Nearly a dozen local brewers will be represented…
On May 20, something quietly remarkable is going to happen in Exeter.
For one evening, eleven breweries from across Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania will gather inside Sabatini’s Bottleshop & Bar for the first-ever “570 Throwdown,” a celebration of local craft beer that feels less like a festival and more like a snapshot of how far this region has come.
Sabatini’s announced on its Facebook page. According to the post, 11 local breweries will be in attendance for this first “throwdown”. If you’re at all surprised to see a pizza joint/beer store hosting one of the biggest NEPA craft beer events of the season, then you obviously haven’t been paying attention to what Sabatini’s has going on.
The pizza there is fantastic. And it also happens to be one of the most important beer destinations in the 570. The place attracts craft beer fanatics from farther away than you might suspect.
They come from Philadelphia, New Jersey, Harrisburg, and New York. They drive long stretches of Interstate 81 in search of rare bottles, carefully kept draft lines, and the kind of beer conversations that stretch late into the night over pizza and pints. They come because Sabatini’s, tucked beside the family’s longtime pizzeria on Wyoming Avenue, quietly became one of the most respected beer destinations in Pennsylvania.
Coolers hum softly behind rows of carefully stacked bottles and cans. Draft lists stretch long enough to make even experienced drinkers pause before ordering. Somebody at the next table might be overheard debating hops or lagers or whether a particular stout release tasted better two years ago. The place carries the warm clutter of obsession.
And now that obsession is becoming communal.
The breweries participating in the inaugural 570 Throwdown represent a remarkably complete portrait of Pennsylvania craft beer in 2026. The lineup includes Back Mountain Brewing Company, Blind Cat Beer Co., Breaker Brewing Company, Groove Brewing, Hopping Eagle Brewing Co., Here & Now Brewing Company, Last Minute Brewing, New Trail Brewing, Rusty Rail Brewing Company, Susquehanna Brewing Co., and Wallenpaupack Brewing Co.
Some are longtime regional fixtures. Others belong to a newer generation of breweries more interested in experimentation than tradition. Together, they reflect just how dramatically the local beer scene has evolved.
The 570 Throwdown also arrives as collaborative beer events are becoming more common across Northeastern Pennsylvania. Last year’s Made Local Craft Beer Festival at Groove Brewing in Scranton highlighted the growing appetite for regionally focused beer gatherings. But Sabatini’s approach feels different, less festival spectacle, more neighborhood beer summit. The setting matters. This isn’t a fairground or outdoor festival space. It’s a bottleshop that has spent years quietly helping shape the region’s craft beer culture.
That may be the most compelling part of this event.
The “570” in the title is not accidental branding. Around here, the area code means something. It signals geography, certainly, but also identity. Northeastern Pennsylvania has long existed in the shadow of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, often overlooked when conversations turn to food and drink.
But craft beer has changed the equation.
Over the last decade, breweries across NEPA and Central Pennsylvania have matured from small passion projects into genuine gathering places with distinct culinary identities. Taprooms became neighborhood anchors. Brewers began collaborating instead of competing. Drinkers grew more adventurous. A region once defined mostly by corner taverns and domestic light lager now speaks comfortably about barrel aging, mixed fermentation, hop saturation, and crisp Czech-style pilsners.
The 570 Throwdown feels like a natural next step.
Sabatini’s has always understood that beer culture works best when it feels welcoming rather than exclusive. Even after national recognition, including being named among America’s best beer stores by Men’s Journal, the bottleshop never drifted into self-importance. That balance matters. Great beer bars can sometimes become exhausting in their seriousness. Sabatini’s never lost its neighborhood spirit.
You can still order pizza. You can still run into somebody’s uncle drinking a lager at the bar. And somehow, sitting beside him, there might also be a traveler from Brooklyn hunting for a limited farmhouse ale release.
That collision of worlds is part of what makes the place special.
And on May 20, all of it will be concentrated into one room.
The glasses will fog in people’s hands. Somebody will discover a brewery they had somehow overlooked. Brewers who usually see each other across crowded festival grounds will finally have time to linger and talk. New favorites will emerge quietly over conversation and second pours.
The 570 Throwdown may be new, but the community behind it has been building for years. If you are any kind of local craft beer fan, I’d recommend making a point to stop in to Sabatini’s on May 20th.
