blogs. As of 9.13.20 we currently have 715 likes and 753 followers on our Facebook page. On Twitter we currently have 227 followers and on Instagram we have 134 followers. We just started and launched a YouTube Channel (due to post our first video soon), and before even posting a video we are up to 6 followers. We have a Facebook group as well, which currently has 71 members. We also just started an Influencer Page, where you can check us out as well.

 

I have done a few lists before and will post them at the end of this article.

 

So this article will be broken down into a few Top 5 lists. Top five beer reviews, top five industry news, top five articles (non-beer review). So lets break it down and see what all we got to show for seventeen months of blogging!

 

Top 5 Beer Reviews on The Beer Thrillers

  1. Beer Review: Dillston (Boneshire Brew Works)
Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

First published on July 15th, 2019. This is our most viewed beer review.

2. Beer Review: The Hog (Boneshire Brew Works)

The Hog (Boneshire Brew Works)

Noticing a trend here with Boneshire Brew Works beers and the popularity of the reviews for them. This was published on December 22, 2019.

3. Beer Review: Harrishire (Boneshire Brew Works and Harris Family Brewing)

Harrishire by Boneshire Brew Works and Harris Family Brewing

Did I mention that Boneshire Brew Works beer reviews are popular on here? This time it was a collaboration with the Harris Family Brewery that will soon be opening in Harrisburg. I can’t wait for their opening, been looking forward to them for a long time. This was first published on August 18th, 2019.

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

Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

J. Doncevic’s first on this list. This was published on July 18th, 2019.

5. Beer Review: Caucus-Race 6.0 (Zappa Hops) (Boneshire Brew Works)

Caucus-Race 6.0 using Zappa Hops by Boneshire Brew Works

And once again, rounding out our top 5 viewed beer reviews, is another Boneshire Brew Works beer. Four out of five, an impressive showing. Who knows though, maybe by the next time I do a list article like this they will be beat by another beer or brewery. The This is The Way beer by Broken Goblet gets a lot of search views. So you never know. This was first published on August 13th, 2019.

 

Top 5 Non-Beer Review Articles

  1. A Sneak Preview of the New Rubber Soul Brewery
Rubber Soul’s new brewery under construction in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania

I was invited out for an early preview and look around the new Rubber Soul brewery that is nearing its completion (now in September 2020). This was my article previewing the brewery and brewing company. It was published on February 29, 2020.

2. Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink

Mellow Mink logo

Back in January 2020 (feels like ages ago now), me and J. Doncevic were invited out to Mellow Mink brewery by Matt Miller (co-owner and head brewer) for a tour and visit. Was a fantastic time and we absolutely loved it. Article was published on January 22nd, 2020.

3. The Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing

Hemauer Brewing Company’s logo

The celebration and announcement of Hemauer Brewing Company’s Grand Opening. Article was published on April 27th, 2020.

4. Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg (9.6.19)

An article I originally wrote and published elsewhere and then published on my own blog as well. About the breweries (at the time) in the immediate Harrisburg area. Article was published September 6, 2019.

5. Brewing a Traditional Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale – Keptinis

Keptinis mashing

Karl Larsen’s fantastic and amazing blog post for us about brewing Keptinis. If you are a home brewer this is absolutely a must read. This article was published on May 2nd, 2020 for us.

 

Another fantastic read is Andrew Parys’s piece on What Makes a Great Quarantine Brewery. That was published on May 2nd, 2020 as well.

 

Some list articles we’ve done in the past:

 

Well thank you everyone for reading. Hopefully you’ll find some great articles to read and hopefully you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane!

 

Until next time.


Cheers!

-B. Kline

 

The Beer Thrillers
]]> 4317 Multiple Beer Reviews: Brambleberry, Blueberry Yum Yum, Dutchboi, Bourbon Chocolate Stout (Iron Hill Brewing, Hershey) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/08/25/multiple-beer-reviews-brambleberry-blueberry-yum-yum-dutchboi-bourbon-chocolate-stout-iron-hill-brewing-hershey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=multiple-beer-reviews-brambleberry-blueberry-yum-yum-dutchboi-bourbon-chocolate-stout-iron-hill-brewing-hershey Tue, 25 Aug 2020 14:35:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4252
Flight and a chicken sandwich at Iron Hill Brewery (in Hershey, Pennsylvania) (left to right: Brambleberry, Blueberry Yum Yum, Dutchboi, and Bourbon Chocolate Stout)

Out of work and waiting for my car to be fixed (dropping 515$ on new brakes, lines, etc), what to do… what to do…. Oh I know… go enjoy some great food and a flight of beers, because…. why not?

So thats exactly what I did. I found myself with two hours to kill, a good book in my hand, and an appetite for both food and beer. And in the Hershey area there is a lot of options to pick from while waiting out a car repair. Seeing as how its been a while since I had been in Iron Hill (other than picking up their release of the Black is Beautiful beer) I decided to stop in and try out a flight, since I was sure there’d be new beers I haven’t tried yet. And luckily there was. One of which was one I had been waiting to try – Dutchboi.

Firstly, as I’ve said many on times here on the blog, I am by no means a foodie, but I still would like to take the time to mention the food. It was extremely delicious. Out of all the things, at least with the COVID restrictions of requiring me to ‘have’ to buy food with my beer, at least its making me / letting me try some delicious foods at places like Iron Hill, or Troegs, or The Englewood, etc; where otherwise I would be just ordering my beers and skipping on the food entirely.

But, let me say, this chicken sandwich (and the fries) were absolutely delicious. Half of it filled me up, and I saved the other half for another night. Wonderful beer that went really well with my beers….

Which is why your here, so lets get to it and discuss my flight of beers!

Brambleberry by Iron Hill (Hershey)

Beer: Brambleberry
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Farmhouse Ale – Other
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Well, not a whole lot to go on with this, no description, the notes on the menu said it was a “farmhouse saison, slightly funky, slightly tart, but full of flavor”. And that was about it. So…. quick spoiler – this was sadly my least favorite of the flight. I was hoping for a berry flavored saison, but didn’t quite get that. This is what Wikipedia has to say about brambleberry (under the page heading of ‘Bramble’): “A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus Rubus, which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries.[1] “Bramble” is also used to describe other prickly shrubs such as roses (Rosa species).[1] Bramble or brambleberry sometimes refers to the blackberry fruit or products of its fruit, such as bramble jelly.[2]

In British English, bramble usually refers to the common blackberry, Rubus fruticosus. R. fruticosus grows abundantly in all parts of the British Isles and harvesting the fruits in late summer and autumn is often considered a favourite pastime. An especially hardy plant, bramble bushes can also become a nuisance in gardens, sending down strong suckering roots amongst hedges and shrubs and being particularly resilient against pruning. Many consider R. fruticosus a weed due its tendency to grow in neglected areas and its sharp, tough thorns which can be hazardous to children and pets.[3]” (Source: Bramble.)

This doesn’t seem to fit that mold too much. Color is what you typically see in a saison or tart sour. But not a fruited sour or anything like that. No black coloring or anything to resemble a blackberry; this looks exactly like your typical farmhouse or farmhouse ale or saison. Wheaty, light golden to yellow color. Small amount of head to it, but with a taster that’s nothing to truly discuss because by the time of pour and its brought over and with the smaller pour size, heads and foam can be definitively off from what would be a normal pour.

Smell has that farmhouse yeast smell, that tart, funky, ‘off’ to some people, ‘on’ to other people smell. It has a crisp nose to it that you can pick up on immediately. Not a whole lot else to say on the smell, there’s no berry, no fruit odors, just the wheat and yeast smell.

Taste is…. well… its crisp. It is smooth. But it has kind of a bite to it. A funky, weird, tart but not the normal farmhouse or saison tart, kind of an off tartness to it. Like a bad berry tart funkyness, but not fully that bad or off. Like some blueberry beers where it gets the funky blueberry rather than the fruity – tart blueberry, but not quite to that full level. It has a definitive lingering taste to this that isn’t pleasant but isn’t completely unpleasant, more or less just kind of ‘ugh’. Nothing is completely horrible about it, but nothing is completely great about it and bordering past the ‘good’ into a category of just ‘do not like’ due to the aftertaste and all around weird funkyness / tartness to it. I wouldn’t say its a bad beer or a poorly made one, but just off, and not my cup of tea or style so to speak. I do love Farmhouse Ales and Saisons though, so this was a bit disappointing because of that.

My Untappd Rating: ***
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 8.25.20)

Blueberry Yum Yum by Iron Hill

(A Different picture than the above, apparently I only took the flight picture for the first two drinks)

Beer: Blueberry Yum Yum
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 5
Untappd Description: This kettle sour uses blueberries, graham cracker pie crust, vanilla beans, and lactose to trick your taste buds into thinking you’re drinking a fresh pint of blueberry cobbler.

This was much better. Much, much, much better. Definitely enjoyed this one.

Color is spot on for a fruited sour, especially any heavy in one of the major berries (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry). It has that purplish beautiful glow, incandescent one might say. Light foamy head, nice bubbles, pop, almost like a champagne type pop to it.

The nose is wonderful, tart, blueberry, fruited sour smell. You know exactly what you are getting with this. A great finishing flourish of vanilla, some bread crumb, and a hint of something more, something earthy – ish, something more than just the fruit and vanilla but not bread. Hard to pinpoint on that, but it detracts nothing from the aroma or the beer.

This starts off fully vanilla and blueberry then tapers off into blueberry only real quick. It has the very heavy fruited sour vibes to it, which is perfect and just what I wanted out of this, especially after appearance and smell. The vanilla fades away quickly, and leaves you with the tart but not too overly funky blueberry, which is where this really shines through. Full blueberry flavor with just the hint of bread crumbs and vanilla at the end. If you like bright, full, tasty blueberry tartness, then this is exactly what you are looking for it. Not really funky, not the over ripe blueberry, but the ‘just right’ ‘ just ripe’ blueberry tartness that really brings out that wonderful flavor – that I know personally, I love, not sure about everyone else, but I prefer the ‘tart’ blueberry over the ‘funky’ blueberry. From talking to a lot of people, that seems to be the preferred, but I’m sure there’s some who enjoy the more ‘funky’ blueberry tastes than the ‘tart’ blueberry tastes. To each their own. But I certainly loved this brew and would highly recommend it to any sour or tart lovers.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 8.25.20)

Dutchboi by Iron Hill (Hershey)

Beer: Dutchboi
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: One off cask aged stout. Cinnamon, vanilla, serano pepper

This was the one I was most looking forward to with my flight. I had seen the Facebook and Instagram posts with the whoopie pies being mashed in, so I was certainly intrigued. My Pennsy Dutch side of me was all kinds of intrigued.

Color is the stout maxim; dark, black, cold, like my soul and heart (ask around, they’ll tell you). Or, as my personal saying is – “black like Razor Ramon’s hair”. Take that as you will, and depending on your level of interest in Scott Hall or wrestling you’ll understand it. But, this looks like any other stout really. Black, light foam head, in a taster glass, could almost be beer or coffee or motor oil, who knows. (These are all just jokes and not knocks on the beer or stouts; they just don’t typically have too much variance in color.)

Aroma kicks things off and separates this from other stouts. Definite notes of ‘whoopie pie’ on this. Vanilla, cinnamon, bready, with hints of the oak cask system used. I didn’t really pick up any pepper. Once again, going back to Wikipedia, this is said about the serrano pepper: “The serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a type of chili pepper that originated in the mountainous regions of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo.[1] The name of the pepper is a reference to the mountains (sierras) of these regions.[1]” (Source: Serrano Pepper) I didn’t really pick up any hint of heat or pepper or anything (either smell or taste, which we’ll get to in just a bit).

Taste is delicious on this. Its got all that dark heavy stout flavoring you love (if you love stouts) but its not too heavy and high ABV like some stouts (eyes up Weyerbacher). At 7.5% its in the same tier and level as Perpetual IPA by Troegs Brewing (7.9%). So this isn’t going to be killing you but will be leaving a good buzz (on a full pour). The oak cask comes off with this nice, lending it some darker notes, but it also has a slight airy, fluffy, creamyness perhaps the ‘whoopie pie’ part of it. There is a bit of the creamy vanilla that makes this smoother, but there is some bite, perhaps thats the pepper but I attributed it to the cinnamon. I don’t think any one flavor is overly powerful and overrides the other, more of a nice gentle blending that leaves this a very good and tasty stout. This would probably be better as a bottle, than a taster or even a can or crowler, with a good pour into a glass. But I certainly still enjoyed it.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.9 (as of 8.25.20)

Bourbon Chocolate Stout (Iron Hill)

This brings us to the final beer of the flight, and as it turns out, my favorite of the flight. (Perhaps a surprise, perhaps not a surprise. I was anticipating liking either the Dutchboi or the Blueberry Yum Yum more, but I’m also a big fan of bourbon stouts and heavy stouts too…. so I guess this wasn’t really a surprise in hindsight.)

Beer: Bourbon Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 10%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

It is interesting, looking over the Untappd reviews for this, it seems to jump from people giving it 1 cap reviews to four or five cap reviews, and not a whole lot of wiggle room on their reviews. Either a hate it or love it beer I suppose. Personally, I enjoyed it. Perhaps its not for everyone, perhaps its the very heavy bourbon notes, or the bitterness, I’m not sure, but we’ll get to all that.

As always, this looks, acts, and more importantly… again… looks… just like a duck —- err, I mean, a stout. Dark, black, velvety, creamy possibly looking, slight foam head. Black as the night.

Aroma is strong bourbon, light chocolate. You get a definite nose of bourbon right out the gate, and then you get some of the chocolate, some bready earthy tones, and a bit of a dark, rich, bitter smell that is probably the chocolate coming back through.

Taste is where its going to jump on people. Strong, very heavy strong, initial bourbon bite and very alcoholic taste right out of the gate. Like drinking a strong Weyerbacher barrel aged stout, this jumps right in at you and grabs you. Some might say its too strong, or too bourbon, or too alcohol, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think it tapers off pretty steadily after that initial sip (perhaps its just me getting used to it, not sure), but it leads off into the bittering of the chocolate, like baker’s chocolate, and this might be off putting to some people too. This isn’t a creamy Hershey’s like chocolate, this is more of the baker’s chocolate, bitter, but with that still characteristic chocolate taste. The bourbon flavor I think blends nicely with that bitterness, but that could possibly be ‘too much’ for some people. It does clock in at 10% and you certainly taste and can feel it, so it does have a strong, over powering feel and effect as well. Certainly more of a sipper than a guzzle or quick drink. And at a full glass that would be the best approach, especially with its 10%.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.51 (as of 8.25.20)

My flight and food at Iron Hill Brewery in Hershey, PA.

Welp, that was my delicious flight and food. Got the car back, and just a mere 515$. The upcoming days should be interesting, on Thursday (8.27.20) will be my 35th birthday (officially old / half my lifetime / mid-life crisis / one foot in the grave / gaining speed down the hill) and me and my buddy will be heading out to West Reading / Wyomissing / Reading area to hit a few breweries. So look for that in a future post. You can read about it a bit here: “Visiting Reading.“

Saturday I will be attending The Englewood’s beer release, they are finally having their own beers on tap, and will be checking that out. So be on the look out for a review of their beers (most likely in a multiple beer review like this). I was out there before on the day they opened, which you can read here: “A Taste of Englewood“.

You can read a past beer review of Scrooge IPA by Iron Hill if you are still in the mood to read about Iron Hill Brewery and their beers in Hershey PA.

As always, lots of good stuff coming here to the blog, so be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and do all that fun stuff so you can read all about whats going on!

Cheers and see ya all at some point soon!

-B. Kline

]]> 4252 Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/07/05/brewery-touring-york-and-hanover-pa/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brewery-touring-york-and-hanover-pa Sun, 05 Jul 2020 19:00:49 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=3748

So, this was meant to get written a few days ago, but everything kinda turned upside down on its head when Wednesday I got the call that I was going back to work, and officially Friday (July 3rd) was my first day back. I was also switched to swing shift, and our days went from being 8 Hour days to 10 Hour Days. So this post is a bit late in getting up and I apologize for that.

Also, this will be somewhat similar in some of my other travelogue and brewery hopping posts. So if you like reading about me and checking out breweries, I think you will dig this. This will probably not get posted until July 5th, but I’ve started it now on July 4th. I wanted to get it written before going back to work – yesterday – July 3rd, but it just didn’t happen. Friday didn’t quite go as planned, and I didn’t get nearly as much done as I wanted before having to get to work by 5PM for a meeting, and then starting my 10 hour actual work day. Today – July 4th – I start at 6PM, but I’m only going to be writing for about an hour before celebrating 4th of July with my daughters. I got home last night (technically I suppose this morning), ate a little bit, fell asleep, and woke back up at 8AM and then at 10AM, and got a little work done at home and now started on the blog, but hopefully it will – fingers crossed – it will then get finished tomorrow in my time between waking up and going back to work. (I feel like this will become a regular cycle on my new schedule…. work…. sleep…. write…. work…. sleep….) (Its looking like I’m lined up for six to eight days straight at 10HR days…. so, we’ll see how I survive all this.)

Ok, lets get right into this. This travelogue is pretty straight forward. Ming messaged me about any plans upcoming, and I told him I was going down to York for The York Emporium’s book sale. Ming offered to come on with, since he had some errands and chores to do in the York and Hanover areas, thus it was decided, we’d make a whole day trip and excursion out of it. Why not right? It was furlough and we had no plans, so why not? Grab some cheap books, some drinks, hit a state park, have a bit of adventure… why not?

Luckily it didn’t pan out like my trip with my daughters to Monocacy. So it wasn’t one of “those adventures” (sorry to disappoint). This was going to be a pretty straight forward trip. I drive to meet Ming at his place in Mount Joy, we drive down to York, stop at the York Emporium for the book sale, hit a brewery in York, Ming drops some stuff off for a friend in the York area, we go to Hanover to the state park there, hit a few breweries, then head back to Mount Joy and then I would drive home after calling it a day. Straight forward, simple, easy peasy.

The York Emporium

Friday, June 26th, 2020, I drove up from Hummelstown to Mount Joy to meet Ming and the two of us headed down to York. First, of course, Ming had to show me the impressive assortment of animals on his property – quails, chickens, turtles, dogs, kittens, quail eggs…. and possibly a dragon, not sure. He gathered the stuff he needed to drop off (mum clippings that he potted and grew) and off we were to York Pennsylvania.

A quick drive down and we got to The York Emporium roughly around 2PM. I’ve been to The York Emporium once or twice before, I believe both prior times were when the store was doing their book sale – just like this time. This year, unfortunately due to the COVID-19, many libraries have announced they aren’t doing their book sales (the Hershey Public Library, one of the biggest in the area has announced their not, I believe Hummelstown’s – which is in October – is still yet undecided), so it was nice to get to a book sale of some sort.

Row after row, shelf after shelf of books at the York Emporium

We meandered through the halls and rows and shelves of books. Browsing this section, that section, etc. Philosophy, Civil War, sociology, US Presidents, science fiction, history, the classics, etc. All told, I ended up walking out with a fairly sizeable amount of books – 16 books for myself, and 1 for Ming – for only 52$. Can’t beat deals like that, when hardcover books released typically are 25.99-34.99$ nowadays. After getting back in the car, we jumped a few short blocks over and found us at brewery number one for the day….

Mudhook Brewing Company

We didn’t stay here long, Ming was worried about his parking meter and it running out, but we did enjoy the nice sun, sat out for a pint. I got a pint (in a plastic throwaway cup) of Cherry Lane Strong Ale. It’s a Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9% ABV, 22 IBU, and its Untappd description reads: “Dark Belgian strong ale brewed with tart cherries, dark Belgian candy sugar and trappist style yeast.”

Cherry Lane Strong Ale at Mudhook Brewing Co.

It was tasty, and was a nice strong beer to start the day. I gave it **** on Untappd. It has a global average rating (as of 7.5.20) of 3.59.

Getting back to his car with just two minutes to spare on the meter, we then headed out for his first errand, which was to drop off some of the mum clippings at a friend’s house. I didn’t know this, but Ming explained to me if you cut a decent size branch (or piece) of a mum, diagonally of course, and root it in water and soil for a bit, it will grow to become a full mum in due time. It is amazing how some plants can do that, I know of some, like roses that can do that as well.

After dropping off the flowers, we were on our way to Hanover Pennsylvania, and back to back breweries. The first of which was….

Miscreation Brewing, Hanover Pennsylvania

Miscreation Brewing Company. Lovely little brewery on a busy square in the town. Me and Ming sat out for a pint, and were going to get food, but their kitchen wasn’t going to open until 5PM and we were there at 3:30PM. So I ordered a pint of Mediocre Security Blanket.

Mediocre Security Blanket – a lager by Miscreation Brewing Company

Mediocre Security Blanket is an Amber Lager by Miscreation Brewing Company, its 5% ABV and has 30IBU. Their Untappd description is simple and to the point: “Amber Lager brewed with Simcoe hops.” I gave it ***.50 on Untappd. As of 7.5.20 it has a global average rating of 3.89.

Before we left, I grabbed a four pack to go (for Cadorus State Park). For 15$, they even let me make it a mixed four pack, so I grabbed 2 stouts, a pale ale, and a pumpkin beer (they only had three options of canned beers). 15$ for a 4 pack is a great deal, especially when you can mix-match it (that comes out to 3.75$ per beer). Many craft breweries tend to be 16-24$ for a 4 pack, so while not as cheap as getting a case of something like Natty Ice for 8-12$, its cheap for the standards. And I much rather spend 15$ for a 4 pack from Miscreation than 10$ for a case of Natty Ice…. any day of the week. That’s for damn sure.

After Miscreation Brewing, we walked around the block and came to…

Something Wicked Brewing Company

Something Wicked Brewing Company. Another lovely spot in Hanover Pennsylvania. This time we went inside (they had no outdoor seating as far as I could tell). And here Ming was able to get some food too. The entrance we took led us through a winding, twisting, route into the main tap room and dining area. The hallways we walked through had paintings from various movie franchises. Most notably (to me at least) being the twin girls from The Shining.

Paintings in the hallways leading into Something Wicked Brewing Company

For beers at Something Wicked I got two pints while there, Ming as usual, just got water, but for food he ordered tacos which he said were delicious. Claimed they weren’t quite as good as his, but next best thing. So….. take that for what its worth…

The beers I had there were White Wookie and Incessant Debauchery – Curuba.

White Wookie by Something Wicked Brewing Company

White Wookie is a white IPA, it is 8.1% ABV and has 109 IBUs. The Untappd description reads: “A Belgian style white IPA double dry hopped with Galaxy hops. Rich hop bouquet with bubble gum hop finish”. I rated it ***.75 on Untappd, and currently (as of 7.5.20) it has a global average rating of 3.62.

Incessant Debauchery – Curuba by Something Wicked Brewing Company, Hanover Pennsylvania

Incessant Debauchery – Curuba is a 5.3% ABV fruited sour by Something Wicked Brewing Company. It has 24 IBUs and its Untappd description reads: “The latest in our rotating fruited sour series. It features the puckering flavor of the Curuba (Banana Shaped Passion fruit from Latin America) with a touch of vanilla. This bold passion fruit is our sourest offering yet!” My Untappd rating for it was: ****. As of 7.5.20 on Untappd it has a global average rating of 4.05.

Before leaving I grabbed a crowler of Butt Monkey, which I later enjoyed, sharing it with D. Scott during one of our gaming sessions for his Knights of Nostalgia page. (You can click the link provided there to check it out. We somewhat regularly stream us playing old school NES, SNES, etc, video games. He streams regularly, and I am a guest on his ‘show’. Similar to the podcast him and Esteban [Estey] have that I also somewhat regularly appear on – So a Mexican and a Scott Walk Into a Bar….). I might do a full beer review of this in the future, to be determined (I have so many beers I want to write up reviews for.)

But, a quick summary of it – Butt Monkey is a 5.1% ABV American Pale Ale, it has 26 IBU, and the Untappd description for it reads: “This session Pale Ale is dedicated to all of the Butt Monkeys out there that like to send cease and desist letters to the small guys. Enjoy this crushable beer as you think about those whom you wish ceased and desisted.” I gave it ***.75, the global average rating (as of 7.5.20) is 3.58.

Codorus State Park, Pennsylvania

Now with the food eaten – which makes Ming a happy Ming; and beers were drank – which makes me a happy Ben; we were on our way to Codorus State Park in Hanover Pennsylvania. Technically, according to the Wikipedia page on Codorus State Park its located in Heidelberg, Manheim, Penn, and West Manheim Townships in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. As the Wikipedia states: “Codorus State Park is a 3,500-acre (1,400 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Heidelberg, Manheim, Penn, and West Manheim Townships in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park was created around Lake Marburg, an artificial lake covering 1,275 acres (516 ha), and is named for Codorus Creek, which forms the lake. Codorus State Park is located on Pennsylvania Route 216, 3 miles (4.8 km) from the borough of Hanover.”

Kayaks at Codorus State Park

Either way, Ming and myself came to kayak, and so that is exactly what we did. Normally we hike trails and do all that kind of stuff, but this time instead of taking a hike like we did for Ricketts Glenn we went kayaking. I’m not much of a water guy; drinking it, swimming in it, boating in it, kayaking in it, etc – just not my cup of tea (or cup of water if you will…… pa-dum-dissss…..) but here we were, and so we were going to do it. I brought along my four-pack from Miscreation Brewing to enjoy while kayaking.

Kayaking with Ming at Codorus State Park

It was a beautiful view, and we had a great time. I learned how to kayak properly without just going in circles like we were on The Simpsons or the Three Stooges. Got to watch the sunset a bit which was gorgeous, and I got to drink a few beers. Plus got a bit of a workout in as well, so can’t complain about that I suppose.

The map of our kayaking adventure at Codorus State Park

The two beers I had while kayaking were – MBC IPA and Smashed PumpKing Porter.

MBC IPA by Miscreation Brewing

MBC IPA is an American IPA (relatively a session IPA in this case) thats 5% ABV and 72 IBUs. The Untappd description reads: “West Coast style IPA. Brewed with Chinook and Cascade hops.” I gave it ***.75, and its global average rating (as of 7.5.20) is 3.87.

Smashed PumpKing Porter by Miscreation Brewing

I think the face of the pumpkin on the can is how Ming looked quite a few times during our kayaking travels. (Needless to say, I was not the best person to do a tandem kayak with.) Anyway…. the porter is a 6.5% ABV and 30 IBU Pumpkin / Yam Beer porter. Its Untappd description reads: “Seasonal Porter brewed with Pumpkin and Pumpkin spices.” I gave it ***.75 on Untappd, and the global average rating for it is 3.53 as of 7.5.20.

After finishing the kayaking we got back in the car and headed back up through York to make a stop and then to get back to Ming’s house in Mount Joy where I originally met him at. Once on the road, I attempted to get a last shot of the sunset.

My attempt at taking a picture of the sunset.

Its not the best piece of photography, and its not the best picture… but it was too gorgeous of a sunset not to at least attempt getting a picture of it. Plus I was a few beers in by this point, and taking the picture through the car. Either way, let it be known – there was a beautiful sunset that evening. And that I attempted to document it for all of you – my faithful readers.

Coming back up through York we made the last stop for Ming, and I decided (while he was running the mums up to the house) to take a gander at the old Untappd map and see if there were any breweries in the direct vicinity… and lo and behold, just up ahead on the highway was one. So, needless to say, we stopped at Stony Run Brew House. Stony Run was nice, the inside looked beautiful, almost like an Italian Villa style restaurant, reminded me of the old Italian Villa Rosa that used to be on Route 22 in Grantville (where the new Sheetz is at the corner of 743 and 22).

We went in to hit the bathroom and get a table outside. Ordered some nacho chips. I believe we tried to order fries or quesadilla or something else but they were out, so we ended up with the nacho chips. I ordered a flight. I think the only other place that offered a flight (of the breweries we visited on June 26th – Mudhook Brewing, Miscreation Brewing, Something Wicked Brewing, and Stony Run Brewing) was Mudhook Brewing. So two out of four, not bad. But, I didn’t get a flight at Mudhook due to time. Typically when trying out new breweries I like to get flights so I can sample more of their beers and try as much as I can, and then decide what to buy to take home, but given the current environment with COVID-19 and everything, its understandable that many places aren’t doing flights.

My flight from Stony Run Brew House

They had a few guest taps, one of which was a delicious sour from Weyerbacher. So my flight was three beers from Stony Run Brewing and one from Weyerbacher. My flight was: first from Stony Run Brewing – Blackstrap English Porter, Irish Eyes, Capt. Jack Block – Hell, and from Weyerbacher – the Rico Guave. All were very good.

My flight from Stony Run Brewing

A quick rundown of the flight:

  • Bootstrap English Porter – 5.5% ABV, 31 IBU. “The key ingredient to this moderate strength brown beer is the addition of blackstrap molasses, contributing to its roasty character and bitterness. This Porter goes down smooth and easy.” My rating: ***.75 / global rating (7.5.20): 3.8
  • Irish Eyes – an Irish Red Ale, thats 4.2% ABV and 22 IBU (no description). My rating: ***.25, global rating: 3.75.
  • Capt. Jack Block – Hell – is a strong Lager thats 6.7% ABV and 20 IBU. Untappd Description: “Strong German Lager, lightly hop and malty.” My rating is ***.75, not enough ratings yet to give it a global rating.
  • Rico Guave (Weyerbacher) – Rico Guave is a 9% ABV fruited sour with 25 IBU. The Untappd description reads: “Rico Guave is a 9% sour ale brewed with pineapple and guava. Rich with the tropical notes of pineapple and fruitiness of guava, this pink hued brew is clean and refreshing with a touch of tartness.” My rating was ****, global rating was 3.69 as of 7.5.20.

While at Stony Run it began to drizzle on us a bit, and we could hear lightening and thunder in the distance. After finishing up we headed back to Mount Joy. Where once there, we went over and visited a friend of his who is turning his barn into a bar / rec area for himself and friends and is going to be setting up pinball machines and other kinds of games. I also got to play with a Pug puppy, so just that right there made my day.

Finally it was time to call it a day (well now night) at 2-3AM after Don came home from work. He had started back up at the casino before the rest of us. I myself now started back up at work on the 3rd, while Ming still hasn’t gotten his return call yet. But soon, shortly, he will.

And that was our trip around York and Hanover Pennsylvania. We visited Mudhook Brewing, Miscreation Brewing, Something Wicked Brewing, and Stony Run Brewing. I hope you all enjoyed this brewery touring. Before I got the call back to work me and Ming made a plan to visit the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and Wellsboro PA and visit a few breweries in that neck of the woods (probably New Trail Brewing while up there too). But with me going back to work, that is currently on hold. But rest assured, you will read about it on here when we go.

Ok everyone, cheers, and stay safe, especially as places are reopening. Don’t get lax, still wash, cover your face, and take care of each other. Cheers!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

Kayaking at Codorus State Park

Codorus Links:

Breweries Link:

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