GROOVE BREWING

Residing at a white stucco garage catty-cornered into a hilly residential neighborhood, GROOVE BREWING opened its black overhead doors for business January 2023 (after operating out of a former dentist office since 2020). Scranton’s first brewpub, Groove’s smooth nano brews have captivated Northeast Pennsylvania.

Brewmeister Ed Generose crafts delightful one-off batches of stylishly varied suds plus two flagships, Steamtown Gold Lager, and Brooks Drift Wheat Ale. Alongside Generose, co-owners Joe and Shannon Bonacci strive to gain an imprint on Scranton’s redevelopment, prosperity and beer culture.

The red cement-floored, white-walled interior features an eight-seat Formica top bar, several four-seat tables, a couch, black-ceilinged exposed pipes and a spacious staged backroom for private parties. Windowed brew tanks carry the liquid load.

Our first stop sojourning to Scranton late October ’24, my wife and I slurped all available 5-ounce brews and took home a few reviewed in Beer Index.

Dry German-styled pilsner, Garden Party ’24, let dewy honey drip into subtle lemon adjunct and moist orange tartness.

A richer Vienna malted marzen, Groovefest, plied honeyed red-orange fruiting to leafy green hop resin, dark floral mustiness and musky mineral graining. 

Spry kettle-soured Key Lime Pie caressed its pie-crusted key lime tartness with lime-peeled gooseberry, guava and green grape souring as well as lemon meringue piquancy, parched limestone chalking and minty ginger snips over honeyed Graham Cracker base.

Dry pumpkin pureed spicing embedded semi-sweet dark chocolate and confectionery marshmallow fluff for Marshmallow Pumpkin Porter, gaining resonant vanilla bean influence as latent anise spicing coats pumpkin pied cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg aspect.

One of the best American smoked lagers, Chimney Man Rauchbier may lack the brash cured meat goodness of Germany’s Aecht and Bamberger, but its scaled-back smoked salami, bacon fat and pastrami banter retained a sizable Scotch-licked cocoa malting.    

Easygoing java-influenced Belgian blonde, Morning Joe, spread creamy milk-sugared coffee atop cellared Belgian yeast funk as restive lemon zesting fizzled. Supreme breakfast fodder.  

LOADING DOCK BAR & GRILL

DUNMORE, PENNSYLVANIA

In the suburban Lackawanna County borough of Dunmore just outside Scranton off the Harry O’Neill Highway, LOADING DOCK BAR & GRILL truly keeps beer geeks happy serving 25 local craft draughts alongside a superb seafood-heavy menu (with top-notch pretzel melts, sandwiches, salads and entrees) and cordial cocktails. There’s even a backspace refrig with dozens of to-go cans.

A family-friendly sportsbar for serious beer tossers, Loading Dock’s square block interior includes a granite-topped 15-seat halfmoon bar (with Mosaic-tiled frontage), Prohibition-styled bronze-tiled ceiling and elongated pendant lighting – all providing vintage flare for the otherwise conventional setting. Walled sconces lit up the left side wood tables and chairs.

On a crowded Saturday night, October ’24, my wife and I grab bar seats as several college football games blare from the multi-TV’s. The bacon-wrapped scallops and pound of clams went well with my Rusty Rail Pumpkin Swirl, a popular local autumnal ale reviewed in Beer Index).

Competes favorably with Scranton’s Backyard Ale House and Cooper’s Seafood so get yer ass there.