Join the Hemauer Brewing family at their brewery in Mechanicsburg for a FREE Holiday Ham Meal on Christmas Eve! Join the Hemauer team and family and friends at their brewery – 1010 Wesley Dr, Mechanicsburg, PA, United States, Pennsylvania 17055 on December 24th and enjoy some fantastic beers and a wonderful and free holiday ham meal!

Enjoy a free Holiday Ham Meal at Hemauer Brewery!

Free Holiday Ham Meal at Hemauer Brewery

This looks to be a fantastic time for the community, an event for one and all; those who are looking for a delicious meal, or for those who need one. All ages and no purchases required. For more information, check out their event page here: Hemauer Brewing Hosting FREE Holiday Ham Meal. The event page lists the following information:

The Hemauer family invites you to their taproom at 1010 Wesley Drive in Mechanicsburg to enjoy a FREE holiday ham meal!

On Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24th, from 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM*, the Hemauer family (Brooks, Shannon, and their sons Collin and Ian) will serve free holiday ham meals at their taproom. All ages are welcome to enjoy the meal. No purchase is required.

This meal is free to anyone who wants or needs a delicious meal. A regular at their taproom? Come on in! Never been to the taproom? Welcome! Want a break from cooking? We hear ya on that one!

On the menu:
-Spiral-cut ham slices
-Mashed potatoes
-Peas
-Cookie
-Bottled soda or bottled water

Brooks and Shannon believe in community, bringing people together, and making a positive difference in this world. They are teaching their sons the importance of giving to others.

Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase; however, no purchase is required to enjoy the holiday meal! Enjoy the meal at the taproom or take it to go. One meal per person. *While supplies last.*

The taproom has limited space. Tables are first come, first served. If there are no tables available, you can take your meal to go. To keep things flowing, please limit your time to no more than 45 minutes to enjoy your meal. The last dine-in meal served at 3:15 PM. The kitchen closes at 3:30 PM.

Hemauer Brewing Hosting FREE Holiday Ham Meal – Facebook Event Page

More Information on Hemauer Brewing Company

The following comes via Untappd.

Hemauer Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Mechanicsburg, PA. They have 192 unique beers, and over 17,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.84 (as of 12.15.24). Their Untappd description reads: “Pouring liquid art, one pint at a time. ”

You can follow them on these social media platforms:

• Hemauer Brewing – Official Website
• Hemauer Brewing – Facebook
• Hemauer Brewing – Instagram
• Hemauer Brewing – Twitter
• Hemauer Brewing – Untappd

For Other Hemauer Brewing Articles

• Hemauer Brewing and The Adventure’s Guild Team Up For Board Game Night
• Helping the Hemauer Family Out
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing Company
• A Message From Brooks Hemauer

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 are also now on BlueSky as well, so make sure to check us out there also. 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 #5 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of August 2024.) 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.)

Breweries and Farms… Farms and Breweries… They need each other.

Craft Beer’s Boom

Craft Beer Sourcing Local Ingredients

See Our Recently Posted Article

See our recently posted article about how the craft beer community is doing, and why breweries are closing, and what this whole conundrum thing is all about.

• The Craft Beer Conundrum: Navigating the Troubled Waters of the Craft Beer Industry

We will be writing a series of articles exploring the craft beer industry, and how fragile it really is right now. What might be happening to it, and where the industry is heading. We hope you stay tuned for these great articles. Thank you!

This Fast Paced World

Life just never seems to slow down.  I have these grandiose plans of things to do when I’m bored.  Do I really expect that might happen in my lifetime?

One thing I do have to be thankful for is when meeting the wonderful editor/creator of this blog as he retaught me how to take time for myself and relax.  So now that we have a 5 – month – old daughter together, we still make time to do just that.  I’m sure you know what I’m about to claim is our favorite relaxation activity?  Yup, you got it, go have a beer! 

The past couple of outings we have visited some breweries they were definitely at times when both sat down with a beer and let out a big sigh.  This is what breweries do for us.  They become our 3^rd home.  That one we have those relaxation dreams and plan big.

Local Favorites

The past few weeks have consisted of some visits at some fav breweries around our area; many more favs on the list of course!  We just had our first outside beer drinking over at Troegs Independent Craft Brewing in Hershey.  There we split a flight and shared a smoked brisket sandwich with a side of hop fries.  I remember being so excited to be able to sit on the patio outside.  It’s about making sure to take that bit of relaxation, squeeze it in your day! 

We swung by Cox Brewing Company when we were in the area running errands and trying desperately not to forget a stop.  We shared the Gene Wenger’s meats and fine foods snack pack.  We were sitting in the open-door garage with the breeze blowing after the morning rain in their new/old Rheems location.  Admit it, you took a deep breath in as you read that last line.  I did too.  We took the time to share some brews, some laughs and some deep sighs before heading out of CBC.  Then we tackled the rest of that To-Do list!

(Read Amy’s column last week about Cox Brewing Company – Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots.)

Another awesome moment to sit outside was at Boneshire Brew Works in Rutherford, we enjoyed the picnic table layout in the parking lot.  We munched on our fav of their amazing pizza creations, the bacon thyme pizza. 

We each sipped on a beer and enjoyed the evening outside.  (Ben got ‘The Heights’ IPA and I got the ‘Pletzfest’ festbier.) It was a beautiful evening, and was fun to see the ‘Death Rattler’ truck pull up.

We did Pizza Boy in Enola in the half outside room they have and it was great introducing my mom to Pizza Boy too.  Yup, my mom loves the craft beer too.  We actually just took her to Pizza Boy again tonight.  We swung by there both times after a couple mile walk. (First trip we walked the Vincent DiFilippo Nature Preserve, and the second trip we walked Grandon Farm Trail starting from Creekview Park South.)

(You can read Ben’s book review about the art of stillness and relaxing here: Book Review: The Art of Stillness – Adventures in Going Nowhere (Pico Iyer).)

Ok that’s it, I need to go relax and so should you. 

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Ferris Bueller

Drink More Beer!

-Amy

Thank You For Reading

If you really want to take the day off, you can check out some of our articles, like this one about Hemp and Beer:

• Hemp and Beer – Happy 4:20 Day

Or this list of Amy’s weekly column articles:

• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and Yah Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)

Thanks for reading everyone. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow, to keep getting our great content. Comment and let us know what you think, give us your suggestions, ideas, or thoughts. Any questions? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us through the CONTACT US page.

Cheers!

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.

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. 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.

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.

Sobel’s Obscure Brewery

If you are from the Pittsburgh area – or are a fan of dad jokes – you might know of Sobel’s Obscure Brewery. They are currently a small micro brewery in the greater Pittsburgh area (Jeannette, Pennsylvania), and have their beers distributed in the area. (I had my first – and sadly still only – beer from them while at The Meadows Casino outside of Pittsburgh, PA.) They are well known on social media for their dad jokes (I’ll have a section about that later in the article).

But first, before we get into their grand opening and discuss it, let’s take a look at Sobel’s and the brewery itself.

According to Untappd; they are a micro brewery from Jeannette, Pennsylvania. They have 57 unique beers and 9,839 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.52 (as of 10.13.22). Their Untappd description reads: “Like many other brewers, we started out with a passion for drinking beer. Which grew into a passion for home-brewing and creating new, exciting, and oftentimes obscure recipes. Born out of our garage, we set out to create exciting new and different recipes. After gifting some brews to our friends and family, and being awarded at competitions, we decided to give it a try on the big stage! Founded officially in 2012, Sobel’s Obscure Brewery is a family endeavor run by David Sobel and his two children, Gordon and Jackie. Always ready for fun and laughter, we endeavored to create not only a great product, but a quirky brand that would spur consumers to try us and follow our progress! Get to know our beer gnomes! Keep on the lookout for the funny antics they get up to! Download our app (coming soon!) and play some games!“

You can follow them on their social media pages here:

• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Official Website
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – @SOBrews – Twitter
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Instagram
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Facebook

Their current business hours are (from their official website):

The Pop-Up Tap Garden is OPEN!!

Hours of Operation are as follows:

• Thursday 4:00 – 8:00
• Friday 4:00 – 9:00
• Saturday 1:00 – 9:00
• Closed Sunday – Wednesday!
  
  108 S 4th St, Jeannette!

Grand Opening – New Location

Sobel’s Obscure Brewery has been posting #sneakpeak pictures and videos and such things on their Facebook about their new location / grand opening of their new location. You can see all that on their Facebook page: Sobel’s Obscure Brewery. Looks like they will be keeping this up going into the opening in a week.

As shown above, and shown on their social media pages, the first weekend of their Grand Opening at their new location will be:

• Friday – October 21st, 4:00PM – 10:00PM
• Saturday – October 22nd, 12:00PM – 10:00PM
• Sunday – October 23rd, 12:00PM – 6:00PM

Their grand new location is located at 500 Clay Avenue Jeannette, Pennsylvania. In the following map you can see the distance to their grand new location from where they are doing their Pop Up Tents: Google Maps – 108 S. 4th Street Jeannette, PA to 500 Clay Avenue, Jeannette, PA.

They have created an event page on Facebook: New Location. GRAND OPENING! The event description reads:

“It’s finally time! Join us for our GRAND OPENING WEEKEND at Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s new Taproom location.

500 Clay Ave, Jeannette

Friday the 21st 4:00PM – 10:00PM
Saturday the 22nd 12:00PM – 10:00PM
Sunday the 23rd 12:00PM – 6:00PM

Elegant Catering Food truck will be onsite Friday the 21st
PGH St Food Truck will be onsite Saturday the 22nd

Seating is first come first served. No reservations. Please be patient with us and our new staff as we acclimate ourselves to the new bar!

The following week, we will begin our regular hours of:
Mondays CLOSED
Tuesdays CLOSED
Wednesdays 4:00PM – 9:00PM
Thursdays 4:00PM – 9:00PM
Fridays 4:00PM – 10:00PM
Saturdays 12:00PM – 10:00PM
Sundays 12:00PM – 6:00PM”

New Location. GRAND OPENING!

New Brewery Location

The following photos and videos are courtesy of their Facebook page – you can pop over there to see them, as well as the dad jokes, and much more from Sobel’s Obscure Brewery.

There is also a great video they have posted showing the love they have for their new brewery. You can tell that both Jackie and David love what they do and have fun working together as father and daughter:

If the video doesn’t work due to Facebook Watch issues (which is likely a thing, due to how Facebook and Facebook Watch works), you can go directly here:

• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Grand Opening Location Video

Here is the YouTube version of it, and should hopefully work no matter what:

The new location will be a lovely new addition to Jeannette, Pennsylvania. It is a 18,000 square foot old building (built in 1904 – so over a hundred years old already); it was a former antique shop, hardware store, and department store. They will be primarily using the downstairs first floor for the brewery and their taproom, this will be 6,000 of its 18,000 square footprint.

Their bar will sit 15 guests at a time and they are having 20 taplines which they plan on keeping up to date at all times. As you can see from the above draft boards, they will be having 20 beers on tap at their grand opening.

Currently food trucks will be their go to for food at the venue. They are local minded and the food trucks will be from the area, as well as they will be letting local restaurants table deliver inside their brewery.

Thats not all of the renovations that they’ve done that has taken them so long and so much hard work. They have also purchased the building adjacent to their brewery which they tore down, and will be using as a huge outdoor patio. They are a bit of a ways yet from getting that off the ground – but its winter anyway, so look for it most likely in 2023.

And of course – most importantly – with a bigger building comes a bigger brewhouse! (The thing most of you readers are concerned, worried, and wondering about anyway!) With the new brewery, they’ve gone from a 1BBL system to a 7BBL system. This should help in keeping those 20 draft lines flowing at all times. (Well, all business hour times.)

Dad and Daughter Owned

Sobel’s Obscure Brewery is unique in that its owned and operated and brewed by a father and daughter duo / team. Jackie Sobel and her father David Sobel. If you’ve been following their social media, you are sure to have seen many of their dad jokes they have on their page. You can find some below:

More Information

For more information on Sobel’s Obscure Brewery, you can check out their links below:

• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Official Website
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – @SOBrews – Twitter
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Instagram
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Facebook
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery – Untappd

And check out the event page for their Grand Opening:

• New Location – Grand Opening!

Openings, Closings, News, Etc

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

• Other Half Brewing Company Opening Friday 2.18.22 in Philadelphia
• Midwest Coast Brewery Opening
• Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor (Camp Hill)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub (Hershey)
• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?
• Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino – Grantville – Opening Their 5th Location
• JB LoveDraft’s Grand Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• ZeroDay Opens Their New Tap Room (Harrisburg)
• Victory Brewery Fire and Explosion (Kennett Square)
• Sign of the Horse Brewery is Expanding in Hanover (Taking Over the Old Miscreation Brewery)
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh)
• Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• A Sneak Peak at the new Rubber Soul Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (Hummelstown)
• VooDoo Lancaster Closing
• River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closes
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing (Mechanicsburg)
• Rally Point Tap Room Opening – Cox Brewing Company – Elizabethtown
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Aslin Beer Co. Now Ships to Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Expanding to Pittsburgh
• Rural City Beer Company Coming to Beamstown PA
• Grand Opening of Forest and Main’s New Brewpub
• New Bells-gium – New Belgium Owned Company Buys Bell’s Brewery
• Human Robot Expanding to Jenkintown
• High Road Brewing Company Coming to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in Summer 2022
• YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
• RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop
• Arboretum Trail Brewing Company Opens Their Doors Tomorrow
• Macklin Brewing Company in Development
• Michaux Brewing Company Grand Opening
• Shy Bear Brewing Announces Two New Locations
• Newfangled Brew Works Announces Closure
• Fourscore Beer Company Celebrates Their 3rd Anniversary
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Owner’s Retirement
• Voodoo Brewing Company To Open Brewpub on North Shore of Pittsburgh – August 27th
• Truth Beer Company’s Grand Opening
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Grand New Location and Opening
• Brewery Openings – Archives

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks so much for reading. We really appreciate it! This article has been updated periodically with some of the new pictures that Sobel’s Obscure Brewery has posted on their social media. The new building looks fantastic, and I can’t wait to make it out there. We will definitely try and make a stop on our next Pittsburgh trip (who knows when that’ll be with Scarlet only about a month away now from being born).

I appreciate you all reading and liking our posts and checking us out. It really means a lot to us here at The Beer Thrillers. Be sure to stick out, subscribe, comment, leave us feedback, reach out and contact us, etc, etc, etc. We love hearing from our readers!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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

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

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. 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 are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

Setting up the Interview

With the upcoming “One Sweet Afternoon 90’s Throwback Party” brewfest, I decided to reach out to Ryan Galiotto, owner and head of Fueled by Hops, and ask him some questions about a whole host of things. He was gracious enough to answer our questions and talk to us, so please, enjoy the following interview.

The Interview

After the first question, I will abbreviate ‘The Beer Thrillers’ to TBT and will abbreviate Ryan Galiotto to RG (as per standards with written interviews).

The Beer Thrillers: Who “is” Ryan Galiotto? Where did you grow up? Education? Interests? Hobbies? Etc.
Ryan Galiotto: I consider myself to be just an average guy who likes beer. I grew up in Easton, PA, just down the street from Weyerbacher Brewing, before moving to Pittsburgh (so I’ve covered both ends of PA). After I finished college, I moved to Chicago which is where I fell in love with beer. Since 2007, most of my hobbies revolve around craft beer. Well, that and spending time with my wife and daughter.

TBT: How did you get into beer? First remembrances of beer? Favorite initial drinks/beer?
RG: I was in Chicago and lived very close to a Goose Island location. I made my way throw their beer list before moving on to Fat Tire, Dogfish Head and all the popular craft breweries of that era. Once I discovered Garret Oliver and Brooklyn Brewing, I was absolutely hooked. I couldn’t believe that Brooklyn Brown Ale could taste as well as it does (and I still think that).

TBT: Progression into craft beer – what was your first craft beer? First breweries you went to?
RG: I can’t recall the first, but it was probably Yuengling. My early memories though revolve around Goose Island and Dogfish Head, which were also my first breweries.

TBT: How did you become interested in beer more than just a drinking habit? (ie. the site/writing/etc)
RG: I ran a craft beer bar back in 2008-2009ish. We handled about 125 brands of craft beer back then which is a TON of beer for that era. The idea for Fueled By Hops was actually born back then, however, I shelved it. I wanted to learn everything about beer at that point before I started any kind of business. Fast forward to 2017-2018ish and craft breweries were popping up around me, I knew it was time to act on my idea.

TBT: How did Fueled by Hops begin? (When did it begin, who all was involved, what all did you do, etc.)
RG: It all started on March 9, 2019 when I was drinking a Hitchhiker Brewing BA Woke. The idea was already created long before, but I didn’t know how to execute it. After noticing a lot of beer groups on Facebook (most of which were very toxic), I decided to start my own and get rid of that toxicity. We started with 8 members, and three of them were my brother, my brother-in-law, and my wife along with some other friends I met at breweries.

TBT: Where did you envision Fueled by Hops going or becoming when you first started it?
RG: I always just wanted a beer blog and cool community that hosted meetups and stuff. I never really evisioned it getting much bigger than that. However, after I incorporated, I started seeing different avenues where we could grow and started pushing the brand in those directions.

TBT: How has Fueled by Hops grown since it first started? Who all has helped out? What all has changed? What was it like Day 1 til today?
RG: We’ve grown our Facebook group from 8 members to 5,300 today. We probably could have many more members, however, we’re trying to make sure the group doesn’t get too large and lose it’s “good vibes only” nature. So it’s a slow grind up. Since Day 1, we’ve added on a merch store, multiple podcasts, a blog (which is now defunct) and have hosted a bunch of cool events and festivals. Most of this is all handled by myself and my business partner, Nick Adams.

TBT: Where do you foresee Fueled by Hops going/doing in the future? What all would you like to do with it? Bucket list goals for it?
RG: It’s weird to say but I think I see us growing in to a “beer-focused” media company. Some would argue that we’re there now, however I still want the “community” to be the front-facing part of the brand. I want to eventually release more podcasts and social content for the beer nerd. It may not all be about beer, but it’s certainly going to be relevant to people just like me. As long as the brand serves my beer friends well, I really don’t care how large it grows. I think that attitude helps the brand maintain it’s vibe as it scales up.

TBT: Talk us through the Best Brunch Ever brewfest. How did it come about, who all was involved, how did you brainstorm it, how successful was it?
RG: Best Brunch Ever was thought up actually AT Drink The Cookie Table. Nick and I were just walking around and said “hey, we should do this with brunch foods”… and then we just ran with it. He and I work well together and we really complement each other’s creative sides. So, Best Brunch was in my opinion, one of the most creative beer fests in a segment of the beer industry that’s becoming dry. It was also incredibly successful, selling out one session in just a day.

TBT: Was there any other brewfests before it? Or any other big events you had done before Brunch?
RG: There was one festival before it: Drink The Cookie Table, our ode to the Pittsburgh cookie table concept where all the beers were focused in the “dessert” direction. We called it “The sweeeetest event of the year”. It was our first festival and also our first sellout event. For being our first festival, I think we nailed this one. It’ll always be special to me. In fact, it’s actually being written about in a book releasing later this fall.

TBT: Moving onto the new brewfest – One Sweet Afternoon, how did it come about? What all ideas did you have behind it? Why Erie? etc.
RG: We wanted to move away from the “food” concept and do something our followers would love.  So we had the idea to do a throwback event and being as most of us were kids in the 90s, it was a natural fit.  All the beers at this event will themed around being a kid in that decade:  cosmic brownies, Ninja Turtles, East Coast Rap, Nesquick, and sooo much more.

We deemed this one a “party” rather than a festival because it seems like our events have more of a Party vibe to them.  When we plan fests, we don’t just plan them for beer nerds.  Our motto is:  you don’t need to be a beer nerd to enjoy our events, but if you’re a beer nerd, you’ll enjoy our events!

We chose Erie because that’s the second largest following of our brand.  It wasn’t fair for Pittsburgh to get all the love so we wanted to a big festival for the Erie market (which we love).  It’s also smack in between Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland, three great beer markets.  It just made sense.  As a result, we were able to assemble an amazing list of breweries from those regions.

TBT: How do you see One Sweet Afternoon doing? How is attendance looking currently? Are tickets still available?
RG: With this event being in a new market, we expected attendance to be lower than our Pittsburgh festivals. With that said, tickets are moving nicely and this will be a nice crowd.

TBT: Any future brewfests planned?
RG: After OSA, we’re going straight into planning Drink The Cookie Table 2! More details will follow on this one.

TBT: Any future events planned?
RG: We always have events on the horizon. Follow us on Instagram @fueledbyhops_ for those details!

TBT: What do you foresee coming down the pipelines in the remainder of 2022, and looking forward – in 2023, 2024, and even 2025?
RG: That’s hard to say, but I do want to focus more on charitable giving. Right now, we run a scholarship program for the Point Park University Brewing Science Academy. This program helps a member of an under-served / marginalized community learn how to brew beer professionally. I’d like to host some events that will allow us to expand this program.

TBT: What are your favorite breweries? Favorite beers? Favorite styles?
RG: My favorite brewery of all time is The Answer. I’ll drink anything from there. Other than that, my favorite beer of all time is Brooklyn Brown Ale.

TBT: Trends – where do you see the future of craft beer going? What trends do you see on the horizon?
RG: I think the term “craft beer” is dying.  Let me explain…  I’m not saying the industry is dying, but rather that it’s maturing in to just “beer”.  Two years ago, we all chased ‘hype’ beer but now we ‘expect’ good beer when we go to a brewery.  In my opinion, COVID really shifted distribution of beer and now good beer is readily available at our local distributors and breweries.  As a result, the ‘hype’ has died down.

I think the focus is going to shift more on the experience the brewery can deliver rather than the beers it makes.  Look at breweries like Trace Brewing bringing in DJs and drag shows, or The Answer who’s hosting hip-hop nights during the week, or Hop Farm that hosts comedy shows.  Breweries are going to need to work a little harder to get consumers in their tap rooms.

But I’d really like to see more ‘niche’ breweries, rather than those that try to make every style of beer.  I think Golden Age Beer coming out and focusing on just lager was a very progressive move.  I know if I want a great lager, I’m going to Golden Age, just like if I want great pizza, I go to Fiori’s in Pittsburgh.  Focus on what you do best and own it.

TBT: Where do you see the future of online medium for craft beer – podcasts, Youtube videos, blogs, websites, etc?
RG: I think social media and online mediums are going to always be pivotal to this industry.  I just wish the major networks were more friendly to the beer industry.  We’re seeing Instagram and Facebook take down posts and actual whole accounts of breweries, and it’s just not fair.  I think industry leaders need to lobby these social networks to allow our breweries to operate online without fear of ‘getting in trouble’.

Otherwise, tag me in your favorite beer podcasts because I listen to a TON of them.

TBT: Finally – Any plugs? Merchandise? Ticket links, etc?
RG: Head over to OneSweetAfternoon.com to grab tickets to our next festival. They are still available! And all of our latest merch is at FueledByHops.com. As an exclusive for Beer Thrillers, we’re dropping TWO surprises tees this week!

TBT: Any final comments?
RG: We’re two guys running a business and throwing events that cost us more than the cars we drive (no joke!). Your support allows us to continue to innovate and evolve the beer industry. Every ticket sale, t-shirt sale, glassware sale etc, just helps us continue our mission. Remember to SUPPORT SMALL!

Thank You Ryan

I’d like to take the time here to say thank you Ryan Galiotto for so graciously answering our questions and taking time out of his busy schedule for us here. Be sure to check out the brewfest “One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party” on September 17th, in Erie Pennsylvania. For more information, check out our article here: One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party Brewfest.

Fueled by Hops

For more information on Fueled by Hops, you can check out their social media pages at the following:

• Official Website – Fueled by Hops
• Facebook – Fueled by Hops
• Instagram – @fueledbyhops_
• Twitter – @fueledbyhops
• One Sweet Afternoon – Event Page

Fueled by Hops Related Articles

The following is some Fueled by Hops related articles here on The Beer Thrillers:

• Best Brunch Ever – Brewfest
• One Sweet Afternoon – a 90’s Throwback Party – Brewfest
• Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Other Pittsburgh Related Articles

For those interested in Fueled by Hops and native to the Pittsburgh area, here are some other Pittsburgh related articles:

• Arboretum Trail Brewing Is Opening Their Doors
• Aslin Beer Company Coming to Pittsburgh
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap: On The Move Towards Pittsburgh (Juniata Brewing Company and Levity Brewing Company)
• The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack.
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap: Landfall in Pittsburgh and Shenanigans (Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Hop Farm Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Macho Man (Couch Brewery)
• BREW: The Museum of Beer – Is Set to Launch Their Online Exhibit
• Untappd (Next Glass) Purchases Hop Culture
• Cinderlands Beer Company is Expanding to Their Third Location
• Grist House Shipping Statewide in Pennsylvania
• Couch Brewery Announces Upcoming Closure
• Allusion Brewing Company Wins Two Awards
• Tortured Souls Brewing Company Kickstarter Campaign
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Retirement
• Troegs Brewing and Wigle Whiskey Team Up to Bring Peach Whiskey Back
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Their Expanding Into Pittsburgh
• Punk in Drublic – Pittsburgh Brewfest
• Voodoo Opening Brewpub in North Shore of Pittsburgh on August 27th

Interviews

The following is some of the interviews we’ve done through the blog:

• Brewer Interview: Rod Stahl (Axemann Brewery)
• Brewer Interview: Tyler Budwash (Pilger Ruh Brewing)
• Interview: Ryan Galiotto (Fueled by Hops)

Thanks For Reading

As always, thank you everyone for checking out the blog and reading. And a special thanks to Ryan Galiotto of Fueled by Hops for doing the interview with us. Be sure to check out some of our recent articles about our trips to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Canton, and other spots in Pennsylvania and Ohio; as well as our book reviews, beer reviews, and lots of other news articles. There are a ton of great articles (over 550+) to check out here on the blog, so be sure to search around and look through the different category heads – you’ll find them on the right. Thank you so much everyone for reading! Hopefully you’ll get to check out the “One Sweet Afternoon – 90s Throwback Party” on September 17th in Erie. Sounds like it’ll be an absolute blast!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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

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

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. 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 are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

The Finals

Ok here it is! We’ve finally reached the finals…. and are you ready for it? It’s a true David vs. Goliath match up here! (Ahahaha…. you’ll get the pun in just a bit.) The competition has been dwindled down from 32 beers (and their respective breweries) down to just 2 remaining competitors.

The gladiator pit is filled with the broken glass, crumpled cans, kicked kegs, dented half kegs, and smashed crowlers. Thirty “losers” lay littered about the grounds, of this beer soaked gladiatorial pit, with just two standing high – currently. For there can only be one in this beer – twisted Highlander.

The Competitors

Who all was involved in this tournament (if you are just tuning in – or want a recap):

Below is a straight list of the 32 breweries with their flagship beers, with their Untappd rating, and the order they are ranked in the tournament:

1. The Alchemist – Headdy Topper (4.54)
2. Tree House – Green (4.43)
3. Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Sip of Sunshine (4.33)
4. Toppling Goliath – Pseudo Sue (4.13)
5. New Holland – Dragon’s Milk (4.06)
6. Dewey Beer – Swishy Pants (4.05)
7. Omnegang – Three Philosophers (3.95)
8. Bell’s Brewery – Two Hearted Ale (3.95)
9. Von C Brewing – Walking on Clouds (3.94)
10. Cigar City – Jai Alai (3.93)
11. Rubber Soul – Dropout (3.92)
12. Pizza Boy – Murren River (3.91)
13. Deschutes – Fresh Squeezed (3.91)
14. Rotunda Brewing – Annville IPA (3.9)
15. Hemauer Brewing – Lucky Lobster (3.89)
16. Dogfish Head – 60 Minute (3.85)
17. Boneshire Brew Works – Green Machine (3.8)
18. Troegs Independent Craft Brewing – Perpetual IPA (3.8)
19. RAR Brewing – Nanticoke Nectar (3.8)
20. Bunnyman Brewing – Pink Nightmare (3.78)
21. Victory – Golden Monkey (3.75)
22. Laguinitas – IPA (3.72)
23. Tattered Flag – TMI PA (3.71)
24. Rogue – Dead Guy Ale (3.71)
25. Founder’s – All Day IPA (3.7)
26. Zero-Day Brewing – Mango Habanero (3.69)
27. Snitz Creek Brewery – Blueberry Cream Ale (3.68)
28. Sierra Nevada – Pale Ale (3.63)
29. Moo – Duck Brewery – Hoppy Toad IPA (3.58)
30. New Belgium – Fat Tire (3.58)
31. Yuengling – Lager (3.49)
32. Newcastle – Brown Ale (3.39)

The Selection Process

The selection process was mostly arbitrary (welcome to the world of The Beer Thrillers). Generally, there were a few simple rules I followed:

• It had to be a beer I’ve had before
• It had to have at least a 3 star rating on Untappd
• I tried to pick some well known – nation wide distributed beers, some local breweries (local to us here at The Beer Thrillers), and a few “high end” / “high quality” / “top of the line” brewery flagships.

This is clearly not a list of beers based on any kind of science. This is purely meant for fun and just to have a good time. Please leave all feelings and egos at the door.

Last Week of Voting

This is the finals, and thus the final week of voting. Voting will end on August 4th at 11:59PM (EST). (Thursday into Friday at Midnight.)

Let’s Vote!

Voting is simple! You can vote once per day for your favorite beer. Bookmark the page and come back daily to make your vote. Share the page on your social media platforms to let all of your friends, family, frenemies, hidden Russian bots, and others vote as well.

The Final Two

Who are the final two beasts in this battle? Who is the David and the Goliath I referenced earlier? Well… one is literally a Goliath…. its Toppling Goliath’s Pseudo Sue. The other is newcomer, and still baby (the brewery just had their one year anniversary after all) beer – Von C Brewing’s Walking on Clouds.

Let’s take a closer look at both:

Toppling Goliath – Pseudo Sue

Toppling Goliath’s Pseudo Sue entered the tournament ranked #4 out of 32 with an overall (at the day of the tournament’s start) Untappd rating of 4.13.

Pseudo Sue:
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 45
Untappd Description: This Citra hop pale ale is delicate in body with a mild bitterness in the finish. Ferocious hop aromas of citrus and mango give a refreshing taste that is bright with just enough bite!
Current Untappd Ranking (7.29.22): 4.13
Total Ratings: 206,890

Toppling Goliath:

Toppling Goliath Brewing Company is a regional brewery from Decorah Iowa. They have 109 unique beers (according to Untappd) with a global average rating of 4.15 (as of 7.29.22). They have over 1 million ratings. Their Untappd description reads: Named 2021 US Beer Open Grand National Champions. Founded in 2009 in beautiful Decorah, Iowa. World-renown for IPAs and barrel-aged stouts, distributing to over 30 states and brewing more than 35 beers. TG prides it’s-self in crafting truly top-shelf beer and is honored to be growing with the support of its many customers worldwide.

Von C Brewing – Walking on Clouds

Von C Brewing’s Walking on Clouds entered the tournament ranked #9 out of 32 with an overall (at the day of the tournament’s start) Untappd rating of 3.94.

Walking on Clouds:

Style: IPA – New England / Hazy
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: A juicy Hazy NEIPA bursting with a mosaic of flavors including peach, passionfruit and citrus, with a wonderful mango finish.
Current Untappd Rating (as of 7.29.22): 3.94
Total Ratings: 1,708

Von C Brewing

Von C Brewing is a micro brewery from Norristown, Pennsylvania. They have 44 unique beers (according to Untappd) and have a global average rating of 3.79 (as of 7.29.22). Their Untappd description reads: Von C Brewing Co. is a 20 barrel 16,000 sq’ microbrewery with a 2,500 sq’ tasting room including a spacious outside beer garden in beautiful Norristown, PA, the heart of Montgomery County.

Good Luck to Both Competitors

Just want to say good luck to both competitors and hope them the very best in the Finals! Congrats for making it this far!

Past Battle of the Beers Articles

How did we get to the Finals:

• The Battle of the Beers (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 32 (Voting) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 32 (Results – Recap) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 16 (Voting) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 16 (Results – Recap) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 8 (Voting) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 8 (Results) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 4 (Voting) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – Round of 4 (Results) (2022)
• The Battle of the Beers – The Finals (Voting) (2022)

Wrap Up

Thank you all for checking out the results and participating in the tournament. This is our first Battle of the Beers tournament, but our third tournament overall (after having done a Battle of the Breweries (2021) and a Battle of the Breweries (2022)). These are a lot of fun to run and manage, and its great to see the participation of the fans and community. So I just want to thank everyone for coming to The Beer Thrillers blog and participating in the tournament. You guys make all this happen and without you there would be no tournaments or The Beer Thrillers in general. So we greatly appreciate all your support and everything.

Some Recent Articles of Note

• Weyerbacher Tap Room Indefinitely Closing
• Shy Bear Brewing Expanding into Altoona and Hershey Pennsylvania

Thanks For Reading

Today kicks off the three day weekend of Black Flag Brewing Company’s 6th Anniversary. We are hoping / looking to get to go to it. Tomorrow we might go if we don’t get to go today. Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day, where if we don’t go to Black Flag might see us coming up Schuylkill County direction and maybe hit the brewfest there, as well as other events and breweries. Who knows what the day has in store for us yet.

Just be on the lookout here on the blog, and our social media pages – Facebook and Instagram in particular. Lots of fun things popping up, as well as lots of events, and lots of new articles. So be sure to subscribe and follow and check them all out.

Cheers as always!

-B. Kline

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

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

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. 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 are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. Thank you!

(There is more restrictions / mandates, but that’s what is relevant to this blog.)

What I want to do here and now is to urge everyone to shop local. Don’t go to McDonalds for your food, or buy Coors Lite or Miller or In-Bev. Buy from your local restaurant, your local brewery, your local drinking hole, and tip, help those who will be hurting. This is a big time of the year for restaurants (up til New Years Day). They need all the support they can get right now.

Support local craft beer. Drink and help your local favorite brewery. We are all in this together, as cliche as that sounds, but we all need to do everything we can to help our local and small breweries survive these tough and troubling times.

Please mask up when you go in for your take out and to-go. Be respectful and kind to the service and staff and the help. Tip as much as you can. Buy as much as you can. Share their posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Review them highly if they deserve it and are doing the right procedures. Support as best and as much as you are able.

Support. Support. Support. Help. Help. Help. I can’t stress these things enough. Be kind to everyone. Be helpful to everyone. Lets get through this together!

Cheers all. And best wishes and hopes for all those in industry jobs. I know how it is working at a casino, that will be shutting down til January 4th as well. This is a scary and troubling time. Let’s all pitch in and help each other!

-B. Kline

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!

Cinderlands Beer Co. has announced that they will be opening their third location – this one in Wexford, Pennsylvania. They announced on their Facebook page earlier today:

This will be their third location. Wexford is roughly (depending on traffic) 23 – 27 minutes (depending on final location in Wexford; and according to Google Maps).

Cinderlands Beer Company already has two locations currently running in the greater Pittsburgh area. One location is the Cinderlands Warehouse. This opened in May 2019 in the Pittsburgh Strip District. The technically oldest of the two locations, is their Cinderlands Foederhouse in Lawrenceville. This was their original location, but was originally a tap room, and they re-did it, renovated it, and made it into their Foederhouse in December 2019.

This marks their third opening / changing / renovating / expansion in under two years time (though, the Wexford location won’t be opening until 2021). This is fantastic news for Cinderlands Beer Co and fans of their wonderful beers. I got to stop out at their Cinderlands Warehouse location in August 2019 with my daughters on a trip, and loved the beers I had.

According to Untappd – Cinderlands Beer Co has 203 unique beers, 72K+ ratings, and has a global average rating of 3.91 (as of 12.9.20). Their Untappd description reads: “A Craft Brewery & Scratch Kitchen located in Pittsburgh, PA”

For more information on Cinderlands Beer Co and their expansion, you can check out their following social media platforms:

• Website – Cinderlands
• Facebook – Cinderlands Beer Co
• Instagram – Cinderlands Beer
• Twitter – @Cinderlandsbeer
• Blog – Cinderlands Blog
• Untappd – Cinderlands Beer Co

As always everyone, thanks for reading. Speaking of Pittsburgh, be sure to check out the new article we wrote about the upcoming Pittsburgh museum on beer – BREW – The Museum of Beer. Or our new article on Hop Culture being bought out by Untappd / Next Glass. As always, be sure to get out and support your local breweries in restaurants, this year has been a year of uncertainty, but right now we are in even more uncertain times, (here in Pennsylvania especially) as there is constant talk from every corner on which day, when / if , what / if, etc, about new mandates, restrictions, lock downs, or quarantines. So while you can, support your local small breweries and restaurants so they’ll still be here after the pandemic.

Please follow us on our social media platforms below, and also make sure to check out other expansions, openings, and closings, and brewery news with the links below. Thank you all for reading. Cheers!

-B. Kline

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!

Be sure to check out our other articles on brewery openings:

• A Sneak Preview of Rubber Soul Brewing (Hummelstown)
• Midwest Coast Brewing Opens (Chicago)
• Rally Point – Cox Brewing Taproom Opens (Elizabethtown)
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Irv’s Pub Rebranded as Rotunda Brewing Pub (Hershey)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• The Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Highway Manor Brewing Co. (Camp Hill)
• Grand Opening: Rubber Soul Brewing Company (Hummelstown)
• Tap Room Opening: Howling Henry’s Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Little Fish Brewing Extending into Dayton
• Levity Brewing Expanding Taproom and Opening Second Location in Altoona
• BREW – The Museum of Beer
• Cinderlands Beer Co is Expanding Into Their Third Location

You can read about more brewery closures here:

• Stoudt’s Brewing Closing
• Crystal Ball Brewing Closes
• Voodoo Brewery Lancaster Closes
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently

As with everything, if I can push the blame off me (yet still take credit when I can), I will… so let me be the first to say: I voted for Kodos (Kodos Johnson to be exact), so you can’t blame me.

In one of the funniest bits from The Simpsons as a whole, and from the various Treehouses of Horror, the Citizen Kang segment from Treehouse of Horror VII. For the uninitiated, Kang and Kodos are aliens (Rigellians) from the planet Rigel 7. They appear (sometimes as main segments, sometimes as just cameos) in every Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons. The episodes; especially through the first years; are humorous parodies and looks at different horror movies, thrillers, or cultural cues. In later years they’ve begun to parody just about anything popular at the time.

Each Treehouse of Horror episode is broken down into three segments or acts. In Citizen Kang (which is the third act of Treehouse of Horror VII – season 8), Kang and Kodos abduct Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and basically steal their identity and ‘body snatch’ them and replace them with themselves. This ends up leaving people with no real chance of voting, because…. who can vote third party? (Sorry Ross Perot.)

Should you ever see two combatant politicians hold hands as they walk around town… you should immediately know something is up. Could you imagine Donald Trump and Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton holding hands? Or Bush Jr and Al Gore? Or anyone with Putin? Not likely. So always be leery and on the lookout for tell tale signs like this. Also – if your politician tells you that you need to always be twirling… twirling… twirling towards freedom…. most likely he’s an alien in disguise… or a former cheerleader and gymnast who got stuck at a podium and is crying out for help.

Having grown up on a steady diet of Simpsons and pop culture and now in my fast becoming late 30s (le sigh) once I heard of these two beers being released (I Voted for Kodos and I Voted for Kang) by Second Sin Brewing Company; I got all the feels and the nostalgia and member-berries and had to have them. Like all of the Star Wars beers I’ve reviewed, I had to also get ahold of these to review as well. Luckily, from the brewery itself, I was alerted to the fact that there’s a Facebook group for Second Sin Brewing called Disciples of Second Sin. Since it was unlikely I would make it to Bristol PA before they were sold out, I was trying to trade / buy from someone who lived in the area and could ship or bring closer, and luckily Steve Orbanek contacted me with the hookup. So big shout out to him and major props and huge thank you’s go to Steve Orbanek for the hookup and to Second Sin Brewing for alerting me to the group.

When I got home from my Indy trip, the package was on my doorstep which was all the cooler as a nice return gift. Steve even threw in a third beer for me (for free) for a future beer review, so I’ll keep you all in suspense and just say that you all will get a bonus beer review soon thanks to Steve.

Second Sin Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Bristol Pennsylvania. According to Untappd they have 138 unique beers and a global average rating of 4.07 (as of 11.26.20). Their Untappd description is blank.

Beer: I Voted for Kodos
Brewery: Second Sin Brewing Company
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: I Voted For Kang and I Voted For Kodos, conceptually, are like two peas in a pod. They both started with the same base of 2 row malt, Malted Oats, and light Crystal. Both are supported with Galaxy and Idaho 7 hops to round out their flavor profiles.

However, don’t let anyone tell you that these candidates are the same…oh, no. Kang is primarily hopped with the tropical and fruity Citra, while Kodos is loaded with dank and melony Mosaic.

Steve was kind of enough to trade me both I Voted for Kodos and I Voted for Kang; so be on the lookout soon for the second of these two reviews (as well as the bonus beer that Steve sent). I started with Kodos (primarily just for the “don’t blame me I voted for Kodos” line).

Appearance is a very golden New England IPA look, hazy, opaque, no sediment, bright golden brew. This looks like a slightly darker and heavier looking orange juice. It has a foamy, creamy, white head, with great carbonation, and varied and diverse bubbles; and left a beautiful lacing on the glass.

Aroma is a bouquet of hops, a buffet of hoppy smells, like diving your nose right into a bag of the good stuff. The galaxy, Idaho 7, and Mosaic hops create a wonderful hop aroma, heavy, dank, melon, some grapefruit, stone fruit, some citrus, and a whiff of pine. Some peach, some passionfruit rounds out the cornucopia of hop aromas and mouth watering smell.

Now lets get to the fun part of this… drinking this beauty. And hmmmmm is this tasty. It is a dank, juicy, New England IPA, with a lot going for it. It has an interesting mild ‘spice’ kick, subtle, but you get it as you drink, its an interesting note that adds to the beer. The primary flavors though come from the blend of hops used – Galaxy, Idaho 7, and Mosaic. Strong flavors of the stone and tropical fruits, a heavy dose of peach and passionfruit, light grapefruit notes (which could also provide a bit of the kick too), and the faintest lingering taste of sticky pine and a small dollop of earthy notes and tones (faint, ever so faint, but slightly discernible). This is a smooth drinking beer too. It has just the right mouthfeel and texture, and slick and smoothness to the drink. A four pack of this could easily be crushed sitting out, or mowing, or reading, or hanging out with friends, or even sitting around a campfire. At 6.7% its a good buzz inducing beer that won’t knock you right out either, so its perfect to sit around with friends or mowing. The hop blend is really wonderful here, the peach, to passionfruit, to citrus, to melon, and melon rinds, with the hint of grapefruit, pine, wee bit of kick at the finishing touches, leaves a great taste in your mouth, and makes this just a delicious brew all around. This was my first beer by Second Sin Brewing, and I am totally sold by them, and can see why they have a 4+ average rating. This is smooth, silky, nice mouthfeel, not watery, hoppy, dank, juicy, and with a blasting amount of flavors. This is just a well crafted beer through and through.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.19 (as of 11.26.20)

Thank you everyone for taking the time out on Turkey Day – Thanksgiving – to give this a read. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, either with friends, family, or with your own small(er) gathering this year. This is certainly a different Thanksgiving for most of us than we’ve been used to. It has been quite the challenge this year, but hopefully everyone can stay safe, healthy, and have a happy Thanksgiving, as we push towards the end of the year and the merrier time of the year.

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

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!

For more info on Kodos:

• Kodos Johnson
• Citizen Kang – Treehouse of Horror VII

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Couch Brewing:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter

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

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

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• 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:
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

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:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink Brewery
• A Brewery Tour of Couch Brewery
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)
• Brewery Review: The Ministry of Brewing
• Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing)

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

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)
• Beer Review: Pigtoberfest (Boneshire Brew Works)
• Beer Review: I Voted Today (Tired Hands)
• Beer Review: Super Villain (Urban Village Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Shallow Grave (Nitro) (Heretic Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Growfather (Stickman Brews)
• Beer Review: The Pandalorian (Tattered Flag)

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!