Posts
All Comments
Here’s your first peek at the label for the new Breaker Brewing Co Double IPA to be named 16-Ton IPA. Can’t wait to try this one….and yes it’s really 10.6% ABV and yes that’s a label for bombers.!
Be sure to check out the PCNTV Tour of Lion Brewery on 12/27 (Sunday). Our program guide has it on at 8PM but be sure to check your local listings. Leo is hosting the tour so it should be a lot of fun to see.
Just a quick note to thank all of my readers and contributors for an entertaining beer-year. Please have a safe and happy holiday season and be SURE to make it a Hoppy Holiday by enjoying more than a few beers.
To keep things interesting on mybeerbuzz.com, I’ve decided to try to photographically journal all of the holiday beers I manage to consume over the next week or so. I’ll be posting a photo on my Facebook page for each different beer we enjoy, so be sure to check it out. For now this is the only cell-phone photo posting method I can easily maintain, however…
To make things even MORE interesting on mybeerbuzz.com, I have my own New Year’s countdown. Tune in New year’s Eve after midnight for big 2010 changes at mybeerbuzz.com !!!
If you’ve never been to Sabatini’s, you’re missing out on a lot of great beer and a huge selection of amazing bottles. Lindo always manages to get the best of the best beers our area has to offer and pulls in some of the most unique draft beers you’ll see in NEPA (and then some). Be sure to check out his Bottle List! I stopped in to visit Lindo today and took home a little Christmas present for me. The first photo shows my trunk with some Southern Tier Imperial OAT, Terrapin Hopsecutioner, Terrapin Coffee Imperial Oatmeal Stout (Wake n’ Bake), and a few bottles of Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux (Best Wishes). The remaining three photos show just a FEW of the holiday beers Linda has and a quick shot of the front cooler. Check out the photos then Get thee to Sabatinis! Thank you Lindo…
 |  |
 |  |
Here’s another great photo of the Stegmaier Brewery. This photo shows the cypress fermenting tanks at high krausen. Thanks Leo for another amazing photo .
This is part two in my teaser series. Be sure to stay tuned over the holidays for changes coming at mybeerbuzz.com. It’s looking like the New Year’s Eve countdown may end with something new @ mybeerbuzz.com (and better than a midnight kiss).
As we approach the holiday season, I thought it would be nice to post up a holiday seasonal from Lion. Today we feature Our Seasons Best Special Edition Lager Beer. I love how the label includes details on the malt & hops and how simple the label design is. Cheers & Hoppy Holidays to everyone.
Today’s photo shows the fermenting tanks at the old Stegmaier Brewery. There look to be about 6 or 8 tanks in the room and they appear to be all wood or wood-clad.
Here’s a tasty little tidbit courtesy of John…
Looks like both Scratch #26 and #28 will be barrel aged and the barrels are being built (& toasted) by Keystone Coopers. Scratch # 26 is in the tanks now and they are caramelizing some of the first runnings for a Wee Heavy.
Read more...
Well I’m slowly running out of labels to post. Not surprising I guess when you consider that I’ve been posting one label every other day for months. But of course here we have another interesting Lion Brewery label. This one if Franklin Beer from Franklin Brewing Co and of interest is that the address is listed as Hanover Twp.
Here are a few photos courtesy of Deuane (and C) from the Troegs Splinter Release Day. As you can see the bottles (and the beer) look great.
 |  |
 |  |
For those that have waited for the answer to what to do with 20lbs of Raspberries and for those that have been waiting for the Dark Days of December…this from Berwick Brewing Co:
The Dark Days of December have arrived!
Now on tap in the pub:
Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout (the absolute last keg);
Chocolate Raspberry Imperial Porter (brewed with locally-grown, whole raspberries);
and the ever-popular Bill's Porter.
For those afraid of the dark, there's also Wheat Beer and Hondo Keller Bier.
Come out and celebrate the darkest time of year at the Berwick Brewery!
They’re going fast according to Terry…get them while you can.
For those not following along with mybeerbuzz on Twitter or Facebook, the Troegs SPliter Red & Gold series release started at 10AM today. Troegs is pouring Naked Elf on tap & 2008 Elf 3-liter...as of now (11AM) 1 case of Splinter Red and 3 cases of Splinter gold remaining ! It probably won’t make it until the end of the day but watch my twitter or Facebook updates for the latest. As of 11:58AM today (12/16) the Splinter Series Red & Gold beers are sold out. Stay tuned for future Splinter Beers from Troegs.
Courtesy of pcmsconcerts.org:
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert… it doesn’t take much more than a quick scan of our programs to see why Germany and Austria are considered the cradle of classical music. But these countries are responsible for another of life’s great cultivated pleasures: BEER. Isn’t it about time these two great regional accomplishments were brought together?
If you love a good pilsner as much as a great pizzicato, I have good news for you. We’ve teamed up with Bavarian Barbarian Brewing Company — one of Pennsylvania’s newest and best craft breweries — for a joint concert/beer tasting on Tuesday, February 23 at the Philosophical Society. Come out and hear the outstanding Grammy-nominated violinist Jennifer Koh perform Mozart and Schubert, and enjoy a sampling of Bavarian Barbarian’s classic Euro-inspired ales at intermission!
If you can’t wait until February to try Bavarian Barbarian’s brews, Brahaus Schmitz on South Street is currently pouring their delicious brown ale, and you can always find them at Bavarian Barbarian headquarters in Williamsport. Bottoms up!
Read more...We announced the new annex at Berwick Brewing Co a few weeks ago, but I thought you’d want to see a few photos.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
And so the label fun continues….I present for you Blue Hen Beer…this looks fairly recent and I just love the little hen standing on the soldier’s shoulder. Nothing says beer like a hen ;)
Just a few highlights from the OFBC Nov/Dec newsletter:
The guys at BYAH tell me it is now confirmed. They WILL be adding 10 more tap handles to bring their total up to 28! I’ll post updates as the process is completed. They also have a few Brewery Tastings coming up:
Thursday 12/17 - Ithaca
Thursday 1/7 - Hoegaarden
Saturday 1/23 - Sam Adams Tasting Tent Party ... details to come
What label says Lion Brewery MORE than Lion Beer? Here we have the classic green Lion Beer label. I suspect this is a mid 1930’s vintage label, but please correct me. The label does carry a 1933 copyright and IRS tax label and PA permit.
 | I’ve had LOTS of requests to know where Belsnickler can be found locally…so this from Chris: |
| Belsnickler is on tap at: Elmer Sudds: | Bottles are available at: Elmer Sudds |
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You HAVE to check out the bottle selection at Sabatinis. I can tell you how amazing it is and I can post THE LINK to the Sabs bottle list…Instead I’ll just post a few photos and let you see for yourself. Keep in mind we didn’t take a picture of all the great Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, St. Bernardus, Dogfish and Southern Tier Beers Lindo has to offer. Instead, see for yourself just a FEW of the beers we enjoyed at Sabatinis. And Stay tuned because there are quite a few more interesting (i.e. amazing) beers heading our way from Sabs.
 |  |
 |  |
I always love a good 9% strong Saison early in the morning and the guys did not disappoint. Today’s beer of the day (and the final beer of the 2009 Chip the Beer Guy season), was Harpoon Leviathan Saison Royale. This beer is part of the limited production Leviathan series from Harpoon and I beer that I’ve actually tasted myself. It did feel a little odd tasting a Saison in a 12oz bottle for me. Not sure why but I guess I always see Saisons in big bottles only…but don’t get hung up on that. This is a really interesting beer and one you should definitely try.
The “insider” secret here is that due to a scheduling conflict, today’s show and several others were recorded in one group a few Sundays ago. John tells me today’s show was the last one recorded of four they did that day…and that level of fun certainly came out in the show. Play back the podcast when they post it up and see how many seconds into the show they make it without a little slurrrrr… Very funny guys!
As a beer guy I also loved the “what to give for Xmas” segment, because of course they are recommending beer. I’ll admit my favorite gift every year comes in bottles. With family near Weyerbacher and East End Brewing, I look forward to my liquid gifts every year. So I’ll second that notion…if you have a beer lover on your list…buy them beer swag (pint glasses, T-shirts…) or just buy them beer. Of course you should shop at one of our local mybeerbuzz establishments for your gifts like (Krugels, Sabatinis, Breaker Brewing Co, Plaza Beverage, Purvs, Jessup Beverage, The Beer Stop, Berwick Brewing Co, Back Yard Ale House, AuRants, Old Forge Brewing Co, Elmer Sudds, Ice House, Dugans, Madisons…well you get the idea.)
On a final note, I just wanted to say a thank you to Chip, John, Jay, Ruthie, your many beer-guests and the rest of the people behind the scenes at the Chip the Beer Guy show. I’ve really enjoyed listening and I look forward to the shows to come in 2010. Cheers from mybeerbuzz.com!
Read more...
Last November, after attending the MBAA Philly Region meeting and after discussing on-line beer review web-sites with many of our regional micro-brewers I posted THIS THREAD. There was considerable debate as you can see in the comments, and a wide variety of opinions. A year has passed, and I’ll admit I DO understand why some people do review, but I still have my concerns.
Since this year-old thread has been re-awakened, I thought I'd pose some new questions for everyone to consider:
1) Do you think on-line beer reviews can hurt (or help) a brewer's business?
2) Do you think on-line beer reviews can cause someone to avoid (or find) a beer that could have been their favorite beer of all time or could have introduced them to the craft beer world?
3) Do you think on-line beer reviews may cause a brewer play it safe and be less-experimental to avoid risking a bad on-line beer review?
4) Do you think on-line beer reviews may be used as a weapon(i.e. a competitor may damage your brewery's reputation via on-line beer reviews)?
5) Do you think there may be profit-driven motives or a conflict of interest between on-line beer review web-sites and the companies they do (and do not) do business with?
6) Do you think people tend to only review a beer when they do not like it?
7) Do you think we'd be better of with web-sites that allow you to track what beers you have tasted, but simply record details such as date, serving type, serving temp ... and NOT necessarily give the beer a grade?
I've started this new thread in the hope that we can discuss this topic. Please feel free to comment here, comment on Facebook or even comment in the origial thread.
I think this is a topic worthy of discussion and I'd like to see the opinions of beer lovers, brewers and everyone else.
Read more...
Just in case anyone has been trying to find the rare (and yummy) Weyerbacher Wet Hop harvest Ale, Plaza Beverage in Pittston still has a case or two remaining. Don’t miss out on this wonderfully hoppy seasonal ale.
Nothing says fun like Golden Nuggets. Of course I’ll keep this on the up-and-up and avoid the easy jokes…all I want to know is, where is Crystal Lake?
From Troegs:
An Early Christmas Present: Splinter Series Release Date Announced The first two offerings from the Splinter Series (Red and Gold) will go on sale on Wednesday, December 16, at 10 a.m. in the Troegs Tasting Room.
There is a two-bottle limit/per person for each style of beer, meaning that a single customer who wants to purchase the maximum number of bottles, can get 2 Splinter Red and 2 Splinter Gold. Bottles will be $22.95 each.
This special reserve beer lives and breathes. Captured before filtration, refermented in wood and aged in the bottle with living yeast, Splinter is an experimental series that pushes the brewing boundaries and transforms our beer in new directions.Here are some details on each beer:
Before filtering the final batch of 2008 Mad Elf we racked some beer into bourbon barrels for six weeks of tender loving care. After bottling, we aged the beer for approximately eight months. This allows the tart cherries to push to the front. Subtle vanilla, bourbon, charred wood, coconut and toasted nut endnotes emanate from Splinter Red.
The transformation of Scratch #3-2007 to Splinter Gold has been a slow rest in oak wine barrels dosed with brettanomyces. During a two-year aging period the horsey flavors of the brett combined with the Westmalle yeast used during primary fermentation to create a complex blend of flavors. Bone-dry and 12% abv, Splinter Gold is highly carbonated.
Both these bottling runs are extremely limited and will only be available at the Troegs Brewery Giftshop/Tasting Room.... See More
From Berwick Brewing Co:
Saturday night, Dec. 12, we will launch the newly-renovated Annex at the Brewery! Live music by local legends Jack Squat, featuring our very own Steve-O. It all kicks off at 7pm, cover charge $5 in the Annex (the pub will be open as normal).
Read more...
This is purely based on a tweet John put out earlier today saying that they “met with Scharffen Berger Chocolate guys Saturday. They schooled us on as much as our brains could hold! COMPLEX! beer soon...” I suspect we’ll be seeing either a Scratch or Splinter beer using Scharffen Bergen Chocolate in the future. For anyone unfamiliar with Scharffen Bergen, they are a chocolate manufacturer who’s goal it is to source the best cacao in the world and use an artisan chocolate making process to create the finest chocolate in the world using vintage European chocolate making equipment.
OK guys…it’s been too long. My vote is for a Troegs sweet chocolate oatmeal stout even though that sounds doubtful…probably more likely that we’ll see a barrel-aged Imperial Stout.
From Johnny:
Event: Pieroguys Pierogies Beer Dinner
What: Mixer
Start Time: Wednesday, December 23 at 5:00pm
End Time: Wednesday, December 23 at 8:00pm
Where: Bar 44
Meet the man behind the Pierogies!! Mr. Frank Gazella!
8 varietys of pierogies will be on hand to be sampled. Each variety has been paired with a craft beer that compliments that pierogies' attributes!!
Hosted by: Frank Gazella
Beer/Pierogie pairings by: Johnny Waering
$10... cover @ the door includes all you could eat and drink untill its gone!!
And for your listening pleasure,... Chad Szeliga of Breaking Benjamin will be rocking out the afterparty with Guido and Aaron!
After party starts @ 9.
Be there or be pierogie shaped...
To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=209075251712&mid=18227dcG48de5ab1G14c3365G7
Thanks to the guys at Brew Local for this great little peek into the basement of Bullfrog Brewery.
Read more... 
And the Lion label beat goes on….Today’s label is the Boardy Barn Brew…correct that…it’s the “World Famous Boardy Barn Brew Fine Lager Beer.” This is apparently a bar in the Hampton’s in New York and I love the “Take the Party Home” slogan….I guess they don’t realize “home” is Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Just thought you all want to see what a little holiday brewing looks like @ Breaker Brewing Co. The guys tell me they’re brewing Goldies today…and what a festive way to do it.
Read more...
I know we’re pushing toward Xmas, but why not have a little Hope Oktoberfest beer?
Just wanted to post up a photo from today’s beer-run to Plaza Beverage. Before you ask, this was the last case of Victory Yakima Twilight and Charlie isn’t sure he’s getting more. So far it’s still hard to come by in our area, although Tracy from Victory assures me it’s on the way. You’ll also note in the photo my recent favorite session beer, Yards Philly Pale.
For anyone that hasn’t stopped by Plaza Beverage be sure to do so. Charlie has a fantastic selection of beers, with new cases coming in all the time. He carries lots of great local beers and all sorts of hard-to-find craft beers from all over the world…so stop in and check it out.
It’s always fun to hear Mark & Chris from Breaker Brewing Co on the show and today was no exception. Today’s show featured the BBC Belsnickler Holiday Ale. I was lucky enough to get to try a few of the various batches of Belsnickler at the brewery a few weeks ago, and again at the Split Rock beer festival, ok and I’ll admit I tasted it again at the Anthracite Cafe and even again last week at Elmer Sudds. I know what you’re thinking but I assure you it was all in the name of science or journalism or both; but you can never be too sure about really liking a beer. Of course I really like this one a lot. I’ll admit to being a lover of holiday beers and a lover of Belgian-yeast beers, and a lover of Belgian candied sugar beers and sure enough Belsnickler has them all.
I thought it would be fun to google “Belsnickler” so I did. Ironically enough the first page or so of hits came from breakerbrewing.com, mybeerbuzz.com and our various Twitter and Facebook accounts. After that, there were some great Germanic and Canadian stories about groups of Belsnicklers, dressed in fur masks visiting homes, receiving treats and giving gifts to all the children. In some German cultures, Belsnickler actually means Father Christmas or Santa Claus. I also found out that there is a verb “Belsnickling” and as it turns out Belsnickling is much like our modern day trick-or-treating with children dressing up and receiving treats as they visited homes. So in addition to the Belsnickler label (be sure to click on it and read the text), I also present for you some Belsnickler Masks and images.
So to all you little Belsnicklers out there, be sure to get out and try some Belsnickler Ale. Otherwise the sinister santa ghost of christmas-past (and his whip) may come Belsnickling to your door. If he does come knocking, be sure to have an extra snifter ready to enjoy some Breaker Brewing Belsnickler Ale. I know there’s a bottle waiting in my basement just in case I get Belsnickled. Cheers guys…great beer & great show.
 |  |
 |  |
Back to TOP
