Drinking Pennsylvania Brews!

[Hudson]

You like beer. I know you do. And your minions have been trying to lure me to the dark (and light) side for ages. While free beer at parties hasn't done it, perhaps a tour of Pennsylvania's beer industry has. I gathered a couple friends, we piled into an Infiniti QX56 and headed off to see the best of what Pennsylvania brews. Check out my article on "What Ales Ya" and let your friends know about some of the Keystone State's best breweries.

http://automotivetraveler.com/jump/4401

What are your favorite (non-corporate) beers? Have you ever taken a brewery tour? Have you ever attended a beer tasting?

[avant1963]

Great article.

Troegg's Nugget Nectar (only available for a limited time each spring) is one of my favorites. It's a beer that has to be "pre-ordered" because it goes so fast and is limited.

Yards (in Philly) has become a new go-to of mine.

Weyerbacher makes some good craft stuff - some high-alcohol sipping brews too...

Yuengling is always good for a cheap quality beer (alternative to the 3 domestic evils).

Toured the River Horse brewery (just over the Delaware River in Lambertville, NJ) has been doing some real quality stuff since changing owners a few years ago. Hop Hazard and Hop-a-lot-a-mus are great. Just tired their milk stout during the holidays and it too is very good.

Brew pubs in the area are good too. I've hit all 3 Triumph Brew Pubs (New Hope and Philly, PA, and Princeton, NJ), Harvest Moon in New Brunswick, NJ can make some good brews and I believe my name is still on the wall at J.J. Bittings in Woodbridge, NJ.

[NeonLX]

Wisconsin is chock full of craft breweries (in addition to crap breweries such as Swiller Low Life).

I really like the brews from Stevens Point brewery--inexpensive but tasty. They contracted to do a winter ale for a grocery chain in this area. The brew is called "Enchanted Ale" and I really like it. Spicy, smooth and warming. It also packs a hefty wallop.

[Hudson]

Wisconsin is chock full of craft breweries (in addition to crap breweries such as Swiller Low Life).

I really like the brews from Stevens Point brewery--inexpensive but tasty. They contracted to do a winter ale for a grocery chain in this area. The brew is called "Enchanted Ale" and I really like it. Spicy, smooth and warming. It also packs a hefty wallop.

For those of you who don't live in/around Pennsylvania...you don't know about our antiquated alcohol laws. We cannot buy beer in grocery stores. To buy beer, you need to go to a bar (no more than 2 6-packs at a time) or a distributor (no less than one case per purchase). So the idea of "a grocery chain" offering a craft beer (or ANY beer) is an almost foreign concept.

Even with these ancient laws, Pennsylvania, for some reason, has a wealth of craft, micro, and nano-breweries...many of them are good.

[NeonLX]

Fascinating.

Wisconsin is pretty liberal when it comes to beer sales--grocery stores & liquor stores can both sell beer, wine, and even the hard hooch.

[Hudson]

Fascinating.

Wisconsin is pretty liberal when it comes to beer sales--grocery stores & liquor stores can both sell beer, wine, and even the hard hooch.

And then there's the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to the beer laws, most harder alcohol is sold only in state-controlled "State Stores" (although they're now called "Wine and Spirits" stores). Heck, they just started allowing Sunday sales of alcohol relatively recently.

[Robert Hall]

I'm fairly familiar w/ the beer scene in Colorado and Arizona. We have a few craft brewers in AZ and quite a few in Colorado. Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe is close to my new office and our new main happy hour hangout. A small brewery that is near home that I like is Sunup Brewery in Phoenix.

When I lived in Colorado I took a tour of the Coors brewery and New Belgium Brewery. I like a lot of the beers from New Belgium and Breckenridge Breweries.

IIRC, in Colorado you could buy only 3.2 percent beer at groceries but there were plenty of liquor stores around, but they weren't open Sundays (I think that has changed in the last few years). AZ seems to have no restrictions, can buy beer pretty much anywhere/anytime.

As far as PA brews, I remember Rolling Rock and Keystone being staples of my college years in NE Ohio...

Edited January 7, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Hudson]

As far as PA brews, I remember Rolling Rock and Keystone being staples of my college years in NE Ohio...

It seems odd (being the "keystone state" and all), but Keystone is NOT a Pennsylvania beer...it's a Coors beer.

[Robert Hall]

As far as PA brews, I remember Rolling Rock and Keystone being staples of my college years in NE Ohio...

It seems odd (being the "keystone state" and all), but Keystone is NOT a Pennsylvania beer...it's a Coors beer.

Did it used to be a PA beer?

One of the coolest things I've seen is a buddy of mine in Denver that is from Pittsburgh has a home bar in his basement, with taps, kegerators, brick, barstools and signs all over of PA beers, ones like Latrobe, Iron City, photos of the Burg, etc...

[Justin Bimmer]

Rolling Rock is no longer a PA beer either. It now says "St. Louis Missouri" on the bottles and cans.

[Hudson]

As far as PA brews, I remember Rolling Rock and Keystone being staples of my college years in NE Ohio...

It seems odd (being the "keystone state" and all), but Keystone is NOT a Pennsylvania beer...it's a Coors beer.

Did it used to be a PA beer?

One of the coolest things I've seen is a buddy of mine in Denver that is from Pittsburgh has a home bar in his basement, with taps, kegerators, brick, barstools and signs all over of PA beers, ones like Latrobe, Iron City, photos of the Burg, etc...

As far as i know, Keystone was created by Coors. It never had anything to do with Pennsylvania, despite the name. And like JamesBond said, Rolling Rock moved out of Pennsylvania years ago, sadly.