Tag: Brewery Trips

Tired Hands Fermentaria

Tired Hands Fermentaria offers up to 12 beers on tap. Tap open for pints, flights, growler fills (Tired Hands growlers only), merchandise and bottles & cans to go. The food menu features tacos, ceviches and composed plates, under the direction of head chef Bill Braun, who also helms our brew cafe. Outside food not allowed. Only service animals allowed. Parking lot located next to the brewery.

Some photos from our road trip to the Tired Hands Brewing Fermenteria in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Bhavna and I were on our way back from a road trip to Hollow Earth Brewing in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

Name: Tired Hands Brewing Fermentaria
Location: Ardmore, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Beer to try: Daydreaming of Indiscriminate Human Extinction
Notes: Fermentaria offers up to 12 beers on tap. Tap open for pints, flights, growler fills (Tired Hands growlers only), merchandise and bottles & cans to go. The food menu features tacos, ceviches and composed plates, under the direction of head chef Bill Braun, who also helms our brew cafe. Outside food not allowed. Only service animals allowed. Parking lot located next to the brewery.

This place is much bigger than Hollow Earth Brewing. Much bigger. We sat at one of the high chairs. The restaurant has a very "hipster" vibe. Bhavna and I ordered four-ounce pours of ale. I had four IPAs. My favourite was the Alien Church.

We had hoped to bring some of the beer back to New Jersey but we soon learned that Tired Hands will only fill beer in their branded growlers. Our server offered to trade our Troon Brewing growlers for one of theirs. But ... Bhavna and I have an emotional attachment to the unique design of the Troon growlers.

I asked if they offered cans and was told yes. But ... not the ones we had just had. Sigh. We left the Fermentaria and walked down the street toward the brewery store. I've never seen anything like this for a brewery. The store was designed like the inside of a Banana Republic.

We bought one stem and one stemless glass and a four-pack of Hop Hands.

Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams

Tired Hands, Brewery
Part of the road trip to Pennsylvania. This is Tired Hands Brewing in Ardmore.
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Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO4000), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO800), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO3600), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.002 sec at f/4.0, ISO100), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO1800), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO720), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO4000), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams
Tired Hands Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.002 sec at f/4.0, ISO100), © Khürt L. Williams

Hollow Earth Brewing

Name: Hollow Earth Brewing
Location: Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Beer to try: Riot Juice
Notes: Taproom offers guests the choice of table or bar seating in the front of the house, or you may watch the art of brewing as it occurs at the open brewhouse bar. Parking lot located in the rear of the brewery. More parking on the street.

Last weekend Bhavna and I drove a few hours out to Oxford, Pennsylvania. We wanted to visit Hollow Earth Brewing and try the New England style IPA. A few weeks earlier -- maybe even a month or more -- we met one of the brewers sitting at the bar at Brick Farm Tavern. He was there with his girlfriend drinking some of the craft ales produced by Troon Brewing. He had seen on Untappd that Troon was rising in the popularity rankings. It's currently rated among the top 25 breweries in the United States on Untappd.

We talked about the town of Oxford and the sort of beer he likes brewing. Bhavna and I promised we would travel out to visit the brewery. We were happy we found the time to make good on our promise. The ales were excellent.

Bhavna and I arrived just around noon. The friendly staff showed us the menu and recommended the mushroom tacos for lunch. That worked well for both of us. Bhavna is a vegetarian.

We each sampled four 4oz pours (16oz total or one pint). My favourite was the Riot Juice. Delicious! We liked it so much we took some home with us. Hollow Earth Brewing prepared cans of beer while we waited. Right in front of us. They have a canning machine at the bar. We watched as our server filled each can and sealed it and put a date label on each. How cool is that?

We got in the car and drove toward Ardmore to Tired Hands Fermentaria, the next stop on our road trip.

Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO3200), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO500), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO640), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO1000), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO560), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO720), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO1250), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO560), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO720), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO5000), © Khürt L. Williams

The Referend Bier Blendery

Bhavna and I had a tour of The Referend Bier Blendery hosted by Melissa Ducommun who is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Name: The Referend Bier Blendery
Location: Pennington, Mercer County, New Jersey
Recommended Beer: Berliner Messe
Notes: Taproom open for pints, flights, growler fills, merchandise and bottles & cans to go. Upstairs taproom and deck open during weekend hours. Outside food allowed. Only service animals are allowed. Parking lot located next to the brewery.

This fall, The Referend Bier Blendery in Pennington opened its doors to the public. Twice a month, on the first and third Saturday, The Referend Bier Blendery will offer a public tasting of two or more Berliner Messe ales and Alleluiavers ales aged on New Jersey peaches and nectarines, and Gloria, which features an American dry hopping.

The Referend Bier Blenderyy specialises in the production of spontaneously fermented beers. This is a style of beer making used by ancient beer-making cultures and popularised by the modern lambic brewers of Belgium's Pajottenland.

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23711"]

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23714"]

My wife and I took a short tour of the brewery hosted by Melissa Ducommun, a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Melissa took us outdoor and showed us the stainless steel fermentation tanks into which The Referend Bier Blendery will be pumping wort obtained from local New Jersey beer brewers. The fermentation tanks are large, shallow pans called a "cool ship", where wild yeast and bacteria will settle on overnight. The "cool ship", which was custom fabricated by Trenton Sheet Metal, sits in the back of a truck that will be driven from location to location.

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23716"]

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23717"]

The cool ship is outdoors to reduce contamination to the breweries where Referend obtains wort. Most beer is fermented by commercially cultivated yeast. However, spontaneously fermented beer depends upon the unpredictability of the wild yeast and microflora's presence to impart a singular aroma and flavour profile. The presence of wild bacteria would be disastrous for any commercial beer batch infected by it.

Melissa explained that after the wort has cooled, it is put into aged oak barrels and racked in the blendery, at which point fermentation will begin. The wild fermentation process is lengthy. The Referend Bier Blendery has used Chardonnay oak barrels for the long ageing process.

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23712"]

The Referend Bier Blendery, beer, blendery, brewery, people[exif id="23715"]

This winter, The Referend Bier Blendery will be brewing 500 barrels of wort to be 100 per cent spontaneously fermented and aged in oak barrels, gradually coming to maturity between four months and four years, depending on the style of beer. Melissa told us that the first bottled offerings would finish conditioning in early 2017 and be sold in traditional corked and caged, 750-ml green glass bottles.