JIM THORPE, PENNSYLVANIA
Occupying a rustic red brick Victorian rowhouse near the center of Jim Thorpe, HAIRY GUYS BREWING started slinging suds December ’23. Co-owning brewers Tom Whitehead and Tim Benyo craft mostly approachable dry-bodied beers at the wood plank-floored pub.
Whitehead and Benyo, two husky bearded brewhounds, began brewing in a garage during 2014, gaining respect from local beer lovers. They finally got a break and decided to open their brewery in Jim Thorpe, a former coal mining town boasting several vintage 19th century architectural designs.
The small two-room nanobrewery features a brick-based wood-topped serving station with 12-plus tap handles, art deco black walls and ceiling, and a few front room tables plus a lounge-chaired ‘parlor’ where this Sunday afternoon’s musical entertainment happened.
John Prine’s antiestablishment anthem, “Illegal Smile,” and the Grateful Dead’s awakening “Eyes Of The World” got righteously rendered by two acoustic locals while my wife and I grabbed two trays with eight beers (plus one) and headed to the grassy community-tabled side space (with tiled fountain) to hang out with some Phillies fans and a few barkin’ dachshunds the first of June ’24.
Hairy Guys most popular beer, lo-cal Premium Light Lager, suited less discriminating dry thirsts with its spritzy lemon fizz and musty orange daub bubbling over grassy hop astringency and maize-flaked pilsner malting.
Gluten-free Impale Ale plied flattish green hop musk to waxy crayon fruiting, arid sorghum flouring and pasty cardboard malting, bettering similar stylistic moderations but lacking verve.
Toasted barley-grained snack knockoff, Pretzel Amber Lager, retained uniquely definitive hot-buttered doughy pretzel resonance.
The second most popular Hairy Guys elixir, lightly golden clouded New England-styled Hazy Pale Ale, remitted sugared lemony grapefruit-seeded mandarin orange tanginess for its herbal hop restraint, attaining a tart candied citrus edge.
Briskly tropical golden hazed NEIPA, Juicy IPA, stayed dry as lightly embittered lemony grapefruit tanginess reached herbal white peppering above musty pale malts.
Dry bronze-hued IPA, Old Skook, matched perfume-hopped orange desiccation and musky lemon spoilage to gluey pale malts, sometimes recalling a dewy Brit-styled India Pale Ale.
Caramelized Vienna malted sweet breading soaked up mild red-orange fruiting for Clouds Of Maibock, leaving tart lollipop dollops.
Soft-toned dark ale, Porter, rallied dried coffee and powdered cocoa past lightly hop-roasted black chocolate malts.
Equally soft and fuzzy, Nitro Stout regaled nutty dark-roast coffee and dark chocolate bittering and mild ashen hop char, staying mocha-dry.
Revisited Hairy Guys July ’26 to down six more sassy suds.
Tropical Mexican lager, Lime After Lime, a fluffy white-headed aluminum yellowed light body, let key lime pied tequila spread across its white wheat base.
Meanwhile, yellow cleared premium light lager, Face Lace, placed lemon zest inside rice-crisped white breading.
Simple-sugared Belgian Blonde let orange fizz speckle dried floral herbage in a caramelized malt setting.
Sunshiny Imperial IPA, You’re Driving Me Hazy Guy, scurried lemony grapefruit bittering and peachy orange peel sweetness thru sticky pine lacquering contrasting dry pale malting.
Briny Berliner Weisse, Black Currant Cab, left spritzy soda fizz upon musky blackcurrant tartness plus candy-coated blueberry and blackberry souring, winey purple grape esters and eye-squinting pomegranate juicing.
Blustery Imperial Stout variant, Lights Out Stout – Orange, brought candied orange tartness to mild burgundy-brandy spirits, picking up zesty tangerine twist over bourbon-caked gingerbread sweetness.