Tag Archives: SCRANTON PA

GROOVE BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

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.  

MUTANT BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Mutant Brewing to join craft beer boom ...

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

Scranton’s MUTANT BREWING opened its glass doors for biz in July ’23, promising to ‘take a walk on the wild side’ with deviously unconventional one-offs and fruitful sour ales as well as standard pilsner-lagers. A centrally located downtown pub with a brown awning leading to the novel tech-friendly art space, its centuries-old red brick terra cotta tiled bar back adds a charming pre-Prohibition feel to the freaky comic bookstore scheme.

A series of vibrant mutant goblins line the right wall and the black ceiling provides proper art deco atmosphere. Several pinball machines and arcade games are just down from the narrow pub’s elongated thirty-stooled stainless steel topped bar. A few community tables are stationed across the bar. A few mules, a margarita and local wines filled out the bill. Two TV’s surround the Mutant beer menu and Detroit-styled pizzas are recommended.

My wife and I visited the colorfully cartoonish beer arcade on a sunny Friday afternoon, June ’24.

Quaint aluminum-cleared Blockchain Bro Light Lager retained dry lemony white grapefruit spritz and light piney herbage atop musky graining.

Spritzy lime-peeled dryness and sweet agave snips stayed light and lively for Tulum Girl Mexican Lime Lager.

Mild maple molasses sweetness contrasted dry cocoa for Verified Czech Dark Lager, leaving desolate caramel-burnt cola, pecan and hazelnut illusions upon the seared wood backdrop.

Spectral wonder, Weekend Bender Grapefruit IPA, mixed yellow grapefruit-spiced Mosaic hops and lemon-candied pine needling (primarily Cascade hops) with guava-soured Mandarina Bavaria hops, creating a (marshmallowy) ambrosia fruitiness above lightly creamed oated wheat.

Classic hazy IPA flagship, Serum, a briskly light yellow-hazed, foamy white-headed moderation (not as bold or spectral as an typical oatier NEIPA), led its soft pine-needled yellow grapefruit bittering thru grassy hop astringency, picking up distant briny lemon, guava and mango snips.

Back at Mutant to enjoy a “fusion of rebellious flavors and creative artistry for curious explorers” with Yankees-loving bartenders Amanda and Jordan, sank a few more delightful species.

Laffy Taffy-candied banana bubblegum sweetness gained lemony spritz for Boring Banana Bread, leaving chestnut-almond snips upon its honeyed wheat blonde ale base.

“Smashable” cinnamon sugared pumpkin spicing picked up light floral perfuming for Dumb Pumpkin.

Perfect brown-sugared cinnamon apple facsimile, Local Poison Apple, stayed sweetly tart as mild ginger- spiced maple molasses added depth.

Juicy pale yellowed NEIPA, Trippy, let salted guava, gooseberry and white grape tartness graze tangy pineapple-mango spree and mild mandarin orange spritz over delicate oats.

Confectionery dessert stout, The Wifi In Here Sucks (a white chocolatey macadamia cookie knockoff), let chocolate-chipped coca nibs pickup Oreo cookie sweetness as well as glazed macadamia-hazelnut sugaring and Kahlua, espresso martini and vanilla illusions.

BACKYARD ALE HOUSE

BEER PUB,

Image result for backtard ale house pennsylvania

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

In the heart of Scranton across from the Court House, BACKYARD ALE HOUSE came on the scene November ’08 and soon became Electric City’s premier beer bar. Offering an outrageously enormous 500 bottled beers as well as 20-plus rotating  taps, Backyard’s celebrates America’s proud microbrew generation in grand style. Its pristine tan frontage features Backyard’s brown-lettered insignia, windowed neon signs for the Keystone State’s most popular microbreweries (Stoudt’s/Troegs/Victory/Yards) and gorgeous earth-toned slate footing.

Upon entering the clean open space for the first time, June ’13, there resides a 15-stool left bar with two big screen TV’s, Backyard-etched central mirror, sundry taps and a large refrigerator (with awesome bottled selections). To the right are dining tables and along the middle beams several collectible beer bottles stand front to back. A newly installed kitchen serves pub fare such as burgers, wings and pizza.

Nick Lowe’s cold war anthem “So It Goes” blasts from the speakers as I settle into a beer crafted just down the highway, 3 Guys & A Beer’d Ladder Dive Rye IPA. Its reedy-hopped rye breading and orange-rotted dried fruiting picked up a grainier residue than most typical fruit-forward stylings.

Before getting a few takeout bottled beers from local breweries such as Old Forge, Susquehanna, Evil Twin and 3 Guys & A Beer, I grab a seat outside in the cement-floored open-air back deck. Overlooking City Hall, the red brick-sided space offers an 8-stool covered bar with three TV’s, several tables and chairs and a popcorn maker. On tap at the back bar are familiar Bud-Coors-Miller product as well as Guinness, Goose Island, Ommegang, Stegmaier and a few local indie draughts.

I dip into creamy eggshell-frothed Victory Uncle Teddy’s Bitter (with its orange-oiled lemon pit tartness and nutty respite) and vibrant fruit-candied Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp Belgian IPA (where black-peppered hops and alcohol-burnt astringency contrast a bright grapefruit-orange-tangerine-peach tang).

Indoor and outdoor jukeboxes provide alternative and classic rock selections while live music plays Friday and Saturday evenings.

Sat at cement-floored awninged back patio at noon in October ’24 on a beautiful Sunday to try a few local Benny’s brews (Peanut Butter Lager and Birthday Cake Stout) plus New Trail Flannel Weather Imperial IPA, Ithaca Nitro Vanilla Porter and Sweetwater Blue (reviewed in Beer Index).

A favorite watering hole for local businessmen, post-collegiate imbibers and craft beer enthusiasts, Backyard’s perfectly centralized location attracts a diverse crowd to Scranton’s inner sanctum.

www.backyardalehouse.com

COOPER’S SEAFOOD HOUSE

BEER PUB,

Image result for coopers seafood in scranton pa

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

January ’04, superb Cooper’s Seafood House in rustic Scranton offered wide selection of tap and bottled beers plus fabulous lobster bisque, crab cakes, and clams. A diversified seafood/beer joint, Cooper’s interior features a central bar with separate dining spaces. A toy train goes thru each room nonstop and nostalgic nautical and cultural items line the crowded walls.

Initially, bought three Barley Creek brews while quaffing chocolate-y Stegmaier Porter. Worth noting: due Southeast six miles in tiny Eynon lies huge ‘distributor of micro and specialty brews,’ Ace Beverage, where I found middling Straub.

I had revisited Cooper’s a few more times before they began brewing their own beers May ’23.

While enjoying stuffed flounder and chicken corn chowder, June ’24, tried two newfangled dark ales but didn’t get to quaff Captain Cooper’s Helles Lager, Sozzled Skipper’s Pale Ale, The Moxie 40 IPA and It’s All About Timing IPA.

Peaty wee heavy, Cooper’s Smoking Scotsman, linked smoked brown chocolate malting to pecan-glazed chestnut, hazelnut and cola caramelization plus spicy dried fruiting contrasting weedy hop dankness.

Using similar base malts (?) as the wee heavy, Pennsylvanian Cowfish Milk Stout sunk dextrin malted sour milking into dry Bakers chocolate, oaken vanilla and distant soy saucing.