The Great Pennsylvania Beer Tour

What is all this about?

On my way back from hunting camp in the Fall of 2008, I took a detour in order to stop at the Straub Brewery in Saint Mary’s, PA. Home of the “Eternal Tap,” and listed as one of the 5 Best Places in America to Drink American Beer. My experience was so interesting and unique that upon returning home and relating the story to several of my like-minded beer-loving friends, we decided that we had to get out there again someday. Soon we began to plan an entire “Beer Tour” around our desire to get out to the sleepy little NW Pennsylvania town. It took nearly 2 years to find a time that worked for all of us, and several weeks of planning and preparation, but come this Friday morning, we’ll be off on a 4-day tour of some well-known and not-so-well known Pennsylvania brewing establishments.

The Itinerary

After much deliberation and the unfortunate cutting of several locations due to either a lack of time or their not being open on our travel days, our day-by-day destinations are set and can be found on the Google Map above. Here is our itinerary:

Friday (Red Pins)

Saturday (Yellow Pins)

Sunday (Green Pins)

Monday (Blue Pins)

* Pending Brewer Availability

This is a huge undertaking…3 breweries a day for 4 days straight, and over 1,000 miles of driving round-trip, but believe it or not, it could have been even bigger, as several establishments sadly ended up on the cutting room floor. The 3 pinned on the map in light blue (Yuengling, Selin’s Grove and Berwick) have been set aside for a follow-up day trip (“The Great Pennsylvania Beer Tour: Epilogue?”), as the logistics of trying to fit them in to the beginning of our journey just couldn’t be worked out. What about Southern Tier, you ask? Isn’t this supposed to be a Pennsylvania Beer Tour? Well, we had originally planned on visiting Erie Brewing Co., but they unfortunately don’t have any hours on Sunday, so rather than waste the afternoon, we decided to trek an additional hour-plus north into NY. They are open late on Saturday, and even have a 5:00 PM tour (and who knows? By then we might have fresh Pumking…it is August, so the pumpkin beers and Oktoberfests ought to start showing up soon, followed shortly by the Christmas decorations). We also consciously chose to forgo any locations within immediate driving distance of Philadelphia or anywhere in NE Pennsylvania, as our main goal was to “Go West, young men,” but this only leaves plenty of locations for a second multi-day excursion.

We feel we’ve got a nice mix of well-known favorites (Tröegs and Stoudts on our way back into town), sought-after newcomers (Voodoo), and smaller out-of-the way locales (we’re especially intrigued by Sprague Farms) that the trip ought to be not only interesting to us, but all of you following us online. We’re hoping to be able to get into East End and Penn on Sunday, but if they fall through for any reason we have a few back-ups in mind.

We want you to feel free to ask us questions while we’re on the road, as Tumblr provides the functionality to do so and we’ll have a mobile hotspot in our car to pass the hours from point-to-point. If any other details emerge between now and our departure on Friday morning, I’ll be posting it here. Keep checking back until then!

View The Great Pennsylvania Beer Tour in a larger map.