On tap at Pocono’s Log Cabin Bar, approachable German-styled session beer brings orange-nipped lemon spritz to grassy Hallertau-hopped bittering. Buttery crystal malt base softly underlines citric crispness. In the bottle, thin pilsner-malted German-styled pale lager lacks pizzazz. Astringent raw-honeyed sinew and phenol hop bittering pick up rancid buttery notion. Slurry citric-quince waver buried beneath unfulfilled flavor profile.
On tap at Poconos’ Log Cabin Bar, stylistically robust and well balanced pale ale lavishes sharp perfumed hops onto viscous lacquered fruiting. Spicy lemon-peeled orange, peach, grapefruit and quince tones casually decorate doughy biscuit-like backdrop. A fine crossover to stronger IPA styling. Less efficient bottled version brings sheepish crystal-malted red, orange and yellow fruiting to spritzy dry-hopped spicing. Mild metallic astringency raids faded citric-spiced finish.
Engaging ‘cherry-inspired’ cream ale makes for fine fruity malt beverage with its fizzy soda-like pop and sinewy corn syruping. Sweet and sour red cherry ripens fig-spiced apple, cranberry, raspberry, blueberry and strawberry illusions, settling into champagne-like Chambord liqueur slumber. Beneath, crayon-like plasticity seeps into astringent saison yeast profile.
Multi-dimensional British barleywine aged in apple brandy barrels picks up candied coughdrop sweetness over rich cherry pureed whiskey boozing and chewy caramel malting. Candied apple finish gains sugary overload.
Vacillating Belgian knockoff wavers between brisk lemon-peeled effervescence and herbaceous tea-like seduction. Dry pepper-spiced grassy hop prickle reinforces remedial citric-soured hard candy coating, tart baked apple warmth and red-wined nashi pear graining. Musty earthen barnyard minerality brings puckering bettanomyces-like funk to latent ester-y grape murk.
Iffy ruddy-browned barleywine stylistically closer to an Imperial IPA with its aggressive hop-oiled fruiting. A delicate sherry insistence coats ripe pineapple, grapefruit, apricot and peach illusions above creamy cocoa-sugared crystal malting. Caramelized vanilla buttering pleats ancillary raisin-breaded niche and dainty floral bouquet.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, improved updated version of Gordon (now listed as an Imperial Red/ Imperial IPA hybrid) got christened G’Knight in 2012. Orange-bruised cherry-berry ripeness infiltrates sugary malt sweetness to helles bock-like biscuit-y Graham Cracker spine. Sharp hop bite deepens fruity assertion.
BLOOMSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
In a rustic rural outpost two miles from downtown Bloomsburg (home of Marley’s Brewery & Grille) just off Route 80’s Exit 236 lies TURKEY HILL BREWING COMPANY, a freestanding A-framed watering hole affiliated with The Inn at Turkey Hill and opened for business April 2011. Visited July 2012, this natural weathered wood stable “sitting atop the footprint of an English barn originally erected in 1839” served a diverse range of brews and worthy food items to nearby Bloomsburg University students and a host of local dinnertime businessmen.
Entering through a brown-wooded side door entrance next to a small patio, Turkey Hill’s windowed brew tanks are set up across the hall from a ground level concrete-floored catacomb-like cafe where an acoustic singer entertained patrons seated at the rear bar or several stooled tables.
Upstairs, a small private lounge leads to an ample wood-furnished, tan-walled open space with horseshoe coat hangers and various farmhouse photos. The eight-seated bar is packed for the Fourth Of July as two TV’s show the Yankee game and pre-Olympics fodder. We sit at a nearby table and order food to go alongside brewer Donny Abraczinkas’ stylistically robust fare.
I ate the plentiful Shroomer Angus Burger (featuring mushrooms, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, provolone cheese on a Kaiser roll) while my wife chomped on the busy Mediterranean Pizza (gathering squash, feta cheese and mozzerella atop local grained dough).
Though popular Journeyman IPA was out, each of the six four-ounce samples on the wooden tray and both of the fruity summer seasonals served pint-size more than sufficed.
At the lighter end, tart lemony orange-fronted, dry hop-spiced Barn Dance Blonde and caramel-soured, orange-desiccated, fig-sugared, earthen-backed New Whirrled Vienna Lager retained mild hop bittering.
A brisk IPA-like woody fruited bittering punctuated Revelation Pale Ale, the clear favorite today. Its lacquered apple, grapefruit, pineapple, apricot, mango and kiwi fruiting regaled brusque juniper hop bitterness, maintaining tremendous body and character.
Belgian yeast-candied Oliver’s Twisted Belgian Pale Ale placed peppery dry-hop spicing against sticky anise, sugared fig and raw chocolate while English-styled Samuel Bloom Brown Ale tossed lightly-roasted hops beside walnut-charred bittering.
Dark ale hailers will appreciate Iron Street Porter, a coffee-roasted, chocolate-soured, black tea-deepened bitter with ashen hop char.
For dessert, soapy apricot-lacquered, peach-toned, wheat-crackered Urban Abbey Apricot Wheat took a backseat to easygoing lighter-bodied Raspberry Wheat (with its sweet and sour raspberry rasp climbing above the honeyed wheat spine as well as ancillary red apple, strawberry and cranberry dollops).
Sweet-toothed brethren should enjoy Brennan Porter-Stout Float (made with Brennan’s vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce).
SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA
January ’04, superb Cooper’s Seafood House in rustic Scranton offered wide selection of tap and bottled beers plus fabulous lobster bisque, crab cakes, and clams. A diversified seafood/beer joint, Cooper’s interior features a central bar with separate dining spaces. A toy train goes thru each room nonstop and nostalgic nautical and cultural items line the crowded walls.
Initially, bought three Barley Creek brews while quaffing chocolate-y Stegmaier Porter. Worth noting: due Southeast six miles in tiny Eynon lies huge ‘distributor of micro and specialty brews,’ Ace Beverage, where I found middling Straub.
I had revisited Cooper’s a few more times before they began brewing their own beers May ’23.
While enjoying stuffed flounder and chicken corn chowder, June ’24, tried two newfangled dark ales but didn’t get to quaff Captain Cooper’s Helles Lager, Sozzled Skipper’s Pale Ale, The Moxie 40 IPA and It’s All About Timing IPA.
Peaty wee heavy, Cooper’s Smoking Scotsman, linked smoked brown chocolate malting to pecan-glazed chestnut, hazelnut and cola caramelization plus spicy dried fruiting contrasting weedy hop dankness.
Using similar base malts (?) as the wee heavy, Pennsylvanian Cowfish Milk Stout sunk dextrin malted sour milking into dry Bakers chocolate, oaken vanilla and distant soy saucing.
Another winningly soft-toned wood-bareled elixir from Innis & Gunn’s reserves. Sweet bourbon-aged Scottie brings mellow Scotch and peat whiskey tones to oaken vanilla buttering as well as advertised ‘apple-candied marzipan’ bluster. Whiskey-soaked chery nicety provides ancillary relief.
Frustratingly chaotic, yet stylistically ubiquitous, limited edition (2012) saison places cluttered fruit lacquering above salty white-peppered hop bite. Cloying raspberry rasp picks up ancillary orange-bruised apple, peach cobbler and banana illusions as well as vanilla pastry sugaring. Buttered rum spicing adds alcohol luster.
Intriguing Belgian-styled witbier with wheat-dried barnyard-like farmhouse attributes blends floral citric pleasantries into crystal malt sugaring. Lemony mandarin orange rind bittering softly affects tangy pineapple, banana and grapefruit tropicalia. Herbal-honeyed hawthorn bush, heather and hibiscus flowering sweetens frolicking fruitiness while contrasting roughhewn alfalfa, whey and horse blanket illusions, deepening its full-bodied conviction.
