I’m here…do I go “Grinch” or “Who?”
Last summer I was asked to host a private beer tasting for Villanova University Seniors through the “VU Seniors” professional development program. A professor had hosted a wine tasting in the past and it went over well. The students specifically asked for a beer tasting, and as luck would have it the event organizers were friends of mine who knew about my little “hobby” and asked me to host. So in September 2009 and April 2010 I hosted two “Drink Better, Drink Local” beer education events for 50-60 students each semester in which I featured 6-8 local beers in a variety of styles, explaining the differences in each as we went along, while dispelling popular beer “myths” in between pours. They were both very successful, and I was all-too-happy to enlist again this year.
My Fall Semester event will be next Tuesday, October 19th, but instead of doing the same thing I did in the past, I decided to mix it up a bit (partly for my own benefit, as the students coming this year won’t have had the experience last year and wouldn’t have known if I did the same events verbatim) and do a “Fall/Winter” beer tasting next week and “Spring/Summer” beer tasting next semester. I’m still trying to feature a variety of local beers in different styles, but whereas in the past I tried to showcase both ales and lagers in the most common styles (pilseners, IPAs, bocks, stouts, etc.), this time around I’m trying to confine this first event to styles that are common to the colder months. This will be the first time I’ve brought any non-Philadelphia area beers into the mix as well. I just got back from a trip to visit my friend Matt at The Beer Yard, and this is what’s currently in the walk-in chilling down until next Tuesday:
A casual, informal survey last Fall revealed that the most popular beers I sampled were the maltier ones (Sly Fox Oktoberfest and Trogenator), as well as Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin, while the hoppier varieties didn’t fare so well. This makes sense, considering what most of these kids have likely been guzzling for the past 4 years, as hops are definitely an acquired taste. So this fall I only have one truly “hoppy” beer in Weyerbacher Harvest. I replaced the Imperial Pumpkin with Pumking (how lucky I felt to see the case sitting there when I walked in!), and added another malty beer in SN’s new Tumbler seasonal. We’ll see how their palates react to Joe and Moonglow, but something tells me they’ll like the variety, and I can justify that to a bottle, each of these beers is either a fall/winter seasonal for the brewery or a style that is traditionally served between September and February.
I’ll post a review and some photos after it’s all said and done next week. Until then, Cheers!
Posted by Mike
After we said our goodbyes to Matt Allyn, we made our way north on I-79 and into the Great State of New York for our only non-Pennsylvania stop on the tour. This location had come up several times in our planning discussions, and while we weren’t keen on leaving PA on “The Great Pennsylvania Beer Tour,” when locations like Erie Brewing Co. and Penn Brewing Co. fell through because they weren’t open on the days we were in town, we decided we were too close to something good to let the opportunity pass us by.
Southern Tier is situated in the Lake Chautauqua region of western New York. The setting is idyllic and much more of a cosmopolitan vacation area than the more rustic areas of northwestern PA we had visited earlier. As we made our way off I-90 and through the picturesque vacation homes that lead to the brewery, anticipation was growing. In addition to my passion for craft beer, I have another vice: fine cigars. An acquaintance from an online community I am a member of lives in the Erie area, and he agreed to meet us at Southern Tier and show us around, as he enjoys both beer and cigars as well. He was sending me text messages for a better part of our drive commenting on how many people were there and how great the beer and weather was. I think we all had mental lists of the stuff we wanted to try (I know I did).
When we reached the end of our route according to the GPS, Jim, who had been there before, said, “This isn’t where it’s supposed to be; I remember it being across the street.” The large sign reading “SOUTHERN TIER BREWING CO.” seemed to belie his memory, but only somewhat; the brewery had in fact moved almost directly across the street a short while back into a larger, more luxurious facility.
My cigar friend John was dead-on accurate with his description of the scene. The parking lot was full, and nary a table was available in the outside seating area, which included both a small stage for live music and a pair of blue plastic bins set up for some sort of slam-dunk-the-frisbee game that likely only makes sense after a few pints. We found John seated at the lone remaining table that could accommodate 3 extra people and after introductions it was time to sample the wares. There were 13 fresh ST brews on tap, as well as a nice selection of local wines and several third-party bottles available for purchase (Cuvée René, Orval and Ayinger Braü-Weisse were the standouts from my memory). Draughts were available in 12 or 16 oz. pours, so I chose the 12 oz. route in order to maintain variety without having to increase consumption. I started with Chautauqua Brew, a locals-only low-gravity adjunct that was crisp, fresh and surprisingly good. From there I stepped up the hop ladder with the newly-released Harvest Ale, followed by fresh 2XIPA (quickly becoming one of my favorite year-round IPAs…seriously, folks, this gives Two Hearted and Torpedo a major run for their money) and finally a glass of Back Burner Barleywine. I’m pretty sure everyone else followed suit and did a tour-de-hops as well. Sadly one of my summer favorites, Hop Sun, had kicked shortly before we arrived, and was being erased from the board as we stood in line.
We had originally hoped to be in Lakewood by 5:00 PM in order to go on the last tour of the day, but Matt was so engaging at Voodoo that we lost track of time and didn’t get to Southern Tier until after the tour had already left. While we were milling about the “Empty Pint” (as their tasting area is called), Steve spied someone in ST gear, and after explaining who we were and what we were doing, he agreed to take us onto the brewing floor for a quick peek. As we walked past 200-barrel fermentation vessels full of fresh Pumking (none available to taste or purchase just yet :( ), we learned that despite moving into a larger space, the brewery runs around the clock, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. They had already maxed out capacity (impressive!), and were looking to expand by filling some of the empty areas in the warehouse with additional equipment. This was by far the largest facility by volume that we had visited.
Eventually hunger got the best of us, and while we had received several recommendations for places to eat in the Lakewood area, my friend John suggested we take the trip back to Erie and check out his local haunt, The Brewerie at Union Station. The prospect of not only eating, but adding another location to our itinerary seemed appealing enough, so off we went!
As the name implies, The Brewerie is situated inside of Erie’s Union Station, a once bustling depot that now only receives one Amtrak passenger train per day. A majority of the building is now occupied by The Brewerie and a banquet facility (which was hosting a wedding reception when we arrived). We took a couple spots at the bar and placed our normal order: two sampler platters to share between the 3 of us. John, being a regular and member of their mug club, had his own vessel to drink out of. The samplers arrived in wooden holders shaped like the Pennsylvania Keystone. Most of the offerings were decent enough, with the standouts being The Brewerie’s Hopness Monster I.P.A. (a British-style IPA), and “IRA” an Irish Red Ale brewed by Lavery Brewing Co., a small, local operation that takes advantage of an Alternating Proprietorship license and brews its beers right there at The Brewerie on weekends. According to their website, they have a lease on their own place and should be doing their own thing soon. We look forward to more good things from Jason Lavery in the coming months!
The food was quite good (though Steve was less-than-impressed with the heat of their “Red Hot” fries), and with full bellies and heavy eyelids we said our goodbyes to John and our new friends at The Brewerie, made our way down I-79 back to our temporary base of operations, and attempted to put a dent into the collection of growlers that had been piling up.
We weren’t nearly as successful as we would liked to have been.
posted by Jim
After two whirlwind days of tours, tastings, and talks with brewers, a day of just showing up and drinking seemed like a welcome respite.
Our first stop was at North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock, PA. We showed up shortly after they opened for lunch and saw a pretty crowded pub. Three seats at the bar were waiting for us, and within minutes we had two full sampler trays in front of us. All of the beer was solid with a few real standouts. Emma’s Pale Ale and Jodi’s ESB both had incredible balance, and Paleo IPA had a clean, fresh citrus hop nose. Surprisingly Northern Lite, the American-style lager, had some real flavor to it, and the Raspberry Fruit Bowl, while being neon pink in color, was quite restrained on the fruit and had a nice base beer underneath it.
We chatted with the owner, Bob McCafferty, about our trip and asked him about the history of the pub. The building was originally two separate structures, a cabinet maker’s shop and the county morgue. He purchased both and did some significant remodeling to create the brewpub. Nearly everything in the place was hand-carved wood from the bartop to the bathroom doors to the sampler trays. Every single one of these pieces was created by Bob himself. It was all really impressive and added a feel to the pub that you couldn’t get anywhere else.
Our second stop for the day was at the Hofbrauhaus in the Southside area of Pittsburgh. While it’s a much more commercial operation than all of the other places we’d visited to that point, we still wanted to check it out (if only for the kitsch factor). The beer is brewed on premises though, and the liter of hefeweizen I ordered was quite fresh and just about perfect. We efficiently worked our way through two rounds of beers, rocked out to the musical stylings of Mr. Oktoberfest himself, Joe Maloy, and headed off in search of some grub (and more beer) at Church Brew Works.
If you haven’t been to Church Brew Works, let me tell you that it needs to go on your list of places to see if only for the surreal experience you get from drinking inside this historic building. Now I went into this visit knowing that this was a church-turned-brewpub, but I think I expected there to be renovations and a lot of transformative redecorating. But instead it was a shock to see that 90% of everything in there is original to the old church. It’s almost like they just plopped down a bar and a bunch of tables and opened for service.
As for the beer, it wasn’t quite to the level of some of the top brews we’ve had on the trip, but there were some really solid offerings plus a truly excellent foreign-style stout. After putting down some top-notch food and doing a number on two sampler trays, it was time to head in for the night and catch up on our growler drinking.
All in all, a much more low key day, but it was nice given the whirlwind that the past two days had been. It allowed us the energy to actually stay awake once we got back in the evening and have a blast sitting out on the back porch shooting the breeze with Mike’s cousin and drinking our spoils from the past three days. Overall, an excellent day.
Posted by Steve
Matt Allyn just might be the hardest working man in brewing. Not only does he run his own well respected craft brewery, Voodoo Brewery in Meadville, but he’s also the guest Head Brewer at Straub in St. Mary’s and the Head Brewer at Blue Canoe in Titusville!
Back when we were initially planning this trip, Voodoo was one of the first breweries to be added to the list. My personal experience with their beer began at the Philly Craft Beer Festival in March of 2008. Not only were they pouring their excellent bottled goodies (Gran Met, Voodoo Love Child, Pilzilla, White Magick of the Sun and 4 Seasons IPA) but they also had a couple kegs of Big Black Voodoo Daddy. BBVD was easily the best beer I had that day, and upon returning home I was devastated to find out that it was not yet available in bottle or keg. But a week later I was pleasantly surprised to find a firkin of it at the first Philly Real Ale Invitational and did my part to make sure the firkin kicked. Eventually BBVD made its bottle debut (for which it still enjoys a healthy ‘A’ rating on BeerAdvocate). Soon thereafter I ran into Matt at a local pub during Philly Beer Week 2009, and we had the opportunity to chat about brewing and beer and yeast, but also about the proposed central and western PA beer trip. Not only did he think it was a cool idea, but he made some great recommendations including the amazing Sprague Farm (which he helped set up the brewery for).
This long-winded opening is designed to show how great Matt has been from the beginning of this whole project. Not only that, but now here he was taking time out of his incredibly busy schedule to come open his brewery to us on a Saturday afternoon. Once we arrived at the unassuming Meadville building that once housed a cabinet maker and morgue (is this a theme?), we were given the grand tour including the bottle conditioning room and a great space up front that Matt someday hopes to transform into a brewpub. As we made our way toward the brewery proper, we could hear music playing nearby. “Is that the street festival we saw on the way in?” we asked. “Nope” came Matt’s smiling reply. “That’s the music for the fermenting yeast. I figure it works on plants, so it must work on yeast. I’ve even got this great German Polka CD for when I’m brewing a lager.”
We spent the next hour or so learning about the history of the brewing system, getting introduced to the fermenters (Mel (Brooks) et al), and having some great conversation with this brewing veteran. Before we left, we were also able to sample some beer straight from the storage tanks, get the freshest growler of Pilzilla we’ll likely ever taste, and be gifted some ‘Trapped Under Eisbock”, Matt’s 14% sour cherry Eisbock to be released at some point in the near or not so near future. All in all another amazing visit. Thanks Matt, we owe you a beer.
After nearly a 3 hour visit withour friend Ryan from Roy-Pitz, the clock (and our bodies) was telling us it was time to call it a day and get back home to our families. While we were hesitant to cut out Troegs and Stoudts, we’d all been there before and will likely be back again soon, so for now we’re going to end this trip and begin the recovery period. Stay tuned for more in-depth updates when we’ve had time to process the past 4 days!
Stop #1 on day #4. Roy-Pitz in Chambersburg.
The interior of Church Brew Works.
Best.Motif.Ever
The former home of Pittsburgh Brewing Co. (Iron City) across the street from Church Brew Works.
It’s Sunday and we made it to Church after all!