The first round of this epic 4 day weekend included stops at Pennsylvania Brewing Company, Church Brew Works, and East End Brewing Company early Friday morning to Friday afternoon.  At Penn Brewing, our first stop, I started with their PENNdemonium. We actually got interviewed by KDKA 2 about the craft beer movement. Here is the video and here is the story.  Penn Brewing was nice enough to provide a free growler for our interviews (which was awesome because I was going to buy one anyway!) and I took advantage of their Kaiser Pils that was on tap.  My review is below:

A golden yellow pour with a small, wispy, white head and nice lacing. The smell was very light and slightly hoppy, more grassy hops than piney ones. I must say that my ability to accurately describe the smell was hindered a bit by the fact that I was sitting around a nice campfire when it was consumed, I’d say it was a win/win regardless. My taste buds, however, were in perfect working order.  Following the smell, the taste was light, refreshing, and hoppy, very much like a pilsner should taste.  It was very nicely carbonated and crisp, you could hardly taste any alcohol.  Wonderful drinking beer, whether you’re at a campfire, a ballgame, on the lake, wherever, you can’t go wrong here!

Next up was a quick stop at Primanti Brothers, where I downed an IC Light and a Pitts-burgher, a cheese-steak with coleslaw and fries piled inside the bun. Obviously needing to burn off a few calories, we walked up to Church Brew Works, passing the original Pittsburgh Brewing Company. If you haven’t seen the inside of Church Brew Works, do yourself the favor and either go, or check out the slideshow at their website. They built the brewery in an old church and the setting is both unique and phenomenally interesting. Our waitress had to be one of the nicest waitresses I’ve ever had. She was constantly throwing us free samples and mis-poured beer. I bought their Quadzilla and Coconut Stout myself, but also tried the Mad Brewer’s Maibock and Saazquatch, I also picked up a 6er of their Thunderhop IPA to go. It was the most impressive brewery we visited, not my favorite, but certainly the most impressive. Beer reviews are below!

Quadzilla

Amber in color with hints of yellow, but without much head. What sticks around is almost pink in color. The smell is very sweet, cherries and Belgian yeast mostly, perhaps some alcohol in the background. The taste is not dissimilar. Cherries, candied sugar, Belgian yeast, alcohol, and a caramel malty finish. Pretty low carbonation and medium bodied. The flavor profile evolves as the beer warms, which I enjoyed, but overall it was just a little too sweet for more. Solid beer overall!

Coconut Stout (Cask)

I went for the cask version of the Coconut Stout, which in my opinion was a mistake. A few of my friends got it from the tap and I believe it was a better beer. However, it was still good! Black pour with a good amount of light brown to white head. Once poured, the head forms much like a Guinness is poured. The smell is almost toasted, very sweet, which I would expect from combining coconut and a stout. The problem with Cask vs. Tap for me came with the taste, which for me was all over the place. I considered the taste of the Tap version to be more controlled and balanced, blending the coconut and stout flavors wonderfully, whereas my version you didn’t know what was going to happen with each drink, not in a good way however. The beer is full bodied and dry throughout. I just think it was served too warm for my preference. Like with Quadzilla, I like to witness the beer evolve as it warms, I sort of missed out with this one. My advice: If you like cask beers, try it! If you’re not really sure, go for the version that’s on tap, which I thought was nothing short of phenomenal.

Thunderhop IPA

Ruby red pour with hints of orange and hardly any head. The smell consists of citrus and hops predominantly, a bit grassy and sweet. Some booziness is also noted. Very light up front on the taste, followed by the citrus hops. Not a lot else going on. The hops linger on the palate for a long time after the sip has been taken. Light to medium bodied. Good amount of carbonation and very crisp. Good beer to drink on the porch in the heat of the summer. Not a bad IPA by any mark, but also not mind boggling.

The final brewery of Day 1 was East End Brewing Company. This was the only brewery on this first round that was not a brewpub and did not have a liquor license. The brewery exemplifies Micro-Breweries. Basically in a garage, my group was having second thoughts as to whether or not we had the correct address. The only marker is a keg that sits outside the front door marked East End Brewing Company when they are open. To use the restroom, you literally walk through the brewing tanks and can witness whichever part of the brewing process they’re working on at that specific time. I picked up their Big Hop IPA and Black Strap Stout, but alas enjoyed them in a hot tub and didn’t get a chance to write down any reviews. I can say that both were well above average in their respective categories!

Finally we headed to our tailgate for the Pirates game by the Andy Warhol Museum. The tailgate had such beers as Sam Adam’s Summer Ale, Coors Light, Lions Head, George Killian’s Irish Red, Smithwick’s, and Harp Lager. Luckily, our Buccos creamed the Detroit Tigers 10-1 with a barrage of home runs and good pitching. I grabbed another IC Light inside of beautiful PNC Park.

At this point we headed to Conneaut Lake and enjoyed a simply wonderful and sunny weekend on the lake. Luckily, NW Pennsylvania is not without a craft beer scene, and amongst drinking the previously mentioned growlers, we hit two very nice bars as well.

First up was Roff School Tavern, that was recommended to us by Matt of Voodoo Brewing Company, but more on him later. The Tavern has far more craft beer than I ever imagined for Meadville, PA. They had everything from very local beers to California breweries! The bar has an awesome set up, a bar area and game room/stage inside and tables with a fire pit, cornhole, and horseshoes outside all for the customer’s enjoyment. I had never seen anything like that, and certainly not in State College. I went for the Sprague Farm Rustbelt at the bar, another local brewery we didn’t have the time to visit and grabbed another growler filled with Lagunitas Brewing Company Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, which I reviewed below.

Reddish brown pour with a nicely sized white head. The head both laces and is retained very well. The smell is hoppy, more of piney hops than grassy, with a caramel malt backbone. Those same piney hops start off the taste and is followed by the maltiness. Dry hops finish the taste off nicely. The beer is light with a good amount of carbonation and a very dry finish, devoid of any alcohol taste. Again a very drinkable choice!

The second bar was Conneaut Lake’s Volunteer Fire Department Station 3. A ‘members only’ bar that directly benefits the fire station. I normally wouldn’t write about a bar like this, but the fried fish was wonderful, the Yuengling Lager was cold, and I had the unique opportunity of meeting Bill Hillgrove, the radio announcer of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Having listened to his voice on the radio for countless hours on the edge of my seat rooting on the Stillers, meeting and talking to the man behind the voice really was a highlight of the trip. Knowing a member of our group pretty well, he ended up buying us a round of beers as a congratulations for our recent graduation from Penn State, not bad for a Pitt guy!

Finally, we reached Monday morning and my most anticipated leg of the trip, a visit to Voodoo Brewery. Located in a gutted furniture store in downtown Meadville, PA, it exists as simply a room for brewing, and a room that will one day be a small brewpub. Matt, who is basically the entire brewery, walked us through his small and growing operation. Him and his assistant (the only 2 employees of Voodoo, and the assistant hasn’t been there more than a year) were brewing a new batch of Wynona’s Big Brown Ale. We got to check out some barrels being used to spontaneously ferment some sour beers, and the Bourbon ones being used to age a new batch of Black Magick. To see how small that brewery is, get the tour by the guy who created it, runs it, and is the brainchild behind basically an entire craft movement in the small towns of NW PA was unrivaled by any other brewery we went to. Also, seeing my final growler being filled with their latest edition of 4 Seasons IPA directly from the tank was awesome, a review of which is below.

From Matt, this beer changes with every single batch. they hardly ever use the same hop or recipe. This is the batch that was in the tanks Monday, May 23rd, 2011. He said the next batch will be completely different. It starts with an amber pour and a nicely sized white head. The head laces and retains very nicely. The smell is full of piney hops with only a slight malt backbone. Like most, the taste really follows the smell. Piney hops and a dryness up front meet a stiff caramel maltiness on the back end. Lingering dryness at the end. Crisp, light, and refreshing. Not much of a hint of alcohol. Great beer. I’d love to try every single variation of this. Matt said they brew darker IPAs in the winter, and lighter ones as the weather warms up. This was a nice melding of a heavy IPA with a lot of refreshing lightness. Keep it up Voodoo!

I really am still digesting from everything I learned this weekend. Whether it be about beer, breweries, lake fishing, shooting, general history of another small town, or any of the other experiences we had, I wouldn’t have changed any of it. Every single establishment we visited was extremely hospitable, every server we had was kind and willing to indulge us, and every brewery we visited was unique and interesting in their own way. I would highly recommend a similar tour to anybody!

Check out the love this video is getting on these blogs!

This Is Getting Old

Linebacker U

I’m not going to recap the game, or talk smack on the Jets, I just wanted to share some thoughts now that I am almost a day removed from kickoff.  It was definitely the coldest game I have ever attended. I was told the wind chill was 4 degrees, but I know it dipped down below 0 at some points. It is closely rivaled by the 2009 Penn State vs. Michigan State game in Beaver Stadium, which Penn State won and earned the right to lose to Mark Sanchez in the Rose Bowl, the same quarterback the Steelers held off yesterday.  It was the largest crowd in Heinz Field history, 66,662 in total. I was also at the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history, when Penn State rocked a top 20 Nebraska team in front of 110,753 people in 2002. Watching Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier hand the trophy to Rooney, Tomlin and Roethlisberger was really worth the price of admission (which is really saying something).

While I won’t be traveling to the Super Bowl, I will certainly be glued to my TV two weeks from now, let the waiting begin!

Here we go, Steelers, here we go! Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl!

But first, I’ll provide some background.

After THON this year I was reflecting on how at a IST Student Government meeting Sophomore year, we talked about how we had lost our Dancers and needed to re-focus our THON initiative to start over. Approaching the end of my Junior year, I realized we had failed again as a college to raise any money for the cause.  The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences cracked the Top 10 in independent organizations, why can’t we do it too?

Enter IST THON.  After talking with the Student Government, it was decided that we move forward with a new THON committee, with me as its Executive Chair.  After pouring over the THON website, I called for a “meeting of the minds” to talk through what we needed to do.  This brings us to Monday a week ago, where we elected a Vice-Executive Chair, a Canning Chair, a Fundraising Chair, an Inspiration Chair, a Website Chair, and an Alumni Relations Chair.  We also decided to get a Faculty Advisor, a website (coming soon!) and an email for FAQs (THON@ist.psu.edu) and set a goal for how much we could feasibly raise.

$10,000

So over the summer we will be preparing for action.  Designing a website, facebook fan page, logo, t shirts, a whiffle ball tournament, working with interested companies and the IST Alumni Society would be a good start I think.  We can’t fund raise until the fall semester is in full swing, which gives us time to prepare, to start from scratch essentially.  It looks like we have the people in place to do just that.

The key to this committee isn’t succeeding this year, it is to set in place a base that future IST THON committees can draw from, improve upon, and ensure that IST doesn’t go dormant again.

So start saving up readers! I will place a link for donations when it is created.  Until then, For the Kids!

THON Mission Statement

The mission of the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon is to conquer pediatric cancer by providing outstanding emotional & financial support to the children, families, researchers, and staff of the Four Diamonds Fund.

www.THON.org

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So, Happy New Year and Go Lions! Beat Tigers!

2003 BCS Fiesta Bowl (2002 BCS National Championship Game) – Ohio State Buckeyes (31) vs. Miami Hurricanes (24) (2OT)

2005 Big Ten Football Game – Penn State Nittany Lions (17) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (10)

2006 BCS Orange Bowl – Penn State Nittany Lions (26) vs. Florida State Seminoles (23) (3OT)

2006 BCS Rose Bowl (2005 BCS National Championship Game) – Texas Longhorns (41) vs. Southern California Trojans (38)

2007 BCS Fiesta Bowl – Boise State Broncos (43) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (42) (OT)

2008 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 – Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (3) (3OT)

2009 Super Bowl XLIII – Pittsburgh Steelers (27) vs. Arizona Cardinals (23)

2009 NCAA Big East Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal – Syracuse Orange (127) vs. Connecticut Huskies (117) (6OT)

2009 Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 – Pittsburgh Penguins (2) vs. Detroit Red Wings (1)

2009 Women’s Volleyball NCAA Championship – Penn State Nittany Lions (3) vs. Texas Longhorns (2) (22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13)

Here’s to a new decade full of excitement.

Freshman Year: AVCA First Team All-America … AVCA National Freshman of the Year … Big Ten Player of the Year … Big Ten Freshman of the Year … AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region … AVCA Mideast Region Freshman of the Year … Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten … NCAA Seattle Regional All-Tournament Team … Big Ten All-Freshmen Team … three-time Big Ten Player of the Week (9/25, 10/23, 11/27) … first player in Big Ten history to earn First Team AVCA All-America honors as a freshman … just one of two true freshmen to be named to the three 2006 AVCA All-America teams and the only one named First Team … the only player ever in Big Ten history to claim both Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Year honors … first-ever player to earn Gatorade National High School Volleyball Player of the Year honors and AVCA National Freshman of the Year honors in consecutive seasons.

Sophomore Year: National Champion … Honda Award Finalist … NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player … AVCA First Team All-America … AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region … Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten … Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week (9/10) … Big Ten Player of the Week (9/10) … Unanimous Preseason All-Big Ten

Junior Year: National Champion … NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player … AVCA First Team All-America … NCAA Regional Championship Most Outstanding Player … First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region … Academic All-Big Ten … Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten … ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-American … Unanimous Preseason All-Big Ten

Senior Year: National Champion … Honda Award Finalist … AVCA First Team All-America … NCAA Regional Championship Most Outstanding Player … AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region … Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten … Academic All-American of the Year … The awards are still piling in.

Count that up, 4 time All-American, 4 time Unanimous All-Big Ten, 4 time Mideast Regional First-Team, two time Honda Award Finalist, 3 time National Champion (the first Women’s Volleyball team to ever win 3 straight), the list really is disgusting.  She lead Penn State to 102 consecutive victories, the most of any Female Collegiate team in the history of collegiate athletics, and the second most of all-time (35 behind Men’s Tennis at Miami (137)).  Her fellow seniors and her hold the best record in Women’s Volleyball history (142-5).  Must I go on?  Because trust you me, I could.

Says legendary head coach Russ Rose of Megan Hodge: “Megan has had a storied career at Penn State.” For those of you who have seen Rose coach, you know he isn’t one to exaggerate, so you take what you can get.

How many football players were 4 time All-Americans?  How many football players (ever, not just at Penn State) have won three national championships in a row?  Sure she couldn’t pull the Michael Jordan and be MVP of all of her championships, but I won’t hold that against her.  Her Junior year, the team was touted as the best team to ever play Women’s Volleyball.  They didn’t even lose a set until dropping two in the championship game, which they rallied back from to win in 5.  Then, in the senior’s last game in a Penn State uniform, the team overcame their first 2-0 deficit in three years to win one of the most intensely competed sporting events I’ve ever seen.  As the final point careened off into the crowd the camera fixated on Russ Rose.  He marked the final stat of the season in his storied notebook, a Kill by Megan Hodge, and so closed the book on the most storied career of any athlete in Penn State History.

In 2009, The Office of the Physical Plant (OPP) at Penn State decided that they had had enough.  Crows on the campus were a nuisance and they must fight back.  Teaming up with the State College Borough, the new task force set out on an epic journey to relocate the crow population.  They took professional classes on the uses of screamers and bangers (this may be a satire if you will, but this part is 100% true people), they hung crow’s in effigy in popular nesting places, etc.

But now the crows fight back.

Alan Crow phoned the university when he heard the news.  “I have a friend who lives over at Penn State, John Crow, we went to school together.  He told me that they shoot the fireworks off so close one almost hit him! I thought the best thing to do was to move my family of 50 from boring old Bald Eagle Mountain to the campus to see the show.”  When asked what he thought about his decision, he was ecstatic.  “Joe was right!  The last two nights have been awesome.”

OPP hasn’t announced any new strategies, but some students are speaking out against the methods.

Annie Adderall (Junior, Civil Engineering, Business Administration, Nuclear Engineering, Theater, etc.) said that the fireworks inhibit her studying.  “Everytime I get focused on a subject those damn fireworks explode and scare me!  I’m thinking about transferring to a new school that is more quiet.”  She isn’t the only one.  Joe Football (Sophomore, DUS) said that he has had enough.  “I don’t understand why they just can’t leave the crows alone. I mean, that’s their home man.  Maybe I need to play at a school where crows are accepted as part of the family…”

Regardless of the student’s opinions the ‘screamers and bangers’ have been going off each of the last two nights, attracting more and more families of crows excited about the show.  “I just hope my kids get a good view, it’s pretty rare to see a show this good,” Alan Crow finished.

Enjoy it Alan, it isn’t like this is my tuition money at work…

1. The matchup will have higher ratings than the Orange Bowl.

PSU – LSU is a better matchup than Iowa – Georgia Tech (Orange) and the ratings will show.  This can be used for future leverage if ever Penn State finds itself in this situation again.  If you look at the ratings the Orange Bowl has received since Penn State met Florida State in the unforgettable Triple Overtime thriller that is now the final meeting between the two greatest college football coaches of all time, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, they have been pathetic.

2009 Virginia Tech – Cincinnati 5.4 rating.

2008 Kansas – Va Tech 7.4 rating.

2007 Louisville – Wake Forest 6.98 rating.

2006 Penn State – Florida State 12.3 rating.

Basically it took the Orange Bowl two years to meet what Penn State brought them in the 2006 edition.

2. It will be one of the best bowl games.

When the Big Ten number 2 and the ACC Champions meet, the fans don’t watch and those who do fall asleep.  Just look at the ratings from the last few Orange Bowl’s…numbers don’t lie.  Also, Texas showed the nation that they are not as good as we thought by sneaking by Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game.  Whereas Alabama flexed against Florida, making them the definite number 1 team in the land.  Look for a dominating National Championship Game with Alabama laughing past Texas.  This leaves Ohio State – Oregon (Rose), Cincinnati – Florida (Sugar), TCU – Boise State (Fiesta), Florida State – West Virginia (Gator, solely because it is Bowden’s final game), and PSU – LSU (Capitol One) as the best five bowls.  I would place PSU – LSU as second or third on that list.

3. We get one of the best broadcasting crews with Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, and Erin Andrews

Need I say more?

4. Penn State finished 3rd in the Big Ten. It’s what we deserve when you look at how the season played out.

In the early 2000s, we would have been pumped about going to the Capital One Bowl. Enjoy it people!

As a Penn State student, you are taught to essentially thrive the later (earlier?) it gets.  The goal of this blog is to be a little less formal than my former compilation (russwbeck.wordpress.com).  While keeping in mind that my opinion on current sports matters aren’t really poignant, I hope to offer a little bit of insight into the life of a Penn State student.

Currently, I am just returning from a Christmas party, ugly sweaters and Santa hats of all varieties were the definite hit.  It all came together nicely with the unexpected snow that dropped upon us this morning.  I didn’t even know it was supposed to snow at all today.  I woke up and looked out the window and was taken aback.  After the snow in October it has been pretty tame here in Central Pennsylvania.  I should have known it wouldn’t last long.

I came across the theme that is currently in implementation earlier today, don’t think it is anything permanent.  I believe that a carte blanche is good every now and again.

So, thanks for stopping by and I promise to have some more posts up in the near future.