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.

Rating

Tech Shop 21+ Night

This was the first time Dave and I had ever been to TechShop in Bakery Square in Pittsburgh. It was pretty awesome. Besides getting to see the shop and everything they can do, such as woodwork, plastic molding etc, they had breweries set up to give out samples of different beers.

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.

Domaine DuPage by Two Brothers Brewing Co.

Two Brother's brewing company creates some really great, interesting beers. This is a french style country ale making it an odd mix of Biere de Garde and hops. Cause everything made in America must have lots of hops.

Color:

Nice dark amber red with golden and almost orange hues, it is slightly hazy, SRM~13-15

ABV:

5.9%

Smell:

Grassy hops and light spices like coriander with a slight tropical fruitiness maybe slight vanilla 

Taste:

This beer starts caramelly and toasty and you can taste the crystal malt. It's got a sweetness to it but not overly sweet. It is smooth and kind of creamy and slightly bitter. The hops add a grassy flavor that is pretty warming. This had a slight fruitiness that I couldn't quite put my finger on, almost plumy. It's not heavy at all for all its creaminess. It is a medium mouthfeel but a lower end of carbonation which adds to the creaminess. It doesn't have a strong aftertaste, a slight grassy-ness. It's almost dry in a way.

Rating:

This is a very complex beer. I enjoyed it greatly. It was light while also being creamy and smooth. The combinations worked well together and was nicely balanced. Nothing was too overpowering. If you're into complex, this beer is for you. All the notes work well together and it is rare to find something with this many different flavors that doesn't end up tasting like mud.

Crystal Ship from East End Brewing

As we mentioned in a previous post, Brendan from East End Brewing gave us a half-growler from Lavery Brewing Company. The reason he had this growler in the first place is because their breweries got together for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week and made sweet, sweet beer babies in the form of some tasty collaboration brews. Late in the week there was an event where they were serving these collaborations and the brewers were all hanging out talking to people. Unfortunately because we were going to so many awesome events that week, we were late arriving to this one and the guys from Lavery had already headed back toward Erie. They did however leave this lovely growler in the hands of Brendan and he thought we might be able to get some good use out of it. Last week we finally started doing just that by having it filled with the experimental brew from East End, Crystal Ship.

The Crystal Ship brew is actually more of a brewing accident than a brewing experiment. Their plan had been to make a batch of one of their flagship beers, BigHop, but they mixed up some malts and wound up with far too much crystal malt. You can read more about this interesting brew day over on their blog. The short version is that the regular ale yeast doesn't ferment much of the sugar from crystal malt leaving a lot of malty, sugary flavor in the final beer. Luckily they noticed the mix-up early and were able to steer it toward something drinkable. They are also using half of the batch to kick start their sour beer projects. We can't wait to get our hands on some sour beers from them, but for now we're glad to have gotten some of this one of a kind beer.

Color:

Dark brown with some red and caramel, not black, SRM ~20

ABV:

4.9%

Smell:

Sweet malts, roasted and toasted, no coffee smell, slight raisin-ish smell

Taste:

This beer was super malty and sweet. The extra crystal malts made it carmalely and sweet. It had a nice roasted profile and a great smoothness. The sweetness wasn't sticky or sugary in any way. This beer had a lingering roasted aftertaste. The aftertaste had a mild coffee hint that lingered longer than the roasted flavor. It had a lower carbonation level and was heavier in mouthfeel.

Rating:

This was a super sweet beer. I can't wait until they turn this into a sour like they are planning. It's a good beer but a little too sweet to drink on a daily basis. It was interesting and we're glad we got a half growler. If you love malty beers you need to try this soon, since it is a one off that they will never make again.

Floating Crystal Ship?
The last half of the last glass of Crystal Ship was starting to get a little flat and tasting a bit too much like malt syrup to be truly enjoyable. David had the idea that this might be a perfect base for a beer float. A couple scoops of vanilla ice cream later and this idea was a reality. He said it worked out great, the malt and roasted flavors paired well with the sweet creamy vanilla to make a nice cold, refreshing dessert drink.

Bee Too by Penn Brewing Co

This beer was started after Penn Brewery removed a back wall (well technically it fell down, but they were planning on removing it anyway) and found that the colony of bees there was huge. They had the Colony moved (properly) but were left with all the delicious honey. So what's a brewer to do? Make a unique one off beer of course! We were lucky enough to get to Happy Hour on the tapping night (even if it made Dave slightly late to play Volleyball).

They had $5 Sausages during Happy Hour, including pheasant sausage. Of course Dave had to try the pheasant (because how often do you encounter pheasant sausage?) while I got a really tasty Kielbasa. We knew we had to go back for a non rushed dinner sometime soon, if just to get tasty honey beer. So we did just that the following week. We had more delicious sausage, and we were even able to go home with a growler of honey goodness.

Color:

Honey gold with a slight caramel red color, SRM~5-7

ABV:

6%

Smell:

Earthy hops with a honey sweetness but not sugary at all

Taste:

It tastes just as it smells. It's earthy and hoppy but not bitter. It tastes sweet but not sugary and just like honey but not like mead. There is very little malty sweetness. It had a nice medium mouthfeel and a medium carbonation. It was heavily lacing with a nice creamy white lace with a low head size. It wasn't effervescent and was in the Kolsch style. The aftertaste started hoppy, more of a bitter hop than a earth hop, and moved toward the sweeter honey flavors after. It lingered nicely and since it was a nice light beer the lingering didn't bother me.

Rating:

This is great and since it's a one off we just had to take some home with us. I wish I could have this all summer. It's nice and earthy but still sweet. Just what I expect out of Penn Brewery.

Strawberye from East End Brewing

After spending a lot of time saying "we really need to make a trip to East End Breing Company" since we met the head brewer, Brendan, during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, We finally made it to East End Brewing Company. Since it's impossible to walk out without a full growler (or at least it should be), we took home a half gallon of their StrawberRye Ale. We also finally made use of the Lavery half-growler that Brendan gave us. More on that in this post.

Color:

Strawberry blondish, light gold with a heavy amounts of light red. SRM ~10

ABV:

3.5-4.5% (Session ale)

Smell:

Earthy hops with light strawberry and a slight dryness and ryeness

Taste:

This beer was sweet with a really nice strawberry flavor, not that disgusting fake strawberry flavor but a nice fresh flavor. It was also dry in a way and the rye really shined. It wasn't heavily malty or sweet from malts. The hops were gentle and slightly earthy. The light aftertaste was very strawberry and rye. It was almost dry in a way. In general it had a mild carbonation, more likely because it was in a growler. It also had a light medium mouthfeel.

Rating:

This was great it was strawberry flavored without being overly sweet or overly tart. This beer was nicely earthy with a good strawberry flavor. The sweetness of the strawberries really mellowed out during the brewing process to leave a good strawberry flavor but not too much of the sugary taste.

Centennial IPA by Founders Brewing

This is available year round from Founders Brewing, located ing Michigan. It is available in bottles and now in cans.

Color:

Pure copper red with hints of gold SRM~10-12

ABV:

7.2%

Smell:

Hoppy, earthy, and floral

Taste:

This beer is hoppy and bitter and piney and sort of grassy. There is a toasted, almost roasted flavor, with a slight citrus hint. The malts weren't very sweet but leaned more on the roasted end, almost like coffee but without the coffee flavor. The aftertaste is bitter and earthy. It lingers strongly for a while after tasting. It is not crisp. This beer lingered on the medium to heavy end of carbonation and had a medium-heavy mouthfeel.

Rating:

This was a good IPA but I usually leave the IPAs to my sister who loves them. I liked it, I just am not a fan of bitter, piney IPAs. If you tend to like piney IPAs you will enjoy this beer.

Dirty Bastard Scottish Style by Founders Brewing

Founders Brewing from Grand Rapids, Michigan has a strong showing in the WBC and the GABF, winning multiple medals for their beers. 6 medals total in 2010 alone, with this showing I am excited to see what else they produce. I've had some of Founders beers before but I've never gotten to try their take on the Wee Heavy, both my favorite and least favorite styles. When done right I love it, when done wrong I despise it. Founders has hit this right on the nail for me.

Color:

Opaque, dark brown with a little coppery red, SRM ~20

ABV:

8.5%

Smell:

Scotch, roast but not coffee, oak and malts, almost sweet in a way

Taste:

The first main point is it tastes like scotch and oak. But the oak is very mellow in flavor, not heavy and barrel forward but just mellow. It had a nice smooth maltyness that reminded me a little of caramel. It is supposedly a 50 IBU beer but there was very little hoppiness in this beer, pretty much none. It was just very smooth and mellow. It had a oak barrel aftertaste but it wasn't too heavy. In general this had light carbonation but wasn't heavy or thick. It had a nice medium mouthfeel and was sort of carmel-ly in a way (according to Dave).

Rating:

This was a great wee heavy. In winter this may be one of my go to beers. The mellowness of the oak and the smooth malting just brought out the scotch flavor better. It doesn't push any of the flavors in your face. If you like that type of in-your-face-ness this isn't going to be the beer for you, at least not if you let it sit for 6-7 months. This will be on my list to try fresh since it probably has mellowed since first bottled.

Cane and Ebel by Two Brothers Brewing

Based just outside of Chicago in Warrenville, Two Brother Brewing is becoming a new favorite of mine. I've enjoyed everything I've had from them and on top of it they have made me open myself up to rye beer (something I'm usually not a fan of).

Color:

Coppery brown with lots of red,
SRM ~15

ABV:

7%

Smell:

Slightly roasty, not dark roasty but a nice roasty like an earthiness, it also had a nice sweet rye and malt smell but not too sugary. It had a very slight bitterness and hoppy notes

Taste:

This beer is hoppy, very hoppy and toasty. It also has a very nice sweet malty taste and is lightly floral. The rye adds an interesting component making it slightly dry but with a hint of sweetness, not a sugar sweetness or a malty sweetness but a nice dry type of sweetness. The aftertaste starts sweet and morphs into a nice bitter happiness. It is not overpowered by the hops and the rye adds a slight crispness towards the end of the aftertaste. The aftertaste lingers very lightly and isn't heavy at all. There is a medium mouthfeel and a slightly higher carbonation which adds a nice lightness to the beer.

Rating:

This made me rethink my position on rye beers. So many rye beers are just super dry and overpowering with rye that this made me want to give them another shot. That's just what good beer should do. I will be on the look out for more from Two Brothers Brewing, and so should you.

The Science of Beer Night at Carnegie Science Center

Yasha the yeast in his natural habitat.

So Friday June 13th, the Carnegie Science Center hosted a Science of Beer night. It was part of their 21+ Night series, where they set up cash bars and have talks. (These seem really fun and we will in general be going to more of them.) For this Science of Beer night, they featured a talk about the Culture of Hops and beer tastings. Each brewery brought 2 beers, and you were give 10 tickets for tastings. (more on that later)

They had a talk about Hop Growing by Keystone Hopfarms and Hop Farm Brewery. It was very informative on the basics of the history of Hops in the USA. It was awesome to find out that Pennsylvania and New York used to be the mecca of hop growing here, pre-prohibition that is. (whoever thought prohibition was a good idea was an idiot.) The guy giving the talk was a little scatter brained and I ended up feeling a little bad for people who don't have a strong chemistry background because he started talking about alpha and beta acids. It was a good talk, but it wasn't what I was expecting by the title: history of hop culture and how hops are used in brewing.

So onto the tasting set up. Since there were only 5 breweries each line was packed. They either needed more tables pouring the same beers or less beers but larger sample sizes. The sample size was 1 ounce. Multiple tables ran out of beer by 9 pm. We didn't get to try beer from Rivertowne Brewery. We ended up using 6 of our 10 tickets each on the only beer left at the end of the night, a pilsner from North Country Brewing Company. We saw extra wrist bands just sitting around with only 1-2 tickets used. People just left because the lines were insanely long and overall it was super crowded.

On the up side, they were raffling off Bread and Beer yeast stuffed plashes from GiantMicrobes. I have been wanting one of these for a while and since everyone had left before they called the names for the raffle, we were able to score a microbe. We have named him Yasha and he is super cute. (Also Dave beat a robot at air hockey)

Once again, like everything in Pittsburgh pertaining to beer, it was super packed and claustrophobic. The idea was good but the execution was horrible. I'd love to see them do this idea again but maybe change things around. It really did end up being one giant line and so you couldn't really check out the exhibits. The tickets were $17, more than their normal 21+ night prices, and it probably wasn't worth it. I would have preferred them having craft beers at the cash bar and then having multiple different talks on the science of beer.

The Bitter End by 2 Brothers Brewing

2 Brothers Brewing is based in Chicago and though founded in 1996, it is very new to me. I can't believe I have never had anything by them, but hopefully Dave and I can get to Chicago sometime to check them out at their Brewery.

Color:

Caramel with some copper hints. SRM 10

ABV:

5.2%

Smell:

Hoppy, not too floral, not too bitter, slight ester smell

Taste:

Nice and hoppy. Not floral or bitter but good flavoring hops. Very mild on the malt front, not sweet in anyway. This was crisp beer with little aftertaste, possibly a slight hop after taste. The mouthfeel was decent, about a light medium feel and slightly more carbonated than normal, but it wasn't effervescent. A good, solid English Pale ale.

Rating:

I am super excited to see what else is out there by these guys. I mean, this was a solid English Pale. I am always on the look out for beers that match the BJCP guidelines and I would say this may become my go to beer for English Pale Ale comparison. If you enjoy hoppy beer that isn't bitter you will love this.

Old Heathen Imperial Stout by Weyerbacher

Old Heathen is an Imperial Stout by Weyerbacher. It is available year round.

Color:

Very dark brown with heavy caramel and copper brown hints, SRM ~27-30

ABV:

8.0%

Smell:

Chocolate, a slight roastyness, malty and a slight whiskey smell, the whiskey smell isn't strong

Taste:

This had a nice malty taste. It was slightly roasted with a hint of chocolate. It was not bitter at all and had almost no hops. It had an espresso and whiskey aftertaste that lingers. It had no head so I was expecting it to be heavy in flavor and feeling but it was not a heavy at all; it had was on the low end of medium mouthfeel. It was good and not crazy. The flavor blend together nicely.

Rating:

Overall this was a decent beer. The chocolate and whiskey were very downplayed which is nice for an Imperial Stout. I am so used to overpowering flavors that this was a nice change. If you like light hints of chocolate and whiskey this should be on your list to try.