Last weekend I was out of town (missing the plethora of Austin beer events) for my cousin, Chris’ wedding.
We arrived Friday. On our way from Philadelphia to Lancaster we had to stop for lunch. Along the path we were we taking I was not seeing much. Thirty minutes into the trip I spotted a boring looking restaurant with the word “bar” in its name and knew it would be my greatest chance at a good beer. Sure enough, they had a decent tap selection, including the seasonal Victory, of course this month their Oktoberfest. It was delicious, spicy for an Oktoberfest. It went well with steak and egg burger…that’s right, steak and egg burger. Hearty food is abundant in these parts.
Later that night, after the rehearsal dinner (where Stella was my drink of choice, not great, but not horrible by any means), we stopped in one of my favorite Lancaster haunts, Quips. Now I remember this place being better. The best they had to offer on tap was Sam Adams Okoberfest and Fuller’s ESB. I chose to stay local and order a Stoudt’s Gold and Victory Hop Devil. Both great beers. Stoudt’s is my favorite PA brewery. Luckily we can get some Victory beers down here. I also had a Sam Smith’s Taddy Porter later. Not a local, but give me a break, it had been a long day and my ordering got a little fuzzy.
Saturday was wedding day. I so badly wanted to visit the Lancaster Iron Hill brewpub, but was never able to fit it in. Later I found out my cousins and friend went without me while waiting for their tuxes to be adjusted (something I stupidly did the night before). Bastards! Around noon, Chris (the groom and my cousin) had us over the house for “relaxed, chill groomsman photos.” Something I scoffed at before arriving. Bless his heart, we arrived greeted by a couple mixed sixers of Stoudt’s (and some of my grandfathers 15-20 year old scotch). Scarlet Lady, Tripel, Double IPA, American Pale. Quite the lineup. We lunched on subs and good beer.
Chris is the man. He served great beer at the reception. Sam Adams Oktoberfest and Dogfish Shelter Pale Ale were the standouts. Me and select few others did our best to polish them off. We failed, but luckily I was able to bring some Dogfish home with me. Following the reception, we met bride and groom at a local bar called Fenz and enjoyed a few more Stoudt’s Scarlet Ladies.
Sunday, flying out of Philadelphia, our plane was delayed of course. It turned out being a bright spot, because I was able to have the best beer of my weekend whilst waiting. Dockstreet Rye IPA. It was the best rye beer I have ever had. Go to Philly and get one.
All in all a good weekend. I really wanted to visit Lancaster Brewing Co. or Iron Hill, but at last I got to drink a good number of Stoudt’s beers. And that made me happy.
