This past Saturday was the fifth annual Harrisburg Brewer’s Fest to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis of Central Pennsylvania. This fest is also known affectionately among the brewer’s as the ‘Troeg’s Fest’ as they more or less run the thing. The Cystic Fibrosis crew provides the volunteers and Ed “The Polish Powerhouse” Yashinski runs the event. 

You may have noticed that we are doing fewer festivals this year. There are a couple of reasons for that, but the biggest is that we are trying to do more things for our customers at Iron Hill!

Things like our Summer of Weisse promotion, more mug club events, beer dinners, and general good time get togethers.

The Hawk Presents Series here at North Wales is a great example of something we’d have a hard time doing if we were at a festival every Saturday. Yeah, we thought you’d like this better too!

The other reason we are doing fewer festival is a bit more complicated, but our friend Lew Bryson has some thoughts about them that are interesting… 

In any case, we had a good run in Harrisburg. We brought Ironbound Ale, Vienna Red Lager, Hefeweizen, and our Raspberry Wheat beer (always a favorite for the group in H-town). Everything went as expected and a good time was had by all. 

I got to meet the guys from Roy Pitz a new micro up-start in Chambersburg. We’ll see how they hold up (keep your fingers crossed guys!). 

When the event was over everyone loaded out their festival gear and we all headed over to McGrath’s Pub for a little post fest beverage. Well about 4 hours, several beers, and countless Moscow Mules later the fun began. 

Steve Mashington from Yard’s Brewing Company was sighted standing in traffic yelling at locals. Apparently he couldn’t find the hotel. Now this may not sound like that big a deal to the folks from Philly, but I think the Harrisburg locals thought he was a crazed homeless man trying to mug them. In all fairness Steve had an argument with the curb in front of Triumph last week and does look a little bit like a boxer the day after going 20 rounds with Mike Tyson. He’s got a shiner that anyone would be proud of. Go see it here if you like (NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART).

There were a few other ‘incidents’, none of which directly involved yours truely, and everyone survived to fight another day. Nice work once again from the crew at Troegs.

The full Summer wheat beer lineup is rolling out right now. Big Bad Bob Barrar (Head Brewer, IHB Media) and I have been duking it out to see who can get the most wheat beer on tap and I think we’re ‘gonna win this round! 

Bob is a great guy who makes world class beer all of the time and yes, he does look like Rasputin. Doesn’t he? (You know…stabbed, poisoned, shot, drowned…?)  If he were to put on all if his GABF medals he’d have a hard time walking around! Oh, and he may very well be the biggest man on the planet. 

So who better to pick a fight with? 

Wit, Hefe, and Dunkel Weizen, Raspberry Wheat, and Berliner Weisse are on tap now and we’ll have American Wheat Beer on by the end of next week. Come and get it, Bobby!

If you’ve never heard of Berliner Weisse before, but you like lemonade then you owe it to yourself to try some. The style is a regional specialty of Berlin; referred to by Napoleon’s troops in 1809 as “the Champagne of the North” due to its lively and elegant character. Only two traditional German breweries still produce the product and it’s hard to find even in craft breweries here in the U.S. 

The beer itself is low in alcohol, but not low in flavor. It’s bone dry and VERY sour. In Berlin you’ll be asked if you’d like it with raspberry syrup or woodruff syrup. The syrup is used to cut the sourness of the beer and gives it cool colors to boot. We had to buy Woodruff from a German Deli in Texas! How crazy is that?  The little old ladies wrapped each bottle in the German flag and bubble wrap. How cute! 

Come buy for a glass with or without woodruff. I LOVE sour beer! Here’s a picture of a traditional Berliner Weiss Glass. Note the straws. Who knew?

A note for those of you who’ve asked: We’ve also got a Framboise on tap, but it’s just for mixing with the wheat beers to make Dirty Weisse. I’ve got a super secret stash that we might pull out later in the season. Sorry about holding out but we’ve got to have enough to make it to September. 

Upcoming beers include a Double Belgian IPA and Cannibal. The Cannibal isn’t exactly a wheat beer but it is a great summer refresher, so we’re claiming it for the list! Oh, and did I mention it’s STRONG? Yeah, baby! 

So I walked into the office the other day and found this super sweet sketch on the wall. Now I’m one of those guys who drew Rube Goldberg style machines all over my notebooks in school when I was a kid. I always wanted to build that hover craft in the back of Boys Life magazine, you know the one that ran on your moms sweeper motor?

If you have any idea what I’m talking about click the hover craft link. It took me straight back to my early teen years and you’ll get a kick out of it too I hope.

ANYWAY, back to the sketch. When I saw it I commented on how cool it was and then (GASP!) I was informed that some of the kitchen guys were ACTUALLY BUILDING IT!!! WWAAAAAHOOOO!

The story goes like this: John Kraus, one of the Sous Chefs here at IHB North Wales has skills as a carpenter. He’s one of those crafty guys that makes really, really nice furniture for fun in his spare time. John tells me there is a big fat no limit Soapbox Derby race coming to town and we can compete! Before anyone sends me hate mail about mixing beer and a wholesome family sport like Soapbox listen to this:

1) it’s sponsored by Red Bull, so it’s adults only

2) we made a low grade pact to drink AFTER the race. Mostly.

Anyway, two seconds after he starts talking about this thing, I’m in. This is going to either be one of the greatest moments in human history or a festival of death and destruction. Either way it’ll be entertaining and I’ll keep you informed.

Is this thing hot or what? Oh, and I think we are gonna’ have to brew a beer to commerate the car. Hmmm…come to think of it we need a name too. Any suggestions?

A freind of ours and generaly good man passed away on Monday. Jay Misson, Brewery director for Triumph Brewing Company will be greatly missed.

A note about Jay far more beautiful than I could write is located at Lew Bryson’s Blog. I counted over 300 people at his funeral in Rumson, New Jersy today. He brewed great lager bier when no one else was.

Rest in peace my friend, you will be missed.

Today is the  Ring of Fire release party at Iron Hill West Chester. 

My boss Mark Edelson recently got his hands on a Tabasco barrel and had been itching to fill it with beer. He managed to get the project going with Chris and Jean over at IHB West Chester and they came up with a beer that is very exciting. 

It’s actally a blend of products including beer that spent time in the now famous Tabasco barrel. It’s smokey spicey and un-gettable, unless you show up at an Iron Hill to grab a bottle. 

It’s been packaged in a cute little 375ml package with a cork finish and we are releasing it just in time for Father’s Day (hint, hint, this’ll make a great gift). 

Enough of my shamless plug for the beer. Details of the event are on the West Chester site. There’s going to be a happy hour deal tonight with a Johny Cash Tribute band called Man In Black, The Johnny Cash Experience and a keg of it on tap so stop by to check it out. Should be a great time, especially if you are a Cash fan. Here’s a Video he’s got up on YouTube just in case you can’t make it out to see him. This guy is good!

Oh, and just for the record Doug Marchakitus the assistant brewer here in North Wales is the reigning king of pepper beer (Says me) and has THROWN DOWN THE GAUNTLET!! 

We will be scheduling a Battle Royal. That’s right, you heard it here first. Ring of Fire porter vs. Habanero Porter in a heads up throw down. Date to be scheduled. BRING IT ON!!!!!