Philly Beer Week 2013 is on its way

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I am so woefully unprepared for Philly Beer Week...and it starts in less than 48 hours!

The fun all starts on Friday at 9:30 AM out in Fox Chase at the Hop Angel, where the Hammer o' Glory begins its amazing route to Opening Tap, all the way down at Independence Mall, where Mayor Michael Nutter will tap the opening keg (no word on whether he'll be charged a 15% by the drink tax). The map below (from Danya Henninger's blog at Zagat), shows all the spots where the HOG will change hands: it travels by roller skaters, cargo bike, kinetic sculpture, through the Free Library of Philadelphia by book cart, horse carriage, wheelbarrow, and whatever insane and personally hazardous conveyance William Reed comes up with at Standard Tap this year. It's a crazy way to start the week, and you're free to join in at any point.


View Philly Beer Week Hammer of Glory Relay Route in a larger map

Once you've followed the HOG to Opening Tap and hobnobbed with the cream of Philly's beer scene (like Mat Falco, of PhillyBeerScene),where do you go next? Well...damn near anywhere in Philly and the immediate surroundings. Seriously, there is stuff going on almost around the clock; check the website or download the free (and excellent, adaptive, useful, quick, constantly updated) app for iPhone or Android.

Use the app to do things my favorite way: no planning, just head into town, get off the train/bus/trolley/bike/designatedly-driven car/truck/motorcycle, fire up the app, and find out what's going on nearby. I guarantee, you cannot lose. This is not like the other "beer weeks" you'll see elsewhere; this is immense and overflowing, it takes over almost the entire city, and there are not a few events every day...there are an overwhelming number of events every day.

Believe me when I say that Philly Beer Week is too big for any one person to encompass, experience, or comprehend. Kinda like American craft beer, of which it is a great representation: it's diverse, it's fun, it means very different things to different people, and it goes really well with food.

Double Cross Vodka

I'll quote myself again about vodka: "To call this protean liquor “colorless, odorless, and tasteless” sells it terribly short." I was a serious -- i.e., straight -- vodka drinker years before I got serious about whiskey, and I've been rediscovering the good points of vodka lately.

Like this bottle of Double Cross I was sent a couple years ago when I was working on a vodka story for Mass Beverage Business. It sat on my shelf -- I wasn't reviewing vodkas, just writing about them -- until a few weeks ago, when Cathy and I took her brother Curt out to Uzbekistan (which is just great, BTW, and if you haven't been, go). It's BYO, so we got together a clutch of beers and ciders and two bottles of wine (the chardonnay worked really well; the sauvignon blanc, not so much), and I saw the bottle of Double Cross, and thought, hell, why not? And stuffed it in the freezer around noon to get chilled for the evening.

We started eating. First it was achik-chuck, a delicious traditional tomato salad. Salud! Curt and I had half-ounce shots of vodka. Then the piping hot bread came. Salud! Then some skewers of lamb. Salud! We finished the skewers of lamb. Salud! Cathy's stroganoff came. Salud! Cathy joined us for a shot. Salud! We got pilov -- Salud! -- and more skewers. Salud! We eventually Salud!-ed our way through half the bottle, and Cathy drove home.

And you know? The Double Cross was brilliant. From the very first shot, it was clean, no trace of any nasty solvent flavors; it was well-bodied without being sweet; and it had a faint but distinct graininess to it that was just perfect. Best of all, the little half-ounce shots made an excellent palate refresher between courses. I liked the Double Cross, and after another meal at Uzbekistan, I intend to buy another bottle.

A Pretty Good Night

This video premiered last night at the Philly Beer Scene Best of Philly awards show at World Cafe Live, and while it wasn't the highlight of the night, it was an amusing moment. Almost as good as the line about a homebrew being so funky that Sam Calagione called for the recipe, or William Reed's Carol Stoudt impersonation.

Joe Gunn: a touch sarcastic

First, about the show: fantastic. Mat "Red Shoes" Falco put together an incredible thing, a fun in-crowd show that had a great back-up band in Swift Technique, an excellent venue (with great beer, as always -- I drank a lot of Nodding Head Grog and Ric Hoffman's IPA from Stewart's, with a tasty glass of Forest and Main IPA thrown in for fun), and an indefatigable machine of an MC, Jose Pistola's own Mighty Joe Gunn, who didn't really keep things moving...but he did keep them pretty damned fun.

No, really, it's not Carol Stoudt!

Awards? They were presented by a full spectrum of the folks from Philadelphia's beer scene (appropriately, right?), from brewers to bar owners to wholesalers to distributors to homebrewers, and even beer writers, and that was a lot of fun too; sometimes intentionally. I haven't found a full list yet, but...here's what I remember, and it's not necessarily in order, because things didn't completely correspond to the list I was given. I'll flesh this out later. (Actually, Uncle Jack did, with a complete list that includes awards that weren't even mentioned last night...lookie here.)

Carolyn Smagalski & Mat: Red Shoes!

• Best Brewery Rep: Weyerbacher's Mike Lubieski
• Best Distributor in the City: Bella Vista
• Best Local Lager: Victory Prima Pils
• Best Local Belgian-style Beer: Weyerbacher Merry Monks
• Best Bottle Shop in the City: Craft Beer Outlet
• Wholesaler of the Year: Origlio
• The Philly Tap Finder award for the Most Searched For Beer of the Year: Tröegs Nugget Nectar
• Best Homebrew Shop: Keystone Homebrew
• Best European Beer Bar: Monk's Cafe
• Best Local Stout/Porter: Victory Storm King
• Best Local Barrel-Aged Beer: Weyerbacher Insanity
• Best Local Pale Ale/IPA: Yards Philly Pale
• Best Brewpub: Iron Hill
• Best New Bar in the City: Barcade
• Best Bar in the Burbs: Hulmeville Inn
• Best Brewery: Victory Brewing

The Weyerbacher Love Crew (Colin Presby w/the award for Best Barrel-aged Beer)

Uncle Jack Curtin and I got to present the final award, for Brewmaster of the Year, and I have to admit, by that time, we were all dragging a bit. So it was a good thing that they ran that Tröegs video (which is, of course, about the event Jack and I are doing at Standard Tap on June 3rd), which gave us a chance to sit and relax before taking the stage. We made a few weak jokes, then got right down to it: the winner was Chris Wilson of Weyerbacher, which brought the whole Weyerbacher Love Crew up on stage again, and Chris, resplendent in a white dinner jacket and green Weyerbacher t-shirt, made an acceptance speech that was pure Chris. And that...was that.

Jack announcing; I'm having a private moment w/my award.

Except for one other thing: I won Best Beer Writer of the Year, which I have to admit floored me. Because the competition has seriously stepped up around here, truth be told. From Uncle Jack's shoot-from-the-hip opinions, to Bryan Kolesar's in-depth reporting, Lisa Grimm's thoughtful considerations, Suzy Woods's personable and personal enthusiasm, and of course Don Russell's completely connected professionalism...plus Craig LaBan's great occasional beer forays in the Inky and all the local blogs, Philly's a great place to read about beer, too. Winning this award was humbling, and I want to thank all the people who voted, as well as all the fantastic people who make this such a great business.

Got some odd looks with the trophy on the way home on the train, but talking to Eddie Friedland on the way was well worth it. A good night, indeed.

All photos courtesy of Stephen "Click-click" Lyford; thanks, fella!

Down the other leg of the Trousers of Time

Picked this up from Uncle Jack's site,and it's everything he says it is and a bag of crisps. A goofy, cheap-video look at what happened around here in 1996: Dogfish Head, Iron Hill, Flying Fish, Yards, and Victory opened, and pressed on when other places didn't (Independence, Red Bell, Brandywine, Valley Forge, etc.). But don't for a moment think it's serious; it's not. It's goofy and fun and effin' brilliant. Fire it up, have a laugh, and be glad these guys didn't give up.

Multi-tap experiment in Philly

Drew Lazor has the dope on City Tap House over at Meal Ticket. This huge new project (3925 Walnut, in the Radian in University City, so older farts beware: this place comes with a built-in college crowd) is running 72 taps, with about a dozen of them doubled macro stuff. The others are craft-dedicated, and broken down like this, according to beer operations guy Andy Farrell (late of Bridgid's):

Farrell is looking at things “from a local level, a regional level and a global level,” he says. About 60 percent of those taps will be dedicated to good-any-time-of-year craft beers — Dogfish 60-Minute IPA is one time-tested example Farrell gives, but also expect American craft and Belgian-and-otherwise standbys — while the remaining 40 percent be used to pour one-off specialty beers, harder-to-find regional selections, offerings from new breweries and so forth. They’ll definitely look local first, though, with attention paid to seasonality. “With the amount of great crafts we have locally, there’s plenty of room for representation for that,” says Farrell. “From both the beverage and kitchen perspective, [we are mindful of] the ‘buy fresh, buy local’ movement.”

And if "standybs" isn't damning with faint praise, I don't know what is. Still...copious beer lists, careful beer care, and private taps in a private dining room all sounds good, and it's great to see more good beer in University City (almost as good as seeing more good beer in the Northeast: thanks for buying the Blue Ox, Scoats!). The food sounds awesome, too. The space looks gorgeous.

Waiting for the "but"? Here it is: but there are little alarm bells going off in my head. I've seen too many overly-tapped places fail in Philly. There is a tradition in this town of keeping the taps in a lower range; possibly related to our one happy liquor-law-legacy, the requirement that taps be cleaned once a week, and that cleaning be logged. Cleaning taps is costly, in labor and in lost beer, and the more taps you have, the more it costs.

Or maybe it's care for freshness. The long-decamped-but-never-forgotten Jim Anderson used a memorable term for the balance between less selection and more freshness: "Small and firm" vs. "big and floppy." I've been in places where there were lots of taps, and they kept them all flowing fast enough to keep them reasonably fresh: Portland, Maine's Great Lost Bear comes to mind, or Max's on Broadway (recently mentioned below) in Baltimore. You have to be scrupulous about cleanliness, you have to cultivate the right crowd, and you have to move the beer when it's been on too long.

Start right up with 60 taps, smack-dab in the middle of a ton of college students? Maybe. Local 44's doing well, though they have fewer taps (and a lot fewer bottles) and they aimed right at the non-student population from the get-go.

Look, I hope this works. Really, I'd be fascinated to see what's going to happen when a multi-multi-tap place succeeds in Philly, because it may boost this already draft-mad city to a whole new level. But Mad Mex already has a ton of taps in U-City, and they're not setting the city's beer scene on fire.

Can you set a high-end beer bar down in the middle of college bar central and make it work without making it sloppy? Maybe, and clearly the Radian is working at keeping the bar high (so to speak). Iron Hill Lancaster is kicking ass right across the street from my dear old alma mammy. It looks like the folks behind City Tap House have the money to stay the course long enough to give it a fair chance. Best of luck; hope to stop in soon (and at Kraftwork and Munk & Nunn and Bruce Nichols' new Headhouse (not quite open yet)...so many bars! What a wonderful pain, to feel the longing to visit them all.)


One somewhat-related sad note: Tara Nurin notes the closing of Ortlieb's Jazzhaus...and now I'll never get to go. So many missed opportunities in this life; must stop going to the same places all the time.

Bosteels at P.O.P.E. tonight

Just remembered: Jack van Atwerpen, head of exports for Bosteels Brewery of Buggenhout, Belgium, is on an east coast swing with his importer, Lanny "The Great" Hoff (Artisanal Imports). They're in Philly at P.O.P.E. tonight, and you really should go, because the beers from Bosteels -- Kwak, DeuS, and Tripel Karmeliet -- are just excellent, and the passion with which they are made (coupled to an excellent business sense) is undeniable. I'd join you, but I've got work...again. Scratch that! Cathy saw this post, and talked sense into me: we're going!

It's not just October, it's Porktoberfest...

Our Girl Suzanne has posted the first helping in her third annual paean to pigmeat: Porktoberfest. Bravo, babe! Big yum. It's more than "the other white meat," folks: it's sausage, ham, chops, bacon...

Sincere apologies to the vegans among my readers, but...it's not like this should surprise you here...

Has it been a year already? Has it only been a year?

Earth, Bread + Brewery has been open for a year. Can you believe it? After all the crap they had to go through to open...

Hey, that's all behind us (and them)! Next Friday, October 9 is the celebration. It starts at 5 PM and goes till closing; Tom Baker will have eleven house beers on; there will be t-shirts and anniversary pint glasses for sale, and... for the first time ever at EB+B...

They'll be filling growlers.

For real, baby. So hike your butts on over to Mt. Airy and fill up on flatbread and Tom's great beer, fill your growlers with Tom's great beer...but don't overdo it, because I expect to see you at Kennett the next day!

Let the Second-Guessing Begin: FooBooz lists Philly's 50 Best Bars

Fearless FooBooz has posted a list of Philly's Top 50 Bars. Whining and moaning has commenced already in the comments. Full disclosure: I was a contributor, sent in my top ten list.

Bars that I'm surprised are missing: Eulogy, Triumph, Bridgewaters, Cuba Libre, Belgian Cafe, and Earth, Bread + Brewery. No Irish places, not even The Bards? Where's the love for 150-year-old-but-damned-lively McGillin's? Brauhaus Schmitz, Swift Half: just too new. I will also admit to being pleasantly surprised to see Chick's Cafe and Atlantis on the list; cheers to that. And I can't help thinking that if Teresa's weren't out in those nasty, nasty suburbs, it would have been much higher on the list (a case could be made that it doesn't belong on a list of Philly's top bars at all, of course, but come on).

But really...Eulogy? And yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of me saying that, but it's true. Interesting dynamics here.

Good list, though, and a great map to go with it. Let the games begin; comments are open.

13 Years of Grey Lodge = 13 hours of Grey Lodge

The Grey Lodge Pub is probably the only bar where I come close to being a regular. It's been a favorite of mine for years, since Thomas was in first grade...and he's looking at colleges now. The place has changed a lot, but one thing stayed the same: everyone is welcome. Actually, two things: it's always been a bit different. "Quirky," as Uncle Jack put it, and the owner, Scoats, embraced the word.

He's embracing it with both arms on August 15th, when the Grey Lodge celebrates its 13th anniversary. And at a place that celebrates Friday the 13th, you can bet that the 13th anniversary is gonna be big. Check it out: they're doing 13 events in 13 hours.

It's all here. Dock Street brewed a special beer, there's stand-up comedy, Philly Brewing's bringing a firkin of Mayfair IPA, Weyerbacher 13 (appropriate), some VERY Old Old Horizontal (23 bottles from 1997), Stoudt's Keller Pils (I want that!), birthday cake, a bar mitzvah, two Yards firkins (including the new Cape of Good Hope IPA), Sly Fox eggs, Sunshine Pils, and ring toss with Casey Hughes (you want to toss the rings over the traffic cone on Casey's head; if that's too silly, you can just piss off MADD instead and drink Exit 4 and Exit 11).

It is, in short, something that would have warmed P.T. Barnum's heart, and definitely "quirky." A crazy marathon of beer, food, music, and fun. I'll be down in the afternoon; hope to see you there.

Get out a little, Phillyvolk

Don Russell, the fella who is the face on Philly Beer Week and is Joe Sixpack, the beer columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, is leading a 3.5 hour walking pubcrawl in Northern Liberties this Saturday. It's $75, and well worth it: you'll get "behind-the-scenes experience" (the kind you always see me and Don and Uncle Jack getting, and you wonder what's going on when we leave the room? This is it), food and drink (hint: probably beer) at The Swift Half, 700, Standard Tap, and Ortlieb's, the best of the Northern Liberties (except for Druid's Keep, Abbaye, and North 3rd...but there's only so much time in an afternoon). Seriously, a great time, and if you've got friends who haven't seen The Philly Beer Scene, this is an excellent intro. Check here for more details.

Best of the Best of the Beer Year: Our Suz

Belatedly -- because it left me slack-jawed with admiration and rolling around laughing -- I'd point you to Suzanne Woods' Best of 2008 post on her excellent "I'll Have Another Stout" blog. She's a fabulous voice for beer in the area, and no one I've talked to or heard from minds that she works for Sly Fox and is in a serious relationship with Iron Hill brewer Chris Lapierre, because Suzanne just loves Philly beer, and gives everyone their due. This list is an example: it's exhaustive, it's funny, it's engaging, it's human -- very much so -- and it's dead-on. Go now. Read.

Long distance information, give me Memphis...Taproom

Memphis Taproom is open.

We've all been waiting for this, some longer than others. Brendan "Spanky" Hartranft and Leigh Maida, business and life partners (and sappy as that sounds, they make it work), opened the booger tonight. Was it early, was it late? "Brother, it was about as late as it could get," said Brendan. "I never worked so hard without getting paid!" Leigh laughed, really happy to see the door open.

I'll be honest: I think it was the first time I've ever been on Cumberland St., although I've crossed it plenty of times, it's not far from Yards -- er, I mean, Philadelphia Brewing. Both breweries were represented on the taps, by the way: Kenzinger and Philly Pale. O'Reilly's Stout was on, too, Sprecher Black Bavarian, Nodding Head Melvin (Melvin? I asked Curt Decker. "Yeah," said Curt with his constant wry grin, "one more in a series of one-offs." It was a pretty nice hoppy ale, one -- like most Nodding Head beers -- I'd be happy to drink all night), Popperinge Hommelbier, Ace Pear cider, Rogue Buckwheat, Monk's Sour, and one more I just can't remember. Curt told me the beer engine had just come in today, so that will be added soon.

We sampled some hush puppies, some french fries, but I wasn't really there to eat. I was there to catch the vibe, and it was live. Brendan's parents were there, Bill and Sheila, and just proud as could be. Everyone was happy to see the place open; as I said, some of us have been waiting for this a long time.

Brendan's about 30; I met him 12 years ago, when he was a waiter at the Blue Ox, and he was a hustler then, moving, learning, asking, offering, making the table happen. He found out I was a beer writer, and he asked me questions all night. I like to say I knew he was going places, and the truth is, I did. I followed his progress through various Philly bars -- he stayed in touch and made that easy -- and he reached that point at Nodding Head where there was only one place he could go: out on his own.

He's there, and in a perfect position for Spanky: Fort Apache. The neighborhood -- "Port Fishington," at the intersection of Fishtown, Port Richmond, and Kenzington -- is actually nice: small, neatly kept rowhomes, clean streets, families on the sidewalks (free parking, as I pointed out to Curt Decker). But it's Fort Apache for beer: he's an outpost, like the Grey Lodge has been for years. There's nothing else around (not quite correct: see the comment from Mr. Thursday, and a tip of the hat to him for it), and he's going to have to get local trade to survive. I don't think that's going to be a problem. Spanky will make it happen, and before they know it, Port Fishington residents are going to be drinking Kenzinger, and O'Reilly's, and Ace Pear, and not even blinking an eye (prices aren't bad for Philly, either: $4 for a pint of good craft beer).

He's got plenty of backup: note the crew on the corner (that's Jimmy Wiggins, craft beer guy from Origlio Beverage, Tom and Fergie of Monk's Cafe along with chef Adam Glickman, and the aforementioned Curt Decker, all taking a break from the hustle and flow inside). But this is going to be Brendan and Leigh, making things work. The place is a beautiful corner bar, the kind of place that makes me kick myself for settling in the suburbs. The menu looks great, the beer will be excellent, and the service will be top-notch, I promise. Get on down, brother (you too, sister), and you won't be disappointed.

Go Get Don's Book

"Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies." -- Gore Vidal

Well, screw him. I'm very happy for Don "Joe Sixpack" Russell and the success of his brand-new book, Joe Sixpack's Philly Beer Guide: a Reporter's Notes on the Best Beer-Drinking City in America. It's well-deserved, because this book is packed with great stuff about drinking in Philly and the surrounding area. After reading it for a while, I almost expected to see bits of notes and napkins sticking out of it on the sides; useful information bulges out of this book.

Useful information for the beer drinker, that is. Don't come here looking for much else: Don's total focus is admirable. There are beer bar walking tours (excellent, with maps), lists of the local breweries, Philly beer and bar history, take-out tips (absolutely necessary in Pennsylvania, a very useful guide to the beers you're most likely to find here (that would be everything), even a welcome chapter on where to find your favorite beer-linked "Amusements" -- darts, pool, shuffleboard, good jukes -- but don't expect to find much in the way of filler on what to go see in Philly. This is about finding your way through the gloriously rich jungle of beer that is Philadelphia.

Actually, there is one bit of extraneous material: Bill Conlin's Top 6 Barroom Brawls. Don has a newsman's nose for a story -- his Daily News column has always been a great read, even back in the early days when he was still getting up to speed on the full breadth of beer -- and Daily News sports columnist Bill Conlin had some great stories to tell. I don't give a damn about sports, these stories really have nothing to do with beer -- other than taking place in bars, mostly not in Philly -- and I'm glad Don put them in: they are amusing and solidly real. Kinda what you'd expect from the Daily News.

That's another thing: this book is funny. What else can you say about a chapter titled "Excuses to Drink", featuring festivals, events, ballgames, and "Other Excuses to Drink," which include "Because you need some place to wear your beret" (Ortlieb's Jazzhaus) and "Because you have a bunch of $1 bills in your pocket" (Penn's Port Pub, the Delaware Ave. skin bar that started serving crafts during the 2006 Craft Brewers Conference in Philly, and discovered people liked them).

I also enjoyed this bit:

I've always suspected the microbrewery [at Stoudt's] was a slick business scheme
by Ed and Carol Stoudt to lure reluctant men to their shopping bazaar. Under
more sober circumstances, the typical male head of household might be somewhat
circumspect about carefree spending on junk. But get the old man sauced on
high-octane beer, and next thing you know, you're happily loading a pink
flamingo into the car trunk. I hate to admit this, friends, but Joe Sixpack is
speaking from experience on this one.

That's what makes this book fun as well as extremely useful: Don Russell's been around. He's been writing his column for more than ten years, he's won a number of awards for it -- well-deserved -- and he's been assiduously drinking beer in as many great bars as he could find in Philly and the surrounding area. Take his distilled experience and profit from it. Buy this book.

Tribute to Joe Sixpack

There is a very nice piece about Don Russell, the Philadelphia Daily News's Joe Sixpack columnist since 1996, up on the American Journalism Review website. It highlights what was probably Russell's defining moment as the city's beer columnist and champion -- his April 1998 expose of the short-measure beer scandal (no sarcasm: it was a damned scandal) at Veterans Stadium -- but gives him the full props he deserves as a champion of Philly's beer scene (maybe a tiny bit too full in a couple spots, but what the hell, Don's a good guy).

But reporter Mark Lisheron puts his finger right on Don with this observation:

Calling Joe Sixpack a beer column is a little like calling Mike Royko's a tavern column or A.J. Liebling a boxing writer. Like all the best columns, Joe Sixpack is about people and place. "He tends to tell Philadelphia stories that just happen to be about beer," former Daily News Editor Zack Stalberg says.

I'll admit: when Russell got his gig at the Daily News, I was jealous. 'Another damned staffer who thinks he can write a beer column because he's had a couple Belgian beers,' I probably said, or something like that. But I read the column every time it came out, and after a while, I realized the same thing Lisheron did: Russell is a story teller, and a good one. He's got a nose for beer news, and he's got a great way of writing about it.

I was critical at first, but that's been a long time ago now. Don Russell and Joe Sixpack are a credit to Philly, and to beer.

Cheers, Joe!

Sic Transit Gloria Brewpub, Sic Transit Gloria Philadelphia

Dan Gross reports at the Philadelphia Daily News website that the locked-down Independence brewpub will rapidly become a sports bar, confirming what Uncle Jack and Don "Joe Sixpack" Russell said at the time of Independence's abrupt closing. The particulars:

THE OWNERS of the Public House (18th & Cherry) will soon open the Field House (1150 Filbert), a giant, high-end sports bar on the site of the former Independence Brew Pub, which closed abruptly last month.
Brian Harrington confirmed yesterday that he and partner Gary Cardi signed a lease last week on the property and are hoping for a Nov. 15 opening.
They're going for a similar American fare menu to their popular Public House, and Harrington says "it's not your onion rings and frozen appetizers type of place." The bar will have a raw bar and the pair hope to attract conventioneers as well as catering to a local crowd.

Sigh. I guess I should be happy it's at least a local "giant, high-end sports bar", and not another damned ESPN Zone.

But you know? I'm not. I'm still pissed that this great site for a brewpub never reached its full potential. I blame Jim Bell and his pissing contest business tactics, I blame the Dock Street management folks for not committing immediately to the brewery expansion that was desperately needed, and I blame the following owners for their constant announcements of big changes right around the bend that somehow just never occurred. I blame the beer geeks who could never see past the Guinness and Miller Lite taps to give this brewery-handicapped place a fair chance and support the beers that Tim Roberts did such a great job brewing.

Nodding Head's great, Triumph is excellent, and although Manayunk suffers from the same beer confusion Indy did -- I just got a press release about a Corona event there -- there's still damned good beer being made there. (Whoops. Forgot Dock Street. Sorry, haven't had a chance to get there since it opened!) But where the hell are all the brewpubs that should be in this town?

You'd think that with the big Belgian jones this town obviously has -- Bridgid's, Monk's, Eulogy, Abbaye, Zot, the brand-new Belgian Cafe and the Beneluxx Tasting Room -- that a Belgian-beer brewpub like Brewer's Art would be up and running... Anyone? Anyone? Iron Hill, by God, I love you guys, but why no Philly Iron Hill? Can't be the money, right, they've got a big building fund warchest.

Gordon-Biersch builds big lager palaces like mad in Virginia; does Lagerville USA get one? Nope. I'll tell you what: if I were Dick Yuengling, or one of his daughters (okay, try not to think about that one too visually), I'd open a Yuengling brewpub in Philly. It's a freakin' natural, and done right -- like in the Independence site -- it would kill, and they'd sell even more Lager...and maybe we'd finally see some of those specialty recipes from the old days that they used to tease us about. A game menu for that upstate touch, decor like the brewery taproom, a big giftshop, a big promotional on the first day of deer season...you don't have to pay me for the idea, Dick: it's yours. Free.

But no one does anything. All we do is yap about how great we have it here. Well, you know, it's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I know, I can get a very wide variety of beers, and there are some excellent bars -- I don't really have any complaints about the places that are here, love 'em -- and there are restaurants with real beer lists. I know that, hell, I've said it too, I've been a big friggin' cheerleader for this town.

But I've also been to both Portlands, I've been to Pittsburgh, I've been to DC, I've been to Madison, I've been to Köln and Düsseldorf, and I'm telling you, we could do better, a lot better, and more people should be saying so. Philadelphia needs more brewpubs to truly be a great beer town.

The floor is open.

Walking and Drinking in Old City

A long time ago, in a life that seems far, far away, I worked in Ft. Washington, PA, as a corporate librarian and IS Director. Really. The company fell apart just about three weeks after I sold my first beer piece (for $25), and I left libraries behind and started writing as a career.

I still stay in touch with some of the folks from the old company; they're the core of The Hunt, I see them at the Grey Lodge, we get together for beers sometimes during the year. So when I got my new gig (I'll be talking more about that soon), one of them, Les Gibbs, suggested we go out and celebrate. Always a good idea!

Accordingly, I met Les at Triumph Old City last Tuesday. It was an ugly drive down: 110 minutes to make what should be a 35 minute drive, thanks to some wicked thunderstorms that had knocked down trees and totally snarled traffic on I-95. But on-street meter parking salved that irritation somewhat, and Triumph's solid pilsner did the rest of it.

I filled Les in on the details, we clinked glasses (Saison, now, that first Pilsner just kind of evaporated in a really welcome way, and the Saison was tasting great: just a bit over 5%, not overdone in the spice department, and more complex than a wit -- get down to Triumph and have some), and relaxed.

Nice bar at Triumph: the bar itself has two levels, the main bar and a little elevated section right in front of the whiskey. You can also look up to the 2nd floor bar -- some kind of event going on up there with a lot of very attractive women -- and the brewery, and across the open barrier into the downstairs dining room -- which is where I spotted brewer Patrick Jones.

Hey! I waved, and he came over. That's him on the right, Les on the left. Not much pilsner left, he said (it's probably gone now), but the Saison had just come on a week ago and he was justly proud of it. The barrel program is progressing; Triumph is going to have some seriously interesting specialty releases by this time next year, and it's only going to get better from then on.

Patrick got back to work, and we went back to...not work. I had a Maibock (which was not in the same league as the pils and the Saison, unfortunately; still good, but not stellar), and we ordered food. There was some great salmon on Brussel sprouts and mushrooms (I think they were mushrooms, the light was kind of bad); small triangles of thin-crust broccoli rabe pizza (real good, and understated in a beautifully Italian way), and fish and chips: all that small plate stuff Triumph Old City's doing.

We finished up and decided to head across the street to Eulogy for one more; Les had never been. We sat at the downstairs bar and split a bottle of Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux, the Christmas-season super-saison from Belgium's Dupont brewery. I love this beer, it's sparky and spicy, but smooth and sophisticated. Les really liked Eulogy, and was impressed with the beer list. Hell, it is impressive! So's the service: I've always had informed and personal service at the downstairs bar.

I offered to give Les a lift rather than train out to his place, so we walked up 2nd Street...and there was Cuba Libre, just looking fine and inviting in the light rain. "Nightcap?" I asked. Sure, and I was soon enthralled with the choices of rums at the bar. (That's the bartender at Cuba Libre in the top picture, by the way.) I finally settled on a 10 Cane, a new luxury light rum from LVMH that I'd been hearing about but hadn't had a chance to try. I like these white sugar cane rums, rhum agricole (although I understand 10 Cane is not technically rhum agricole because it is double distilled to a higher proof, according to Ed Hamilton, who surely should know), and 10 Cane didn't disappoint: silky smooth, sure-handed cane flavor, and vaporously aromatic. A delicious way to end a celebratory evening.

SBP: Philadelphia City Paper embraces Session Beer

Philly City Paper ran another good beer piece yesterday: "Basic Training: Local writers and companies lead the retrograded session beer movement."

The piece, by Tim Hyland, quotes General Lafayette owner/brewer Chris Leonard, Tröegs co-founder Chris Trogner, Victory co-founder Bill Covaleski, and myself. A very positive piece on the session beer idea: thanks, CP and Tim.

A Triumph

Tuesday April 17th saw a beautiful moment at Triumph Center City Philly, and I'm not talking about the screaming metal monkey to the left. The brewers of the three Triumph brewpubs -- Princeton, New Hope, the new Center City spot, and 'executive brewer' Jay Misson -- held a brewers reception, inviting brewers from the region to come to the newly opened brewpub. It was a nice idea, and it was great to see everyone come out.






Brewers came from as far away as Troegs and Appalachian in Harrisburg, Stewart's in Delaware, and Anheuser-Busch in Newark, NJ. (Really: these guys are all in the Master Brewers Association of America, and Jay's just become the president of the local chapter -- see how happy he is in the picture to the left? -- and everyone came out for their colleague's new operation.)

As you can see, Jay, like me, spent most of the evening drinking Patrick Jones's excellent kellerbier. It rocked as only an unfiltered pils can rock: aromatic, a touch sulfury, and utterly refreshing, the lager equivalent of cask ale. I also tried the dunkel (which, honestly, I thought needed a bit of work; it was a little sharp, not as glass-smooth as I like a dunkel to be), the porter (very nice beer, hoppy but not obtrusive with it), and the Chico pale ale (yup: Cascades, clean, good drinker, no issues here).

Had good chats with Scott and Lee from Legacy, Casey and Robin from Flying Fish (hadn't seen her in a couple years, nice to get caught up), Brugger from Troegs, Whitney from Appalachian (good to meet the new brewer; very pleasant young woman with a microbiology background, love to see that from a brewer), Suzanne from Sly Fox, Ric from Stewart's, the King of the Philadelphia Craft Beer Scene (don't worry, folks, we shook hands, and smiled, and I went across the street to Eulogy afterwards and had a nice glass of draft Allagash Curieux), and with Triumph partner/founder Adam Rechnitz (who pointed out the screaming metal monkey to me).

I know I'm missing people, and I apologize. It's so infrequent that all of the beer folks in the area get together in a non-work setting that isn't after an exhausting day at a fest. You see how much everyone enjoyed it in this picture out on the street afterwards. Get yourself down to Triumph; the parking's not as bad as you might think (well...on Friday and Saturday nights, but take SEPTA!), I parked on-street for a buck, only three blocks away, and the walk did me good. Thanks to Triumph and Jay Misson for this very gracious "hello" to the craft beer scene.

TWO new PA brewpubs opening very soon

[Actually, make that two PA brewpubs open now, as of April 6, and congratulations to all involved. Both places are now officially open: go enjoy!]

Triumph Old City, Philly's first new brewpub in seven years, opens on Thursday, April 5 (117 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, 215/625-0855). There are at least two more brewpubs on the way for the city, and maybe a couple more in the wings. Things are looking good.

Union Barrel Works, the long-awaited Reamstown brewpub from Tom Rupp, opens...soon. (6 N. Reamstown Rd., Reamstown (MapQuest calls this Stevens, I don't buy it, but what do I know?), 717/335-7837). I talked to Tom's wife Amy yesterday, and there are still a few inspections to go. If you've been following this, you know that inspections have been a trial for UBW (and Tom), so she didn't want to set an opening date (which some folks predicted as early as last November...). Amy promised to let me know when they have a firm date.