I used to consider myself a wine snob.I swirled and sniffed as if it was my job (well, sometimes it was). By nature, I then would turn my tarty snout to anything hop-related. A tan pint of anything foamy was never a request, and thinking back now, what was I thinking?!
A few months back, B and I attended a beer-tasting shindigg in a friend's backyard. Cases and coolers of microbrewed specialities filled a substantial part of their grassy parts, and sips of Miller Light and Yuengling were satisfyingly scarce. We guzzled Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss and Sunset Wheat, Dogfish Head's Festina Peche, Old Rasputin's Imperial Stoudt, Shipyard Brewery's Pumpkinhead Ale, and my favorite, Lancaster Brewing Company's Strawberry Wheat.
With such an extreme introduction to what the brewing world had to offer, I was automatically hooked into the hoppy world and had decided that I am far from ever escaping. Thus, paying a visit to the brewhouse of my [one of] favorite fruity beer was obviously, a no-brainer.
B and I, with the accompaniment of his dad, journeyed to Lancaster to scope out what really makes this local brewery top-notch. Setting up a private tour with their welcoming brewmaster Bill, and making sure we each had a brew in hand, we sampled pre-beer malted barley in all-of-its forms, had sneak peeks inside their stainless-steel brewing tanks, smelt the bittery potentness of their award-winning hops, punched the mashed spent-grain post-fermentation that's housed in barrels for area farmers, and most importantly, filled our bellies with the freshest and tastiest gulps any girl (plus boys) could wish for!
malted barley one-hand, brewski the other
brewing tanks
hoppity-jarred hops
mashed spent grain 
processing Strawberry Wheat 
