"Fetish was one of the pioneers of breweries in Lancaster County," Adam Chamberland told LNP this fall. "They were kind of part of the early days of what became many breweries and a vibrant culture of craft breweries." Chamberland is head brewer and majority owner of Cartel Brewing & Blending. He was talking about the brewery whose Rock Lititz taproom his company is about to take over.
That handoff shows how much of the county's drinking map has changed in 2026. Brands have left, but most of their rooms haven't gone dark. In Lititz, Strasburg, Marietta and Lancaster city, the taproom spaces that changed this year mostly have a named local successor, and some of those successors make spirits or cider instead of beer.
The Rock Lititz room keeps its taps
Fetish Brewing Co. had been in the Rock Lititz space since 2018. Cartel plans to reopen it as Extended Play, a taproom at 201 Rock Lititz Blvd., Suite 22, in Pod 2 of the campus north of Lititz. The room is about 1,800 square feet and seats around 60.
The beer list changes, but the room stays a taproom. Extended Play will pour Cartel beer from 14 taps and may add guest taps from other local breweries. Cartel will take Fetish's brewing equipment out, because it plans to keep brewing at its brewery and taproom at 920 Landis Ave., near Franklin & Marshall College. Rock Lititz loses a brewery and keeps a place to drink a pint.
Timing is the one open question. Breweries in PA reported on Sept. 4 that Cartel hoped to be operating by Oct. 1, and the transfer still needed final approval from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. PennLive's Sept. 9 coverage said the taproom would stay open during the transition. As of this weekend, we have not seen an announcement that Extended Play has opened, so check before you drive up.
Spring House put everything on the market
The largest handoff in the county is still waiting for a buyer. In June, Spring House Brewing Co. owners Greg and Matt Keasey put the whole operation up for sale, real estate and business together, for a combined $5.2 million. PennLive's June 15 report broke it into three pieces:
- 209 Hazel St., Lancaster city: the headquarters, brewery and taproom, listed at $3.5 million. The building is two stories and 24,000 square feet on 2.3 acres, and Spring House moved there in 2015 from its original home along the Conestoga Creek. The package includes a Pennsylvania brewer's license, and the real estate can also be bought on its own.
- The Coffin Bar, 30 W. Lemon St.: listed at $1.5 million.
- The Tavern, 8-10 E. Main St., Strasburg: a business-only sale at $268,000, with the option to take over the lease.
The gap between those prices says something about the Hazel Street site. A buyer there can keep it as a brewery. The commercial listing also pitched the property as one that could become a different kind of business. All three locations were open when the sale became public. The owners could not be reached for comment, and we have found no reported buyer for the Hazel Street brewhouse or The Coffin Bar since then.
Strasburg's Main Street trades beer for spirits and cider
Strasburg is the only piece of the Spring House sale with an answer so far. The Tavern by Spring House had been at 8-10 E. Main St. since 2021, and its closure was set for Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the end of its lease. Helm Distilling Co. plans to open in the same spot this fall, pending required approvals.
Cody and Kayla Helm of Conestoga Township own Helm. Cody Helm and his uncle, Ken Helm, had first worked toward a distillery tasting room in the lower level of a historic bank building in Quarryville. They dropped that project after approval delays, and Cody turned to the Strasburg location.
Across the street, Shady Rooster Craft Cidery is planning a taproom at 15 W. Main St. in the former Smokestack BBQ location. It would serve Shady Rooster cider, local beer and food, but it would not be a production brewery. The proposal still needs zoning approval, with a zoning-board hearing as its next step, and no opening date has been announced. Until the taproom opens, Shady Rooster cider is on sale at Cherry Crest Farm on scheduled fall dates.
If both projects open, the two blocks of Main Street that had a brewery's tavern would have a distillery and a cidery instead.
Two familiar names came back under new owners
The Strasburg handoff replaced one business with another. Two other rooms reopened with the old name still on the door.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant was founded in Newark, Delaware, in 1996. It closed all 16 regional locations in September 2025 after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. The Lancaster brewpub at 781 Harrisburg Ave. was set to reopen Sunday, July 12, under Ironhill India. That company has also reopened former Iron Hill locations in Center City Philadelphia, Hershey, Huntingdon Valley and Wilmington. Mark Edelson, an owner of the original Iron Hill, is on the management team. The menu stays close to what Iron Hill offered before: appetizers, burgers, entrees and a rotating list of house-brewed beer.
In Marietta, Hell in a Bucket Brewing Co. at 392 E. Front St. reopened in early July under new owner Ted Evgeniadis. The property, restaurant and brewing equipment had gone up for auction, and a deed recorded March 28 showed Hades Taverna Equities LLC bought the property for $350,000. At first the restaurant served food and hosted live music while its brewery-license transfer waited for approval. The brewery's website now says it has been "Now Serving Alcoholic Beverages as of July 16th 2026." Its site does not yet say which beers are on tap.
A brewery inside a family entertainment center
One new taproom this year opened in a building that never had one. Go 'N Bananas at 1170 Garfield Ave. turned its Congo Cafe into Red Rose Brewing Co., part of an upgrade owners Andrew and Amber Karasik put at roughly $400,000. The plan called for 100 seats, Red Rose beers, and beer made for the business by Rural City Beer Co. LNP reported an Aug. 1 target date. Go 'N Bananas' own Red Rose page now shows weekly hours and a rotating house-beer list.
What is still on the way
Several more rooms are partway through the same kind of handoff. As of Oct. 4, here is where each one stands:
- Extended Play, Rock Lititz. Cartel is waiting on the state liquor board. The Oct. 1 target has passed, and no opening has been announced.
- Helm Distilling Co., Strasburg. The Tavern has closed. Helm is aiming for "sometime this fall," pending approvals.
- The Safe House, Manheim. This is Cartel's taproom in a former firehouse at 26 E. High St. On Sept. 4, Breweries in PA reported that the build-out had hit "several delays" but that Cartel still planned to open later this year.
- Horse Hollow Distillery, 11 W. King St., Lancaster. Owners Joe Devoy and Dana Paparo planned a tasting room and retail shop for the Aug. 7 First Friday. The distillery's website still says "Something Good is Coming."
- Inspiration Brewing, 28 S. Market St., Elizabethtown. This second brewpub takes over the former Pine Creek Spirits location, which was a Funk Brewing taproom before that. Breweries in PA described it as an Irish-themed pub with a mid-September target. Inspiration's own page still reads "Coming September 2026."
- Shady Rooster, 15 W. Main St., Strasburg. The taproom is planned, with no date announced.
The Elizabethtown address is the clearest example of the pattern. It has gone from Funk Brewing to Pine Creek Spirits to Inspiration, three operators in one storefront. Several of this fall's other moves are following the same path, with a new local operator taking over a room the last one left behind.
When a familiar room changes hands, it usually comes down to the details: who holds the lease, which license transfers, and how long approvals take. Those are the details The Lacey Real Estate Group works through every week on commercial properties and the homes near them across Lancaster County. If you own property near one of these Main Streets and want to know what this activity means for its value, start with a free home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
