The brewery is hosting “8 Beers for 8 Years” dinner…
They say the road to great beer always has dirt on it. Sweat. Late nights. Persevered failures. And every so often, something miraculous: years of coaxing liquid gold from grain and water, workshops of joy and heartbreak together. Wallenpaupack Brewing Company is about to mark such a miracle — eight years of brewing in Hawley, Pennsylvania — and they’re doing it like it deserves: with beer, food, friends, flame, and a kind of honest gratitude.
The Anniversary: Beer & Food, Pairings & Revelry
On October 3, 2025, Wallenpaupack is hosting its 8 Beers for 8 Years Anniversary Beer Dinner. Start at 6 PM, eight courses of tapas, and eight beers—pairing each plate with a specific brew.
You pay not just for a meal, but for a story. For flavors that reflect eight years of pushing boundaries. For beer styles that show how far they’ve come.
Let’s talk beer first. Some highlights:
- The 8th Anniversary Imperial Cream Ale — 9% ABV. An imperial version (higher alcohol level) of Wallenpaupack’s flagship Cream Ale brew.
- Vanilla Latte Cream Ale — soft, dessert-ish, dangerous if you think you can have just one.
- Magnifico — a Czech-style Premium Pale Lager. Crisp. Noble hops. A beer that could have been born in Bohemia but matured near the lake.
On the food side: think tapas with ambition. Each small plate is designed not just to feed you but to dialogue with the beer. Maybe a smoky or charred meat that plays off the imperial cream ale’s alcoholic warmth. Something creamy, sweet—think dessert-rich, maybe vanilla or caramel—for the Vanilla Latte Cream Ale. Crisp, clean fare for the Magnifico and the lighter lagers. Acid or bitterness to cut through rich beers. Even something unexpected—salt, crunch, rawness—that jolts the palate awake.
A little history, hard work, and serious beer brewing skills…
It all started in 2017, when Rebecca Ryman launched Wallenpaupack Brewing in the Pocono Mountains—not just as another taproom but as something bigger: a craft brewery, brewpub, and beer garden, 14,000 square feet, right next to Lake Wallenpaupack.
Wallenpaupack Brewing didn’t just build its reputation by talking big; it lets the medals do the talking. In 2024 alone, they walked away from the World Beer Championships with five medals—four golds and a silver—putting several of their year-round standards side by side with their seasonal experiments. Their Largemouth Hazy IPA and Hawley Hefeweizen both struck gold in their categories; Paupack Cream Ale earned silver; and the seasonals Black Diamond Lager and Inside Edge IPA each snagged gold in theirs.
But the story doesn’t begin—or end—there. The Hawley Hefeweizen, one of their core beers, has collected recognition repeatedly. It won gold at the 2022 World Beer Awards as the United States “country winner” in the Wheat Beer category.
It was also honored at the 2023 World Beer Awards, among others, and its consistency has become a hallmark of the brewery’s craft. Even more ambitious beers like Underwater Church—their barrel-aged barleywine blend—have earned their keep: this was a gold medal winner in 2022 at the U.S. Open Beer Championships in the blended barrel-aged beer category.
Why It Matters
Eight years in the brewery world is no small feat. Trends shift. Taste buds evolve. Costs explode. Craft fatigue sets in. But Wallenpaupack has kept its bearings. It’s held onto its authenticity. It’s stayed local. It’s listened. It innovated. And now they get to celebrate not just surviving, but making something worth celebrating.
For the locals, the beer geeks, the curious traveler, this anniversary dinner is an invitation: to taste time. To taste mountains, lake, community, ambition, the moment when something ordinary (yeast + water + grain) becomes extraordinary.
If you go…
- Tickets: $60 per person or $110 per couple. Limited seating. Reserve ahead.
- Date: Friday, October 3, 2025, 6:00 PM, Hawley, at their brewpub.
- Bring your appetite. Bring your friends (or someone you want to be friends with). Be ready for toasts, stories, maybe some surprises.
In the end, this is more than beer. It’s what happens when people risk, build, fight, and pour their souls into something that starts as a dream and, slowly, becomes a gathering of flavors, voices, and memories. Wallenpaupack Brewing’s eight years deserve the kind of dinner you’ll remember. And trust me, you’ll want to be there.
