The Memorial Day Weekend Trail: 2019 Edition - Part I

You guys know the drill by now. Every year for the last few years, my band herbie plays at a private festival out in the sticks somewhere betwixt the PA/NY border. Brewslut and I always do a loop of some favorite breweries and try to incorporate one or two new destinations as well. (Check all of them out if you're a new follower of our blog and feel so inclined: 2016, 2017 and 2018. The 2016 blog is the one that brought me out of retirement.) This year was no different. Our story begins as it typically does on a Friday evening after work. Ever since we had the ingenious idea of abandoning town on Friday night to avoid the dreaded Memorial Day parade that barrels down Main Street right in front of our house, that's been our MO.

Friday began with a quick detour off the usual I-81 N. trail to hit up a new-to-us brewery in the metropolis of Shickshinny, PA. Yes, that's the name of the town, people. As someone from a town called Shamokin, I can safely assert that this place definitely fits nicely in the description of "podunk Pennsyltucky." To be honest, the only reason I caught wind of this brewery is because my cousin (who lives in the general region of said brewery) got us a gift certificate for the brewery at a charity fundraiser he attended. The brewery in question is Five Mountain. This place is definitely off the beaten path, and at points I feared for my life as we traversed the 10-plus miles of crooked (sometimes gravely) back roads to get to Shickshinny.

Chalkboard at Five Mountain.

The place was kind of what I was expecting: a garage-turned-brewery with a few taps, a small bar, and some random seating. A display featuring mug clubber mugs adorned some of the walls. Other than that, the decor was pretty bare bones. That's not to say that I don't enjoy hanging out in a garage and drinking beer. I've had some memorable experiences in tiny hole-in-the-wall breweries over the last 15 years. One that comes immediately to mind is the original One Guy Brewing, which later became Berwick Brewing. Oh, the memories!

Five Mountain's taps.

While our gift certificate was good for a growler fill, I asked if we could get three different pours, as we wanted to stay for a bit. The bartender was fine with it (as she should have been; our drafts totaled $1 less than a growler fill and she got a better tip). The three beers we tried were as follows:

• Miffle Sipper - NE-style IPA 
• The Preferred Nomenclature - West Coast IPA. Brewslut actually pointed out the name to me, which is a reference to a line from my favorite movie, The Big Lebowski, spoken by Walter when the Dude refers to an Asian American as a "China-man." 
• Downhill in Neutral - vanilla maple porter

Unfortunately, I couldn't really find any information about any of the beers other than their styles. Sadly, all of these beers possessed classic textbook flaws and off-flavors that even the most unrefined palate should be able to detect. I wish I would have taken notes, but I definitely remember Hydrogen Sulfide (which elicits a sulfur-like aroma), diacetyl (classic buttered popcorn), and metallic (harsh, rusty, and blood-like). I hate trashing breweries, so I'll just kindly direct the brewer to this page, which includes 18 common off-flavors found in beer as well as how to detect and avoid them. Cheers!

The always cheerful Pleeps!

Thankfully, Brewslut took one for the team and consumed the lion's share of these three beers. After all, I was driving. 

After a rocky start, it was off to Wilkes-Barre for our third visit to Benny Brewing. When we arrived, there were maybe two available parking spots. This place was absolutely packed inside and out, so you can tell they're doing something right. Since we weren't eating there, we decided not to take up a table (valuable real estate to hungry patrons) and stand for a while. Lucky for us, there was an entertaining musical duo performing on the small elevated stage area during our visit. Turns out the bassist was a member of the legendary local band, Strawberry Jam, who used to play at the Coal Hole in Shamokin back when I was a kid. Every time we come here, the beers improve and there are more people. I guess NEPA-folk finally got on board with craft beer!

While we were there, we tried three beers from Benny's "Single Batch Series." These beers aren't part of its flagship or seasonal lineups and are brewed in smaller batches. First up was ‘Tis Noel Saison, an odd choice for me, especially as we were fast approaching the start of the summer season. This dark saison brewed with vanilla bean was concocted by homebrewer Patrick Granahan, and it took home The Crystal Lederhosen Champions Cup in 2018. I'm not sure if Benny took the recipe and brewed it themselves, or if it was a collaborative effort, or if this was the original homebrew batch. Either way, it was pretty damn tasty and had a nice mix of vanilla sweetness and spiciness courtesy of the yeast.

Benny taps (photo courtesy of Google Images).

Meanwhile, Brewslut was enjoying a pour of Reckless Endeavour, a triple dry-hopped DIPA with milk sugar. She's been hell bent for milk sugar IPAs lately and we both enjoyed this one as well. It boasted moderate viscosity with minimal chalkiness (a byproduct of lactose I sometimes find in lesser milkshake IPAs) and a bold hop profile. Nicely done!

Since we were batting 1000, we decided to go balls out and split a pour of 4 Day Weekend, an Imperial Cherry Stout aged for six months in bourbon barrels. After all, we were on a 4-day weekend. At 10% ABV, this one had some warmth and boozy bourbon presence, but it felt pretty tame thanks to the addition of cherries.

All in all, it was a fantastic visit to Benny and easily my favorite thus far. We enjoyed all of the beers and I was happy to get to soak in some live music for a change (since I'm usually the one on stage). It takes a lot to impress me, but these guys were solid musicians with fun personalities and amusing banter, which I love. I mean, clever microphone banter is an art form in and of itself and can really enhance any musical performance... which is why I love having a microphone when I perform!

Next up, we headed across town to nearby Breaker Brewing. We've been following Breaker since the beginning, which is 2009. Damn, I can't believe they've been around for a DECADE! We first had Breaker's beers at the infamous Elmer Sudds, a cool beer bar in Wilkes-Barre, many moons ago. After several years of trial and error and struggling to find its footing, I think Breaker has finally discovered its niche. These days, they crank out some pretty stellar fruit-infused sour/IPA hybrid beers like Lime Life, one of Brewslut's absolute favorite beers. (Editor's note: she recently visited Wilkes-Barre for a work-related class and made it a point to swing by just to pick up cans of this beer to bring home. She also drank a few while she was visiting.) They also do some pretty tasty milkshake IPAs.

Breaker Brewing Co. (photo courtesy of Google Images).

After checking out the beer list, Brewslut was eyeing up Grapefruit Bash, a NE-style IPA brewed in collaboration with Beer Tree (stay tuned for more on those guys in our next episode). Hopped with Michigan Copper hops from New York, a relatively new variety boasting fruity notes of cherry and fruit punch, and double dry hopped with Citra and Mosaic for additional citrus and tropical fruit goodness, the beer was then rested on gallons and gallons of juiced ruby red grapefruit and vanilla beans. You definitely get a huge smack of grapefruit in this bad boy with a lot of peppery rind and pith. The vanilla softened it a bit but this was fairly bitter. It was pretty solid but didn't live up to the beers we had during our last two visits.

I settled on a pour of an beer called Hey Man Nice Shoes since the beer I wanted had kicked (sorry, I don't remember what it was). Brewed with flaked and malted oats and raw white wheat for a soft mouthfeel, this IPA features Idaho 7 hops with backup of Citra, Warrior, and Azacca. You don't see Warrior too often in beers (though it is a key hop variety found in nugget Nectar). This one is also double dry hopped with Idaho7 and Citra Lupulin powder for notes of grapefruit, pineapple, and mango smoothie.

We typically eat at Breaker Brewing, and we chose not to deviate from the norm. The folks at Breaker serve up some slammin' panini sammies that are always enjoyable, and this time was no different. They change up their menu fairly often, or at least it seems like they do, as we only get up there about twice a year. My usual is The Simpson, a turkey panini with smoked gouda and house-made blackberry jalapeño jam. Can't go wrong with that combo, folks!

We closed out the evening with our requisite visit to Sabatini's, a place I often call the NE branch of Al's of Hampden. Pizza + beer = good, indeed! I was stoked to see a few offerings from New Trail, Billtown's newest craft beer player on the scene. We also had to get a pizza, and nothing quells my hunger pangs more than a chicken pizza. They have two great ones on the menu, but we opted for the Chicken Wing pizza this time, which is basically like wings on a pizza. Yum!

Back to the beer. I really enjoyed a one-off version of Hay Stacks IPA on cask conditioned on mango and peach. And again, we find your friendly neighborhood narrator salivating over the use of peach in a beer. I gotta say, I freakin' love peaches. Perhaps I'll move to the country... you know, so I can eat me a lot of peaches.

The other beer, Strawberry Haze, is a collaboration with Almanac Beer Co. Brewed with wheat and oats and "bluntly hopped with Sabro and a blend of some old favorites," the beer is then fermented atop "bundles of sticky icky strawberries and tangerines" for a blast of berry and citrus goodness. I hadn't heard of Sabro hops before, so I did a bit of Google exploring. Turns out the variety was developed by the Hop Breeding Company and released in 2018. An aroma hop, Sabro is notable for its complex fruity and citrus-forward character including a predominant tangerine note. It also imparts hints of coconut, tropical fruit, and stone fruit aromas, with traces of cedar, mint, and cream. So, lots going on there, right? (If you feel like geeking out a bit, check out this article about the history and lineage of Sabro hops.) While I enjoyed both of these beers quite a bit, I must give the nod to Hay Stacks. Because, you know... peaches.

And with that, the day had come to a close. Still, it was nice to leave a bit early and get to squeeze in a new brewery (even though it was only worth a visit so we could check it off our ever-growing list). Stay tuned for more Pour Travelers hijinx as we head into New York and hit up some old favorites as well as a new-to-us brewery that blew us away. Until next time...