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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.