We had plans to go to Castle Blood with my sister Amy and bro-in-law Dick on Friday and I was so stoked. I love it when people are down for haunted houses! I mean, I’m glad that Henry will go with me, but it is so much more fun when we have a group. Amy suggested hitting up a brewery first and I was game because the ERIN IS LEARNING TO LIKE BEER est. 2011 era is in full swing.

There wasn’t anything aside from dive-looking bars (which are fine!) around Castle Blood, but I did end up finding a place around 25 minutes from there called Scenery Hill Brewing. Their web presence is pretty limited so we couldn’t even really tell what they had to offer, but the building it’s in seemed old and historical, which we like. Approved.

Well, turns out we were there during some Witch and Wizard event thing and the place was decorated AMAZINGLY. I don’t know what this joint typically looks like inside, but check this bitch out:

Amy and Dick were already there roaming about when we arrived and I had to laugh because Dick had the prettiest creamy pink drink in his hand and it looked like…not his style, lol. Apparently, he had ordered some blood orange beer but the bartender thought he ordered the “blood moon” cocktail, which I guess was the signature drink for the event, lol. He said it was good though! It LOOKED good. But I had to psychically slap my face and remind myself that BEER. We are here for BEER.

I ordered a PRINCE LUDWIG, whatever that means, because the very nice and patient bartender let me try it first. I tried it and I liked it! Henry looked doubtful when it was served to me in a big glass, but I took it away with confidence and then found us the best table in the whole place, in a corner and surrounded by all those creeptastic portraits.

PRINCE LUDWIG.

I forgot that in 2011 when I first started what everyone assumed was a futile venture into the world of liking beer, I had started an account on Untapped. I remembered this the other night and have frantically been trying to recall every single beer I have had since 2011, lol. Amy is also on Untapped so now I have a friend!

You guys, I truly liked this beer. I ordered it because LUDWIG sounded Maybe-Belgian, who knows. But this was the SCENERY HILL FESTBIER, whatever that means. I found it to be easy to drink, it made me pull zero faces, and it didn’t have a weird aftertaste.

The only downside, and this was a minimal complaint, is that this is one of those places with no kitchen, just whatever food truck rolls up that day. And on this day, it was some Italian truck with ONLY TWO MEATLESS OPTIONS: Fries and mozzarella sticks. Wow, thanks guys.

I got the mozzarella sticks and they were fine, but not satisfying and I was still very hungry.  I’m pretty sure they were just from a grocery store freezer section and dunked into the fryer. And there were only five of them, the size of a small thumb. I was quietly whining about this to Henry off and on all night.

Quietly.

“Quietly.”

LOL.

Ignoring my whines.

Then I got a flight – just a flight of three because Henry wasn’t going to be able to help me drink much since he was driving and no way could I drink 5 all myself. Anyway, this was a major moment for me because JUICETASTIC is an IPA and Henry is always like YOU WILL NOT LIKE THAT BECAUSE I DO NOT LIKE THAT but guess what, Hater Henry?  I sincerely liked it! I was shocked! Baby’s first IPA!!

I also learned that “MARZEN” is a type of beer. This one was OCTOBERFIESTA. I really liked it. I guess OKTOBERFEST drinks are my style!

And then also the SERENDIPITY which is a pale ale, whatever that means. Also very inoffensive to the palate! Gentle on the taste buds!

I really like hanging out with Amy and Dick! We always have so much to talk about and it’s such easy and comfortable. Which is what I need more of in life!

Bathroom selfie!

This place was so cool. There was a witch scavenger hunt going on too so every so often, people in witch gowns would come near our table and loom over us but it never seemed like anyone found anything on their paper over in our corner.

I loved this place so much. The staff was great, the atmosphere was haunted, and the drinks were pleasing! We plan on going back, especially in summer because we saw a spacious patio area, but hopefully the food truck game is stronger next time because this bitch needs to EAT.

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I don’t why I have spent so much of my life caring about my beer-averse palate, but it has been something of a challenge for me over the last, god, 2 decades at least. I guess it really started once pumpkin beers became the big craze. I wanted to like them, I wanted to be able to join in when my friends would give each other recs. Kind of dumb, because I genuinely don’t even care about drinking any type of alcohol in general.

I kind of gave up on this palate-training expedition, until Henry and I went to a bottle shop last year because it was autumn and lo, I was on that pumpkin hunt again. While there, I stumbled upon a PB&J beer from a local brewery called Hitchhiker. I also liked that the can was tall and cool-looking. Henry was like YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS but I think really he just did not want to get it because it was “expensive.”

Long story short, I loved it and declared it my favorite beer (I mean, short list there) of all time.

“YEAH THAT’S BECAUSE IT HAS MILK AND SUGAR IN IT. IT IS LITERALLY A DESSERT BEER,” Henry sighed because he is always on standby to suck the joy out of life. I mean, we all called him Hoover in the LiveJournal days for a reason, didn’t we guys??

This has started a trend where, every so often, Henry will go to Hitchhiker, or Giant Eagle, and buy a 4-pack of whatever sweet and fruity flavor is on rotation. And then after we split one, the rest will sit in the fridge for weeks upon weeks until I am ready to have another one. LOL. I go through phases.

ANYWAY. I have not really ventured into “other” Hitchhiker varieties (I am terrified of IPAs because they literally taste like asparagus piss to me and this seems to be their bread and butter) but they recently released a pumpkin beer and I made Henry pick it up for me. (I am not the biggest fan of actually going to breweries because I get very fidgety and prefer drinking at home if at all, though I will go with my sister!)

I don’t have a picture of it because I actually did drink all of them over the span of 2 weeks! I really liked it and was surprised because it was way less sweet and more “beer”y than the ones I tend to gravitate to. So this opened up my pumpkin beer challenge again.

I’ve had these ones recently and actually like them all!

1. Cinderlands Star Crumb
2. BG Brewing Pumpkin Slap
3. North Country Brewing Late Night Pumpkin (my fave out of this collection)
4. Ellicottville Pumpkinville Latte

I learned several years ago that I sort of like sour beers.

Thanks, Lisa lol.

We also have this babe leftover in the fridge from a recent Hitchhiker run, and a raspberry with coffee one too that was actually MAYBE my new fave Hitchhiker??

Then! At a haunted house on Friday, a local place called Helltown had a little beery hut set up and I was like, “LET’S JUST SPLIT ONE” because I get stupid real fast. Henry said I wouldn’t like any of the options they had but I was like LET ME BE THE JUDGE, I WILL HAVE A CAN OF YOUR FINEST OKTOBERFEST, MISS and the lady was like “Great.”

(This was after she asked me if I had heard of them and I said yes, which is the truth because last Sunday when we were driving some insane backway home from the haunted house in West Virginia, and before Stephanie Time, we drove past one of their locations in Washington County. Then the lady proceeded to still tell me all about the brewery while also trying to get me to add a KOOZIE to my purchase and look, I am not at KOOZIE-lcvels of beer imbibing yet. Or ever.)

I took one sip and screamed I LIKE THIS, I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS and Henry just smirked at me and was like, “It’s OK.” And then I proceeded to drink most of it and have one of the best times at a haunted house.

Which….now makes me sound like an alcoholic.

Anyway, I was inspired after this and Henry suggested going to Duffy’s to see what their pumpkin selection was like, but you guys, I felt ready to branch out now that my lie about liking Oktoberfest beers was actually fact-checked and proven to be TRUTH.

We did the build your own 6 pack thing and I was excited to try this one last night. It was just OK. I drank my half but never want to drink it again, probably.

Then later that night, Henry and I split this one and I genuinely liked it!

Um, but hold the phone. I have an announcement to make.

MOVE OVER HITCHHIKER, DELIRIUM IS MY NEW #1.

I barely let Henry share this with me. I was screaming, that’s how excited I was over this.

“DO I LIKE BELGIAN ALE NOW??” I yelled, shaking Henry by the shoulders and then putting on YouTube videos about the Delirium brewery. “OMG ARE WE GOING TO BELGIUM??”

I could tell Henry was about to ask if I genuinely thought liking one can of beer warranted a trip to another country but then he remembered who he married.

I was almost to the point last night where I wanted to buy stock in Delirium, or at the very least, put their neon sign in my house.

And then tonight I tried the other “accidental” Belgian beer that I got just because I liked the Bathory-esque portrait on the can.

Yeah, I’m Belgian now. (This was actually a bit too sweet for me though if you can even believe that I’m saying that!)

Anyway, now that I think about this, it does make sense because we used to go to this restaurant occasionally called SHARP EDGE (RIP, babe) and it was basically known for its huge selection of beers. I always went for the vibes and food, but since everyone I went with was inevitably ordering beer with their food, I would always default to the Lambics. I didn’t even realize it was actually beer because it was so sweet and fruity (I usually gravitated toward the framboise variety).

I created a new category on here so that I can post pictures along my beer journey to remember what I’ve tried and what I thought. For instance, last year we bought a 4-pack of some kind of pancake-flavored beer and it was fucking disgusting. We still have cans in the fridge. I need to remember to never fall into that syrupy trap again.

Henry sadly pointed out that so far, all of the beers I have truly liked have been expensive craft beers and/or imports. I can’t help it. I’m fancy.

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