Monday 5th of September 2011 07:37:06 AM

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From the outside and upon entry Bube's initially doesn't seem very inviting. Easy to go to the wrong door and mistakenly think the brewpub is closed. Open the big yellow door! Once inside, take a moment to let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and be careful walking because there are plenty of uneven surfaces on which to trip. Turn right and walk into the bar area, which is decorated with small colorful lights and an overhead glassware and bottle collection. They have a 16 chair bar, at which I recommend ordering the beer sampler. The beer selection is not too large (usually 6 beers), but the brewmaster is constantly trying new recipes, and they also feature guest taps of regional crafts. The house craft beers are slightly better than average, and 1 or 2 usually stand out as especially good. Bube's (pronounced boo-bee's) has a loyal following, and after a couple beers the place feels quite cozy. The architecture feels ancient, and the place is multi-leveled with plenty of history to explore. Interestingly, I saw an episode of Ghost Hunters on television that featured this location. Out back, there is a wonderful biergarten patio, with plenty of tables and a 10 chair bar. The sprawling garden has an incredible variety of vegetation, including tall bamboo, and is a great place to relax.

Monday 3rd of March 2008 07:04:42 AM

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From the street, Bube's Brewery doesn't look like much. In fact, my wife and I thought it was closed, but years of beer travel has taught me that appearances are often deceiving. The best thing to do when looking for a brewpub or brewery is to pound on a few doors or just walk in the first unlocked door you can find. That's what we did. We opened up the yellow painted door under the Bube's sign and found ourselves in dark seeming endless system of stairs, tunnels, cavernous rooms, and passageways.

We ate in the taproom/tavern, called the Bottling Works. This crypt-like space is dark, dusty, and cozy. It was the part of the original Brewery where the beer was bottled. Seating is available in a front dining area, at the bar, or in the back room where there's a stage for live musical performance. For an appetizer we had pretzels dipped in Boursin cheese. This is a simple signature dish at Bube's and is served complementary before dinner in the Catacombs.

Of course, I ordered the beer sampler. It consisted of the four house beers: an Irish stout, a red ale, an ESB, and a Belgian trippel. The trippel was excellent and I had to order a ten ounce goblet of that. The whole time I was scribbling in my notebook and snapping photos, so the waitress asked me if I was "a beer critic." I explained that beer and brewpub evaluation were indeed my avocation. She told me that if I wanted to wander around the place and see some of the other parts of the Brewery, I could. She went off to get some keys. At that moment I had no idea about the extent of the Bube's complex.

My first tour of Bube's Brewery was self-guided and with a Belgian trippel in hand. We first wandered past a large pit with a pulley system suspended over it, down some rock-hune steps into a room with five enormous wooden barrels. It was then that I started to piece together the facts. Bube's Brewery was a real, historic brewery, not just a brewpub/microbrewery and here were the 19th century fermentation vessels to prove it.

The next room we entered was the art gallery. From the art gallery were steps leading up to the Alois restaurant and then cave-like area that I learned later were steps down to the Catacombs. We wander back past the wooden barrels and up another flight of stairs into a loft space called the Cooper Shed located over entryway and microbrewery. The Cooper Shed is the part of the original Brewery where the keg barrels where manufactured, and it's part homebrew shop, gift shop, and brewery museum.

Don't miss this place! If it's the one place you visit in Pennsylvania, you'll be satisfied. But you'll need more than one visit to take it all in.