Selin's Grove Brewing Company

rdrummer

New Jersey

4.83/5  rDev +11.5%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I've been to SelinsGrove twice now. The first time I thought that I was just thirsty and that's why the beer was so good. The second time I did a thorough tasting of what they had to offer. There was not a single beer that I would classify as average. The two best were the Oatmeal Stout and the Tripel. The stout was as good as any that I've tried. It was full-bodied with excellent lacing. The Tripel matched many of the real Belgians. A truly excellent beer. The Hefe-weizen was very representative. The biggest disappointment was that they had nothing on the hand pump. They told me to come back later in the fall for their Barleywine on the handpump. Can't wait.

Edit: Since I have a student at the University, I have been here a number of times since this review. Each time, I find another brew that is better than the last. They harvested their own hops this year and made a terrific, hoppy ale that they had on the handpump. In addition, the menu continues to impress--very fresh, nothing mediocre.

The food here is above the average brew pub fare. I especially liked the Pennsylvania pretzel sandwich but get it with the brie, really great. Soups, salads, and sandwiches were all above average.

Edit: I've been considering that I need to upgrade this review, but it always seemed close until two trips this summer. The Stealth Tripel and the Mai Bock are so delicious that I couldn't ignore the slight I've given the quality of Steve's beer. Also, the service would be underrated at 4.5. I still would like to see a few more taps, and I hate when a tap is empty. It seems like such a waste. Steve is turning out some fantastic beers for the beer engine.

09-29-2003 23:06:31 | More by rdrummer

JennyRuth81

Pennsylvania

4.19/5  rDev -3.2%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.25 | food: 3.25 | $

Known locally as simply "the Brew Pub," the Selin's Grove Brewing Company is the hub of town. The small space, located in the bottom of a historic limestone mansion on Market Street, provides an intimate (read dimly lit) atmosphere for adults who want to drink adult beer. In a town populated mostly by college students who want quarter drafts of Miller, the Brew Pub is where an interesting mix of eclectic locals and visitors from around the country who come to enjoy delicious brews. These beers won't make the top 50 list of BA, but anything on tap offers solid quality everytime. 5-7 choices sit alongside their homebrewed root beer (non-alcoholic) and hard cider is usually on tap too. Wines from the local Shade Mountain Winery are also available.

You can sit outside under the hops they use in the beer! Or you can sit inside, and every table is different, picked up at local antique/flea markets. Complimenting the beer is the delcious food, trending towards organic and healthy (wraps, chilis, salads, etc...), nothing fried and soaked in oil. The freshness of the food brings out the cripsness of the beer.

05-01-2013 02:33:27 | More by JennyRuth81

TomCat

4.81/5  rDev +11.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Regular customer of SBP. Considering the size of the Brew House (Garage out back of Pub)and Pub itself this is one of the best spots you will find for miles around Selinsgrove. You will see the owner and Brew Master in the Pub on a regular basis. Their craft beers are always excellent and they change the beers fairly often. (A draw back for some) The Stout, Porter and IPA cannot be beat, period! This is a spot for great beer 1st, atmosphere 2nd and food 3rd. That being said this is without question the very best Brew Pub around. Be careful when SU is in session. The college guys and gals fill the SPB and finding a spot to sit can be quite challenging.

02-28-2013 14:30:45 | More by TomCat

chetw

Pennsylvania

4.35/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Good food and beer. My only complaint is they don't keep their best beers on tap. Its a long drive from were I live to the brew pub so it would be nice to keep their highest rated beers in their rotation.

They don't have a big menu but the food is very good. The beer that I had when I was there was good to very good. Although as I already stated the ones rated highest on this site were not available.

02-23-2013 13:38:45 | More by chetw

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

3.8/5  rDev -12.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

Took a road trip here with some friends over the weekend. The brewpub is located right along the main road in the town, very easy to access from the road or if you choose to you can find additional parking behind the building. The pub is located underneath a chiropractor's office. It's a very quaint and tiny little place. There is some outside seating in addition to the indoor seating and bar area. The lighting is dim, really enjoyed that. It was a quiet place during the late lunch hour when we arrived. The service was friendly and very helpful. The selection of food was better than the beers at that specific time. We ordered a cheese plate to start off with our first round of beers and got sandwiches ordered right after that. They only had 3 beers on tap... I was expecting at least 6 so I was a little bummed by that. The beers were good but not as good as the food. The whole thing was pretty affordable in my opinion. Overall it's a really nice place and chances are if I lived closer I would be there a lot more often.

10-29-2012 01:43:36 | More by Knapp85

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

4.29/5  rDev -0.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

If only so many other brewpubs could be just like this. Small, quaint, and with a load of personality. This place is amazing. Upon first stepping inside, you get this sense that you are in a special place. The service was fine and the beers were quite good. I tried several different ones and they all showed very nice brewing ability. Took a growler of the IPA with me and it was quite nice. If you are anywhere near this place, then you owe it to yourself to check it out. I wish I lived closer so that I could visit more often.

08-30-2012 17:24:30 | More by RblWthACoz

merc7186

New York

4.23/5  rDev -2.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Visited: 6/21/12

I had stopped here for lunch on my way from Harrisburg PA to Buffalo NY. I used to work in this area but could never really find the place.

A: When you approach the address, it is an old building located in the heart of downtown Selinsgrove. There is a small sign that leads you down a narrow stairway to the basement on the building. When you enter, it looks like a basement. There is a lot of old wood inside, the seating are is somewhat poorly lit, the ceiling is no more than 8ft, the dining area has about 15-20 tables and the bar area seats about 10-12 patrons. Its not exactly inviting by any means but retains a lot of the old building character.

Q: The quality of the beers were pretty solid. While not every beer was a perfect 5, the majority of the beers were at least a 4 or better.

S: The bartender was knowledgeable about the beers and attentive.

S: They have 9 in house beers on tap and 2 more on cask. It was a nice array between the various beer styles with very little overlapping.

F: I had the Chicken Chipotle Wrap with potato salad. It was decent enough but nothing earth shattering.

V: I had a full beer flight, a wrap sandwich, cheesecake and a 8oz Kriek for $26, worth the price.

Overall, I thought when saw al of their beer reviews that they were just local over hype but this place is legit. The beers were all solid (with few exceptions) and worth the stop when passing through the area.

06-24-2012 15:01:23 | More by merc7186

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

I made a point to stop here on the way to Pittsburgh. It's a really nice little place with a tidy, rustic, organic, quasi-colonial, craft-fair/antique shop feel to it, much like the entire town (despite the seemingly large amount per capita of adult bookstores and shops seen on the way there). There's a small bar and a fair amount of seating inside, lots of wood and dim lights. Since the dog was with us though, we sat outside, where there are a few tables in a cozy and comfortable setting. Laid back and quite enjoyable.

They had a very nice selection of house brews on tap, with one or two cask-conditioned, with enough style variety to please almost anyone. All beers were solid. I always love to see pour-size options at brewpubs, and these guys gave the choice of 4, 8, 12oz., and full pours. Excellent.

Food was decent, but the stuff we had was pretty much diner quality. Good diner, and quite tasty, but still not really above and beyond.

Now despite my appreciation for the laid-back aspect, I have to say the service was really slow and uncomfortable. I suppose the staff was friendly enough, but it was almost like they were not at all experienced in restaurant/bar service, which is a bit hard to believe considering the place has been open for well over a decade. And it was mid-day, and they didn't seem understaffed, so it's not like it was slammin' busy. But anyway, if that's my only complaint, then it's still not too bad overall. And to be fair, I'm used to sitting at a bar, where there's almost always someone standing right there that can see your empty glass and potentially fill it. If this service was at the bar, I'd give it a 2.5-3, but since we were out on the porch, I'll generously do 3.5.

Prices were all decent, and we actually ended up spending more on merch than we did on lunch. So basically a German growler (empty) and a pint glass cost more than two wraps, a generous sampler flight, and two 8oz. pours.

Great little gem of a place, and worth the trip if you're doing any kind of PA beer venture, whether it be from the west to Philly, from the east to Pittsburgh, from the north to Harrisburg, or from the south to Williamsport. I doubt I'll ever find myself in the vicinity of SG again, but if I do, this will definitely be a place to revisit.

05-19-2012 20:16:25 | More by Rifugium

nh2032

New York

4.3/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Review from a visit on 2/5/11. A really nice space in the basement of an old house in downtown Selinsgrove. Low ceilings and great atmosphere.

The Beer - a little disappointed that they were out of SNAFU IPA, Framboise, APA, and Love Buzz, my 1st 4 choices, by the time that we got there. I was still able to try the White Horse Porter (really good), Dubbel (good), and Oatmeal Stout (disappointing compared to the reviews on BA). It is really nice that they offer 4 oz, 8 oz, and full pints of all the offerings and for very reasonable prices. I also got a growler of the Scottish Ale to go which was still very good when I opened it a week after getting home.

The Food - I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. We had the nachos for an appetizer and they were very good. I had a roast beef sandwich on a pretzel bun for my entree which was excellent. My wife enjoyed her BLT as well.

Service - our waitress was good, but she was stretched very thin trying to serve at least 6 different tables on a busy Saturday afternoon. They could certainly use more help and I imagine they are much more attentive at slower times.

Overall, a great brewpub. Good beer and good food, just wish they could brew in greater quantities so that they wouldn't run out as often - very disappointing to drive so far and be out of the brews you were anticipating.

***
Updating after my recent visit on 10/14/11. When we saw pumpkin was on tap we made the drive down. The selection seemed much better than our last trip - 7 or 8 beers on tap, 2 on the beer engine although one kicked before my order could be filled. Food was really good again, especially considering how small the kitchen area is. For a Friday afternoon it was pretty busy and service was somewhat slow, but can't fault them too much for that.

***
Update after my visit on 3/3/12. Beer is still the highlight for me, but the menu was redone is just as good or maybe a little better than before. A lot more vegetarian options now.

03-04-2012 13:14:13 | More by nh2032

CliffBrake

New Hampshire

4.38/5  rDev +1.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Selin's Grove sits in the walk-out basement of an antique house built of limestone blocks, in a historic section of downtown. Inside, the pub continues the colonial Pennsylvania feel with simple, poorly lit spaces, old style wooden tables and chairs. The atmosphere seems authentic - you almost expect to see Ben Franklin stroll in for a pint of grog!

Service was efficient and cheerful. I arrived a little before 5 PM on a Saturday to a pub that was about 1/2 full. Within a 1/2 hour there was no-vacancy and a waiting line at the door. I was impressed with how the staff managed to keep the seated patrons served while negotiating with those who were waiting for reservations, or to fill to-go orders.

The printed beer list during my visit was about 1/3 crossed out in red marker. Although Galaxy IPA was still listed and described, it had kicked a few days earlier and Olde Frosty had taken its place. A lot of the more special beers had kicked and had not been replaced. I definitely got the impression that beers kick pretty frequently and the staff was too busy to keep the list up to date. Perhaps the brewery is too small to keep everything consistently stocked as well. On the other hand, everything seemed very fresh!

Food selections were sandwiches, salads and a soup and one hot selection of the day (jambalaya today). All were fresh, well prepared, and presented on heavy ceramicware, seemingly in concert with the colonial theme.

I drove out of my way to use Selinsgrove as a stopping place for a multiday trip just to visit this pub. I was not dissapointed and would go out of my way to visit again, hoping to find a few more specialties not yet sold out.

02-19-2012 13:00:00 | More by CliffBrake