Son of Campground Brewdown

After my cousin sold the chalet, I felt a void in my life. Not only am I a sucker for nostalgia (my family purchased that land back when I was about 3 years old), but over the years Brewslut and I have grown to love the Penn's Creek region. A huge part of its endearing quality is the proximity of a few of our favorite breweries in the region, the most obvious being Selin's Grove. Thankfully, my good beer buddy Kramer owns Penn's Creek Campground just a few miles down the road from the chalet. He's been kind enough to offer accommodations to us on a few occasions, so it would appear that we'll be able to continue visiting the area we enjoy so much! 

Entrance to Penn's Creek Campground.

As with any weekend retreat to this area, we always begin on Friday evening with a (usually lengthy) stop at Selin's Grove for dinner and drinks. In addition to the Kriek - which was still hanging in there - I was elated to find the 2017 vintage of bourbon barrel-aged St. Fillan's Wee Heavy (aka barleywine) on the beer engine. We were about to set up shop at the bar when Brewslut noticed two of our good friends - Uncle Rick and Aunt Carol - occupying the corner table in the main dining room area. They were with two friends - Jeff and Beth - visiting from Charlotte, NC. They asked us to join them, and of course we obliged. They'd just finished dinner, but it's our MO to eat at the pub on Friday, so we ordered our food and drinks. The corn chowder was sold out, so I opted for a chicken chipotle wap with a side of po-sal... one of my go-to menu items. I started off with a Kriek because I knew it would be disappearing soon, and followed it up with two BBA Wee Heavy pours, because... well, why not? We had a great time getting to know our friends-of-friends, and we talked about everything - yes, even Rush! - but mostly the conversation included tales of beer, bourbon, and traveling. To our surprise, Jeff and Beth stealthily picked up the tab when none of us were looking, and we didn't even know it until an hour later when we were ready to settle up. What a nice surprise! With that, we finished up our drinks and headed to the campground. 

When we arrived about forty minutes later, the key to the house wasn't where it was supposed to be. After a brief panic and a stroke of luck, we actually stumbled upon the guy with the key at his campsite. Turns out the water main was struck by lightning in a bad storm and one of the regular campground residents had the key to try and get everything fixed up. With key in hand, we turned in for the evening.

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Since I didn't prepare an itinerary in advance, we ended up switching gears and re-routing our trek. I'd originally planned to start the day at Shy Bear and work our way up to State College, then finish up back at camp. Turns out Short Bus (one of the other new places we planned to hit) didn't open until 3 p.m. so we decided to "Tarantino" our route and go in reverse. But first, breakfast! We decided to hit up the nearby (and recently re-opened) Boomerangs, a bar and grill located outside of Millmont not too far from the campground. The place had burned down a while ago, and they rebuilt and remodeled it. The cheese omelet, home fries and toast provided a nice layer of starch and protein in our bellies upon which we would be laying plenty of beer. 

The slight change of plans was fine by me, because it meant we could swing by Inglebean for a quick iced coffee before grabbing a beer at one of my favorites in the region: Elk Creek Cafe & Aleworks. We actually arrived about twenty minutes before Elk Creek opened for the day, so we decided to use our time wisely and get some coffee before our visit. Typically, we like to swing by Inglebean after a beer or two and get it to go, since State College is another half hour or so from Millheim. We grabbed a pair of iced coffees and decided to sit out on the back patio with the resident dog, Eddie Murphy (yup, that's his name). Sadly, he was pretty drained from a week of running and playing back home, and was happy to lie lethargically during our entire twenty-minute visit. 

Pleeps with my pour of Elton's ESB...

We easily procured two seats in our usual spot at the bar (right under the "food specials" chalkboard) and I immediately noticed that they had four seasonals and no Winkleblink, their lightest offering. Usually, they only have two or - at most - three seasonals. I was torn between two of my favorites: Elton's ESB, which was on cask, and Yarrington's Best Bitter. I ultimately decided to go with Elton's ESB since it was on the engine. Tim (Yarrington, head brewer) is one of the best traditional English style brewers in the area, and these two beers are stellar takes on these classic English ales. Brewslut opted for the Summer Session Ale, a light, crisp thirst-quencher that doesn't skimp on flavor. 

...and with the wife's Summer Session Ale.

After a pleasant commute to State College, we arrived at Happy Valley, which has always been a reliable stop on the itinerary. I don't really recall having a "bad" beer there. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed a Triple IPA called Grand Wazoo (bonus points for the Zappa reference) last March that turned out to be one of my favorite PA beers of 2018.

Happy Valley has had pretty much the same flagship line-up of four beers since opening in 2013, but they always have one or two seasonals that we hadn't had before. I'd likely hang out here quite a bit if we lived in the area, as they host live music several nights each week as well as a Vinyl Night on Tuesdays. My kind of place, indeed! 

Monkeying about the tap handles at Happy Valley.

Beer-wise, I decided to go with something new, while Brewslut chose something more familiar. The new beer in question was Haymow Mango, a DIPA hopped with Amarillo, Bitter Gold and Ekuanot boasting tropical notes of papaya as well as ripe melon and a hint of lime. Of course, this one was also finished with juicy mango. However, the mango didn't dominate the flavor or add too much sweetness. It was a nice little dollop of mango. This one drank more like a West Coast style with a little hoppy grit and bite to it. Nicely done! 

Brewslut revisited ZZrbert, a beer we'd first tried back in 2015. Brewed with a raspberry, blackberry, Tahitian vanilla and lactose, this refreshing, slightly tart beer is heavy on fruit and finishes smooth with a creamy mouthfeel. It comes off as liquid gelato or raspberry sherbet. Tasty, indeed, but I was in the mood for hops, so I was pleased with my decision. 

We'd recently checked out the new Voodoo tap room in Lancaster, which is situated in a local butchery. Upon checking out its web site for details, I also learned that Voodoo had a location in State College. Wha-wha-whaaaaat?! 'Tis true! So we made it a point to swing in for a beer. Turns out Voodoo State College is two doors down from Happy Valley.

Our view from the bar at Voodoo State College.

The tap room is situated on the lower level of the Barn at Lemont, a small plaza on the same side of the street as Happy Valley (only a house divides them). I'm sure that particular resident is thrilled that he or she is sandwiched betwixt two breweries in a college town. I personally think it would be awesome, especially since I love these two breweries. I could do without the 22-year-olds, though. At any rate, the Barn at Lemont is home to a collective of local businesses focused on sustainable, healthy living. For example, there was a seafood vendor on-site slinging salmon burgers, lobster rolls and the like, and I quickly regretted filling up for breakfast at Boomerangs. Upstairs in the courtyard, there appeared to be a mini farmer's market taking place.

But back to Voodoo. The tasting room is situated along Slab Cabin Run, a tributary of Spring Creek, and it boasts a patio as well as seating along the water for added ambiance. The outside area was pretty packed, so we decided to set up shop at the small inside bar. In addition to the usual six or so year-round offerings, there were a variety of other seasonal and one-off options. I settled on Unrefined, a hazy IPA hopped with Azacca (one of my favorites) and Cashmere (one you don't see all too often). This one had a tropical fruit flare similar to other IPAs in the same genre. While it hit the spot, I will give the nod to Happy Valley's Haymow Mango as far as being more in line with my particular IPA palate.

Pleeps with a plastic cup of Unrefined.

Overall, this is a great addition to the growing craft beer scene in State College, and it's good to have another reliable option when we roll into town. Before we left, Brewslut picked up a 4-pack of Hazy Vibes to enjoy at the pool and at home. And with that, it was time to move on and check out a pair of new-to-us breweries. We set the GPS for Lewistown, PA, and hit the rocky road.

I hadn't really been in or around Lewistown since my days of driving between Shamokin and State College during my later college years. We'd been meaning to visit Shy Bear for about a year (more on Shy Bear shortly), but when we caught wind of another brewery less than two miles away, we felt it was time to bite the bullet and cross two more breweries off our ever-expanding list.

Gettin' ready to ride the short bus!

Short Bus Brew House, situated in Lewistown's neighbor, Burnham, recently hoved onto our radar when Deuane gave us a can of its Bus Stopper DIPA back in April. It was pretty solid, so I could sense some promise with this new kid on the block. Other than this singular experience, we'd never had any Short Bus beers. When we arrived, we were surprised to find the place was pretty large. Brewslut mentioned on the way in that the building looked like an old car dealership.

Since we'd only had that one beer from Short Bus, we decided to dip our toes into their beer and share a sampler flight. If they were up to snuff, we'd get an additional full pour to share. Here's the skinny on the sampler flight:

• Field Trip Peachy Day - light blonde ale brewed with peach puree.
• Straight A'zzzzz - Single hopped New England style IPA brewed exclusively with Azacca.
• Hot for Teacher - Belgian style Tripel with hints of coriander, clove and pepper. Finishes pretty dry with a hint of sweetness and touch of hop bitterness.
• Black Goat - NE-style black IPA with plenty of roasted malt character and an earthy hop presence with a touch of citrus.

Pleeps proudly ridin' the Short Bus!

All in all, everything was solid across the board, although Brewslut didn't care for the Black Goat. This didn't surprise me, as she's not a fan of black IPAs. My favorite was the Field Trip Peachy Day. I just can't seem to get enough of them peaches! Since we were adequately impressed, we decided to share a pour of Hazy Dazy, a triple dry-hopped NEIPA with Citra, Mosaic and Vic Secret. This one was pretty tasty and had a fruit-forward aroma and flavor with a sticky hop finish.

It's just a Hazy Dazy for this little monkey.

Great conversation with older local guy, met the owner, suggested some cool school-inspired beer names. Place bigger than I thought it would be.

From Short Bus, it was a quick five minute drive down the road to Lewistown and our next destination, Shy Bear. We first sampled their beer at the Selinsgrove Hops, Vines & Wines festival last year and were pretty impressed. We'd heard from a few friends that the food was excellent, so it has been on our list for a while. I knew we'd get there sooner or later, and now was the time to check out Shy Bear. 

Inside Shy Bear's tasting room and restaurant.

In retrospect, I'm glad it worked out so we could visit around dinner time, because the food WAS spectacular! The menu is pretty upscale and forward-thinking with a variety of non-traditional dishes using fresh, seasonal ingredients. After some deliberation, we each ordered an Aloah Tower featuring ponzu vinaigrette marinated sushi-grade tuna marinated in a ponzu vinaigrette with seaweed salad, Hawaiian salsa, tobiko (aka flying fish roe), fried wonton strips, and a citrus hoisin glaze. We also shared the Nacho Stack as an appetizer. Check out the laundry list of ingredients in this puppy: house-made corn tortilla chips with pico de gallo, firehouse-style grilled and chopped chicken, green onion, smoked beer cheese fondue, pickled jalapeno, sour cream, and cilantro. As predicted, the food here was outstanding!

Me posing with a not-so-shy bear.

Pleeps ain't afraid of nuthin'!

Beer-wise, the board looked rather enticing, I must say. We felt another shared sampler flight was in order, so we decided on an a la carte sampling of several beers. Here's the lowdown:

• Osoveza Especial - Mexican style lager brewed with flaked corn and pilsner malt and featuring a classic German hop profile. Crisp, clean and flavorful! 
• Seabreezy - Inspired by the classic beach cocktail, the Seabreeze, this Berliner Weisse features cranberries and fresh pink grapefruit for a tart, citrusy finish.
• Blue Hen Crush - Session IPA showcasing El Dorado and Simcoe hops.
• Shifty Please - Key Lime Pie Sour IPA. Dee-freaking-licious!!! 
• No Ducks Given - Pina Colada DIPA. This one was a very close second to the Shifty Please, but gets the award for favorite beer name! 
• Alpine Swift - Pale Ale hopped with Ekuanot, Summit, Citra and Cascade featuring flaked rye and Ekuanot dry hops. This one is fermented with Norwegian Kviek yeast, a traditional non-phenolic farmhouse yeast passed down through the generations.
• Chief Logan - Citra dry-hopped Pilsner.

Pleeps is ready to dig in to this lot!

I really liked the presentation of the sampler flight board. Each beer was accompanied by a card indicating the name of the beer, and the cardholders stuck to the board magnetically. Each sample featured a generous 6-ounce pour of beer, which is 1-2 ounces more than typical sample size glasses.

Alternate angle of Pleeps with the flight.

 

Overall, the beers here were above average, with our favorites being Shifty Please (especially Brewslut) and No Ducks Given (mostly me). The Blue Hen Crush was perhaps a bit lacking in flavor, but otherwise a stellar line-up from Shy Bear. Factor in the food and this place is a goldmine. Looks like we'll be back in Lewistown sooner than later!

Pleeps gives at least a few ducks.

We still felt like we had one more stop in us before heading back to the campground. We hadn't been to Rusty Rail in a while, so we decided to swing by for a late night one-and-done. They were in the process of closing up the main floor, but the second floor bar and game room was still open until midnight. We decided to head upstairs (even though I deplore all of the taxidermied animals occupying the walls) for a beer. The free classic video game sit-down consoles kind of cancel out the taxidermy, so I just suck it up and focus on the beer and video games. We both opted for the same beer this time, a tart peach and passionfruit ale called Tasting Colors. This is a great beer with a great name; one of the best I've had at Rusty Rail to date. I'm glad to see Rusty Rail is finally coming around and churning out some great beers. They have always been hit and miss with us, but recently I've been routinely pleased with everything I've had from them. And the place really is a gem of a brewpub. 

Back at the campground, we had our own little "Campground Brewdown" with a circle of Shamokinites around the campfire. Chu, one of my friends from high school who is now the Schuylkill County rep for Durdach Distributors, was spending the weekend at his little cabin and introduced a bunch of people to us. Some actually lived mere blocks away from my mom's house (where I grew up) and another guy, Russ, is the sales manager at Durdach and has been slinging Tröegs since the very early days. He regaled me with tales of - among many others - driving around Northumberland and Schuylkill Counties with Chris Trogner trying find ANYONE who would take a chance and buy Tröegs to put on tap. We shared a few beers around the fire, ate cheese, potato cakes and soupie, tried some freaking amazing homemade limonchello and root beer liquor, and got pretty drunk. Luckily, we had a short walk back to the house (thanks again, Kramer)! 

On Sunday, it was once again a Selin's Grove sandwich within a sandwich. Wait... huh? The Selin's Grove sandwich is a term I coined to describe visiting the pub on a Friday night and again on Sunday before we headed home. Well, this time we visited the pub for lunch, then joined Uncle Rick, Aunt Carol and company for some pool time and MinkiBall (patent pending), then headed back to the pub for dinner and a few more beers. The Kriek had finally kicked, so I settled for a Shade Mountain Oatmeal Stout, which I hadn't had in a while. I really wanted another pour of the St. Fillan's but knew I had to drive over an hour to get home. See? I can be responsible every now and then. 

Well folks, that's a wrap on another enjoyable weekend of brewery hopping! Until next time...