Susquehanna Brewing Company became a familiar sight upon the NEPA craft beer landscape when they opened its doors in 2012. Since then the brewery has continued to grow and expand and while it looks toward the future its brewing feet are firmly planted in the NEPA landscape.
The Maier family has had their hands in the brewing business for generations and are part owners of SBC. The Maiers are descendants of the Stegmaier family, who once dominated the brewing business.
When SBC opened in 2012, its initial lineup of beers acted more as homages to their family’s history with well balanced, simple, straight forward and highly drinkable beers. The brewery has gained a loyal following with its ethos and has now branched out into some wonderful territories.
The brewery’s long-time brewmaster, Guy Haggerty, left the earlier this year and SBC recruited former Brew Works brewmaster Beau Baden to helm its brewery. Since his arrival the brewery has kicked into another gear brewing traditional beers along with some new creations.
One new beer is the Belgian Tripel. This 9 percent ABV beauty is certainly a beer to respect, but does not impart any alcohol heat. Instead a wonderful bouquet of tropical fruits with a wonderful Belgian yeast that imparts subtle banana flavors. It is incredibly smooth and has certainly become a welcome sight locally.
One of the other changes at the brewery is the opening of Sole Artisan Ales. Sole has quickly gained a huge following and attracts large crowds for all of its can and bottle releases which have taken place at SBC. This has helped expose the brewery to even more customers.
The brewery has a taproom open several days during the week. This is a place where customers can stop by and have a few drinks, fill up a growler, or grab some six-packs to go all while looking into the very active and very beautiful brewery.
What is even more impressive for the brewery though is what they have in store for us in the near future. The constant growth and high demand for SBC beers has enabled brewing of even more exciting beers and start new programs.
One of the new offerings is a new triple IPA clocking in at 11 percent ABV with a huge hop punch. This is certainly something that all hopheads will want to get their hands on when it is unleashed.
Another program that the brewery has begun looking into is the start of a barrel aging program. Barrel-aged beer have taken off in popularity, but it requires a great deal of space in a brewery so it is not always feasible, but with SBC’s beautiful layout, space isn’t an issue.
Susquehanna Brewing Company has built a reputation for reliable and easy drinking beers over the past few years. They are not content to rest upon these factors and for that we should be grateful. We are lucky to have such a world class brewery in our backyard so be sure to keep an eye out for all the wonderful beer coming from this great Pittston brewery.
