Appalachian Brewing Company

Those of you who know me know that I’m far from a connoisseur of beer. Coorslight is my default bar beer, I venture to Bud Light Lime during summer, and both actively enjoy and purchase Keystone Light even though my budget has expanded to accompany more grown-up tastes. The thing is, I’m not going to apologize for my unsophisticated drinking tastes.

A) It’s cheap.
B) It keeps my waistline in check.
C) Everybody hates that guy who complains that there’s no “good” (and by good he means obscure) beer at the bar—this is the United States, make sure you can at least deal with Coors, Miller, and Budlight.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to expand my drink selection (I realize how sad of a resolution this is) and so I’ve been going out of my way to try be more adventurous beer speaking While I still have a dislike for most dark brews and can’t discuss in any intelligent technical terms the difference between craft beers (I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what a “hoppy” beer tastes like), I’m happy to say I’m learning to appreciate more than just stock American beer and really have started enjoying beer tasting.

Last night I went to dinner at The Appalachia Brewing Company, a brewery and restaurant located in Harrisburg. The links above goes right to the Harrisburg location website, and if you want a brief overview of the venue, watch the video they have posted. I’m not sure who the guy speaking is, but I do know that he’s really excited and happy to be speaking.

Overall, I was very impressed with the place. The tables are extremely close together, which was my only complaint (and it probably wouldn’t have been that bad, only the people on either side of us were a bit on the heavy side), and it had a nice laid back feel. They provide each table with a little book explaining the beers, which for someone like me is necessary. I asked the waitress for a suggestion and got the Grinnin’ Grizzly Holiday Spiced Ale which was really good—it’s supposed to be spiced for Christmas but reminded me more of some of the pumpkin beers I’ve had before—either way it was a good call and I ended up sticking with that all night (it’s baby steps here). I did see at other tables that they offered a sampler.

The prices were what you’d expect from a brewpub and the pulled pork sandwich I got, while not life changing, I’d get again. The food in general looked phenomenal both on the menu and from what I was able to observe from the people around us (the guy across from me had a monstrous Stromboli that I’ll be checking it when I go back).

The Harrisburg location is a restaurant downstairs with a bar on the second floor Downstairs cleared out around 9ish and people migrated upstairs, as they had a band. I was exhausted from a little too much cheap beer Friday night so opted out but it seemed like it was probably a good time—I’m just not sure my wallet and liver could handle an entire night of drinking microbrews. I did check out the band schedule and saw that the B-Street Band played in October, so they have good tastes.

Overall, I’d recommend the ABC if only for dinner. I plan on going back to definitely try the Stromboli as and there was a Deep Friend Blue Cheese Buffalo Wing appetizer I would ordered if I didn’t want my date to think I was a fat slob. There’s ABC’s in Harrisburg, Camphill, Gettysburg, and Collegeville PA.