Golden Avalanche Brewing Co.

September 6, 2008
Went after the 13th Annual Chile Pepper Festival in Bowers. Was here 2 years ago as well. Place is immaculate, completely clean. Food was adequate and I thought the beer was good, much better than many other brewpubs I have been to. I had the Belgian Ale, Raspberry Lager and the Donner Weiss. Although the beers lean to the lighter side, the flavors of all were enjoyable and refreshing especially following pepper picking. Didn’t really eat but had a few appys, corn fritter, artichoke dip & wings-nothing extraordinary but nothing poor. Service was excellent (sat at the bar), courteous and helpful. Will more than likely go again next year. There is a bottle shop adjoining but limited selection and pricing is high with only 6ers for sale.

July 26, 2007 [ Updated October 1, 2007 ]
Very clean, almost squeaky clean appearance; more of an exhibit than a real brewpub (brew kettles sparkling, bags of malt nearby). Attentive service at the bar, and a really pleasant set of couches out front; cozy, but kind of fake and inauthentic. Like their beers. Good mix: 9-12 total, including a Maibock, Raspberry Lager, Cream Stout, Alt, and Bourbon Stout - but none that we tried (and we tried a fair amount) were any good. Decent place, but hardly worth the trip when the beers are either full of diacetyl (Cream Stout) or vanilla extract (Bourbon Stout). Very poorly-made beers, for a college crowd that probably doesn’t know better.

July 24, 2007
Drove by and thought it was a dive bar from the outside. It’s quite different - looks like a family restaurant brewery, high ceilings, lots of light, in fact the brewing equipment is in full view of the entire restaurant, almost out in the open rather than in another room. This makes the place look like an exhibit at a museum. Beer selection seemed good, with 10 or so styles on tap, but beer quality was god-awful. One of the worst breweries I’ve had in a long time, close to Two Rows, Bricktown (OKC) and Pinnacle (Helper, Utah). The Raspberry Lager has acetone and perfume in it, the German Alt was neither German nor Altbier, and the Bourbon Stout was nothing but concentrated vanilla extract added to cola. It was that bad. Plus, the logo looks like the sun is puking up beer onto a mountain. I can see why.

April 10, 2007
I thought this was a really nice place, the food was good, and the atmosphere was also swell. The only problem was that their beers were not all that. Many of them seemed watered down and flat. They did have about 10 of their own on tap so that was a plus.

August 19, 2006
From the drive by, it looked like it would be a hole in the wall. I was surprised to see a large and modern looking brew pub on the inside. Service was slow (we were there at 2pm on a Saturday and it really wasn’t that crowded that would warrant such slow service). Beers below average. There was 4, count the 4, Pale Lagers on tap. Food was below average (my Panini was basically a regular sandwiched served hot and wasn’t anything - more of a hot ham & cheese vs. a Panini). Happened to be out in the area and I wouldn’t recommend specifically seeking it out.

June 10, 2006
Good food, beer selection is qute average with a good choice being the half & half, (onyx cream & young allen’s lager). Service was poor. Despite only a few people in the place, they did not keep the glass filled. Prices are good. Not a bad place if you’re in the area, but wouldn’t drive far to come here.

January 26, 2006
I like this place a lot as a restaraunt. I used to live down the street in Kutztown. Great environment and very good food, plus the waitresses are usually cute. The beer is, at least in my opinion, the weak point. Golden Av makes some good stuff but sorely lacks in selection... their "seasonals" consist of a winter bock, summer bock, etc., while the regular taps are filled with at least 3 lager styles at any one time.

June 14, 2005 [ Updated August 21, 2006 ]
Updated 8/21/06. This place doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the inside is very spacious and inviting, with nice high ceilings and a big bar area offset byu a lot of table space. The menu is varied, and everything we had was great, from the nachos to the seafood bisque to the crab Kutztown. The beer sampler was 8 strong, ranging from a run-of-the-mill light lager to outstanding versions of altbier and blueberry lager. Service was great. I’ll definitely be making this at least a seasonal trip.

January 15, 2005
Nice looking place. Below average beer but decent food, especially burgers. Cheap as hell beer.

March 2, 2004
Pretty average place, beers are average, food is alright, not all that special of a place, only really went here to try their beers, haven't been back a second time