Norina Bentzel tells her story about the machete attack on Red Lion in 2001
Eleven kindergarten students from the Red Lion Area School District, two teachers, and a school principal were attacked with a machete by William Michael Stankewicz in February 2001. Bentzel was the school’s principal at the time of the attack and used herself as a human shield to protect the young children.
Isaac’s Restaurants has made a name for itself with handcrafted food, and now the south-central Pennsylvania chain is expanding its offerings to include hand-brewed beer.
The bird-themed chain, with three locations in York County, entered the brewing business in 2020 when it opened its first branch in Lancaster County.
Issac’s now has breweries in Lemoyne, Lebanon and Lancaster, and taprooms in five locations. Johnny Roberts, business and market development director for Isaac’s Restaurants, said all 13 Isaac’s restaurants will be serving beer by year’s end.
In York County, a nanobrewery operates at the Springettsbury Township site at 2960 Whiteford Road, which Roberts said produces 2,000 barrels of beer or less per year.
“It’s literally a 5-gallon countertop to meet the G-license (brewery license) requirements,” he said. “We can contract with our other breweries to bring beer to York County. We hope to have a full-fledged brewing system here in the future, I just don’t know when yet.”
The Whiteford Road location and the West York location at 2159 White Street each have six taps, Roberts said. They also serve wines from Grandview Vineyards in Mount Joy, Lancaster County, and canned cocktails from Hidden Still in Hershey.
The Springettsbury Township location has a five-seat bar in addition to the takeout area, Roberts said. “We don’t have anything in West York yet, but we’re hoping to put a small bar in the front room there. I don’t have a timeline for that yet.”
Five locations – Greenfield in Lancaster County, Mechanicsburg, Lemoyne, Lebanon and downtown Lancaster – have full taprooms serving 12 different beers.
“The beer we serve at Isaac’s is mostly what we brew at our breweries,” Roberts said. “Occasionally we have a guest tap from another local brewery, but not that often.”
Flavors: What kinds of beer are available in York County? How about a Knights of the Rye Table or a Flamingo Del Sol? Maybe a Tangerine Gleam sounds good or a Purple Witzard Oola La.
Knights of the Rye Table and Flamingo Del Sol are offered at the West York location. Knights is an old-fashioned rye beer, while Flamingo Del Sol is a Mexican-style lager. Tangerine Gleam is offered at the Springettsbury Township location and is aged on tangerine purée, while Purple Witzard is a wheat ale aged on blueberries and acai berry sorbet.
In total, Isaac’s brews 24 different types of beer in its three breweries. These include Hefeweizen, a beer brewed at the Lebanon site with a banana note, rye beer, a traditional rye beer and a Fruited Kettle Sour with blueberry and blood orange puree.
New look, new logo: With the new hand-crafted beer concept comes a new look and new signs – Isaac’s Craft Kitchen & Brewery. Roberts said the Isaac’s restaurants in Greenfield, Lemoyne and Lebanon all have the new look with corresponding signs on the buildings and pylon signs along the street at those locations.
“We also updated our logo and redesigned the flamingo,” Roberts said. “It has a sheaf of barley for wings.”
Roberts did not say when the new look would be introduced at all locations.
