Jack McDougall and I left early Tuesday on our annual pre-convention Brew Pub/Brewery tour. We visited 10 new places before arriving at the hotel on Wednesday. After check-in, we went straight to the hospitality room. It was already jumping. Appalachian Trailblazer Brown Ale and Troeg’s Sunshine Pils were flowing from the taps. There was also a fantastic selection of goodies for our consumption.

At 9:30 Thursday morning, 38 members boarded the tour bus to begin our annual Micro Brewery/Brew Pub tour. The first stop was Troeg’s Brewery in Harrisburg for beer and a look-see. Our next stop was the soon to be opened Troeg’s brewery in Hershey. We were treated to a special tour of their new brewery. The tour also included stops at Swashbuckler Brewery, Spring House Brewery, JoBoys Brew Pub, Lancaster Brew Pub and our final stop-Jeff Lebo’s Beer Can House. Many great brews were enjoyed by all. Every stop was top notch. One personal highlight was seeing the Swashbuckler Brewery. This place is open on a seasonal basis. I’ve made two previous attempts to see this Brewery. Third time’s a charm. The Spring House had Peanut Chocolate Stout on tap. This brew received my coveted “U” rating (Unreal). The Beer Can House gets another UNREAL rating. This is every collectors dream display. There was too much to take in on one visit. There was breweriana in the bathroom! My thanks go to all the BREWERY OWNERS and BREWERS and JEFF LEBO for making the tour a memorable one. Back at the hotel the hospitality room was open and there was some room-to-room Buy/Sell/Trade.

Every table was full for the Friday Breweriana Show. The Craft Beer Tasting has become a major part of the Friday activities. Our members donate Craft Beer to be sampled by all who care to partake in the event. There had to be 75 different brews to sample. I sampled 36 new brews. I’d like to thank our Handsome Waiters serving the brews: Roger Levesque, Dave Lang, Dale Van Wieren and Walt Olbrys. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. I’d also like to thank Pete Slaton and the Ship Inn for supplying the 3-gallon keg of Killer Bee Ale. There were also snacks at the tasting supplied by our Hospitality Crew. They do a fabulous job of supplying comfort food for all to enjoy. I’d like to thank Chris Levesque, Leslie Feathers, Barb Lawley, Anne Marie Dikun, Jay Herbein, Walt Olbrys and Jim Starkman for all their hard work.

The Saturday Breweriana Show followed the meeting. All tables were completely filled with Breweriana. Over 100 walk-in collectors came looking for items to add to their collections. I toured the entire hall several times and was amazed at quantity and quality of the Breweriana available. To my collection I added a Ballantine cigarette lighter, Ballantine Porter plaque, an early Ballantine coaster and 83 micro coasters. I also added 112 new beers to my tasting list. Last but not least, I added my first Craft Brewery Pizza Box to the collection from the Berwick Brewery.