Welcome back, friends!

Welcome back, friends!

Hello everyone!  We hope and pray that you are all doing well and have managed to create a semblance of normalcy during this national pandemic. 

Here at the 1777 Americana Inn Bed and Breakfast we have been patiently waiting for our government to declare it safe for travel.  During the shutdown, Bob and I have been strategizing on reopening the Inn and how we can ensure travelers they are safe in our home.  Our standards of cleanliness have always been high and as a registered Bed and Breakfast we are required to meet local standards.   With the heightened awareness, we have also implemented the following to ensure your comfort and safety. 

  1. Disinfecting wipes in all bedrooms
  2. Sanitizer dispensers in all bathrooms, at the front desk and in the breakfast room
  3. Plated breakfasts for you to enjoy with beverage service (no longer buffet breads, fruits, yogurts, and beverages)
  4. Breakfast service will be scheduled to allow only three couples (6 ft. apart) in the breakfast room; breakfast service will be 8:00 or 9:00.  
  5. Service trays to pick up your breakfast and enjoy in the privacy of your room or the garden; between 8:30 am and 10:00 am, used tray pick up at 11:00 am
  6. Entire property has been licensed by the PLCB and all Black Forest Brewery food and beverages may be enjoyed in our garden patio or taken back to your room. 
  7. All pillows replaced with washable inserts and hotel grade pillow protectors as well as mattress protectors.

Currently our state is allowing restaurants that have outdoor seating to provide customers with a “dine in – outside” experience.  This does allow Black Forest Brewery to serve you on our new brewery patio and on our garden patio at the Inn.  All tables will adhere to the social distancing guidelines outlined by the CDC and the guidelines put in place by our Governor.  Many other restaurants are able to offer the same dining experience and every room will have information on which restaurants are open for this service.  

Lancaster County is a beautiful place for you to getaway and enjoy the simple life, take a breath and unwind; something that all of us desperately need after the last few months.  Our beautiful rail trails are open, hiking trails and wildlife/wildflower preserves are ready for you to enjoy and many of our shops have opened their doors to their customers.  Farmers Markets, roadside stands and our beautiful garden centers are also open and ready to serve.  I can assure you, our business owners have embraced the precautionary measures outlined by our government officials and we are all excited to “welcome you home”.  

Thank you to everyone for your kind words, messages of support and prayers; they are truly appreciated.  And a big thank you to those of you who have already started booking your rooms for your upcoming getaways . . you have no idea the HUGE smile on my face when I open up my email and see your reservation notifications!  

Please remember, if you book directly through our website at www.1777americanainn.com you will receive a $20 dining credit for our onsite Black Forest Brewery.   

Bob and I cannot wait to welcome you back.  Till then, take care.


Denise and Bob

 

We ordered take out last night. The food was great! Eric and Denise, in spite of what’s going on during these crazy times, greeted us with smiling faces! If you haven’t been supporting the small businesses. Please do. They need us now more than ever!

Tanya Caspescha

  ~ enjoy a drink with friends ~

find us
IN AMISH COUNTRY

Hours of Operation

Monday & Tuesday | Closed
Wednesday & Thursday | 4PM - 9PM
Friday & Saturday | 12PM - 9PM
Sunday |  12PM - 7PM

Address

301 West Main St. Ephrata PA 17522
Located behind the 1777 Americana Inn Bed & Breakfast

The Black Forest Brewery is located on the property of the 1777 Americana Inn Bed and Breakfast in Ephrata, PA. In keeping with the historical integrity of the Inn, the Black Forest Brewery and tasting room is situated adjacent to the Inn and designed in the same period style.

Parking

Off-street and on-street parking is available at our facility.  Additional overflow parking is also available in the following lots during the noted hours. See maps for reference. 

The Historical Society
NOON - 5 PM W, Th, F

WellSpan Lot 
5 PM - 10 PM W, Th, F
12 PM - 10 PM Sat & Sun

Click on each to enlarge.

LIVE with COVID-19 at Black Forest Brewery – How a small town micro-brewery pivoted during a pandemic.

LIVE with COVID-19 at Black Forest Brewery – How a small town micro-brewery pivoted during a pandemic.

On Saturday, March 14th, 2020, Black Forest Brewery celebrated the grand opening of our newly renovated brewery and restaurant. 

We doubled our indoor seating and added a beautiful patio for outdoor dining.  We were able to triple the size of our kitchen allowing our chef to create a delightful lunch and dinner menu with deliciously unique selections. 

Our grand opening was a huge success and we ended the weekend with a banner Sunday afternoon; filled with happy customers and even happier owners.  

On Monday, March 16th, 2020 we had just completed our foodservice order when the news hit that all non-essential businesses were to close their doors effective midnight!  Talk about taking the wind out of our sales!   Within the hour, our bar manager and chef were standing in the brewery ready to strategize and figure out exactly what this means to our business (luckiest business owners in the world to have such a dedicated team).  

Many customers, friends, family members began contacting us; the general theme of the conversation was “you poor guys, you just re-opened” and “how are you going to survive”, etc. and to be honest, the first two hours were a whole lot of stunned silence!  And then we got to work!  Chef Dave and Eric revamped the menu and created a viable takeout menu that would transport well and be easily enjoyed at our customers’ homes, but they did not stop there!   Bob and Eric mapped out the beer release outline and included a whole group of new brews to our Black Forest Brewery tap list; sure to please your craft beer-loving palates!

After assessing our first week under Covid-19 shutdown, it became apparent that we still had to do more!  Enter Heat and Eat Meal Prep options.

Chef Dave used to do meal prep early on for a health club and is quite adept at creating meals that can be picked up on Monday and enjoyed for the rest of the week! 

Each week we develop a different menu of five single-serve portions in microwave-safe containers that are ready to be picked up each Monday and our customers were delighted!    Easter weekend they created a traditional holiday meal for 2 or more that could be enjoyed without the fuss,  again our customers were delighted!

We ordered take out last night. The food was great! Eric and Denise, in spite of what’s going on during these crazy times, greeted us with smiling faces! If you haven’t been supporting the small businesses. Please do. They need us now more than ever!

Tanya Caspescha

But this still wasn’t enough for our team! 

Our bar manager, Eric, teamed with our apparel manufacturer and joined the #hereforgoodpa movement and began selling tees supporting Black Forest Brewery through this pandemic.  The fine folks at Rockhound Apparel created a tee-shirt that they sell on their website for $20 and they, in turn, give Black Forest $10 of that $20!  Eric is such a competitor and turned this into a friendly battle between the other organizations in the coalition and rallied our customers to help Black Forest sell the most tee-shirts (he even bartered to release his famous Bloody Mary secret recipe)   Black Forest Brewery did manage to surpass all other organizations in their sales AND that still wasn’t enough.  

Enter the 50 State Challenge!  The new goal is to get someone from each of the 50 states to purchase a tee-shirt and represent Black Forest Brewery across this fine nation of ours.  After a mere 12 hours, we have 16 states represented!  

Not to be outdone by Eric showing off his marketing skills, Chef Dave decided to add homemade soups to the takeout and meal prep options!  AND with this disagreeable weather Mother Nature has “blessed” us with, the soup sales have gone through the roof!    Rumor has it something “sweet” is about to happen in the next week or so,  who know what Chef Dave has up his sleeve.

All in all folks, we are doing okay.  We are working hard to keep you sane with your food and beer selections during this very unusual time in our nation’s history. 

And as many people lament the fact that we had our grand opening March 14 and our shut down March 16th, we are choosing to focus on the positive.  Without the expanded kitchen, we would never be able to put out the incredible selection of menu items and meal prep options that we currently can offer!   We are all healthy; and although we miss our personal interactions with our incredible customers, we will continue to follow the government guidelines until we can safely open our doors to you again.

Until then, stay safe!

Appetizer and Sandwich combined into one meal! BFB French Fries are a tasty side! Awesome  creation! Thank You 

Jim Abshire

Chef Dave kicks ass and the fact that him and Eric Sears keep showing up is a tribute to Black Forest Brewery as an employer and them as employees!
Kel Lee Fasnactht

  ~ enjoy a drink with friends ~

find us
IN AMISH COUNTRY

Hours of Operation

Monday & Tuesday | Closed
Wednesday & Thursday | 4PM - 9PM
Friday & Saturday | 12PM - 9PM
Sunday |  12PM - 7PM

Address

301 West Main St. Ephrata PA 17522
Located behind the 1777 Americana Inn Bed & Breakfast

The Black Forest Brewery is located on the property of the 1777 Americana Inn Bed and Breakfast in Ephrata, PA. In keeping with the historical integrity of the Inn, the Black Forest Brewery and tasting room is situated adjacent to the Inn and designed in the same period style.

Parking

Off-street and on-street parking is available at our facility.  Additional overflow parking is also available in the following lots during the noted hours. See maps for reference. 

The Historical Society
NOON - 5 PM W, Th, F

WellSpan Lot 
5 PM - 10 PM W, Th, F
12 PM - 10 PM Sat & Sun

Click on each to enlarge.

New Year Envelope Giveaway

New Year Envelope Giveaway

For the entire month of January, every tab of $25 or more, will receive an envelope (there are only 400 envelopes). Inside each envelope will be either an entry to win a 50in Flat Screen TV, 10% off your tab or a $5 coupon. The envelope can only be opened by a Black Forest Brewery employee, between the dates of February 1st- March 20th. March 21st at 8:00 pm is when the drawing will be held for the flat-screen TV.

Best B&B for Beer Lovers Award!

Our 1777 Americana Inn Bed & Breakfast has been named a Top B&B for Beer Lovers by BedandBreakfast.com. You can view the article here. This award was featured in their weekly newsletter to over 1 million travelers and will also be featured on their website and social media.  We are proud to be one of only six Bed & Breakfasts nationwide to receive this award for 2015. If you have yet to experience our trifecta of Beer, Bed & Breakfast, book your stay now and see what all the excitement is about!

1777 Americana Inn is Best B&B for beer lovers 2015

 

Sixth Tap Competition Summer 2015

Sixth Tap Competition is set to kick off June 1st through July 31st, 2015. The recipient of the entry fees will be The Special Olympics. Please submit your applications and fee by July 19th, 2015 and two bottled samples of your beer by July 31, 2015. This competition is BREWER’S CHOICE and the winner will brew their creation with Bob at the Black Forest Brewery.

Click here to download the entry form.

After completing you can send the form to us by scanning & emailing to info@blackforestbrewery.net or send it via regular mail to: Black Forest Brewery 301 West Main St. Ephrata PA 17522.

Beer Special

Kick the Keg and Bring Back the 5 o’clock Heffie: $3.00 Irish Red Ale while supplies last!

And as always 1/2 Price Appetizers and $1.00 off drafts from 5 – 7 on Thursdays!