Tom Baker and Peggy Zwerver, owners of Earth Bread + Brewery, brought six of their beers to Spuyten Duyvil Monday evening. I’ve been able to visit the brewpub in Mt Airy twice since it opened last October and have enjoyed Tom’s beers both times. I began with two half pours – the Terre Fume and the brand new Oyster Pale Ale. I’ve had the Terre Fume before and it didn’t disappoint this time – satisfyingly smoky yet light enough to be refreshing. Tom used a 50% wheat/50% smoked malt grain bill for this 4.5% ABV ale. This beer was inspired by a Grätzer, an old northern German/Polish top-fermented wheat ale which you can read more about here. This is the third smoked wheat beer I’ve had and a style I’d like to see more often, especially for the summer months. I was very glad to have ordered the Oyster Pale Ale early as the keg kicked less than two hours into the evening. 40 pounds of oyster shells from Blind Tiger’s Pacific NW fest were cleaned, bagged and boiled for two hours to produce this nicely drinkable IPA. English hops and American ale yeast give this beer a clear refreshing hoppiness. My last Earth beer was the Alehoof Gruit, a more subtle gruit than others I’ve had with the herbs melding nicely to create a delicious beer. Tom used a Belgian yeast along with six herbs – ground ivy, juniper, Queen Anne’s lace, sweet myrtle, yarrow and mugwort. This is another style I’d like to see more often. Tom mentioned that Earth is going to be making their own soda, dedicating one of their taps to carbonated water then mixing in house-made syrups the old-school way. Sounds like a fine excuse for another visit to Earth in the near future. I tasted the Non-Profit Porter and the Barely Wine, but the Terra Fume and Alehoof were the standouts of the evening for me. It was a privilege to chat with Tom and drink his fine beers in my borough.
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I’m starting my Friday night enjoying a Brooklyn Oktoberfest at Shady McGrady’s in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Buy a pint, get a free glass! Four free glasses are on offer tonight: Three Philosophers, Tommyknocker, Bells & Brooklyn. Free glass night is every Friday, check it out if you’re in HBG. Shady’s offers 24 taps & over 150 different bottles, which include a heck of a lot of great craft brews. I’ll be back for a bomber of Port Brewing’s 2nd Anniversary later. Cheers!
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I was fortunate to catch the installation of a new cask engine at Iron Hill Brewery in Lancaster yesterday. We stopped in for a beer (or a sampler of 10 as it were) and head brewer Paul Rutherford and assistant brewer Ryan Wibby expertly placed the real ale dispenser as we watched.
A pint of Russian Imperial Stout was poured and proclaimed quite tasty. Our enthusiasm must have shown (we were taking a lot of photos) and we were lucky enough to be recipients of that pint. Three cheers for one more cask engine in Pennsylvania!
This was my second visit to the newest Iron Hill and I was even more impressed this time than the last. Our first visit was on Superbowl (“the big game”) Sunday and they were a bit short on beer. The bartender said that he had poured at least 30 growlers already and it was only 3 in the afternoon! It is wonderful to see such local support for a brewpub. And what a brewpub; it’s a beautiful building with lots of dark wood paneling & tables, blonde wood floors,and funky sound-absorbing ceilings that give the whole place a modern mission feel, upscale yet still very comfortable. 
And the beers are great. My ten beer sampler ($7) contained the five standards: Iron Hill Light Lager, Raspberry Wheat, Vienna Red Lager, Ironbound Ale, and Pig Iron Porter, plus the Belgian seasonal, a tripel, and four seasonals, the American Brown Ale, Munich Dunkel, Irish Red, and Indulgence Chocolate Stout, the latter two poured on nitro. All were quite drinkable (yeah, even the light), with most being in the excellent category.
The American Brown, Munich Dunkel, and Tripel were my favorites. The Indulgence was quite nice, a little light but with a significant chocolate character, as expected being brewed with five pounds of Venezuelan chocolate nibs. 
The Russian Imperial Stout on cask, was excellent, although I’ll admit my palate was a bit blown at this point. No food this time as we’d eaten earlier, but I loved the Pesto Chicken and Artichoke pizza I had on my first visit. All of the employees are well-trained and very friendly, the server who explained my sampler had taken part in Iron Hill’s brew-for-a-day program and was very enthusiastic and proud of all of the beer. The Iron Hill Brewery of Lancaster is highly recommended, a comfortable environment with delicious beer & food, what more could you ask for? Go, please.
Iron Hill Brewery
781 Harrisburg Pike
Lancaster, PA 17603
Phone 717 291.9800
Monday-Sunday: 11 am-Close