North Country Brewing Company

 Last Saturday, Andy and I were craving something different to do. With the help of Google Maps and a thirst for some microbrews, we drove up to Slippery Rock for the day. After a tasty breakfast of toast and poached eggs with hot sauce and asiago, we started the surprisingly short trek up north.

 

We took back roads for the fun of it, and the drive ended up only taking an hour. I definitely thought it would take longer. Anyway, our first stop was at the Winfield Winery store, which is located right in the middle of Slippery Rock, PA. Their main location is in Cabot, PA, but they still offer tastings and sales of each of their wines at their Slippery Rock location.

The wine was fantastic. We sampled about six of their dry reds and whites, plus one or two semi-sweet wines. We both really enjoyed them all and ended up buying a bottle of the Noiret (A dry, dark red wine with spicy black pepper and oak flavors) and the Traminette Dry (A dry crisp white wine with a nice citrus finish). 

It wasn’t quite lunchtime (which we had been planning on having at the Brewery), so we dipped into the historic Ginger Hill Tavern for a look around and possibly (definitely) a drink. This was such a nice place! The Slippery Rock students are so lucky to have such a variety of nice, clean watering holes in a town that’s pretty far out there. In Bethany, we had literally one choice: Bubba’s. After four years, it got old.

Anyway, I had a Bloody Mary with gin, extra spicy. Our bartender could really make a good drink. She was awesome! Andy ordered a 16 oz Coors light bottle which was on special for $2, but she gave him a 22 oz bottle instead…still for $2. Awesome! The menu looked great too. We were getting pretty hungry, but we held out for the Brewery. 

Just a few steps later, we made it to North Country Brewing Company. This brewery/restaurant is seemingly made entirely out of hand carved wood. Absolutely gorgeous. The tap handles were especially lovely. Someone definitely did lots of hard work carving them. It was sort of an awkward, tight situation while we were at the bar, so I sadly didn’t get a picture of them.

 

Andy enjoyed a Psychedelic Nightmare while at the bar, and I had a Liquid Love Stout. They were 100% different from each other, yet both 100% delicious. Seriously, if you are a beer lover anywhere near Pittsburgh, you’re making a mistake if you don’t make it up here. I just can’t say enough about the beer here.

We got a table in about 15 minutes. We would have been fine staying at the bar, but again, pretty cramped. Our waiter was excellent. He checked on us at perfect intervals and was knowledgeable about anything we asked.

 

I sat next to this beautiful piece of stained glass. The mix of the natural wood and the stained glass was stunning.

 

So many choices! We couldn’t decide what to get next…

 

…so we got all of them :)

Nine 5oz beers for $9. Not bad! The decent sized glasses allowed the two of us to have generous tastes of each beer.

 

Each beer was excellent. Honestly, I couldn’t say that any one of the beers was “just okay.” They were all SO delicious and had individual distinctive flavors. I’m just surprised that such a small brewery can produce so many individual, quality beers.

Up next was the food. I ordered a falafel wrap that rivaled food I’ve had at “real” falafel places. This had homemade, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, piping hot, amazing balls of falafel with cucumber aioli, lettuce, and tomatoes on a warm, soft pita. Delicious. It was so filling, but not too much that I couldn’t enjoy the beer! Andy ordered the chicken tenders and loved them as well.

Lots of great food and excellent beer. We were two happy people.

  

Well, I think I’ve gushed enough about my experience at North Country. We’re already talking about our next trip up to Slippery Rock!