Maize-dried husked graining and barnyard hay acridity receive fizzy lemon musk and mild floral spicing for briskly clean moderation.
JESTER KING MAMA LUNA BLONDE ALE
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BROOKLYN FONIO RISING PALE ALE
Not quite ‘resilient’ gluten-free fonio graining offers only the slightest nutty minerality to its perfumy lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit zesting and floral-daubed sweet orange peel tanginess. Pasty maltiness lingers.
JACK’S ABBY MUNICH FESTBIER
Smoother and creamier than lesser Munich-styled autumnal celebrators. Sweetish barleycorn crisping, leafy hop herbage and wispy honeyed nuttiness reach peaty rye (whiskey) base.
AXEMANN OKTOBERFEST
Sweetly soured red-orange-fruited pungency murkily sweeps thru leafy hop oiling and mild gourd earthiness ransacking slight Vienna malt caramelization.
CATSKILL BARKA BOOM OKTOBERFEST LAGER
Brown leafed herbal hop musk seeps into fungi must alongside navel orange mist above pasty malts. Just a tad richer, creamier and better than most Oktoberfests.
BELL’S OCTOBERFEST MARZEN
Marginal off-dry marzen with brown leafy hop astringency and earthen gourd musk given swift orange spicing over gluey Vienna malts.
TROEGS OKTOBERFEST LAGER
‘Toasty, crisp, festive’ marzen with basic off-dry setting. Dewy mossing, orange-oiled foliage and delicate Hallertau hop florality combine above laidback Vienna-malted molasses breading.
VON TRAPP POLOTMAVY LAGER
Dry limited edition Czech-styled amber lager given mellow spruce tips minting as mild lemon-licked herbage and brown leafy residue waver atop placid caramelized Vienna malting.
ANOMALY CRAFT BREWING
BERWICK, PENNSYLVANIA
Family owned and operated ANOMALY CRAFT BREWING came into existence in 2022 at a former boutique coffeehouse on Berwick’s main drag (not far removed from recently closed Berwick Brewing). Tucked into a narrow window-fronted shop, Anomaly has the feel of a standard bistro with its wood benches, tables and bar top accentuated by a slat wood floor.
Anomaly’s black art studio ceiling adds to the simple light industrial-bound cafe setting of the white walled barroom. Nostalgic pix and macrame art line the walls leading to the back bar. There are two central TV’s and a refrigerator. Behind the bar wall lie the steel fermenters and brew tanks.
A family friendly atmosphere consumes the one-room pub that owner Nicholas Oliver promises a ‘fusion of fire and flavor.’ Smoked meats lead a menu consisting of wood-fired pizzas, sandwiches and apps. Each beer is stylishly perfected to fit the food. Just try the excellent Streets Of Bamberg Rauch bock with any customized smoked meat.
My wife and I sat at the bar to down five durable Anomaly’s (and three nearby Conyngham Brewery draughts) before heading to Williamsport/ State College on a Friday afternoon, mid-November ’25.
Crisply clean clear-strawed German lager, Helles, splashed spritzy lemon onto light Noble hop herbage, mild floral spicing and bready pilsner malts.
Equally spritzy and soft-toned, Willow Tree White, a delicate witbier, placed curacao orange-peeled coriander spicing alongside citric lemongrass herbage, gaining a slight candy coating for the vanilla-daubed white wheat base.
Autumnal pumpkin delight, Squash Patch, countered brown-sugared cinnamon and nutmeg spicing with earthen gourd and herbal ginger.
Infused with roasted cocoa nibs and Madagascar vanilla, robust Criollo Porter let chalky dark chocolate soak into its Cafe Fresco cold brew coffee midst.
Rising above all other Anomaly selections, stylistically perfected rauchbier bock, Streets Of Bamberg, retained campfire-seared cured meat luster, musky Band-aid wafted beechwood smoke and peaty mossing of a Bavarian rauch given the sweet caramel malt creaming of a German bock.
As for the trio of Conyngham beers, summery light lager, Somewhere On A Beach, let spritzy lemon lime fizz tickle musky citric hop acidity over white bread base for a crisp Seltzer-like refresher.
Brief cinnamon-nutmeg seasoning and light ginger herbage placated medium-bodied Pumpkin Ale, leaving salty pumpkin-seeded gourd earthiness on its caramel malt bottom.
Flagship chocolate stout, Into Darkness, slapped dark roasted cocoa nibs bittering upon semi-sweet milk chocolate, dry anise and sugary vanilla.
JOHN RYAN BREWERY
WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA
One of four current downtown Williamsport brewpubs within walking distance, JOHN RYAN BREWERY opened inside a historic Old Victorian mansion during October 2021. Once a lumber barrens’ homestead, the stark white-windowed aquamarine pub consists of a wood-furnished main barroom (with chandelier), elegant dining rooms, cozy all-scratch kitchen and spooky low-ceilinged catacomb basement bar perfect for autumnal spirits. A shaded patio with fire pit lounge completes the score.
Concocting fine small-batch beer, brewer Will Ernst Wingfield served time developing his zymurgic skills at local Penn College before coming aboard at this renovated red brick-walled Old Town brewery-restaurant. He’s a large part of bringing a ‘historical and cultural experience to the customer,’ as John Ryan’s exquisite establishment looks to expand tastes with multi-culti food and beer.
The menu offers a fusion of authentic Japanese, French, and Italian cuisine. Today’s morning beer menu includes French, English, Czech and German styled suds.
My wife and I grab a table downstairs in the stone-columned catacomb cavern to watch Penn State take on number two Indiana while consuming all eight available homemade suds. The ever-changing food menu is recommended and nifty cocktails looked heavenly. We enjoyed Asian Pear Salad and Baked French Toast.
Signature Fruited French Saison rubbed alcohol stiffness into rummy banana sweetness, zesty pineapple tanginess, mild Chardonnay wining and herbal lemon musk plus shero plum tartness over rustic earthen graining.
Similarly styled Franco-Belgian farmhouse ale, French Saison, coalesced lemon meringue tartness with butterscotch candy, banana bubblegum and Chardonnay wine illusions as well as slight white-peppered herbage.
Another Franco brew, French Porter, let brown chocolate sweetness infiltrate mildly hop-charred walnut, subtle chestnut-hazelnut-pecan buttering and caramel coffee creaming.
A few Brit-styled brews followed. Dewy peat moss saddled Three Lions English IPA, adding earthen rusticity to grapefruit-dried pine lacquering above dark-roast barley malts.
Day-old coffee and dark chocolate resin combined for John Ryan English Brown Ale, placing earthen residue and pumpernickel rye breading upon the lightly spiced mocha continuance.
Sourdough breading contrasted the musky wheat-husked maize acridity of dry Czech pils, Pre Prohibition Pilsner, leaving mild lemon pith bittering and herbal-spiced florality.
Repping the Germans, Gruber Doppelbock gathered spiced dark fruiting and mild bourbon-burgundy wining atop sugary Vienna malts.
Milk chocolatey caramel coffee creaming guided oats-sugared Desperation On Vacation Oatmeal Stout, caressed by toasty truffle crisping.
ROSKO’S BREW HOUSE
WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA
After departing John Ryan Brewery one mile south, my wife and I ventured into Rosko’s on a Saturday afternoon, November ’25, discovering six English and German styled homemade suds.
Inside a restored pale blue-bricked 19th century Victorian dwelling on the northside of downtown Williamsport, ROSKO’S BREW HOUSE opened August ’22. A family-friendly pub owned by Samantha and Adam Roskowski, its cozy red brick-backed barroom, nifty parlor space and fireplace mantle offer warm elegance.
A few metal-stooled wood tables fill out Rosko’s main area and the nano brewing setup is staged toward one side. An enclosed cement patio with umbrellas sidles the green turfed exterior. A studio loft apartment is available for rent.
Featuring a highly sessionable rotating menu of brews, Rosko’s never deviates too far from stylistic guidelines. Full-time brewer, Taylor Strein, whose homebrewed maple stout impressed friends early on, attended Brewing and Fermentation Sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology before joining the Rosko’s fold.
Excellent flagship, Admiral Halsey ESB merged dewy peat mossing, earthen Fuggle hop herbage to toasted rye breading.
English dark mild, The Butcher’s Dog, placed toffee-spiced fig and raisin alongside toasted caramelized nuttiness.
“No frills” Terrassee Hefe splotched lemony cider souring upon banana breaded coriander spicing atop soft sourdough base.
Utilizing kolsch yeast, grainy Bavarian malts and tropical Huell Melon/ Mandarina Bavaria hops, Kiefenstrasse German IPA nodded towards a New England IPA with its salty mango-skinned kumquat, passionfruit and guava tartness picking up a zesty orange-peeled grapefruit tingle.
Lightly spiced date, plum and fig commenced moderate-bodied Munich-styled Dunkel, sweetened further by caramelized Vienna malting.
Similarly styled and more robust, Roskator Doppel loaded roasted chocolate inside sugary date-plum-fig spicing, mild burgundy swagger and tobacco-roasted cereal graining.
ROSKO’S LA MADAME
Soft-toned French farmhouse-styled biere de garde (limited edition ’25) lets caramelized amber graining setup biscuity Graham Cracker base as mossy grape-stemmed earthiness dampens plummy apricot dryness, rummy butterscotch twist and wispy almondine wining given single malt Scotch smoothing (and possible English leather musk).
