After a visit to some old friends in Cecil County MD, during which the weather was so cold that the flashers were describing themselves, I took a detour to southern Pennsylvania on January 5 to visit some breweries before heading home.

First I went to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia to lay a base with one of DiNic's famous sandwiches that a TV show called Man vs. Food touted as being the best sandwich in America in 2009. It's roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe. Well, it might have been the "best sandwich in America" in 2009, but in early 2018 it was nothing but dry pork with a little cheese and some bitter broccoli on a soggy white bun. A truly marginal experience. Never again will I go out of my way to eat anything that was hyped on cable TV. Here is a photo of this gastronomic disappointment:

Okay, on to my first brewery of the day: Tired Hands Brewing. There are two locations situated a few blocks apart: the Brew Café and the Fermentaria. I went to the latter. They don't have flights but they do offer 4- and 8-ounce pours. The beers I sampled ranged from good to great:

• Alien Church (oat IPA) - a great citrusy, murky, light-colored New England-style IPA
• Pineal (another oat IPA) - gold, cloudy, and almost as good as Alien Church
• Pineapple Milkshake IPA (collaboration with Omnipollo) - a good beer with oats, lactose, pineapple puree, and Madagascar vanilla beans
• Hop Hands - a good pale ale
• Saison Hands - a good tart saison aged in foudres

Second stop: Victory Brewing. There are three taprooms. I went to the one in Downingtown. This location houses their flagship brewery and corporate headquarters. I got a flight consisting of:

• Mighty Things (DIPA) - good and hoppy
• Moonglow (weizenbock) - fairly good and sweet
• Wisdom's Hour (barrel-aged sour ale) - good and lactic
• BB#7 Black Forest Cake Stout - just okay
• Java Cask (coffee bourbon stout) - quite good and a bit peppery

Pano shot of one of the dining rooms.

Next I went to Tröegs Independent Brewing. The large facility has a beer store in addition to the brewery and taproom. I sampled:

• Solid Sender Ale (pale ale) - a good representation of the style
• Java Head Stout (oatmeal stout with coffee beans) - good
• Scratch #307 Cherry Chocolate Stout (with Balaton cherries) - quite good

I also bought a 4-pack of their La Grave (a saison). I drank a bottle the following night and it was quite good.

Then it was onward to Funk Brewing. The brewery is in Emmaus; I went to the taproom in Elizabethtown. My beer flight consisted of:

• Silent Disco (IPA) - a good cloudy New England-style IPA
• Mumble (DIPA) - good. The description said "Notes of oolong tea, huayas, and fresh cut lawn clippings."
• Mutter (DIPA) - a very good murky New England-style DIPA
• Babble (imperial IPA) - another murky New England-style hop bomb. Lighter color and slightly better than Mutter.

I then headed to Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing. It's located behind a Weis supermarket. When you drive up to Weis, there is a sign on the building that says "Pub". This is NOT Al's / Pizza Boy. It is located in a separate building behind Weis. It was about twelve degrees out when I walked up to the door, and ... it was locked. I checked the sign on the door and I was definitely there during business hours. I walked around back and encountered two people outside smoking. They said that the place was closed for remodeling. I went back to my car and called the place hoping that maybe they'd let me in on account of the fact that I had schlepped there on the coldest night of the year. No luck. Oh well. Four breweries in one day was still pretty good.