Quiet week this week as not much was going on besides the obvious. Made my yearly appearance at church and my niece sung in the choir. She was keeping her eye on me, mean Uncle Kevin. After a delicious dinner at my parent’s house I settled down to watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians with my buddies Joel, Tom and Crow while enjoying Martians Kidnap Santa Eggnog Stout from Spring House over in Lancaster. I drank all four of them last year and felt bad into the next day so this year I dropped it down to only 3. Still might have been too much, I’ll drop it to two next year. I’m not a fan of eggnog to begin with but it’s a good beer. Then snuggled down with two lovable kitties for the Steamwhistle concert. Hey, I made it past midnight to hear it! But I fell asleep halfway through. I think it started a bit late this year.

For the most part I got nothing done this week other than getting closer to putting the beer bottle collection up for virtual viewing and getting the new house ready.  Almost there on both accounts.

I was not going to go over to McCaskey for the Friday night games but that decision was made for me since McCaskey’s athletic department does not a) seem to know how to run a tournament or b) does not know how to get reliable teams to said tournament. Yep, brought to you by the people who delayed the start of a game because their star player brought the wrong uniform and had to go back home to get the right one. Because of that it wound up being just York and McCaskey going at it on Saturday. McCaskey was blown out by Lower Dauphin on Friday night. I was at a holiday party on Friday and free food might have overrode the desire to drive to Lancaster anyway. So over I went on Saturday instead. The JV game was not particularly competitive. In the varsity game McCaskey kept it close for a quarter but after that York started pulling away and held McCaskey at arm’s length for the rest of the game. York wins 80-59. A lot of fouls were called and I was surprised that I was getting in my car to drive home before 9:00.

So here is what I did this year summed up on one page:

States visited: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

Furthest point north was Paterson, NJ south was Virginia Beach, VA east was Mastic Bay, NY and west was Pittsburgh, PA

Major cities visited: Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach

NPS Sites visited: Gettysburg, National Mall, Independence, Morristown, Thomas Edison, General Grant, Paterson Falls, Hamilton Grange, Federal Hall, Castle Clinton, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Sagamore Hill, Harriet Tubman URR, Petersburg, Richmond, Jamestown, Yorktown

And now for the brewery list (in order of first visit):

Boneshire Brew Works, Harrisburg PA
Collusion Tap Works, York PA
Otto’s, State College PA
Happy Valley, State College PA
Troegs, Hershey PA
Wyndridge Farms, Dallastown PA
Mudhook, York PA
Pizza Boy, Enola PA
Flying Dog, Frederick MD
Monocacy, Frederick MD
Something Wicked, Hanover PA
Miscreation, Hanover PA
Bube’s, Mt. Joy PA
Funk, Elizabethtown PA*
Moo-Duck, Elizabethtown PA
Black Cap, Red Lion PA
Lydian Stone, York Haven PA*
Chatty Monks, Wyomissing PA
Liquid Hero, York PA
Appalachian, Harrisburg PA
Pig Iron, Marietta PA
Tattered Flag, Middletown PA
Zeroday, Harrisburg PA
Desperate Times, Carlisle PA
Molly Pitcher, Carlisle PA
Evergrain, Camp Hill PA
Peabody Heights, Baltimore MD
Waverly, Baltimore MD
Union, Baltimore MD
Key, Dundalk MD
Oliver, Baltimore MD
Gunpowder Falls, Shrewsbury PA
South County, Fawn Grove PA
Roy Pitz, Chambersburg PA
Gearhouse, Chambersburg PA
Marzoni’s, Mechanicsburg PA*
Capitol City, Washington DC*
Heavy Seas, Baltimore MD
Chesapeake, Annapolis MD*
Battlefield Brew Works, Gettysburg PA
2nd Story, Philadelphia PA*
St. Boniface, Ephrata PA
Saucony Creek, Kutztown PA
Golden Avalanche, Kutztown PA*
Weyerbacher, Easton PA
Lost Tavern, Hellertown PA*
Bonn Place, Bethlehem PA*
Gordon Biersch, Washington DC
Mad Chef, East Petersburg PA
Bellefonte, Wilmington DE*
Columbia Kettle Works, Columbia PA
Iron Hill, Lancaster PA
Denizen’s, Silver Spring MD*
3 Stars, Washington DC*
Hellbender, Washington DC*
Jailbreak, Laurel MD*
Railroad City, Altoona PA
Olde Mother, Frederick MD
River Horse, Ewing Township NJ
Lancaster, Lancaster PA
Spring House, Lancaster PA
Independent, Bel Air MD*
Staten Island, Staten Island NY*
Kills Boro, Staten Island NY*
Flagship, Staten Island NY*
Strong Rope, Brooklyn NY*
Coney Island, Brooklyn NY*
Blue Point, Patchogue NY*
St. James, Holbrook NY*
The 1940s, Holbrook NY*
Selin’s Grove, Selinsgrove PA
Rusty Rail, Mifflinburg PA
New Trail, Williamsport PA*
Boom City, Williamsport PA*
Eastern Shore, St. Michaels MD
RAR, Cambridge MD*
Rubber Soul, Salisbury MD*
Evolution, Salisbury MD
Tall Tales, Parsonburg MD
Cushwa, Williamsport MD*
Berkeley Springs, Berkeley Springs WV*
Olde Bedford, Bedford PA*
Black Forest, Ephrata PA*
Stoudts. Adamstown PA
Blue Earl, Smyrna DE
Mispillion River, Milford DE
Dogfishhead, Milton DE
16 Mile, Georgetown DE
Ocean City, Ocean City MD*
Burley Oak, Berlin MD
Crystal Ball, York PA
Legend, Richmond VA
Triple Crossing. Richmond VA
Veil, Richmond VA*
Ardent, Richmond VA*
Isley, Richmond VA
Vasen, Richmond VA*
Castleburg, Richmond VA*
Hardywood Park, Richmond VA*
Young Veterans, Virginia Beach VA
O’Connors, Norfolk VA
Coelacanth, Norfolk VA
East End, Pittsburgh PA
Hop Farm, Pittsburgh PA
Roundabout, Pittsburgh PA
11th Hour, Pittsburgh PA*
Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh PA
Vault, Yardley PA*
Ruddy Duck, Dowell MD
Mully’s, Prince Frederick MD
Robin Hood, Bellefonte PA
Mountain State, Morgantown WV
Morgantown, Morgantown WV
Millworks, Harrisburg PA
Icarus, Lakewood NJ
Wacker, Lancaster PA
Shy Bear, Lewistown PA*
Breaker, Wilkes-Barre PA
North Slope, Dallas PA*
Susquehanna, Pittston PA
Penn, Pittsburgh PA
Southern Tier, Pittsburgh PA*
Gift Horse, York PA*
The Brewers Art, Baltimore MD*
Big Bottom, Dillsburg PA*
Mellow Mink, Camp Hill PA*
Harty’s, Mechanicsburg PA*
Market Cross, Carlisle PA*
Burd’s Nest, Carlisle PA*
Brewer’s Alley, Frederick MD
Aldus, Hanover PA
Warehouse, Hanover PA*
Schaylor, Shillington PA*
Oatbrook, Reading PA
Port City, Alexandria VA*
Howling Henry, Grantville PA*
Benny’s, Wilkes-Barre PA*
Broken Chair, Wyomissing PA*
Cox, Rheems*
Swashbuckler, Manheim PA
Mt. Gretna, Campbelltown PA*
Snitz Creek, Lebanon PA
Rumspringa, Bird-in-Hand PA
Hijinx, Allentown PA*
Atlas, Washington DC*
Right Proper, Washington DC*
DC Brau, Washington DC*
Guinness, Halethorpe MD*
BC, Baltimore MD*
Old Forge, York PA*

The * denotes a first time visit

My favorite shifts this year. It was Dogfishhead but since they stopped doing free samples I am going to shift to Pizza Boy, Much more accessible to me and much cheaper food. And much less touristy.

Favorite new one was Hardywood Park in Richmond. I’ll be back next year. Some honorable mentions are Jailbreak in Laurel, MD (almost 1A, almost), Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY, Blue Point in Patchogue, NY, Berkeley Springs in Berkeley Springs, WV, Gift Horse here in York and Mt. Gretna in Campbelltown PA. I also visited the new Guinness Brewery and I wanted so much to put this in but it was just far too touristy for me and far too expensive.

I can’t really complain about any brewery visit. BC uses a prepaid card and you pay by the ounce and that takes a bit of getting used to but it might be the wave of the future. I used to work right down the road from it, if only it was there at the time…