So we started by taking a quick, self-guided tour of the shop itself; they gave out little cards to get stamped at each of the different areas, woodwork, machine shop, electrical, sewing etc. Once finished with the card, we turned them in for a chance to win a prize. We also got to do a little bit of crafting by making cell phone pouches from laser cut felt and some embroidery floss.
So once done with our tour cards, we tried beer, so much beer. There were 3 new-to-me breweries: Whitehorse, Roundabout, and 11th Hour. East End was also there serving up their Harvest Big Hop (with fresh wet hop cones) and BluberRye. (As our super local brewery, we had gotten to try both of these beers prior to the night.) We enjoyed talking to each of the brewers and got some great stories and histories about the breweries.
Whitehorse Brewery, located in Berlin PA, had a great story about how it was named. The legend goes that the native americans who live on the mountains were attacked by foreigners and were forced to give up their horses. They let the horses go to roam the mountain on a very foggy day and so the foreigners had to round them up. One horse was a beautiful prized white stallion. The fog was so dense and so white that the people couldn't catch the white horse. It is said that the horse still wanders the mountain, Whitehorse Mountain, to this day. So besides the really neat story, Whitehorse brought up their newest brew, Buckwheat Honey Harvest. This was a great sweet buckwheat-honey beer. It wasn't overly sweet like mead and it had a nice crispness to it. If you didn't get that the honey was honey made by bees using buckwheat pollen, it wasn't a buckwheat beer with honey, though that would be fun idea.
We then spent some time talking to the Owner and Brewer of Roundabout Brewing. He had some great tips on getting started in the brewing industry and starting a brewery. He's worked at many different breweries and didn't really start as a home brewer, which is an odd stance since many people who start breweries start as home brewers, and most home brewers would love to start a Brewery. They had a fantastic Berliner Weisse, so I was incredibly happy. They don't make syrups for their Berliner Weisse (Most common are woodruff and raspberry) but they do ferment over some fruit every once in a while, So I will be on the lookout for that.
We spent the end of the night talking to Mark from 11th hour brewing. They have not yet set up a brewery but are planning on getting a place in Wexford, which will be great when I go visit family. They brought a great pumpkin beer with great spruced qualities. What hit out of the park though was their chili beer. They do the fermentation over chili peppers, and it has a solid kick. At first you didn't get it but the kick hit you right at the end and definitely lingered through the aftertaste. It wasn't too spicy but if you don't like chili it is not for you. Duh.
Wiggle was on hand with whiskey and whiskey cocktails. I let Dave explore this since I'm not a huge fan of stuff that burns my throat and makes me cry a little. I'll stick to beer.
In the same room as Wiggle more experimental beer was being poured by T.R.A.S.H. and T.R.U.B. Some of the more "crazy" beers they were sporting were a ginger hibiscus brew, a lavender beer, and a spruce beer. They were also on hand with more "normal" styles like IPAs and porters, all of which were great. I went for the more experimental stuff and ended up really liking the lavender beer, which had great floral notes and sort of tasted like a lavender candy (the specialty kind you can't get anywhere). The ginger hibiscus was good but the ginger was a little strong for me; the brewer said that was definitely a dividing beer, some love it and some hate it. I enjoyed the spruce beer because it's a historical style not brewed very often. The spruce beer tasted exactly like what I thought it would, just slightly like gin but not overpowering the way gin is. We also picked up tickets for Brewing Up A Cure which is sponsored by T.R.U.B.
So in general the night was pretty awesome. I can't wait for the next one and really enjoyed talking to the brewers and the members of TechShop. Hope to see you all at the next TechShop 21+ night.
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