Beer Dinner - Flying Fish at Issac's

'Tis the Season...for travel for us.  Every holiday season we schlep around to both of our families for Christmas and New Years.  It is a good combination of SNL's skits 'Do It On My (Twin Bed)' and 'Your Hometown'.

This year we hit Lancaster, PA first for a longer than normal stay.  Not that we don't love it here, WE DO and hope to live here someday soon! However, we came up earlier than we normally would because of a rescheduled beer dinner at one of our favorite Lancaster restaurants, Issac's.  This deli is a local chain with an old school Miami theme and amazing soups and sandwiches.  When their beer dinner for the weekend before was cancelled due to snow we jumped at the chance to go when they rescheduled for this weekend.

We didn't know what to expect since we had never had any of the Flying Fish beers and we have never been to the downtown Issac's location, the only one with a bar (Pickle Bar).  My mother in law tagged along as our 'DD'.  When we arrived we went to the bar area, which was much smaller than we expected.  A group of tables we pushed together so everyone could sit together.  It was a smaller group than expected but it was perfect company given the space provided and atmosphere.

It was a wonderful evening with surprisingly good beer!  Not that I expected bad beer but it was light and hoppy beer which usually isn't my style.  As you would expect, the four course Issac's meal was specifically paired with a certain beer to compliment the food.  The food and beer was great!  The Flying Fish brewery team couldn't make it since it was rescheduled but the Issac's staff did a great job giving us a history of Issac's, facts about each beer and why it was paired with each food item.  Each course was timed really well with not a lot of down time but you also didn't feel rushed.  Tim and I also did a great job of sharing the courses we liked and didn't like (me being vegetarian and him not eating seafood or cheesecake).  The great extra surprise at the end of the dinner was our choice of a pint of whatever beer we liked best.  We both picked a pint of Exit 4.  For $25 each, we definitely felt satisfied.

So overall GREAT evening!  Would totally recommend Flying Fish and Issac's if you are in the area.

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"What will Flying Fish Brewery do when they run out of Jersey Turnpike Exits to name their beer after?"