Wicked Weed Brewing’s German Chocolate Cake is an imperial stout that has garnered significant attention and acclaim. With a rich and indulgent flavor profile, this beer has captivated the palates of many enthusiasts.

Beer Review: German Chocolate Cake by Wicked Weed

Beer: German Chocolate Cake

Brewery: Wicked Weed Brewing

Style: Stout – Imperial / Double Pastry

ABV: 8.8%

IBU: N / A

Untappd Description: With velvety smoothness and enrapturing darkness, this stout surrounds you with the rich luxury of the Black Forest. Fresh coconut counters chocolate notes for a balanced indulgence.

Global Average Rating: 3.88 (as of 11.15.23)

Number of Ratings: 13,000+ (as of 11.15.23)

Appearance

German Chocolate Cake pours a deep, dark brown, almost black, with a luscious tan head that lingers, enticing you to take the first sip.

Aroma

The aroma is a decadent blend of roasted malts, dark chocolate, and a hint of coconut. The sweetness of the chocolate is balanced by the toasty notes, creating an inviting olfactory experience.

Taste

Upon the first sip, the beer delivers a symphony of flavors. Rich, velvety chocolate floods the palate, accompanied by the subtle sweetness of coconut. The roasted malts provide a robust backbone, imparting a satisfying depth to the brew. Despite its sweetness, the beer is well-balanced, with a touch of bitterness that lingers on the finish.

Mouthfeel

Full-bodied and luxurious, German Chocolate Cake coats the mouth with a creamy, smooth texture. The carbonation is gentle, allowing the flavors to unfold gradually.

Overall Impression

Wicked Weed Brewing’s German Chocolate Cake is a masterful creation that lives up to its name. It artfully captures the essence of its dessert namesake, offering a truly indulgent drinking experience. Whether enjoyed on its own or paired with a rich dessert, this beer is a treat for the senses.

Barrel – Aged Variation

For those seeking an even more elevated experience, Wicked Weed Brewing offers a barrel-aged version of German Chocolate Cake. This iteration boasts an intensified flavor profile, with the added complexity of oak and subtle notes of bourbon. The higher ABV of the barrel-aged variant contributes to a warming, lingering finish, making it a perfect choice for savoring on special occasions.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Wicked Weed Brewing’s German Chocolate Cake is a standout example of the artistry and innovation present in the world of craft beer. Its ability to authentically capture the essence of a beloved dessert in liquid form is a testament to the skill of the brewers. Whether you’re a dedicated stout enthusiast or simply in search of a truly unique and memorable beer, German Chocolate Cake is not to be missed.

More Wicked Weed Brewing Articles

If you are looking for other Wicked Weed Brewing Company articles we’ve written, you can check these out:

• Multiple Beer Review: Dark Skies (New Trail), Blood Money (Conshohocken Brewing Company), Lost Toys #3 (Wicked Weed), Medora (Wicked Weed)
• Some Older Posts

For More Information on Wicked Weed Brewing

The following information comes from Untappd. Wicked Weed Brewing Company is a Subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, based out of Asheville, North Carolina – and thus making them a macro brewery. They have 799 unique beers and over 1.8 Million ratings, for a global average rating of 3.92 (as of 11.15.23). Their Untappd description reads: We are focused on drinkability and boundary pushing recipes tempered only by quality of craft. Wicked Weed Brewing will always evolve, always grow, and always aspire to be better.

You can find them at the following social media pages:

• Wicked Weed Brewing Company – Official Website
• Wicked Weed Brewing Company – Facebook
• Wicked Weed Brewing Company – Instagram
• Wicked Weed Brewing Company – Twitter
• Wicked Weed Brewing Company – Untappd

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

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

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

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

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

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preparing for the Holiday Weekend

While mentally preparing for this long holiday weekend I stared at the collection of bomber bottles on top of my rolltop desk in my living room.  It feels like they are taking up lots of space and I just simply must decrease the number of bottles on top of my desk.  Holiday weekends are perfect for that. 

Bomber Quiz

Bombs Away

I decided to crack into the Captain Precious from Alementary.  We picked up this one when we had to stop by since after having Scarlet.  We loved celebrating her birth by toasting one of our favs from them, Figgy Pudding. 

When we posted on IG about her birth they graciously offered another bottle in celebration.  Captain Precious was another bottle we had to get on the way out the door. 

Captain Precious is a 12.5% Barleywine and the perfect way to kick off the holiday weekend and we paired it with some spicy tacos.  It has an average rating on Untapped at 3.90 and that is way too low for this quality Barleywine.  It is described on Untapped as “Marjie’s first beer!  This Barleywine is made with peanut butter and heaps of fresh blueberries and fermented with Kveik yeast for a touch of overripe tropical fruit. “The perfect mix of some peanut butter and blueberries it was delicious. (You can view our reel from Facebook about adding it to the taco meat and enjoying the delicious barleywine here – The Beer Thrillers on Facebook, Reels.)

We then finished off the night with a stout we bought way before we got pregnant, two of the Pastry Stouts from the Pastry Parkway line from Fourscore Beer Co in Gettysburg. All four pastry stouts come in with a 15% ABV. Two of the four we got were the cannoli and the s’mores Cupcake.  The other two I wish I got my hands on were Blueberry Marshmallow Muffin and Chocolate Cherry Caramel Croissant.  The Pastry Parkway was a collab with Wolf Brewering Company in Mechanicsburg, PA and Fourscore Beer Company in Gettysburg, PA.

We started with the Cannoli Pastry Stout and we decided to pair it with some chocolate peanut butter cup Turkey Hill ice cream.  It was a warm evening and I would be going for ice cream so we were lucky it was a delicious combo.  Then, as I sat down to write this, we cracked open the S’more Cupcake Pastry Stout and stole Ben’s Zebra cakes to go with it. 

I know feel accomplished getting a few things cleaned up around the house by decreasing the bomber stash.  I can’t wait for the next holiday weekend!  Happy Birthday America!

Some Explosive Good Beers

All of these – from the Figgy Pudding we had in honor of our child’s birth; to the Captain Precocious we had picked up at The Alementary (one of our favorite breweries), to the two Fourscore Beer Co and Wolf Brewing Company collabs (Pastry Parkway – Cannoli and Pastry Parkway – S’mores Cupcake) were “explosively good”. (See what I did there?)

So I have to ask you all again… how many bombers do you have sitting at home, cellaring in your basement, and waiting to be drank? (Don’t worry, despite polishing these off, we still have plenty more to go!)

Drink More Beer!

-Amy

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

• Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
• Happy Father’s Day
• What is Your Summer Time Go To Beer?
• Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

-B. Kline

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

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

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

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

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Revenge of the Fifth…. or Cinco de Mayo… or Taco Tuesday; whatever you’re celebrating. But either way, quarantine or no quarantine, its a day to celebrate, especially in the beer world, and current events be damned if we’re not going to have fun right?

This would have been the ultimate brewery night. Taco Tuesday. Cinco de Mayo. All the craft breweries with a restaurant would have been all over this event. Especially places with a Mexican theme or influence, like Mad Chef, Rotunda Brewing, etc. Or Tattered Flag with their excellent tacos that they serve. So many places to go to eat and or drink at. Along with St. Patty’s Day and yesterday with May the Fourth; bars and breweries are missing out on some specialty days and holidays that typically boost sales for them and help bartenders earn some extra tips.

I did my ‘celebrating’ at home. For lunch, I grilled the family tacos and made it all from scratch myself, while enjoying a delicious a Mexican chocolate (pastry) stout from Celestial Beerworks (collaborating with Islla St Brewing).

So, despite the pandemic, murder hornets, incoming cold weather (with forecasted snow in MAY here in Central PA), released footage of UFOs, and whatever other nonsense is going on in the world, lets take a look at this delicious beer. But first, since I’m sure you want to see my tacos, here you go:

Don’t worry, more lettuce, onions, and shredded cheese was added. Not sure why I didn’t take a fully completed taco picture to be honest (probably because I was finishing that 10% pastry stout, haha).

So, the beer in question came from my Texas beer mail package and is brewed as a collaboration between Celestial Beerworks and Islla St Brewing.

Ok, time to jump into this beer review and deliver the goods to you fine readers.

Beer: Islla en el Cielo
Brewery: Celestial Beerworks
Collaborator: Islla St Brewing
Style: Stout – Pastry
ABV: 10%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: This 10% Imperial Stout is loaded up with Star Crunch and Mexican chocolate. It is smooth and balanced. It has cinnamon on the nose and deep flavors of caramel and milk chocolate. It has a little heat and is beautifully sweet.

For those not Spanish, quick thing: en el cielo means in the sky. Isla (according to Google) not Islla; means island. So roughly the beer means: Island in the Sky.

Star Crunch is a Little Debbie cookie, as their site describes it: “A chewy cookie topped with caramel and crisp rice then covered in a layer of fudge.”

So whoever said my blog wasn’t informative and that reading it you wouldn’t learn things right? I’m teaching you Spanish, about Little Debbie cookies, about tacos, about Star Wars, and now about Texas breweries!

Celestial Beerworks is a Micro Brewery in Dallas Texas. According to Untappd they have 137 unique beers and a global average rating of 4.14. Their Untappd description reads: “At Celestial Beerworks, we believe that beer should be consumed in its freshest state. Our core line-up will focus on hop-forward, approachable, complex brews… We think that visiting a taproom should be an experience. This experience will combine our three favorite things: art, science, and delicious, fresh beer. We are working hard each and every day to bring this vision to fruition.”

Islla St Brewing is a brew pub in San Antonio Texas. Untappd credits them with a 150 unique beers and a global average rating of 4.05. Their Untappd description reads: “Islla St. brewing creates innovative and culturally rich small batch craft beer. Drawing flavors and influence from unique fruits and spices tied to our culture, history and contemporary influences. It is our hope to impact the craft beer industry and bridge a cultural gap through a deeper and richer experience of flavor intended to inspire curiosity. We are looking to open doors for those wanting to explore their heritage and influences in unconventional ways.” (Both breweries global averages are as of 5.5.20.)

The beer is pure black. Pure dark stout, as per typical, it has that lovely dark coloring. Very thin head to this. No foamy mass of head, just a very thin small head with few bubbles. This isn’t really a problem, especially since this isn’t a creamy stout, but more of a dark, rich stout full of various flavors.

Aroma is a bit all over the place. There is an underlying (Mexican) chocolate note to this that is the heaviest nose on the beer. But there is also plenty of other aromas; heavy cinnamon right away but not long-term, some caramel from the malts, a bit of breadyness but not a whole lot. Perhaps drinking this while making the tacos wasn’t the best idea for smelling the nose, but I got some of the heat of the beer in the nose, a slight vanilla, but mostly cinnamon and chocolate.

There is a little bit of heat to this. Nothing like the heat to say Boneshire Brew Work’s Mexican LazaRIS stout, but there is an undercurrent of heat to this. (Which pairs perfectly with tacos by the way.) You definitely get the cinnamon, chocolate (Mexican and otherwise), some bready notes, the caramel malts, and a slight vanilla or milk taste. The biggest notes are the cinnamon and Mexican chocolate. These work very nicely in tandem. The milk chocolate, milk and vanilla notes, slight fudge, probably comes from the Little Debbie Star Crunches. The beer is bouncing back and forth between ‘heat’ and ‘sweet’, almost per sip. One sip you get the heat of the cinnamon and other notes and then the next you’re getting the sweet of the chocolate and Star Crunch. Makes for a interesting beer overall. I certainly digged it, and I think most will too. The heat might be a slight turn off to some, but its not really that prevalent in the beer, so its not bad. Its more of just a ‘bite’ to it than anything else. There is also a little bit of a boozyness to this, especially with it being a 10%, so load up on some tacos as you eat it to keep our belly nice and full and happy.

My Untappd rating: ****.25
Global Untappd rating: 4.09 (as of 5.5.20)

Well, this certainly wasn’t a typical Cinco de Mayo, just like we haven’t had ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ in a long time in general. But we will get there. I think we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully soon we’ll be back in the breweries enjoying a pint together.

Cheers! Salud! Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Mantente segura, quedate en casa, quedate feliz!

-B. Kline

Thursday night was supposed to be Trick or Treat night. It was October 31st to boot, so the townships that celebrate Trick or Treat on the 31st should have been trick or treating, and the townships that celebrate on the Thursday closest to the 31st – should also have been celebrating Trick or Treating….. but, unfortunately, a huge massive thunderstorm decided to disrupt all of those plans.

But in a terrific show, Al of Al’s of Hampden and Pizza Boy Brewing Co. decided to offer a treat rather than a trick to all the local kids. When most of the local areas either moved trick or treat to Friday night (Nov. 1st) or outright cancelled it, Al stepped up and offered free pizza, free chicken tenders, free fries, and free candy for kids, having basically a large buffet set up for kids in costumes in the open seating patio area of Pizza Boy.

It was a wonderful, full night at Pizza Boy. Tons of kids in costumes roamed about while parents sat and drank and watched either the Thursday Night Football game on a few televisions or one of the kid Halloween movies on the big screen or smaller screens from Disney or Nickelodeon.

Kids came dressed up as clowns, Frankenstein’s monster, the fork from the newest Toy Story movie, Stitch, a Fox, nearly every member of the Avengers (except of course nobody was dressed up as Hawkeye), a lumberjack, or Wednesday Adams. (Just to name some of the various costumes I saw.)

It was a terrific gesture shown by Al and the brewery and restaurant. And the kids (and parents) had a fantastic time. Hard to beat free pizza (for kids), free chicken tenders, free fries, free soda, and free candy… but I think I have a beer that did just that.

Beer: St. Thomas
Brewery: Pizza Boy Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Pastry
ABV: 11%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: ST. THOMAS, PATRON SAINT OF COFFEE STOUTS, an 11% pastry stout infused with @stthomasroasters coffee at a rate of 3 pounds per barrel and over 5 pounds of fresh vanilla beans. Decadent and velvety with an intense aroma of freshly brewed coffee. With such a serious coffee profile we had to balance it with an astronomical amount of specialty malts for a rich, luscious body of liquid burnt marshmallows, fresh vanilla, roasted caramel, coffee and MORE COFFEE.

This was an extremely delicious beers. Other than Sunny Side Up, Pizza Boy isn’t really known for their stouts, but when they do them, they absolutely nail them and they are completely and wonderfully fantastic. And this is just example 1 in that category. Its full, its heavy, its boozy, its complex, its very coffee, its very bold, beautiful, robust, tasty, and delicious. Let’s break it down and get into it.

Appearance is as dark black as they come. Black hole sucking out color black; outside of the nice foamy head, it has a very rich, creamy, light brown to white head with spaced and varied sized bubbles. Great carbonation. Great dark stout color, great colored head.

Aroma is like walking into a Starbucks (or what I imagine it does, because I make sure to stay out of those hipster dens). Extreme notes of coffee immediately, even from a distance. There is some milder notes of caramel, vanilla, and some sweet malts. I didn’t pick up any marshmallow despite what the Untappd description for this gives. Perhaps its just covered up by the insane amounts of coffee? Who knows, but I do know this smelled delicious before I even got into it.

Taste is very complex. A lot going on with this stout once you get to tasting it. There is the obvious extreme coffee, but there is so much underneath and underlying that. There is the vanilla that smooths it, there is the sweet malts, caramel flavoring, and it is nice and boozy and heavy. You feel the 11% right away with this one. The coffee gives it a very strong bitter that the vanilla then comes in and smooths and softens before finishing it out. There is a bit of light marshmallow taste, but not too much, and it gets hidden and folded in and swallowed up by the other complexities of this beer. That is certainly not a bad thing, as the complexity of the stout works for it perfectly. The bitterness giving away to sweetness, the booze lighting a fire in your stomach, the heavy mouthfeel, the bold flavors, all works perfectly to provide a very deep, rich, and complex and powerfully flavorful beer that is tremendous and wonderful to sip on. Especially as five thousand screaming and carrying on kids go running around and it starts pouring like crazy and thundering and rumbling and lightening lighting up the sky.

This should certainly be a must try for anyone who loves stouts, high-ABV beers, pastry stouts especially, coffee, or just trying deep, rich, tasty new brews.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.1 (as of 11.2.19)

I would just like to thank Al, Al’s of Hampden, and Pizza Boy, for doing this for the kids, and for the community. It was a wonderful gesture that meant a lot to the kids – especially the younger ones who missed out on getting to do their normal night of trick or treating. I know the kids enjoyed it, I know my kids did, and it was greatly appreciated by both kids and parents alike. It is great when breweries and people step up like this to help out their local communities, absolutely love it.

Ok, and so far so good, keeping up with my November challenge. Two days, two blogs. So far so good right? Only 28 more days to go! (And no… thats not a pun intended or a threat/worry about Zombies coming….. ….lets see if anyone gets that reference, if you do, leave a comment about it.)

Until tomorrow everyone, keep drinking, enjoy your weekend, and hope you all had a wonderful Boo-zy Halloween!

-B. Kline

Its been a hot minute since I’ve been to Ever Grain (the brewery), so I figured it was about time and I was due to try some delicious beers from them (absolutely always love their beers). They have such a fantastic brewery and a lovely place that is just so inviting (inside and outside) that I always love going there. Sadly, it just feels “so far away” from the Hummelstown area. Its really only a 18-22 minute drive (Google Maps flips and flops on this, depending on time of day, traffic, local events, etc.), so in actuality its not REALLY that far away, more like it just feels that way (due to having to cross the river I suspect) so its kind of a mental impediment.

Saturday while at work a co-worker mentioned about how she saw the Cinn-a-Bun and the other beers that Ever Grain was posting on their Instagram. You can actually check out our first post on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B24Mt-FgJD8/ . Hopefully as I figure out more about it, we’ll be posting more on there (I know a lot of people use Instagram rather than FaceBook or Twitter or even Untappd or ….. Myspace?!). But needless to say, she saw the post on their Instagram about it and got excited about it and was talking about how much she loves pastry stouts and such, and to be honest, I definitely do too. And over this past weekend (Saturday and Sunday, the 21st and 22nd of September) Ever Grain celebrated their 3rd Anniversary. (Feels like they’ve been open much longer, especially with the quality of their beers!). So I had to stop and get her a crowler of the Cinn-a-bun, plus, I definitely wanted to try out all these lovely delicious sounding beers myself. So… thats just what I did!

The brewery has undergone a few changes since I was last there (probably back in maybe October or November of LAST year). They now have a side-bar and restaurant (ran by Kurt, and its called Little Bird at Ever Grain) and their main bar area now opens up in two different directions. On a nice (and still warm) September night like Tuesday was, it was lovely. I chose to sit out in the patio area and read while drinking (like I usually do) and watched a cornhole tournament (or at least a cornhole competition) unfold.

I unfortunately didn’t have a lot of time to spend (pretty much just enough time to grab the flight, sample it, read about 15 pages in the process, take in the ambience, and get the crowler to go), so I didn’t get anything to order from Little Bird. I also got there at 8:50 and the place was due to close at 10PM, though when I left at 9:20-9:30 it was still hopping and the tournament/competition was just ending. But all I’ve heard is amazing things and seeing Kurt’s posts on Facebook, the food looks absolutely phenomenal and delicious.

I was quite surprised by how busy they were at even 930 at night, on a Tuesday, especially given that their Google Maps, Untappd, and Hop Plotter, listings all had them scheduled to close at 10PM.

It was a fun, loud, jovial atmosphere both inside the brewery and outside, especially in the grass area between Ever Grain and the boxing studio and the oyster restaurant. This is what is so great about breweries – bringing communities and people together. All kinds of groups of people hanging out inside at the bar area, at the tables, families with kids, guys watching sports on the TV, outside people playing cornhole and having a blast together, and I think the couple at the table near me were on a first or second date (a lot of new questions about each other), possibly even met there at the brewery.

Looking at the extensive (13+) beers they had available, I decided to go the route of dark, heavy, boozy, and I definitely loved the flight I picked out, and would highly recommend it to everyone making a one-time stop in at Ever Grain. My flight consisted of a (barrel aged) barleywine, a porter, a (barrel aged) Imperial / Double stout, and a milk / sweet / pastry stout. So it was definitely a heavy, boozy flight, and also a very dark one. It was delicious! Let’s break it down.

Beer: Barrel Aged Barleywine
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Style: Barleywine – American
ABV: 14%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Smooth, lively & fruity we barrel aged this beer in Buffalo Trace barrels for a year. On a cold evening, you will be warmed from the inside out!

This was an absolutely wonderful barleywine, and as anyone who knows me knows, I love barleywines. The bigger, the bolder, the higher the ABV, the better. And this matches all of that. This is what a barleywine should be, and its definitely everything I love in a barleywine. Aged in Buffalo Trace barrels; which gives it an edge and a kick that just adds to the beer and puts it over the top.

Aroma is strong malt, strong notes of the boozyness before you even dive into the taste. It has a spicey and stone fruit smell that is heavy and stays in your nostrils.

Appearance is light to dark brown, an earthy brown one might say (or tobacco spit coloring if you’re feeling for an apt and disgusting coloring description). Its mostly on the light-brown spectrum moving upwards. Not a whole lot of head nor does there ever need to be for this. (I was also granted this for free since someone had ordered a taster of it and then didn’t want it, so even though I picked this for my flight, I didn’t have to pay for it, so it might have sat for a few minutes.)

Taste is splendid. Immediately heavy booze, heavy traces of the wood and barrel aging process, bourbon-scotch notes. Dry finish but nothing too dry and nothing bitter. No cloying, no off flavors, no astringency, no sourness. Mouthfeel is heavy but in the right ways.

This was definitely the right beer to start off this flight with!

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.18 (as of 9.26.19)

Beer: You Think Darkness is Your Ally?
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Collaboration: H.L. Horse
Style: Porter – Baltic Imperial / Double
ABV: 8%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: You like dark beers? You’ve merely adopted the dark; this beer was born in it. In the cold, dark lager cellar it grew strong & emerged a deep, complex porter slightly roasty with a rich malty sweetness.

Didn’t realize it until after I checked it in and saw that it was a collaboration beer (no mentioning it on the sign or anywhere else). The Untappd page lists it as a collaboration with a “home brewery” named H.L. Horse. The page on H.L. Horse has no description or information, and lists them as having 18 unique beers to their name and 31 ratings (so no total global rating). So not sure the history on this collaboration.

Aroma is roasty, malt forward and heavy. It has a complex nose but generally speaking its more malt forward and roasty then it is anything else that I can fully distinguish.

Appearance is jet engine fuel black. Its sucking in light and not letting any of it return, ala a black hole. For a taster glass, it had a nice head to it, a nice simple foam with varying bubbles and a creamy look to it. This is the abyss that Nietzsche talks about, and if you keep staring at it, you will fall in.

Taste is a complex matter on this one. It is very dry, very bitter, at times too bitter, and at times too dry, but ultimately as a whole, it tastes alright. It tastes like first sip is overly bitter and dry, but middle sip is ok, and last sip the dryness and bitterness kind of even out. Hard to explain in that. This is heavy too, you can feel and taste some of that 8% that lurks in the depths of this dark beer. You get the roasty malts and even possibly a slight smokiness but that is very subliminal and very limited.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.01 (as of 9.26.19)

Beer: 3rd Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 14.3%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: A complex Imperial Stout aged in Wolford Reserve & Apple Brandy barrels which impart rich bourbon, chocolate, and roasted flavors.

This one surprisingly clocks in higher than the barleywine on the ABV charts for this fun outing. Climbing all the way up to 14.3% (the barleywine was a 14%). And this one felt heavy, but not as boozy as the barleywine. Aged in Wolford Reserve and Apple Brandy barrels rather than Buffalo Trace. Their 2nd Anniversary Stout was an aged Dark Necessity stout and clocked in at 11.2%. Their first anniversary stout was an 11% bourbon barrel aged stout. So you may or may not be noticing a theme with their anniversary stouts.

Aroma is kind of your typical for a stout. Malt, some chocolate, a bit of coffee maybe, a richness and a creamyness to it, a little bit of bourbon from the barrel aging.

Appearance is just like the Your Darkness, very black, maybe not quite as dark as the prior, but definitely dark. The head is a white slight foam, creamy in appearance. Unlike the Porter (Your Darkness) which had a more dark brown / peanut butter colored head to it.

Taste on this one is a bit interesting, and I found it sadly lacking. Not completely and overly lacking, but just… not quite what my expectations were probably before going in. I definitely imagined it being their big, bad, best stout, especially with a 14.3% ABV and with it being their “3rd Anniversary Stout”, plus anytime I have a “barrel aged” beer, I expect just a bit more out of it. Primarily due to cost going up on it (cost both for us as consumer and cost by the brewer). But also because of all the added work that goes in, to the transferring, to the procuring, to the sampling, etc, etc, etc. Just to reiterate, I did like this beer, it just didn’t fit the description and didn’t fit with my mental head on it. It tasted a bit thin, not flat, but thin, almost going towards watery but not there. It didn’t have a concrete bourbon flavoring to it either that I really expected it to have. There was a sweetness to it, which kind of surprised me. Could be the chocolate? I don’t know, it definitely didn’t have the bitter chocolate or the cooking chocolate flavor and taste to it. Thats for sure. Some roast malt notes but very slight.

My gut reaction response when I had it (encapsulated on m Untappd check-in): ” Interesting stout, kind of a sweet taste to it. Tastes thin and light, but is 14%, no real bourbon flavor. I like it, but doesn’t exactly fit the description or seem right, not sure. I do like it though, can’t fully put my finger on it.”

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.18 (as of 9.26.19)

Beer: Cinn-a-Bun
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: A decadent dessert Stout brewed with milk sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, & dozens of fresh cinnamon buns from The Pennsylvania Bakery in Camp Hill. All of the rich flavors & aromas you’d expect from a cinnamon bun, conveniently infused in a Stout!

The purpose of the trip, to grab a crowler of this for Haley, my co-worker who saw this on Ever Grain’s Instagram or Twitter or whatever on Saturday (yea, I’m not very social media savvy but trying to get there for the sake of this blog). So I grabbed a crowler of this, got the flight for myself (can’t stop at a brewery without having at least one beer), and the total came to 19.25$ (well, 23$ after tip). So hopefully when I go back to work Saturday (yea… Saturday is my Monday) and I surprise her with it, she’ll like it. Fingers crossed. Always good to earn brownie points.

Interestingly, with the lead ingredient being fresh cinnamon buns from The Pennsylvania Bakery, it reminds me of the various cakes I’ve gotten from there in the past (ones for various parties and such like my moms birthday). Its one of the best bakeries around, an absolutely fantastic place.

So there is definitely a lot to unpack with this beer, and surprisingly its also the lowest ABV of my flight (by a fair margin, the other beers being a 14%, 8%, 14.3%).

Aroma is cinnamon heavy, bready, notes of vanilla and sugar. You can smell the cinnamon buns from The PA Bakery upfront and heavy. The cinnamon itself dominating most of all. But you can definitely get a bready quality there, and notes of the vanilla.

Appearance is like the last three, jet engine fuel black. (This is always one of my favorite descriptors, only followed up by “Razor Ramon hair black”, which maybe I’ll switch to using that more.) Nice small ring of head to this, whitish to slight cream colored.

Taste is a pastry stout bomb in your mouth going off. Everything you think about in a pastry stout is right there exploding immediately. Breadyness, sugary, creamy, vanilla, all sorts of flavors. Lactose. Bread. Vanilla. Smoothness and creamyness. The cinnamon is pretty heavy to going mild and adds a nice note to the beer. I think the cinnamon kind of overpowers some of the vanilla and creamy lactose notes, but not too much, and definitely not enough to offset the beer. This finishes just as good as it starts and it never gets bad at any point. Nice aftertaste of a cinnamon bun, just like it was fresh from Grammy’s oven.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.93 (as of 9.26.19)

For those curious, the book I’m reading is “How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems” by Randall Munroe of XKCD fame. Very funny book and I highly recommend it (I’ll soon be done with it and posting a review of it on my GoodReads if you want to check it out.)

As you can see I’m getting better with linking things, and working harder to incorporate more links and pingbacks to our other articles and such, and will be combing back over some of our older articles to start adding in links and updating them.

We were recently approached by a brewery named MidWest Coast Brewing Company to cover their opening of their brewery and taproom. They are a new brewery in Chicago and they invited us to do a brewery tour (which won’t be a while due to travel issues) as well as to do a write-up and kind of an interview with them to help grab some attention for their opening of their new brewery and taproom. So expect to see that article soon.

Likewise, expect to see quite a few new beer reviews, and comb back through for some others that got date-logged backwards due to when I started writing them. Also, my event write-up for the Lititz Brewfest I attended Sunday should be completed tomorrow, and will be posted here, as well as submitted to Breweries in PA. So you’ll be able to read it in both places. (Likely our blog will contain a bit more than their version will, mostly personal stuff I’ll post here before posting there.)

Also, for the second week we stayed at #11 on The Top 100 Beer Blogs on FeedSpot. We’ve only been listed for 3 weeks, and we debuted at #120, and then went to #11 in week 2 and stayed there for week 3. So that is definitely a high honor for us.

Last night, spent a fair amount of time at D.Scott’s practicing and setting up stuff for the podcast we’ll be doing together. He is currently thinking of the name of “Off the Rails” and it will be the two of us playing old NES and SNES games and discussing everything under the sun, while drinking beer, and talking craft beer as well. I’ll be sure to plug that here when things progress. (As a heads up, it will be a bit more ‘edgy’ than this blog is.)

Thanks for the look, hopefully you liked the beer flight review, I highly recommend checking out Ever Grain soon before these leave the taps (and not likely to come back), and make sure you all keep clicking the like, the subscribe and follow, and comment whenever you want, we appreciate hearing from you!

-B. Kline

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Thanks!!)