This is a monumental beer, and a monumental achievement, and it was released on a monumental day. This is Troegs Independent Brewing’s 400th scratch beer on their scratch system. Not their 400th beer released in total, just their 400th scratch. A very significant feat, and given the improvements they’ve made to their scratch system (and upgrades in general to their brewery) I don’t think it’ll take us long at all to get to Scratch 500. I know I personally can’t wait.

Just like I’m finally publishing this article on a significant date (2.2.20, palindrome day, Groundhog’s Day, Super Bowl LIV Sunday), this beer was released on a significant date – January 16th (2020). January 16th is known as “Prohibition Day”.

Let’s take a quick look at the history of it, from our favorite historical perspective news source – Wikipedia:

In the United States, after the battle against slavery was won (and even prior to it with the 1851 Maine law), social moralists turned to other issues, such as Mormon polygamy and the temperance movement.^[11][12][13]

On November 18, 1918, prior to ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the U.S. Congress passed the temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages having an alcohol content of greater than 1.28%.^[14] (This act, which had been intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed after the armistice ending World War I was signed on November 11, 1918.) The Wartime Prohibition Act took effect June 30, 1919, with July 1, 1919 becoming known as the “Thirsty-First”.^[15][16]

The U.S. Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Upon being approved by a 36th state on January 16, 1919, the amendment was ratified as a part of the Constitution. By the terms of the amendment, the country went dry one year later, on January 17, 1920.^[17][18]

On October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson‘s veto. The act established the legal definition of intoxicating liquors as well as penalties for producing them.^[19] Although the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government lacked resources to enforce it.

Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, cirrhosis death rates, admissions to state mental hospitals for alcoholic psychosis, arrests for public drunkenness, and rates of absenteeism.^[5][20][21] While some allege that Prohibition stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity,^[22] two academics maintain that there was no increase in crime during the Prohibition era and that such claims are “rooted in the impressionistic rather than the factual.”^[23][24] By 1925, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs in New York City alone.^[25] Wet opposition talked of personal liberty, new tax revenues from legal beer and liquor, and the scourge of organized crime.^[26]

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen–Harrison Act, legalizing beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% (by weight) and wine of a similarly low alcohol content. On December 5, 1933, ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal beverage use.^[27]

Source: Prohibition in the United States (Wikipedia)

And thank goodness that madness has ended. Not going to go into the politics of it all and not really going to discuss the politics of the time (or now) as I like to keep this blog readable for all. But I think everyone reading this blog can agree on this one thing – Prohibition was a bad idea.

So thankfully that horrific time is over, and thankfully its now 2020, and we can enjoy fantastic and wonderful beers like this Scratch 400 from Troegs. (See how I segued that? Like a champ!) And this really is a wonderful and tasty brew from Troegs, regardless of the significance behind the numeration. If this was Scratch 1, 400, 69, or 285, it wouldn’t matter, it’d still be a great drink.

I started this article up on the night of January 16th after my date night with my youngest (six at the time, just now turned seven the other day). But this was written during the blog’s getting ready for the Mellow Mink article going live, and so I pushed it back, and figured today’s important numerical (2.02.20 – palindrome day!) significance would be a more meaningful time to publish this. (I wrote the beer review then, everything else being written now.)

So, February 2nd, 2020, Groundhog’s day seems like a very appropriate time to be posting this article. And heres another segue – I wouldn’t mind if this was the beer I was drinking if I had to be stuck on a time loop on Groundhog’s Day.

So, in honor of Punxsutawney Phil lets move on and review this beer!

Beer: Scratch 400 – Pre-Prohibition Lager
Brewery: Troegs Independent Brewing
Style: Lager – American
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: None listed
Untappd Write-Up: For our 400th Scratch beer, we’re turning back the clock for a pre-Prohibition lager, and we pulled a few extra levers to let our house lager yeast shine. For starters, we included blue corn grown in Imler, Pa., in the malt bill. Blue corn, floury and high in protein, lowers the free amino nitrogen in the wort, which elevates the esters of the yeast. We also open fermented this beer, an old-world technique we use for every batch of DreamWeaver Wheat. This also helps to bring out the yeast flavor. A session Troegenator? We like the sound of that. We taste: notes of corn, dried stone fruit, and subtle caramel and nuttiness.

A session Troegenator might be a great way to describe this. Far lighter, thinner, definitely lower ABV (only 4.3% !) and certainly less heavy then Troegenator. But that doesn’t take away anything from this beer though either.

Appearance is a beautiful chestnut, light brown, clearish hue. This is finely filtered, there’s no particles, no sediment, no haze, no dankness, nothing opaque, just a nice fine, well crafted, well brewed lager. Its not completely see through, but it has definite clarity and is somewhat transparent. It has a fine head with diverse bubbles, and the head retention is strong, it also leaves beautiful lacing on the tall boy glass that Troegs serves this gorgeous beer in.

Aroma is wheat and corn heavy. You get almost an acorn smell, a very heavy farm field to it (in a good way, not in a knee-deep in ‘cow patties’ kind of farm field smell). A nice rainy day aroma where you can smell the wheat, barley, grass growing. Something only a ‘good ol’ local boy’ might be able to rightly describe to you, and even then it wouldn’t be precise. This is a more subtle beer smell then some of those big macro Lagers that just have that stale, old, unwanted beer smell. The smell most of us grew up on smelling off grandpa’s breath at the family reunions and parties. Whereas this smells homely, crafted, and far better.

This is what Yuengling should pretty much be. An old fashion style, old fashion created, and old fashion lager. Germanic pride in the glass right here. Its malty, its corny, it has a bit of a nutty taste, its kind of heavy on the palate but also a bit thinner then say the Troegenator, it does still have a full body to it, and despite its only 4.3% ABV its still a hearty beer. It does have an ending sweetness to it, nothing cloying, but a fine stickyness that hangs to your palate and tongue. Nothing in a bad way about that, it just provides a nice ending sweetness. The open fermentation, the house yeast strain, and the PA home grown blue corn, definitely gives this a flavor all to its own. A uniqueness to it thats not going to be reproduced outside of using these exact means. I get notes of acorn, corn, nuttyness, malt, some sweetness from caramel malts, maybe kind of a plum like note to it, wrapping up all very nicely. This is a fine tasting brew I wouldn’t mind them possibly tweaking a bit, or keeping even as is, and releasing yearly on January 16th (or approximate) as a small seasonal run. It would most likely do well, and could have a catchy name like “Prohibition Lager” or “America’s Lager” or “Before The World Went Crazy Lager”. Eh, who knows about good names, actually, you know who does? Ffej, with his Fuzzy Nudge. Now thats how you name a beer! Either way, what I *DO KNOW* is that this is a fine tasting beer, that won’t last much longer at Troegs, and was a very significant beer for them, and for all of us fans of Troegs and fans in the Central PA area. So make sure you stop by Troegs brewery, drink up, and enjoy before its gone!

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 1.17.20)
Updated Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 2.2.20)

To read up even more on Scratch 400, you can check out Derek Markel’s excellent article over at ItsABrewLife: Troegs Scratch #400 & Beyond. ItsABrewLife is a wonderful blog written by Derek and Chelsea Markel. They are wonderful writers and a great influence on the scene in Central PA. She’s one of the co-founders of Harrisburg Beer Week, and he is an accomplished homebrewer who makes some delicious beers. So definitely pop over there and read this excellent article.

Here at the blog, we’ve been super busy as always. I’ve been writing nonstop it seems in the last few days. Beer reviews for This Is The Way by Broken Goblet, my series of Tree House beers – Sap, Autumn, Haze, Julius, and Doppelganger. Our beer review of Scarlet Sunrise by Mellow Mink, as well as our visit to Mellow Mink. The sad news of Crystal Ball’s Closing in York PA. Beer review of Hill Farmstead’s Florence. Also been doing several podcasts, LOST Seasons 1 and 2, LOST Seasons 3 and 4, Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian, and possibly soon one on the final season of BoJack Horseman. We also have much more content coming out, more beer reviews, visits to breweries, openings, an article on Liquid Noise opening in Marysville PA, an article on the progress of Rubber Soul opening in Hummelstown PA, and much more. So please be on the lookout for all of that great content. Click the follow here. Use the RSS feed to follow us or enter your e-mail, or if you already have a WordPress account, you can sign right up with that (probably the easiest way to get our blog).

Also, please follow us on Facebook: The Beer Thrillers.
Or on Twitter: The Beer Thriller.

Also, if you ever check out FeedSpot’s Top 100 Beer Blogs, you’ll see we are currently sitting in the #9 position now since January 15th. (Previously we were #11). We are super proud to be in the Top 10. (Especially since #3 and #4 are the same link, so I guess that sort of, pseudo, technically, maybe, makes us really #8… I dunno.) So give that a click, and then click on us coming back, show them how much you love us!

As you can see in the pictures here, this was my daddy-daughter date night with my youngest. She absolutely loves Troegs. She loves the smell of the brewery (as does my ten year old) as soon as we get in. I picked her up from an after-school function. Took her to the Hershey Library, she picked out two books, and then we had dinner at Troegs. We read her books, she devoured her fries (which, by the way, Troegs has some of the absolute best fries ever) and I enjoyed Scratches 399 and 400. Both were fantastic beers, and Mara had a great night. The laid back atmosphere of Troegs is a nice family-friendly place, that all three of my daughters love coming to. If you are ever in the area, and never been here, I highly recommend it. Yes it gets pretty full in the summer time and with lots of kids from the park, but its still worth at least a one time visit.

And as always, we greatly appreciate all of you, our fine readers. Thank you so much for stopping in, checking us out, and giving us a read. We hope you liked what you read and choose to stick around and check out our other articles. We have tons of stuff here on the blog, from beer reviews, to home brewing stuff with Default Brewing, to some guest writing from LetUsDrinkBeer’s blog and their contributions, to brewery reviews, beer events, even some book reviews, and much more.

Final note, tonight’s the Super Bowl, or technically as everyone who isn’t the NFL has to call it “The Big Game”. San Fransisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs. It should be a good game. I am going against the grain, and thinking it’ll be low scoring, and I’m predicting San Fran 21 to Kansas City’s 10.

So you heard that here folks, that as of 9:42AM, I, B. Kline, predict this as your Super Bowl LIV Final Score:

San Fransisco 49ers: 21
Kansas City Chiefs: 10

Leave your thoughts, comments, score predictions, and other esoteric antics (call back to the podcast!) in the comments section. Love to hear from you all. We greatly appreciate all the feedback we get. It means so much to us! Cheers, and thank goodness that ground hog saw no shadow! Spring is clearly on its way, rodent meteorology for the win!

-B. Kline

If there’s one thing I love, its a Monday Night Football game between two 0-3 teams. Especially when that one team is mine – the Cincinnati Bengals. Yes, every season is a long road of torture and abject humiliation, and watching the Bengals is somewhere near the level of being waterboarded at Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay base). But I push through every year. We have a new coach now, Zac Taylor. The most whitest of whitest and blandest of blandest men. He wanted to prove to his father he was the bigger WASP so he went and played QB at Nebraska. He drives a mini-van, knows all the words to baby shark, wears short khaki shorts, and thinks Desperate Housewives was the culmination of the television medium. When fist-bumping the black players on his team he refers to himself as “Zakky T”. The Bengals team can be actively described as “aggressively milquetoast”.

….and those are the positives we have on the Bengals this season. So I find myself rooting them on (actually, in a perverse way, rooting for the loss so we can go 0-16 and lock up Tua and get away from Andy Dalton for good) sitting at the bar at Boneshire Brewery alongside Owen and a host of other characters playing Dungeons & Dragons (while MNF “rages” on around them, all of whom are oblivious to it) and Jimi manning the bar. And this was probably the best way to view this schlocking and revolting display of “football” pageantry by a team who legitimately (maybe) Alabama a run (though I’d still bet on Alabama).

The nice takeaway from it all is that Steelers might look better but its all a sham because they got to play at home (like they always do) on MNF to a very enthused crowd, so their 27-3 thrashing of an extremely subpar team is all smoke up the back end of a buffalo. The now 1-3 Steelers will go on with their backup QB to have a subpar / below average season, but at least they got this one big win in. I always love the statistics before these games, like Steelers are 13-0 in their last 13 (now 14-0) Monday Night Football home games. Which makes you wonder just how few away Monday Night games they’ve had, and what their record is on those extremely rare occasions. And just how lopsided that statistic becomes if you are always the home team for these games (note: they don’t give Bengals home games on prime time.) And, Andy Dalton now progresses to a 3-14 lifetime record against the Steelers (which includes a botched playoff game courtesy of Vontaze Burfict, who incidentally enough got himself suspended for the season yesterday).

But enough of this tragedy known as the NFL season 2019, and onto this delicious beer.

Currently on tap at Boneshire Brewery is two Tried and True variants. One of which is pineapple, the other being mango. I got to try the pineapple version at the Lititz Brewfest just before it ended and before I got to help Alan pack up / move equipment to his truck after it all ended. The pineapple version is absolutely delicious. But mango in beer is always a surefire way to make it good (in my opinion at least).

Tried and True is one of the biggest staples for Boneshire. I even have two cans in my fridge as we speak. (Saving them for a review as well coincidentally, having traded the other two for the Mississippi beer mail I received before, and the South Carolina beer mail I just received). Tried and True is a 5.5% ABV Witbier that is extremely delicious on its own right. Alongside other Boneshire Brew Works (BBW) staples of Green Machine, Iscariot, Angels on the Sideline, Lazarus, Dark of the Forest, Testify, and Devil’s Burden; this is one of their consistent staples that rotates on their system and is a beloved fan favorite. Its nice, juicy, soft, low-key (5.5%) and always hits the spot. So adding mango or pineapple can only make it better. Both variants are absolutely delicious and tweak the original and just make it better (or at least the same high quality but with a slightly different taste).

Beer: Tried and True (Mango)
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Witbier
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Write-up: Tried and True with mango.

The original Tried and True lists a 15 IBU, and has this for it’s Untappd write-up: This witbier, meaning “white”, is good for any occasion. With notes of orange peel, coriander, Belgian yeast, and wheat, this beer is sure to satisfy your thirst. Pours a slightly cloudy gold with a hue of orange and fluffy white head. Delicious.

Appearance is a beautiful golden orange. Juicy like orange juice, unfiltered looking, delicious looking. Poured to the top to almost overflowing by Jimi (one of the many favorite bartenders at Boneshire, along with Owen, Jared, Jason, Shawn, Alexis, or even one of the owners – Alan, Carson, or Alex; occasionally stepping in) there’s not much head to this, but a slight foam ring right at the top barely there. It looks like sun reflection through a window with that beautiful golden hue. The second picture I have here makes it look like it has a bit more haze and sediment then there really is, but it is hazy and it is cloudy and it is unfiltered, but in all the right ways.

Aroma is Tried and True esque and similar to how the original was, and similar to how the pineapple version I had at the Lititz Brewfest was. BUT, like the pineapple one, this one has a lot of mango in the nose (that one, obviously had a lot of pineapple in the nose). Very upfront heavy mango smell. Followed by the orange peel and coriander and a lot of the golden wheat smell that witbiers are known for. This is one of my favorite styles, mainly for the smell. Alongside many of the Belgian styles, you can smell the yeast strain in there. A staple for Belgian breweries this is just a fantastic style overall. You can smell the wheat and the Belgian yeast strain, you can smell the orange peel that is so characteristic of the style, and you can smell the various spices used, typically coriander, which is what Tried and True uses.

If you’ve ever had the Tried and True before, this tastes very similar, but you get punched in the face first by mangoes (and you didn’t even do anything to deserve it!) and then it goes into the true Tried and True (see what I did there?) taste. Extremely strong mango upfront that slides into the orange peel extremely well and like a perfect tandem, before sparking the coriander, the Belgian yeast, the softness of the wheat, and the juicyness that comes from the mango, as it all easily drinks down. It is quick to finish a pint of this and find yourself getting a second (and then third, and then fourth, and fifth, etc.), and at 5.5% ABV its not too bad on you either. You’re not going to get walloped after two or three of these, and it’ll pair so well with the new Smoked Blues BBQ truck next door or with a good steak, and potatoes, and green beans… ok, now I’m just making myself hungry (and its only breakfast time, and besides, like I’ve said before, I’m no foodie). I honestly don’t foresee this one lasting long at Boneshire, so I’d make good usage of it and stop in and drink it up yourself while you can. Maybe pickup some 4-pks to go.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.71 (as of 10.1.19)

And quickly, while I sat there, watching my Bengals jump up 3-0 it quickly, oh so quickly, vanished, into a final score thrashing of 27-3. Onwards Bengal Soldiers, onto 0-16! The road continues on with this beautiful 0-4 start. #tankfortua is going to be the hashtag most used in Cincinnati for this year I believe, despite the Bengals home office attempt to get people to use #seizetheDEY.

I know from talking to a few people who got to go to the Kennett Square Brewfest (so jealous) that the Tried and True (mango) was a huge hit, so I highly recommend everyone stops out to Boneshire Brew Works and give it a good solid try before its gone. Get the pineapple version as well for comparison sake.

Also, fresh Iscariot just hit the taps, and that is always a delicious Black IPA.

This is possibly one of my favorite black IPAs, which can be a miss or hit breed. And I always love seeing it come back on the taps and make sure to get a pint or two before its gone. (Which I had to do last night during the thrashing, and talking old Harrisburg Heat stories with Owen. Reminiscing on John Abe, Mark Pulisic, Scoop Stanisak, Bob Lilley, and the various other notable Heat alumni.) I figure I’ll save this for another beer review rather than doing a two-fer here.

As always, I have a ton of things in the pipelines here. As J. Doncevic said to me last night (he was one of the many playing D&D behind me at the tables), I currently have three opened tabs in the blog control panel for the various events and things I need to write up, including the Midwest Coast Brewing article that is nearing finishing (just waiting for their big weekend to settle down for them). I have the Lancaster Brewfest and the Lititz Brewfest to write up, as well as several beer reviews (like the Iscariot), and so much more, as always I’m running behind and their piling up. But October should be a good month to get them all written down and posted (some dating as far back as July). So be on the lookout for them and much much much much much more.

Currently we’re still listed at #11 on the Top 100 Best Beer Blogs, but it refreshes and reloads weekly – today at noon, so in my review of Iscariot tonight, I’ll be able to see where we stand after this week. We’ve been holding solid, so hopefully that continues.

I am astonished by how well the blog continues to grow in readership, we started out in May with only 100~ views, got to 1.2K in June, hit 2.5 in July, and 4K viewers in August, September concluded with 4.3K viewers, and here’s hoping October tops that and we get to 5K viewers. (These are poor month and not overall totals.)

J. Doncevic also said he has quite a few writings he wants to do, like a recap of the Kennett Square brewfest where he got to help pour for Rotunda Brewing Company, and many more things (like a lot of beer reviews, so be sure to check out his stuff, he gets to try a lot more eclectic things than I do it seems with Tavour and his friends trading with him, so you’ll see a multitude of whaler beers from him).

As always everyone, continue to hit the like, the follow and subscribe, and as always, make sure to leave comments, we love hearing from you guys, its always great to get in touch with our readers (potentially fans? too?).

Until tonight – keep those livers pumping, you’re going to need them boys (and girls)!

-B. Kline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-B. Kline

(PS: Check out our Instagram, Twitter, Pintrest, and other pages below:

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebeerthriller/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeerthrillers/
*Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/TheBeerThrillers/

Thanks!!)

So this wasn’t meant to become a beer review, but I figured I’d do it anyway. I might do a few of the others from Saturday night as well. There is some backstory to a couple of pieces to this blog post, so I’ll work through them all.

So starting off with some background on Spring House Brewing Company. Once I got kind of fully “into” craft beer, roughly 7-8 years or so ago…. or maybe its been 8-9 years ago…. or even possibly 10 years ago? Who knows, I’m getting old, and it was a while ago, I know that much. Outside of the Hershey/Harrisburg area, Spring House Brewing Company was one of the first breweries I visited/tried. Myself, my three daughters, and Sara, went and did the Turkey Hill Experience thing, and the parking garage was right near the brewery. I convinced her that if we did something for the kids, I needed something for me, and since it was dinner time and they offered food, we ‘might as well’ hit the brewery. She amazingly agreed, and this kind of set precedent for most of our trips with the girls (dinner/lunch would be at breweries, for the good food, and to help keep dad from going insane).

We went to their tap room on Hazel Street. The food was really good, all four of them were happy, and I got a flight, which came with something like 10-12 beers. And I enjoyed all of them. We had a good time, and I would say I would list Spring House pretty prominently and pretty high up.

A year or two later we went to their brewery off of King Street (I might be getting to the two locations backwards, and sadly Google Maps is deciding not to load anything for me at the moment, in fact, even the blog is being slow, so maybe my internet, or my laptop, or whatever is hating me). We went on St. Patty’s day as kind of a dinner date, and had a fantastic Shepherd’s Pie and got some of their bombers on a discount blowout. Again, had a great time.

Sadly though, since then, I’ve only been back to the taproom on Hazel St once, and it was quick, nearly an in-and-out with a friend while visiting the Lancaster area. And so over the years, the only chance I’ve really had at trying Spring House has been in bars, at a tap takeover or two, or rarely/occasionally a few cans I’ve picked up at places like Breski’s Beverage or Brass Rail Deli. Every fall I always have looked forward to Braaaaiiins and Big Gruesome. Both are two of my favorite fall time beers. Braaaaiiins is my possibly my favorite pumpkin beer, and Big Gruesome is a really good stout.

But overall throughout the years, I think I’ve fallen ‘out of love’ with Spring House. I still look forward to Braaaiiins and Big Gruesome, but not as much, and many of their one-offs, and other rotationals that I’ve had throughout the years have left me feeling rather ‘meh’.

So, this brings me to the backstory of Saturday then. Worked 11-7 Saturday, and went right down the road to my friend’s house. J.Scott or JDS or J.D.Scott or D.Scott, whatever he chooses to go with, might be helping out with writing some blog posts here as well. Likewise, we (him and I) will be hosting a podcast where we play some old school NES and SNES games and other related things (maybe old school Game Boy games on emulator or Sega, or what have you), while doing the podcast we will be drinking and talking and chatting about nerd culture (like we mostly do when just hanging out at The Warwick, or Boneshire Brewery, or Chick’s Tavern, or his house, or wherever). So be sure to be on the lookout for all of that (I’ll be posting links here in the blog to whenever we upload a new podcast).

So getting back to Saturday, we started off drinking several craft beers from a local distributor that Dan and D. Scott picked up. A Key Lime Pie from D9 (Confectioner: Key Lime Pie), a few from DuClaw, the Spundae from Spring House, and a Red Velvet Cake one from Spring House. I might get around to doing some beer reviews of these if I find the time/energy (I still have a ton of other blog posts/articles to do). But I really did like the D9: Confectioner: Key Lime Pie, so I might do a beer review on that one. We sat around outside for a while killing the craft beers, talking, trying to get a fire going, before going inside, and working on Naturdays and Natty Daddys (well, we had a few of them outside as well), and then we started watching Terror in Beverly Hill…. which, anytime you can watch a movie starring FRANK Stallone… you jump on that opportunity. Believe me. You won’t be disappointed.

So needless to say the night wasn’t mean to be spent as part of a way to do a blog post, but since I had a beer, and I have some time to write it up, and took some thoughts of it on my phone, and remember my discussions with Dan and D.Scott about it, I’ll give it a review. (Yay to more content right?)

Ok, onto the actual beer review (which is presumably why your here):

Beer: Spundae
Brewery: Spring House Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: None
Untappd Write-Up: Introducing Spundae, our newest milkshake IPA to hit our lineup. Its brewed with real cherry puree, set on vanilla beans, and double dry hopped with potent citra leaves. Get this limited release draft while it lasts, dessert doesnt hang around forever.

….Well….. this is an interesting beer. Obviously my pic isn’t the best, and was mostly just a quick Untappd pic rather than a full on meant to happen for beer reviewing purposes “beer photography” picture. You can see the coloring in the glass that D.Scott was drinking out of. (Gave a taster’s worth for Dan and D.Scott, while I drank out of the can.)

Let’s break this one down….

Aroma is a mixture of all kinds of things. Firstly, its very cherry smelling. Like cough syrup cherry. Maraschino cherry. Overly tart, overly sweet, overly everything cherry. The “not good cherry”. There is a bit of a hop smell but its so diluted by the cherry. There is some kind of other flavors that could be vanilla beans, could be the hops, could be the “cherry puree”, which I’m not really sure what that is. I’m thinking its just straight maraschino cherry syrup they use for ice cream. I don’t know what exactly puree would entail in this instance, and I’d rather it be the actual cherry than puree I think, given how this tastes.

Appearance is very pink hue. As you can see in the picture, it kind of resembles the Crimson Pistil IPA that Troegs did, the hibiscus IPA. The coloring is a little off-putting, especially given the aroma before hand. So already I am kind of anticipating a cherry bomb on this. There’s even a bit of floaters in it and some sediment , at that was with a pour. Firstly, when I even poured just a small sample for both Dan and D.Scott, doing a correct pour, both of their pint glasses foamed way up with a massive amount of head, especially in contrast to how much I poured.

The taste was pretty much what I anticipated, given aroma and appearance, and both Dan and D.Scott agreed immediately on this. Its sour, tart, and not at all like a milkshake IPA. No smoothness. No vanilla. No sugary taste to it. Just a very heavy, tart/sour cheap cherry taste. Like cough syrup gone sour.

Its not a complete waste or drain pour, and its not completely horrible. It is cloying, it is heavy on the mouthfeel, and it doesn’t exactly fit the description. Its not the best or the worst though either. Maybe unpleasant is the best way to describe it? “Not preferable ?” I’ve certainly had far worse in my life, and the Natty Daddy’s later on weren’t much better, but then again, I knew that going in with those. This had at least some expectation to it, and a single was 4.99$ D.Scott told me, so only 2$ cheaper than the entire six-pack of Natty Daddy’s. So it should be obviously a lot better, especially given what it was, who made it, etc. This was more of a disappointment than it was anything, and I think a bit of an indictment about where Spring House has gone in recent year(s)/month(s). As I’ve heard numerous complaints and issues and arguments surrounding their beers in recent times. Which is very sad and disheartening.

My Untappd Rating: ***.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.19 (as of 9.16.19)

(And sadly, I feel like I might be a bit generous with the 3.25 and it might really deserve a 3-***).

In blog news, we’ve been selected and added to the Top 100 Beer Blogs on the internet. Though we’re not exactly in the Top 100, (we are listed at #120), it is an honor, especially since I only started this blog in late May (so just a bit under 4 months). For comparison’s sake Breweries in PA is ranked #37. So given the “youth” of this blog, I think we’re doing pretty good.

You can check out the listing here: Top 100 Best Beer Blogs.

Certainly check it out, and spread the word about our blog, would love to crack the Top 100 soon!

Be sure to like, subscribe, follow, and comment on our posts. Share and tell your friends as well. We greatly appreciate it here at The Beer Thrillers!

Until next time, bottoms up!

-B. Kline