Pocono Winter BeerFest at Sherman Theater Jan. 24 Features 100+ Beers

The Pocono Winter BeerFest came back to the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg on Jan. 24, delivering an afternoon of cold-weather pours and a chance to sample more than 100 curated beers from regional and national breweries. The 1:00 to 4:00 PM tasting session focused on a broad lineup of styles - lagers, stouts, IPAs and more - and emphasized direct brewer interaction in a community-focused setting.

Attendees moved through rows of sample stations set up inside the Sherman Theater, tasting a mix of seasonal releases and dependable year-round offerings. The festival’s 21+ policy and ticketed format kept the environment geared toward serious sampling and conversation, with brewers on hand to discuss recipes, barrel-aging techniques and hop choices. For Stroudsburg and the surrounding Poconos, the event reinforced winter as a viable season for craft-beer activity rather than a slow calendar gap.

For brewers, the BeerFest offered exposure to a concentrated crowd of tasters who can turn single pours into lasting customers. Regional breweries used the festival to highlight small-batch stouts, hop-forward IPAs and crisp lagers that travel well, while national breweries brought benchmark styles that help attendees compare techniques and trends side by side. The meet-the-brewer component created immediate feedback loops: breweries could gauge interest in new labels and collectors could score tasting-room-only pours they might otherwise miss.

Practical takeaways for attendees included the value of pacing sample sessions and leaning into conversation as a tasting tool. Sampling more than 100 beers in three hours rewards strategy - start with lighter lagers and session ales, move to hop-forward or barrel-aged offerings, and finish with stouts or dessert beers. The event’s community focus made it a learning environment as much as a social one, useful for people building their palates or planning brewery visits across the region.

The festival’s return bolsters the Pocono craft scene by keeping winter on the calendar for beer-related events. For readers who missed this year’s session, plan ahead next winter by watching Sherman Theater programming and local brewery announcements for tickets and early-release pours. The Winter BeerFest showed that even in cold weather, Pennsylvania’s breweries and beer drinkers keep the conversation and the taps flowing.