Lancaster Brewing Company

Lancaster Brewing Company is located in (obviously) Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We went down to Lancaster for a Halestorm Concert. If you haven't heard of them go check them out they have become one of my favorite bands, to the point where we drove across the state during a snow storm to make it to their concert. Downtown Lancaster is a very pretty city minus the crazy person who tried to hit us with her car then threatened to cut off my finger (City's nice, maybe the people are too, just not so sure about them). Parking at the brewery was very tight but we managed to find a spot. The brewery is decently known to me, I've had their beer before and had been wanting to try the brewery itself. One of my close friends, Matt, loves Lancaster's Milk stout, for good reason.

Service

We arrived at about 5:40pm on Wednesday (11/26) and there were plenty of open tables. We were seated immediately and looked through the beer menu. The service was good and our server was nice and explained the mixed beers (they mix 2 beers together to get new flavors like chocolate strawberry). We decided to not get an appetizer since we wanted to get to the concert by 7:00pm. The service was very quick. We received our beer and food with plenty of time to get to the concert.

Food

The food was pretty good. The kitchen was fast even though it was the day before Thanksgiving, which was a major surprise to me. Dave got the meatloaf with mushroom gravy, which was very mushroomy. He said it was a decent meatloaf, pretty normal for meatloaf not too dry not too moist but a nice solid meatloaf. The Mashed potatoes were tasty and the glazed carrots were the perfect consistency, not mush but not solid, nice and sweet. I got the pretzel encrusted chicken, which I wish I hadn't done. It came with mashed potatoes, seasonal veggies (which was zuchenne and squash - very tasty), and the entire plate was covered in mustard (which I wish it hadn't been). The sides were tasty but the chicken was just wrong. The meat was sliced really thin so it ended up bone dry, and the pretzel crust was really dry so it ended up tasting almost like cardboard (in the dryness). There was also a really strange smell to it, Dave said it was an earthiness and I agreed with him except for me the smell was very strong and pungent. It almost reminded me of straw and mud. (I grew up on farm land and those smells are ingrained in my mind) I couldn't finish the chicken and Dave couldn't either. It was just to earthy for me, if you like earthy flavors this would be great for you but it was just to dry and earthy for me.

Atmosphere

The brewery is located in what looks like an old grist mill style building. It had thick posts leading to the ceiling and an old elevator. (The building is actually a tobacco warehouse, as noted on their website.) When you walk in, to the left is the bar area and to the right is a dining room area. We sat in the dining room area. The wood floor was stained with years of use and gave it a really authentic feel. The entire place was painted in moss and muted burgundy tones. It was warm and inviting. It wasn't too dark which is great for drinking. There was an old service elevator which would go up to the loft and the brewing kettles were prominently displayed along the far wall. There were giant old barn doors along the walls (built into the original building) for carriages to be able to pull in. It was a very neat country meets city style you don't get too many places. Very Lancaster.

"We should get the flight of everything on tap, it's a great idea."

"I'm starting to think this wasn't such a great idea."

Beer

They had a really great deal where you could do a tasting of all the beers on tap for $15. The beer is where this brewery shines. All the beers were solid within their style and they had some that were outstanding. They had a double chocolate milk stout that was to die for. They also had a beer called Shoo Fly Pie, and it was great. I hate Shoo Fly pie, mostly because molasses gives me a horrible headache, but this beer had just enough hint of molasses to give me that shoo fly experience without the raging headache. They also mixed their Double chocolate milk stout with their Strawberry wheat to make a Chocolate Covered Strawberry beer, and it was phenomenal, just stop right there and go get this or at least mix it yourself. The Oktoberfest was solid as was the Kolsch. They know their beer and it shows. I can't stress enough how much I love their brews and it shows in the awards they've received.

Overall

We will be trying Lancaster again, I just won't order the chicken. I'm sure the pizza is probably really good so next time through we will have to try one of those. It's one of those breweries where, we like the beer enough to try it again, especially since we tried it the night before Thanksgiving. It's one of those places that we are willing to give extra chances because the beer was good and the service was good, we just weren't impressed with the food.

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