Spring House Brewing Satan's Bake Sale Mint Chocolate Chip Stout

Another beer I picked up a Al’s of Hampden is Spring House Brewing Satan’s Bake Sale Mint Chocolate Chip Stout. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan colored head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of toasted malts, chocolate, and mint. The taste is bold with roasted malts and dark chocolate before a burst of mint hits the tongue, not unlike a York Peppermint Patty. The finish allows the mint to linger and leaves a roasty flavor behind. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. If you love peppermint patties, this is absolutely the beer for you. I loved it and would definitely drink another one.

Spring House Brewing Braaaiins! Pumpkin Ale for Zombie

I picked up a bottle of Spring House Brewing Braaaiins! Pumpkin Ale for Zombies from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours an orange-tinted amber color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves some lacing on the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of graham, pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and allspice. The taste is smooth and has a great pumpkin flavor up front before some light cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice flavors kick in. A large helping of graham flavor really excites the palate and the beer finishes with some vanilla sweetness. The alcohol content is 7.1% ABV. I really enjoyed this pumpkin offering as the pumpkin flavoring was just right and the graham flavors really made it taste like a pie. I would rank this probably second behind Pumking as my favorite of the style.

Spring House Blacker Cracker

My friend Heather brought over a growler of Spring House Blacker Cracker with dinner one night to share with me. The beer pours a black color with an oddly gray colored head. The aroma consists of toasted malts, caramel, chocolate, and pine. The taste is smooth yet toasty with a roasted malt flavor taking up the front end of the beer. Hints of chocolate, lemon, and pine peek through before setting on a dry peppery finish. The alcohol content is 5.7% ABV. This was a solid Black IPA with a nice spicy flavor on top of a roasted and chocolate base. The gray head was a little odd and took some getting used to, but it definitely didn’t ruin the beer.

Spring House Pecan Sandie Porter

Prior to the Everclear concert at the Chameleon club, I stopped in to the Spring House Tap Room to try the Pecan Sandie Porter. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, peanuts, nut, and coffee. The taste is dry and chocolaty with coffee lurking in the background. There are hints of pecans, especially as the beer warms, with sugar and peanuts on the finish. Overall, the beer has a creamy mouth feel. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. There were flavors reminiscent of the pecan sandie cookie especially with the sugary background, and it was a great trip down memory lane. While the beer wasn’t very cookie-forward, those flavors provided a nice background to the beer.

Spring House Two Front Teeth Holiday Ale

I picked up a bottle of Spring House Two Front Teeth Holiday Ale while at the Spring House Taproom in Lancaster. The beer pours an orange-tinted golden color with a think bubbly white head. The aroma consists of coriander, orange peel, wheat, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The taste is biscuity with vanilla, orange peel, cinnamon, and coriander. The finish is warming and reminds me of a Christmas sugar cookie. The alcohol content is 9.75% ABV. The beer tastes somewhat different than it smell,s but it is quite an enjoyable holiday ale. It takes you on a different journey of flavors than most spiced beer, and I thank Spring House for that.

Spring House Planet Bean on cask with Starbucks Breakfast Blend and Vanilla Beans

Al’s of Hampden recently received a cask of Spring House Planet Bean with Starbucks Breakfast Blend and Vanilla Beans, so I ordered a glass. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head. The aroma consists of fresh coffee grounds, cream, and chocolate. The taste is dry and filled with fresh coffee grounds and a light bodied light vanilla accent. There is plenty of silky smooth chocolate that lies underneath the surface and a creamy after taste. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. The Planet Bean on cask is wonderful and fresh tasting, especially with the inclusion of the Breakfast Blend. It almost tasted like having a fresh cup of coffee in the morning, with the slight addition of chocolate and vanilla.

Spring House Two Dudes Wet Paint Guava Ale

I noticed the the Spring House Tap Room had the Two Dudes Wet Paint Guava Ale on tap, so I decided to order a glass. The beer pours a brown color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of guava, caramel, malts, and nectar. The taste is smooth and sweet with a big guava focus here. There is a caramel base that peeks through the guava flavors before a dry finish with some cinnamon and nutmeg, even though it has neither of those ingredients in it. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I thought this was a wonderful beer, although it is a tough one to nail down. The finish is what intrigues/confuses me, as I could not nail the exact flavor down, but it was dry like cinnamon.

Spring House Robot Bastard!

Another beer I ordered at the Spring House Tap Room was the Robot Bastard! The beer pours a translucent orange-amber color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of pepper, banana, Belgian yeast, and orange peel. The taste is sweet and smooth with lots of banana, orange, and yeast. The finish brings out pepper, spices, and thyme. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. The Robot Bastard! is a wonderful example of a Belgian IPA and balances the sweetness and spiciness nicely. The thyme finish was quite memorable and sets this beer apart from other Belgian IPAs.

Spring House Beyond the Gates Double IPA

I took a day off of work to hang out with my friend Tim in Lancaster, and we went to the Spring House Tap Room. I ordered a glass of Beyond the Gates Double IPA. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white head. The aroma is sweet with lots caramel, lemon, and pine. The taste is bitter, and by saying bitter once might not be enough, with pine and lemon hops right up front. A hint of caramel sweetness arrives on the tongue before a grapefruit bitterness completely dries out the mouth. The alcohol content is 7.9% ABV. I would say this beer is deliciously bitter and very hoppy, but it can be tough to finish an entire imperial pint due to the bitterness. If you order something after this beer, make sure to cleanse the palate with plenty of water, or you will taste nothing but hops.

Spring House Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout

I made a trip to the Spring House Tap Room to pick up a growler of Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout. This beer was served on nitro, so I drank it the same evening that I bought it. The beer pours a black color with a foamy tan head. The aroma consists of lots of chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts, sugar, and smells similar to the chocolate covered peanut butter wafers that I used to eat in high school. The taste is smooth and milky with plenty of chocolate as expected. There is a good peanut butter undertone to comes to life and the front of the beer as it warms. There is a dry finish with dark chocolate. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. While this beer started out as a good beer, it turned to an excellent beer as it warmed, so I would definitely recommend that you let it warm if you get your hands on a glass or growler.

Spring House Atomic Raygun Imperial Red

While in Lancaster, I picked up a growler of Spring House Atomic Raygun Imperial Red from the Tap Room. The beer pours a dark amber color with a frothy tan head. The aroma consists of caramel and sweet malts with a pine hop accent. The taste is smooth and sweet with lots of caramel, pine, lemon, and oak accents. The finish is dry with hops and quite delicious. The alcohol content is 8.3% ABV. This was a well crafted red beer with a generous helping of caramel, but accented nicely with pine and lemon.

Spring House Mango IPA

I ordered a glass of the Mango IPA from Spring House Tap Room in Lancaster. The beer pours a murky brown color that looks like apple cider with no head. The aroma consists heavily of mango, apricot, wheat, and caramel. The taste is smooth and sweet with lots of mango, tangerine, apricot, and some caramel accents. It has a dry bitter finish. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. The Mango IPA is a very good beer, so much so that we ordered a growler of it to drink later. It gets better as it warms, bringing out more of the fruity flavors, but still delivers that nice bitterness that IPAs are known for having.

Spring House Cosmic Monster Quad

Prior to a wedding, my friends and I stopped in to the Spring House Tap Room in Lancaster and grabbed a growler of Cosmic Monster Quad. The beer pours an amber color with a thin filmy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raisin, wheat, malts, and caramel. The taste is smooth and sweet with raisin, cherry, caramel, and malts. There is a slight tartness on the finish. The alcohol content is 10.8% ABV. This quad was rather smooth and delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed the fruity cherry twist in the beer, making it very memorable and original.

Spring House B-Sides Double IPA

I picked up a bottle of Spring House B-Sides Double IPA at TJ's in Paoli. The beer pours a copper color with a bubbly white head that sticks to the glass a bit. The aroma smokey and has hints of cedar. The taste is very malty and somewhat peppery on the front, but it turns to be very smokey with a caramel undertone and a very faint citrus hint. I also detected some apricot as the beer warmed up. I couldn't locate an alcohol content online, but I would assume it to be around 9.0% ABV. This was a very interesting take on a Double IPA. I definitely did not hate it, but I though the smokiness might have gotten in the way of the citrus sweetness in the beer.

Spring House Planet Bean Coffee Stout

At TJ's in Paoil, they had Spring House Planet Bean Coffee Stout on daft for the Pliny the Younger event. I ordered a glass as a bit of a pick-me-up in the mid-afternoon. The beer pours a black color with a filmy tan head. The aroma is full of coffee; it is a very strong fresh brewed coffee smell. The beer, as expected, tastes like coffee with a light chocolate accent. The beer also has a light cream finish. There us little beer taste but plenty coffee. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I thought that the Planet Bean Coffee Stout was very good, and if you love the taste of coffee and cream, you will love the flavors in this beer.