Troubles End Brewing

 

This place is great. The food is excellent and the beers always enjoyable. Make sure you try whatever they have on cask. Friendly and attentive service.

You have to walk up a flight of stairs. Inside it’s decked out like a barn or roadhouse with a high ceiling, wooden beams, Christmas lights, live music and a long bar along one side and lots of tables. Thirty minute wait to sit on a Friday night; apparently they do take reservations, though. I liked the classic rock they were playing when we came in; the reggae cover band was also fun. The place is quite loud just from the crowd, not necessarily the music.

The waitstaff was fast enough given how crowded it was. I could order by beer style rather than by beer name, so they were at least that knowledgeable about what was a very long beer menu.

The place had two beers on cask, two on Lukr, and close to 20 on tap overall (plus wine, cocktails and bottled beer). Out of all those on tap only a couple were described as pale ales, and none as IPAs, which I appreciated.

I had an oatmeal stout and ESB on cask, a pilsner on the Lukr faucet, and a saison. They were all at least good, and the saison was excellent. They had at least five saisons on offer, and the next time I’ll try more of those.

The pub food we tried was all decent. Nothing to rave about or to complain about.

If I lived closer, I’d be here all the time.

Visited on February 26, 2022, with my wife after a sporting event at Ursinus. We were immediately greeted and welcomed in and seated. This was nicely finished inside a large, older building, with a good selection of beers on sale from taps. The environment is casual with various seating options, including regular tables, and stools at the bar. Brew barrels are adjacent to the taproom and clearly visible. The staff was very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Nice variety of beer for sale, with both their own beers as well as some beers from other microbreweries. Beer styles included stouts, IPAs, pilsners, sours, and fruit flavored beer. I tried two different beers, and they were all fresh and tasty.

The food was good pub standards. I had the fish and chips. The fish were two large patties. They were tasty, and the tartar sauce complemented it well. It also came with very tasty fries. My wife had the prime rib burger and fries. She enjoyed the burger, and since it was large, ate half and saved the rest for later.

When ordering our beers, the bar tender was very friendly. He shared insights into the various beers on tap, and gave us samples to help us decide on our selections. I asked a lot of questions, which he gladly answered. When we finished and were leaving, the bar tender called out and thanked us for coming.

The facility is medium size and clean. It has a retro look, as well as TVs around the whole area. It was obvious that the owners spent a lot of money to build out the facility. The facility was almost full, and I was surprised at how many people were there on an early Saturday afternoon.

I also bought two growlers of some of their other beers to drink at home.

Nice vibe, great service, and good beer. I live an hour away, and will visit again when I am in the area.

I first visited this establishment when it was under another brewery ownership which closed a couple of years ago. Since it reopened as Troubles End, they made sure to bring a robust selection of outside beers in on tap to keep the discerning microbeer masses happy until they released their own brews.
The food selection is better than most microbreweries and not overloaded on fried foods, but the overall quality needs a little fine tuning. i recommend the roasted cauliflower with arugula.
The place has a ton of room inside, a big bar, a band-stand area, and plenty of room for the brewing equipment. The first time we went here soon after they opened, it was packed and there was an excited vibe. I have since been back twice, the latest time was to try their two new beers on tap and sat outside. Due to COVID, seating has been limited but they were able to set up about 10 picnic tables outside and it's working out well.
Their first two beers are classic styles (dry oat stout and 'PA' bitter) done simply and really well. I highly recommend going here, getting some apps, and trying their first beers and digging into the eclectic guest beer selection. Believe it or not, the area was starving for another brewery after the first one closed down. Good luck and I'll see you there.

Had a meal and beers at their outdoor seating (temporary due to COVID-19). They aren't serving their own beer yet, so I am putting their "quality" score as a middle "3" for now. Instead they had about 15 beers on tap from various American craft breweries and German and Belgian imports. Wide array of styles, and all high quality. Food is gastropub fare, and our meals were very good. Server was friendly, helpful, and service was good.

**Edit, after having a couple of their beers, upping quality score

**Edit after dozen+ visits, upping beer quality score