Rubber Soul - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:30:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Rubber Soul - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 Rubber Soul Brewing to Open New Taproom Saturday https://thebeerthrillers.com/2024/06/21/rubber-soul-brewing-to-open-new-taproom-saturday/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rubber-soul-brewing-to-open-new-taproom-saturday Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:18:30 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15185

Rubber Soul Taproom Exterior (photo courtesy of Rubber Soul Brewing)

Rubber Soul Brewing to Open New Taproom Saturday

This Saturday – June 22nd, 2024, Rubber Soul Brewing is set to open their brand new taproom on North Hanover Street, in Hummelstown PA.

After quite a while building the brand new building (and not without some town controversy) the opening is right around the corner. The new taproom will also host their brewery in the lower level (visible from the giant parking lot). Their original location will now just be a full restaurant and taproom. (See: A Sneak Peek at Rubber Soul Brewery.)

Original Location

Rubber Soul Brewing was originally intending to open their first location in Hummelstown around March of 2020, but with the pandemic, things got pushed back, and they finally held their grand opening in October of 2020. Their current location is in the old Hummelstown Police and Borough Building, located at 136 S Hanover St, Hummelstown, PA 17036.

The current plan for the original location is that they have removed the brewing production from the location to their new brewery facility and taproom, and extending the seating and restaurant.

New Location

Rubber Soul Brewing’s New Taproom Interior (photo courtesy of Rubber Soul Brewing)

The new location is located at 17 N Hanover St, Hummelstown, PA 17036, just 0.3 miles north of their current taproom (on the same street). The new facility took over an old warehouse that formerly sat on the property, as well as Maritza’s House of Style, which they had removed for extra parking. The new taproom has their brewing facility on the lower level, and the upper level features a deck and patio area that faces the 7-11 across the street and some abandoned buildings / businesses.

Hummelstown is currently in the midst of a big tourism push, including the mayor, the governor, and other officials and board members (some of which are involved with Rubber Soul Brewing). At a town meeting where they got permission to bulldoze the Maritza House of Style (despite having full ownership technically as per law at the time), Rubber Soul Brewing stated that their parking lot would be usable by the public for events in town including the parades, carnivals, as well as parking for other Main Street square activities (2nd Friday’s, Memorial Day, etc.)

Another interior shot of the new Rubber Soul Brewing taproom (photo courtesy of Rubber Soul Brewing)

Opening on Saturday – June 22nd, 2024

Rubber Soul Brewing’s Promotional Piece for their Grand Opening

The grand opening for the new taproom and facility will be on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024.

🎉 Get ready to tap into the excitement with us at Rubber S𝗢ul’s brand new Tap Room opening weekend! 🎉 We are so excited to share our newest space with the community – Stay tuned for our upcoming summer hours 🍻💥
🍺𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱✨:
𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆: 𝟰-𝟭𝟬𝗽𝗺
𝗪𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀
𝗠𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗴𝘇
𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆: 𝟯-𝟵𝗽𝗺
𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗶𝗻’ 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘆𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗕𝗕𝗤
📍𝟮𝟭 𝗡 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻, 𝗣𝗮 𝟭𝟳𝟬𝟯𝟲
Come check out the new space & grab a brew with us in celebration this weekend!🎉🍺
A quick map from their current location to their new location: From Rubber Soul Brewery to Rubber Soul Brewing Company’s New Taproom. Their current location is still not listed on Google Maps. The old warehouse which was removed was listed as 17 North Hanover Street. As per their Facebook post their brewery’s address will be “21 North Hanover Street”.
Rubber Soul Brewing Company was originally a brewery located in Salisbury Maryland. They were bought and are now owned by Ghost Brewing LLC. They were bought whole-stock, meaning the equipment, recipes, and social media passcodes and usage were all part of their purchase.

Other Rubber Soul Articles

More Information on Rubber Soul

The following comes via Untappd.

They are listed as a brew pub from Hummelstown, PA. They have 123 unique beers and over 51,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.77 (as of 6.21.24). Their Untappd description reads: “We are pumping the air back into the tires of Rubber Soul Brewing Company. New location, new owners, new (and familiar) beer…same old sOul! In this world of instant gratification, superficial “likes” and followers instead of friends, we think it’s more important than ever to find your sOul. See, more and more often, people are so focused on doing what’s ‘right’ by someone else’s standards, obsessed with how other view them that they forget who they are. They give and give and give, follow all of the rules and do all of the ‘right’ things, until one day they wake up and realize their empty. Spend 5 minutes on social media and you will see countless bright pictures of smiling faces, but how many of us are genuinely satisfied? We’re talking deep, within your sOul, fire blazing, satisfied. At Rubber Soul, our mission is to refuel each and every sOul that walks through our doors. Our craft beer and local vibe is the end result of people who decided to just go for it and follow their passion, regardless of the opinion of others. We look forward to welcoming you to our brewery. No judgements. No impossible standards. #NoFilter. All that we require is that you do a little sOul searching.

You can find them on these social media platforms:

Brewery News

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

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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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.

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Rubber Soul Brewing Supporting and Hosting World Down Syndrome Day https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/03/21/rubber-soul-brewing-supporting-and-hosting-world-down-syndrome-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rubber-soul-brewing-supporting-and-hosting-world-down-syndrome-day Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:32:26 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=9002
World Down Syndrome Day at Rubber Soul Brewing Company in Hummelstown, PA

World Down Syndrome Day

March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day, and Rubber Soul Brewing Company in Hummelstown is supporting and celebrating the cause. World Down Syndrome Day was started by the World Down Syndrome Day Organization which you can find more information about here: World Down Syndrome Day Organization (Home Page).

From their page:

‘What is Down Syndrome?’

Down syndrome (or Trisomy 21) is a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement that has always been a part of the human condition, being universally present across racial, gender or socioeconomic lines in approximately 1 in 800 live births, although there is considerable variation worldwide. Down syndrome usually causes varying degrees of intellectual and physical disability and associated medical issues. Learn more at DSi.

World Down Syndrome Day – What is Down Syndrome?

‘What is World Down Syndrome Day?’

World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) , 21 March, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome.

World Down Syndrome Day – What is World Down Syndrome Day?

Rubber Soul Brewing Company Supporting World Down Syndrome Day

Rubber Soul Brewing Company Hosts World Down Syndrome Day on 3.21.22 at their Hummelstown PA Brewery

Rubber Soul Brewing Company is hosting World Down Syndrome Day at their brewery in Hummelstown Pennsylvania, all day Monday 3.21.22. From 11AM to 9PM. They have a whole host of things going on for the day, which you can see here (from their Event page):

Join us on Monday, March 21st to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day for the first annual 3.21 FOR LIFE event! 3.21 FOR LIFE is a non-profit organization that was created by a group of individuals in the Hershey/Hummelstown area who have personal connections to individuals with Down syndrome. To help raise awareness and funds, we have brewed DOWN the Hatch IPA and 50% of the proceeds will be donated to 3.21 For Life! You will be able to purchase this beer on March 21st on draft and in 4 packs to-go! Throughout the day we will have games, raffles, and live bands performing. The PA Dairyman’s Milkshake Truck will also be stopping by from 12-4PM! Mark your calendar and we hope to see you there to celebrate all those with down syndrome CAN do!
Live Band Schedule:
11-11:50AM: The Riders
12-12:50PM: Thomas Emond (Tommy B)
1-1:50PM: Joe Cooney & Friends
2-2:50PM: Amber Nadine
3-3:50PM: Mr. Music
4-4:50PM: Dave Gates
5-5:50PM: Jake Mach
6-7:00PM: Hold Fast

For more information, please visit www.321forlife.com

Rubber Soul Brewing Hosts World Down Syndrome Day

You can view their event page here: Rubber Soul Brewing Hosts World Down Syndrome Day (Event Page).

On 3.14.22 Rubber Soul posted on their Facebook page:

Down the Hatch by Rubber Soul Brewing Company

1 WEEK UNTIL WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY AND OUR INAUGURAL 3.21 FOR LIFE EVENT! can you tell we are really excited?! because we are REALLY excited. the second batch of pre-order for our DOWN the Hatch IPA is being picked up tonight and it’s our final team meeting to iron out day-of details like our raffle items, games, live bands and more! plan to join us next Monday from 11AM-9PM to help us celebrate all of the amazing individuals with Down syndrome and their DOWN right awesome abilities!

Rubber Soul Brewing Company – Facebook

Down the Hatch

Down the Hatch is a New England style hazy IPA that will be released today on 3.21.22 and is named in honor of the World Down Syndrome Day and in support of Down Syndrome. The beer is fully called – 3.21 Down the Hatch.

You will be able to get it in 4 packs and on draft all day on 3.21, and if any makes it past the day (I am not expecting it to last too long after 3.21). This looks like another high quality New England style IPA from Rubber Soul, which has made some fantastic IPAs in the past with Nimbus, Dropout, their Frosted series, and others.

Rubber Soul Brewing Company

Rubber Soul Brewing Company is located in Hummelstown Pennsylvania along South Hanover Street in what was formerly the police station in town. They have been there just over a year, having originally started in Salsbury Maryland.

For more information on the brewery, you can check out our articles on them:

They were a finalist (made it to the final triple threat face off) in our last year’s Battle of the Breweries. This year, they are currently in Round 3 going up against Crooked Run Fermentation. You can vote for them here:

You can find out more information on Rubber Soul here:

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone! Hopefully I’ll get to see some of you there tonight. I will be going after work to meet my mom there for dinner and beer. So I probably won’t be getting there til 7PM’ish. My mom helps teach students with disabilities and learning support issues for Lower Dauphin (the school district of Hummelstown and other nearby townships) and is looking forward to getting to support the organization.

Hopefully you all will be able to come out and support and donate as well! See you there!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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

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

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

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Beer Review: Out of Order: Tatooine Tart (RAR Brewing) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/01/05/beer-review-out-of-order-tatooine-tart-rar-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-out-of-order-tatooine-tart-rar-brewing Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:52:14 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=8527
Out of Order: Tatooine Tart (by RAR Brewing) – Part of their Star Wars Out of Order Series.

Out of Order – Star Wars Series

While, this might not be as popular as RAR Brewing’s Out of Order Blue Milk, this was still a very good beer. That has become one of the most popular beer reviews I’ve done here on the blog. They initially released it as a solo beer release, and then included it again in their Star Wars series of Out of Order beers. (Don’t worry, I’ll be doing all of the Star Wars series as reviews here.)

The others in the RAR Out of Order Star Wars drop include: Blue Milk, Tatooine Tart (both mentioned here), Green Milk, Droid Juice, Yub Yub, RarwgWawggr, and Dark Side. The drop was a big deal and event at RAR Brewing back over the summer when they did it. I made sure to get my hands on the full drop (had a proxy there to get me the beers). Glad to be now getting to drink through the series.

The Book of Boba Fett

I’ll cover this more later, but as I did with last week, I’ll be releasing a weekly Star Wars themed beer review every Wednesday to coincide with the release of a new episode of ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. Last week I traveled to New Jersey to go to Bolero Snort Brewery to pick up a crowler of BoBull Fett just to review for the premier. You can read the review here: Beer Review: BoBull Fett (Bolery Snort Brewery).

I’ve already watched episode two this morning (just finished it actually), and so will give my thoughts on it at the end of the beer review. In the meantime, you can check out this interesting YouTube video by the Templin Institute:

Make sure you come back to the blog (of course!) after watching it.

Now… onto the beer review!

Beer Review

Out of Order: Tatooine Tart by RAR Brewing

Beer: Out of Order: Tatooine Tart
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our lactose sour base conditioned on Passionfruit, Limes, Simple Syrup, and a splash of our House Pastry Cream.

RAR Brewing is a brewery out of Cambridge Maryland, which I got to visit late last year. (Check out my travelogues through Maryland to read all about it.) It is a very hipster vibing place, very cool, sleek, and I absolutely loved it. There’s a Fett on the wall that looks spray painted (made to look that way), and several other nerdy nods. The laboratory add on is really neat and a great taproom sitting area. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery, with 630 unique beers and 403 thousand ratings. They have a global average rating of exactly 4 bottle caps as of 1.5.22. Their Untappd description reads: Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.

Cracking this one has a wonderfully sweet aroma, a nectar like sweetness to it. It smells sweet, like a juicy syrupy sweetness, almost perfume like in a way. Sniffing close hand in the glass I get hints of the passionfruit and the limes like the description says, with kind of a soft vanilla to it.

Appearance is very mellow juicy overlook to it. It looks like a more darker, moodier version of pineapple juice. Like a darker, not quite cloudy, but heavier looking fruit juice – some kind of organic juice (maybe like a pineapple or passionfruit looking dark juice). It definitely gives off ‘sweet’ vibes from the look of it.

This is a very sweet, juicy beer. There’s a slight tartness to it, but its so remote that I feel like its barely perceptible and its probably more a case of a ‘mileage may vary’ type of thing. It is a syrupy juicy. Borderlining too sweet, but not out of the realm of being completely too sweet (and definitely not near ‘undrinkably too sweet’). I get strong notes of passionfruit, a citrusy lime or zest, a syrupy juice, and a creamy, vanilla, undercurrent to it. It has a bit of a bite at the end, with just a hint of tart at the beginning, and mostly a very juicy middle, with each sip. It kind of rolls with your tongue on a sweet and then hits you with a bit of a sucker punch of sour / tart / pucker. I can see this possibly being ‘too sweet’ from some, especially those who might be hoping for or expecting some sour or puckering tartness, which they might feel is underwhelmed with this, but I think that sample size will be smaller. I think the Out of Order series is a bit of a niche market, and not true or genuine of beer consumption or drinkers overall. Its a bit of following the hype machine to some extent, but not 100%. There is definitely some leaning on the market and branding and cache of the namesake and series (ie. going from a Sandlot Out of Order series to a Star Wars Out of Order series to a Halloween Villains Out of Order series to a Christmas Movie Out of Order series, etc). There is some good flavors to this, and in comparison to the Out of Order Blue Milk, this is far more of a normal beer, but still pretty far from ‘normal beer’ if that makes any sense. You get some distinct flavors here, but they also tend to blur and blend together and make for a melting pot of flavors as well. Out of the two Out of Order beers so far, I want to say I like the Blue Milk one more, maybe more for novelty’s sake, but also more for distinctiveness too. This blends a bit too much with other similar beers to be somewhat completely distinguishable other than being able to say ‘it was tasty’ and ‘a good beer of its style’. Which it is all of that. There is nothing wrong with this beer, nothing is made off flavored, and no bad aftertaste, and nothing is wrong in its production or craft either. So in those aspects its what you want out of it. I certainly enjoyed this and it made for a great sipper while watching the second episode of The Book of Boba Fett.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.16 (as of 1.5.22)

Posting This Article

So… I woke up today at 4AM to be able to watch the episode and do this article. I wanted to write up most of it the night before, but went to Tattered Flag, had a few, and got home super late, and a bit too tired to write. So I woke up early to tackle it. Got to watching the new episode as I started working on this, and couldn’t finish in time before heading to work. I clocked out of work at 6PM, and was hoping to go home and get to finish this before 8PM and upload it… but my mom asked me to meet her at Rubber Soul, since my dad had a meeting. So who was I to say no to my mom? So, I met my mom at Rubber Soul, had dinner, and a few drinks, and then walked home (won’t lie… it was a bit chilly for a walk home tonight), and only at 8:45PM when I got home, did I get to start to finish this. (Well, I got home at 8:45… but then I had to clean up after my dog, who decided she would “go” in the kitchen while I was gone…. *shakes his fist at Leela*…).

But anyway, here I am getting to finish this up. Been a long day, and nearing 10PM, but its getting done. Hopefully next week’s article will be done before I go to work so I can upload it early.

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode Two

So, if you don’t want to read any spoilers for Episode 2 (and Episode 1 if you haven’t watched that), skip down a few sections. Because here I am going to give my thoughts on Episode Two – and by extension my thoughts on the show so far. I had actually written this all up this morning after watching the episode, and which is primarily why I didn’t get this article done until now. So, without further adieu, here’s my thoughts.

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode Two – The Tribes of Tatooine

Boba Fett

Is your typical “train the village” episode (in the flashbacks). The idea of “a little of the present” with a lot of the past (via dream/flashback) to show how he went from “Fett” to “New Fett” is an interesting storytelling model for Star Wars – albeit cliche in regular storytelling. I’m not so sure it works here with Star Wars/Fett/this story though. Mainly because their doing it with a character that people didn’t really want to see change. I might be speaking for too general a base here, but I feel like, most Star Wars fans wanted to see Fett be Fett. The old Legends Fett while not perfect, at least was still a Bounty Hunter, was what we saw on screen… didn’t take a complete 180 and went in a different direction of his character.

They even end it with a peyote / spiritual quest style ending.

I enjoyed the episode for what it was… and what they were going for. But… I dunno, I just don’t ‘want’ it. I guess is the best explanation for what I can give to this. We’ve seen a “train the villagers” episode in Mandalorian, we’ve seen it (a few times I think) in the Clone Wars show, we’ve seen it done on Rebels…. and… so this makes it roughly the 4th or so time its been done in Star Wars. The Ewoks/Rebels were kind of a shortened version of it too, to some degree. Its a trope, and a Star Wars/Western trope, thats becoming quite overused I think.

And I get that its integral to Boba Fett’s character, and his transformation from Bounty Hunter to Survived Man, to Respectful leader….

…but again, for lack of better explanation…. its just something I don’t want, and thats why I don’t like or care for it/about it.

When I think of Fett’s character, I don’t want to think of “Most Feared Bounty Hunter” “nearly dies stupidly” “resurrects himself as the Outsider coming in, and revamping the Natives and becoming Respectful Leader” type…..

Maybe that’s me? Maybe others will enjoy this ride. I hope they do, and I’m certainly going to finish out the show (there’s 5 more episodes). But so far, its not my cup of tea.

I also don’t feel like the writers/creators quite get logistics of things. Like how a planet with two suns and all desert, would be, ecologically, at night, at full day, etc. The things Fett survives through in Episode 1 is pretty…. uhh, lets just call them miraculous, and the way they depict people traversing the ground no problems, or walking through sandstorms, or just being outside in the desert at night (which would become absolutely freezing, especially on a twin sun planet that shows no moon and both suns are set)….. all of this just really makes me feel like they are going 100% for storytelling over logistics, rationality, etc.

Getting to the present day stuff…. I did ‘mark out’ / ‘geek out’, etc, over the Hutts appearing, and thought that was pretty cool. I wanted a lot more of the present day stuff in this episode (whereas last week, I thought the present day was a lot more weaker). Fett still comes off as comically naieve though in his interactions with EVERYONE. From the Hutts, to the Twi’lek bar owner, to the Mayor, to the Ninja himself, etc. The opening scene in Jabba’s Palace was also predictable and borderline ‘fan fiction’ level writing. “We want to show the Ninjas as being crazy, but … we still need him to give up the information…. so here we go”.

I am also seeing zero reason why Fett isn’t killed. Why isn’t the Mayor killing him? Or the Hutts? Or anybody else? Hes dispensable. Its not like he’s some kind of irreplaceable piece, or cog in a wheel. He has no real powerbase. All they show him to have is Fennec Shand, and two Gamorrean Guards, and 8D8 (the droid). So what retaliation happens from killing him? None it would seem. The Mayor could pinpoint kill the Ninja, why not have done that to Shand and the guards and attacked Fett? Why not have done all this in the street?

Which then begs the question, what was even the purpose of the street ambush last week? If it wasn’t just to further the plot along? We need Fett to come into contact with the Mayor in an adversarial way, here it is, and we need the Mayor to be the smaller fish to the bigger fish (ie. the Hutts). So lets do that. Fett gets ambushed, captures guy, guy gives intel, Fett goes to Mayor, Mayor gives intel on the bigger fish. Problem solved.

But none of that really makes sense. Especially given how easily Fett could be removed if they really wanted to. And they’ve shown us no reason why they SHOULDN’T do it.

Same as the past thing. The logistics of the train and everything makes no sense. So… they are bringing in Kessel Spice to Tatooine via the Syndicate. The Syndicate lands somewhere in Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, Anchorhead, wherever. And are train hovering it to somewhere else… most likely Jabba’s Palace for Bib Fortuna whose attempting to run Jabba’s old empire.

Why? Why do it in such a circuitousness way? And why provoke Natives just out there? For the * and giggles of it? Which also brings up the Biker Gang bit. So Fett attacks a Biker Gang that just happens to be in the area being all “Biker Gang from the 80s Cop Shows” and attacking local citizens, and Fett waltzes in, kills them/injures them, and steals their bikes, just to bring down this train.

If the train could be taken down this easily…. why was the Syndicate using it this way? There had to be a better way for them to do what they did.

I really did want to enjoy this episode, and what they are trying for this show, and I’ve loved Fett’s character in the past (…which might be the bigger problem here). But…. how they are doing it, and the logistics and rationality of what they are trying to do…. seems almost Sequel Trilogy level of poor planning, or skimming the surface level of storytelling.

As if they said to themselves:

  • We want to make a show about X (in this case – Criminal Underworld in Star Wars)
  • We want to use a main character people are riveted about
  • We want to use Boba Fett because we have been off/on planning on using him since we bought the property
  • We need to set it in a way that all people will be familiar with it (ie. set it on Tatooine, set it with Jabba’s Palace, use Boba Fett)
  • Lets combine all the above into one thing – so we’ll take the character (Fett) and making him a Godfather esque criminal lord (not quite a 1 for 1 apt analogy though), and do it based on his surviving the Sarlaac and doing it on Tatooine

Boom, thats what we got here. It feels surface level storytelling. Like their just not thinking everything out. Why wouldn’t character X do this? Why would Character Y do that? Why don’t they just do -this-? Why aren’t they just doing -that-? Etc.

I feel like I’m kicking it too hard here, because it looks like a lot of people love it, and enjoying it. And I do find it somewhat bare bones enjoyable. But I feel like there’s just no depth, and no real understanding to the material underneath it. As much as we want it to be. As much as we say “their doing so much Star Wars world building”… it feels like their not REALLY doing that. Their doing ‘member berries’ type world building for our own head enjoyments. “Remember Max Rebo… here he is…. again in a new cantina!” That one person’s long winded post on the TFN Jedi council forums about world building and stuff… all feels superficial here, even moreso. “Omg, they kept the same architectural structures of Tatooine buildings”…… well yea…. of course they would. Why wouldn’t they? Thats not so much as paying attention to detail, as just being smart. I don’t buy that as huge world building. Having Max Rebo there is not world building either — he was afterall on the giant barge that just FREAKING BLEW UP — but it all feels surface level storytelling stuff. Like what they did with the sequel trilogy. And I think thats where my annoyance level is here.

At the end of this, we might look back and go “this is similar to the ST” where it started off decently well, and they did some things like “remember that one guy…” but at the end of it, the pieces just don’t line up. That was part of my issue with Episode 1 of this… it felt not like a fluid, congruent thing, it felt like little veneer cracks, and things just didn’t align up, like pieces didn’t fully form together or fit. Like a puzzle where you purposefully manipulate the pieces to fit together rather than how their supposed to.

Ehh….. I’ll stop rambling here.

Whew…. that was long winded, and probably longer than the actual beer review, and completely altered and changed this entire article, hahaha. (I think I was under compliance for the grammar, SEO, and other algorithm things, until I posted that whole block in here).

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section, would love to hear what everyone else thinks of the show so far. Am I over analyzing it? Am I being too critical? Am I not being a fanboy enough? Let me know what you think!

Some Discussion Forums

For some more discussion on The Book of Boba Fett, you can read these discussion forums:

More Star Wars Fun

Well, just had a delivery van drop off my Lego.com order. On January 1st, they dropped several new Star Wars sets, (amongst lots of other new sets), and several were Hoth themed sets. So I picked up the Hoth AT-ST (Blizzard Scout 1) and the Hoth Battle Pack. Super excited to put these together in the near future!

For More Reading

If you are interested in our other nerdy, pop culture, and branded beer reviews, you can check out the following:

Star Wars:

Rick and Morty:

Space Balls:

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Scrooged:

A Christmas Story:

Pro Wrestling:

Matrix:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thanks for Reading

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!

If you like Star Wars and like our Star Wars themed beers, be sure to check out every Wednesday while The Book of Boba Fett is airing, as I will do a new Star Wars themed beer each week!

Thanks for reading, and cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

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

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

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Rubber Soul’s One Year Anniversary Bash https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/09/06/rubber-souls-one-year-anniversary-bash/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rubber-souls-one-year-anniversary-bash Mon, 06 Sep 2021 22:55:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7937
Rubber Soul is Celebrating Its First Year Anniversary in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania

It’s Time to Celebrate

It’s certainly been a very interesting first year for the (new) Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. Opening amidst a pandemic, and not only just opening – but surviving and thriving in this difficult new environment for restaurants (including a shutdown around Christmas time), this past – and their first – year has certainly had its set of challenges. Its up and downs. Thats for sure.

So its time to celebrate! On October 3rd, at their Hummelstown Brewery – Rubber Soul Brewing Company is throwing their 1st Year Anniversary Bash!

Year One Anniversary Bash

On October 3rd, 2021, from 11AM to 9PM, Rubber Soul is celebrating, and their celebrating big. With live music, new beers on tap, and a loaded brewery. The brewery is located at: 136 S Hanover St, Hummelstown, PA 17036-2207, United States. The event lasts from 11AM to 9PM with the first music act kicking off at 1:30PM, and the beers going on tap at 11AM.

The following is their Facebook Event page listing:

Event by Rubber Soul Brewing136 S Hanover St, Hummelstown, PA 17036-2207, United StatesPublic  · Anyone on or off FacebookJoin us as we celebrate YEAR 1 with live music, good beer and good food from 11:00AM-9:00PM! Live music:
1:30-3:00PM – The Faves (https://www.facebook.com/thefavesacousticpa)
3:30-5:00PM – Dave McCullough (https://www.mcculloughmusic.net/)
5:30-7:00PM – Pair of Aces (https://www.facebook.com/AcesDuo)Beer:
We will be releasing three new brews just for the party! Year 1 – India Pale Ale – 7.4%, Anniversary IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Idaho #7. Citrusy, tropical and smooth. Hummelsfest Lager – Festbier – 6.1%
Notes of fresh baked bread and dry earthy undertones pave the way for a toasty clean crisp finish. Perfect for a cool Fall day. House Pumpkin Porter – Spiced Porter – 5.8%
Roasty, bold and smooth with just the right amount of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices. Like taking your first bite of pumpkin pie.Call us at 717-220-1741 or email us at drinkingbuds@rubbersoulbrewing.com to make a reservation! For more information, visit www.rubbersoulbrewing.com/events

One Year Anniversary Bash – Rubber Soul Event Page

Live Music, New Beers, and a Stein

The above pictures show you the music line – up for the ‘anniversary shindig’. You have ‘The Faves’ kicking things off at 1:30PM, and then Dave McCullough taking over at 3:30PM, and finally ‘Pair of Aces’ takes “the stage” at 5:30PM.

They are also releasing three beers for the celebration. They are:

  • Hummelfest – this is a Festbier that released when they first opened and was only available for a little bit of time a year ago. “Notes of fresh baked bread and dry earthy undertones pave the way for a toasty clean crisp finish. Perfect for a cool Fall day.” 6.1%
  • Year 1 IPA – “Anniversary IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Idaho #7. Citrusy, tropical and smooth.” 7.4%
  • House Pumpkin Porter – “Roasty, bold and smooth with just the right amount of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices. Like taking your first bite of pumpkin pie.” 5.8%

To go along with the great (and free) music, as well as three new beers on tap, they are releasing a commemorative stein you can purchase at the brewery that gives you a free fill.

The One Year Anniversary Bash commemorative stein

Rubber Soul Brewery will be selling these pretty steins for 20$ on October 3rd. If you purchase it at the brewery you get your first fill for free. (For more information and details you can check out their events page. Link provided below.) You can also order it online through their website.

Celebration

Can’t wait for the event! Its been a long, winding, arduous, fun, hard, and tough year, for not just Rubber Soul, and Hummelstown, but for everyone. It’s time to enjoy the fall weather, enjoy some great live music, wonderful food, fantastic beers, and great company.

Hopefully we’ll get to see you all there!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Links

The Beer Thriller’s ‘Rubber Soul Articles’:

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.

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

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7937
The Battle of the Breweries (2021) Winner Is…. https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/04/05/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-winner-is/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-winner-is Mon, 05 Apr 2021 12:47:54 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7483
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)

It is finally time to announce the winner of the Battle of the Breweries (2021), and what a tournament it was! Obviously, like everything else we do here on The Beer Thrillers, it couldn’t be a normal tournament. Instead of doing regular March Madness style brackets of 32 or 64 (or even smaller ones of 16 or 8), we did 48. So right off the bat, things are going to get odd – ball crazy. With the finals being a Triple Threat that saw Isle of Que Brewing vs. Rubber Soul Brewing Company vs. Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company, in one epic showdown final!

So without further adieu…..

Your 2021 Battle of the Breweries Champion is….

Isle of Que Brewing

The Que Brew Crew themselves, the new, and possibly undisputed (we haven’t had any disputes yet) champion of The Beer Thriller’s arbitrary Battle of the Breweries (2021), and your people’s champion – The Isle of Que Brewing, straight out of Selinsgrove Pennsylvania.

A huge and massive shout out to them, as they racked up 3,744 votes in the final round to defeat Rubber Soul Brewing Company and Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company. What an impressive final battle this was too!

The Triple Threat Cage Match

For anyone following along, voting, and checking the results, this was an extremely heated battle. Depending on what time you looked at the results on Saturday and Sunday you could have seen Rubber Soul up by two hundred, or you might have see the Que Brew up by fifty, or as they pulled ahead at the very end on Sunday, the Que Brew jumped to a nearly four hundred vote difference. The battle was extremely heated and intense between Que Brewing and Rubber Soul. Somewhere in this scuffle, Troegs Brewing was left far far and far behind, not sure how that happened, as they consistently got the most votes each round, but sadly, for the finals they only got a total of 90 votes; which in and of itself is a giant shocker.

This was a very fun finals match-up with lots of interesting Facebook and Instagram posts from both Que Brewing and Rubber Soul. Que Brew had a unique and interesting Facebook post each day hyping up the tournament and getting their votes, make sure you head over to their Facebook page to see some of their fun and interesting posts.

The final results and tallies for the Triple Threat Championship is as follows:

  • The Isle of Que Brewing (third seed) won with 3,744 votes.
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (second seed) came in second place with 3,353 votes.
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (one seed) came in third place with 90 votes.

For a combined total of 7,187 votes.

This was the most votes of any round, and this time with only one question, versus the other rounds which all had more than one question to vote on.

Despite Troegs Brewing poor finals vote count, they were the big dogs going into the match-up against relatively unknown underdog Isle of Que Brewing and the new (opened during the pandemic, version 2.0, rebranding, and moved from Salisbury Maryland to Hummelstown Pennsylvania) Rubber Soul Brewing Company. All three breweries (competitors) did extremely well and deserve their place here in the finals.

The Battle of the Breweries (2021) Results

This was an extremely fun tournament to run and I hope all the breweries, fans of the page, fans of the breweries, and anyone reading the articles had just as much fun with it as we did here at The Beer Thrillers. Yesterday (Sunday, April 4th, 2021, Easter) broke our single day page view on the blog with a whopping 12K+ views. And for that alone, we can’t say thank you enough to everyone who took the time out of their busy lives to visit the blog and vote. Hopefully you all got to look at some of the other articles and liked what you saw here on the blog.

But let’s get to the results, how did we get here?

I already covered the full tournament (minus the finals of course) results in the previous article, where you got to vote, so you can check the results of the tournaments here: “The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – The Triple Threat Finals Match“.

But, let’s look at the road each of our finals competitors took to get to the finals match, and then lets also look at statistics of the tournament as a total.

Isle of Que Brewing Company is The Champion

The Isle of Que Brewing Company (or Que Brew Crew) was the definition of a Cinderella and was akin to a 16 seed in the NCAA March Madness tournament winning. What an incredible road they had to get to their finals victory!

In the first round they defeated Jackie O’s Brewery – as the 11th seed defeating the 2nd seed – 146 votes to 31 votes.

(After each round of voting, the tournament was reseeded, so it wasn’t a strict bracket like March Madness or others.)

In the second round they defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company – as the 11th seed defeating the 2nd seed – 193 votes to 141 votes.

In the third round they defeated Fourscore Beer Company – as the 12th seed defeating the 1st seed – 149 votes to 115 votes.

In the fourth round they defeated Rotunda Brewing Company – as the 6th seed defeating the 1st seed – 212 votes to 79 votes.

In the finals, they were the 3rd seed vs. Rubber Soul (2nd seed) and Troegs Brewing (1st) seed, and won with 3,744 votes.

Total votes for the tournament for Isle of Que Brewing was: 4,444. Quite the impressive number!

Rubber Soul Brewing Company – Second Place

Rubber Soul Brewing Company had a fantastic run and came in second place in the tournament. They had some stiff competition along the way to their second place finals finish as well.

In the first round they defeated Breaker Brewing – as the 10th seed defeating the 3rd seed – 65 votes to 57 votes.

In the second round they defeated Moo-Duck Brewing – as the 9th seed defeating the 4th seed – 168 votes to 116 votes.

In the third round they defeated Dewey Beer Company – as the 11th seed defeating the 2nd seed – 182 votes to 65 votes.

In the fourth round they defeated Ever Grain Brewing – as the 5th seed defeating the 2nd seed – 154 votes to 106 votes.

And in the finals (as the 2nd seed) they lost to Isle of Que Brewing. They had 3,353 votes in the final.

Rubber Soul Brewing Company’s total vote count was: 4,102.

Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company grabs the bronze

Troegs Brewing is definitely one of the juggernauts of Pennsylvania Brewing, and were a very heavy favorite for this tournament as well (which also saw breweries from New York, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Indiana). Despite their poor showing in the finals, they still had a very impressive tournament run.

In the first round they defeated Saucony Creek Brewing Company – as the 4th seed defeating the 9th seed – 48 votes to 9 votes.

In the second round they defeated Swiftwater Brewing Company – as the 5th seed defeating the 8th seed – 126 votes to 32 votes.

In the third round they defeated Urban Artifact – as the 8th seed defeating the 5th seed – 145 votes to 96 votes.

In the fourth round they defeated Boneshire Brew Works – as the 4th seed defeating the 3rd seed – 143 votes to 117 votes.

In the finals they came up short with third place and only 90 votes.

Troegs Craft Independent Brewing’s total vote count was: 552 votes.

Tournament Statistics

The total vote count for our three finalists were 9,098 votes. The total vote count for the entire tournament was 16,640 votes. (Out of 46 questions, which means the average vote to question was 361.7391304).

(Copy and pasted results from the previous article: The Triple Threat Match).

Now let’s take a look at the round per round results…

Round One Results

Voting statistics:

  • Total votes for round one: 3422
  • Total votes for Triple H Division: 388
  • Total votes for Ric Flair Division: 305
  • Total votes for HEELs conference: 693
  • Total “upsets” (any higher seed defeating a lower seed) in HEELs conference: 2
  • Total votes for Stone Cold Steve Austin Division: 870
  • Total votes for The Rock Division: 823
  • Total votes for FACEs conference: 1693
  • Total “upsets” (any higher seed defeating a lower seed) in FACEs conference: 7

Upsets:

HEELs Conference:

  • Gearhouse Brewing Company (9) defeating Levity Brewing (4)
  • Desperate Times Brewing Company (10) defeating Yellow Bridge Brewing (3)
  • Chatty Monks Brewing (7) defeating Cox Brewing Company (6)

FACEs Conference:

  • Three Heads Brewing (11) defeating Idiom Brewing (2)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (10) defeating Breaker Brewing (3)
  • Tattered Flag (9) defeating ShuBrew Brewing Company (4)
  • Rough Edges Brewing (8) defeating Wolfs Ridge Brewing Company (5)
  • The Church Brew Works (12) defeating Cushwa Brewing (1)
  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11) defeating Jackie O’s Brewery (2)
  • Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8) defeating Mellow Mink Brewing (5)

Results of Round One

HEELs Conference: Triple H Division:

  • Fourscore Brewing Company (1 seed) (52 votes) defeated Black Forest Brewing (12 seed) (15 votes)
  • Urban Artifact (2 seed) (41 votes) defeated The Ministry of Brewing (11 seed) (23 votes)
  • Mad Chef Brewing (3 seed) (39 votes) defeated ZeroDay Brewing Company (10 seed) (25 votes)
  • GearHouse Brewing Company (9 seed) (39 votes) defeated Levity Brewing (4 seed) (33 votes)
  • Swiftwater Brewing Company (5 seed) (43 votes) defeated Highway Manor (8 seed) (18 votes)
  • Sun King Brewery (6 seed) (33 votes) defeated Braxton Brewing Company (7 seed) (27 votes)

HEELs Conference: Ric Flair Division:

  • Dewey Beer Company (1 seed) (35 votes) defeated Couch Brewery (12 seed) (16 votes)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (2 seed) (37 votes) defeated Snitz Creek Brewing Company (11 seed) (14 votes)
  • Desperate Times Brewing (10 seed) (30 votes) defeated Yellow Bridge Brewing (3 seed) (19 votes)
  • Troegs Craft Independent Brewing Company (4 seed) (48 votes) defeated Saucony Creek Brewing Company (9 seed) (9 votes)
  • Twisted Bine Brewing Company (5 seed) (30 votes) defeated Land-Grant Brewing Company (8 seed) (17 votes)
  • Chatty Monks Brewing (7 seed) (30 votes) defeated Cox Brewing Company (6 seed) (20 votes)

FACEs Conference: Stone Cold Steve Austin Division:

  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (1 seed) (85 votes) defeated Mt. Gretna Craft Brewery (12 seed) (49 votes)
  • Three Heads Brewing (11 seed) (65 votes) defeated Idiom Brewing (2 seed) (59 votes)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (10 seed) (65 votes) defeated Breaker Brewing (3 seed) (57 votes)
  • Tattered Flag (9 seed) (102 votes) defeated ShuBrew Brewing (4 seed) (34 votes)
  • Rough Edges Brewing (8 seed) (177 votes) defeated Wolf’s Ridge Brewing (5 seed) (40 votes)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (6 seed) (70 votes) defeated Liquid Noise Brewing Company (7 seed) (67 votes)

FACEs Conference: The Rock Division:

  • The Church Brew Works (12 seed) (82 votes) defeated Cushwa Brewing (1 seed) (43 votes)
  • The Isle of Que Brewing Company (11 seed) (146 votes) defeated Jackie O’s Brewery (2 seed) (31 votes)
  • Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (3 seed) (106 votes) defeated Taft’s Brewing Company (Taft’s Ale House) (10 seed) (29 votes)
  • Funk Brewing Company (4 seed) (95 votes) defeated Olde Bedford Brewing Company (9 seed) (34 votes)
  • Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8 seed) (79 votes) defeated Mellow Mink Brewing (5 seed) (51 votes)
  • Moo-Duck Brewing Company (6 seed) (81 votes) defeated Logyard Brewing Company (7 seed) (46 votes)

For more information about the Round One Results you can read the article for Round Two and the Round One results here. The Battle of the Breweries (2021) moves on to the conference round.

Round Two Statistics

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 2659
  • Total votes in the HEELs Conference: 872
  • Total Votes in the FACEs Conference: 1787
  • There was no upsets in the HEELs conference.
  • There was three upsets in the FACEs conference.

Upsets:

  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2) by 52 votes.
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4) by 52 votes.
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6) by 46 votes.

Round Two Results

HEELs Conference:

  • Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (71 votes) defeated GearHouse Brewing Company (12 seed) (61 votes).
  • Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (70 votes) defeated Desperate Times Brewing Company (11 seed) (67 votes).
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (96 votes) defeated Chatty Monks Brewing (10 seed) (51 votes).
  • Urban Artifact (4 seed) (79 votes) defeated Sun King Brewery (9 seed) (48 votes).
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (5 seed) (126 votes) defeated Swiftwater Brewing Company (8 seed) (32 votes).
  • Mad Chef Brewing Company (6 seed) (117 votes) defeated Twisted Bine Brewing Company (7 seed) (54 votes).

FACEs Conference:

  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (1 seed) (170 votes) defeated The Church Brew Works (12 seed) (119 votes).
  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11 seed) (193 votes) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2 seed) (141 votes).
  • Funk Brewing Company (3 seed) (178 votes) defeated Three Heads Brewing (10 seed) (103 votes).
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9 seed) (168 votes) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4 seed) (116 votes).
  • Boneshire Brew Works (5 seed) (155 votes) defeated Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8 seed) (134 votes).
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7 seed) (178 votes) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6 seed) (132 votes).

To read more about Round Three and the Round Two Results, you can click here to see the Round Two Results and Round Three voting page.

Round Three Statistics

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 1,447 (six questions)
  • There was four upsets (out of six match-ups)

Upsets:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1) – 149 to 115
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2) – 182 to 65
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (8) defeated Urban Artifact (5) – 145 to 96
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6) – 118 to 115

Results of Round Three

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12 seed) (149 votes) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (115 votes)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) (182 votes) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (65 votes)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (127 votes) defeated Mad Chef Brewing Company (10 seed) (101 votes)
  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (4 seed) (129 votes) defeated Tattered Flag Brewery (9 seed) (108 votes)
  • Troegs Brewing Company (8 seed) (145 votes) defeated Urban Artifact (5 seed) (96 votes)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7 seed) (118 votes) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6 seed) (115 votes)

To read more about the results of round three, and the voting for round four, you can click here to read about it – this was the last round before the championship (round five) (current round).

Round Four Statistics and Results

In a shocking twist, all three match-ups from Round Three were won by the underdogs. (I re-ranked the seeds after each round.) The number six seed Isle of Que Brewing has kept their Cinderella tournament streak alive and pulled a major upset over Rotunda Brewing Company. Rubber Soul Brewing Company (fifth seed) posted a big upset over Ever Grain Brewing Company, and despite being the big dog in Pennsylvania, but ranked lower (due to ranking being based on Untappd average score) Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (fourth seed) pulled up an upset over Boneshire Brew Works.

Results:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (sixth seed) (212 votes) defeated Rotunda Brewing Company (one seed) (79 votes).
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (fifth seed) (154 votes) defeated Ever Grain Brewing Company (second seed) (106 votes).
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (fourth seed) (143 votes) defeated Boneshire Brew Works (third seed) (117 votes).

There was a total of 811 votes for round four.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

I cannot underestimate how awesome this was, and how appreciative I am of everyone who came to the site and blog and voted. Who visited our social media pages (our Facebook, our Twitter, and our Instagram). This was such a tremendous and huge turnout, I am already thinking of March Madness 2022! Which will definitely be an even bigger Battle of the Breweries! I’m thinking of keeping it the same theme – only breweries I’ve visited, and maybe including ones that Josh has also visited, and ones that some of our writers have as well. And putting no limits on it. So by March 2022, this could be a list of two hundred or more breweries competing! Could do it state by state leading to when the states are down to their final one or two and then moving on into a bigger tournament. Not sure yet, if you have any ideas or suggestions, be sure to leave them in the comments or leave us some feedback through our contact page.

If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, or anything you’d like to say about how the tournament was ran, made, or done, or anything at all really, you can always leave a comment here on each blog post, or you can contact us specifically using the CONTACT US page. This directly e-mails your comment to use (as well as leaving one in a specific folder only viewable to us, on the site).

I want to give a huge shout out to Isle of Que Brewing and Michael Salter who was promoting the tournament nearly daily on their media pages. Big kudos for them for winning the tournament. Hopefully we can do something with them in the future to celebrate!

Also a big shout out to Rubber Soul Brewing Company for such an impressive run in the tournament. Coming so close to winning it, with the tremendous year they had in opening, and the pandemic, and everything going on.

And of course a shout out to Troegs Brewing as well for reaching the finals. This was definitely a very interesting tournament, and was great to see one of the “OGs” – original pioneers – of Pennsylvania’s brewing scene make it to the finals.

Thank you everyone who visited, voted, and shared. We appreciate it so much. And again, big time congratulations to our champions of the inaugural Battle of the Breweries (2021) – The Isle of Que Brewing Company. We can’t wait for March 2022 and see if they are able to repeat as champions!

Cheers everyone, please stay safe, and make sure to use Uber when driving, now that bars and everyone is open more fully, and don’t have to sell food, make sure you are taking care of your liver, and more importantly, taking care of yourself and others on the road.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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

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The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – The Finals – Triple Threat Match https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/29/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-the-finals-triple-threat-match/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-the-finals-triple-threat-match Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:45:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7467
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)

Its Time to Find Out The Winner

This is it everyone, this is the finals, the championship, the triple threat main event of The Battle of the Breweries (2021). The culmination of a month’s ‘hard work’ of voting by you and everyone you’ve shared these posts with.

Who will take home the crown, the championship, the title bout (not a physical one mind you), of the most arbitrary beer blog Battle of the Breweries in possibly writing history?

Will it be The Isle of Que Brewing Company?

Or will it be Rubber Soul Brewing Company?

Or Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company?

This is certainly an interesting and diverse match-up for the finals. But how did we get here?

The Results, Working Our Way Back Through the Tournament

Let’s take a look back over the tournament and see how we got here to the finals. Firstly, we started with an odd choice of breweries – 48 breweries to be exact. How did we select these 48 breweries? They had to be a brewery that I physically had been to their location. The selection of breweries comes from the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. I used a random dice generator (a D4 for the fellow nerds out there) to put them into brackets, and once in the brackets they were seeded based on Untappd global average ratings.

Since March – April is WrestleMania season, I decided to give the tournament a bit of a “Wrestling” bent to it. With the two conferences being called FACEs and HEELs. With the divisions (two per conference) being named after Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and Ric Flair.

Now let’s take a look at the round per round results…

Round One Results

Voting statistics:

  • Total votes for round one: 3422
  • Total votes for Triple H Division: 388
  • Total votes for Ric Flair Division: 305
  • Total votes for HEELs conference: 693
  • Total “upsets” (any higher seed defeating a lower seed) in HEELs conference: 2
  • Total votes for Stone Cold Steve Austin Division: 870
  • Total votes for The Rock Division: 823
  • Total votes for FACEs conference: 1693
  • Total “upsets” (any higher seed defeating a lower seed) in FACEs conference: 7

Upsets:

HEELs Conference:

  • Gearhouse Brewing Company (9) defeating Levity Brewing (4)
  • Desperate Times Brewing Company (10) defeating Yellow Bridge Brewing (3)
  • Chatty Monks Brewing (7) defeating Cox Brewing Company (6)

FACEs Conference:

  • Three Heads Brewing (11) defeating Idiom Brewing (2)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (10) defeating Breaker Brewing (3)
  • Tattered Flag (9) defeating ShuBrew Brewing Company (4)
  • Rough Edges Brewing (8) defeating Wolfs Ridge Brewing Company (5)
  • The Church Brew Works (12) defeating Cushwa Brewing (1)
  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11) defeating Jackie O’s Brewery (2)
  • Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8) defeating Mellow Mink Brewing (5)

Results of Round One

HEELs Conference: Triple H Division:

  • Fourscore Brewing Company (1 seed) (52 votes) defeated Black Forest Brewing (12 seed) (15 votes)
  • Urban Artifact (2 seed) (41 votes) defeated The Ministry of Brewing (11 seed) (23 votes)
  • Mad Chef Brewing (3 seed) (39 votes) defeated ZeroDay Brewing Company (10 seed) (25 votes)
  • GearHouse Brewing Company (9 seed) (39 votes) defeated Levity Brewing (4 seed) (33 votes)
  • Swiftwater Brewing Company (5 seed) (43 votes) defeated Highway Manor (8 seed) (18 votes)
  • Sun King Brewery (6 seed) (33 votes) defeated Braxton Brewing Company (7 seed) (27 votes)

HEELs Conference: Ric Flair Division:

  • Dewey Beer Company (1 seed) (35 votes) defeated Couch Brewery (12 seed) (16 votes)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (2 seed) (37 votes) defeated Snitz Creek Brewing Company (11 seed) (14 votes)
  • Desperate Times Brewing (10 seed) (30 votes) defeated Yellow Bridge Brewing (3 seed) (19 votes)
  • Troegs Craft Independent Brewing Company (4 seed) (48 votes) defeated Saucony Creek Brewing Company (9 seed) (9 votes)
  • Twisted Bine Brewing Company (5 seed) (30 votes) defeated Land-Grant Brewing Company (8 seed) (17 votes)
  • Chatty Monks Brewing (7 seed) (30 votes) defeated Cox Brewing Company (6 seed) (20 votes)

FACEs Conference: Stone Cold Steve Austin Division:

  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (1 seed) (85 votes) defeated Mt. Gretna Craft Brewery (12 seed) (49 votes)
  • Three Heads Brewing (11 seed) (65 votes) defeated Idiom Brewing (2 seed) (59 votes)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (10 seed) (65 votes) defeated Breaker Brewing (3 seed) (57 votes)
  • Tattered Flag (9 seed) (102 votes) defeated ShuBrew Brewing (4 seed) (34 votes)
  • Rough Edges Brewing (8 seed) (177 votes) defeated Wolf’s Ridge Brewing (5 seed) (40 votes)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (6 seed) (70 votes) defeated Liquid Noise Brewing Company (7 seed) (67 votes)

FACEs Conference: The Rock Division:

  • The Church Brew Works (12 seed) (82 votes) defeated Cushwa Brewing (1 seed) (43 votes)
  • The Isle of Que Brewing Company (11 seed) (146 votes) defeated Jackie O’s Brewery (2 seed) (31 votes)
  • Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (3 seed) (106 votes) defeated Taft’s Brewing Company (Taft’s Ale House) (10 seed) (29 votes)
  • Funk Brewing Company (4 seed) (95 votes) defeated Olde Bedford Brewing Company (9 seed) (34 votes)
  • Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8 seed) (79 votes) defeated Mellow Mink Brewing (5 seed) (51 votes)
  • Moo-Duck Brewing Company (6 seed) (81 votes) defeated Logyard Brewing Company (7 seed) (46 votes)

For more information about the Round One Results you can read the article for Round Two and the Round One results here. The Battle of the Breweries (2021) moves on to the conference round.

Round Two Statistics

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 2659
  • Total votes in the HEELs Conference: 872
  • Total Votes in the FACEs Conference: 1787
  • There was no upsets in the HEELs conference.
  • There was three upsets in the FACEs conference.

Upsets:

  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2) by 52 votes.
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4) by 52 votes.
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6) by 46 votes.

Round Two Results

HEELs Conference:

  • Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (71 votes) defeated GearHouse Brewing Company (12 seed) (61 votes).
  • Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (70 votes) defeated Desperate Times Brewing Company (11 seed) (67 votes).
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (96 votes) defeated Chatty Monks Brewing (10 seed) (51 votes).
  • Urban Artifact (4 seed) (79 votes) defeated Sun King Brewery (9 seed) (48 votes).
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (5 seed) (126 votes) defeated Swiftwater Brewing Company (8 seed) (32 votes).
  • Mad Chef Brewing Company (6 seed) (117 votes) defeated Twisted Bine Brewing Company (7 seed) (54 votes).

FACEs Conference:

  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (1 seed) (170 votes) defeated The Church Brew Works (12 seed) (119 votes).
  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11 seed) (193 votes) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2 seed) (141 votes).
  • Funk Brewing Company (3 seed) (178 votes) defeated Three Heads Brewing (10 seed) (103 votes).
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9 seed) (168 votes) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4 seed) (116 votes).
  • Boneshire Brew Works (5 seed) (155 votes) defeated Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8 seed) (134 votes).
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7 seed) (178 votes) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6 seed) (132 votes).

To read more about Round Three and the Round Two Results, you can click here to see the Round Two Results and Round Three voting page.

Round Three Statistics

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 1,447 (six questions)
  • There was four upsets (out of six match-ups)

Upsets:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1) – 149 to 115
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2) – 182 to 65
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (8) defeated Urban Artifact (5) – 145 to 96
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6) – 118 to 115

Results of Round Three

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12 seed) (149 votes) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (115 votes)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) (182 votes) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (65 votes)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (127 votes) defeated Mad Chef Brewing Company (10 seed) (101 votes)
  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (4 seed) (129 votes) defeated Tattered Flag Brewery (9 seed) (108 votes)
  • Troegs Brewing Company (8 seed) (145 votes) defeated Urban Artifact (5 seed) (96 votes)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7 seed) (118 votes) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6 seed) (115 votes)

To read more about the results of round three, and the voting for round four, you can click here to read about it – this was the last round before the championship (round five) (current round).

Round Four Statistics and Results

In a shocking twist, all three match-ups from Round Three were won by the underdogs. (I re-ranked the seeds after each round.) The number six seed Isle of Que Brewing has kept their Cinderella tournament streak alive and pulled a major upset over Rotunda Brewing Company. Rubber Soul Brewing Company (fifth seed) posted a big upset over Ever Grain Brewing Company, and despite being the big dog in Pennsylvania, but ranked lower (due to ranking being based on Untappd average score) Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (fourth seed) pulled up an upset over Boneshire Brew Works.

Results:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (sixth seed) (212 votes) defeated Rotunda Brewing Company (one seed) (79 votes).
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (fifth seed) (154 votes) defeated Ever Grain Brewing Company (second seed) (106 votes).
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (fourth seed) (143 votes) defeated Boneshire Brew Works (third seed) (117 votes).

There was a total of 811 votes for round four.

So this now brings us…. to the final… to the main event…. to the triple threat match, for all the marbles, for the championship, for the fake title belt that doesn’t really exist (except inside our heads and hearts), the whole shebang, the whole enchelada…. the Triple Threat to Determine the Winner of The Battle of the Breweries (2021)……. (insert dramatic drum-roll).

The Triple Threat Main Event

The Triple Threat Main Event, is pitting the Cinderella Isle of Que Brewing, vs. newly opened – rebranded Rubber Soul Brewing Company vs. The Big Dog of Pennsylvania Craft Beer – Troegs Independent Craft Brewing. This should be a very interesting match-up. Three interesting contenders. One hailing from Selinsgrove Pennsylvania, one from Hummelstown Pennsylvania, and then a hop skip and a throw over the third hailing from Hershey Pennsylvania. In the coming days I will be posting an article detailing each brewery, and giving readers some kind of information on how main event participants.

Let the battle commence!

Triple Threat Main Event Voting

[perfect_survey id=”7464″]

Just as a reminder, voting will end on Sunday April 4th at 11:59PM – Midnight (EST). So make sure you get your votes in before then!

Sharing is Caring

To help your favorite breweries win, be sure to share this page as much as you would like. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Myspace, your own sites, your local newspaper…. whatever you like. Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts to stay up to date on the tournament and our other articles, which include brewery reviews, beer reviews, travelogues, hiking trips, brewery news, events, and much much more!

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

Thank you everyone for making this tournament such a rousing success. It has been a blast running it. Can’t wait to see who the winner will be and who will walk away as the Most Arbitrary Battle of the Brewery Champion in the History of Beer Blogging!

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The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – Round Four – The Sweet Six https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/22/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-four-the-sweet-six/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-four-the-sweet-six Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:30:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7443
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)

Round Three is done and over with, and now we are getting down to the nitty gritty. We’re down to the final six breweries / competitors in the most arbitrary March Madness tournament possibly in beer (and maybe even writing) history. Like the previous Round (Round Three) the first segment will be going over the results of the previous round, and then we’ll be getting into the actual voting. Make sure to like, share, and pass this page around so everyone can vote for your favorite brewery!

Round Three Statistics

The amount of votes and enthusiasm for this March Madness breweries bracket has been incredible, so let me once again say thank you to all the voters, fans, readers, and breweries posting and sharing.

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 1,447 (six questions)
  • There was four upsets (out of six match-ups)

Upsets:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1) – 149 to 115
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2) – 182 to 65
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (8) defeated Urban Artifact (5) – 145 to 96
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6) – 118 to 115

Results of Round Three:

  • Isle of Que Brewing (12 seed) (149 votes) defeated Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (115 votes)
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11) (182 votes) defeated Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (65 votes)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (127 votes) defeated Mad Chef Brewing Company (10 seed) (101 votes)
  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (4 seed) (129 votes) defeated Tattered Flag Brewery (9 seed) (108 votes)
  • Troegs Brewing Company (8 seed) (145 votes) defeated Urban Artifact (5 seed) (96 votes)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (7 seed) (118 votes) defeated Funk Brewing Company (6 seed) (115 votes)

Round Four Now Begins

And unleash the competitors into the final round of one on one competition! There is six breweries / competitors left, and they are facing off to see who goes on to the final match – a triple threat to decide who is the best brewery in this arbitrary and random tournament! So lets go! Its time to vote everyone! Voting will last until Sunday, March 28th, ending at 11:59 PM / Midnight.

Round Four Match-Ups

Round four sees some interesting match-ups. Will Isle of Que Brewing continue is Cinderella run? Which of the Harrisburg – Hershey – Hummelstown breweries will move on?

  • Rotunda Brewing Company (1) vs. Isle of Que Brewing (6)
  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (2) vs. Rubber Soul Brewing Company (5)
  • Boneshire Brew Works (3) vs. Troegs Brewing Company (4)

Who will advance on to the triple threat match?

Round Four Voting

[perfect_survey id=”7445″]

Past Articles and Results

For more information on The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – The Beer Thrillers version of March Madness; you can scroll through the previous articles and voting results.

Information Articles:

Voting Pages:

Share, Share, Share, Share

To help your favorite breweries win, be sure to share this page as much as you would like. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Myspace, your own sites, your local newspaper…. whatever you like. Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts to stay up to date on the tournament and our other articles, which include brewery reviews, beer reviews, travelogues, hiking trips, brewery news, events, and much much more!

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

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Looking for good local stouts or green beer this St. Patty’s Day? https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/17/looking-for-good-local-stouts-or-green-beer-this-st-pattys-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=looking-for-good-local-stouts-or-green-beer-this-st-pattys-day Wed, 17 Mar 2021 11:25:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7411
Liquid Noise’s “A Little Extra – Goin’ Green”

Ready to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day 2021? Since… well… we really didn’t get to last year? Suddenly got an extra 1,400$ in your bank account on St. Patrick’s Day morning and not knowing what to do with it? Why not help out those restaurants that have been hurt for this past year!

Its incredibly crazy to see how its been a year since COVID mitigation efforts started, since shut downs were instituted, and we were all locked inside our homes watching Tiger King on Netflix. Looking back at the memories of the blog and my own and seeing just how little we were all prepared for everything happening… how things unfolded, watching event after event get cancelled, shut down or lock down after shut down and lock down, protocols instituted, changes to restaurants, etc…. its so crazy and surreal and unbelievable to look back on. What a time to be alive?!

Reminds me of Frodo and Gandalf discussing “crazy times to be alive in”:

Frodo: I wish it need not have happened in my time.
Gandalf: So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

But here we are, a year out from all those shenanigans (ahh, what a great word to use on St. Patrick’s Day), and its time to celebrate. So what do you do? Let’s help out our local craft breweries instead of just jumping into the Guinness and Irish Car Bombs, let’s look at some of the great craft brewery offerings!

Stouts

There is no shortage of amazing stouts in the area; and by area, I am speaking of my area – which is the Central PA area. Think Hershey, Harrisburg, Middletown, Hummelstown, Annville, Palmyra, Mechanicsburg, etc.

There are plenty of great stouts and we can look at some of them right here. Let’s start with my home town of Hummelstown.

Rubber Soul’s 317 Stout
Rubber Soul just released a brand new coffee stout to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and its named 317 (…if you can figure out why they named it that, please let our intern know, he’s very confused about the name, because the area code is 717).

317 Stout by Rubber Soul Brewing Company

Click here to read our Beer Review: 317 Stout (Rubber Soul Brewing Company).

It is a lovely, roasty, toasty, coffee stout. Its a Stout – Irish Dry, and its only 4.9%. The Untappd listing for it is:

Beer: 317
Brewery: Rubber Soul Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 4.9%
IBU: None
Untapped Description: Roasty and smooth with a cold coffee finish from the Elementary cold brewed coffee.
Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 3.17.21)

This would make for a lovely chaser to some Jamison Whiskey, or possibly even could be a wonderful substitute for a Guinness in a Irish Car Bomb.

Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Let’s stroll over to Hershey now and see just how many different offerings Troegs has in the stout division. (Hint – there’s a few).

First up: JavaHead Stout:

JavaHead Stout by Troegs

Beer: Java Head
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 60
Untappd Description: JavaHead is like a day at Tröegs; it’s hard to tell where the coffee ends and the beer begins. This creamy oatmeal stout is infused with locally roasted, cold steeped coffee through our HopBack vessel, releasing subtle hints of cocoa, roasted nuts and dark mocha.
Untappd Global Average Rating: 3.7 (as of 3.17.21)

They also have two versions of their Chocolate Stout; regular and on Nitro. My preference is the Nitro (but I also tend to prefer Nitro most times in general, so take that for what it is). They are the same beer.

Troegs Chocolate Stout

Beer: Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: 41
Untappd Description: Our lush and layered Chocolate Stout showcases the best of an anthology of malts and grains: the soft, coffee-like bitterness of roasted barley, the rich caramel notes of Special B, the subtle sweetness of chocolate malt, and the silkiness of oats. Cocoa nibs add the depth of dark chocolate, and a touch of Madagascar vanilla puts a bow on this roasty winter warmer.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.79 (as of 3.17.21)

The Nitro version has a different description:
Six different malt varieties, cacao nibs, dark chocolate, lactose, oats, and vanilla combine to produce a decadent Chocolate Stout. Dispensing via nitrogen yields a lush, velvety texture and rich, smooth finish.
It also has a higher global rating – 3.94. (As of 3.17.21)

Grand Cacao by Troegs

This is their latest newcomer to their stout market, and it is possibly my favorite. You can see our review of it here: Beer Review: Grand Cacao (Troegs Craft Brewing).

Beer: Grand Cacao
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewing
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Welcome to Grand Cacao. This deliciously decadent stout is built on a foundation of rich chocolate malt, caramel malt and roasted barley. Cold-steeping on Peruvian cacao nibs and natural vanilla doubles down on the smooth symphony of chocolate, and a splash of milk sugar delivers a velvety sweet and creamy finish.
We taste: milk chocolate, roasty grain, hints of sweet cream.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.63 (as of 3.17.21)

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery
Lets bounce over to Tattered Flag in Middletown now, who have never had any shortness of wonderful stouts on their menu. Just looking at their Untappd menu they currently have at their brewery in Middletown:

  • Leprechaun Wraith
  • Peppermint Wraith
  • Coconut Stout
  • War Bonds Breakfast Stout
  • Black is Beautiful

And they have a guest tap of Our Town Brewery’s “Bar Room Hymnal”. Which, I was just at last Friday. You can check out my trip to the Lancaster Breweries in one of my latest travelogues here: “Hiking Turkey Hill Point and Visiting Lancaster’s Newest Breweries – Cartel Brewing, Our Town Brewery, and Big Dog Brewing”.

Let’s look at Leprechaun Wraith:

Leprechaun Wraith by Tattered Flag

Beer: Leprechaun Wraith
Brewery: Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 12%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our Pastry stout base aged in ex Irish whiskey casks for months before conditioning in stainless over marshmallow cream and vanilla. Its like an Irish Car Bomb in a bottle!
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.01 (as of 3.17.21)

Sounds perfect for tonight’s at-home festivities!

Boneshire Brew Works
Boneshire Brew Works has a wonderful stout of their own that they have for March each year, called Grattan Irish Stout. This is one that is definitely worth a pickup of a 4-pack every year, or at minimum a pint on draft.

Grattan Irish Stout by Boneshire Brew Works

Beer: Grattan Irish Stout
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: This stout is traditionally dry and super drinkable. Beware of the Leprechaun while drinking this one.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.9 (as of 3.17.21)

Be sure to read our review of it here: Beer Review: Grattan Irish Stout (Boneshire Brew Works).

Rotunda Brewing Company
We would be amiss if we didn’t mention Rotunda Brewing Company’s stout – aptly named: IRISH CAR BOMB. We got to have this before their Kegs and Eggs event last year; right before the shut down (just mere days before the shut down). You can read about the event here: Kegs and Eggs (2020) at the Batdorf – Rotunda Brewing Company.

And you can read our review of the beer here: Beer Review: Irish Car Bomb (Rotunda Brewing Company).

Irish Car Bomb by Rotunda Brewing Company

Beer: Irish Car Bomb
Brewery: Rotunda Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: On Nitro.
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.17 (as of 3.17.21)

Rotunda’s Brewery Pub in Hershey also has a few other stouts on hand if you want to give them a try:

  • Lady Morrigan Nitro Stout
  • Grasshopper Brownie Imperial Stout
  • Death by Decadence
  • Car Bomb: Imperial Stout (not the same as the one above)

Green Beer

Maybe you don’t want a stout, maybe you don’t like doing Irish Car Bombs and don’t feel like dropping Jamison and Bailey’s into a local craft brewery’s stout. Maybe you just want a good… old fashioned…. green beer?

Well, you are still in luck!

Staying with Rotunda, they released a green beer at their brew pub in Hershey called Green Goodness.

Green Goodness by Rotunda Brewing Company

Beer: Green Goodness
Brewery: Rotunda Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Fruited Gose
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Kettle sour with lactose and conditioned on 7 fruit and vegetable purees.
Untappd Global Average Rating: 4 (as of 3.17.21)

Liquid Noise
Now let’s head across the river to Marysville and see what they have to offer for St. Paddy’s Day. They’ve gotten quite a bit of buzz lately about their recently released green beer in celebration of St. Paddy’s Day. They were even featured on ABC27 News: Liquid Noise on Good Morning ABC27 News.

Liquid Noise’s St. Patrick’s Day beer: A Little Extra – Goin’ Green

Beer: A Little Extra – Goin’ Green
Brewery: Liquid Noise Brewing Company
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: Light in body, green in appearance. What else Do you expect on St. Pattys Day?
Global Untappd Rating: (No Average formed yet. Not enough check-ins yet.) (3.17.21)

So let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

Ok, now its time to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! And lets do it safely everyone. Still obey precautions and rules and laws. What is everyone planning on doing today? What are your big plans for the day? I’m thinking low-key for myself, as I have a lot of writing to do, and not sure on what all to do tonight. But I might be persuaded to go out and enjoy myself some St. Paddy’s beer. Where at? Maybe a nice dinner with bangers and mash? Or Shepherd’s Pie? Who knows! I have about 2% Irish in me, but on St. Patrick’s Day we’re all Irish for the day! So let me know in the comments what you are planning to do for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day!

As always, be safe, be careful, and use Uber or Lyft if going out and celebrating too excessively. Be sure to mind the precautions, and rules, we’re almost there. The light is at the end of the tunnel. April 4th we all will be back to a far more normal world (I cannot wait to drink at a bar again!). Until then everyone, cheers and slainte!

Slainte!

-B. Kline

Be sure to keep following the March Madness and our Battle of the Breweries (2021) Brackets. We are down to the remaining 12 breweries, so hop over and vote!

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

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The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – Round Three – The Terrific Twelve https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/15/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-three-the-terrific-twelve/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-three-the-terrific-twelve Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:15:16 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7402
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)

Round Two of The Battle of the Breweries (2021) is officially in the books. And we move on from having two conferences to being down to just the final twelve! The terrific twelve! After this round it will be six remaining breweries, and after that a triple threat to decide who is the most liked – or best – or voted on the most – or whatever term you want to pick – in this arbitrary list of breweries battle that we made here on The Beer Thrillers. Unlike previous rounds this post will be both results of Round Two and the voting page for Round Three. So if you want to just vote, scroll down to the Voting heading. If you want to see the statistics for Round Two keep reading.

Round Two Statistics

Once again thank you everyone who voted, shared, or commented on the previous two rounds. A great idea to help your brewery out is to share this page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Statistics:

  • Total Votes: 2659
  • Total votes in the HEELs Conference: 872
  • Total Votes in the FACEs Conference: 1787
  • There was no upsets in the HEELs conference.
  • There was three upsets in the FACEs conference.

Upsets:

  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2) by 52 votes.
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4) by 52 votes.
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6) by 46 votes.

Results of Round Two:

HEELs Conference:

  • Fourscore Beer Company (1 seed) (71 votes) defeated GearHouse Brewing Company (12 seed) (61 votes).
  • Dewey Beer Company (2 seed) (70 votes) defeated Desperate Times Brewing Company (11 seed) (67 votes).
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3 seed) (96 votes) defeated Chatty Monks Brewing (10 seed) (51 votes).
  • Urban Artifact (4 seed) (79 votes) defeated Sun King Brewery (9 seed) (48 votes).
  • Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (5 seed) (126 votes) defeated Swiftwater Brewing Company (8 seed) (32 votes).
  • Mad Chef Brewing Company (6 seed) (117 votes) defeated Twisted Bine Brewing Company (7 seed) (54 votes).

FACEs Conference:

  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (1 seed) (170 votes) defeated The Church Brew Works (12 seed) (119 votes).
  • The Isle of Que Brewing (11 seed) (193 votes) defeated Pizza Boy Brewing Company (Al’s of Hampden) (2 seed) (141 votes).
  • Funk Brewing Company (3 seed) (178 votes) defeated Three Heads Brewing (10 seed) (103 votes).
  • Rubber Soul Brewing Company (9 seed) (168 votes) defeated Moo-Duck Brewing (4 seed) (116 votes).
  • Boneshire Brew Works (5 seed) (155 votes) defeated Molly Pitcher Brewing Company (8 seed) (134 votes).
  • Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (7 seed) (178 votes) defeated Rough Edges Brewing (6 seed) (132 votes).

Round Three Now Begins

And the great cage fight dwindles in competitors and continues on into Round Three. Round Three sees us do away with the conferences and just have twelve terrific competitors left standing and tapping their beers. The surviving twelve breweries have been reseeded based on Untappd scores. Voting begins now and will continue until Sunday, March 21st at 11:59 PM – Midnight (EST).

Round Three Match-Ups:

Round Three sees some very interesting fights, especially with the few upsets we had last round and some close voting results. The match ups are as follows:

  • Fourscore Beer Company (1) vs. The Isle of Que Brewing (12)
  • Dewey Beer Company (2) vs. Rubber Soul Brewing Company (11)
  • Rotunda Brewing Company (3) vs. Mad Chef Brewing (10)
  • Ever Grain Brewing Company (4) vs. Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery (9)
  • Urban Artifact (5) vs. Troegs Independent Craft Brewing Company (8)
  • Funk Brewing Company (6) vs. Boneshire Brew Works (7)

VOTING

Click through the survey below to vote, and may the best (or at least your favorite) breweries win!

[perfect_survey id=”7395″]

Past Articles and Results

For more information on The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – The Beer Thrillers version of March Madness; you can scroll through the previous articles and voting results.

Information Articles:

Voting Pages:

Share, Share, Share, Share

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The Battle of the Breweries (2021) – Round Two – FACEs Conference https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/08/the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-two-faces-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-battle-of-the-breweries-2021-round-two-faces-conference Mon, 08 Mar 2021 13:55:44 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7373
The Battle of the Breweries (2021)

To view the results of Round One, and for background information on the tournament – The Battle of the Breweries (2021) (March Madness) click here: Round One Results and Round Two and Moving Forward – The Battle of the Breweries (2021) (The Beer Thriller’s March Madness).

This is the poll for the HEELs Conference – Round Two. You can vote once per day, and you can vote once per poll (there is a poll for each division in round one). Be sure to share and send to your friends and breweries to let everyone vote!

Voting runs until March 14th, 11:59PM (EST).

For past links, go here:

Round One Voting Polls:

Vote

[perfect_survey id=”7374″]

Any questions, concerns, or comments about the brackets, or tournament, or breweries in question, you can leave in the comment section or message us directly through our Contact Page.

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

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