Erie Brewing Company, Erie PA

6 November 2023

This was my first visit here and it was certainly easy to get to; this location is just a couple of minutes off of I-90 on the east side of Erie. If the stop lights cooperated, that “couple of minutes” might even be closer to 30 seconds.

I didn’t get photos of the interior, but it’s a large space with a long bar and lots of tables and booths. I sat at the bar and ordered a flight of six which I’ll described left to right starting with the top row (because that’s the way they were numbered to match the flight card).

Erie Oktoberfest – Märzen, 8% – The high ABV was not obvious in this one! It was tasty but not the best of the bunch in terms of my tastes for this visit.

Railbender Ale – Scottish Ale, 6.8% – And here it is, my favorite of the flight! I love a good Scottish Ale, and this is one of the best I’ve had. It had just the right blend of malt, sweetness, and hop flavor to be so well balanced. (I took a crowler with me for the evening; it was that good.)

Mad Anthony’s APA – American Pale Ale, 5.5% – This was good, very good. I loved the color and it would be a very refreshing drink for an extended session with friends. It just wasn’t quite as good as the Railbender.

Crayon Box: Flamingo – New England IPA, 6.5% – They do a series called “Crayon Box” and this iteration of it uses Citra, Mosaic, and a bit of El Dorado hops. It was good, but not outstanding compared to everything else.

Survive the Horrors – New England IPA, 6% – If I’d been able to justify taking two crowlers with me — which in retrospect I should have done because I didn’t realize they were 50% off on Mondays, so just $5 each!! — this would have been the second one to accompany the Railbender. As it was, it was almost a coin flip to decide between the two. I loved this beer and not just because of the name.

Pond Slider – American Porter, 6.6% – This is a perfect case of wanting to try a porter and spotting this one on the draft list. I really should have read the full description: “This Spumoni ice cream porter boasts a harmonious blend of sweet cherry, rich chocolate fudge, nutty pistachios, and velvety vanilla ice cream flavors.” Yes, they did pack all those flavors into this porter. Should they have? Well … not in my opinion … I wasn’t sorry to try this one because it was well-crafted, but I certainly would never have more of it.

Food is ordered and paid for separately from a connected takeout place. I ordered a roast beef hoagie and was talked into also getting the mozzarella sticks. The sticks were good; the hoagie was fabulous — a beautiful blend of hot and cold (lettuce, tomato, mayo) on a perfectly-baked roll. The problem was that it was too much food; I should have resisted the mozzarella sticks! I took half the sandwich with me and ended up tossing most of it out because I was still too full, sadly.

I haven’t decided whether this is on my list of places to stop again sometime. On the one hand, the beer was very good. On the other hand, the food options were limited and the bar service was poor even though there was hardly anyone there — the bartender had her head in her iPad the whole time and I almost had to get up and walk over to her to get her attention. I might have had more beer if I hadn’t wasted so much time waiting for her. Oh, Erie. Some things never change.