Go there if you’re in the area. And if you aren’t in the area, go there anyway…
Marley’s Brewery and Grille in Bloomsburg makes a simple argument: a brewpub should be good at both halves of the word.
That is less common than it sounds. Plenty of breweries have strong beer and forgettable food. Plenty of restaurants keep a respectable tap list without brewing anything of their own. Marley’s does the harder thing. It gives the beer drinker enough to study and the hungry person enough to justify the trip.
The brewery opened in 2011 inside the historic Hotel Magee building before moving about a mile down the road to its current home on Columbia Boulevard, where it gained more parking, more room, and a full brick oven menu. That move helped turn Marley’s into more than a Bloomsburg standby. It became a practical destination for anyone driving through the middle of the 570.
The beer is the first reason to go. Marley’s keeps 10 to 14 rotating and seasonal beers on tap, brewed on-site under Head Brewer Kyle Kalanick. The current list has real range: cream ale, Kölsch, pale ale, peanut butter brown ale, American lager, Vienna lager, Irish red, double IPA, porter, Belgian tripel, and West Coast IPA.
That variety matters. A Kölsch and a cream ale depend on cleanliness and restraint. A Vienna lager needs malt without weight. A West Coast IPA has to be bitter, bright, and structured. A Belgian tripel at 9.8 percent asks for control. Marley’s is not merely chasing one style; it is building a broad local beer board.
Pack Dog Peanut Butter Ale remains the calling card. The 6 percent brown ale, brewed with roasted peanuts, won bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in both 2013 and 2015. In a region full of capable breweries, that gives Marley’s a rare distinction: a house beer with national hardware and a flavor people remember.
The kitchen keeps pace. The menu is big, but the best dishes show purpose. Pork belly tacos come with Asian slaw and white cheddar. Short rib fries bring beer-braised beef, cheese curds, brown gravy, and ale gravy. The brisket grilled cheese folds in mushrooms, onions, and three-cheese sauce. There is crab-stuffed pretzel chicken with Old Bay cheddar sauce, beer-battered haddock, Marley’s short rib over garlic mashed potatoes, and a full brick oven lineup of pizzas, flatbreads, strombolis, and calzones.
The specials make the case even better. Recent features have included a Bianca pie with ricotta, garlic oil, fresh mozzarella, and basil; soft shell crab wings with Old Bay and remoulade; coffee-rubbed ribeye with onion jam; BBQ chicken bacon ranch pierogies; and mac-and-cheese-stuffed fried chicken. The May feature menu adds a garlic parmesan pretzel twist, tuna salad on a croissant roll, Marley’s cheesesteak thick crust, and New York apple crumb cake.
This is not precious food. It is richer, louder, more direct than that. But it is cooked with enough thought to separate it from routine bar fare.
That is the appeal of Marley’s. You can go with someone who wants to compare a cream ale, an Irish red, a porter, and a West Coast IPA. You can go with someone who wants short rib, brick oven pizza, fried seafood, or a serious sandwich. Both people win.
For the 570 craft beer scene, Marley’s belongs on the short list: a Bloomsburg brewpub with range, a nationally recognized flagship beer, and a kitchen that gives you a reason to stay for dinner.
