It is beginning to become apparent (to me, as I write this blog) that I frequent brew pubs. What can I say? No apologies. We were in Adamstown on a Saturday—second antiquing trip in two weeks, after a couple of years off—and after a morning spent at Mad Hatter’s Antiques needed a place for lunch. Why wouldn’t we stop at the place with the big tank out front: Stoudt’s Brewery.
I’ve been to Stoudt’s (one of the first microbreweries since Prohibition according to this) a number of times. As we walked toward
the door my brother-in-law hesitated at what might be called the 1950s faux
Bavarian exterior but I assured him it would be all right—even when we passed through
the dimly lit foyer with the antique car. I’ve not given this much thought until
now but I’d have to say that Stoudt’s is caught between post–World War II
roadside America and the 21st century. That’s not a bad thing, just an
observation.
Surprisingly, although it was almost two o’clock the restaurant was pretty full. The hostess led us past the raw bar to our table and handed us both food and beer menus. I hadn’t been thinking about beer but . . . when in Rome . . . again, no apologies. Based on the well-written descriptions, we placed our drink orders for:
Gold Lager: “This gold-colored, smooth-bodied Munich-style Helles is brewed with a two-row base malt and three types of aromatic specialty malts, then finished with a kiss of noble hops. A quaffable beer with a subtle balance of sweet malt and crisp, clean hops.”
Revel Red: “Has a deep-red amber color and a thick, creamy head. Pungent hop flavors from three varieties of domestically grown hops. This ale finishes on the dry side with a wonderful citrus hop flavor.”
Karnival Kolsch: “This refreshing German-style ale was brewed using two-row malt, a small amount of red wheat malt, and all German hops for bittering and aroma. This straw-colored ale is smooth like a lager due to the colder fermentation temperature and an extended cellaring time. It is dry and crisp with a slight fruitiness which complements the mild hop bitterness and aroma.”
Nice details, wouldn’t you say? And accurate. Husb, Bro-in-law, and I all sampled each other’s choices and voted mine (the Kolsch) the best. It was really good.
In addition to the raw bar and some cheese plates, the food menu has the usual sandwiches and salads with a few nods to the owners' German heritage: sausages, bratwurst, and weisswurst (a white sausage). Husb and I split the apple-smoked pulled pork sandwich: “Slow roasted, homemade Fat Dog Stout BBQ sauce, coleslaw served on our Kaiser roll.” Ours didn’t have coleslaw, but it did come with fries on the side. I could taste the stout in the sauce; it was a nice touch. Bro-in-law enjoyed the roasted turkey wrap: “Apple wood smoked bacon, lettuce, guacamole, chipotle ranch and aged cheddar cheese in a tortilla wrap.”
Once our beers were gone, we didn’t linger. We were headed toward Time Matters Antiques to check out their advertising signs and then Oley Valley to look for andirons. As I looked at reviews for Stoudt’s once I was home I saw that brewery tours happen occasionally. That might be fun--especially if Karnival Kolsch is on tap when I go.
Photo credit: BizmarckG posted to Urbanspoon
(I didn't take a picture of the front but this photo shows part of it)
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