Fat Bat Brewing -- Hanover, PA

Live Music, Local Art, Small Town, Indie, Craft Brewery

I grew up in south central PA, a hop-skip-and-a-jump from Hanover, to be kind of exact. If you’ve eaten Snyder’s Pretzels, you are maybe aware of Hanover. Utz Potato Chips? Hanover. It’s considered by some people to be the snack food capital of the USA. Basically, there’s more than two salty/crunchy snack food companies in town. It’s a blue collar factory town, too. I love potato chips as a post-ride snack and working in several of those factories during undergrad summers still informs my understanding of how the world is.

For outdoor recreation there, Codorus State Park is one of the few places to go. Back in the day, we poached the trails, which eventually led the park to create a handful of purpose-built trails for mountain biking, though they are open to foot traffic, as well. When I go back that way, I try to squeeze in a ride on those trails and get in a hike or two along the lakeshore. It’s a wet, green forest, much of the spring and summer.

winter view from one of the trails we used to poach back in the 90s

Afterwards, Fat Bat Brewing, a block off the ole’ town square, is the go-to spot to hang out, maybe catch some live music, and enjoy the easy-going vibe. Owned and operated by sister (Sandy), with the beer brewed by her brother (Kevin), Fat Bat is a family operation which goes by a name inspired by Kevin’s pug when he started out as a homebrewer. It’s a very welcoming place that has a bit of sophisticated and classy air to it, which I appreciate. Quick note: The brick interior is original from when the building served as a horse stable/inn for a while, among other local lore. Not far from Gettysburg, the first skirmish on northern soil during the Civil War occurred in Hanover. Abe Lincoln had a Hanover stop on his train journey to Gettysburg when we traveled there to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

Sandy and Kevin

the Fat Bat bar

Fat Bat is providing a discount to Paseando MTB subscribers, but before we get to that, here’s a little Q&A with Sandy:

1. Tell us a little about where Fat Bat likes to go on local adventures? Places? Activities?

A nice place to visit via bike is Codorus State Park just outside of Hanover on route 216. Great roads for riding or walking, a disk golf course, and boating options in the summer. [Mountain biking, too!]

2. Favorite trails and why? 

Local bicycle adventures include the Hanover Trolley Trail which currently runs between Moul Avenue and Gitts Run. In the near future, the trails between Hanover and York will be connected and extended into downtown Hanover near the brewery. If your bike needs work, Fat Bat Brewing has a bicycle repair station available for the public behind the brewery in Bank Lane. Proximity to the brewery makes the Trolley Trail a favorite. [This trail will eventually connect to Gettysburg, if all goes as planned. Basically, it’s similar to rails-to-trails projects.]

3. As an Independent Brewer, what does it mean to you to be "indie?"

As a small independent brewery, we are very agile: we experiment with different beer styles - we have 15 taps and only 4 are IPAs , unusual events - like a tailor at the brewery measuring and taking custom suit orders every 6 months, and various fun ideas like a Prince Weekend that celebrates the music of Prince.

4. Fat Bat has a history of supporting local community efforts . Tell us a little about that and why Fat Bat does it.

I offer a table in the fermenting room to local artists to sell their wares about once or twice a month. In addition, I support local musical artists by having live music 2 -3 times per week. I also collaborate with locals to provide merchandise with the Fat Bat logo. I do all of these things to support the local economy. A large theme running through my business plan is to support the revitalization of Hanover. In the near future, Hanover will have a thriving downtown after years of stagnation. Fat Bat will be a large part of that success.

5. Open ended .. say what you want ... craft beer/getting outside/Fat Bat vibes/anything!

We have really good craft beer and seltzer.  We make handcrafted drinks with three of our taps that are very popular.  The drink recipes change every 4-6 weeks. New taps are introduced every 2-3 weeks. Join Fat Bat for one of our themed weekends, which usually includes a Saturday night band with the fermenting room garage doors open - it's like a street party. Themes include Prince, Jazzy Blues, Elton John, I love the 90s, I love Southern Rock…

There you go, Paseando MTB readers! The whole idea here is to promote local, small businesses. If you’re ever in the Hanover area, check out Fat Bat. Better yet, check the live music calendar and also look to see when the community orgs/events are happening, go then, support local music/art and, of course, a local brewery and its beer (and seltzers)!

https://www.fatbatbrewing.com/

Now, how do you get the discount at Fat Bat? First, discounts are offered by the business owners and they make them available to paid subscribers. Why? Offering discounts to everyone who follows Paseando MTB might mean that for a small business, there’d be a lot of discounts/money that they are providing. It’s about margins, y’all. It’s also about not getting a free lunch, so to speak.

Want discounts? You need a paid subscription and the lowest price that you can get for a Substack/Paseando MTB subscription is $10.20/year. Use this link to get it:

https://mtbeer.substack.com/0fd4133e

Next up, the paywall. Behind it, is how to get the Fat Bat Brewing discount.

Hanover Horse Farms