Crafty Carlisle
Two new places to tap into for cider, brews, and eats
Cumberland County’s craft beer community has beverage lovers covered from A to Z—that’s ale to zymurgy (the chemistry of the fermentation process). The Cumberland Valley Beer Trail, conceptualized in 2016 and launched in 2017 with 15 locations, has grown to 30 locations today. It’s managed by the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau, and spokesperson Aaron Jumper says the growth is all about location, location, location.
“It’s thanks to the agriculture here—it’s a great location to grow ingredients, with great producers in our area using local hops, local ingredients, and that’s a local advantage,” says Jumper. “But number one, our location offers easy access from I-81, the turnpike, and Routes 11 [and] 15, so it’s easy for visitors to find us.”
We visited two of the trail’s crafty Carlisle locations where everything shines—from golden beverages to flashy magic tricks, silver brewery tanks, and gleaming chrome bumpers.
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Abracadabra | Grand Illusion Hard Cider
Chad Kimmel thinks of cider as a magical product. The owner of Grand Illusion Hard Cider, Kimmel turned to old-fashioned magicians’ posters for design inspiration. Spotlights over the top of the bar are outfitted with magical black hats, and the décor echoes variations of dark purple. Just beware of lifelike black crows perched throughout the eatery.
“I was intrigued by the story of magic—this idea of being surprised and amazed,” Kimmel says. “It’s Edgar Allan Poe meets the Munsters and Johnny Depp— dark and whimsical but not too serious. I wanted people to think about cider that way too—amazed by the taste and flavor…the crispness and brightness.”
Grand Illusion features a grand total of 32 beverages on tap—four house ciders, plus additional Pennsylvania ciders, beers, wines, and craft sodas.
We tried one of Grand Illusion’s most popular ciders, Blue Illusion, crafted with apples, blueberries, and lavender. It was light and sweet, but not overly sweet, with the lavender adding just a touch of mystery. Blue Illusion, Mystic Citra Pineapple and Street Magic (grapefruit) ciders are sold in cans at 16 Central Pennsylvania restaurants and locations.
Kimmel values local and Pennsylvania partnerships— Grand Illusion’s ciders showcase apples from Brown’s Orchards, York, and are produced under contract with Dallastown’s Wyndridge Farm. “Tapped” relationships range from Pittsburgh’s Arsenal Cider to Philadelphia’s Sir Charles Cider, Adams County’s Big Hill and Ploughman Ciders, Kutztown’s Pinnacle Ridge Winery, and more.
“Cider sells because it’s all-fruit, natural, gluten-free, lighter, and lower in alcohol and calories, equally enjoyed by men and women,” Kimmel says.
While ciders and craft beverages are the focus, Kimmel says the menu is “artful, tasteful, not incredibly complicated.”
We sampled the pretzel flight—three soft pretzels seasoned with salt, spicy Cajun seasoning, and Italian herbs. It came with fun dipping sauces—Fat Tire beer cheese, sweet Dijon mustard, and roasted garlic Parmesan.
Popular flatbreads include three cheese (with a delicious Asiago and artichoke spread, roasted garlic Parmesan sauce, tomatoes, and mozzarella), chicken ranch, Cuban, and more. Wraps include the smokehouse BBQ with pulled pork, apple slaw, onion straws, and Sriracha bourbon BBQ sauce. The Sunday brunch menu offers quiches and a waffle flight.
Behind the scenes, it took 10 years until Kimmel and his wife Andrea launched Grand Illusion in 2018. The couple, who enjoy visiting wineries, began formulating their business through classes and workshops at Harrisburg Area Community College and Biglerville’s Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center. Both hold full-time jobs in addition to their work at Grand Illusion—Chad is a sociology professor at Shippensburg University; Andrea is a speech pathologist with the Capital Area Intermediate Unit. The couple, married for 17 years, has two young sons.
Because it is family-owned, Grand Illusion is family- friendly. A live magician performs table magic every Monday for “Magic Mondays.”
“We live in an experiential economy, where having a good product isn’t enough,” says Chad. “You have to provide memories and emotions too, so we put all of that into Grand Illusion.”
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A Taste of Germany | Desperate Times Brewer
Susan Dunn describes the economic downturn of 2008 as “desperate times.” Living in her native Florida, Susan and husband Matt were expecting their first child, so she left her flight attendant job of 25 years. Then Matt lost his civil engineering job, and through a series of job changes, the family found their way to the Harrisburg area.
That’s when their luck began turning from “desperate times” into a stable foundation for a profitable business.
“I had never heard of Carlisle, never thought I’d live here, but Matt was actually born in Harrisburg and lived here until the age of 8,” says Susan. “He had always wanted to open a brewery, from the time he was in college.”
It didn’t happen overnight, but six years after their move to Central Pennsylvania, following Matt’s training at the renowned Seibel Institute and American Brewers Guild–and a lot of patience waiting for the right location–they learned about a former John Deere dealership owned by Carlisle Events, the producers of Carlisle’s popular car shows. Within a month, they had an agreement and began renovating the 1920s-era property. And in late 2016, Desperate Times Brewery opened its doors.
Matt oversees the brewery; Susan manages the staff and menu. And just like in their marriage, their roles complement each other.
Desperate Times offers a dozen German-style beers on tap with a German-inspired menu to match. Think sausage, brats, huge soft pretzels, and Reubens. Brewing operations are located on-site, with the gleaming silver tanks viewed through the industrial building’s large windows.
Growth is happening by hops, leaps, and bounds. Desperate Times is the exclusive beverage partner for Carlisle Events’ car shows, it’s self-distributed to 15 Central Pennsylvania restaurants and locations, and beginning this season Desperate Times is a ballpark brew available at Harrisburg Senators and Lancaster Barnstormers games.
Within the first two years of operation, Desperate Times racked up an impressive number of awards—five. We tried two of the award-winners, the German Weizen, a hazy, pale-colored wheat beer with notes of banana and cloves, a 2018 U.S. Beer Open bronze winner; and the Black Forest Schwarzbier, a slightly roasty dark lager which claimed a 2017 Great American Beer Festival silver medal.
“People like German food with their beer, and everything on the menu is homemade,” Susan says. She is especially proud of the potato salad (delicious!) and sauerkraut, since they are her German-born mother’s recipes. Sandwiches include the popular Schnitzel as well as the Cuban, featuring Susan’s homemade mojo sauce and bread hailing from an authentic Cuban bakery in Florida. Chicken wings just debuted, and guests love that they are air-fried. Several earth-friendly practices are in place: Following beer production, the spent grain is fed to a local farmer’s cattle; in return, Desperate Times obtains eggs from the farmer’s free-range chickens.
Eco-friendly, compostable plates and bowls are surprisingly made from palm leaves; restaurant tables are crafted with reclaimed wood. A family-friendly kids’ area is graced with framed artwork by the couple’s two sons. So what’s next at Desperate Times? Expansion plans call for an outdoor beer garden, and the brewery began offering monthly, limited- release seasonal beer in cans.
The first one, February’s chocolate cherry port, sold out in two days; March’s blood orange pilsner sold out in four hours. “I think we’re starting to come out of our desperate times,” Susan says with a smile.
Grand Illusion Hard Cider 26 West High St., Carlisle, PA / grandillusioncider.com
Desperate Times Brewery 1201 Carlisle Springs Road, Carlisle, PA / desperatetimesbrewery.com
Find more craft brew destinations at: Cumberland Valley Beer Trail / cumberlandvalley.com/ cumberland-valley-beer-trail
