Central PA Recommendations..

SWMBO booked an Air BnB in central PA this coming weekend for her and myself and looking for food/brewery recommendations. Will be staying near Hummelstown. Is Troegs the obvious answer of brewery to visit?

Troegs is great.  I haven't been there since COVID, but it can be a zoo.  Great beer.  I went to school with the Troegner boys and they're great guys.

Appalachian Brewing Company is also great.  They do their own brews and also other local breweries.  Great food.  The Harrisburg location has an upstairs that usually has great bands.

I strongly suggest Al's/Pizza Boy brewing in Enola/Mechanicsburg.  Killer pizza/wings/boli, and they have literally HUNDREDS of brews on tap.  Dozens of their own, lots of local and distant brews as well.  It's a warehouse, so not much of a destination, but the food and beer selection is worth it.  Last time I was there, they hade a "reduced" beer selection which meant they only had about 100 beers instead of 150

If you are interested in distilleries, check out Midstate Distillery.  Pre-covid they did a Sunday bloody mary bar.  $5 and they give you a glass with ice and your choice of their vodkas, then a buffet of about 6 different bloody mixes, and every garnish you could imagine.  You can seriously have lunch just from the sausages, cheeses, bacon, olives, onions, etc they have on display.

Evergrain has some brilliant brews and some that are meh.  Incredible food.  More of a restaurant with a good beer selection than a destination brewery.

Zeroday doesn't do much food, and doesn't really offer much in the way of a destination, but great beer.

Newfangled is practically in my back yard, but I've never been there.  I'll check it out and report back.  For science, I'll take one for the team.

There are dozens more, but I don't have much experience with them.  Definitely check out the websites for Cassel vineyards and Springate winery.  Both are wine places but have their own beers, and both offer a nice little destination.

In York I would recommend  Old Republic  Distillery, cool place for local liquor made on site. You should check their hours of operation. 

Lancaster Brewery  is another cool place to have some local beer and good food. Try the white chili. 

Paul B

Oh, and Hanover (not very close to Hummelstown) has two great breweries on the square right next to each other.

Forgot about LBC, great beer there too.  They have a location in Harrisburg as well on Eisenhower Blvd about 7 miles from Hummelstown.  Not really a destination, but great food.

Springhouse makes impressive stuff and I second pizzaboy. Enjoy a pint or two for me. 

There's some good farmland out there if you want to see some cows. About 5 hours worth of it, stretching from Pittsburgh to Philly. If you hear banjos, get out of there fast. 

Okay, that's enough snark out of me. There's lots of beautiful countryside scenery out in central PA. Especially once you get off the highways.

The AACA museum is right up the road in Hershey. I'm not sure if it's open but I thought it was.

In reply to ddavidv :

Their website suggests they are. I should probably make that a day trip at some point as I don't live that far away.

Others have already recommended most of the breweries that I know of, but a couple more food recommendations depending how far afield you will be going from Hummelstown.

Cafe Bruge in Carlisle: Belgian food & beer

Horse Inn in Lancaster: good (slightly hipster) food and decent beer selection

Offbeat and probably not worth a specific trip, but if you are in Harrisburg anyway: Au Bon Lieu for crepes (lunch or light dinner).  No beer there, however.

Hershey food:

- Dafnos. You'll feel like a mafia boss in there.
- Devon steakhouse.  Upscale steaks and seafood
- The Mill
- Fabios.  It's about 5 miles up the road from Hershey, but amazing Italian in an old barn.
 

Harrisburg food:

- Gabriella.  Casual to upscale italian, great food, terrible location
- Harvest Grill.  Farm-to-table, 90/10 hit or miss
- Bricco.  Restaurant with student chefs from local culinary programs.
- Ad Lib.  Hotel restaurant/bar in the Hilton
- Cafe 1500.  Really good grub.  Fine for dinner, better for lunch
- Millworks (but it's closed for Covid)
- Home 231. Upscale but approachable fine dining al fresco
- Rubicon.  Good bar, upscale food
- Carleys.  Piano bar, amazing food
- Note. Great food
- Char's Tracey Mansion.  Upscale.  No need for a sport coat, but slacks and a nice shirt.  Really good stuff.  Bring a bigger wallet
- Stocks on 2nd.  Great grub.
- Cafe Fresco.  Modern decor, great food.

Food in Lancaster:

- The Belvedere Inn.  Lovely upscale dining in an old downtown mansion.
- Maison. Cozy, farm-to-table

Food in Carlisle:

- Cafe Bruges as has been mentioned
- Carlisle Thai.  Some of the best thai in the area, second only to Bankok Wok
- Hamilton.  Ultimate diner-ish place.  Just sit down, order 3 hotchie dogs, and you'll thank me later.
- Brick.  Great grub, hipster, but worth it.
- Momma Sprigs.  What started as a diner has turned into some of the best food in town.  Over the years they have turned it into a lovely dining room with food that knocks your socks off for very reasonable prices.  There is a reason they often have a 1 hour wait for a table.
- Market Cross Pub.  Food and beer, but I don't think a full bar.
- How could I forget Molly Pitcher Brewing?
- Wenger meats is a neat lunch spot.  It's a meat market with a deli and they make great sandwiches and soups.

Food in Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg

- Hellenic Kouzina.  Great greek
- Bangkok Wok.  Just do it.  Insanely good Thai.  Panang Curry, Tom Kah Gai soup, and mango sticky rice for desert.
- Vrai.  Inspired cocktails, wonderful hipster food.
- Dockside Willies/Dukes Riverside.  They also own Rock Bass grill adjacent to it, but both times I was there were egregiously awful.  Dukes/Dockside is great with fish n chips, wings, entrees.  Rock Bass tried to go upscale seafood and failed hardcore.

While you're in the area, it might be nice to try the real local flavor... a good Amish restaurant.  Bird-in-Hand family restaurant, Zooks, Dutch Haven, Shady Maple, Lititz Family Cupboard, Brickerville House, Kountry Kitchen, Schwalm's... all good places.

don't miss troegs.. yup it's touristy, but its a good facility and the beer is nice.. 

others have covered it here..

Food in Lancaster, central market

If you want to sample a bunch of oddball beers with a bartender who knows them intimately, Black Gryphon in Elizabethtown. Also get his chocolate wings. Yes, really. Trust me.

It's also Ford weekend at Carlisle if you lean that way.

I must be the only person in the area who thinks Troegs is just okay beer at a very expensive price.

I think of all the smaller breweries, Troegs makes some mighty fine stuff.  They're just big enough to be consistent which tends to be a problem I have with the tiny brew efforts of the micro variety.  With the tiny breweries it seems like just when you find the perfect brew, one month later their recipe or technique has migrated and it's totally different.

Its rare that I don't have some Troegs All Day IPA or Perpetual IPA in my fridge.  Field Study and Haze Charmer bottles are also common detritus on my coffee table.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

A brewer for troegs who used to autocross a P5 is a GRM subscriber and formerly active forum member as well.

ddavidv said:

The AACA museum is right up the road in Hershey. I'm not sure if it's open but I thought it was.

 

It's a really good museum, I have a hundred pics in my phone from last time I was there.

Pizza Boy was the place of choice to visit yesterday. I had the stuffed cheesesteak pizza and a pint of the Peoples Choice Lager. Brought home some of the Vietnamese Coffee Stout for takeout. Everything was really good and will be visiting again!