Cathy and I went to the wedding of our old college friend Scott Fasnacht to Aimee Achorn this past weekend. It was a fantastic weekend, got to see a lot of old friends, including Scott's father Claire, who's getting up there but is still sharp, and Scott's brother Jim, an old friend himself from a different angle (things like this happen when you all live in Lancaster County...). Anyway...the wedding was in Elizabethtown (the rehearsal dinner was at the Liederkranz in Lancaster, and man, do they have a great beer selection), followed by a reception at the Hershey Country Club, where we were stuffed with great food (and some really good Bordeaux) and danced happily -- even me -- to the swing tunes of the Rob Stoneback Big Band (Rob's also an F&M alum, class of '73). Fantastic band, best I've heard in years.
So...the party's over around 5:30, and we're at loose ends, so...I suggested that Tröegs was right down the road from the Hotel Hershey, where we were all staying (and they had no Tröegs on tap, though they made me some excellent Old Grand-dad Manhattans), why don't we head down there? No one else had ever been, so we went back and changed, consolidated cars, and while Cathy and another wife went next door to the outlets, I went into the brewery with four of my best friends: Eric Noll and his wife Georgie, Tom Curtin (Thomas's godfather), and Larry Tighe.
We had a great time! Saw Ed Yashinsky and some of the Tröegs crew at the front, said hi, that got tucked into some Perpetual IPA and Scratch Fresh Hop, and we all started telling stories. The place was hopping, loud and happy, and the beer was excellent. I'm almost relieved there's not a place this great near me; I'd be there four times a week!
This was my first time at the brewery when it's been busy, and it is a LOT of fun. If we'd been hungry at all, we'd have tried some of the food -- it looked great -- but we were all still stuffed. Great weekend; great beers.
3 comments:
Love that place, and completely agree that if there was anything like that near my house, I would probably never leave. We had the Mad Elf Fondue a couple weekends ago, and it was unreal. They still had the Scratch Pumpkin on tap, and for never having done one, it was excellent. I also have a tough time leaving there sales room without picking up something different everytime I'm there.
Ach! Troegs. My own celebrated brewery never would have abandoned the city that helped build it, notwithstanding 10 years of tax breaks. Once again ye capital city will be known for the R.H. Graupner brewery and Mr. Hershey is welcome to this enterprise called Troegs.
If Scott has relatives in S. MN, the chances are vanishingly small that he *ain't* a relative of mine.
Was...kein Sessionbier?
(Thought I poste this like a week ago...)
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