FAQs

We reliably have locally made (thanks to SEPA being snack capital of the world) chips and pretzels in the Cellar Bar at all times. When our hours overlap with those of Heart and Hearth Deli & Smokehouse their food can be ordered directly for delivery to The Referend. During special events we typically have food trucks on farm. Outside food is permitted.

Dogs are unfortunately not allowed in the Cellar Bar, but leashed dogs are very welcome in the biergarten and in the Barn Bar for any events.

Your children are very welcome under the watchful eye of their legal caregivers! They will not, however, be served beverages containing alcohol until they’re 21 years of age or the US legal drinking age is lowered.

We find a staggering success rate among patrons that do not otherwise like beer. In process and outcome our beer tastes and smells profoundly different from “beer-flavored-beer”. So worth a shot, and if not we also serve various wines from Therein Wine and some PA-made spirits.

We offer all of our draft and cask beer (& wine) in 5oz pours a la carte. We’ll gladly pour you several such glasses at once if you’d like to compare and contrast.

We have and we increasingly will! Join our mailing list to hear about all such events.

Every beer that we sell has seen temperature ranges of 50-70F (sometimes lower, rarely higher), so that the beer develops hardiness in this range. (This is an intentionally-forgotten bit of old wine and beer wisdom buried, presumably, by companies that sell refrigeration.)

Bottles can be kept in the range above, which closely matches ambient basement temperatures in the region. Lower temperatures will slow aging processes, higher temperatures will accelerate them.

Try to keep bottles from high heat (72F+), sunlight, freezing, fast temperature swings, and excessively dry air. But slow seasonal shifts of anywhere from 33F-70F are natural and good. If you have a whole wine/beer fridge dedicated to bottles of The Referend, you could set it to 50F and hope it doesn’t break.

For our few crown capped bottles, please store upright.

For our cork and wirehood bottles:

In the short term (if you’ll be popping the cork in the next year or two) it’s not likely to matter, so keep them oriented however is easiest for you.

If you plan on keeping the bottles cellared for years or decades, consider storing them horizontally. This will keep the cork wet(ter), and more importantly will increase the surface area of the lees in contact with the liquid, which is itself an antioxidative process, and which improves the taste/texture of the beer considerably over time.

The baskets keep bottles at a consistent angle to enable better control of the bottle pour, keeping lees out of the glass if desired.

Most traditionally, bottles containing sediment are decanted, pouring the clear beer or wine and leaving the lees behind in the bottle. This is how we serve on-site vintage bottles at The Referend, though you’re certainly welcome to add back lees if you like.