SWIFTWATER, PENNSYLVANIA
The newly designed old brown lodge housing the rebuilt POCONO BREWERY COMPANY increased capacity and benefited promptly from upgrading its pub menu and original beer recipes.
Reopened June 2017, the dynamic freestanding restaurant-brewery just off Route 80 gives fair competition to nearby Tannersville’s Barley Creek Brewery.
The stone-walled 20-seat central bar (with TV’s at every angle) serves brewmaster Jean Luc’s inspired eclectic fare. Meanwhile, traditional Italian-styled pizza and fresh pasta get cooked inside an interesting cement, stone and tiled oak-burning oven at the far left open kitchen.
Well-designed wood furnishings, candlelights and chandeliers give PBC a warm setting. And its semi-private loft area gets utilized on weekends.
An enormous backroom with fireplace and stage area provides plenty of family dining and a redwood back deck with red and yellow umbrellas and green metal chairs gets services by a 20-seat tiki bar. Specialty cocktails are also available along with fine wines.
On my mid-afternoon July ’17 perusal, ate Porto Fino (olive-oiled, feta-cheesed sausage with tomato and basil) while wife enjoyed the terrific Pizza Margherita (plum tomato-sauced, olive-oiled mozzarella with basil).
As for the brews, ‘rustic’ Pokawachne Golden Ale brought earthen hay and wild oats to lemon-soured orange candy tartness and mildly spiced floral herbage.
Rustic raw-honeyed oats and dried orange spicing consumed the dryer-than-expected Magic Bus Dunkelweizen.
“Tropical hops” brightened honey fruited Wally Wilson IPA, a boldly embittered medium body with dewy malts and lemony orange snips battling lingered hop astringency.
Recalling tart raspberry jam, Pocono Rhubus Raspberry IPA gained strawberry rhubarb illusions and berry tea notions while its Noble hop bittering wavered.
Unique basil-seasoned Baison Basil Saison gained a light perfumed cologne waft as its stylish orange-soured lemon and pineapple tartness expanded.
Molasses-sapped black chocolate malting defined hop-charred, oats-flaked 570 Oatmeal Stout, leaving in its wake ancillary espresso and dried cocoa notions as well as earthen floral nips.
Took wife and dog, Roscoe, to PBC, on a crisp November ’18 afternoon, drinking on the back deck while loving Pesto Pizza.
Dry light-bodied pale lager, Mauch Chunk, tamed its corny amber grains with musky hop acridity and wavered cologne spicing.
Delicate clear-yellowed moderation, Peach Blonde, retained subtle lemon-spiced peach tartness above white wheat malts.
Turbid orange-hazed, pectin-soured Strawberry Fields Wheat Ale, brought tangy lemon-licked pureed strawberry tartness to its dry herbal-perfumed cracked wheat base.
Richer ‘Imperialized’ version of oats-flaked 570 Oatmeal Stout retained its dry coffee-roasted black chocolate roast and mild cocoa restraint while expanding the wood-seared hop char.
Pocono Brewery’s back deck had been expanded to a large wood-covered pavilion upon my July ’22 return. Plus, there was a right-side mezzanine with metal chairs and tables installed where my wife and I consumed four previously untried brews with dog, Roscoe, in tow.
“A lightly bitter red ale,” Ryan’s Disappearing Red let mild lemon-seeded orange souring drift into tobacco-roasted crisping and phenolic apple-pear snips atop doughy whole grain breading.
Newly anointed flagship, Wally Wilson IPA, brought spice-tingled citrus tanginess to spruce-tipped pining and tea-like pale malts caressing its mild earthen bottom.
Pale reddish pink kettle soured IPA, Wally C137, fused hibiscus tea into dryly salted raspberry, cranberry, strawberry and crabapple tartness over dank earthen Simcoe hop woodiness.
An Imperialized whiskey-barreled stout from the Burial Series capped the night off as an electric violinist captivated the crowd. Its burgundy-laced whiskey warmth gained bruised cherry sweetness above treacly black chocolate malting.
www.poconobrewery.com