READING / REAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
Though Reading suffered many setbacks, including the late-‘90s closings of Pretzel City, Neversink, Fancy Pants, and Camelot, in 2003 one prospering brewpub began operation. Past Reading’s busy small metropolis in the warehouse district lied freestanding outpost LEGACY BREWERY, visited December ’05, but closed down, 2009.
High-ceilinged red brick saloon opens to large wood bar with billiard tables, tiny stage area, and basement brew tanks poking through near first floor entrance. Wood tables surround sides and menu contained appetizers, soup-salad, pasta, filet mignon, duck, and scallop crabs.
Brewer Dave Gimmell’s exquisitely detailed fare included fig-date-dried mocha-rye-plied Bixler’s Alt Bier, sugarcoated banana-apricot-grapefruit-sketched lemon-embittered Euphoria Belgian Strong Pale Ale, and piney hop-spiced pear-apple-orange-fruited floral-etched Heavy Handed Hops (Triple H).
Cascade hop-dried spruce-pined apple-grapefruit-reddened floral-hemp-edged Legacy Hedonism (Red) Ale may’ve been better.
Lemony grapefruit-dried, perfume-hopped, wheat-husked Reading Bohemian Pilsner will soothe competent light beer lovers.