Field Trip: Molly Pitcher Brewing Co. (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)

For today's post, I've traveled about 90 miles north of Washington to Carlisle, PA. Carlisle is home to my alma mater, Dickinson College, on whose Alumni Council I currently serve. I'm up on campus three or four times a year, where I work with the college on alumni programs, student mentoring, and supporting fundraising for the college.

Over the past ten years, Carlisle has seen a surge of new restaurants offering different cuisine. Some of the older, seedier bars and restaurants have closed and given way to new, exciting places. And last November, Carlisle became home to its first brewpub - the Molly Pitcher Brewing Co. I was able to visit the brewery last weekend, and also had a chance to speak with Mike Moll, head of operations, about the brewery and his philosophy.

The brewery is located in an unassuming building on East South Street, right off North Hanover and right near Fay's Country Kitchen, home to Carlisle's best pancakes. I don't remember what this building was when I was a student, but I suspect it may have been an old service station back in the day. If you look to the left hand side of the picture, you'll see a cemetery in the distance. Mary McCauley, the woman who is generally believed to have been Molly Pitcher herself, is buried in that cemetery. There's a statue in the cemetery of her, which forms the likeness of the brewery's logo.

Let's step inside. Dickinson colleague and blog reader Phil Jones and I went inside late on a Saturday afternoon. Inside, the place is nicely appointed, and very busy. There's a small tap room, with a bar and ten or so tables. The entire tap room area takes up about a third of the total space. There's cool Revolutionary War stuff on the walls. Phil and I sat at the table below the flintlock muskets.

The bar area is small but cozy. A few of the tap handles are replica flintlock pistols. The board in the back is nicely done, easily readable, and it looks like they have some bar food as well. I didn't order any food, but I did get a pint glass which they had for sale. Everything seems new and clean and professional, which is a great sign.

The rest of the  building serves as the brewery and storage space. In one corner, they have their brewing operations. Looks like a homebrew set-up on a much grander scale. Nothing like the Port City tour I took last year!

Just to the left of the brewing area is where they store raw materials such as yeast, hops, barley, and malts. In the back, you can see five refrigerators where they're actively fermenting beer. Mike tells me that they have a total of fifteen 15-gallon batches going at any given time. Their beers are not available yet retail, but kegs are available for local distributors. They are planning on bottling, but according to Mike, they'll need to hand-cap them, four at a time. Sounds like painstaking work! But mass bottling / canning machines are extremely expensive. This is the kind of trade-off a lot of small breweries face.

Of course, I couldn't leave the brewery without sampling their beer. I had a 7-beer sampler, basically 4 oz pours of all the beers they have on tap. They actually have 9 beers, 7 of which are on tap on a rotating basis.

 I tried all of them, of course, and will give a lightning-round review of each, Going counter-clockwise, from the left-most beer, starting with their:

1. "Cannonball" kolsch. It's a 4.5% ABV kolsch, pretty light and mild with a strong bready taste to it. I liked it, it was an interesting take on a straightforward beer. I really enjoy the levity of these kinds of beers.

2. Next is their 4.5% ABV "War Ball" witbier, which I liked as well. It was light but had a strong taste of cinnamon, which was both unexpected and cool. This is one I'd definitely buy retail or get a growler fill.

3. The third in the flight is the "Minuteman" mild, which ends up being a pretty light beer (4% ABV) with notes of chocolates and malts.

4. The dark red beer is their 5.5% ABV "Redcoat" ESB, and don't let the ESB name fool you. It's actually very malty, not bitter at all, with a flavor not unlike "Old Speckled Hen."

5. This is their "Golden Eagle" ale. The first words out of my mouth were "wow." It's spicy, bright and solid with strong malt and sugar flavors. Very delicious and the strongest out of the bunch (at 6.5% ABV.)

6. "Independence" IPA - a 6.5% ABV India pale ale with some nice notes of bitter hops and pine. Crisp and flavorful, and pretty tasty.

7. "Black Powder"  The darkest of the 7, this is their flaked barley stout. I like it; it's smooth, soft and dark with nice flavor. It's 6.00% ABV.

My overall impressions of the beer is that they are rather straightforward. This is not a bad thing, at all - there is something to be said for a brewery rejecting the overly-complicated niche beers in favor of a very approachable, straightforward rotation. According to Mike, "the idea is to offer a range of [different] beer to appeal to all." In addition, Mike noted one of his goals was to "aim for a particular style and nail it." And I think he's done so, certainly for the beers I have tried. They are considering some one-off experimental batches, but these won't constitute the brewery's focus.

I'll be back to Molly Pitcher. It's got the right mix of delicious beer and a straightforward, unpretentious atmosphere that's really comfortable. I enjoyed spending time there, the service was good, the beer was fresh and tasty, and the atmosphere was very laid back. I think it's just what Carlisle needs, especially as an alternative to the G-Man or Alibi's. I highly encourage you all to check out Molly Pitcher if you're ever in the Cumberland Valley!