In this second beer sojourn in a couple of months, I decided to take more time at places that may have only been cameos the first time around.

One such place, was Victory Brewing in Downington, PA.

Last time around, I only imbibed with one of their beers, a Golden Monkey, and moved on to other places for chow.  This time, I promised myself, try the food, relax, try a couple more of their beers to see what else they had to offer.  I was well rewarded for this plan.

I was greeted warmly from the bartender and offered a beer menu and a food menu — can you say “yes, please” and “yes, please”?

I usually try to order a beer that I haven’t had before and I followed that plan and jumped on a Hop Wallop!

Wallop my taste buds, it did, as my mouth became overjoyed at the transition from Starbucks coffee to Hop Wallop.  I was pleased with my choice off of the  craft beer menu, one that had some wonderful options.  Check out their main beer menu here – what would you have ordered?

I narrowed the food choices down to two sandwiches (The Prime and the Dietrich) and an entree (I never saw a Reuben Meatloaf on a menu before, so it made it to the final cut…..my version of American Idol).

In the end, my weakness for a Reuben overwhelmed the other choices and I went with the Dietrich.  (much of my spare time is spent searching  the countryside for the best reuben….if life was a series of lobster rolls, reuben sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches….I could consider giving up steak…but I digress).

This reuben was top-notch!

A delicious home-made pastrami, served with fingerling potato fries, both of which made me long for having this place in my neighborhood.  The serving was more than enough!  In fact, I  couldn’t even finish the whole plate…. even if that meant, just leaving a few pickles.

Wanting to try one more beverage before I left, I tried the summer seasonal, a Whirlwind Witbier.  This beer was ok, but I think after a hop wallop, many of the lighter beers mind as well have been a bottle of poland springs water.

It was time to get back on the road, down to Baltimore, to settle in to watch the Bruins in game 7 against the Canadiens.  My Baltimore buddy Brendan O’Brien and I watched a the action from a couple of bars in Canton.

First up, was Loonies, but the small TV screen size challenged our eyesight, reminding us too much how much older we are (well, for Brendan anyways).  These old men needed large screens, damn it!!!  Luckily, a few spots up the street, we found great TV’s and good beer at an old dancing haunt of ours (I vaguely remember a dancing trance of Shakira music, which certainly convinced me that night that ~Hips Don’t Lie~), the Claddagh.  A Bruins win and a few Raging Bitches (the beer, not the locals) were a good way to end this day.