Tag Archives: JIM THORPE PA

MAUCH CHUNK BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

JIM THORPE, PENNSYLVANIA

Up in the hills of Jim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk) between a string of rowhouses, MAUCH CHUNK BREWERY looks like it’d fit into a London flats or Swiss mountain setting. Inside a cozy Olde Victorian bed and breakfast, the nanobrewery has revitalized the name of a closed down post-prohibition pub.

A few small front-porched folding chairs lead to the white-walled, plank wood floored, cabin-like barroom. An aluminum-topped L-shaped countertop bar to the right services a few strewn tables and brew tanks are to the rear.

A mom-and-pop type nano operating since the spring of ’25, Mauch Chunk crafts a small selection of basic, stylishly straightforward, well balanced and crisp suds.

My wife, son Chris and I journeyed to Jim Thorpe from Lake Harmony hideaway late July ’26 to down all four brews plus four Mimosas while the lights went out due to a torrential midday storm. Local wine, hot dogs, soup and pretzels were also on menu.

A tad bolder than similar dry Czech-German light-bodied pilsners, Pocono Pilsner retained herbal Saaz hop spicing, salty lemony grapefruit spurt, tidy mineral graining and distant wood tones.

Dewy light lager, Summit, placed spritzy lemon fizz atop dry pale malts, staying crisply clean while picking up mild floral perfumed spicing.

My fave, dry 7.7% ABV West Coast-styled India Pale Ale, Cold Trail, placated moderately bitter lemony grapefruit rind and orange pith sharpness with pungent pine resin.

Nebulous pale wheat ale, America’s 250th Anniversary, sprang raw-honeyed orange fizz and slight herbage upon cracked wheat.

HAIRY GUYS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for HAIRY GUIYS BREW

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.

BRIGHT PATH BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Bright Path Brewing To Open This Winter In Jim Thorpe - Breweries in PA

JIM THORPE, PENNSYLVANIA

Open February ’22 in the Pocono Mountain mining town of Jim Thorpe, BRIGHT PATH BREWING COMPANY secures a roomy 4,000 square-foot barn house. Selling its beer to-go initially, Bright Path began inviting the public onsite for draughts three months hence in May.

Co-owner Alex Franko began home brewing a decade ago and worked at Sly Fox, Other Half, Lone Eagle, Dogfish Head and Dock Street beforehand while biz partner, Dylan Smith’s been at it for five years with stops along the way at Lancaster, Lone Eagle and Cape Cod breweries. Both grew up in the surrounding Keystone State area.

Their humble mission is to create ‘refreshing flavorful lagers and low ABV session beers’ for everyone to enjoy. And there’s a peaceful easy feeling that consumes the high-ceilinged pub.

Bright Path’s gray cement-floored, green-walled interior features a 12-stooled wood top bar (with aluminum frontage), chalkboard beer list and a gold-lettered company insignia. Windowed rear brew tanks hold the suds. Pipe-fitted community tables, wall-railed standing ledges and exposed ceiling pipes add rustic appeal.

Bright Path Brewing in Carbon County | wnep.com

Easygoing flagship, Mc Gowan’s Cream Ale, does a fine job reinforcing Bright Path’s ‘humble’ roots (alongside a half-dozen pilsner/lagers available on my two-hour July ’22 trip). Its lemony Cascade-hopped spritz and salted maize dryness picked up subtle herbal perfuming in a light-bodied setting.

Cleanly dry Keller Pils winsomely guided lemony orange salting into placid floral herbage above freshly baked French breading.

Equally tranquil golden-cleared light lager, Pigsah Mountain Brew, let citric-dried lemongrass herbage and grassy hop astringency reach its simple pale malt base.

Straightforward Helles Lager retained a slightly brusque lemon musk, spicy tingle and herbal respite for its sweet cereal grain backbone.

Another soft-toned moderation, Vienna Lager, plied yellow and orange fruit spicing to sweet barley-steeped Easter breading.

Bright ‘n lively but less sweet than stylish competitors, Hefeweizen stationed lemony banana-clove expectancy across damp hop herbage and atop sourdough wheat flouring.

Dry-hopped IPA-designed American Standard Pale Ale stayed grapefruit-forward as grassy wood-soaked astringency contrasted wheat-floured breading.

Limey agave cologne saturated dryly tart summertime suds, Mexican Lager, leaving fleeting floral chrysanthemum and lavender snips upon a frail sea-salted pilsner malt bottom.

Soft ‘n billowy Switchback Session Hazy IPA gathered a floral-daubed bouquet of lemony grapefruit bittering, tangy peach, mango and tangerine sweetness and navel orange zesting to enlighten its mild piney hemp resin and withered grassy hop astringency.

On the dark side, fine German-styled black lager, Schwarzbier, escorted barley-roasted black chocolate and walnut coffee tones to weedy black tea soiling.