McCall Collective Brewing Co, Allentown PA
22 September 2024
There aren’t a lot of choices in this area but McCall’s looked like a good one. It was OK, but not great.
It’s not a big place, but there’s also an outdoor area in the back that I didn’t get a photo of. The beers looked interesting, but one that I’d wanted in my flight wasn’t available (but was still on the website). I can’t actually give much info on a couple of these because they’re still not on the website and I didn’t get a photo of the beer list. Here’s what I had:
Better Call Fall – Festbier (Oktoberfest) – This one really didn’t do much for me. It was both too malty and too bitter for my taste. What it did do was really make me look forward to a tall Paulaner Oktoberfest when I get to Columbus OH tomorrow!
Noc – Dark Lager, 5.5% – This is billed as a Dark Czech Style Lager and I guess I can see that, although it doesn’t have the flavor of a dark lager that I would expect to find. Still, I liked it better than the first one!
Willies – NEIPA – Run the Ball had kicked and this was the replacement. I’d been looking forward to their Pale Ale as it sounded quite good. This tasted very good at first, but didn’t work over the long run; there was an off flavor for me, probably as a result of the hop choices.
Lehigh – Hazy NEIPA, 7% – This is their flagship brew made with Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops. It was my favorite of the four, and as I didn’t see anything on the beer list that really tickled my fancy, I also had a pint of this one.
They have a small but interesting food menu and this is the All-American Cheesesteak with Tots. It was pretty tasty, but that’s a lot of food! I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing, but enjoyed what I did have in spite of the mess it made 😀
Fortunately, I don’t come this way very often at all so I’m unlikely to have the opportunity to decide whether to stop in at McCall’s in the future. It was good to experience it once, but I’m not sure it’s worth a return visit when there are so many good choices on the more northern routes through NY State. But tomorrow, Columbus!