bonn place

Local Brewers Collaborate Earlier than Planned

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Eight minutes earlier, to be precise. When two of our favorite local breweries come together for a collaboration beer, we get pretty damn excited. The intrepid minds behind Bonn Place of Bethlehem and Lost Tavern of Hellertown got together and released Eight Minutes Early, a full bodied double cream ale with vanilla, cocoa, and Monocacy Creek Coffee served on traditional draft or nitro. On its own, it is rich and smooth with a strong coffee backbone brewed with the rare and difficult to find Souther Star hops from South Africa. However, this beer shines brightest when each brewery introduced their own unique twist to a cask version with variations aptly named Fire and Ice. Bonn brewed the Fire version which introduced cinnamon and cayenne peppers to finish it off. The additions really round out the beer and add some kick. The spice is subtle but builds slowly on the palate and after a couple sips you will notice a pleasing burn.

Lost Tavern brewed the Ice cask, which added spearmint and peppermint to the original brew. This one is truly unique and complex akin to a peppermint mocha coffee. You can definitely skip that piece of gum for the ride home.

To try both cask varieties, you’ll have to visit both breweries, so be sure to plan ahead. While you are at Bonn Place, also give the Nice Item Northeast Pale Ale a try. It’s a cloudy and dank pale ale loaded with hoppy goodness and represents a rare departure from Bonn’s typical English-style beers. At Lost Tavern, be sure to also check out the recently released Udderly Lost – a toasty, chocolate-forward milk stout.

Check them all out at Bonn Place and Lost Tavern and let us know what you think! It’s always a blast to have a beer and chat with Sam from Bonn and Tony of Lost Tavern. And don’t forget – it’s BYO pink flamingo at Bonn Place, so follow the flamingo link to find the cheesiest lawn ornament to add to Sam’s burgeoning collection.


Check out our other posts featuring our favorite local (and not so local) breweries here!

Cheers,

Mike and Bethany

New Brews at Bonn Place!

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Hmmm, what is there to do on a long holiday weekend? Visit our friends at Bonn Place, of course! After being up all night replacing their failing glycol system with new copper pipes, Sam and Gina were as friendly and inviting as ever despite their lack of sleep. Mike and I were excited to  check out some of their new offerings, and we were far from disappointed.

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Brunch and Bunny

First and foremost, we need to talk about the Scottish Brunch, which Bonn Place developed in collaboration with Monocacy Coffee Co. An amped-up version of the original Scottish Breakfast, it features the original wee-heavy Scottish ale brewed with local coffee beans and lactose. This beer blew me away. It has an incredibly roasty, coffee flavor with a creamy sweetness from the lactose. The Scotch ale base gives it a dryness that balances out the warm, sweet notes for a very satisfying, addictive brew. Fantastic.

Another highlight from the new offerings was the Bunny Farm Double IPA. We sampled this while it was still in the tanks a few weeks ago and loved the fresh, mango flavor. Sam did a second round of dry hopping before it hit the taps, and it produced a perfectly bitter, citrus-forward DIPA. Bonn Place describes it as having “more hops than a bunny farm,” which is a fitting slogan. Mike quickly put his pint of the Bunny Farm down the hatch – it’s a superb beer for the last few weeks of summer.

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Mooey-San

The Mooey-San is another unique offering. It involves a steel cask-conditioned version of the Mooey, which is their flagship bitter, blended with wasabi, ginger, and jasmine leaves. It would be spectacular with sushi, and if you head over to Bonn Place today you can get a pint of it for just $3! Be there or be square.

We can’t wait to check out two upcoming brews – an Irish Stout, which is a collaboration with Keystone Homebrew (and will be named after Colin, Gina’s new nephew!), and a French provincial-style ale featuring Mandarina hops and Brett wild yeast. Bonn Place is seriously on a roll!

Swing by Bonn Place and let us know what you think!

Cheers!

Bethany