Harrisburg, PA beer tour

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pjj2ba

Look under the recliner
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A group of six of us (+1 HBT lurker) are driving down to Harrisburg on Sat. Mar. 7th for a beer tour. We plan to hit the H'burg branch of Lancaster Brewing for lunch (and beer) and we have a reservation for the 2:30 tour (and beer) at Troegs, and finally ending up at Appalachian Brewing (on Cameron) for dinner (and beer). It would be great to meet any fellow HBTers along the way. We're currently looking for some options to kill some time (and sober up a little) between Troegs and ABC. I'd love some recommendations - it doesn't have to be beer related.
 
Sounds like a great pub crawl!! I'd definitely join in if the wife didn't have to work and I didn't have to take the kids to a birthday party...:drunk:
 
Three options for other things would be visiting Scotzin brothers LHBS, Weestys for some cases, or heading up the road to the casino. Other than that, it sounds like a great day
 
OK, slight change of plans. I was rechecking out the Lancaster Brewing's (Harrisburg) website and I realized they don't open until 4 PM on Sat. They must have a decent business lunch type crowd during the week, but not on Sat. So we'll just swap and do ABC first. The bonus there is that ABC has their brewery tour every Sat. at 1:30 so we could probably do that and would kill some time before heading over to Troegs.
 
ABC Harrisburg tour is at 1pm, not 1:30. Also, Irishfest is on now at ABC, so expect a huge crowd on Saturday nights. It's a really cool spectacle - Ceili dancers at 6 & 8pm, live celtic music between 7 & 10pm, and authentic Irish menu - but it does get crowded.

So if you dislike crowds: Hit ABC for lunch and the tour, and LBC at night for dinner, but if crowds and a wait doesn't bother you, hit ABC up for dinner and Irishfest!

(I'd get there by 5pm to be seated for dinner... slow order a round of beers, then apps, then dinner to make sure you're there at 6 for the Ceili dancers.)
 
We had a great time. Unfortunatley my wife has a nasty cold so she backed out at the last minute. We wish we could have done LBC first, as overall their beers were everyone's least favorite. I found that for most there was something missing to bring them into balance, like I loved the aroma and hop flavors of the Hop Hog, but it felt a little thin.

We did make a quick stop at Scotzin Brothers HBS. Nice place!

I really liked the Troegs tour and their beers - other than the sunset wheat, not my cup of tea. The consensus was the Water gap wheat of ABC was better. I was pleased to hear that Troegs does step mashes for all of their beers and also does a secondary as well, as that is what I do. I think this lends to a richness and cleaness to their beers. Overall I liked their beers best. My wife chastized me for only buying one sunshine pils glass - she says I should know to always buy two - at least that gives me a reason to stop in again.

ABC was well liked too. I think the Pursist Pale was the consensus favorite. The Celtic ale and the Jolly Scotsman were well liked too.
 
Sunshine Pils or Dreamweaver Wheat? ;)

Big fan of Dreamweaver here... It's more of a hefe than an American wheat like the Water Gap is.

Kiponafest comes out every August.

Dreamweaver. I recently had the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissen on draft and really liked it. To me it was the epitome of what wheat tastes like. Much more dominant than the flavors from the yeast. Well I thought the Dreamweaver was similar to this, but there was an extra twangy flavor that I didn't like.
 
Dreamweaver. I recently had the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissen on draft and really liked it. To me it was the epitome of what wheat tastes like. Much more dominant than the flavors from the yeast. Well I thought the Dreamweaver was similar to this, but there was an extra twangy flavor that I didn't like.

Agree on that - DW has a spicier profile. Weinstephaner is my gold standard for the style - All the typical hefe flavors are perfectly balanced.

As far as PA hefes, DW is up there for me. Big fan of Stoudt's Weizen as well.
 
I have to revive this thread. Planning a trip to Philly via Harrisburg to facilitate a stop at Troegs. Looking at the map and the breweries along the way, here's the itinerary:
Troegs
Lancaster
Victory
Given that we're coming up from 2 hours south, visiting to taste is more realistic than actually going on the tours due to time constraints. Any concerns with this plan? Troegs is my favorite brewery, but I can't invest the time there given our final destination in Philly. Am I neglecting any great stops in these areas?
 
Check out Stoudts. They are just a short ways off 76. I've only been there once. While none of the beers blew me away, all of them were of high quality. I like that in a brewery. There are some breweries I have a love/hate relationship with. Sure they will have a beer or 2 I love, but then a bunch I don't like at all. I liked everything I had at Stoudts, but didn't leave thinking wow, that was a fantastic xyz. I will definitely be stopping again.
 
I went to Lancaster Brewing last weekend and then did the 2:30 troeg's beer tour and had a great time. Troegs is kinda small so you may end up sampling your beers in the gift shop like I did.

Nugget Nectar is a must!!
 
Dan, is the clone you have in secondary reliable? I'm not an all-grain brewer, so is there an option for me? Nugget Nectar is #1 on my beer list, so I would love to clone it if I can find a good one.

Thanks to everyone on the feedback about the tours.
 
If you'll be in Philly you might want to stop off at Yard's brewery, it's not one of my favorites overall but locally it's a cool brewery with some memorable beers. Philly has quite a few really, but depends on your time constraints I suppose :)
 
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