September 16, 2009
Went here after work one night, and zipped right by on the first pass. Came back, and saw an open area with a large pool room in the back, an open bar area with a decent sized crowd, and the kithcen was in the front. There were only 5 beers on, ranging from the subpar smoky oak to a pretty solid IPA. The food was mediocre at best, although the prices were pretty fair for both beer and food. Our server was very friendly, and I’d rate service as slightly better than average. If I lived near this place, I’d likely check in for half an hour once a month to try the new stuff, but I’d likely not make the trip otherwise.

August 18, 2009
Slightly strange place for a brewery. Although the decor is nice the place has a dive bar feel to it. One of the few places in PA that still allows smoking. Beers ranged from decent to pretty bad. Service was slow and she seemed sort of miserable. Didn’t have food but the prices seemed reasonable and the beer was fairly cheap.

June 7, 2009
This spot brings me back to home. It was like most rural, working-class joints in the middle of nowhere. Most of the people here were swiling small pitchers of Bud Light for $5. I actually thought some of the beers were really solid (Pils, Scottish, IPA) and would probably garner much more attention, if the focus at that place was on the beer. It’s kind of unfair to the brewer to put a bunch of small taps in a corner, when the focus is obviously on all the macros. If you’ve got some extra time, it’s actually probably worth a stop by. Samplers were super cheap.

June 6, 2009
I liked this place quite a bit. Had a cheeseburger for lunch there and it was good. Beer was good and fairly inexpensive, which was nice. Growlers were reasonably priced, except for the $10 they wanted for glassware.

January 6, 2009
This could really be a country bar anywhere in Central PA. Dark lighting, paneling, pool tables, and the cook at the bar subbing out a cigarette before she goes back to fry your wings. I wouldn’t consider any of their beers bad, by any means. Some are decent. Their Alpha Deuce IPA and their Smoky Oak Scotch Ale are both very solid beers. I will say that their sampler is a steal coming in at around 4.75 for 6 beers. I had wings there and for all intents and purposes, there were pretty good. Their service was so / so. If you don’t mind a very smoky environment, the place isn’t that bad. There isn’t a pretentious nail in this place, which is hard to find in a brewpub that makes anything of any quality. I wouldn’t drive the 3 hours for just this place, but with the number of great places in the area, it’s worth swinging by.

January 23, 2008
It kind of looks like a barn... I had to drive by and come back to convince myself I was in the right place. The entrance isn’t very obvious, either. I showed up not too long after they opened, and I think I was their first customer of the day. The only employee present was the brewmaster, who was in the process of brewing (and it made the place smell great). The bartender (who turned out to be the owner) was late, and I had to wait for him to arrive to be served. The beers were ok, but nothing to get excited about.

May 3, 2007
A few minutes away from Bullfrog, this hole in the wall is up and coming. You enter a smoke filled room with mostly young people, a big bar and pool tables, blue collar and amiable. In the back is an addition that could be a nice hall anywhere, where couples were eating and beer could be brought to you. I of course stayed in the former. I have no previous biases as the owner was switching from home brew to pro, so I enjoyed the IPA as the highlight. The rest of the lineup was so-so with a couple of decent stouts. A lot of people come for the food.

March 15, 2007
Looking at this place from the outside - a wooden sided building with a muddy, pot-holed gravel parking lot sitting in a tiny village across the river from Williamsport - you would think that you’re walking into some upper end dive bar with not much to offer. Appearances are deceiving. I wasn’t expecting to try a round of beer samples that were as solid as they were! Whatever faults that Bart Rieppel had to start with, he’s got them under control now.

I was pleased with every single one I tried. The irish ale and both the APA and IIPA were terrific, and all the others were above average, IMO. Bart was there, and he talked to us for a while about getting started. The 8bbl system came from Red Bell. He was a homebrewer for several years and worked construction. A couple of years ago, he was laid off. At a Xmas party in the Valley Inn, he ended up talking to some people who own the place. Next thing he knows, he was brought in to plumb the entire operation and start brewing.

He has the philosophy of getting the maximum out of his beers, even if that means losing a bunch in the process. He grew the hops for the IIPA, and tends to not add a bittering hops - rather adding everything within 30 minutes of finishing (or less). The results are obvious. His beers are solid and well crafted. Keep your eyes on this guy.

August 24, 2006
Located across the river from Williamsport, Abbey Wright is a small brewery enclosed in a hotel/bar. The outside of the building is unassuming, has a noticeable lack of windows, and also almost a complete lack of signage. The interior is set up like a roadhouse bar or pool hall, where the crowd of locals was putting back mugs of Bud Light after work. The setting reminded me of Siletz Brewing Company in Oregon, where there was a lot of blue-collar locals in the place, but none were drinking the house beer. Along with the 5-6 selections available from Abbey Wright, they also have about a dozen other craft and macro brews on draft, the Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada type stuff. On my visit I had the saison and the IPA, and both were lacking. The IPA tasted like it was 6 ounces of Chinook hops just stewed in water... no sweetness, no balance, and it had a very homebrew-ish taste all around. The saison was pretty disappointing as well. I ate some wings when I was here, and I took a recommendation on what was an arbitrary-sounding "hot" sauce that was really just honey mustard. Ugh. Not to be a total downer, I can say that this place may be close (beer-wise) to being really good, but overall I get the feeling that the brewery was started in a hotel because it is a low-risk enterprise with the hotel and bar already established.