The Beer Traveller

Once again I lost some points w/ sis for showing up @ the bar before they opened.  What can I say…I’m passionate about my work.  Luckily for us there was a motorcycle rally in town. Evidently the night before was a good one b/c the crowd was a little thin & those there were moving a little slow.  There was a beer tent in the middle…& they had bud & bud light.  I didn’t stop. 
We finally made it over to the Brewerie & were extremely impressed w/ the atmosphere.    It was an old train station that still had the looks of the original stop.  I thought this was rather unique, but Gino (bartender) informed me that there are a handful of brewpubs that have chosen to take up in vacant train stations.  The inside was roomy & painted as if the station was still in full swing. He also informed me of the struggles that a brewpub has in a blue collar town.  I don’t want to paint broad brush strokes here, but blue collar usually equates to macro American piss beer (i.e. bud).  See ‘Craig the Asshole’ blog entry for further proof.  There were many humorous stories of bikers/etc. coming in & asking for bud.  After being told this establishment doesn’t serve macro brews, they proceeded to ask for a Labatts or Heineken. Some people just don’t get it.  The great news is this pub not only represents their own brews on tap, but they also have a great assortment of other local craft breweries in the bottle. 
Unfortunately their beers were not quite as good as the stories.  Three our of five ranked Drinkable.  I was happy w/ their Half Wit (Belgium wit) & gave it a Likable.  The one that was completely unexpected was Uncle Jackson’s Blonde.  I’m usually not a fan of Blondes (beer anyways) due to their lack of flavor, but this one was Exceptional.  They were out of the Major McNair’s Nut Brown (named after Erie’s 1st brewer) & Apparition Amber.  AA was named in honor of a young girl named Clara, who had fallen down the back stairs back in the 1900’s & died.  Apparently there is some weird shit that happens in this place. Both Gino & the cook mentioned that they have personally witnessed some strange things including cold chills, wind from nowhere, noises, flashes of people, etc.  If it was later in the night I may have blamed the booze, but both gentlemen were completely sober & sincere.