Andrew

Try Legal Weed!

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:36:00 GMT

HAHAHAAAHAAAA!

Just saw this through Fark on the LA Times website: Beer maker wins fight to market 'Legal Weed'. Mt. Shasta Brewing Co in the town of Weed, California uses bottle caps on their brews that say "Try Legal Weed," which the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau seemed to have a problem with. After a long court battle, though, the owner finally won out.

Aren't you glad our government has solved all the other problems in the world that they have time to focus on this? Note to the ATTTB: Go have a beer and see if it loosens that stick in your... nevermind.

Enter The Station

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:29:00 GMT

South Philly isn’t widely known as a haven for beer geeks. Royal Tavern and the Dive Bar aren’t really South enough, Devil’s Den still has some food issues to work out, and although SPTR has made quite a name by stocking a great bottle stock and an always-changing draft lineup, their recent kitchen kerfuffle has left quite a few people (myself included) turned off from their over-priced and under-optioned food menu. ("You want FRIES with that? What do you think this is? A f***ing McDonalds?!")

Enter The Station. PBC met at the Station on Thursday, and although rocky, it has the makings for a great competitor to SPTR. The chef, Joe, has transitioned from Caribou in CC to the first kitchen staff at Devil’s Den. After leaving there, he and a partner, Lou, now run the Station. It's pretty easy to tell that the Station is still a work in progress. The menu they’re running right now is going to change very shortly, and we’ve been told to expect frequent changes as the months go by.

As far as beers go, the Station has a ways to go before they’ll start drawing away SPTR regulars. I was a little surprised at the lack of local selection. Giving us two or three of the more main-stream local brews is great, but I’d like to see some daring on the line-up. Yeah, Prima Pils is great and the O’Reilly Stout is a consistent dessert-replacement, but I’d like to see one or two high-octane locals throw in. Maybe the Weyerbacher Blasphemy or Victory’s Golden Monkey—something with a little punch and a lot of flavor to go with the meatier entrees. And there’s really no need to carry bottles like the Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale (sort of a kolsch-y metallic letdown, considering the distance it needs to travel to get here) when a much more interesting version can be had from Victory or even Nodding Head.

The food is where these guys can really distance themselves from Tap Room, given the latter’s newfound reliance on exotic (and pricey) game meats. No, I don’t need a $15 chunk of lion to enjoy my beers—the sweet potato fries at the Station take a huge chunk out of your hunger and give your stomach some much needed padding. They’re coated in a caramel glaze that negates the need for additional condiments. The serving size may even be a little too big for one or two people to enjoy before they get cold—I would think that offering a half serving under the $5 mark may entice many people who just stop in for a beer to give them a shot.

A few of us waited the extra hour for the pork to roast to get the shredded pork sandwich. If you get it, order extra peppers on the side and then throw them on top. Make sure you have plenty of beer and napkins on hand, because this will unclog even the most stubborn sweat glands. It’s definitely worth it, and remember—it also comes with a huge side of the sweet potato fries (so if you’ve already eaten a whole plate of them, you might want to switch it out with something else).

All in all, I’ll be adding the Station to my bar routine because I’m interested to see which direction it will go. I’d love to see it take on the Tap Room in terms of beer selection, but if it doesn’t, it’s still a far cry better than what was there. For now, this is definitely the place to go if you think Tap Room’s selection is too snobby and elitist.

Hoppiness is hard to find...

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:22:00 GMT

I know that it might seem like we've gotten away from brewing in the past few months in leiu of drinking the hard work of others. But that was before the PBC hops started flowering! After watching vine after vine shoot off from the crown for months, it seems all of these cones appeared overnight. I planted one variety back in March, and another in May (I'll be damned if I wrote them down... Cascade and Willamette sound about right though.) The ones that were given some elk antlers to grow up found their way onto some chainlink fence, and really took off.

Next year, the plan is to cut a few pieces of the rhizome to start some more sections. I'd really like to string some lines across the yard to have the hops grow crazy all over the place. Some advice from my friend Ed (who gave me the later-planted rhizomes) is to wait until the hops are slightly papery to the touch before picking them. Right now, they smell and taste chlorophylly, but they should start to dry out soon. It looks like I'll have enough to lightly hop one batch of beer, so some weekend very soon we'll be getting out the big pots to boil down some of Philly's finest.

I have some rosemary, sage, and oregano growing, as well as a year's supply of rose petals ripe for the picking. I wonder what some combination of these would taste like?

New Bar in Newbold

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:23:00 GMT

CityPaper has word on the Station Bar & Grill that replaces Noah's Ark at 16th and McKean. I, for one, am going to miss the old clientele, peeing on cars and vomitting on the sidewalk--ironically iconic. We might have to make a trip there soon.

Drinking on vacation?

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Florida—the only state to have it’s own tag on Fark. Becky recently coerced me into going down to the panhandle state for a nice relaxing weekend. I went to visit Disney for the first time in my life, with the consoling thought that after a long day dodging strollers and waiting in endless lines I could relax by the pool with a nice cold local beer in hand. I guess I’ve been living in Philly a little too long. The local stores carry nothing that isn’t distributed by A-B, who has some large offices and brewing concerns throughout the state.

On the final day of our visit, we made our way to Ybor City (right outside of Tampa) to visit what turned out to be the best brewpub within a hundred miles of Orlando—Tampa Bay Brewing Company. According to Google, there were two other breweries in that general vicinity, but the friendly folks at TBBC informed us that they were both bought out by A-B, and their brewing facilities were moved to more industrial locations suitable for moving the massive quantities now being produced.

TBBC has a very open brewpub layout, with nothing more than railings separating the indoor seating from the brewing area. We were there at the day’s opening, and were greeted by a pungent malty fog that rolled out the door and settled on the surrounding block. The beer list had great breadth (they even brew their own rootbeer!) and the beer flight got us decent sized samplings of all 9 beers for just $11. I thoroughly enjoyed the Moosekiller, Iron Rat Stout, and Wild Warthog, while Becky went for the True Blonde and One Night Stand (hmm…)

I wish we could have brought some home, but we were informed that Florida has laws (that came were lobbied for by A-B) that prevent brewpubs that use beer in their recipes from being able to sell it in bottles (makes sense to… wait—no it doesn’t), nor can they offer growlers (although that would have been tough to get back on the plane). So, if you’re stuck in Florida wondering where the good beer is, look up Tampa Bay Brewing Co. in Ybor City right outside of Tampa and have a few drinks. Make sure to stop by earlier in the day—Ybor City’s beautiful to stroll around, but I was told that it turns into a Mardi Gras-esque scene after sundown.

SlyFox Goat Race This Sunday!

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:26:00 GMT

It's here! Sly Fox's annual goat race is all set to go for Sunday. Anybody else going?

Beer Run!

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:51:00 GMT

Ouch. That’s all I can think right now, as my calves, knees, and quads are still recovering from the 4 (and for some, 6) miler that Bryan and Suz put together this past Saturday. We met on the Art Museum steps bright and early and took off down the river, over the South St. bridge and continued straight up Spruce and Baltimore till we hit Dock St. We were the most law-abiding runners ever seen in Philly—nobody complained at stopping for red lights (and even a few green ones). We still made it there in time to put a pitcher or two away before the 6-mile runners arrived. Pizza and beer were abundant, although almost everybody put away a few cups of H2O before partaking in the other refreshments.

Thanks again to Bryan and Suz, Mike and Rosemarie at Dock St., and all of the beer-enthused runners who came out. Next year promises to bring more running (and more runners!). It was definitely worth doing, and made for a suitable return to a healthy lifestyle put on hold for two week of solid beering. I was thinking about posting a Beer Week wrap-up, but there’s no way to do it justice other than to say, "You really had to be there." If you missed it, go ahead and mark off March on your 2009 calendars. We hope to see a lot of you before then! Cheers, —Andrew

Meet The Brewer's Night Redux

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:19:00 GMT

Last night had PBC drinking brews from both of Philly’s famous divorcees, Philadelphia Brewing Company (PBCo from here on) and Yards Brewing Company. There has been much speculation and rumor flying around, which the recent Philly Weekly article (Tanks for the Memories) did surprisingly little to clear up. Here's what we discovered:

It turns out that Yards has not been bought up by a major beer conglomerate, as I had previously heard. They are, however, caught in a contractual obligation to distribute their beer through a single distributor, which is going to make Yards slightly more expensive than we were used to (supposedly somewhere around the 25% mark). The recipes, however, remain the same. Or so I thought. At the Bishop’s Collar last night, we tried both the Philly Pale Ale and the Tavern Porter. Both tasted noticeably different from what I was used to and it turns out it’s because Yards is currently brewing in the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre. Different water, different equipment, different brewers—I’ll withhold judgment until they get their Delaware Ave location up and running (which, from what I hear, could be anywhere from April to June) on their own equipment and using real Philly water. I still think they should be labeling it “Wilkes-Barre Pale Ale” for the time being. And I’m still more than a little annoyed that one of the Yard’s guys at the Brewer’s Plate swore up and down to me that the beer I was drinking was definitely from their first batch produced on Delaware Ave. I won’t mention names, but c’mon guys—do you think we won’t find out?! [[One thing I forgot to mention--Tom Kehoe did set the record straight at Bishop's Collar.]]

PBCo, on the other hand, will continue to self-distribute their beer, dropping off their own kegs and cases across the city as they had previously as (old) Yards. We met the brewers Josh and John last night at the London Grill, who are both the kind of guys I would expect and hope to see brewing at PBCo. They share a great deal of the Barton's vision for Kensington, and it definitely shows in their beers. On tap were the Kenzinger and the Rowhouse Red (which coupled with the Newbold IPA at Tap Room leaves only the Walt Wit left to find—let me know if you see the pencil tap handle!). I definitely have a preference for the IPA (finally—an IPA that isn’t just about the hops!), but the knowledge that all of the PBCo beers you can find right now are straight from the first batch of each definitely adds a little special something to each glass.

Also at the London Grill was an Anheuser-Busch rep (sorry—I’m horrible with names once I have a beer or two in me) who set a few misconceptions straight for me. He promised me that when AB buys rights to distribute a beer, they do not change the recipe or force any other changes on the brewer. He said that beers like Hoegaarden, Stella, and Leffe (all of which they were handing out samples of) are brewed in the same towns using the same recipe as they always were. AB’s sole purpose in distributing these beers is to provide a larger audience. I still think that producing beer on the scale required to distribute world-wide leads to changes in the recipes and methods, even if the impetus for that change doesn’t come from external mandates… But hey—with the amazing selection of Philly local beers, very rarely do I find myself reaching for a more worldly brew.

Seats open for Devil's Alley Craft Beer & Chocolate

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:03:00 GMT

According to Annie, the GM at Devil's Alley, there are still a few seats left for this Sunday's Craft Beer & Chocolate. For those of you not going to the Brewer's Plate, this looks like a great (and cheaper) option for earlier in the day.

$25 gets you a 5-course cocoa-tinged lunch with beer pairings from Unibroue, Stoudt's, and Clipper City. Can't beat that. RSVP by calling 215.751.0707

Download the PDF here

This Saturday...

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:38:00 GMT

Don't forget--this Saturday is the Philly Craft Beer Festival, the official pre-kickoff event for Philly Beer Week. Session 1 (the one most of us are going to) is now sold out, but it appears that tickets can be found at cost on CraigsList. There are still tickets for the second session starting at 6 PM. I considered going to both, but my liver tells me that's a bad idea.

I'll bring plenty of packs of Emergen-C--I've found it to be fairly effective at preventing the negative effects of over-sampling. If you have multi-vitamins or at least a B-complex, take it with breakfast before you go. With over 120 beers at 2 oz per beer, drinking one of everything comes out to be 15 full beers at varying levels of alcoholic content--not bad for $40.