I am thirsty for a beer: Pennsylvania on Tröegs beer by bike

Hey beer friends - it's been a few days, but I was out on a motorbike trip to Pennsylvania - 3 days, just over 2000 km, and roads like rollercoasters and switchback trails. But the beers - well let me tell you that it is very difficult to taste your way through the local beer scene there when you are traveling by motorbike because for reasons that defy even the the most bizarre Republican logic (and we met a few right wing dogs down there, I assure you), you can ride your motorbike without a helmet but you cannot buy beer other than in a government licensed outlet and only in cases of 24. I had heard about this mind-boggling regulation before and read that it has been the bane of the local craft brewing scene. How can you get people to try something new and different to find a new favorite if they must purchase at least 24? What if it is swill or swine's spit? What if the brewer is a charlatan and laced your amber nectar with cheap corn or rice adjuncts? What if you simply have no clue what good beer tastes like and cannot handle something that does not taste like dirty sweat from a redneck's armpit? Tough shit, if you live in Pennsylvania, and shit just as tough if not tougher if you are a new local brewer trying to make friends.

Thanks to the good people who make large side cases for big motorbikes, we had enough room to a buy a case of 24 from the Tröegs Brewing Company in Hershey, PA. We bought this because they offered an "Anthology" sampler case, including a 6-pack of four different brands. One odd thing about the name of this brewery is the use of the Umlaut. Technically speaking, if you have the ö already in the name, you do not need the e any more because oe is equivalent to ö. What is it anyway with marketers who think that including an Umlaut in the name of a brand - beer or other - lends some exotic allure or wild mystique to a product? And never mind people trying to pronounce these vowels.

Anyhow, given that we rode our mules from morning until nightfall, there was not much opportunity for me take photos of these beers in a glass during daylight, and not having a glass with me did not help either. So please accept my apologies for not showing any pics of beer in a glass - all 24 were killed off on two nights of trying to fill up on fluids and electrolytes after the day's ride. We did manage to gulp down a beer (from the bottle) immediately after our purchase in the parking lot of the beer store, given that we had been on the road for some 7 hours on a hot day already. This first one was the Dreamweaver Wheat Ale, and it hit the spot. Of the four beers in this case, this was easily the top pick. It was a relatively authentic Bavarian style Wheat, with some yeast sediment in the bottle, satisfying bread flavours, and a rich palate with just enough hops to sweep the rear-end clean. The other three were less impressive, even if it was clear that they were made with quality ingredients. The Pale Ale was probably the second of the bunch - a nice beer with an assertive hop bitterness and lots of flowery hop aroma and flavour. The Hopback Amber Ale combined those qualities with a nice burnt toast and dark caramel grain body. Finally, the Sunshine Pils was the weakest - very disappointing to me because Pils is certainly one of my favourite styles. The beer was not bad, but it did not taste like a Pils - too much flowery hops notes, not enough malt sweetness, no velvet mouthfeel, and a poor balance between sweet and bitter. Overall, I also thought a weakness of those latter three beers as a family was that they all had a very similar hops character that varied only in intensity, but not in taste.

Here are some photos from the trip, and details from the delightful packaging imagery.