some fun with breweries!

When you get out of your car at Troegs you will smell an amazing smell... the beer here smells so delicious you just know you are in for a Treat!!!

When Ivan (igallegos) and I went on the tour we knew the Brewer who was working so we got some special priviledges...like a private tour... but it's still recommended to go even in a larger group on the Saturday times!

The tour starts out in the Brew House where the hops are boiled... this is where the aroma was coming from when we were out in the parking lot! The next part is the Cellaring Fermentation where the Yeast is added.... then comes the Filtration and then Finally the Bottling!

After the tour you can go into the tasting room and the gift shop. In the tasting room you can try the beers in the "tasting" glasses for free. These are smaller glasses so you can see which type of beer you might like. The 12 oz drafts are $4, the 12 oz Troegenator is $4.50, the 12 oz Scratch Beer is $4.5, six 5 oz glasses for the sampler tray is $6 and the seasonal draft in 8 oz is $5.

Troegs is owned by 2 brothers who started the Brewery in 1996... since they've been brewing for 10 years they started a beer called scratch beer which is the recipes they decided not to go with that they round on old "scratch" pads. This beer changes every so often so it may not be the same when you go back again! For October 2008 it's a beer called Saison which is Scratch #14... the Scratch #15 - Double Espresso Oatmeal Stout is coming Nov. 14th...which I am absolutely excited for (I liked the one at Summit Brewery {www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/22030/Saint-Paul-United-States-9} in Minnesota so I have to like this one right?)

Beers available year round include: Pale Ale, HopBack Amber, Rugged Trail, Troegenator Double Bock, and DreamWeaver Wheat.

Seasonal Beers include: Sunshine Pils (April -Aug), Dead Reckoning Porter (August - September), The Mad Elf (November - January) and Nugget Nectar (February).

If you're in the Central/Eastern Pennsylvania area you have to stop by Troegs... you won't be dissapointed... and if you're one of those people who say "I don't like Beer" I'm sure there is one here you like as they are absolutely delicious! And if all else fails their designs for the brews are fabulous! I enjoyed looking at every single one of them!!

The Firehouse restaurant first intrigued me because when I saw it I saw the restaurant was made from an old Fire Station and the Beer Taps were made out of a fire hydrant (who wouldn't want to see that).

So Ivan (igallos) and I came here for lunch. The service was very good and the ambiance was amazing. There was alot of thought put into the interior design of the building as you didn't feel like you were in some bland old place to eat.

The Menu is made to look like a fire burnt a hole through the center and upon looking at the menu I saw the same bland 'ol foods such as sandwiches and pasta...but then I looked to the left... and low and behold I saw what looked to be the most delicious salads I have ever saw ingredients for (I'm a salad person... I don't like salads with just iceberg lettuce and plain jane tomatoes... I like them with substance)... their salad selection includes the "CHICK & BELLO" SALAD, SOUTHWEST CHICKEN SALAD, MEDITERRANEAN ORZO SALAD, CRAB CAKE SALAD, and the STEAK & CALAMARI SALAD.

I ended up getting the Chick & Bello Salad which is based off of grilled chicken and portabella mushrooms and walnuts, dried cranberries and goat cheese over mixed greens while Ivan got the Steak and Calamari Salad which is Over mixed greens, chopped tomatoes, red onions, red peppers, with a pepper parmesan dressing. The salads were delicious and I also got the best Veggie soup I ever had (well, except it had lima beans in it)... but seriously I wanted more!

Ivan also got a Mojito and I ordered a drink off of the "seasonal" menu and got a Cinnamon Sangria... Ivan couldn't stop drinking the Mojito's and the Sangria was alright... come to think of it I don't recall it actually being called a cinnamon Sangria; it just tasted way too much like cinnamon that that's what I think it should be called! It had potential but they have to get back to work with it!

Over all the experience was positive... I don't know how the dinner menue was but the only thing that had pizzazz on the lunch was the salads and soups!