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

As always, make sure to click like on the articles you enjoyed the most, that way we know what’s liked. Leave comments telling us what you like (or dislike) and what we can do to improve the blog. Always looking to make this better and better and to help you, the readers, more and more. Thank you!

#1. Dillston by Boneshire Brew Works

#2. Harrishire by Boneshire BrewWorks

#3. Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

#4. Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour by Newfangled Brew Works

#5. Caucus Race 6.0 (Zappa Hops) by Boneshire Brew Works

#6. Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart by Rotunda Brewing Company

#7. Good Walk Spoiled by Boneshire Brew Works

#8. Reve Coffee Stout by Parish Brewing Company

#9. The Road Less Traveled by Boneshire Brew Works

#10. Ghost in the Machine by Parish Brewing Company (J. Doncevic’s Review)

Thank you for taking a look back over this second listicle. These are fun to create and hopefully give new viewers and readers a chance to look back on some of our older posts. Like I always say, we always enjoy hearing from you guys, any comments, questions, or suggestions are more than welcome. You can reply in the individual blog posts, or you can use the contact form and message us directly. Use the like the button to let us know what blog posts are your favorite, and share on social media to let others know about certain beers. We appreciate it all. We are here for you – the readers – guys, thanks so much!

-The Beer Thrillers Staff

Every so often I manage to get a game-plan to work out. And this was one of those rare occasions! The game-plan going in was to pick up my oldest daughter from her volleyball practice, quickly get to Troegs Brewery and surprise her with getting to see her favorite (local) band, Vinegar Creek Constituency.

We were here for a previous Second Friday at the beer garden at Troegs, I believe it was when they released the cans of Golden Thing and another beer, perhaps Lollihop or one of the other scratches turned main roster, and they had their food truck going and the band playing, and my oldest daughter just fell in love with the band(‘s music).

So, I got her at 6:30 from her volleyball practice, quickly got to Troegs, drove around their entire lot a good 3-4 times and found not a single spot, so I parked in the back corner by the warehouse and the gazebo, in a “not exactly a parking spot – parking spot”. (Which later on, a SUV would totally block off a whole section of the parking lot by parking at a spot where it was a parking spot for him, but he didn’t back into his spot fully, and it basically made a pincer area out of two parked cars so an entire row of parking spaces couldn’t get out…plus my “illegal/legal” spot.)

This was a special Second Friday though at Troegs, not only was it a Second Friday, not only was it a full moon, and not only was it “Friday the 13th”, it was also a can release! (Oh yea, the importance of those might be in the wrong order, I don’t know). They released cans of “Trail Day Pale Ale”, a recent scratch that they perfected. Also, to my shock, when I saw the menu, they had Fresh Fest on the taplist (inside) – which wasn’t there Sunday when I was last there.

After parking, and getting into the beer garden, which amazingly isn’t packed, we found a table three away from the band, with a couple sitting at it but with room for us, I plop the kiddo down and her gatorade from practice, order us two chicken tacos, and head inside for my beers (since they didn’t have Trail Day outside, which I was a bit surprised by since it was the release of the day). The inside was jam packed. Upstairs, downstairs, packed, tour going on as well that looked full. Every booth was full, even the patio tables were full, the bar was full, and without going upstairs but looking up at the loft, it looked full too. Wait in line at the bar, and see that they have Fresh Fest. I decide on just a taster for that (8.50$ for a half pint or 3.50$ for a 4oz, plus I was getting a full pint of Trail Day, and with the kid and driving, figured it’d be the safer route). Take the beers back to our table right as the band finishes their set-up and starts up at just a bit before 7 and the tacos are done and its time to dive in.

Craft breweries do some amazing tacos. They are “high end” tacos, like the ones at Newfangled, and at other food truck type things, or even the specialty day tacos at certain breweries, but they are always fantastic. Not exactly the most filling usually, and obviously you’re dropping a few more dollar bills on this than the 5-pack at Taco Bell, but for taste, its so worth it.

I was surprised to see Fresh Fest on the menu and having not had it, I figured why not, and grabbed myself a taster of that. (Was originally just planning on drinking a few Trail Days while listening and hanging out with the kid, but its always nice to get to try a couple new beers, so of course I’m gonna jump on that chance.)

Beer: Fresh Fest
Brewery: Troegs Independent Brewing Company
Collaboration: Apis Meadery
Style: Honey Beer
ABV: 6%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: We believe that good beer brings out the good in people. To celebrate the return of Fresh Fest -the nation’s first black beer festival- The drinking Partners, Apis Meadery and Troegs Independent Brewing gathered around a brew kettle to combine two quintessential summer flavors: peach cobbler and a bright refreshing honey ale. Pilsner, Vienna and honey malt stand in for the flaky crust, Pennsylvania honey and kveik yeast provide a sweet glaze, and peaches, apricots and a late dose of El Dorado and Lemondrop hops fill in the middle with balance of slight tartness and sweet fruit. Ready for seconds yet?

This is kind of a mix between a mead, and a tart/sour beer. Its a wonderful and interesting combination and does make me wish I got a full pint of it. Though, this is definitely no pounder, and not one you will be drinking more of one in a sitting most likely, not due to ABV or anything like that, but its just a heavy, full beer, that will sit on you for a bit. (Not a bad thing.)

Appearance is a bright orange glow. A meadish bright orange hue that (perhaps my picture doesn’t do justice to it) is clear, translucent, and has a shine to it. Honey colored through and through.

Aroma is very heavy peach. Kind of a funky peach, kind of ripe peach, but a tart, funky peach. A nice smell that tickled the nose and was just overall appealing.

Flavor is very heavy peach as well. The honey makes it smooth and provides that heavyness. It finishes with the tartness, but before that you get the heavy peach, the heavy sweet honey, and some breadyness, almost like a sweet peach pie (if I ate those kind of things) before it transitions into a tart peach pie (again, if I ate those kind of things). Its not overly dry but the tartness gives a bit of a sensation of that at the end, but this isn’t anything unpleasant and compliments the sweetness at the beginning of the beer very nicely.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 9.13.19)

The Fresh Fest went perfect with the taco, complimenting it very nicely. Debated even getting a second taco, or maybe trying one of the other two styles they had available (Corinitas or Black Bean), but opted out of that idea. (Not sure what corinitas is, but their website listed a “savory pork” taco, so perhaps thats that? I don’t know.) But we did see a few soft pretzels and my daughter decided we needed one… …and she was right, we did. So at the break in the band’s set, I braved myself up, and ventured back inside for the pretzel and a drink for her.

After about a 15-20 minute wait in line, and another 2-3 minutes for it to get done, got back outside as the band was starting up their second act. So at least timing worked out perfectly on that one.

The soft pretzel was absolutely phenomenal (and for 11$ for a soft pretzel, it better damn well be). Passed on getting my regular hop fries, hoping the pretzel would be filling, and it was. We were also (at this point anyway) planning on picking up a smores kit to do by the firepit later on (we ended up not doing it, I guess smores aren’t as cool when you’re 12 years old, I dunno).

Time to drink down this delicious looking pint of Troegs new Trail Day Pale Ale. It was a great beer to wash down the Oktoberfest soft pretzel and to continue our night listening to her favorite band.

Beer: Trail Day
Brewery: Troegs Independent Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: This is the beer you want in hand when your compass lands you at trail’s end. The scene is set with a malt bill full of soft oats. Unmalted wheat from Pennsylvania adds haze and props up the oils of a bright hop combination. Citra dominates with notes of passionfruit and lychee, Lotus adds hints of orange rind and vanilla, and El Dorado works with a fruit-forward yeast to pull in flavors of candied peach. and beneath all that is a foundation of good. When you buy a Trail Day, you’re helping protect the Kittatinny Ridge, a 185-mile Appalahchian superhighway that provides clean water, rich forests, recreational trails and safe passage for migratory wildlife. We taste: peach, passionfruit, lychee.

I really enjoyed this beer as it was a nice typical Troegs beer, which means it had the characteristic Troegs taste for a pale ale/IPA/etc. I legit think I could be given five or six different pale ales/IPAs/wheats/hefeweizens and other similar style beers, blind-folded, and only one of the five or six being a Troegs beer, and I’d be able to pick it out. Its probably the yeast strains they do, or their technique brewing, but they just have a characteristic taste, (perhaps the water?), or maybe I’m over thinking it, or maybe its just because I’ve had over 200+ different, unique beers from them, so I’ve built up a bit of an ‘idea’ on them. I don’t know, but this beer fit that mold, and it tasted great.

Troegs is very big into conservation and helping with wildlife protection, environmentalism, and other great things like this. Like donating and paying for the mural in Harrisburg with proceeds going to the conservancy, just like this beer does. Some money from each pint/can sold (not sure on percentages, you might have to check with Troegs directly for that information), goes to help Kittatinny Ridge conservancy.

As per Wikipedia:
“Kittatinny Mountain (Lenape: Kitahtëne^[1]) is a long ridge traversing across northwestern New Jersey running in a northeast-southwest axis, a continuation across the Delaware Water Gap of Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Ridge (also known as Kittatinny Ridge). It is the first major ridge in the far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian Mountains, and reaches its highest elevation (the state’s highest), 1,803 feet, at High Point in Montague Township. Kittatinny Mountain forms the eastern side of Wallpack Valley; the western side comprises the Wallpack Ridge (highest elevation: 928 feet (283 m) above sea level.”( Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittatinny_Mountain.)

So its always great to see this, and great that Troegs is helping them out, just makes buying that pint or can of this that extra bit special and nice, and gives you warm glowy butterfly feelings in your tummy.

This is a very hazy pale ale. Its pretty much just one step up from Scratch 380 – Trail Day Dry Hopped Pale Ale. Might even be the same recipe but just given a full name as a regular/seasonal rotation, I don’t know, but its listed as a Pale Ale – New England on the scratch, and a Pale Ale – American on the new fully named version. (I gave the scratch version a **** on Untappd). Either way, this new version of it could easily be labeled a New England Pale Ale as well, as it is very hazy, especially so for a Troegs beer, that typically shies away from the haze.

Appearance is orange, unfiltered, hazy. Its not fully unfiltered but it definitely looks somewhat unfiltered and there is a bit of sediment and floaters (but nothing appalling or unappealing about it). The haze makes it not exactly un-see-through-but-not-super-dense either. (Thats the best way I could explain it.)

Aroma is soft, pale ale qualities, but with a good dose of hops. You can deeply smell the hops and the dry hopping. You get some fruity qualities, mostly stone fruit, like apricot and such, but you get the dry hopping mostly.

Taste is soft as well, pillowy, like the little bit of head that came with the beer. Soft, mellow, but also bursting with taste. Not mellow bland, but mellow soft. There is no hop bitterness from this, and it tastes like a typical NE-IPA or NE-PA. There is a smoothness t it from vanilla that helps with that New England vibe and taste to it. I also pick up notes of orange, passionfruit, and peach, kind of like candied peaches. Almost reminiscent of those peach ring gummies (like the ones Tattered Flag used in a few of their beers, which I reviewed one of). There is a definitely malty backbone to this that isn’t super typical for New England Pale Ales but its pretty subdued, just there, and you know its there. The Citra hops gives it a nice citrus punch that combines with the peach and passionfruit flavors very nicely. And it has a great finish that leaves a very nice and pleasant aftertaste on your tongue.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 9.13.19)

The beer garden is a wonderful experience and venue at Troegs whenever they do music here, its always a nice, relaxing atmosphere, with good, low-key vibe music playing. You could hear the band up on the patio, but with the beer garden’s setup you would not have been able to see them. Back beyond the band, they have a firepit that was open all night and lots of families were roasting s’mores on it. My daughter I suppose was “too cool” or “too old” (or just too tired after the band got done) and didn’t want to do it. So once the band packed up, I tried to get her to talk to them or at least get a picture with them, but she got too shy, and refused, so we made our way back to the car. Where… I had to wait and struggle to get out our area due to the SUV.

Afterwards, I dropped my daughter off with her mother, and being in the area I couldn’t help but stop in at Mount Gretna Brewery. So look for a review of the flight I had there probably after work tomorrow (Saturday, the 14th).

All in all, it was one of those rare nights when the game-plan went according to plan, and it was the rare daddy-daughter date night that actually worked out and everyone was happy. So I’m marking it down as a win. She got to see her favorite band that she’s been crushing on, I got to eat tacos and soft pretzels and hang out with my daughter, and she got to eat tacos and soft pretzels and hang out with her old man, and I got to try two new Troegs beers that were delicious. All in all a total win.

Look for my review of the flight from Mount Gretna sometime after 8PM or so when I get home from work, until then, keep “doing what you do”.

-B. Kline

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

Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg 
By: B. Kline 

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

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

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

Newfangled Brew Works 

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

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

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

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

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

• Passionfruit Blonde Ale – Blonde Ale – 5% 

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

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

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

The non-Newfangled Beers on tap are: 

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

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

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

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

Upcoming events for Newfangled are:  

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their own: 

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

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

Guest tap lists: 

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

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

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

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

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

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• TMI IPA 

Their taplist upstairs currently is: 

• Silent Professional Foxtrot 
• Blue Raider Kolsch 

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

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

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

• Prepare to be Flabbergasted 
• Tattered Abomination 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their current taplist at the main bar is: 

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

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

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

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

In Bottles Only: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What can you say to a free taco? Plus an excellent (kettle sour) beer? And a good book to read while drinking? And an absolutely gorgeous evening at a wonderful brewery?

Nothing but a GOOD TIME.

I don’t often get to stop into Newfangled Brew Works, despite how close it is, unless hitting the place up with a friend (typically Drew or Richard), but I had seen a ‘promotion’ / ‘coupon’ on their Facebook page, the day before my birthday in fact (while I was waiting to donate blood), where it said all you had to do was send them a Facebook message with your birthdate and they would give you a free taco up to 10$ worth. Well, the coupon was expiring on 9.3.19 and I wasn’t going to let it go to waste (I had yet to eat at their built-in Taco Truck, so figured might as well give it a try since it was free), so following work, I made a detour and stopped by.

Certainly glad I did.

Lets break down what all I got here. In the picture, the taco on display is a quesadilla taco, with bonus (2$, but free due to the coupon) beef meat. Total was 7.42$.

The book is ‘Best. Movie. Year. Ever.’ by Brian Raftery. (Taken out of the Hershey Public Library.)

And the beer is….

Beer: Guava Lemonade Kettle Sour
Brewery: Newfangled Brew Works
Style: Sour – Other
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 10
Untappd Write-Up: A kettle sour with guava and lemon added. The guava gives a cotton candy flavor to mix with the bright lemon flavor.

So as you can see, I had all the makings for a fantastic 30-40 minutes of relaxation. Good food, good beer, good book, good weather, nice outdoors. And I definitely did enjoy it too. Especially after a long day at work, it was very nice indeed.

Firstly, diving into the taco, it was delicious. Very good quesadilla taco, with just a bit of spiceyness but nothing too hot or powerful to kill the senses. Not quite super filling though, but still very excellent. (The 3 for 11$ is probably a fantastic deal, though I don’t believe you can get the quesadilla tacos in that special.)

Moving on to the beer, it is a wonderful light, refreshing sour. The guava is definitely a backburner on this, comparatively to some other guava beers I’ve recently had (namely the Tattered Flag and Abomination Brewing collaboration – Tattered Abomination, which was extremely guava forward; or the Wolf Prints beer by Wolf Brewing Co.). I felt the lemonade came out in this much more pronounced and provided it with a great zest and made it a lot more refreshing and crushable than the previous mentioned.

Aroma is light beer smell, nothing extremely sticking out, the lemon is there, the beer notes of grain and malt is there, with something underneath – most likely the guava. But nothing super stand out.

Appearance is light, light straw getting a little darker, but mostly clear and see through. Had some nice carbonation and some good head to it, especially being on draft.

The taste is simple, nothing show off, nothing drop dead amazing, but not a bad thing at all in this beer. It is just a great beer to sit back, read, and relax, and drink. Could easily have stayed and drank another 3 or 4 before realizing it too. Coming in at 5.6% its very light and doesn’t knock you off your feet. The lemonade is upfront and the most significant taste, there is a slight tartness to it, but nothing ultimately ‘sour’ about it. Almost more kolsch like than sour.

I don’t feel like the guava gives off a ‘cotton candy’ mixture with the lemonade like the Untappd write-up, but mileage may vary on that I suppose., as some previous beers I’ve had with guava – Tattered Abomination and Wolf Prints – were very guava forward and they certainly packed a punch. The Fatum Series Guava that Tattered did a while back I felt was subdued, much like the guava is in this, and thats probably better (as far as my tastebuds are concerned at any rate).

The book is about the year 1999 in Hollywood, and the how all of the movies have made an impact since. And that it could possibly be the best collection of movies in one year. Some classics from 1999 include: Blair Witch Project, Following, Go, Run Lola Run, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Cruel Intentions, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, 10 Things I Hate About You, Varsity Blues, Office Space, Eyes Wide Shut, American Beauty, The Virgin Suicides, Election, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. (It certainly was a great year for cinema, that can’t be disputed!).

Getting back to beer, definitely take a time to stop in at NewFangled Brew Works. Great spot, pretty good/great beer, delicious food, and just a nice vibe and location. Ultimately not too far from some other Harrisburg related spots like Boneshire Brew Works or Spring Gate Winery & Brewery, or ZeroDay and The Millworks, or even that far from places like Tattered Flag, Troegs Brewery, or Pizza Boy.

And to wrap this bad boy up, my Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Write-Up: 4 (as of 9.5.19)

Keep drinking, keep exploring breweries and craft beer, you Pokemon Go Craft Beer Hipster Millennial Bearded Avocado Loving Beautiful People you!

-B. Kline