PA Flavor is a beer-and-food paring event held at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg that brings together PA-based restaurants and breweries. About 800 people turned out for this year’s event, which showcased over 45 local breweries.
This was the key event of HBG Beer week that would have the most exposure for our brewery. Not only were we promoting our beer, but also promoting our vision of the business we want to create in Dillsburg—open a tap room downtown. We were just one of two home brewers who were pouring at the event. The other was Wolf Brewing Co. (If you’re in the Central PA area, try to attend one of his pouring events—the man is an amazing brewer.)
We set up shop between Parmani Bros. and Hop Headz Gear apparel. I couldn’t be happier with the placement—I wouldn’t have to go very far to get some great food and being next to Hop Headz Gear (friends of the brewery) would help bring people over to our area for samples.
A total of four offerings were available for sampling:
- Rhuberry, a strawberry rhubarb blonde on firkin
- Dilled, a pale ale
- Just the Tip, an American brown ale w/spruce tips infused with cinnamon sticks in the Randal
- The Hitman, an all-Brett IPA
- Mickey McFinnigan, a dry Irish stout (VIP-only beer)
To create a buzz in the crowd, I waited until the VIP portion was over before I tapped the firkin and filled the Randal—when it was time, there was a line 15 people deep wanting to sample the Randall and firkin!
The Randal was a huge hit! Beer filters through the front chamber, which had cinnamon sticks in it to flavor the beer. The back chamber is the de-foaming chamber.
The firkin tapping went as expected—very little loss of product.
I started out with very short pours for both beers. This was the first time at this event so I had no clue what to expect crowd-size wise. But as the hours quickly passed I noticed I wouldn’t run out of beer—short pours grew into full pours, especially with the firkin. I make it a point to kick the firkin at events just because the beer will go bad soon after tapping it because of the introduction of oxygen, which will cause off-flavors.
Near the end there were several faces who kept returning again and again for our beer. I also received a complement from one attendee of the event who stated that he felt the home brewers had the best beer at the event. Once again, the recognition from someone who hasn’t heard of you before this event confirms my belief that I can brew professionally and build a successful business.
Next time I’ll blog about the “Battle of the Home Brewers.”
And before I finish, I want to congratulate my wife, Shannon, who is living her dream and is now shooting boudoir/contemporary glamour in her studio in Carlisle. Please check out her work and schedule a consult with her at ShannonHemauerPhotography.com.
Please feel free to email me at info@hemauerbrewingco.com and/or comment below.
Cheers
Brooks
Having tasted some of your work in the past, I know that what you create is not only quite enjoyable but worth seeking out because of its flavor tones. I never had a beer that gave two different flavors in the mouth, both subtle but both a wonderful surprise.
Thanks, Rose! Glad to hear you’re enjoying our brew!