We’ve traveled thousands of miles visiting countless numbers of breweries across the state of Pennsylvania. It’s refreshing when we can still walk into a location and be taken aback by what we see. And that is exactly the case when you step through the doors of Mellow Mink Brewing in Mechanicsburg.
Situated along the Cumberland Valley Beer Trail, Melllow Mink operates a 5 barrel, 70 seat, 3,600 square foot brewery with 2,400 of that being the very spacious and elegant tap room you see below. During our visit we toured the location with Matt Miller who co-owns the brewery along with his husband Cole Taylor. As Matt shared with us he is the mastermind behind the recipes while Cole is the brains behind the design, look and feel of the brewery with all of it’s upscale features. The trio is rounded out by head brewer Cale Baker.
The brewery gets its name from the combination of the atmosphere and the state they reside in. With Minks being native to Pennsylvania and an elegant creature, it was the perfect fit for the feel and vibe they were looking to accomplish.
The brewery features 12 taps; 8 filled with their hand made beer with the 4 others featuring cider, cocktails on tap (seriously) and a “last call beer” which we found is a beer about to be kegged. Kegged because Mellow Mink serves their beer on tap right from serving tanks! By offering beer, wine, cocktails and cider there really is something for everyone here.
Take a tour of the brewery and tap room for yourself to get a true feel of this unique location:
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But the variety doesn’t stop at the liquid. While Mellow Mink does not feature a full kitchen, they still offer their patrons options. Their menu offers a variety of finger foods as well as a full selection of restaurants in the area along with food delivery services (Uber Eats, Grubhub, Door Dash, etc) listed who will deliver any food you’d like right to the brewery! Open up the menu, choose your drink and then head to the food section and you have yourself a well rounded meal.
Along with the look and feel of this brewery, the one thing Matt was proud to share with us is that the brewing system was built by a local company called Osage. Not only did they want to support American, but they wanted to support the local community by working with Osage Piping located nearby in Highspire, PA.
Matt (a long time home brewer and commonly known as “Dr. Lambic”) is the author of the educational brewing website Sour Beer Blog. Given his background it is no surprise that you will find a very robust and flavorful variety of sours, farmhouse ales, saisons and other delicious offerings.
However if the sour side of beer isn’t your style you are still in luck. Mellow Mink also brews more traditional beers such as pale ale’s, IPA’s and stouts. During our visit we enjoyed the entire profile of beers they are known for.
Pictured from left to right above we enjoyed:
Saison De Mink: 6.7% A bright hoppy saison
Superfruit 3: Berry Squad: 6.2% A blonde sour ale with Raspberries
Superfruit 2: Pom-Mango: 5.7% A blonde sour ale with Mangos and Pomegranates
Hop Moon: 4.2% Dry hopped golden sour
Horse Divorce: 3.1% Wild farmhouse table saison
Cloud Cathedral: 8.7% Blood orange double New England IPA
Tropical Escape: 5.3% Passionfruit Gose
The beer wasn’t the only homemade liquid onsite. Mellow Mink also boasts their own homemade water! Yup, you read that right. The brewery has a reverse osmosis machine to help their water profile create the freshest beer possible. They also use this to create their own flavored water. We tasted the Mandarin orange and lime water during our visit:
It doesn’t stop at homemade water, a wide variety of beer and cocktails on tap; Mellow Mink also has a barrel aging program right in the tap room! You wouldn’t expect brewers offering such a variety of beer to not barrel age, right?
A plethora of wine barrels line the brewery with beer aging and waiting for the perfect time to be released. Mellow Mink works with a local barrel broker, Northeast Barrel Co, to hand select the barrels that will pair perfectly with their hand crafted beer. The brewery plans to start a bottling program in February, with their first bottle release scheduled for March.
Matt was kind enough to offer us a taste right from the barrel. And we can assure you that the beer stored in these vessels will live up to the standard Mellow Mink has set with their beer.
With so much to offer it is also no surprise that Mellow Mink is kid friendly. Offering games, food, sodas and more this is the ideal location for the most hardened beer drinker or a family looking to enjoy their evening.
When all is said and done this brewery considers themselves a small family business with the goal is to always stick true to those roots. They would rather focus on growth in quality and variety versus scaling the business. Which was obvious in every sip of beer we tasted and every inch of the brewery and taproom we explored. They are passionate about the beer you drink and the experience you have.
The only way to truly experience all this brewery has to offer is with a visit yourself. Stop by their brewery on Carlisle Pike in Mechanisburg. If you can’t get out soon and want to see all they have going on make sure to visit them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
