Welcoming sign at Pub 27 in Pompeii
Mount Gretna Porter of Philosophy
Date: October 8 , 2018
The Story— Mount Gretna brewery isn’t quite in Mount Gretna, it’s in Smyrna, but if you step into the parking lot the wrong way, you’ll be in Annville. GPS’s have been known to whir out of control and explode in the area.
But by any name, it’s a good area for beer. You’re not far from headliners like Tröegs and the Harrisburg treasures, but there are some fine beers to be had in the cornfields as well. Snitz Creek has a tap room nearby, there’s a better-than-average beer store down the road, but the gem of the crown is the unheralded Mount Gretna brewery. Beers run from good to very good and the warm welcoming lodge of a brewpub is a great place to spend the evening. (If you’re earlier, coffee roasts in a separate part of the building.)
Less than a mile away the Londonderry Inn, which may or may not long continue as a B&B, is a delightful night’s stay that includes some rooms that are decidedly not so “Londonderry-ish” like the Wild West Room where we stayed. A bordello theme? Ah, why not? the beer was great. We’d return in a heartbeat to any of their themed rooms. A basement room has markings from escaping slaves that made their marks in the bricks as they rode the underground railroad.
We have an an abbreviation: IHTBABS that we shorten to HTB: “It’s Hard To Brew A Bad Stout.” And it is, really. Hitting the “OK” level with a dark beer that covers up almost all minor flaws is almost child’s play (OK high school home brewer’s play) easy. But stepping much above that “OK” level isn’t any easier for a dark chewy beer than it is for a good pale ale. Too much richness can make it gooey, too little can leave it unpleasantly dry. Guinness, of course, has had centuries to perfect its art — and some of the brewer’s reserve series it’s produced lately show how tricky the path has been. We’re always impressed by brewers than can come even close to that sophistication and delicate balance in only a few years.
The Beer–Even and steady roast with some bakers chocolate and a touch of coffee. Echoes of fruit late. Straightforward, chewy, and moreish porter. Good for them!
Value –Very good to Excellent. Not only are you buying wisely, you’re supporting a brewery that has richly earned its right to play in this very crowded beer market.
All this week we return to the US to highlight some great beers we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night. Look for it in 2019.
Later, we’ll return to HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE 2018– Surprisingly good beer in “bad beer cities.” The best we’ve found in researching our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.) We’ll shift back to great American beer finds next week.
About these posts: We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year. The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings. Values: “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.
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