Category Archives: craft beer

Tired Hands Fermentaria

Tired Hands

Breweries, craft beer, , , ,

Ardmore, PA

I have discovered the Mecca of beer and it is Ardmore. In a northwest suburb of Philadelphia, Ardmore, PA holds three temples to the gods of ale: Tired Hands Fermentaria; Tired Hands Brew Café; and the  Tired Hands General Store.

Fermentaria

inside the Fermentaria
inside the Fermentaria

On a Saturday night, the biggest challenge to entering our first beer shrine, Fermentaria, was finding parking. Affluent “historic” Ardmore is a rabbit warren of shops and chain stores. Among a strip mall, we found Fermentaria and parking a few blocks away.

More vessels at the Fermentaria
More vessels at the Fermentaria

The high ceilings and hard surfaces of the Fermentaria give it an industrial feel. Despite no TVs or music, the loud buzz of excited beer enthusiasts filled the huge space with noise. I had made reservations and we were quickly seated.

Tired Hands Fermentaria
Tired Hands Fermentaria

At Philly Beer Week, the star of the weekend was Tired Hands Eviscerated Pathway of Beauty, so I was expecting a lot from this brewery, but really didn’t know what to order. Their “Milkshake” IPAs are acclaimed and untappd friend, Johnny Peppers, raves about their beers but saw nothing on the long list of beers that looked familiar. So, I ordered the top 4 beers on the list. “There’s a little problem with that,” our waiter said, “you can only order one beer at a time, even 2.5-ounce pours. I’ll bring them out, one at a time.” My first sample was a HopHands.

HopHands
HopHands

Somehow, Tired Hands manages to pack enormous amounts of subtle flavors into their ales, making them complex and juicy beverages worthy of savoring slowly. I found all the unfiltered samples delicious.

  • HopHands – Fruity, hazy pale ale with piney hops & grapefruit/citrus
  • SaisonHands – Wow! Deliciously complex. Tart with lemon, juicy with pear? Some barnyard & straw. Very yummy!
  • Wish Fulfillment – Peachy tasting IPA. Notes of green pepper.
  • Alien Church – Notes of mostly grapefruit
  • Gatherer (2017) – Wow. Dense and velvety smooth. Each sip is a bite of chocolate cake flavored with wild honey and flowers while drinking a cup of coffee. Wow!

General Store

Our second pilgrimage stop was a brief walk to the General Store. It would close at 9:00 PM, so we picked up some beer to share with our friends back home. They have quite an assortment of bottles on shelves and a fridge with HopHands. Since HopHands was the only beer I’d sampled, I picked up a couple 4-packs.

Brew Café

Tired Hands Brewery
Tired Hands Brew Café

Next door to the store is Tired Hands original brew pub. It is more of a dark traditional bar than the Fermentaria. We sat at the bar and I tried their HopHands (Double Dry-Hopped With Centennial) on cask. All that extra alpha hops was an interesting cask, but I think all the subtle flavors of the very delicious HopHands were masked by the overpowering Centennial hops.

HopHands cask
HopHands cask

If I cannot tempt my friends to make the pilgrimage to Ardmore over the next year, we will definitely take the train from Philly during our annual Philly Beer Week in June.

Cheers!

Warren

Ebenezer's Sign

Ebenezer’s

Breweries, craft beer, Pubs, ,

Lovell, ME

Just 16 minutes from our lakeside cabin in Bridgeton is a terrific beer bar and restaurant — Ebenezer’s Restaurant and Pub. It was a Monday, but the day before the 4th of July, so it was a busy day. We wanted a table for 6 at 6:00 PM but settled for a picnic table at 5:15 PM. As luck would have it, when we arrived, they had setup a table inside the charming screened in porch.

Ebenezer's Pub
Ebenezer’s Pub

Ebenezer’s has a large rotating beer selection with many beers on tap. As a Belgian beer lover, I was in heaven; most of their beers are Belgian style or sours. Going with the Belgian theme, we ordered frites. I also ordered a Lively Holy Candy, a subtle but boozy triple made from Ebenezer’s brewery. The frites arrived wrapped in a paper cone with mayonnaise and ketchup, disappearing into our mouths almost immediately. Yum.

As a Maine tourist, I could not pass up the “Best Lobster Roll in Maine”. It was quite good, with plenty of solid lobster meat covered with a mayonnaise-rich sauce.

Showing my usual restraint (hey, I’m on vacation), I ordered a slice of fruit and rhubarb pie a la mode along with an Ich Bin Erin Berliner Framboos from Brouwerij Alvinne. It is listed as a Sour – Berliner Weiss. It arrived in a tall, pilsner style glass, smelling, tasting and looking like raspberries. It was refreshing and tart.

Carolyn, Gregg, Amy & I couldn’t resist, so we came back to this terrific place. We learned from Maine that Steven King owns a home in Lovell and is often seen in the area. Gregg provides a lot of Mr. King’s insurance and says he is a very nice, down-to-earth guy and gives generously to local charities.

Outside Ebenezer's Pub
Outside Ebenezer’s Pub

There were no Steven King sightings that day but the many rotating taps looked great. I tried a few:

  • Sünner Kölsch – Complex tastes with malt sweet with Kölsch yeast
  • Kriek Des Jocobins – Cherry tart mixed with sweetness.
  • Maldetta Zymatore Syrah – Not your average Saison. Tastes of whiskey and Syrah

Ebenezers is a required stop for beer lovers who find themselves in the area. Warning, it’s a long way from anywhere and the beers are so tempting; bring a designated driver.

Cheers!

Warren