Brewing is not solely dedicated to major metropolitan areas. In fact, many towns and small cities offer everything a beer traveler is looking for in a destination. We’ve compiled a list of 20 of the best beer towns in the US based on size (population under 100,000), with a minimum number of two breweries, and the area’s overall appeal to beer fans. The list spans the country from east to west and if turned into a road trip would cover 9,315 miles over 33 states.
Whenever I travel with my family, we make sure to visit one or two museums. Whether it’s small, historic homes in colonial-era towns or grand testaments to architecture housing some of the finest art in the world, museums are as much part of how we travel as are dining, lodging or the weather.
When Jason Best visited a small beer fest in western Pennsylvania, his gears started turning. As a member of the Lititz AMBUCS – a chapter in a national organization with a mission to inspire and provide mobility and independence for everyone – he knew there was a need for a greater inflow of cash to fund philanthropic projects. A few weeks later he visited another festival and the beer fan knew he had to bring the idea to Lititz.
My assignment was to shadow the bovine-inspired mascot for the afternoon and learn what goes into being the living symbol “en caricature” of an Atlantic League baseball team. Cylo, who claims to be a “distant relative” of the Phillie Phanatic, was accompanied by the Barnstormers’ marketing coordinator, Carlynn Adams.
The first breweries in Pennsylvania opened in 1683 when the nation was still a series of English colonies, although it was an influx of German immigrants who buoyed beer brewing in the state. By 1794, because of its lager brewing prowess, the small city of Lancaster, PA was dubbed an equal of Munich, Germany. The most recognizable name in PA brewing is Yuengling, which dubs itself as “America’s Oldest Brewery” and relies on its massively popular, hometown Lager beer.
We’ve all made pivots over the past 15 months in order to keep our careers on track. I was able to parlay my 20-plus years of writing about Lancaster County into penning a travel guide as a result of answering a post on an online job board. Now, armed with suggestions regarding the people, places and things I either forgot to mention or were eliminated during the editing process, I could probably write Volume 2.
The accolades should have rained from the heavens in recognition of chef Cedric Barberet’s latest achievement. The masses should have flooded his Lancaster City restaurant, Bistro Barberet & Bakery, just to have the opportunity to taste a dish recognized by Food Network judges as one of the best in the country. Yet, this crowning achievement in his over 25-year, star-studded culinary career fizzled into the vacuum-like atmosphere created by COVID-19.
From tall case clocks to Amish furniture, woodworking has been engrained in the persona of Pennsylvania for centuries. A melting pot of influences has shaped the craft since the foundation of the original colony and, while today Pennsylvania ranks only in the middle of labor statistics for employed woodworkers, it is one of the most lucrative regions for those who make their living carving, joining and surfacing wood.
The view from afar shows Pennsylvania as tale of two cities, Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west. While the draw of one-stop vacationing in the bigger cities may be tempting, PA—the only state commonly known by its abbreviated initials—is home to hundreds of small-town wonders as well. To uncover these lesser-known gems, TravelMag asked more than 100 seasoned adventurers, travel writers, photographers, and industry professionals to name their top three most charming towns and small cities with populations of less than 100,000 people in Pennsylvania.
On a gray and slightly overcast morning on the Eastern Shore, oysterman Tucker Terry grabs a trusted employee and jumps in his maroon pickup for a short drive across the Delmarva Peninsula to the seaside town of Wachapreague. Terry leases water rights in Bradford Bay to “salt up” his bayside-grown oysters at Nandua Selects Oyster Farm.
