Dogs and Tröegs at the Beer Yard (and TND, too)

Uncle Jack sent this earlier today (and supplied the first photo), and I'll happily pass it along. Big Matt Guyer is a dog person, as are the Trogner Bros, Uncle Jack, and I, and we hope you'll consider this charity beer event. 

Beer Yard, Tröegs Brewing and Teresa's Next Door Team Up To Support SPCA

Last year: Matt G, back left; Big Dan Bengel center; and Jack's Buddy, lying down

Once again, The Beer Yard, Tröegs Brewing and Teresa's Next Door are offering their customers and fans a chance to enjoy great beer and food at a Saturday afternoon celebration benefiting the local SPCA, held in the Beer Yard parking lot. The event runs from 1-4PM on Saturday, Sept 1.Attendees will enjoy a wide variety of Tröegs beers and tasty treats from the grill set up by Teresa's Next Door. A free logo pint glass (while they last) will accompany every case of Tröegs sold and $5 from every case sold throughout the entire weekend will go to the Delco SPCA. That same deal applies to every check at TND for the weekend on which a customer writes "SPCA," so it's a party that just keeps on keepin' on right through Labor Day.
You'll be proud to tell your canine companions you attended...in fact, they're invited as well, just so long as they are on leashes). It's going to be a barkin' good time.

I'd be there with the Corgis, but we're spending the weekend with family. Get on out there and drink for the dogs!

Please fill this cooler with beer for us dogs.

The Hulmeville Inn RULES

Thanks to the Hulmeville Inn, Jeff Lavin, and ALL the folks who gave so generously Sunday afternoon: we raised almost $1200 for pancreatic cancer research...WITH BEER!! You folks are beautiful! My thanks also to the folks who came to the Hulmeville for the first time just for this event (okay, and the six Russian River drafts they were pouring), including members of my church choir!

It was a great day. My dad never went to the Hulmeville, but twice the folks there have turned out their pockets in his memory, and to help smack down this swift, vicious killer. If Jeff will keep offering, I'll keep doing this; help me make this a big annual event. And bars/brewers: I'll be happy to come host a pancreatic cancer fundraiser at YOUR place of business. Just drop me a line and we'll talk. Thanks again!

Movember and Angel's Envy

The closest I've come to clean-shaven in 22 years.

I am hirsute. I have facial fungus. I am lazy in the morning. I grew up next to an Amishman. I have a full beard...for a variety of reasons, but mostly, the last time I shaved was the morning I got married to Catherine Childs, December 9, 1989. My kids have never seen me without a beard.

So when this whole "Movember" thing came along, well, I was nonplussed. Good cause -- research into male cancers -- but I'm already there: what am I going to do, shave it off and grow it back? Not happening, pilgrim!

Then I got an email from the folks at Angel's Envy, the new bourbon sourced and blended by legendary bourbon man Lincoln Henderson, a man who I deeply respect (and always enjoy the company of), pointing out that Lincoln has a very snazzy 'stache and that they're into Movember, so how about it? Well, you know? I liked that reasoning. They told me far as they were concerned, I could just keep bearding along. Besides, Lincoln is kicking cancer's ass (not surprising to anyone who knows him), and that's an even better reason.

So folks of the man-type persuasion, the time's come. Check the links above, determine yourself to get hairy, and put down that razor. I dare ya. You can do the fancy dan stuff, get the wax and all that, or you can just go full mountain man like me -- it's all good. And if someone asks you why, tell 'em: charity, bro, want to make a donation to a great cause?

Besides, you might just find that you like it. And your SO might like it too. Mine did.

Great beer, great cause, you, me, Hulmeville Inn, 11/20...what's not to like?

Jeff Lavin, the big-hearted beer-loving owner of the Hulmeville Inn (and congrats to him for pegging #36 on the FooBooz 50 Best Bars list!) is gonna help me memorialize my father again on November 20, and you're gonna want to be there: it's a Russian River-Sierra Nevada-Lew Bryson Collaboration, as I give up one of my two kegs of Sierra Nevada Exportation, the beer I helped design and make with the Philly Pholks at Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp last year...that we double-batched, half of it being sent to Russian River to age in wine barrels there for a year. I tasted some during Philly Beer Week, and it's a wonderful, lightly sour, very drinkable Baltic porter (you'll see by the huge variances in the BA tasting notes that it's a beer that takes some thought).

The last time we did this...that's Mike, The Hawk, and Jeff!

It is, of course, extremely rare at this point, as are Russian River beers outside of California, and you've got a chance to have all that as Jeff puts on the Exportation and at least two other RR drafts. Proceeds from the sales of Exportation will go to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for research into this terribly swift killer. We'll be accepting direct donations as well (I'll be throwing in a hunk of cash, I urge, beg, cajole you to do the same), and will send it all in; please be generous. This is the disease that took Steve Jobs, and -- last June -- my father. It means a lot to me. Thanks, Jeff.

Hope to see you out there at the Hulmeville on November 20, starting at noon! 

Nick Johnson, Matt Guyer, beer, dogs...you can't help but wanna go, right?

Uncle Jack drew my attention to this event: we're both dog owners, he knows I'm a sucker for stuff like this (I'm a sucker for the beers at the Beer Yard and Teresa's Next Door, too, and God knows I'm liking the Tröegs). It's tomorrow afternoon, so check it out if you got nothing going on. I'll be in Boston, taking the boy back to school, but hey, that's the sacrifices you have to make. Cheers!

Tonight in the Lehigh Valley: Session Beer!

I'm joining Eddie Stoudt (yeah, that Eddie Stoudt) tonight at The Pickled Egg in Easton (and I gotta say: cannot think of a better name for a Pennsylvania Dutch area beer bar) for an evening of session beer. I'll be talking about this near and dear subject and signing copies of Pennsylvania Breweries, Eddie will have a fresh firkin pouring (I assume of Karnival Kölsch, but I'm not sure), and proceeds from the firkin will be donated by barowner Laz Melan to the Boys and Girls Club of Easton. Good cause, good times, good beer! Get more details here; hope to see you tonight, 7-10!

THANK YOU to everyone at the Hulmeville Inn!

I went down to the Hulmeville Inn yesterday to celebrate Steve Hawk's win as Philly Beer Geek. When I got there, the first thing I did was order a Sierra Nevada ExPorter, because Jeff Lavin, the owner, had decided that he would donate the proceeds from the sales of that keg to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in my father's memory. When I wanted to pay, the bartender told me, "You'll have to find The Mayor; he's got The Can." Hah?

Well, I knew who The Mayor is, anyway: Mike Sodano. So I went looking for Mike, and found Jeff. Jeff went to look for Mike, and I went back to my excellent beer (kept for me by my excellent wife and the charming Bryan and Patty Kolesar, and Philly Beer Geek organizer Carolyn Smagalski, who is recently engaged, congrats!). About ten minutes later, Mike and Jeff came and got me for pictures. Pictures? Yeah. What happened, before I got there, they'd strapped a 3 gallon keglet of ExPorter to Steve's back (at left), and he'd gone around telling people what was going on, and Mike followed him with a can for donations. Jeff handed me an envelope that had a check and and more cash donations that totaled $843 for pancreatic cancer research. (That's Mike, me, and Jeff in the picture below; we grabbed Christine Gumpper and got her in because she's such a sweetheart.)

I was stunned...but not speechless. Mike got the mike, quieted the crowd, and let me speak. I told them what they'd done, told them they were fantastic, thanked them "from the bottom of my beer-soaked heart," and toasted my father with them. It was a humbling moment. My thanks to everyone there that day. I will write a check for the cash, and send both checks into PCAN tomorrow.

I may have found a cause.

Drinking For My Dad (and Steve Hawk)

They're celebrating Steve Hawk's triumphant win as this year's Philly Beer Geek (Don reports it here, I was...delinquent, but I did have a great time judging) at the Hulmeville Inn this Sunday. Jeff Lavin's grilling up burgers and dogs, and there will be silliness galore, and the taplist -- so far -- is kick-ass: Russian River Registration, Russian River Consecration, Founders KBS, Bruery Coton, Lost Abbey Angel's Share, Yards Grodziski...and one more: a half of Sierra Nevada ExPorter, the 5.8% Baltic Porter I helped brew with a bunch of Philly BeerVolk out at Sierra Nevada in April. I got a half barrel to direct where I wanted, and since the Hulmeville's just down the hill from me, and Steve's a hell of a good guy, well, I decided that would be a good place for it.

Jeff one-upped me, though, God bless him. The proceeds from the sale of that keg of ExPorter will go to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, in memory of my dad. So please come out and help us drink it up! Things start at noon; I'll be getting there a bit later. Thanks, Jeff: class act, all the way.

Doing anything Friday, Lehigh Valley?

There's a Taste of Philly beer event at the Allentown Brew Works in the High Gravity Room: this Friday, 7-10, beer and food from Tastykake, Amoroso, and Original Philly Cheesesteak. Here's the kicker: this is a 100% charity event. Every dollar from ticket sales goes directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's in memory of Jeff Fegley's brother David. Good cause, people, good beers:

There will be a minimum of 41 selections at this festival, with summer samplings of: 12 Allentown Brew Works beers, 6 Bethlehem Brew Works beers, plus  Weyerbacher, Manayunk Brewing,  Yards Brewing Company, Victory Brewing, and the Philadelphia Brewing Company.

The brewers down the road at Boston Beer are bringing beers (hope they bring the Noble Pils!), and homebrewers from Keystone Home Brew Supply and Lehigh Valley Homebrewers are bringing beers (you know: mad, cutting-edge, homebrewed beers!).

I can't make it -- not around -- but you can. $30 in advance, and you can contribute more if you'd like.

Charity for the Animals (with beer!)

However you celebrate the season -- Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, New Year's, or just a secular feel-good-time -- this time of year traditionally brings acts of kindly charity. The economy has many people in terrible condition, and that's in the front of everyone's mind. But animals hurt too, especially in the cold, and our friends at the Khyber are making it easy, even tempting, to do something nice for them.

Firkins for our Furry Friends

Looks like it may be snowing cats & dogs tomorrow, but at the Khyber we've got something special planned. Saturday December 19th -- 1:00pm-8:00pm

A special fundraiser for our friends at P.A.W.S. (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, who care for abandoned and unwanted animals) featuring an array of cask conditioned bartop kegs of quality craft brews. $20 at the door gets you a bottomless cup of these delicious beers: Sly Fox Chester County Bitter, Stoudt's Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Yards General Washington's Tavern Porter, and a vintage PBC Shackamaximum Imperial Stout.

All proceeds go directly to P.A.W.S. to help them in their efforts to save Philadelphia’s homeless, abandoned, and unwanted animals. So come in, get warm, and help us help PAWS!
Brews graciously donated by Yards, Philly Brewing, Sly Fox and Stoudt's.

And might I remind you: the Sly Fox is a great drinkable session beer, the Fat Dog is an eye-opener, Tavern Porter has that lovely licorice bite...but the Shackamaximum on cask is the absolute shit. 'Nuff said.