Stout - Coffee - The Beer Thrillers

Troegs Brewing is Bringing Back a Fan Favorite – Java Head Stout

B. Kline — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 14:10:48 +0000

Java Head Stout by Troegs Brewing (original logo)

Troegs Brewing is Bringing Back a Fan Favorite – Java Head Stout

A fan favorite is coming back to Troegs Independent Brewing – Java Head Stout! Originally replaced by Grand Cacao back in 2020 as the stout on record at Troegs. One of the most frequent questions at the Troegs General Store has been “when is Java Head coming back” and its safe to say — soon!

No official date on the release or when it will be coming back exactly, but there is details to discuss as it is currently fermenting. First, it will most likely be back end of October / beginning of November, and it will be in 16 oz pounder cans rather than the previous bottles. (Like most beers at Troegs Brewery, they have shifted from being produced in bottles to that of cans.) It will also most likely be a temporary or a once and done release, and not become a seasonal or flagship release, and it will also most likely be a brewery exclusive or near brewery exclusive (perhaps a few local distributors like West Connection Beer Vault and Breski’s Beverages getting it as well).

Java Head Stout

From the original entry at Troegs Brewing’s website:

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 to release subtle hints of cocoa, roasted nuts and dark mocha.

Java Head Stout – Troegs Website

Its safe to assume that the beer will be nearly identical to the original brew, but might not be 100% the exact same recipe. However, the original was a 7.5% ABV and had 60 IBUs, and used Chocolate, Crystal, Oats, Pilsner, Roast malts and Cascade, Chinook, Cluster hops.

We will release more information when we have a date and when it will be coming out! So be sure to check back soon!

For More Information on Troegs Independent Craft Brewing

According to Untappd, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing is a regional brewery with 164 unique beers listed (despite their being over 500 Scratches). (A lot of vintage and variants get consolidated into single unique listings as well.) They have 2.4 Million ratings and a global average rating of 3.79 (as of 9.20.24). Their Untappd bio reads:

“Founded in Pennsylvania in 1997 by brothers John and Chris Trogner, Tröegs Independent Brewing is driven by a sense of adventure and curiosity. Our brewery has been built by family, friends and kindred spirits who share a love of great beer. Together, we all make Tröegs. You might know our Perpetual IPA, the best-selling IPA in Pennsylvania. Or the dark, malty and crisp Troegenator. You may have come across such iconic beers as Nugget Nectar or Mad Elf in your beer travels. Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to try one or two of the hundreds of experimental Scratch Series beers we’ve brewed over the years. Whether you’re already a member of our extended family or you’re just getting to know our brewery, there’s always something new to discover with Tröegs.“

You can find them at the following social media pages:

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Beer Review: Sunny Side Up – Bacon (Pizza Boy Brewing Co.)

BKline — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 03:35:00 +0000

Sunny Side Up – Bacon by Pizza Boy Brewing Co.

Sunny Side Up

Sunny Side Up has been a staple of Pizza Boy since…. well, since as long as I can remember; and therefore a staple of the Central PA (Harrisburg – Hershey) beer scene. It is a fantastic stout and showcases how Pizza Boy could always make a really good (albeit rarely made) stout.

Sunny Side Up is a regular / semi – regular beer from Pizza Boy that they make, and is often one of the ‘come home to get’ beers for many who moved away (similar to how Nugget Nectar, Mad Elf, and Nimble Giant from Troegs is).

I’ll post the Untappd description here, since the version I’m reviewing here (Sunny Side Up – Bacon) doesn’t have a description.

Sunny Side Up:

Sunny Side Up – Little Amps! Double Coffee Stout is our rich, smooth oatmeal imperial stout brimming with locally sourced coffee from Little Amps coffee roasters in Harrisburg, PA
Untappd: Sunny Side Up

As you can see from the link, as of 11.15.21, regular Sunny Side Up has a global average rating of 4.16.

Pizza Boy has released a ton of different variants over the year, from hazelnut, to chocolate, to one off firkins, to pumpkin, to all different kinds, and this is no different. Though the ABV for this bacon variant is a bit higher than most of them, and certainly higher than the original (original is a 9.6%; the Bacon wash variant is 11.9%).

Beer Review

Sunny Side Up – Bacon (by Pizza Boy Brewing Co)

Beer: Sunny Side Up – Bacon
Brewery: Pizza Boy Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 11.9%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Pizza Boy, also known as Al’s of Hampden, has been one of the staples and giants of the greater Harrisburg area brewery / beer scene. Along with Troegs Brewing and Appalachian Brewing Company, they were the ‘originals’ or ‘OGs’ (as the hip cool young kids say nowadays) of the Harrisburg beer scene. Their Untappd description is low-key and simple:

“A brewery inside a pizza shop. Pizza. Beer. Happy.”

They have (according to Untappd) 295 unique beers (I wanna say its far more than that in their history, but we’ll go with the stats given), with (as of time of writing this – on 11.15.21) 644,984 ratings, 99,695 of which are unique; for a global average rating of 3.88.

I personally would say they are primarily known for IPAs (typically hazy), sours (think Permasmile, etc.), and stouts like Sunny Side Up and all of its variants.

This was a variant that I was very eagerly looking forward to getting to try and so glad I did. So let’s break it down and discuss this. (As always, I break it down going by paragraphs as such – aroma, visual, taste.)

Cracked open the can, poured it out, and you get a wonderful aroma of roasty notes from the coffee, dark heavy stout smells, and a bit of a greasy bacon hint. The bacon and the cooking pan smell is definitely the most subtle to this, as the coffee aroma certainly overpowers it, along with your typical malt and stout and roast notes from a good dark heavy stout.

Visually there’s not a whole lot to say other than what you can see from the picture. It looks as if it could be coffee other than the beautiful head it has to it; which is a nice small ring, maybe a quarter of an inch, with varied bubbles, and left nice lacing. The head was an off white, slightly tannish hue, and lasted til first sip. The stout itself is a deep, dark ocher, or as I often say on the blog “as black as Razor Ramon’s hair” or “black like the abyss we all stare into”. Take your pick.

Taste I think is where your mileage may vary on this one. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this beer and it is one hundred percent a good beer. There’s zero off flavors, there’s zero wrong with it. Why I say the mileage may vary, is on the bacon flavor. I’ve talked to a few good friends who had it, and the person who I drank this with, and we all had different opinions and thoughts on how much the bacon flavor came through. To be honest, when I hear ‘bacon flavored’ in beer, I’m a bit skeptical right out of the gate, wondering how its going to translate and how they are going to make it work. I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t come through too strong. You get the coffee, you get the malt, you get the stout, you get some booziness, (especially with its 11.9%), but I don’t get a ton or even a lot of bacon flavor. More like a whiff of it, like its there, barely hanging on the fringes. I think the bacon comes through a bit on the back – end and the aftertaste. (I burped after drinking it, and I could taste a bit of bacon on the burp, so I suppose it has to be in there somewhere, unless I was over thinking my burp, which is always a very good possibility.) There is a sweetness to this that I don’t recall from the original Sunny Side Up (which I always thought tasted more bitter – though it has been several months since I’ve had the original). This could be from the greasy ‘wash out’ of the bacon in the beer, I don’t know, but it has a nice taste. I enjoy the flavor of this very much, I think like I said above, that the bacon flavor mileage will vary for many, though it seems overall people are saying its subliminal or subtle or minimal rather than being stronger or too strong. If you want to enjoy a good, strong, high ABV stout, this is still certainly a fantastic choice and you can’t go wrong with that.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.07 (as of 11.15.21)

Other Pizza Boy Reviews

Here’s a few other Pizza Boy beer reviews we’ve done:

Thanks for Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. This was a great stout to finish my day on, after a 10 hour day working the craps table, followed by errands to Home Depot and Target, and then having to run an errand and go to the bank for my ex-wife, this was a nice relaxing end of my day (while re-watching the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode from Sunday) and finding out my one fantasy football team barely edged out the win by .84!

Thursday and Friday is going to be a big trip for us. We’re running down through Maryland, over into Delaware, and up into New Jersey and then through Philly before heading home. So be on the lookout for big stuff coming out of this trip. And make sure to be checking back in daily here at the blog. News on the street is, our new writer may have her first post up tomorrow, so be sure to check that out!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, 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!

Looking for good local stouts or green beer this St. Patty’s Day?

BKline — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 11:25:00 +0000

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 – 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.

Beer Review: Java the Stout (Jackie O’s Brewery)

BKline — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 01:25:00 +0000

Java the Stout Can Art

What better beer to review on Black Friday than a stout, and a Star Wars related / themed stout at that! There is a long history of Star Wars themed beers on the blog, you can find them if you use our search feature and type in STAR WARS, or see the list below:

I love doing pop culture related and themed beer reviews. Its much more fun than just doing a review of IPA #29292821 or Pale Ale #TK-422 (…do any of my Star Wars fans get that reference?). I have done quite a few to say the least; stemming from Back to the Future, to Spaceballs, to Scrooged, to Simpsons references, to Star Wars, to pro wrestling… to just about everything under the sun (or suns if you live on Tatooine). I’ll provide a link to most at the end of the review here.

There is always a bevy of pop culture related beers in the craft beer industry. From can art to names to logos, to even brewery names, they are often puns or quotes or pictures of different movies, characters, etc. Just this month alone I did a review with a Godfather pun (The Growfather), a Panda / Mandalorian cross review (The Pandalorian) and a Simpsons beer – I Voted for Kodos (and soon to be reviewed – I Voted for Kang).

As always, if you know of any Star Wars, or pop culture themed beers that you know of, or would like to see me review, or have access to, always get ahold of me, and I will gladly do a trade, or buy, or try to find said beer to review here on the blog.

For this beer, we have quite a bit to break down I think. First, lets start with the can art:

Java the Stout (by Jackie O’s) can art

There is a LOT going on here in this picture. Obviously, front center is Jabba the Hutt flying in / on Vader’s Advanced Tie X1 (oh yea… I went full nerd on that). In the background you have a ton of TIEs (TIE LN – the generic TIE Fighters from A New Hope) and X-Wings and lots and lots of lasers. You also have a Star Destroyer being blown up, as well as the Death Star II being blown up. There is also the Cloud City from Bespin (Empire Strikes Back) with what I assume is Godzilla or some other kind of giant reptile creature scaling it. The Milenium Falcon can also be seen in the background near the Death Star. I also spy a giant Moth / butterfly creature, I’m not sure what this is or what its a reference too, so I am a bit fuzzy and curious about that one. Apparently the lasers that are destroying the Star Destroyer stem straight from the eyes of the moth / butterfly creature, so maybe there’s some kind of reference out there that I’m missing (most likely).

Now, lets move onto discussing just who the “Java” is in reference too…

Jabba the Hutt (from Wookiepedia)

To quote the Wookiepedia:

“If I told you half the things I’ve heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you’d probably short-circuit!“―C-3PO^[src]

Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly referred to as Jabba the Hutt or simply Jabba, and formally styled as His Excellency Jabba Desilijic Tiure of Nal Hutta, Eminence of Tatooine, was a Hutt gangster and crime lord, as well as a member of the Grand Hutt Council, who operated and led a criminal empire from his palace on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine. Jabba was a major figure on Tatooine, where he controlled the bulk of the trafficking in illegal goods, piracy and slavery that generated most of the planet’s wealth. He was also highly influential in the entire Outer Rim as one of its most powerful crime lords.

During the Clone Wars, Jabba’s influence and power over the Outer Rim, specifically its hyperlanes, was sought by both the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, who both courted Jabba’s approval. When Rotta, Jabba’s son, was kidnapped, the crime lord promised his support to whoever returned his son. When the Separatists were revealed to have orchestrated Rotta’s kidnapping, Jabba pledged his support to the Republic.

Jabba continued to operate in the Outer Rim after the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire, preserving his power base, despite the interference of Darth Sidious, the Galactic Emperor. After the destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance, the Emperor sent Darth Vader to negotiate a deal with Jabba to secure raw materials for Imperial military production. Jabba’s alliance with the Empire allowed him and the Hutts to survive the Imperial crackdown against criminal elements in the Outer Rim, as well as rid the Hutt of his competitors.

After the smuggler Han Solo failed to repay him for lost cargo, Jabba placed a high price on his head. Solo was eventually delivered to him by one of his bounty hunters, Boba Fett, as a gift from Darth Vader. However, this capture brought him to the attention of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, who sought to rescue his friend from Jabba’s imprisonment. As he attempted to execute the Jedi and his allies in the Great Pit of Carkoon, Jabba was choked to death by Leia Organa. With the Hutts unable to decide who would inherit Jabba’s criminal ventures, many of his slaves, including the Niktos, were free, and his palace was abandoned after the droid pool was deactivated.

Source: Jabba the Hutt – Wookiepedia Page

And that was just the brief of him, not the entirety of the article. Click the link above (at the source) to read his full entry! But, for a quick gist of him – Jabba the Hutt is the one who had Boba Fett capture Han Solo and with Darth Vader using Han Solo as a trap for Luke, got him frozen in carbonite, and then delivered to Jabba where he kept him as a ‘prize’ in his audience chamber. This set off the key events of the end of Empire Strikes Back and the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Jabba the Hutt was also the one who sent Greedo after Han Solo in A New Hope. (He’s also the feature of the full length Clone Wars movie, as well as makes an appearance in The Phantom Menace, as well as in several other mediums and stories in Star Wars EU [Expanded Universe]. To sum him up – he is the ‘Don’ or ‘Godfather’ or ‘Capo’ of his crime family.)

Ok, whew, that was all a lot to digest; especially if you’re not a nerd. (And really, if you’re not, why are you still reading all this gibberish? Its gotta be pretty much nonsensical to you by this point!) I think we have a good basis now, from the can art, to the backstory of Jabba the Hutt, so lets move on to the beer and the brewery.

Jackie O’s Brewpub

On my trip out to Indianapolis and back, on Day Six of my trip, I stopped at Jackie O’s Brewpub outside of Athens Ohio. Everything being different due to COVID-19 and the pandemic, only the beer garden outside was used for drinking and sitting. I got a flight while there, as well as picked up the mix – a – six to take home (which this was a part of).

Untappd has this to say about Jackie O’s: Jackie O’s Brewery is a micro brewery from Athens Ohio, established in 2005, and has 675 unique beers and 738K+ ratings, with a global average rating of 4.02. The Untappd description reads: Established in 2005, Jackie O’s Brewery has evolved over the years to include an experimental Brewpub, Public House Restaurant, Production Brewery & Taproom, Bake Shop and the Barrel Ridge Farm – all of which are located in Athens, Ohio / Southeastern, Ohio. Jackie O’s specializes in brewing techniques that revive traditional methods and also incorporate contemporary elements and influences. We strive to brew one of the most diverse beer portfolios in the country, with a detailed and unique focus on barrel & wood aged beers, wild ales, and blending. It is liked by 17K+.

This was one of the top recommended breweries for me to visit on my trip, alongside Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis, Levity Brewing in Indiana Pennsylvania, and Urban Artifact in Cincinnati. The flight of beers I had at the brewpub didn’t disappoint, neither did any of the beers I took home (including this one).

So… we discussed the can art… the legacy and origins and reason for the “Java the Stout” (Jabba the Hutt), the brewery – Jackie O’s, whats left to discuss before actually reviewing the beer?

Ah…. the when / where I drank it. So Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, due to the mandate that no on-site alcohol sales could be made at bars and breweries in Pennsylvania after 5PM by Governor Wolfe, I met my friend Drew at his place to do some Friendsgiving Drinking. We also did a stream for the night for his streaming page – Knights of Nostalgia. We streamed Secret of Mana on…. his brand new Playstation 5. Yes, this was the first time he was getting to play the system (as well as myself), and… the first game we test drove it with was an old SNES remastered game. Ironic? Or just funny? I’ll let you be the judge. But, I will say, the controller for the PS5 was very cool, and the game was a lot of fun (this was the second part of our series of playing the game, as its a long RPG, it will take us several sittings and streams to beat it).

During the stream – I started with Java the Stout, progressed to a blueberry pancake Double IPA (DIPA) by Decadent Ales, and finished off the night with a bottle of Yuengling’s Hershey’s Porter.

Finally… ok… finally… I think we have all of our Padawans in a row… I think we can get on to reviewing the beer!

Java the Stout by Jackie O’s Brewery

Beer: Java the Stout
Brewery: Jackie O’s Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: A caramel centered Stout accentuated by Ridge Runner coffee. Instead of simply adding coffee to a stout, we build a stout around the coffee. Course ground coffee beans are added in the conditioning tank. The beans add a robust roasted character and turn this Stout fully opaque. Our best selling seasonal since 2008!

Oh gorgeous, beautiful stouts, how I love thee. Dark and black as my soul and heart, yet so inviting… as … not my soul. Java the Stout is typical in that its like most other stouts; dark black – Razor Ramon hair black, but with a beautiful creamy off-white foamy head. Great carbonation on the beer, and nice lacing on the glass. This is ‘typical stout black’ but as always – thats a good thing here. The foam head is almost more brown than white, but I would still probably label it as ‘off white’, but the bubbles are varied and different size, always a sign of a quality crafted beer.

Aroma is a dark, roasted, coffee heavy, caramel, chocolate, heavy hard hitting powerful… the list of descriptors can almost go on and on here. This is pound for pound one of the best (non – pastry stout) smelling stouts I’ve had in a long time, if not ever. And I’m not even a coffee fan. Maybe its just the ‘hotness’ of drinking coffee, I dunno, but I do not like coffee, but I don’t mind coffee in my beers one bit (in fact, I tend to love coffee stouts). Coffee is pound for pound what you get most out of the nose on this, but there is notes of caramel malt, chocolate, roasted malts, and the faintest hint of vanilla.

From first sip to holding the glass (or can) over your mouth to make sure every last drop falls into your gullet, this is one fantastic beer. Every drop is to be savored, just like its color, its black gold. I’ll be like one of those millennial Instagrammers “this is fire” with lots of fire emojis and beers, or fire – beer – fire alternating emojis… or whatever. But this is just an amazing, fantastic beer. You got a fair bit going on, but its pretty straight forward too. This is a coffee stout. A coffee beer, through, and through, and through. The coffee is very good, and strong, but there are also other notes hiding around the edges of the coffee too that can’t be ignored. The roasted malts provide a strong backbone to the beer, giving it a strong caramel note and finish to it, and helps take off some of the edge of the coffee flavor without removing the coffee flavor. More like melding it together, taking a frayed edge and making it smooth and run seamlessly into the next. The malt backbone is strong and gives a wonderful, full heavy mouthfeel, with no off flavors, no cloying, no clingyness, nothing to detract or take away from the beer. There is some notes of chocolate as well, in my tastes, though I think it becomes more milder as you drink, and this could be from the malt, but not 100% sure. There is also a bit of smoothness to it, possibly vanilla, but again, not 100% sure. Regardless, the flavors that surround the coffee flavor works together well, and lifts up the coffee notes, not detracts from, or over complicates the beer. I really like the way the malt and the coffee work in this beer and I think thats the strongest reason why the beer is just so good, everything accentuates / accompanies / emphasizes and works together to attain a great tasting beer. Also at 6.5% its strong in taste, but not strong in ABV or alcohol, so it doesn’t taste boozy or overpowering, and won’t leave you drunk or getting there by the end of the first can. Perfect campfire beer, or perfect Netflix and chill, or Disney+ and watching The Mandalorian beer….

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.93 (as of 11.28.20)

Ok, lets break down some of the nerdy pop culture beers I’ve reviewed:

Star Wars:

Space Balls:

Beer Review: Moon of Vega (Equilibrium Brewery)

Game of Thrones:

Beer Review: Game of Thrones: My Watch Has Ended (Omnegang Brewery)

The Simpsons:

Beer Review: I Voted for Kodos (Second Sin Brewing Company)
Beer Review: I Voted for Kang (Second Sin Brewing Company)

Back to the Future:

Beer Review: Back to Reality (Three 3s Brewing Co)

Scrooged:

Beer Review: Scrooge IPA (Iron Hill Brewing)

Pro Wrestling:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Other:

Search for ‘Star Wars’ on The Beer Thrillers

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Three: Salt Fork State Park, Southside Brewing Company, Blackhand Gorge, Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, Land-Grant Brewing Company, The Wandering Griffin

BKline — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:23:00 +0000

Salt Fork State Park

The subtitle I used for the recap article about Day Three was “I woke up in Washington and ended up in Dayton, how did I get here?” And its pretty accurate. Counting West Virginia (which I was only supposed to be in for all of about six to eight minutes) I traveled in three states and a fair bit of distance. So lets discuss how I got from Washington (Pennsylvania) to Dayton (Ohio) all in one day, and what all I did therein.

Also, before we go on, I believe my picture above of the lake at Salt Fork State Park is an optical allusion (that or maybe I’ve finally fully lost it and I’m going nuts); but to me it feels like if you stare at the picture long enough it looks like the waves are moving. Let me know if you see it… or if I have just lost my marbles. (Maybe its both?)

Day three saw me leaving my hotel outside of The Meadows Casino around 9:30AM, and heading to Ohio. Unfortunately, I have to go through West Virginia to get to Ohio in this part of the region… and that involves me getting pulled over by a West Virginia State Trooper. Sigh. So it goes I guess, but it does suck, and is a needless 190$ expense to add to the total cost of my trip, it also made me a bit later getting to my first stop which was the Salt Fork State Park.

Salt Fork State Park

There is a large beautiful lake at Salt Fork State Park, as well as several hiking trails over by the golf course. The lake was gorgeous and so serene, and at 10:30-11AM the park and lake area was completely empty. Just me, some blobby dead jellyfish looking things on the beach, lots of deer footprints, and the sad, quiet, solemn sound of the waves of the lake lapping onto the beach. I sat by the beach for a fair bit of time, just taking in the quiet and solitude, the solemnity of the here and now and the sereneness of it all.

The wooded trails there were nice though easy and not much to see, but they were quiet, serene, and peaceful. The whole place had a very serene atmosphere, a malaise or laze-faire peace and serenity to it all. Seeing nobody in sight pretty much the entire time I was in the state park certainly helped add the elusive nature of the place, like I had stumbled back in time and found a beach and lake and small wooded grove that only I knew about and nobody else ever would.

From here I traveled further into Ohio on my way to Columbus. Stopping briefly at a brewery / winery / restaurant / pizzeria on a hill. The restaurant was called Georgetown Tavern on the Hill; the brewery located there was called Southside Brewing Company. Had a gorgeous view of a vineyard and down an impressive hill.

Georgetown Tavern on the Hill – Southside Brewing Co.

The pizza was very good, and the beer was refreshing and nice on a beautiful, gorgeous, sunny day.

Blueberry Wheat

Beer: Blueberry Wheat
Brewery: Southside Brewing Co.
Style: Wheat Beer – American Pale Wheat
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30 IBU
Untappd Description: Traditional wheat beer with a hint of blueberry.

It was refreshing, and nice and there was a hint of blueberry. Perfectly acceptable on a sunny day in early November as a quick-stop pint to grab while breaking up the drive through Ohio.

My Untappd Rating: ***.5
Global Untappd Rating: (Only 9 ratings, not enough for a global rating yet.)

Next up, I stopped at Blackhand Gorge. Which was a series of trails on two sides of a main road. On one side, you had a trail along the creek / river which also included being able to walk down into what was the remains of the Erie Canal; and on the other side you had a walk that took you through a rock tunnel and you could also climb to the top of this giant rock plateau. The one side of the river was more of a bike trail that stretched for miles and miles, the other was a hiking trail. Both were very cool, and had numerous spots to stop and take pictures.

Blackhand Gorge

The drive to Blackhand Gorge was interesting. At one point on the highway a firetruck was coming up behind me, so I got over for it, and soon after it passed me, its hose came unattached from the top, and followed behind the firetruck like a long kite tail until it eventually completely unattached. The firetruck unaware the entire time kept speeding on. I was making sure to keep a good 10 – 15 feet back from the hose, which was trailing for probably about 20 – 30 feet from the firetruck itself. Once it became unattached and flew back, I had to quickly swerve so it didn’t hit the car, and it nearly clipped the car behind me who was riding my tail pretty aggressively.

After the Gorge it was finally time to head into Columbus. On the way there, I passed the Longerberger Basket building, office, headquarters, what have you. Reminded me of my aunt who used to sell their baskets, as well as my (ex) mother in law who did as well.

Longerberger Basket Building

Once in Columbus, the first brewery to hit was Wolf’s Ridge Brewing. Parking was about a half block away, and was only 3$ for 6 hours, which for a city, is fantastic. Also, next to the parking lot was Elevator Brewing, where they were working on inside – unfortunately they weren’t open yet, and were still doing the work on the building, so I had to skip them. Wolf’s Ridge Brewing though more than made up for it.

Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Company

Due to COVID, instead of eating and sitting inside, they turned the alley to the side of their brewery into a make-shift patio with a construction set barrier around the place. I had two full drafts there while reading and talking to an amazing bartender / server. Very beautiful and sweet lady who chatted with me about their brewery, my trip, Indianapolis, Harrisburg, and all kinds of things.

Buchenrauch

The first beer I got was the Buchenrauch. I can’t turn down a Rauchbier when I see it on a menu. I just can’t. Always have to give it a try, just to see how the brewery handles doing such a hard beer style. Luckily (and unsurprising for anyone who knows Wolf’s Ridge Brewing) they absolutely nailed it.

Beer: Buchenrauch
Brewery: Wolf’s Ridge Brewing
Style: Rauchbier
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 20 IBU
Untappd Description:

2016 Gold Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

2016 Gold Medal: Alltech Commonwealth Cup

2017 Silver: Alltech Commonwealth Cup

2016 Bronze: Indiana Brewers’ Cup

2015 Bronze Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

This traditional smoked lager style hails from Bamberg Germany. The name literally means “beech smoke,” which pays homage to the time honored tradition of smoking the malt over beech wood to create the signature smooth smokiness. Mahogany in color and rich in flavors of campfire smoke and crusty bread. Buchenrauch is crisp and savory. The lager yeast and cold aging provide smooth drinkability and will leave you wanting more than just one.

Delicious, lovely beer. Compared to the medals and awards this beer has won, my recommendation means very little, but I do certainly highly recommend it. If you are in the Columbus area, this is worth the stop at Wolf’s Ridge Brewing alone.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 11.27.20)

Dire Wolf

Beer: Dire Wolf
Brewery: Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 10.4%
IBU: 50 IBU
Untappd Description: 2017 Gold: Beer Army Beer Wars

2016 Silver Medal: Best of Craft Beer Awards

2015 Gold Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

Canis Dirus, or “fearsome dog,” is the scientific name for the Dire Wolf. One of the largest known breeds of wolf, the Dire Wolf went extinct at the end of the last ice age. Similarly, the Russian Imperial Stout was a beer style destined for extinction until craft brewers in America began to resurrect historical styles. Our Imperial Stout is named for the Dire Wolf because it is big, bold, and fearsome. Brewed with copious amounts of oats and brown sugar. Black as night with a dense tan head and chewy texture. Notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and espresso stand against a hefty bitterness to balance this monstrous beer.

Another style I absolutely love – Russian Imperial Stouts (RIS). For any Game of Thrones geeks out there, the name is great too. This was a boozy, heavy, delicious, rich, strong and very powerful beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.04 (as of 11.27.20)

Sadly, I had to move on and say goodbye to the bartender and the great brewery. I had enough time to hit one more brewery in Columbus before heading out to Dayton, my stop for the night (to shorten the trip for the next day). The second brewery I got to try out in Columbus was Land-Grant Brewing Company. Which was kind of set in a hipster like location, right across the street from BrewDog Ohio. Their ordering system was all on the phone, and was actually a bit of a challenge, as you had to pick your flight of beers all from their online menu which made things a bit more difficult than need be, but I don’t begrudge any breweries right now with strong COVID-19 / coronavirus safety protocols.

At Land-Grant Brewing, I ordered a flight that I had to wolf down pretty quickly to be able to get to Dayton in time for both the brewery there and the hotel and to call it on the day, and be somewhat near Indianapolis for tomorrow. According to Untappd, Land-Grant Brewing is a micro brewery; obviously located in Columbus Ohio, it has 531 Unique Beers, and over 163K ratings, with an average rating of 3.7 (as of 11.27.20). There is no Untappd description for the brewery.

The flight I ordered was:

Beard Crumbs
Make Mine Irish
Skull Session
Son of a Mudder
Bottomless Coffee

Beard Crumbs by Land-Grant Brewing

Beer: Beard Crumbs
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 42
Untappd Description: Beard Crumbs is a smooth dark stout teeming with notes of chocolate, coffee, and an extra punch of holiday cheer via the addition of carmelized raisins. It delivers the joy of an oatmeal raisin cookie, minus the crumbly clean up.

It’s a festive ale that old Saint Nick himself would love.

This was a fun, tasty oatmeal stout. Ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon rounded out the chocolate and coffee to make it feel more ‘festive’ and like a Christmas or Thanksgiving beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.71 (as of 11.27.20)

Make Mine Irish

Beer: Make Mine Irish
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 8.4%
IBU: 33
Untappd Description: Sometimes a well brewed cup of coffee isn’t quite enough on its own. Sometimes a well brewed glass of beer needs a little something extra to push it over the top. Both benefit from a warming dose of whiskey. For that reason we brewed this hearty Irish Coffee Stout with Stauf’s whiskey-barrel-aged coffee beans, creating a compound of smooth chocolaty stout, roasted coffee, and rich, smoky whiskey. So when you’re craving a beer, a coffee, or a whiskey, might as well make yours Irish.

A good ‘Irish’ coffee stout. Strong and bold and powerful. Good full stout flavor even in a taster, very nice.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.89 (as of 11.27.20)

Skull Session by Land-Grant Brewing

Beer: Skull Session
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Lager – Red
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: This easy drinking Scarlet Lager owes a tip of its cap to a timeless autumn tradition. A chance to clear your mind before Saturday’s main event. This beer draws its ruddy hue from Red X malt, while maintaining a bright, classic balance from the addition of Tettnang and Chinook hops. This is a lager that’s in formation and ready to march.

An interesting lager. A lot going on flavor wise, but still pretty crispy. A fun and interesting take on the lager style. Wouldn’t mind trying some more Red Lagers in the future especially back home; see how other breweries do the style.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 11.27.20)

Son of a Mudder by Land-Grant Brewing

Beer: Son of a Mudder
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: Nevermind the conditions. This Brown Ale’s father was a Mudder, and his mother was a Mudder. This is a true and true American Brown Ale with a subtle hop presence at the turn and toffee, caramel, and coffee notes waiting at the finish line. When they’re calling for rain, dig in deep and grab a Mudder. It’s a sure thing.

I love brown ales, and I think the older I’m getting (ugh, scary thought) the more I’m enjoying them even moreso. This was no exception. Fantastic brown ale that is true to the style.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.6 (as of 11.27.20)

Bottomless Coffee by Land-Grant Brewing

Beer: Bottomless Coffee
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Lager – Vienna
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Perfect any time of day, this easy drinking Vienna Lager gets a rich, roasty pick-me-up from a big old pot of Stauf’s India Malabar Coffee beans—roasted right here in Columbus, Ohio. Grab a stool, get comfortable, and we’ll keep your cup topped-off.

Another interesting lager take. A coffee Vienna lager. Not your normal thought for a lager is coffee. This works really well though actually, and I really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I always love it when a beer exceeds my expectations.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.51 (as of 11.27.20)

Sadly, I pretty much had to wolf these beers down and bolt, and couldn’t stay and enjoy the ambiance of the place. In an outdoor patio next door looked like there was a big game of trivia going down. Not sure if this was tied in with Land-Grant Brewing or with the BrewDog from across the street. It might have been a communal area or for just the one brewery. If I had to guess, I would say it was tied in with Land-Grant Brewing or maybe the old school bar nearby too. I don’t think it was tied in with BrewDog. But it looked impressive with a big seating area, a huge screen for the trivia, and a lot of people…. hopefully socially distanced and wearing masks when not drinking.

The inside of Land-Grant Brewing Company

But, I was off now to my last stop, and had to book it too. I had to get to Dayton, and had to get there fast. I was heading to The Wandering Griffin, a brewery just outside of Dayton (technically considered Beaver Creek, Ohio) and right by my motel stop for the night. From Land-Grant to The Wandering Griffin its a 1 Hour and 1 Minute drive if Google Maps is to be believed. I wanna say I made it there a bit faster than that… but not going to incriminate myself.

The Wandering Griffin (courtesy of their Facebook and media pages)

I get to Dayton (or Beaver Creek) just before shutting down. I sit outside on their patio and enjoy a pint of Oktoberfest (2020). The place had an Applebee’s turned brewery vibe to it, or pick your own chain restaurant type place. Chili’s, Red Robin, Jiffy State, or whatever is local to your area type place. Not taking anything away from the place, it was nice, great patio area, nice bartender / server / worker, and the beer was good too.

According to Untappd, The Wandering Griffin is a brew pub in Beaver Creek, Ohio. They have 41 Unique Beers with 2,400+ ratings and an average global rating of 3.66 (as of 11.27.20). Their description reads: “We are The Wandering Griffin Brewery. We brew some really killer beer. We have lots and lots of room (over 10,000 square-feet) for you to drink our killer beer. Our floor is brown. We also have one really big ass patio. You can drink our killer beer there to. We also make some really killer grub. Did we mention that our beer is really good? We look forward to seeing you soon. Really. Parking? We have the largest parking lot in Dayton. Bring the bus! Brewery, full-service restaurant, beer garden and 3 bars. Great space for your event – large or small! Conveniently located off 675 exit 15 near WSU, WPAFB and Nutter Center.”

I ordered the Oktoberfest (2020), and went out to the patio to sit, it soon started to drizzle slightly, but nothing horribly, and I had a table umbrella over my head, so I enjoyed my pint.

Oktoberfest by The Wandering Griffin

Beer: Oktoberfest (2020)
Brewery: The Wandering Griffin
Style: Lager – Amber
ABV: 6%
IBU: 28
Untappd Description:

Prost! Our 2020 Oktoberfest is brewed using a blend of select German hops, Pale, Munich, and Vienna malts. Together, these ingredients bring notes of freshly toasted bread and a touch of fruit character to the brew. At 6% ABV and 28 IBU, this year’s Oktoberfest is a big yodel to beer’s biggest party…Even if we’re doing it from 6′ apart.
Küss unseren Arsch COVID!!!

I enjoyed it. It was a little weaker than some Marzens – probably because (according to their Untappd page for it) its a Lager – Amber rather than a Marzen, but it was still serviceable, especially after I’ve already stopped at two breweries in Columbus and the one earlier in the day (like a lifetime ago) in Georgetown. Was a nice enough end cap to the day.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 11.27.20)

After bidding adieu to the bartender / server I hopped the two blocks over to my motel and finally crashed for the day. Day three in the books. It brought me from Washington Pennsylvania to Dayton Ohio. As I carried my stuff into the motel, it started raining (more than a drizzle, but not hard), my friends at home said it had poured earlier in the day. Fun note – this would be the only rain and “bad weather” on the entirety of my trip. And it was overnight while in Dayton. Can’t say a bad thing about the weather I had in early November while traveling from PA to IN. I got extremely fortunate there. So as Tuesday came to a close, I had another wonderful day on my trip. I went to a State Park, went to another hiking place (Blackhand Gorge), visited four breweries in three different cities of Ohio (Georgetown, Columbus, and Dayton) and pretty much traveled the entire way across Ohio. Tomorrow brings on Day Four and takes me into Indianapolis to finally make it to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library – the reason and purpose for my trip. So make sure to come on back to check in with us here at The Beer Thrillers for that! We still also have Days Five, Six, and Seven to get through! Be sure to come back to read the conclusion to the whole trip!

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday, etc. Make sure to shop craft beer and not just scoop up the Goose Island Bourbon County crap, help the local breweries in these hard times, especially as the virus numbers keep getting higher and higher and shut downs look imminent. Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, The Meadows Casino
Day Three: Salt Fork State Park, Southside Brewing Company, Blackhand Gorge, Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, Land-Grant Brewing Company, and The Wandering Griffin
Day Four:
Day Five:
Day Six:
Day Seven:

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:

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse in Shippensburg Pennsylvania

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

My Article for Breweries in PA:

Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

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

Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg (9.6.19)

BKline — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 17:15:00 +0000

(Editorial Note: This article was originally written and submitted to Breweries in PA. They will be publishing it in roughly one weeks time on their page and FaceBook page. It was written by lead writer here at The Beer Thrillers – B. Kline, and is being posted here as well. This was a guest-article written by B. Kline for Breweries in PA. Since there is some pertinent and timely information included in the article [namely Tattered Flag & Levante’s Tap Takeovers and Can Releases for 9.7.19] this article is being posted here and now. When it is posted on the Breweries in PA website and FaceBook page, links will be provided to the article’s locations there. Likewise, since this was created for their site and blog, as well as written in Microsoft Online Word DOC the formatting may be off in some places. When the mistakes are noticed, we will try and correct them. -The Beer Thrillers staff.)

Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg
By: B. Kline

In the area surrounding Hummelstown (17036), there is several breweries. In all directions, roughly within 5 miles, there is some fantastic breweries in Hershey, Middletown, and the outskirts of Harrisburg like Rutherford and Union Station. I’m going to take a look at a few of these and suggest a nice weekend trip to these locations that won’t take a lot of your time up, and what all events and plans they currently have going on. In this article, we will be taking a look at Troegs Brewery, Boneshire Brew Works, Newfangled Brew Works, and Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery.

There is a lot of great choices of breweries in Pennsylvania, and even in just Harrisburg itself, there is several fantastic choices. Coming from the small town of Hummelstown itself (where I’m located – B. Kline – writer for the blog The Beer Thrillers). In Harrisburg central there is ZeroDay Brewing, The Millworks, and The Vegetable Hunter. Along the outskirts of Harrisburg in Rutherford you will find Boneshire Brew Works and in a small development off of Union Deposit in Union Station you’ll find Newfangled Brew Works. In Hershey you’ll find Troegs Independent Craft Brewing and Iron Hill Brewery. In Middletown you will find Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery. And soon, in the future in Hummelstown you’ll be able to enjoy some beverages at the old police station by Rubber Soul Brewing.

I’ve decided to write this in the best route method for driving and convenience. I debated exactly how I wanted to write-up the breweries of Boneshire Brew Works, Newfangled Brew Works, Tattered Flag, and Troegs, and decided this might be the best and most logical way. The times I’ve done this ‘brewery trail’ this is always the way I’ve done it, and it also stops the ‘why was X first and Y last’ arguments. So lets take a look at these four breweries, what they got to offer on tap, what they got going on, and why their worth a stop in and check out.

Newfangled Brew Works

Located At: 8001 Union Station Blvd, Harrisburg, PA 17111
Untappd Link: https://untappd.com/NewfangledBrewWorks

Newfangled Brew Works is located inside Union Station, a recent development built off of Union Deposit Road (a long road that connects Harrisburg to several of the smaller towns in the area like South Hanover Township, Union Deposit, Hoernerstown, and even to Hershey). It is right as you enter into the development in a large building conjoined with its restaurant pairing – Koda. Koda is a high scale restaurant located to the right of the main entrance into Newfangled. Newfangled also has its own built-in Taco Truck tucked away in the back lefthand corner.

Lets discuss the food first, the taco truck has fabulous tacos, quesadillas, and other taco and Mexican related foods. Artisanal tacos is the best way to describe these, as this is definitely no Taco Bell menu (and a whole heck of a lot better tasting too). Their food menu can be found here: Food, their hours of operation are: Sunday 11AM-9PM, Monday-Friday 4PM-9PM, and Saturday 12PM-10PM.

Pictured here is the quesadilla taco from the taco truck, with the added beef meat it came to be 7.42$ (pre-tip). Beer picture is the Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour. The taco was extremely delicious and the kettle sour washed it down perfectly. This is the side-porch and patio area to the left of the building (when facing the entrance).

The brewery itself currently has 16 beers on tap for consumption. Some of their own, and a few others. Of their own currently on tap they have:

Passionfruit Blonde Ale – Blonde Ale – 5%

Ariana Flockhart – Blonde Ale – 4.9%
Blood Orange Blonde Ale – Blonde Ale – 5%
Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour – Sour – 5.6%
Kettle Sour – Sour – 5.6%
Brut IPA – IPA – Brut – 7.7%

Double IPA – IPA – Imperial – 8.2%
Irish Red Ale – Red Ale – Irish – 6%
Saison – Farmhouse Ale – Saison – 6.8%
Newfangled American Wheat – Wheat Beer – 5.2%
Lager – Lager – 5.2%

IPA – IPA – American – 5.8%
Stout – Stout – American – 6.5%

The non-Newfangled Beers on tap are:

Yuengling Lager – Lager – 4.5% (Yuengling Brewery)
Standard – Cider – 5.5% (Big Hill Ciderworks)

I have currently had all but their lager, double IPA, Brut IPA, and the blood orange blonde ale. I have enjoyed everything I’ve had so far. Found nothing to be horrible or terrible and no off flavors or infected beers.

They offer their beers right now in pints or traditional pours, dependent on the style, as well as half pours and flights. Pricing is your normal fair for a craft brewery (5$-7/8$ depending on style and costs to make the beer).

Currently, Newfangled Brew Works has produced 22 unique beers, and has a global average rating of 3.73.

Upcoming events for Newfangled are:

Live Music – Fridays and Saturdays 7PM – 10PM
Trivia – Wednesdays 630PM – 830PM

Boneshire Brew Works
Located At: 7462 Derry St, Harrisburg, PA 17111
Untappd Link: https://untappd.com/BoneshireBrewWorks

Coming down the road from Newfangled and getting onto Nyes Road it will lead you to Derry Street. From there you take a right hand turn and find yourself after a few blocks at Boneshire Brew Works. Boneshire was started by Alan Miller, Carson Brooks, and Alex Govelovich.

Boneshire’s brewery is a small little ‘pub’ style brewery. As soon as you enter you feel already a member of a club where everybody knows your name. If you’ve been there once, your second time there, you are a ‘regular’ and quickly become on a first name basis with all of the staff.

Currently food is limited to a few behind the bar items like pickle flights and bologna, but it is a BYOB environment with a pizzeria just two doors down (to the left of the building is a Crossfit and after that is the pizza shop, how lucky are those crossfit hard-workers being “stuck” between a pizza shop and a brewery?).

Boneshire currently offers a taplist of their own, as well as a taplist of several breweries from Pennsylvania. Their current taplist is:

Their own:

Dillston – Red Ale – Irish – 5.5% (made with Greystone Public House)
Caucus-Race (6.0 Zappa Hops) – IPA – American – 7.5%

Harrishire – Smoked – 7.3% (made in collaboration with Harris Family Brewery)
AuZealand 2.0 – IPA – American – 6.3%
Dark of the Forest (barrel aged) – Stout – Coffee – 10%
Derry St. Wheat – Hefeweizen – 5%
Good Walk Spoiled – Sour – 4.5%

Guest tap lists:

Jelsa – Mead – Melomel – 12% (Larsen Meadworks)
Magic… Under Where? – Pale Ale – 5.5% (Pizza Boy Brewing)
Kriek Nouveau – Sour – 6.9% (Free Will Brewing Co.)
Brawler – English Mild – 4.2% (Yards Brewing Co.)

Pils – Pilsner – German – 4.7% (Stoudts Brewing)
Summer Scrumpy – Cider – 5.5% (Big Hill Ciderworks)
Fruit Wagon – Sour – 6.3% (Saucony Brewing Company)
Java Cask – Stout – Imperial Double – 14.3% (Victory Brewing)
Pikeland Pils – Pilsner – German – 4.9% (Slyfox Brewing)

Boneshire Brewery has a steady string of events going on. Mondays are D&D nights, Tuesdays alternate between Open Mic Nights and Bar Bingo nights, Wednesdays are trivia nights, Thursdays are live music nights. Their Facebook page has a full list of events with the band names already signed on for each Thursday through October. They also occasionally have live music on Saturday nights.

Boneshire also does cans to go, in 4-packs of most of their in-house made beers. A few exceptions based on styles and things, but nearly all of their brewery beers are set to go. And typically at much better prices than a pint at the bar. They also do growler fills.

They currently have 126 uniquely produced beers with a global average rating of 3.82 on Untappd.

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery

Located At: 1 S Union St Middletown, PA
Untappd Link: https://untappd.com/TatteredFlagBrewery

Leaving Boneshire we can get right up onto 322 from Derry Street. There we can then turn right and get off at the Hummelstown / Middletown exit and go along Middletown Road (which becomes Vine Street), not much further we’ll turn right onto Main Street and then turn left to get onto Union and we are at our next destination. Middletown’s first (and so far only) brewery and distillery – Tattered Flag.

Veteran owned and having just hit their third anniversary they have really been pumping out some outstanding beers in recent history. With new brewing crew of Dave Marrow, Justin Hoak, and Cliff Plank, they have been putting out exceptional IPAs (NE IPAS specifically) and sours. They were just voted Harrisburg best Brewery and Distillery.

They have been doing some excellent collaborations with numerous breweries in the last few months as well. Beers with Wolf Brewing Co. , Levante Brewing, Abomination Brewing, and up and comer Pilger Ruh Brewing.

They have a downstairs bar that is also their coffee shop as well as the distillery area. It was called the Nuclear Bean but on Untappd they refer to the bar as the Distillery Bar now. They also have their main restaurant and bar upstairs, though you can order food at either location.

At the downstairs Nuclear Bean / coffee shop / distillery bar, you can order drinks. Their taplist there currently is:

NP Project – Kombucha (Renewal Kombucha)
Nuclear Bean Nitro Cold Brew – Coffee

Blue Raider Kolsch – Kolsch – 5.2%
Teutonic Knight Hefeweizen – Hefeweizen – 5.4%
Fatum Series Ale – Strawberry – Sour – 6%
Because I Was Inverted (Mango) – IPA – Milkshake – 6.6%
Makin’ Love at Midnight (2019) – IPA – Milkshake – 7.8%

Silent Professional Foxtrot – Farmhouse Ale – Saison – 7.8%
New Zealand Hop Test – IPA – Imperial Double – 8%
Don’t Cryo’ver Spilled Milk – IPA – Milkshake – 8%
TMI IPA – IPA – American – 6.5%

They also have cans to go, which you can pick up upstairs or downstairs, there list of cans to go currently are:

Tattered Abomination – IPA – New England – 7.8% (made with Abomination Brewing)
Prepare to be Flabbergasted – Sour – 7%
Teutonic Knight Hefeweizen
Blue Raider Kolsch
O’Dusseldorf Rules – Altbier – 5%

Honey I Added More Hops – IPA – New England – 7%
Double Knife Fight in Space – IPA – New England – 8%
Makin’ Love at Midnight 2.0 – IPA – American – 7.5%
Step 1 Brew Beer Step 2 ? Step 3 Profit – IPA – New England – 8%
Makin’ Love at Midnight (Sour) – Sour – 7.8%

TMI IPA

Their taplist upstairs currently is:

Silent Professional Foxtrot
Blue Raider Kolsch

Teutonic Knight Hefeweizen
DDH Double IPA – IPA – Imperial / Double – New England – 8.4%
Swattier Divide (2018) – IPA – New England – 8.2%
Step 1 Brew Beer Step 2 ? Step 3 Profit
TMI IPA

Don’t Cryo’ver Spilled Milk
Should’ve Got a Warrant – Sour – 7.6%
Stars and Stripes 20.19 – IPA – New England – 7.8%
Sparklerz (Meyer Lemon) – Hard Seltzer – 5%
Five Sided Puzzle Palace – Stout – Imperial / Double – 12% (Levante Brewing colab)

Because I Was Inverted (Mango)
Double Knife Fight in Space
Groundhops Day – IPA – New England – 6%
Honey I Added More Hops
Makin’ Love at Midnight (sour)

Prepare to be Flabbergasted
Tattered Abomination

Make sure to check out my blog (The Beer Thrillers) for reviews on Prepare to be Flabbergasted, Tattered Abomination, and Makin’ Love at Midnight (Sour) all due to being posted within the next several days.

I’m not much of a foody, but I do love going to Tattered Flag or helping with their canning run, just to get to eat there. It is top notch gourmet style food. All bases covered, from hot dogs and hamburgers, to salads, to tacos and quesadillas, to steaks, and seafood. Everything is covered and everything is absolutely phenomenal.

This weekend, Tattered Flag and Levante Brewing are doing their big release. Saturday, September 7^th, starting at 11AM, they will be selling cans of their collaboration with Levante Brewing – Wasted Away Again, a key-lime pie sour. They will also be selling cans of their collaboration with Levante Brewing – Five Sided Puzzle Palace. As well as having several of Levante’s beers on tap in the brewery. Ontop of this, from 1PM to 4PM the Hershey Biergarten in downtown Hershey will be selling their cans and having the beers on tap as well. Tattered Flag and Levante will also be featured at sip of Soma.

Of course I have to mention that you should check out the distillery if you have any inclination in liquors. Dan, the distiller for Tattered Flag is amazing and provides exceptional spirits. (He also does ghost tours in Gettysburg.)

Tattered Flag Brewery has 351 uniquely produced beers with a global average rating on Untappd of 3.77.

Troegs Independent Craft Brewing
Located At: 200 Hersheypark Dr, Hershey, PA 17033
Untappd Link: https://untappd.com/troegsbrewingcompany

And last but not least of our little tour is Troegs Brewery. Which at this point, really needs no introduction. They are always some of the top rated beers in the state, and is generally considered “the top” of the craft industry in the state (behind Yuengling). The brewery itself is always jam packed, weekday, weeknight, afternoon, or evening. Some of which is due to its fantastic location next door to HersheyPark, and some of that due to the excellent beers in production, as well as a top of the line brewery tour.

They have certainly been expanding too. Adding the foeders and making a larger cellar room. They’ve added a beer garden outfront. And lots and lots more parking. Which somehow still doesn’t feel like its enough!

They have also branched out and done a lot more of their Splinter Series beers, done more and more regular scratches, and even begun to can some of the scratch beers, and upped the number of rotational/seasonal beers. Releasing some big hits like Lollihop, Golden Thing, and various Scratches in beer can that have all gotten great reviews.

They have also added an upstairs loft with its own food menu and its own bar (though the taplist is the same as it is in the side-room by the foeders and at the main bar, just slightly more limited). The pizza upstairs is the best new feature total though, hop on that immediately!

Their current taplist at the main bar is:

Perpetual IPA – IPA – American – 7.5%
Troegennator Double Bock – Bock – Imperial – 8.2%
Sunshine Pils – Pilsner – 4.5%
HopBack Amber Ale – Red Ale – Amber Ale – 6%

DreamWeaver – Wheat Beer – 4.8%
JavaHead – Stout – Coffee – 7.5%
Hop Knife – IPA – American – 6.2%
Nimble Giant – IPA – Imperial / Double – 9%
Naked Elf – English Ale – 6.9%

Golden Thing – DDH – IPA – Double – 8.2%
Boysenberry Tart Ale – Sour – 4.5%
Raspberry Tart Ale – Sour – 4.5%
Fest Lager – Lager – Marzen – 6.1%
Dear Peter – Farmhouse Saison – 7.6%

Hazy IPA (Scratch 387) – IPA – New England – 5.2% (same as Trail Day Pale Ale)
Tangerine Passionfruit Guava Tart (Scratch 386) – Sour – 4.6%
Krausened Dunkel Lager (Scratch 385) – Dunkel – 5.4%
Tangerine Blackberry Guava Tart Ale (Scratch 384) – Sour – 5%

In Bottles Only:

LaGrave Triple Golden Ale – Belgian – 8%
Jovial Dubbel Ale – Belgian – 7%
Mad Elf Grand Cru (2018) – Belgian Strong Dark – 11%
Wild Elf – Farmhouse Wild Ale – 11%
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Impending Descent – Russian Stout – 12%

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Troegenator – Double Bock – 9.8%
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Flying Mouflan – Belgian – 11.5%
Dear Peter
Farmette – Farmhouse Saison – 6.5%
Blackberry Tizzy – Sour – 7.8%

Mortal Cherry – Farmhouse Wild Ale – 6.6%
Apricot Farmette – Farmhouse Saison – 7.4%

Troeg also has cider from Big Hill Ciderworks as well as numerous non-alcoholic sodas in bottle (for children and non-drinking drivers).

Troegs currently has no events listed for this weekend in their brewery. It has seemed they do less and less events in house at the brewery, and more and more out at various places. Most likely due to how full the brewery already is getting plus it expands the brand more to do these events at a wider range of places.

They do however have a big event coming up on October 4^th weekend – their annual Hop Harvest Fest. Which since putting in the beer garden they’ve been putting to good use with this. Look for more information to come out soon on bands performing and beers they will be releasing.

If you’ve never been to Troegs Brewery before, make sure you take the walking tour. It’s a quick 5-10 minute self guided tour but you get to see some neat things along the way (like the krausen for DreamWeaver as well as their bottling and canning lines).

Troegs currently has 385 uniquely produced beers (according to Untappd, which is a bit dated on this, since a lot of their scratches were released before Untappd was created, and they are currently up to Scratch 387) with a global average rating on Untappd of 3.79.

Thank you for checking out this brief brewery hopping tour around the outskirts of Harrisburg and centralized around Hummelstown. I hope you all found it informative and helpful and will give these four great breweries a look over. They all definitely deserve your time and attention as they are all pumping out some wonderful beers and have great stuff going on at their breweries all the time.

And lastly, make sure you hop on over to my beer blog – The Beer Thrillers, where me and beer buddy J. Doncevic have been writing some wonderful beer reviews, brewery reviews, trip recaps, beer event reviews, and all kinds of other beer related things in the Central PA area since May. Make sure to stop and check us out and let us know in the comments that you came from here, we’d greatly appreciate seeing you there!

B. Kline
The Beer Thrillers
https://thebeerthrillers.com/
http://twitter.com/thebeerthriller/

Beer Review: Rêve Coffee Stout (Parish Brewing Co.)

BKline — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:48:51 +0000

Rêve Coffee Stout by Parish Brewing Co. (straight from Mississippi).

Coming off the heels of the Lancaster Craft Beerfest I’m back and I think my liver has regenerated enough to begin some more beer reviews. (And slowly push and make a dent into the beer events, brewery activities, and hop harvests posts I need to do as well). This might be a bit of a long blog post, with some ‘non-beer’ related things, but stay with me, and it’ll all wrap up nicely, and tie in with the day as well (I think/hope). Also, lots of pictures in this one, so if you like pretty pictures, then here you go.

Firstly, let me just say that this is an absolutely fantastic beer. Makes me wish I had a lot more of these to power through the day. But, I think most of the activities I did today would have frowned on me drinking (even if it was a coffee beer, …and especially given that the largest activity today was work).

So, starting off the day, it was back to school day / first day of school. My oldest going into Middle School (dear god I’m getting old), and my youngest two entering 4th and 1st grade. So now that I’m officially old, I guess I need to start drinking coffee right?

My beer mail which included beers from Parish Brewing Co. Natchez Brewing Company, and Southern Prohibition Brewing. (I was given two Reve’s).

Following getting all of the girls to their two different schools this morning, and following an extremely long day at work (some days, like roulette days, just makes you want to bash your head against very large solid objects – repeatedly) I stopped at the Hershey Public Library where the Central PA Blood bank was doing one of their blood drives. I cannot urge people enough to donate blood. It is beyond critical and in definite need for all kinds of patients. There is tons of different ways you can check into donating, the simplest is to find a blood drive at various places near you (libraries, churches, restaurants like Papa John’s often sponsor them, even some bars/breweries do). For the Central PA Blood Bank you can check out their website here: Central PA Blood Bank.

Donating blood at the Hershey Public Library

It is relatively easy, not too time consuming (~45 minutes), relatively painless (small prick, some soreness at the spot), but its more than worth it. One bag donated can help up to three patients. And certain blood types are in higher demand than others (though all are in high demand). So please look into donating if you are able to (there is some restrictions due to life style choices, tattoos, locations you’ve visited, medication, etc.).

Once home, I decided to treat Leela (my dog, who you may remember photo bombed my beer review: Beer Review: Boulangerie Imperial Churro (Tattered Flag) ) by taking her on a 2-mile walk around town. It is National Dog Day afterall, and she’s a very good trusty and faithful companion and dog, so why not.

Decided while walking through Hummelstown I would pass by what will soon(ish) become the new home for Rubber Soul Brewing Company, and took a picture, as it looks like their making even more headway on the endeavor.

The future home for Rubber Soul Brewing Company, located on South Hanover Street Hummelstown. As you can see, as of 10PM on 8.26.19, it now has several large holes (facing the parking lot as well as facing South Hanover street).

They are still aiming for a November opening date. So fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and they get set up and running soon. But…. enough of all of this gibbering and jabbering and jibbering and gabbering, and get onto the actual brew review that you clicked on.

Dirty Glass Mafia I suppose? But the beer is good it could have been served up in a petri dish, and still been amazing.

This was just fantastic, and a perfect beer for writing the blog (and probably explains why it got so wordy).

Beer: Rêve Coffee Stout
Brewery: Parish Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Collaboration coffee stout between Parish Brewing Company & Rêve Coffee Roasters. Created with Columbia Java blend coffee & Madagascar vanilla beans. Beer: Rêve Coffee Stout
Brewery: Parish Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Collaboration coffee stout between Parish Brewing Company & Rêve Coffee Roasters. Created with Columbia Java blend coffee & Madagascar vanilla beans.

From the moment you pop bottle and begin to pour it, you can smell the rich delicious notes of the coffee. Once its done pouring and you smell the beer and swirl it, you get the instant notes of coffee, vanilla, nutty earth notes. It just smells incredible.

Pouring it comes out very dark black, and has a lovely dark brown – golden halo of a head to it, with nice, large bubbles forming out of the top that pop and slowly fade away. There is the right amount of carbonation, and the head lasts just long enough before you dig into this bad boy.

And sipping this is even better. Very strong coffee notes, but with a very rich, smooth, heavy backbone, that actually makes you feel like the 7.2% is lighter than it should be. Not saying its boozy, but it just as a ‘heavyness’ to this that makes you feel and think it should be a higher ABV than it is. This is a strong, rich, decadent beer, but not too sweet, not too decadent, and not too strong. Its in the goldilocks range of being. There is a bitterness with the coffee, but the vanilla covers and masks most of that. There is a nuttyness to it, but it becomes more subdued and subtle as you drink. The coffee gives you a bit of a nice pep and creative boost to really push you to do some writing or doing whatever it is that your doing.

I must say, I am definitely glad I was given two of these in my beer mail trade, because I can’t wait to dive into the second one. Strangely enough, I am honestly considering to say that this might be better than the beer everyone “knows” Parish for – Ghost in the Machine; though this might be just due to my preferred style of beer being stouts and the like moreso than IPAs, but take this for whatever you think its worth, this is a damn good beer and rivals Ghost in the Machine as Parish’s best beer.

I could waver back and forth on the rating I gave it, from a 4.5 to a 4.25, but I ultimately went with a 4.25 primarily due to wanting it to linger a bit more in my mouth after drinking it, and not wanting to come off too much as ‘style bias’.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.27 (as of 8.26.19)

And since this is National Dog Day, I tried to get Leela (a “red” border collie) in the pics, but kind of failed, here’s one of her by my one hop arbor, don’t mind the uglyness of the picture, it was 10:30PM, had to use the flash which I hate, and I had just finished this beer, and she was panting from the 2 mile walk.

Leela, my border collie, named after Turonga Leela from Futurama.

For those of you wondering, she is named after Turonga Leela from Futurama. I have several cats in the house, that have been named after other Futurama characters as well (Zoidberg, Hermes, Fry, Hattie, and Kiff) —- (and yes… thats 5 cats….).

Also, for those wondering, the books in the background are:
* Foxtrot: The Best of Foxtrot vol. 1
* The Joker: Endgame
* Best. Movie. Year. Ever. : How 1999 Blew Up The Big Screen
* Brief Answers to the Big Questions
(Yes, that means I finally finished Master & Apprentice).

If you want, you can always check out my GoodReads and what I have been reading here: GoodReads – Profile – B. Kline.

Alright everyone, I think I’m gonna have another beer, and get to sleep. Oldest will have to be up soon for school anyway and besides, in 18 minutes it’ll be my birthday. I work tomorrow, but who knows, maybe afterwards I’ll have a ‘birthday beer review’. I also have the tons and tons of other event blog posts to do yet, don’t worry, I haven’t forgot! I’m making a mad dash push to get them all done by the end of August, so fingers crossed I do it!

Take care all, peace, love, and donate some blood! You’re not using it all anyway damnit!

-B. Kline

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