Since Brewslut and I no longer train at the gym on Fridays (we switched to Thursday so as not to disrupt our weekend travel plans when they manifest), we hit the highway shortly after I got home from work. Aside from enjoying an extra night of beer activities, departing on Friday has the added benefit of being out of town for Annville's annual Memorial Day parade (I heard it's the largest in Pennsylvania), which storms right past our house on Main Street bright and early on Saturday morning. It's not that I have anything against celebrating the sacrifices of our fallen veterans; it's because we are literally land-locked until the parade ends in the late afternoon due to the location of our house.
So, we were off to NEPA, baby! Our first stop of the evening? Benny Brew Co. in Wilkes-Barre. We first visited last year on the very same weekend trip to DetFest and were pleasantly surprised by not only the quality of the beer, but the space itself. Since we enjoyed the outside beer garden last time around, we decided to set up shop in the main tasting room area. I spied two open stools in the corner of the front bar, so we snagged them quickly, as it was pretty packed inside. Looks like business is good for Benny & Co.!
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| Pleeps is ready! |
Upon perusing the beer list, we decided to forego flights and get a pint each and share. It would be a one-and-done stop for us. I settled on the Buck Tree 80, an 8% NE-style IPA brewed with flaked wheat and oats, and hopped with Citra and Simcoe. Now, some hipster brahs might not find this particular "hazy" enough, but I had no complaints.
We really enjoyed out last visit to Breaker Brewing Company back in April, when we had a beer called Lime Life, a freaking delicious sour key lime IPA. Brewslut and I both agreed that it was far and away the best beer they've ever released. We've been following Breaker since the beginning (partly due to its coal region roots) and admittedly their beers have always been hit or miss. Well, it seems like they have things pretty dialed in right now. I heard they recently moved brewing operations away from the kitchen where they also prepare food for the pub customers. This was good thinking, as I'm sure the likelihood of contamination is pretty high under those circumstances.
The beer menu was brimming with interesting-sounding beers that looked amazing on paper. Let's see how some of them translated to the glass. My first selection was a 13-oz. pour of Strawberry Shortcake IPA. The grain bill for this cloudy, pinkish ale included wheat, spelt and flaked oats. Citra and Mosaic hops lent a tangy berry character with some juicy citrus fruit notes. But Breaker went all out with this one, as they conditioned this beer on copious amounts of fresh puréed strawberries, milk sugar, and Mexican vanilla beans. As if that wasn't enough, they double dry-hopped this concoction with Ekuanot. Their flavor notes for this beer had me salivating before I even took a sip: Notes of strawberry sherbet, vanilla custard, canned berry jam, papaya chunks, peach citrus, and candied pine sap. This beer was quite enjoyable, and both Brewslut and I deemed it the best of the bunch we had at Breaker during this particular visit.
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| Photo session with Pleeps! |
Meanwhile, my partner in crime was working on a beer called Pinekiwi, a sharp yet sweet and refreshing sour IPA. First, they brewed with a mix of wheat and Pilsen malt and loads of flaked oats and left to sour for an undetermined amount of time. After souring, Citra and Mosaic hops joined the party. For dry-hopping, they added even more Citra and Mosaic, then dry-hopped one more time with Sorachi Ace to add lemon and soft herbal notes. To top it off, they conditioned the beer atop puréed pineapples, juiced kiwi, and Madagascar vanilla beans. Again, this beer was accompanied by some serious tasting notes: Notes of pineapple lifesavers, kiwi sorbet, lemon zest, dill weed, mango chunks, and vanilla icing. While this one didn't wow us like the Lime Life, it was quite tasty and shows Breaker finding its own niche with this type of beer. I look forward to more of these sour IPAs on return visits!
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| In case you were wondering what day it was... |
Our final beer we got especially for Pleeps. He's always asking about banana beers, which are few and far between. So we got a sampler of the Banana Hazelnut Ale to appease him. Quite simply, this was a brown ale brewed with bananas and hazelnuts. Sounds like it would make a sweet dessert of some sort, but unfortunately bananas really don't lend much flavor or aroma to beer (if any), so what you're left with is a slightly nuttier beer than your typical brown ale. Oh well. It was a cool idea.
Beer aside, we also had an awesome conversation with a beer-loving couple next to us at the bar. We talked in detail about beer traveling specifically, which is always fun to recall past Pour Traveler treks to breweries far and wide. I had one last business card in my wallet, so if you're reading, I hope you enjoy the blog!
As usual, we ended the evening at Sabatini's, NEPA's craft beer mecca. One can always be assured a well-curated and diverse draft selection at this fine establishment. The pizza is legit too! This time, we were meeting two friends - Kristen and Erin - for additional conversation and good times.
Perusing the beer list, I'd forgotten about the recent Pizza Boy collaboration, a stone fruit IPA brewed with plums and apricots called Pizza Party. This is the second Pizza Party collaboration beer from Pizza Boy Brewing Co. and Sabatini's, and it was tasty! I find that plum flavor rarely translates well in beers, but here is was apparent. There was a nice dark fruit note paired with a juicier apricot presence that made for a sweet and tangy combination.
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| We're having a pizza party!!! |
The day before the trip, I checked out the tap list for all of the breweries (as I typically do to get an idea of what I might want to drink), and noticed Adam from Hair of the Dog was on the list! Apparently, this Portland, OR, brewery is back to distributing into PA! Great news to me, because I freakin' love their beers! It had been a while since we enjoyed this beer (or any HotD beers, for that matter), so we decided to splurge on a full pint of this 10% ABV hearty old world ale and share it. For all intents and purposes, it's a barley wine. Or at least a strong ale. Either way, it's awesome! I'm glad to see HotD stuff in PA again after an extremely long hiatus. Finding their Blue Dot DIPA on tap while we're out in California is always a rare treat!
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| Kristen posing with Pleeps. |
For our final beer, I'd been eyeing up an imperial stout (something barrel-aged, I'm sure, but the name of the beer escapes me, unfortunately) but it had recently kicked. Out of luck, I settled for a pour of Atmospheric Black Metal by Separatist Beer Project (aka the brewery formerly known as SOLE). I'd had tried this previously during our brewery field trip to the Martin Guitar Factory a few months ago. (Check out the full blog post.) I love their description for this one: "Atmospheric Black Metal is our really fucking metal’d out Imperial Cocoa Stout, conjured into being using the blackest of malts and conditioned on cocoa nibs harvested from the devils loins." Sounds like my kind of beer!
By the time we'd finished that beer, I knew it was time to hit the happy trail. It was fun to sit outside at Sabatini's for the first time, and with the added company of Kristen and Erin, it was an enjoyable visit. We scarfed down a delicious chicken and banana pepper pizza (my favorite combo), so my belly would be plenty full until the next day.
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We'd been to The Farmhouse Brewery enough even for me to know that its location was just outside of town. The key word in that last sentence, folks, is was. We had to double and triple-check the address of our destination, because our GPS (more fun with Garmin later in the weekend) took us right downtown. Turns out Farmhouse has new digs! Yup, the new tasting room is situated in the heart of downtown Owego, two doors down from the Owego Kitchen, where we'd enjoyed a nice lunch during last year's jaunt.
We parked in a free municipal lot back behind the new location that we hoped was on the other side of the building. We took a shortcut (a narrow alley connecting the lot to Owego's main drag) and - lo and behold! - there she was!
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| Always tons on tap at the Farmhouse! |
It's always a challenge to pick what beer to drink at Farmhouse because they always offer a varied and extensive selection. Customers can opt for a "Taste of the Farmhouse" flight for $25, which includes a 2oz. pour of EVERYTHING on the board (in this case like 19 beers). This time around, we settled on a flight of four beers each, with the caveat that we'd enjoy a full pint of something else afterwards. I love it when a plan comes together. Here's the dilly-o, yo:
- Peachy Keen - Sour peach roggenbier (aka rye beer) brewed exclusively with NY ingredients
- Imperial Post Hole - DIPA with Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops
- The Barb - Barrel Aged - sour rhubarb saison aged in wine barrels
- Thousand Pound Sow - Belgian quad brewed with two pounds of local maple syrup per gallon
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| Pleeps has taken flight at the Farmhouse! |
I'd have to say that the Imperial Post Hole was my favorite of the lot. It was pretty juicy and well-balanced with a smack of grapefruit and soft mouthfeel. The Peachy Keen, which I was most excited to try, fell a little short of my expectations, unfortunately. The peach was a bit muted, and the spicy character of the rye seemed to dominate. The Quad was solid but maybe just a tad a thin overall for the style. I dug The Barb quite a bit, and the rhubarb seemed to play nicely with the wine barrel notes of dark fruit, oak, and vanilla.
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| Bathroom break! Had to snap a pic of this clever sign. |
Full pour of Blind Alpaca, a straight up classic Porter with plenty of roast and coffee notes. Brewslut wasn't feeling it for some reason, but I thought it was well done. Perhaps the body wasn't quite as robust as I prefer, but the flavor was nice and roasty with equal parts cocoa and coffee.
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| Pleeps and a Blind Alpaca. |
Pleeps was extremely photogenic during this trip, so we were able to snap many extra photos of him in action. Here's another:
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| Pleeps and O-We-Gose. |
Pleeps was already starting to get a little tipsy, and this was only our first stop of the day. Slow down, eh!
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| Two-fisted Pleeps and his monkey paws! |
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| Time for a little nap. |
The brewery I was most looking forward to re-visiting was The North. Situated in the somewhat run-down village of Endicott, NY, the brewery itself is kind of rough around the edges (as it should be); the beer, however, is anything but. We thoroughly enjoyed our initial visit during the previous year's trip, and we were eager to dig in to the small but constantly rotating tap list. Sadly, we missed a recent IPA and Coffee Stout, both of which sounded amazing.
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| Down North is where I should be! |
This time, the tap list was stout-heavy, featuring three stouts: an American-style, a Milk Stout, and a Chocolate Oatmeal Milk Stout with lactose. So, three of the available five beers were dark... and we have no problem with that! With that said, we both kicked off our visit with the lone IPA on tap, named Floor Rachel. This easy-drinker was hopped with Citra and Simcoe to provide an abundance of orange and grapefruit notes. This one really hit the spot. The mouthfeel was nice and soft, and the finish was super-clean.
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| Backdrop behind the bar at The North. |
In typical Brewslut fashion, she recognized the bartender immediately as the same woman who slung our beer last year. She also remembered that we had a mutual friend in common, but for the life of us, we couldn't figure it out again. I also noticed an inordinate amount of WWF wrestling action figures strewn about the brewery. Some were posed in the front window and some were dangling from tap handles, while others were piled in a large plastic tub off to the side of the bar area. Someone at The North is a huge wrestling fan. And you could tell he was a legit fan. Sure, he had Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, and many A-class wrestlers represented, but he also had some obscure guys like Cowboy Bob Orton and even Kamala... you know, the Ugandan giant! I'm surprised I remember him because I stopped following (i.e. outgrew) professional wrestling by the time of the original Wrestlemania in 1985 (which premiered just days after my 11th birthday).
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| It's a steel cage grudge match at The North! |
OK, let's get back on track. Moving on to more about beer because that's why we're here, right? After our enjoyable IPA, I was in the mood for something different. I'll typically follow up a tasty IPA with a dark beer, preferably a stout. With that said, you'd think I'd go for one of the three stouts available. Nope. Let's do the Japanese lager. Enter Kampai Ichiban, a 3.2% ABV Japanese rice lager. Crisp, light and refreshing, this beer was very saki-esque with hints of white grape, melon and rice. Apparently this is the only "year-round" beer they brew regularly. It's cool to see something a bit unusual as a session beer at a brewery, and this one fits the bill nicely.
Meanwhile, Brewslut was digging into her pour of Orthos, the aforementioned chocolate oatmeal milk stout with lactose. Perhaps her inner mythology geek drew her to this particular beer. Why? In Greek mythology, Orthos is the name of a two headed dog, who is the brother of Cerberus. I was familiar with Cereberus but not Orthos. Hercules killed him, that son of a bitch! Oh well, we killed Orthos too... the pint, that is. That stuff went down so smoothly and wasn't overly sweet. This sucker was lush, rich, and cocoa-rific!
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| Pleeps chillin' with Orthos. |
Based on our initial visit, it seems that the folks at North are prone to opening beers and sharing with customers. Today was no exception. One of our bartenders cracked open a bottle of what turned out to be my favorite beer of the weekend - Barrel Aged Big Bad Leather Daddy. This huge 12% Imperial Stout boasted complex notes of chocolate, tobacco, peat, roast, and a hint of smoke. Thick and chewy, the way it should be! I absolutely loved this beer!
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| Peek-a-boo! No gimp mask for Pleeps! |
Speaking of cracking open beers, one of the guys also cracked open two Equilibrium cans - Mmm...Osa and Tachyon - as well as Trillium Scaled to share. Sweet! More Untappd fodder! That was mighty nice of him! I reciprocated by bringing in four different Troegs cans as a gift, to which I was additionally gifted a bottle of the excellent BA Big Bad Leather Daddy to take home. Schwing!
It was now time to ship off to our next stop, which takes us to Binghamton, NY. We decided to skip Galaxy this time, even though its literally right around the corner from Water Street Brewing Company, our next destination. We were already feeling a little fatigued due to the extra liquid at The North, so we settled on a pair of pints for this one-and-done stop. Beer aside, I also like the owner's taste in music. Looking around the tasting room, I noticed Judas Priest and Iron Maiden artwork, and even a Lemmy action figure! Now that's metal!
I opted for the Surf and Slam, NE-style IPA. For someone who bitches about this style, I sure do order enough of them, eh? Brewslut ordered Head Smash, a single malt and single hop (S.M.A.S.H.) IPA brewed with Marris Otter malt and Ekuanot hops. Both were enjoyable and helped wash down our killer nachos with queso, black beans and guacamole.
Now, it was back to Montrose for our final stop before heading over to DetFest. Endless Brewing is a perfect example of the kind of brewery every small town needs. We always encounter friendly patrons each time we visit, and the owners are super-nice! We even got to meet the new brewery dog (although her name escapes me at the moment). It's true, I suck with names.
Up first was a pour of Hop Session, a 5.5% sessionable beer somewhere between a Pale Ale and an IPA. This one featured caramel malt notes with citrusy hops and a hint of pine. We also shared a short pour of the NEPA IPA, their take on a NE-style IPA. This one wasn't terribly hazy, and it was a bit more malt-forward than I typically like, but it was pretty tasty. Plus... NEPA, baby!
Sticking with the hoppy offerings, up next was a new IPA called Workin' Fool IPA, another variation of an IPA with a similar profile to the Hop Session but with more gusto. We finished up with a shared pour of E.B. Loves Jayne, a crisp hard cider brewed in house.
There's usually a good flow of people in and out the doors of Endless during our visit, and this time was no different. We chatted with the owners for a while, especially after the crowd thinned out, and it was nice of her to say, "I was wondering when you guys would be stopping by!" Usually, people remember us by Pleeps (as evidenced by the folks at both Farmhouse and The North earlier in the day). So it was nice for the two of us to be remembered for a change (although Pleeps definitely relishes in his fame). I shared some Crimson Pistil cans with them, and they gave us two cans of their recently packaged Hop Session to take home and enjoy. Don't mind if we do!
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| The colorful new chalkboard at Endless. |
Soon enough, it was time to take off my beer hat and change into my drum hat. Yes indeed, it was off to DetFest for my fifth year in a row to melt some faces with my band herbie. I think I played pretty well considering I was drinking all day. I finished out the night with a few Sunshine Pils cans and, later, Perpetual IPA. Oh yeah, and a shot of Jameson for good measure... because, why not?
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We woke up on Sunday morning somewhere in the vicinity of 9 a.m. The weather was cold and dreary. It rained all morning, making clean-up rather wet and, therefore, messy. We decided to skip Nimble Hill since we would have arrived more than an hour before they opened for the day. So, it was off to North Slope.
But first, sustenance!
We decided to use the address for Endless Brewing since we had no service with our phones, thinking our GPS would take us right past the civilized part of Montrose (you know, where there is actually stores and such). There was a pretty sweet convenience store called Pump N Pantry that had made-to-order food akin to your typical Sheetz or Wawa. However, our GPS went into full-on spaz mode and took us on an ass-backward route with unpaved dirt roads and lots of unnecessary turns. You know, the "scenic route." At one point, I experienced a slightly unnerving Deliverance vibe as we turned onto a narrow dirt road (strike that, a path) and drove by a few - let's call them dwellings - before I decided to turn the car around, opting instead for an actual paved road. The GPS would need to recalculate. Or, more appropriately, re-fuck-ulate, as Ricky would say. I think it took us half an hour to drive five-and-a-half miles when all was said and done.
So, we finally made it to Pump N Pantry, where we enjoyed breakfast sandwiches, hash browns and coffee. We also enjoyed a quick wash up in the restroom, as we hadn't had the luxury of bathing this morning.
After some much needed nourishment, it was off to North Slope in the town of Dallas, PA. We'd only been there once, (during our DetFest trek two years prior) so I was curious to see if they made any improvements, as I remember not being wowed by anything save for a dry-hopped Witbier (of all things). When we arrived, I noticed the sign on the door read "Closed." I thought perhaps someone forgot to flip the sign over to read "Open." As we parked, we saw a few women dressed somewhat fancifully (at least compared to my unbathed body donning soiled shorts, a sweaty wife-beater and unkempt hair) walking in with gifts and bottles of wine. I knew something was amiss. As I approached the entrance, I saw a white piece of paper taped to the door. Yes, indeed, they were closed for a private event until 1 p.m. I looked at my watch. It was barely 11:40 a.m. "Fuck this," I thought. "Let's get some tacos."
Which is exactly what we did.
Steve from Selin's Grove recommended an awesome taco truck called J Zapata situated in - of all places - Drums! I'd always wanted to visit the town (or as Wikipedia calls it, an "unincorporated community") for obvious reasons. We were familiar with the area, as we'd been to Conyngham Brewing a few times, which was about three miles south just down Rt. 93. Steve promised we'd enjoy "the most authentic Mexican food in PA." But do they have tamales? Answer. You bet yer sweet as they do!
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| J Zapata taco truck in Drums, PA. Where else? |
As we pulled up, I had to chuckle at the dichotomy of very loud rap music being blasted from a food truck serving authentic Mexican cuisine. There was also a sign that read, "So good, Trump wants to build a wall around it." Zing! We ordered three chicken tamales and three tacos Mexicanos with hot sauce and camped out in the dining area (two lopsided picnic table about 30 paces away from the truck). This shit was legit! I can't imagine ever visiting Conyngham Brewing without stopping here for tacos. Thanks Steve!
Brewslut went with the Peanut Butter Porter, a creamy, nitro-dispensed porter brewed with peanut butter. This was nice and creamy, but I already had my eye on my next beer, which would be a small 5-oz. pour while Brewslut finished up her PBP.
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| Did someone say peanut butter? |
What beer, you ask? How about a Jalapeño Gose aged in Tequila barrels? This light bodied, mildly tart beer features sea salt, limes, and jalapeño peppers, which is then aged in tequila barrels. It seems like Conyngham has the pepper thing dialed in because I've enjoyed all of the jalapeño beers I've had there. Its Jalapeño Lager is a mainstay there, and I recommend it to anyone who stops by, even if you're hesitant about trying a beer with a bit of spicy heat. It's quite balanced and tasty with a pleasant flavor.
Meanwhile, Brewslut had moved on to her final selection, Somewhere on a Beach, a refreshing light bodied summer lager brewed with lemons and limes. Brewslut was digging this one much more than her previous choice. I had a few sips, and it was kind of like alcoholic Sprite, though not as spritzy as its soft drink doppelganger. This beer was appropriately named, though, as you could imagine sipping this refreshing, citrus-forward beer whilst relaxing beachside with your significant other. And with that, it was time to move on.
Since Berwick Brewing was in close proximity, we decided to swing by for a visit. I'll admit that our visits have been infrequent since Guy Hagner parted ways with Berwick many years ago. (Those of you who remember One Guy Brewing will remember Guy. Aaah, those were the days!)
The tasting room was pretty poppin' with peeps when we arrived, but we were able to snag the remaining two seats at the bar. Berwick always boats a full tap list of 20+ house beers, including 4 or 5 lagers at any given time, plus a variety of ales, wheat beers, darks and Belgian-inspired ales. I've always enjoyed the Hondo Keller Pils, an unfiltered Pilsner, but this time I noticed a Zwickel Pils on tap for the first time that I could remember. I was surprised to see this, as I always used the terms Keller and Zwickel interchangeably. Turns out they are slightly different. Zwickelbiers are weaker and not as full-flavored as a Kellerbier. The term "zwickel" refers to a small amount of beer taken from a barrel with the aid of a special siphon called a "Zwickelhahn." Another major difference is that a Zwickelbier is typically bottom-fermented, but a Keller is often top-fermented.
Brewslut opted for a full pint of the Dry Hopped IPA, which she wasn't too thrilled about. After my Zwickel Pils, I tried a half pour of a new beer called Fruhling Ale, a dry-hopped pale ale.
Unfortunately, both of us were less than thrilled with all three, as each featured a noticeable diacetyl finish. If you're not familiar, diacetyl is an off-flavor found in beers that elicits an unwanted buttered popcorn or butterscotch flavor. To delve a bit into brewing geekery, diacetyl is a natural occurring process of fermentation produced by yeast. The good news is, just as yeast produces diacetyl, it will also get rid of it. However, the beer needs to rest on the yeast for a few days after the fermentation process ends. This is a typical (for lack of a better term) "mistake" found in many beers, especially at small nano or microbreweries. I've encountered it many times, and my sensory panel training at my place of employment has only heightened my sensitivity of diacetyl. This is a blessing and a curse. I can deal with a hint of diacetyl. Unfortunately, I've encountered many, what I call "diacetyl bombs", where the diacetyl character completely dominates the beer's flavor. This is no bueno. While these three beers did have some promise, I just couldn't get past the diacetyl, which led to a less than enjoyable experience, unfortunately.
After our visit to Berwick, we headed over to our hometown of Shamokin to visit my mom before heading back to the ol' homestead. Sorry to end on a downer, folks. To remedy that, here's a sweet pic of Pleeps enjoying the day with us...
Stay tuned for our next installment of The Pour Travelers, a quick jaunt to Baltimore to attend a Primus and Mastodon concert with some beer worked in, of course. Until next time...
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