Crisp light lager lets mild orange spicing slightly affect honeyed Bavarian malts and earthen Hallertau hops above its wispy baked bread bottom. Well-balanced Blue Collar fare from deep in the heart of Texas.
CEDAR CREEK THE LAWN RANGER CREAM ALE
Soft-toned lemon snicker contrasts corn-dried pale malts and oats-flaked rye graining. Musky German alt yeast adds dewy earthiness and musty veggie nuance. Fair.
CEDAR CREEK PATIO POUNDER PALE LAGER
Crisply clean German pilsner-malted moderation crowds groaty corn-flaked cereal malts with murkily herbed Hallertau hop earthiness and moist hay. Light chamomile tea smidge affects plastique citrus fruiting underneath.
GUNS & OIL STRAWBERRY LEMON LAGER
Fair limited edition light body brings modest strawberry tartness to wispy lime-peeled lemonade sugaring. Candied citrus twist gains cologne-perfumed smudge. Soft-tongued aperitif.
903 REPUBLIC OF TEXAS LAGER
Dull corn-dried malt liquor entry lets cabbage-like musk and pungent wet grains overwhelm desolate peachy orange tartness. Barely escapes gutbucket rancidity.
HAPPY VALLEY BREWING COMPANY
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Inside a spaciously remodeled beige-yellowed barn house just down the road from Penn State University’s campus lies HAPPY VALLEY BREWING COMPANY. A massive brewpub-restaurant open since 2013, this rustic wood-furnished edifice benefits from its diverse interior.
Using exposed floor joists as ceiling beams and dimly lit by low-volt pendant lighting, the centralized 30-seat bar at its cement-floored lower level provides the perfect Irish pub atmosphere. A separate brewing room allows for ample tank space and a community-tabled side deck near the backyard grain silo offers bucolic outdoor splendor.
Upstairs at street level, a large sportsbar atmosphere gets reinforced by multiple TV’s at all sides. The wood lacquered 12-seat bar (decked out in white tiles) utilizes Edison lights and a huge astronomy mural covers the front wall.
Sandwiches, steaks, pizzas, fish and charcuterie (Gernelli-breaded cured meat, cheeses, pickled veggies) sport the rounded menu.
My wife and I grab a table in front of the red fluorescent Happy Valley Brewing sign on a sunny Saturday at noon in late October ’17 to try a dozen fully realized and well rounded brews. I chow on charcuterie while slipping some suds down the gullet.
Light pink-headed ruby-bodied aperitif, Nitro Zerbert Raspberry Summer Ale, brought a nitro-creamed raspberry tartness to wispily sweet vanilla spicing. Its soft raspberry-seeded piquancy picked up subtle blueberry, huckleberry and gooseberry snips.
Stylishly nebulous but nonchalantly likable, mild nitro-injected Stratus Loftbier lets light peaty earthiness and wispy rye breading bring a mossy ESB-like brown tea likeness to the fore.
Another lightly creamed nitrogenated offering, Phyrst Phamily Stout, draped dry roasted coffee over dark chocolate, vanilla, charred nut and earthen mildew subtleties.
Light-bodied Wheat Ale, Hayday, let “bright citrus overtones” gain a mild grassy hop musk and pale wheat-flaked cereal graining.
Halfway nutty Craftsman Brown Ale sidled earthen grape esters with sour coffee undertones and biscuity nuances.
Slightly sweet Tailgater Blood Orange Pale Ale allowed bittersweet blood orange zest to rejoice above lightly spiced pale malts as mild clementine, tangerine and curacao orange wisps complement the carbolic citric spritz.
Happy Valley’s most popular variety, sessionable India Pale Ale, Knuckleball, caressed “vibrant citrus hops” with mild pale malt spicing, leaving sparkly orange, peach and mango juices upon the tongue.
Another sessionable softie, Space Wheelie Intergalactic Sour, featured lemon-soured pink guava tartness dried out by horse-blanketed straw astringency.
Tropical India Pale Ale, LeMonster, reined lemony pineapple and mango zest atop light pine needling, honeyed pale malts and calm chamomile herbage.
“Classic” IPA, Barnstormer, glazed its juicy grapefruit-orange-pineapple tang with coniferous piney hops, spritzy citrus spicing and terse herbal notions.
Brazen Black IPA, Bongo Fury, buried black grape and grapefruit illusions beneath charcoal-stained dark chocolate bittering and ashen hop-charred acridity.
Local Café Lemont coffee provided a dark-roast java intensity for Joe, a medium-bodied dark ale with lightly milked coffee creaming, vanilla bean bittering and latent charred nuttiness.
www.happyvalleybeer.com
HIJINX BARREL AGED STEAL YOUR FACE STOUT (HEAVEN HILL BOURBON)
Lovely barrel-aged version of rich stout relays expansive bourbon mocha milkshake creaminess to peaty Scotch whiskey boozing. Seeped in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for 14 months, opulent black chocolate syruping picks up chewy anise spicing and bittersweet vanilla beaning almost immediately. Ancillary black cherry, raspberry and red grape tartness turns vinous while cozy cola-hazelnut sway stays way beneath the caramelized chocolate bourbon heap.
HIJINX BARREL AGED STEAL YOUR FACE STOUT
Extravagantly rich barrel-aged version of SYF soaked in Social Still Rye Whiskey from local Bethlehem distillery conveys luxurious bourbon, burgundy and sherry tones to enhance whiskey-buzzed rye conviction draped by dark chocolate syrup. Bold coffee roast then comes to the fore boosted by vanilla bean, cola, hazelnut and blueberry illusions. An excellent mocha-derived rye whiskey alternative.
HIJINX STEAL YOUR FACE IMPERIAL STOUT
Swaggeringly rich full-bodied Imperial Stout delivers fudgy dark chocolate-milked coffee sugaring to mild hop char. Bold mocha theme allows tertiary vanilla, bean, hazelnut and blueberry illusions to lightly affect dominant black chocolate-coffee continuance. A treasured slow sippin’ dessert.
HIJINX BARISTA’S CHOICE COFFEE PORTER
Staying more bitter than sweet, affable medium-bodied porter relies on light-roast coffee theme, slowly gaining dry espresso, dark cocoa and Brazil nut illusions reinforced by sharp hop char. Interesting day-old coffee changeup.
HIJINX BARREL AGED WEE HEAVY SCOTTISH STYLE ALE
A warm bourbon-sweetened rye quilt provides mellow serenity for barrel-aged wee heavy. Mildly vinous red grape souring contrasts spicy caramelized malts as well as delightful sherry, merlot, armagnac and cognac illusions. Brown-sugared rye whiskey finish is heavenly.
HIJINX DOODLESACK WEE HEAVY SCOTTISH ALE
Engaging wee heavy lets smoked chocolate malting pick up caramelized bourbon pleasantry, mild dewy sweetness and light hop spicing above honeyed rye spine. Sweet chocolate continuance gains latent prune-stewed dried fruiting.