GREAT LAKES BREWING Co.
One of the top 20 craft breweries in the USA, Great Lakes Brewing has been around and won their share of awards, but they are relatively new to PA and if you have not checked them out, I highly recommend them. Their beers are all solid and a couple are spectacular. I really like their IPA (the Commodore Perry) and their Edmund Fitzgerald Porter ranks near the top of my list of domestic porters. A recent winner of one our People's Choice Beer Challenges too!

 

LANCASTER BREWING

Their Milk Stout is creamy like Kelly McGillis in "Witness" and their Strawberry Wheat is brewed without zippers or nails. You would expect nothing less that fine craftsmanship from the land of the Amish and you get exactly that with Lancaster Brewing. Try their Shoo Fly Porter.

 

SOUTHAMPTON

The steady brewhouse from Long Island keeps climbing the craft beer charts with classics like their tough-to-beat Double White. Never been to the Hamptons (my shore roots in Asbury Park and Belmar are a bit more working-class) but I don’t imagine all the people there are as cool as this crew. 

 

RIVERHORSE

This hidden gem in Lambertville NJ makes for a pleasant trip north along the Delaware and a place to get away from the New Hope boutiques. I walked that bridge in 15 degree weather once just to avoid another hand-painted wind-kite shop.  Pivk up beer at the brewery and you’ll likely meet the brewmaster himself – a talented young brewer named Christian Ryan who is making damn fine stuff – a complex Tripel and lively and delicious Double White that joins Southamptons in making Blue Moon their collective bitch.

 

YARDS

It is comforting to know that soon most of my favorite bars will be pouring Philly Pale Ale on draft…if they don’t already. And since there’s usually a case in my fridge, I always know where to turn when nothing else sounds right. Just a classic from some longtime friends in our own backyard. Check out their shiny new tanks at their new brewery and retail location on Delaware Ave. a stone’s throw from the Ben Franklin Bridge. Brewmaster and Owner Tom Kehoe and his brewery are a lock to keep getting bigger.

 

HE’BREW

What’s not to like?” as they say. Crazy good beers like Jewbelation 12 as well as their well-balanced flagships like Genesis would be enough, but when you add the creativity of Jeremy Cowan, well, you got yourself a simkhe. Only Chinese fireworks have funnier labels and a few bottles at any party always lends to conversation and maybe a trip to the online Yiddish dictionary. I am saving a bottle of Jewbelation that I plan to open with Jeremy when Christ returns.

 

BOULDER

I know of Boulder from my good friend Patrick who resides in the fairytale hamlet in the valley, and I fell in love with the town’s eponymous brewery and their Mojo IPA during a long debauched ski weekend. And when I met the good-natured and likeable brewhouse crew, it struck me that I could live quite happily with a sleeping bag and my Rossis in a corner of their brewery.

 

OSKAR BLUES

Just a few clicks north from Boulder is a truly classic American brewery and perhaps the place from which the world’s best canned beer originates. A craft beer success story, Oskar Blues is better known by the names on their cans – Old Chub, Dales Pale, Ten Fidy – but they deserve kudos for their emphasis on quality products, clever marketing and graphics and some of the coolest people in craft brewdom. Ten Fidy is simply off-the-hook good. Eat some.

 

GENERAL LAFAYETTE

If this place didn’t have great beers, about 300 years of history, solid food, great bartenders and frequent live music, and if it wasn’t 2.4 miles from my house, I would never go there. Actually, I would recommend a trip to this spot highly and defy you to find a better variety of beers than those Chris Leonard has on rotation. I try something new every visit. His Chocolate Thunder is silly good and his Belgian beers rank with the best I’ve had. Take a tour of the building and be amazed at all these walls have contained. 

 

ERIE

Having been to Erie once, long before it became a popular resort, I probably did not give this brewery a chance based on their setting. But have you seen where diamonds come from? Or sausage? Well, Erie is a little like that. The good news is you can get their great beers without making a trip to Erie. And their Railbender Ale is a surprisingly strong Scottish Ale without any syrupy finish. Mad Anthony’s is also quite good.

 

STOUDTS

Carol Stoudt is one of the craft brewing world’s great pioneers and has all the honors and medals to prove it, but that’s in the past. I’m most impressed by what she’s done lately…namely a Double IPA that is a masterpiece from a master (mastress?) of her craft. Go to Adamstown for the full experience complete with a menu of all manner of things stuffed into stomach linings, fresh baked breads and tremendous hospitality.

 

HOOK & LADDER

A penny a pint” to local burn centers is the hook of Hook & Ladder, and with over $60,000 donated to date, those pennies are adding up. Their lineup of beers is not aggressive in terms of style choices – a brown ale, golden ale and a light beer are among them – but they are all well-made and easy to drink. A little charity always tases good too.

 

FLYING DOG

If you have not noticed, I like Colorado beers a bit…probably just the association with skiing that brings me pleasure when I drink something that comes from the Rockies. Well, not everything that comes from the Rockies. But I digress. Flying Dog lets the Ralph Steadman art of their labels steal the show, but don’t be fooled. The contents rarely disappoint. And you can do worse than give someone their Variety Pack as a gift. I’m partial to the pale ale and their porter.