Issue 26 | September 2013 | www.PhillyBeerScene.com
+ Beyond the Brauhaus
Beate Green Brings a Taste of Her Home Back to Philadelphia
JiM Meiers The Best Dressed man in the Business
Fresh and Local Brewers Take to Local Farms to Produce Better Brews
Keni Thomas | homebrew shops Champion | “The Rick”
$4.99
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Make Reservations Online at www.eulogybar.com
“
VERY GOOD beer list has grown to epic proportions...kitchen has… added an extra bell with perhaps the city’s best frites, some stellar beer-battered fish and very good mussels
”
— Craig LaBan, Philadelphia Inquirer, Revisited April 2007
136 Chestnut St. (2nd & Chestnut) Phila • 215.413.1918
A HOUSE OF ALES
Mon-Wed 5pm-2am, Thurs-Sun 11am-2am
ACHTUNG BABY,
BIERSTUBE
German Biergarten Burgers, Brats and 200+ Beers Fo Shizzle ma Schnitzel! 206 Mar ket St (2nd & Mar ket) Phila 215-922-2958
A HOUSE OF LAGERS
Mon-Wed 5 pm-2am, Thurs-Sun 11am-2am 2
Reser vations at www.mybierstube.com
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11th & Ellsworth philadElphia, pa 19147
215.339.0855 opEn daily 11am - 2am KitchEn opEn 11am - 1am
craft bEEr
EvEnts
• 17 Rotating Craft Beer Drafts • Over 200 Bottles
August 17Th - 23RD PUCKER UP!!! 4th Annual Sour Fest
• Growlers & Bottles Available for Takeout
September 28Th & 29Th Oktoberfest
happy hour
brunch
• Monday - Friday (5 - 7pM)
• Saturday & Sunday (10:30AM - 3pM)
• All Drafts 1/2 price
• Outdoor Seating Available
Check out our website at: www.devilsdenphilly.com for up to date Draft Lists, Events & Specials Also find us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/devilsdenphilly
177 Markle street, Manayunk, PA 19127 215.483.5535 www.oldeagletavern.com Monday - Friday 4PM - 2AM saturday & sunday 11AM - 2AM
beers
HAPPY HOUr
• 11 rotating Craft & Import Drafts
• Monday - Friday (5 - 7PM)
• 60+ bottle beer List & Growing
• All Drafts 1/2 Price
• Growlers & bottles Available for Takeout
• $2.00 Domestic bottles
evenTs For drink specials, events & updated draft lists, please visit www.facebook.com/OldeagleTavern for more details.
Opening SOOn www.facebook.com/BarrenHillBeer
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contents
September 2013
features 54
The many suits of Jim Meiers All anyone wants to talk about is his clothes.
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It takes a woman... How Beate Green, of Brauhas Schmitz, inspired German brewers to bring their beer to Philadelphia.
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From Farm to Pint: brewers keeping it fresh and local Brewers turn to farming to brew fresher, better beer—locally.
on the cover
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Issue 26 | september 2013 | www.phIllybeerscene.com
™
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+ Beyond the Brauhaus
Beate Green Brings a Taste of Her Home Back to Philadelphia
JiM Meiers
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The BesT DresseD man in The Business
Fresh and Local Brewers Take to Local Farms to Produce Better Brews
$4.99
Keni Thomas | homebrew shops Champion | “The riCK”
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Photograph by Alison Dunlap.
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Jim Meiers has a style that has people talking about his clothes that is. He’s been suiting up since before you were born and knows how to fold a pocket scarf like nobody else. See the many suits of Jim Meiers on page 54.
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contents
September 2013
sections 42 Brewmasters
14 On the Scene
Scott Morrison: The Dude Abides (and Thrives)
Beer events in Philly’s beer scene.
By Lisa Grimm
16 The Variety Pack
44 Beer Travel
Jon Billett, Zack Cyphers, Joe Gunn,
Albany, NY
Mike Lubieski, Chris Maurer, Chris Snee
26 Woman on the Scene An Olfactory Cannon Delivers the Goods By Carolyn Smagalski
28 Fun With Beer
47 Not Beer Torchbearer Hot Sauces
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48 spirits Spodee - Wine with a Kick
50 Le Fromage
Beer Bottle Tiki Torches
Roundtop Farm Natural Rind Tomme & Manayunk Dreamin’ Double IPA.
30 Cooking with Beer Smoked Berkshire Pork Rillette Banh Mi
By Ryan Hudak
By Chef Robert Legget
51 Brews Abroad
32 Homebrewer’s Corner
An American Chef in Bangkok
Battle of the Homebrew Shops winner Sean Keffer’s winning recipe
By Keith Wallace
52 Alterna-Beer Anthem Ciders
34 Hop Culture
By Dave Martorana
New Zealand’s Hops By Joe Bair
38 Tunes & Brews
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Kyle Costill By G.W. Miller III
40 Discovering Craft Beer
74 Bar+Restaurant
Spotlight
Unique beer destinations for a pint and a meal in and out of the city
78 The Tasting Room
First Craft Beer Memories
20 beers reviewed by our panel with special guest: PJ McMenamin & Keith Wallace
By Francis Berger
41 Tapping into
Technology
85 Directory
Mobile Canning
Find craft beer near you!
90 Beer Events
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Local happenings in the Philly beer scene
Brewed for food. Philly!
Tart, savory, spicy, earthy, sweet – the Belgian style ales in Goose Island’s Vintage Collection are brewed to complement the flavors in the finest foods.
G O O S E I S L A N D. C O M ©2013 Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago, IL | Enjoy Responsibly.
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Publisher Creative Director Executive Editor Contributing Editors
Mat Falco Jonathan Clark Alicia Eichelman Adam Baer, Joseph Bair, Francis Berger, Jon Billett, Zack Cyphers, Lisa Grimm, Joe Gunn, Ryan Hudak, Sean Keffer, Drew Lazor, Chef Robert Legget, Mike Lubieski, Dave Martorana, Christopher Maurer, G.W. Miller III, Carolyn Smagalski, Amy Strauss & Keith Wallace
Contributing Artist
Chris Snee
Lead photographer
Alison Dunlap
Contributing photographers
Stephen Lyford
Philly Beer Scene was founded in 2009 by Mat Falco, Neil Harner, Scott Willey and John Galster. Philly Beer Scene is Designed & Printed in the USA. Copyright Š 2013 Beer Scene Publishing, LLC. Philly Beer Scene is published bi-monthly by Beer Scene Publishing, LLC. 1229 Chestnut Street-PMB 131 Philadelphia, PA 19107 | Phone: 215-470-2022 For subscription inquiries please visit us on the web at www.phillybeerscene.com
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A True Masterpiece... Imperial Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale is the first offering in our new Brush and Barrel Series. Each Brush and Barrel brew will be specially crafted by our Brewmaster in small batches that reflect a variety of styles. We’ve partnered with local artists who’s work will be featured on Brush and Barrel bottle labels and packaging. In turn, our brewers will be brewing the featured beer with the artist who created the beautiful imagery for the packaging. Our goal is for artists and brewers to draw creative inspiration from one another and further push the boundaries of their respective art forms.
8.0% ABV Malts Two-Row, Wheat Caramel 80L & Caramunich
30 IBU’s
Hops Nugget, Mt. Hood & Willamette
Special Ingredients Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg and Cloves
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Contributors Lisa Grimm What was your highlight from Philly Beer Week? The Wells and Young’s event at Strangelove’s was wonderful; starting off with their low-key but excellent Eagle was a great warmup for their famed Courage Imperial Russian Stout on cask. Brewer Jim Robertson set the stage perfectly with his history of the brand, and the Hammer of Glory even made an appearance. This issue we feature Beate Green of Brauhaus Schmitz and it’s impossible to write about Beate without talking about her love for Schnaps. What is your non-beer drink of choice? It’s got to be a Pimm’s Cup for me, even though I never got around to having one during Wimbledon this year.
Amy Strauss What beer are you currently enjoying? I can’t stop raving about Maine Beer Co.’s Lunch. It’s the brewery’s version of a West Coast IPA, weighing in as a terrific mix of citrus and pine aside a subtle hop backbone. Plus, it’s crisp and clean, making it perfect for warmer months. This issue we feature Beate Green of Brauhaus Schmitz and it’s impossible to write about Beate without talking about her love for Schnaps. What is your non-beer drink of choice? I have one serious infatuation with Old Fashioneds. Bartenders may hate me when I order one, but I find it to be pure bliss when sipping one that’s particularly stiff with Maker’s Mark.
Drew Lazor What are you currently drinking? Shiner Ruby Redbird. I can’t put down very many big, high-ABV beers in the swelter, so this stuff is perfect for me. What was your highlight from Philly Beer Week? I had a blast at Bell’s BBQ Night at American Sardine Bar and the barrelaged event at Prohibition Taproom.
Carolyn Smagalski What was your highlight from Philly Beer Week? It had to be the Philly Beer Geek competition. It was thrilling to have Jim Koch come down from Boston for it—I felt proud to show him the caliber of Beer Geeks in Philadelphia. Our Philly Beer Geek finalists are so accomplished in their passion and knowledge that you just can’t ignore Philly Beer drinkers as the best in the country. This issue we feature Beate Green of Brauhaus Schmitz and it’s impossible to write about Beate without talking about her love for Schnaps. What is your non-beer drink of choice? Let’s stay with Schnaps for now. Let me ferment in fruit for awhile.
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publisher’s Letter
Once again, Philly Beer Week was an unprecedented 10 day spell of craft beer indulgence. There seemed to be a heavier focus on local, which was really encouraging to see. Fewer brewers may have found their way to Philadelphia, but supporting the local scene is important and a large part of what Beer Week should be about. I’d list some favorite events, but that would require a much longer article and I didn’t allot myself enough space for that. To fill in the gap between the National Homebrewers Conference at the end of the month, in true Philly fashion, there was more then a handful of great beer events, including Lansdale Beer Fest and Savor— yes, it’s in NYC but it included local breweries and is a top-tier national event. After that, it was time to spend three days with 4,000 homebrewers from all over the world at the NHC. That was definitely a unique beer experience, and I’m still blown away by the amount of time, money and effort invested by these homebrewers to share their homebrew brands. It was a showcase that would put some larger craft breweries to shame. Somehow in the madness of it all, we were able to put together another issue. As you noticed by the cover, to follow up our Fergie feature from last year, we brought writer Drew Lazor back to profile another legend of the local beer industry, Jim Meiers. Jim has been sporting the three-piece suits for quite some time now, selling all kinds of craft beer beer throughout the area, and unless you’re in the industry, he’s someone you probably never heard of, so we wanted to share his story. Another key person you may not have heard of is Beate Green. Beate has done wonders in making Philadelphia one of the premier markets in the country for German beer. Lastly, to round out the issue, we take a look at how local our local breweries are and how they are making efforts to use all local ingredients.
Cheers, Mat Falco Publisher
302 N. PLUM ST. LANCASTER, PA 17602
LANCASTERBREWING.COM
CONNECT WITH US
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on the scene Scene
// event photos
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1. The attendees at this year’s Awards Show raising a glass in honor of Tom Peters being recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year. 2. Siblings Jenny and John Hobbs about to make their way down the red carpet at the Awards Show. 3. The legendary Fergie calling out the photographer during his interview with the Joan Rivers impersonator. 4. Don Russell and Tom Kehoe prepping the firkin for Mayor Nutter to tap and ceremoniously kick off Philly Beer Week.
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5. The crowd of thousands of homebrewers at Pro Brewers Night during the National Homebrewers Conference.
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6. Casey Parker, of Jose Pistola’s, trying his best to win a game of Donkey Kong during their Beer Week event with Round Guys Brewery. 7. Almost the whole Weyerbacher team showed up for this year’s Awards Show. This is their serious picture. 8. The ladies of FordhamDominion Brewery, Lauren and Brittney, made their way up from Delaware to show off on the red carpet at the Awards Show.
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9. Chris LaPierre, Mike Fava, and Casey Hughes celebrating Fava’s homecoming at the 80s prom at Jose Pistola’s during Beer Week. 10. Joe Gunn, once again won over the crowd, hosting the annual Awards Show. 11. Neshaminy Creek rep Pat Pie showing off his finest vintage WWF t-shirt to a very impressed Joan Rivers impersonator. 12. Mike Jobes and our camera guys for the evenings red carpet, Ernie Tedesco and Michael Lawrence (Beeradelphia), taking a break from filming.
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13. Despite being up for some of the same awards Bill Covaleski and Tom Kehoe showing there’s nothing but love amongst the fellow area breweries. 15
the variety pack
// a little bit of everything
The Audacity Of Hops A cultured look at the trials and tribulations of American’s craft beer scene. By Chris Maurer
“It is a story populated by quintessential American characters: heroes and villains, hippies and yuppies, oenophiles and teetotalers, gangsters and G-men, men in kilts and men in suits.” Those words from the prologue to Tom Acitelli’s The Audacity Of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution, define t h i s 3 4 0 - plus page love story to craft beer and its growth, or rather revolution, as the title states. Acitelli traces the rebirth of the American craft beer movement from its humble beginnings in San Francisco where Fritz Maytag, of the famous Maytag family, simply ordered an Anchor Steam® Beer at The Old Spaghetti Factory one August day in 1965 and, by the end of September, found himself the majority owner of the last craft brewery in the nation at the time. That was just one part of a story that is full of chance meetings, coincidental relationships, governmental complications, and sheer passion that ultimately leads to the amazing craft beer scene we experience not just here in the Philadelphia area but, as Acitelli points out, worldwide as the influence of the American craft beer scene creeps out beyond our borders. Acitelli’s journey takes you through the forces of history that shaped the beer scene of today; how prohibition and World War II molded the era in which Anchor kicked off the rebirth in a scene that in 1915 contained as many as 2,783 breweries but by 1940, had shrunk to 684. It tells the reader of how one Dateline exposé and Big Beer’s involvement nearly killed the movement in the 90s, and it is a tale filled with recognizable names, places, and events like Jim Koch, Michael Jackson, Lew Bryson, Shangy’s, and Victory and those less common but vital to craft beer’s evolution such as Fred Kuh, Jack McAuliffe, HR 1337, and Gablinger’s Diet Beer. For anyone with a true passion for craft beer, and if you’re reading this magazine, then that certainly includes you, this is a wonderful trip through all the trials and tribulations that brought us to the craft beer era in which we are currently lucky enough to reside.
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Weird Beer #26 Birreria’s Vespa Project
Dogfish Head is known for riding the lines of extreme with their beers. They’ve worked with archaeologists to create recipes salvaged off vessels from ancient civilizations, brewed with excessive amounts of mint, and sourced ingredients from every continent to make a single beer; and this isn’t counting their even more inventive brewpub releases. Always looking for the next bizarre idea, Dogfish collaborated with Peter Hepp, the master brewer at Birreria, part of Eataly in New York City, to create a beer that paid tribute to Italy. Wanting a brew that was 100% Italian and unique, a yeast native to the area was needed. Thanks to a recent study, it was discovered that hornets in Italy store grape-skin yeast in their stomach throughout the winter. Abdomens aren’t quite ancient vessels, but pulling yeast out of the stomach of hornet is about as Dogfish as it gets. With this knowledge, Dogfish and Hepp brewed a series of beers called Birreria’s Vespa Project, using this strain of yeast which might be even more unique and off-putting than the yeast found in Rogue brewmaster John Maier’s beard. The first beer was a Belgian-style witbier brewed with pomegranate molasses and myrrh resin. All the beers have been offered exclusively in a caskconditioned style. The brews have only been available at Birreria for now, but one can only imagine it’s just a matter of time before Dogfish puts this in 750ml bottles to sell alongside the rest of their extreme portfolio.
It’s Named What? Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company “Concrete Pillow” Anniversary American Barleywine.
Being at a beer convention in Atlantic City can really mess with your mind. The bars don’t close, the night effortlessly rolls into morning, and the flashing casino lights can be disorienting—if not flat-out confusing when you’ve had way too much to drink and way too little sleep. Luckily, the hotels are beautiful and the rooms are fitted with soft and luxurious beds—complete with pillows and blankets. The thing is, interesting beer names don’t come from soft, plush, goose-down pillows. They don’t even come from Motel-6 quality pillows. They do, however, come from “pillows” of powdered concrete in the stairwell of a hotel down the street. Which Steve “The Animal” Capelli, of Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co., knows far too well.
It seems that after some heavy drinking, maybe a touch of gambling, and lots of confusion, “The Animal” found his way to the wrong hotel, and in doing so, had no room to stay. So out of, let’s call it “drunken ingenuity,” he found that a bag of concrete makes the perfect pillow, and stairs the perfect bed— only to be found by a fellow brewer the next morning when the elevator wasn’t working. Who knows what would have happened to Steve had he not been found, but we can all be glad he was, for now we have great beer to drink and a great story to tell. Concrete Pillow is a limited release American Barleywine served in an elegant 22oz. bomber and weighs in at 10.8% ABV. It is an easy drinker, with notes of vanilla, toffee, and some slight bitterness. However, have a few too many of these and you may find yourself in Steve’s position, quite literally, thumb in mouth and all.
A Cold One by Chris Snee
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the variety pack
// a little bit of everything
I on Beer I’d bang football. By Joe Gunn
Football is my favorite. Aside from my kids, and occasionally my wife, professional football is my favorite thing in the whole world. Now, if you read this column or know anything about me, you know I love beer, too. I’m very passionate about it. My career revolves around it. I read about it during my free time. I travel to visit breweries and all that stuff. That being said, if I had to choose, with a gun to my head, between beer and football for the rest of my life, I would take that gun and shoot beer right in the head, just to show football how much I love him. My mom claims that I started going to Eagles games as a one-year-old. They used to let kids in for free if you carried them in. I swear I was carried in until I was about 14-years old. I experienced all types of cool stuff there. It’s where I learned that pot smells so delicious. I also learned how to curse, boo, and pee in a sink there. It was the happiest place on Earth, except for all those drunk guys punching each other. Thirty-seven years later, football is better than ever. I still can’t sleep the night before some games. It’s almost perfect, and like everything else that isn’t perfect, I think I know how to fix it. Here are three simple suggestions for the NFL to perfect the world’s most popular sport… Japan’s Universal Fan Fest Initiative: The centerpiece of Japan’s bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a promise to show games in live time, holographic 3D images in stadiums around the world. For instance, if the United States were playing the Ivory Coast in a World Cup game in Tokyo, we could all go to the Linc and watch the game being played live right before our eyes, on our field. Now, if the Japanese are smart enough to come up with that technology, Americans are certainly smart enough to steal it. With how fast technology improves, in a couple years we could have this technology in our homes, or better yet, in
our bars. I figure we could get it down to the size of the chess board in Star Wars. I long for the day when a bunch of guys will gather in a circle and cheer for something that isn’t cockfighting at Pistola’s. Better Serial Killer Detection: As many of you know, the NFL sends every draft-eligible college football player to what they call a scouting combine before they come into the league. They check everything physically: size, speed, strength, and agility. They also make them take a test to see if they’re smarter than a fifth grader. One Dallas Cowboy was even asked if his mom was a prostitute. They look for everything in a player, except one thing: are they likely to be a serial killer while being on the team? This is written in early July, when Aaron Hernandez was only likely responsible for three murders and shooting one guy in the face. Who knows how many he’s up to by the time you read this. But with all of the resources NFL teams have, how in the hell could a team like the no-goodcheating Patriots miss warning signs of a 23-year-old murderer? There’s gotta be a test. Freakin’ hypnotize each one of them and flat out ask them if they’re likely to
murder. Subconsciously, they gotta know. For example, I learned through hypnosis that I am not likely to murder anyone. Stop It With These Referees: Replace all of these old referees with young ones. Then, when technology makes it possible, replace those guys with robots, computers, and satellites. And I want cameras everywhere. Maybe someday in the future, there will be tiny cameras on the end of each blade of grass. There should be no human error in deciding sports. I’m pretty sure I can set up cameras and watch my bar from home on my phone for a couple thousand dollars. There has to be a better answer for the trillion dollar NFL than parttime, old men. Nothing aggravates me more, in the age of laser fusion and Higgs Bosons, than watching a couple of guys trot out ten yards of chain to measure a first down. In droopy pants no less. Aside from these simple suggestions and possibly one lengthy one about the beer situation at the Lincoln Financial Field (which was cut out of the column due to language and rage), I don’t care what the NFL does, it’s the best. 19
the variety pack
// meet the scene
Wizards, Rainbows & Destroying Things Meet “The Rick� of Yards Brewing. Interview By Mike Lubieski
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Enter the wonderful world of Rick Anstotz of Yards Brewing — full of unicorns, rainbows, wizards, and of course, Slayer. Mike: I guess I probably have to ask you questions about shit. Rick: I feel like we’re on a date. Should we get a candle? Mike: I like candles. Do you like candles? Rick: We do have a candle in Kehoe’s office. Mike: A candle is definite ambiance for Rick. He likes a subtle flame. Rick goes to Tom Kehoe’s office to get a candle and returns to have a conversation on their decisions in life that have made their mothers most happy (cutting their hair topped both of their lists).
Mike: What was the happiest day of your life? Rick: The day I met my fiancé. Mike: That’s the fucking cutest answer in the world. Look at you. Rick: I bought you a shot the day we started dating. Mike: You bought me a shot? Rick: Remember I saw you at Standard Tap? I was all excited and I came over and bought shots. Coming across as an old married couple themselves, they continue to discuss the wedding for quite some time.
Rick: Can this interview go for three hours? I don’t think we’ve actually talked about anything yet. Mike: It probably could, but there are a few questions in there. But OK…what is your title here at Yards? Rick: I like Sales Dictator. I just sit in a chair and yell at people all day. Actually, I sleep and then yell at people. Mike: Cushy job. What did you start at Yards as? Rick: I was a keg cleaner. Mike: No shit. This is like a success story. Like a rags to riches story. Rick: Rudy. It’s like Rudy! I moved up to bottling monkey. I wanted to move towards brewing but they told me I like to talk to people too much so they wanted me to be a sales rep. They handed me some sales sheets and said, “Here you go.” Mike: You use to be my favorite Yards employee, but Kristin is my favorite now. Just pointing it out… Kristen is definitely
my favorite. Rick: That’s fine. Mike: If you weren’t working in the beer industry, what would you do? Dream job? Rick: I’d probably just do a lot of drugs and write death metal [music]. Mike: I kind of expected half of that story. Rick: The drug part? If I didn’t do beer, I’d continue to play in a metal band but I’d probably be doing something with environmental sciences. Mike: Fucking tree-hugger metal head. Rick: I like science. It’s fun. I read Space.com all the time. This leads to a ten minute conversation about Myspace which logically leads to Rick talking about riding Falcor at a film studio in Germany.
Mike: What are your top 5 favorite bands, not in alphabetical order? Rick: Nine Inch Nails, Black Dahlia Murder, In Flames… Mike: (interrupting) I like that you listened and didn’t list them in alphabetical order. That’s awesome! Rick: …Darkest Hour and Slayer. I love Slayer but the recent change, the guitarist just died, it was a sad day. In metal terms, one of those sad days that’s the equivalent of Michael Jackson in the beer industry dying. Mike: I thought you meant the pop artist. Rick: I mean, I cried that day too. Mike: It was sad. Rick: The whole Slayer thing is a huge part of me. Mike: If you could be a natural disaster what would you be? Rick: That’s awesome. Does Armageddon count? Mike: Armageddon isn’t really a natural disaster. Rick: It is natural because it’s the end of the world. Mike: It depends really if we get into God.
Rick: I’m going to have to get deep with this one. It’s got to be brutal. Mike: It only has to be brutal if you want it to be. You could be a really nasty hailstorm. Rick: Maybe acid rain that catches on fire, that’s like fire from the skies. Mike: I don’t know if that’s possible, actually. Rick: So maybe like a typhoon. Mike: I think you’re better than that. Rick: Other than Armageddon, I can’t think of a cooler natural disaster...I want to destroy. Mike: I think you’d want to be locusts or something. Rick: Locusts are cool but that’s a plague. Maybe a super awesome earthquake where the tectonic plates completely separate and swallow an entire continent. Mike: In a non-industrial area so people don’t die. Would you want to kill a lot of people if you were a natural disaster? Rick: If I was a natural disaster, I might as well take the world with me. Would I be dying too or am I just a natural disaster? It’s not really a disaster if I don’t kill anyone. If I just swallow up an empty island, it’s just a natural occurrence. A natural disaster is when something awful happens. Mike: That’s fine. They were probably assholes anyways. Rick: They were probably dicks. Mike: So, you like natural disasters. That’s good to know Mike: If you had the choice of seeing a wizard sliding down a rainbow or a unicorn riding in a kangaroo’s pouch, which would you rather see? Rick: Wizard sliding down a rainbow. Mike: Really? Do you like rainbows or do you like wizards? Rick: I like rainbows. Wizards are cool but…. Mike: Wizards are fucking cool. Did you watch Mr. Wizard’s World? Rick: I fucking loved Mr. Wizard’s World!
This leads to a ten minute discussion about Def Leppard and their Halloween costume plans for next year…and then back to the question: 21
Save The Date! brauhauS Schmitz 5th annual oktoberFeSt Street FeStiVal SePtember 21St 12:00Pm-8:00Pm - ViP ticketS aVailable ContaCt MarCi at brauhausevents@gMail.CoM Follow uS on...
/brauhausschmitz
@brauhausSchmitz
718 South Street • PhiladelPhia • 267-909-8814
www.brauhauSSchmitz.com
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the variety pack
// a little bit of everything
How Beer Helped Stop the Nazis The historical impact of using beer as a weapon. By Zack Cyphers
Denmark offers some world-class fermented delights to travelers, but did you know that those suds once helped hinder Hitler’s conquest of Europe? In 1940, years before the D-Day invasion, Hitler was tightening his grip on Europe. Poland had fallen, and in April the German army swept north, invading Denmark and Norway. The Nazi war machine met little opposition from the Danes, whose king was forced to yield almost immediately. Soon Denmark was under occupation. Danish institutions were not immediately dissolved under Nazi rule. For a while, the Danish king and parliamentary government remained, as puppets, subordinate to Hitler’s authority. By 1943, however, Danes began to grow restless as the Nazi noose tightened around their tiny country. In what is now known as the “Danish Resistance,” courageous Danes surreptitiously committed acts of sabotage in Copenhagen and other places across the country. If they could not expel the Nazis from their borders, they were determined to cripple Hitler’s war efforts in Denmark. They acted covertly, knowing that their implication or capture meant certain death. They refused to shop in German-run stores, hid asylum seekers, and refused to work efficiently for the Germans. Outraged over some of their compatriots’ capitulation, resistance operatives wrote a “Ten Commandments” for Danes that included such rules as “You shall work slowly for the Germans,” “You shall delay all transport” and “You shall protect anyone being chased by the Germans.” The Danish Resistance operated underground through much of the war. In August 1943, in response to the spate of fires, explosions, and general disorder, German authorities declared martial law
in Denmark. The government resigned and King Christian was taken into custody. Denmark was cut off from the rest of Europe and secret communication with the Allies was undertaken at great risk. The brave Danes soldiered on, however, and continued to resist their forced labor wherever they could. They set fire to a large textile shop that made German uniforms. Trains were derailed. Factories converted to produce U-boat parts were sabotaged. Where does beer come into all this? Well, word of the Resistance soon escaped Denmark’s sealed borders to nations around the world. Through Danish sources in London, news spread as far as Australia, where newspapers printed a story of monumental sabotage. “Wherever Germans go, beer goes,” the Army News in Darwin reported on November 19, 1943. That month a large contingent of German troops gathered at a large exhibition hall called the Forum, just outside of Copenhagen’s city center. Nazis seized public buildings wherever they went, and this gathering of troops was to occupy Copenhagen’s largest public hall, a space that held 16,000 people. As Germans do, the troops ordered crate after crate of beer for their gathering, unaware that Danes had packed the crates with ticking time bombs. Before the occupying army had time to prost, the
bombs went off, blowing the roof off the Forum and reducing the building to rubble. Sources wrote that the explosion could be heard across the city. The Danish saboteurs were successful. It would still be over a year before Denmark’s liberation from the Nazis, but this act of sabotage helped turn the tide in favor of the Resistance. Soon, workers began to strike, more acts of defiance followed, and the occupying forces began to lose their grip on Denmark. It’s well known that wherever Germans go, beer goes, but in 1943, this was Germany’s undoing. So, the next time you crack open a Carlsberg, remember those brave Danes who used beer as a weapon in their fight for freedom. 23
the variety pack
// a little bit of everything
ROUND #1
Half Acre Daisy Cutter American Pale Ale – 5.2% Keni: It smells clean and earthy. It tastes citrusy, a little hoppy, and has a slight nut undertone. It’s good, I like it! A summer drink with a little edge. Very refreshing after the walk here. Explain the relationship that you see between craft beer and good art that may not be obvious to the average eye.
Keni Thomas:
3 Round Draw
A beer and art juxtaposition. By Jon Billett
Meet Keni Thomas, zany-minded illustrator and core member of Beer Paste, a Philly collective of artists and designers who develop creative marketing for local hotspots in the bar and food service industry. You may have seen his work at the likes of Sidecar, Kraftwork, Growlers, or the recently departed Square Peg. His illustrations depict memorable characters like a drunk monk bathing in an overflowing chalice, an uninhibited hillbilly jezebel straddling a pig, or a Phillies themed homage to an old school ‘roid-infused Big League Chew slugger. For the inaugural edition of this column, which bridges the paralleled worlds of craft beer and good art, I met up with Keni for a Friday happy hour at 11th Street’s Strangelove’s. The goal: drink a variety of thought-provoking brews and let them progressively guide our conversation about the topics at hand.
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Keni: Well, first off, most of the really good artists from back in the day were alcoholics! So there’s your most immediate connection right there. You go back in time in Germany and go to design schools like the Bauhaus, and it’s a bunch of dudes drinking steins full of beer, drawing pictures of chairs. Toulouse-Lautrec, the French poster designer from the late 1800s, would sit in the Moulin Rouge getting hammered all day and draw the performers. Hence, why his perspective was all over the damn place. And he was one of the all-time greats! But I would never go home with one of his depicted women with legs coming out of her shoulders—that’s for sure. Another similarity is that today’s craft beer and art are always references to traditional techniques, just with our own modern twist applied. The basis of most beer comes down to early formulas—the ales, the pilsners, the stouts. Modern incarnation done right is someone’s twist on those formulas. Good art and good design are the same. All art builds off a foundation of what came before it, but uses technological advancements and fresh craftsmanship methods to add a unique twist. As an artist and/or a beer nerd, we tend to be adventurous in our tastes and view the world’s images a little differently than others. Talk about your thought process in creating your illustrative characters.
Keni: I love juxtaposition. I like throwing things that shouldn’t exist together. Like a polar bear in a scuba diving outfit, or a dandelion/lion hybrid. I’m a surrealist, for sure. I’m not particularly doing anything that anyone hasn’t done before, but I’m putting two things together in a weird way that no one else would have thought to put together. Taking something that’s typically viewed as passive and giving it an aggressive edge, or vice-versa. That yin and yang effect–sweet and sour, bacon and chocolate–they’re so interesting because they attack two parts of your brain at the same time. Same for a solid, complex beer.
ROUND #2
Trois Dames Grande Dame Flanders Oud Bruin – 7.2% (Keni’s first experience with a sour ale) Keni: This smells interesting. I get a hint of olives…which is an odd smell for a beer. Mmmm. Oh, wow. This is like the Sour Patch Kid of beers! Totally hits the pucker gland. Woah. What the hell is this? Sometimes a piece of abstract artwork might make you think, “What the f*ck?” What beer gives you that same reaction after the sip? Keni: Oh, the irony—THIS ONE. I’m not gonna lie. Holy crap–what did I just drink? This is amazing and bizarre. I just did not expect that flavor. I got that odd smell of kalamata olives and sweet balsamic vinegar, but it was all of a sudden justified once I tasted it. Sure, it’s not your typical beer flavor—it’s sour, but that’s the point of it. It gives it more credence—the smell makes more sense. This is going to come off like the ramblings of a crazy man, isn’t it? You’re commissioned to create Philly’s largest beer mural. What do you depict? Keni: A good ol’ pint glass with cherubs around it. Make it very Sistine Chapel-esque. Mayor Rizzo and Mayor Rendell’s arms around each other’s shoulders and giving
cheers. It would say “Welcome to the city of raised glasses and kicked asses.” And the Beer Week sledgehammer would have to be in there somewhere.
ROUND #3
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Imperial Stout – 18% Keni: Smells very chocolatey! Now this is good stuff. It’s like a beer milkshake compared to that last one. I love the flavor. It’s like a beer version of Ovaltine with bourbon mixed in. More Ovaltine please! What beer would you say sums up the first half of the Phillies season? Keni: Well, I hate to bring it back up again, but definitely that second beer (Trois Dames Grande Dame). Hopefully its profile sums up the full season, where it starts sour but comes through full-flavor (in a good way) following the All-Star break.
Which current Phillie would be the most fun to illustrate and how would they be depicted? Keni: Ha!! Ben Revere looking completely lost in center field. Or Delmon Young on a lark scooter, with a giant mitt strapped to the front to help him actually catch something. My man looks like he’s running around with two 5-year olds wrapped around each leg at all times. Any more words of wisdom before we get back to drinking? Keni: In summary, I just think that in all creative processes it’s a great idea to be aware of things that preceded you and what the masters had mastered before you. But then being able to add the things that you know yourself, that are unique to you, is what makes a great new beer or a great piece of art. Juxtaposition done right can be magical. a
25
woman on the scene
An Olfactory Cannon Delivers the Goods Who says shape doesn’t matter? By Carolyn Smagalski The room seemed a bit surreal, lit with the reflective brightness of white from every corner—white tablecovers, white ceilings, white chair rail, crystalline glassware, and moussy beer-heads so thick one might mistake them for whipped cream. The room was sensual, gauzy, voile-esque. It reminded me of a dream in which celestial fog refused to give in to the darkness. This was a well-orchestrated space, designed to present beer the way it was meant to be tasted. Matthew Rutkowski, VP of Spiegelau USA, had come to the Philadelphia Marriott for the National Homebrewers Conference in June. He was passionate about the glassmaking process and he came bearing gifts. He was here to tell some secrets, too…secrets that Sam and Ken already discovered. This was no cheap trick with just a chance give-away here and there. As a supporter of the NHC, Spiegelau provided a set of four high-quality beer glasses to every person who attended these tasting seminars focused on glassware and our beer experience. I have long believed that the taste buds don’t lie. It’s not that I am a woman and claim to have special powers by virtue of my gender. Nor am I such a beer geek that every taste demands sensory scrutiny. I simply hate pint shakers made of porous green-tinted glass. The more educated I have become about craft beer, the more I have noticed that beer served in common pint glasses takes on the character of dish water as the level nears the bottom. Even finely crafted beer loses its head. Legs disappear in high-gravity beers. Oenophiles had Riedel on their side, but it took time for beer drinkers to gain attention. Recent growth in the 26
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craft beer community speaks volumes about the changing landscape of beer appreciation in America. Spiegelau (say shpee-geh-low) listened. Our tasting seminar laid out four Spiegelau beer glasses— a wheat beer glass, lager glass, IPA glass and beer tulip— alongside the typical shaker pint glass. Each beer style was sampled in the Spiegelau glass designed for that style; then compared to the same beer poured into the pint. I approached the demo with a dubious eye, but the results were astounding. Not only did the beer in Spiegelau’s luxury glassware retain its head throughout the drinking experience, but it also delivered more sensory intensity to the nose and tongue. Temperature retention remained constant. The “Platinum Glass process” developed by Spiegelau allows these glasses to be maintained in the dishwasher. The surface is so smooth that detergent build-up is a non-issue. Terroir has a lot to do with it. About 250 million years ago, the Upper Palatinate massif stretching from the Bavarian Forest to the Fichtel Mountains and the Steinwald region was in geophysical turmoil. Moving land masses deposited crystalline rock, silica, and feldspar into a region geologists call the Hirschau-Schnaittenbach Basin, a part of the Upper Palatinate. It stretches along a branch of the Naab River in Bavaria and extends into the mountainous region of Plzeň in the Czech Republic. Quartz silica sand is sourced from this HirschauSchnaittenbach Basin for Spiegelau glassware. The silica in this region is very pure, nearly devoid of iron. This produces crystal that has the clarity of optical glass. The proprietary
platinum finishing applied by Spiegelau creates a glass that is undistorted and delicately thin, but durable. Examination under an electron microscope shows the impressively dense surface, and it is no surprise that head retention remains a characteristic of beer served in these glasses.
depths and angles. Calagione recalls going through “50 or 60 iterations” while they searched for one that enhanced the profile of the IPA style. The sensory teams from each of these breweries met in separate sessions. During the sessions, the specialists did not speak to one another. They simply
The IPA glass is the new kid on the block...Its shape is unlike any other beer glass on the market. The IPA glass is the new kid on the block. Its shape is unlike any other beer glass on the market, and one might suspect that outside-the-box thinking was in the DNA that designed this one. Spiegelau recognized that India Pale Ale has risen to a style of prominence in the beer world. In U.S. competitions, American India Pale Ale had the most entries at both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup in 2012, with 203 entries at the GABF and 150 in the WBC. This is four times the average number of entries per category, a clear sign that it is the most popular style in the craft beer genre. Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware and Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in California collaborated with Spiegelau to give beer drinkers an IPA sensation they would never forget. Tasting panels were assembled to sample flights of beer in glasses of different shapes,
took notes on what worked and what did not. In the final round, the Sierra Nevada team was unanimous in choosing the glass they thought enhanced the aromatics, body and head: the number 6 glass. Oddly enough, the Dogfish Head team was also unanimous in their choice of the forerunner: also the number 6 glass. Sam called it an “olfactory cannon,” turning him “from a skeptic into an evangelist.” The glass has a narrow bottom with ridges that infuse the beer with air during every sip. This stimulates the body of beer, re-awakening the head with each tilt of the glass. Just above the ridges, the glass is blown into a bulbous shape that narrows to deliver all that hoppy fragrance to the nose. Curved sides cup the liquid, centering it on the tongue as a pleasure bomb. For those who love the grapefruity, resiny, earthy profile of American hops, this works like no other. Now you know, too. Glassware matters. a
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fun with beer
Beer Bottle Tiki Torches Keep the bugs away while enjoying cold ones on summer nights. With summer now in full swing, the outdoor living is alive and well. Whether you’re grillin’, hanging out by the pool, or enjoying some brews in your backyard with friends, chances are the mosquitoes have set up shop in your patio paradise. Instead of heading out and spending your hard-earned money on some bamboo poles to keep the bugs at bay, save some money, buy some beer, and turn your empties into some mean, mosquito-fighting machines. Using supplies found for pennies at your local home-improvement store, you can create custom tiki torches that look good, keep mosquitoes away, and most importantly, give you a reason to drink a few bottles of delicious beer—as if you actually need one.
what you need • Empty beer bottle • Top plate connector (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod) • 1” Split ring hanger (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
• 1/2” x 3/8” Copper coupling • 1/2” Copper cap • Two #10 x 1” Zinc plated wood screws (if you’re mounting it to wood)
• 3/8”-16 Zinc plated threaded rod • Tiki replacement wick • Tiki torch fuel
Step 3: Find a safe location to mount the top plate connector and screw it in. Remember, you’ll be burning an open flame, avoid locations with overhanging objects.
Step 5: To hang the bottle, tighten the split ring around the neck of the bottle. Hint: If the fit is too loose, some electrical tape wrapped around the neck helps to keep things nice and tight.
What to do Step 1: Get some 750 ml bottles (or any bottle with a 1” bottle neck) and drink them! Flush out and allow to dry. Fill with tiki fuel. Step 2: Feed the tiki wick through the copper coupling. Wrap the wide part of the coupling with some electrical tape to create a tight fit inside the bottle. You can use the cap to cover the wick when not in use.
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Step 4: Screw the threaded rod into the plate and screw the split ring on the other end. Hint: Teflon tape helps to keep the threads tight.
Step 6: Light the torch and enjoy a bug-free summer out on the patio. a
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cooking with beer
X-treme Pork Sandwich Smoked Berkshire Pork Rillette Banh Mi with Flying Fish XPA. By Chef Robert Legget
The hottest months of the year are here again. The only way to beat the late summer heat is with a worthwhile sessionable BBQ beer and some cold sammies to keep your inner core temperature at a sustainable level. This recipe uses Flying Fish XPA—slight citrus, very drinkable, with a simple malt finish and a solid hop bitterness. The XPA is perfect for outdoor drinking or simply boozin’ it up while barely cooking this ridiculously easy recipe that, well, even you can do...
The Rillette Ingredients:
• 5 lbs. Berkshire pork butt • 1 leek, chopped • 1 onion, diced • 3 oz. garlic, sliced • 24 oz. Flying Fish XPA • 10 oz. pork stock • 2 kaffir lime leaves Directions:
• Place the pork shoulder in a pot. • Cover in water, bring to a simmer, then remove. • Discard the water. This removes any impurities in the shoulder. • Next, place your shoulder in a smoker & hit that bad boy with some hickory and mesquite coal for 1 hour, no higher than 200°F. • While your piggy is getting its treatment, in another pot (non-reactive of course) sauté all of your veggies & kaffir lime leaves until well cooked, but not brown. • Pour in your XPA & pork stock. • Place the pork shoulder in you beer stock, bring to a simmer and cook the shoulder until it is completely falling apart. • Set aside and let the pork rest for a while, until it’s almost room temperature.
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Pickled Vegetables While your pork is resting, prepare the pale ale pickled veggies. Ingredients:
• 6 oz. XPA • 12 oz. rice wine vinegar • 2 oz. white miso • 2 oz. fresh ginger, peeled • 1 tbsp. Sambal chili paste • 1 tbsp. sriracha • 2 tbsp. red curry paste (available at any Asian market) • Juice from 3 limes • 5 garlic cloves • 1lb Napa Cabbage • 3 Carrots • 3 Jalepenos Directions:
• Combine all above ingredients, aside from cabbage, carrots, and jalepenos, in a blender, purée until smooth. • Place in a stainless bowl. • Julienne remaining ingredients. • Wash all extremely well with cold water & drain. • Toss your veggies with salt to taste, let this rest for 1 hour, then wash again. • Add your XPA chili mix, place in the fridge, and let it chill. Your shoulder will be well-rested at this point. • Place the shoulder in your Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment. Mix extremely well, until pork is completely shredded while slowly adding 1/2 of your beer stock and salt to taste. • Spread in a dish, cool until around 60°.
Assembly:
• Serve this on a seeded baguette, preferably Liscio’s. • Spread the Rillette on the bottom of the sliced baguette. • Pull some of your quick pickled veggies from the liquid and toss with Thai basil and watercress leaves. • On the truck, we also add some nice, hot Dijon mustard to bring out more of an intense pork flavor on this tweaked out Vietnamese hoagie. Maille Dijon is as good as it gets. • Cut your sandwich into sections and serve this chilled missile of deliciousness at your next backyard event. a
Brooklyn Silver Anniversary Lager 1988-2013
It’s been a long and, at times, bumpy road. But now more people than ever are able to enjoy Brooklyn beers all over the world. Throughout the years, some of the friends we’ve made have risen to artistic fame. We could think of no better way to celebrate our 25th anniversar y than to partner with Fred Tomaselli, Roxy Paine, Joe Amrhein and Elizabeth Crawford, all of whom agreed to contribute art to grace the labels of a Silver Anniversary Lager. Our celebrated Brewmaster Garrett Oliver crafted a double bock version of our first beer, Brooklyn Lager, to commemorate the anniversary. This second label features Joe Amrhein’s piece, A Fallibility of Perception. We’ll be rolling out the next two throughout 2013. Cheers! Steve Hindy, co-founder and president
The Brooklyn Brewer y 79 N 11th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249 • BrooklynBrewer y.com Facebook.com/TheBrooklynBrewery • @BrooklynBrewery • BrooklynBloggery.com
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homebrewer’s corner
Sean Keffer recently won the 2nd Annual Battle of the Homebrew Shops, having collaborated with Russ Czajka of Keystone Homebrew Supply. The result and winner was a barrel-aged blood orange saison. Sean started homebrewing in late 2009 when he received a Mr. Beer Kit as a gift. Since then, his set-up has progressed rapidly. As a homebrewer, he enjoys putting an adventurous spin on beer recipes to try and push the envelope every time. The following are Sean’s round 1 winning entry and final round winning entry:
German Chocolate Rye Ale
2013
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For this German Chocolate Rye Ale, I wanted to do something different when submitting to the first round of the competition. I began to notice that Rye IPA was a very popular beer. While I enjoy a unique IPA as much as the next person, I noticed Keystone Homebrew was selling Chocolate Rye Malt. I couldn’t resist! Through olfactory hues, I gathered together what ingredients you see here. The beer is porter-like characteristically, has a wonderful chocolate nose, and forms a nice velvety body with age. Every time you crack open a bottle, the flavors continue to explode as it aerates in the glass. I hope you enjoy it!
Blood Orange Saison In developing the Blood Orange Saison, I wanted to go for something juxtaposed to the summer season, yet full in flavor. When brewing with Russ Czajka, I introduced the idea of adding blood oranges into the secondary fermenter, as it was something I did successfully before. My goal was to emulate the fruit notes of the whiskey barrel while adding citrus sugars to achieve more activity. Voilà, here is the Blood Orange Saison. An amber-colored beer from blood orange fermentation, this beer has a woody, citrus nose. The flavor is clean and refreshing as you get a slight kick of whiskey heat in the end. Be careful, this one can really sneak up on you! Enjoy!
Roggenbier *Round 1 Winning Entry Information:
OG: 1.060 FG: 1.025 ABV: 4.59% IBUs: 81.80 Boil Size: 5.83 gallons Batch Size: 5.0 gallons
Ingredients: Grains:
• 2 lbs. Chocolate Rye Malt • 6 lbs. Caramel/Crystal Malt- 10L • 0.5 lb. Flaked Barley • 2 lbs. Biscuit Hops:
• Magnum: 1oz. at 60 min. • Tettnang: 1oz. at 15 min. • Hallertauer Hersbrucker: 1oz. at 3 min. Yeast:
• 2 pkgs. Wyeast Labs 1007 German Ale
Procedure:
• Mash into 4 gallons of water at 172 degrees (final mash temp should be 152°-154°) for 60 minutes • Bring 4 gallons of water to 172 degrees • Perform vorlauf to achieve clarity of wort • Transfer 4 gallons of water to hot liquor tank • Sparge mash and transfer into brew kettle • Bring to rolling boil and follow hop regimen • Cool wort to 60 degrees, rack to carboy and pitch yeast • Ferment for one week • Transfer to secondary and ferment for an additional week
Blood Orange Saison *Final Round Winning Entry Information:
OG: 1.064 FG: 1.000 ABV: 8.38% IBUs: 32.67 Boil Size: 6.50 gallons Batch Size: 5 gallons
Ingredients: Grains:
• 12 oz. Belgian Caramel Pils • 12 oz. Caramel/Crystal Malt- 10L • 10 lbs. Briess 2-Row Pilsen Malt Hops:
• Cascade: 1oz. at 60 min. • Hallertauer Hersbrucker: 1oz. at 30 min. • Saaz: 1oz. at 3 min. Other Additions: • Honey: 16 oz. at 00 min. Yeast:
• White Labs 0565 Belgian Saison I Notes:
• Secondary: Add blood oranges • Tertiary Fermentation: Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey Barrel for 3 weeks
Procedure:
• Mash into 4 gallons of water at 168 degrees (final mash temp should be 153°) for 60 minutes • Bring 4 gallons of water to 168 degrees • Perform a vorlauf to achieve clarity of wort • Transfer water to hot liquor tank • Sparge and transfer into brew kettle • Bring wort to a rolling boil • Follow hop regimen • Transfer to carboy and pitch yeast • After two weeks of fermentation, rack into secondary carboy and add blood oranges • Ferment for one week • Age for three weeks inside Dad’s Hat Barrel a
33
hop culture
New Zealand Hops NZ’s made the right choices. By Joe Bair
New Zealand (NZ) has two big islands—the North and South Island. The hop growing area in NZ is located at the geographical center of NZ, around the City of Nelson, which is near the northern tip of the mountainous South Island. Doug Donelan, CEO of NZ Hops explains, “41 degrees south is quite high for hop growing, however the hops have been bred to adapt and the Nelson region offers a very stable climate and lots of sunshine. There are only very limited places where hops can be grown in the Southern Hemisphere as being latitude dependent, with most of the southern hemisphere being water.”
History of namesake and the area Nelson is named after the British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, whose impressive naval triumph against the joint FrancoSpanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar was one of the most decisive victories in Naval history. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships and the British lost zero. Although Nelson died in the battle, his gambit, leadership, luck and unconventional tactics resulted in Britannia ruling the seas. Many tribute monuments were built for him. Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square in London being the most famous. The hop scene started when the middle European settlers from Germany and England came to NZ to colonize in the 1840s. Upon arrival, they brought rhizomes and immediately set up trellises. Hops grown in the Nelson area soon became the center of production. The New Zealander’s have waged war on pollution, disease, nuclear power and have pledged carbon neutrality by 2021; because they believe that detrimental human-made environmental consequences should never be underestimated or ignored.
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Organic Hops Hops from NZ are only one percent of the world’s hop growers, like Admiral Nelson, they have devised a novel strategy using unconventional tactics to become the world’s first and largest producer of organic hops. In the early 1980s, NZ started to go to an export based hop market, and today, over 90% of NZ hop are exported. It is how they roll—and the ecological preservation they export has become contagious. Hop farmers of NZ are expected to produce hops in the most sustainable way, a trait they do not have to debate. Conventional grown hops (not organic) have relatively high levels of pesticide and fungicide residues from the 10-20 sprayings per crop. Don’t worry, these are reduced by the brewing process and only small residues are left. Nevertheless, the current ecological risk assessment of pesticides does show ecotoxicology awareness is needed to protect the food chain and biodiversity. This is the first year United States’ organic beer producers cannot claim their beer was “organic” without the addition of organic hops because they were considered to be unavailable in the United States. The U.S. organic hop producers now believe they can meet this quota.
What are Triploids? Triploid cultivars are made when hops’ diploid cultivars, which have 10 basic chromosomes, are exposed to Colchicine (an antimitotic agent). Antimitotic agents are used to stop cell growth and is the basis for cancer chemotherapy. This creates a tetraploid and then breeds with diploids to produce triploids. Doug Donelan told me,“New Zealand has none of the hop diseases found in the northern hemisphere such as the soul destroying fungal-types like Mildews and Wilt, there are also no hop aphids with our only common pest being the spider mite. In New Zealand, this is controlled with predators making our integrated pest management system “spray free.” Doug added that the NZ hops usually arrive in July. “The three newest varieties to launch are Wai-iti (3%), Kohatu (7%), and Waimea (15%), however, it is doubtful they will be widely available in the northern markets for a least a year or two.” The names are from the Māori language who are the indigenous Polynesian people of NZ.
So what are the NZ hops called?
Dr. Rudi Saves the Day In the 1940s, nature’s biological bulldozer Phytophthora citricola, “the plant destroyer,” or Black Root Rot, left fallow hop fields in its wake. It was out of this blight that NZ hop table was set. Root rot diseases are difficult to control chemically, so the NZ Brewers Association set up a hop research station in the early 1950s. Out of the research station, came the father of NZ hops— Dutch born, and former Indonesian prison intern, Dr. Rudi Roborgh. He noticed that the European varieties were resistant to the root rot and bred-in-resistance of Fuggles with Clusters to produce NZ’s first hop the, California Cross or “Cali.” He used this breed to eradicate black root rot and then set his sights on producing the world’s first seedless, commercial, high alpha, high essential oils, triploid hop plant in the early 1960s and 1970s. His triploids: Super Alpha, First Choice, and Smooth Cone—using colchicine treatments—was revolutionary to the hop world. In 2012, the “Super Alpha” cultivar name was changed to “Dr. Rudi” for his major contribution to the NZ hop industry.
Nelsonian hop farmers and scientists have won the major battle against pest eaten and diseased hops. The terroir creates unique flavor profiles that add distinctness to craft brews. Of particular interest is the hop Nelson Sauvin, which imparts a unique white wine flavor to beer. The NZ hop breeding stations have released 19 triploid cultivars over a 40 year period, 14 are in commercial production. To avoid confusion, in recent years the European cultivar names (shown in parenthesis) have been re-branded to NZ cultivar names. High Alpha
AlphaAroma, Green Bullet, NZ Hallertauer, Pacific Gem, Pacific Jade, Southern Cross, Sticklebract, Super Alpha (Dr. Rudi), Waimea Aroma
Motueka (B Saaz), Riwaka (D Saaz), Pacifica (Pacific Hallertauer), Wai-iti, Kohatu, Wakatu, Riwaka Dual Purpose
Hallertau Aroma, Nelson Sauvin 35
hop culture
The story of NZ Organic hops is both complicated and simple. The polyploid breeding efforts optimized the positive traits that would be used in future hop farming applications. Hop seeds have always been detested in brewing, due to the seed’s additional weight and the taste in finished product. The resistance to disease is also of great importance to hop growers as the addition of chemicals to control diseases makes it not desirable. The importance of Dr. Rudi’s seedless vision would not be achieved until the 1980s by the US, UK and German scientists and gave far reaching benefits that are enjoyed by the NZ hop farmers, namely, not having to keep the male’s hop plants away, and near pesticide and insecticide-free seedless hops—valued by farmers, brewers and drinkers.
Jaws Placement on Mites Because of its maritime location, the only
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potentially serious pest to hops is the two spotted mite. They have been controlled by introducing a predator and natural enemy mite. Its jaws, when viewed under a microscope, has mouth parts extending in front of the body so it can feed on other mites. Contrary, the two spotted mite has mouth parts that face down to feed on plants. Although they are the same size, the predator mite can consume 2-3 two spotted mites and several dozen eggs a day. Other beneficial predator insects are attracted to colorful flowering plants which are planted nearby to create a habitat for them and harmful to hop pests.
Like a Wolf Between Sheep Fertile soil management is necessary. Although wood chips are successful ground cover, it is also labor intensive. Another method is to mulch oats into the soil. The cover crop weed management uses grass and clover between the hop rows, this dovetails in a multitude of beneficial gifts, improving
soil health and pest management, but it does requires more water. The grass can be mowed and mulched back into the soil to boost worm count. Alternatively, although the name Humulus lupulus in Latin could mean “like a wolf between sheep,” this has nothing to do with NZ hop farmers using nearby shepherd flocks to graze the clover and clear the sucker shoots in the hop yards.
Radiant Bliss The method and temperature that the separated hop cones are cured is crucial to retaining the hops essential oils. Since Farnesene has a flash point of 79°F and Myrcene is 103°F, the drying process cannot be rushed at high temperatures. Hot water produced by boilers is pumped through radiators and high capacity fans blow through them. This method releases the heat so the hops are not contaminated by other methods that use hot air exhaust gases filled with petrochemicals residues. a
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tunes & brews
Kyle Costill Working non-stop from the jazz hall to the backyard. By G.W. Miller III
Stop by Ortlieb’s Lounge in Northern Liberties and chances are you’ll see Kyle Costill running around like crazy, doing a dozen different things at once. He serves drinks, assists the staff, works with bands and DJs and generally makes sure everyone is having a good time. “If I work non-stop, I can make it successful,” says Costill, the bar’s manager, referring to his life’s mantra. Costill, 32, has been hanging out at bars since he was 14-years old. The Blackwood, New Jersey native booked concerts at the old Pontiac Grille on South Street long before he was allowed to drink. While in high school, he and his friend David Kain started a few bands, eventually finding success with their project Trouble Everyday. Their debut album in 2004, Days vs. Nights, was really wellreceived and they rode the post-punk revival wave around the world, opening for bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. “We had some crazy times,” says Kain. “It’s funny to think about a night in London after a show when he jumped behind the bar with our guitar player and started pouring drinks. Who knew?” They always returned home where they had families and regular jobs, both of which ultimately won over touring with the band. Costill did graphic design. Then the economy crashed and the job market soured and Costill found himself back in a bar—Lucy’s Hat Shop in Old City, where he bussed tables. One day, while sitting in his Oaklyn, NJ home, he had an epiphany.
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“I just started looking at the backyard and I wanted to do something,” he recalls. He contacted Kain, who has a background in video, and they decided to invite bands to Costill’s home for outdoor performances that would be turned into music videos. In August 2011, Bands in the Backyard (BITBY) was born, a community-building website that provides exposure to local bands. At the time, there weren’t a lot of people creating videos of local acts and their website quickly became popular. Seemingly overnight, BITBY was ubiquitous. When the owners of Lucy’s—Four Corners Management—took over Ortlieb’s in August 2012, Costill and Kain began running BITBY shows there. Their energy and connections helped revive the club that had been internationally revered as a jazz hall but was closed for more than two years. This year, Costill parlayed his years of hard work into the manager position. “I feel like the pairing of him and Ortlieb’s has been mutually beneficial,” says Kain. “He’s been pumping new life into that place constantly with great bands and events, and the job’s been giving him the structure and fulfillment he’s needed. Plus it sets up a great home base for all things BITBY.” BITBY continues to promote shows, usually with local rock acts, but every night at the club is different—some days, there is hip-hop or punk, others folk or experimental. They continue to offer jazz every Tuesday. “I want everyone to feel comfortable,” Costill says. “Our music and beer capture that.” a
The Original Brew of Bavarian Kings!
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discovering craft beer
From Baseball Hall of Fame to Craft Beer Enthusiast Reader Francis Berger describes his discovery of craft beer. If you have an interesting story about discovering craft beer, send it to us at discovery@beerscenemag.com.
It used to be that I was content just drinking a Yuengling Lager, but it took a trip 275 miles from home for me to realize there was something else out there. The following is a brief history of my journey into the amazing world of craft beer. It started in May of 2007. My wife (who was my girlfriend at the time), my then 4-year-old son and I took a trip to Cooperstown, NY to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Let it be known that my wife, Cathy, asked ME to marry HER on this trip. After graciously accepting her proposal, the innkeepers presented us with a celebratory bottle of local wine. I half jokingly stated that I’d prefer a beer. They were kind enough to mention that Brewery Ommegang was only minutes away from us. We took the short trip to the brewery and I was absolutely amazed. Maybe it was the scenery at first, but after tasting the beers and going on the tour, never could I imagine that beer could be this good. I was hooked! My journey into craft beer continued in Cooperstown that weekend. While ordering lunch at Sal’s Pizza on Main Street, I spied bottles of Old Slugger Ale in the cooler. Of course I had to give it a try. How could I not when there was a baseball on the bottle cap? I couldn’t believe that I was able to get a beer this good at a pizzeria. This was the beginning of my pale ale/IPA with pizza obsession. These beers I had been trying actually had FLAVOR! I then found out that Cooperstown Brewing Company was only 20 minutes away. 40
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Of course we needed to stop by. Once the trip was completed, I had loaded five cases of Old Slugger into the back of my Honda Element to enjoy when we got home. Upon my return, I checked my local liquor stores for new and exciting selections to please my palate. My first local craft beer was PBC Rowhouse Red. I was in love again! Next was the trip to PBC for a tour and tasting. Then, the short jaunt to Yards for pints and cases. As well as trips to Victory for lunch, followed by excursions to Dogfish Head. Of course, being a Jersey boy, there was also Flying Fish. Over the past 6 years, I have tried more beers than I can count and I have enjoyed every sip. I have toured every brewery I have been close to. In fact, recently when going on a brewery tour, my now 10-year-old son said to me “Dad, I already know how beer is made!” I have converted my wife and several friends into craft beer drinkers. It’s almost like I am spreading the gospel of craft beer. Can I get an Amen!? I have also met many great folks with which to talk beer. I have enjoyed the fact that you can walk into any good beer bar or tasting room and have the person next to you start talking beer. Craft beer is more than just beer—it’s a community. One that I am proud to be a part of. We go back to Cooperstown every other year and Brewery Ommegang and Cooperstown Brewing Company are always a part of the itinerary. And, every once in a while, I’ll order a Yuengling Lager and think about how far I’ve come. a
Tapping into Technology
We Can! A local company is making it easier to can, sip, and enjoy. A number of issues ago, we shared a story about the Can Van. It didn’t have much to do with the local craft beer scene, but it was such a great concept and interpretation of technology in beer that it needed to be shared. Well, not longer after we published that, a similar business model started showing up in our own backyard, bringing this West Coast fad to the streets of Philadelphia. We Can is based out of Danville, PA, which is a few hours west of Philadelphia, but they are making regular trips out to the city to fulfill the canning needs of local breweries. With their trailer in tow, Pete Rickert, Jr., brings a mobile canning line to your brewery with absolutely everything you’ll need, aside from the beer itself. We Can keeps a steady stock of blank cans readily available. You can choose to label them however you’d like, if at all. One option is the sleeve-type label route used by Manayunk Brewery, which are heat-shrunk on, encasing the entire can and giving it the appearance of being printed. Without excessively examining the can for flaws (typically a slight bunch or bubbling), it is hard to even tell this isn’t a direct print. We Can even heats the sleeves onto each can before arriving for packaging day. Sticker-type, pressure-sensitive labels are also another option. No matter which option you choose, We Can handles all of the warehousing for you. They’ll keep inventory of all your labels or even your cans if you take the route of having custom printed ones.
All the brewery needs to do is let them know how many cases to bring. The We Can team, usually three people, find a small open space in the brewery and set up their equipment. Keeping to themselves, two at a time, they fill as many cans as desired until the job is done. Don’t let the two at a time fool you, they have the process down to a science, and it moves along much quicker than one would expect. When they’re done, the beer is cased and sixpacked, piled up on a pallet and are ready to go out and reach new markets for previously draft-only breweries. Unlike some other mobile canning units, We Can also services homebrewers. They obviously won’t drive the truck to fill a mere 5-gallon batch of homebrew, but they do hold canning days for homebrew clubs. They’ll pull the trailer up to the likes of Keystone Homebrew and homebrewers can have their homebrew, as long as it’s at least a 5-gallon batch, filled into cans. Cans of homebrew is almost unheard of, making this a really unique opportunity for avid homebrewers, especially for those looking for better ways to transport their beer for sharing. Pete Rickert, Jr., is constantly working to improve and bring a more superior mobile canning system to breweries. With regular openings of small breweries with limited space and funds, this seems to be a developing concept that should be around for quite some time, giving the makers of this fine beverage a chance to watch their beer leave the brewery in a much longer lasting vessel than a growler. a 41
brewmasters
The Dude Abides (And Thrives) An interview with Barren Hill Tavern Brewmaster Scott Morrison. By Lisa Grimm
Brewer Scott Morrison is something of an institution around these parts—he’s been crafting award-winning beers for Philly-area brewpubs longer than many local drinkers have been of legal age, and his innovative brews helped create the scene that has allowed so many new boundary-pushing breweries to flourish. In his latest venture, he is taking the reins at Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery in Lafayette Hill. The new business, owned by Erin Wallace of Devil’s Den and Old Eagle Tavern fame, will be a welcomed replacement for the long-mothballed former General Lafayette Inn & Brewery, whose 18th century building has too long been vacant. Although he grew up in the region, Morrison’s industry roots go beyond Philly, and he didn’t set out to become a beer pioneer; in fact, he was quite happily owning and running a successful Connecticut coffee shop in the late 1980s when he crossed paths with Phil Markowski. While Markowski is now the much-heralded brewmaster at the Two Roads Brewery and a renowned expert on Belgian farmhouse ales, at the time he was a young brewer at the New England Brewing Company—then only the 50th brewery in America. It was a fortuitous meeting; Morrison, already a keen homebrewer, remembers those early days: “…at the time, there were no good ingredients except ‘hopped’ malt extract cans. We really were trying to figure out how to make 42
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good beer, and it was a difficult start, no good ingredients, and really not many books on brewing. I was able to get fresh malts, real hops and good yeast from Phil [Markowski], and that was really when the passion started (and the beer got better!).” From the early-to-mid 1990s, Morrison helped out around New England Brewing with all the usual grunt work now expected from apprentice brewers—filtering, bottling, kegging and getting the opportunity to brew the odd batch himself. The yeoman’s work there also garnered Morrison his nickname of ‘The Dude,’ thanks to Markowski and Ron Page, now of City Steam Brewery. Contrary to occasional rumor, it predates The Big Lebowski by a number of years, and, as Morrison points out, “I’m not a fan of White Russians!” But the name has stuck, as any quick internet search or discussion with a local beer nut will quickly reveal. In 1995, he got a call out of the blue from the rival New Haven Brewing Company, asking if he’d like to be their assistant brewer, though he modestly suggests that the fact that there were so few experienced people in the industry at the time may have had something to do with it. After a few days of thought, he accepted, and that was the end of his ‘day’ job—he sold the coffee shop to a customer, and within a year, Morrison was the head brewer at New Haven. He remained friends with Phil Markowski, who in the early 2000s asked him to accompany him to Belgium when he began to research
his book, Farmhouse Ales, a title now found on the bookshelves of most self-respecting (or at least reasonably ambitious) homebrewers. At the time, neither man thought the subject would have wide appeal—after all, who in the US had heard of them, or was drinking them? Given their popularity today, it’s easy to forget that just a few short years ago, they were very rare indeed, even among the nascent beer nerd community. The beer industry was still finding its feet at that point, as was Morrison; New Haven closed in 1998, and he took some time to work on a few other small start-up breweries (with another stint in coffee in the mix) before coming back to the Philly area in 2001 to work on a brewpub startup: McKenzie Brew House. While the partnership would end in some drama— more on that in a moment—it worked well at the start. The first brewpub was a success, and Morrison helped get the Malvern location up and running. In addition to the regular lineup of ‘standard’ ales and lagers, he began to experiment with the aforementioned Belgian farmhouse styles, creating limited bottled releases. The awards began to roll in—Morrison racked up six Great American Beer Festival medals and a World Beer Cup nod, all told. But it was not the direction the McKenzie owners wanted to travel, and the relationship began to fray. Despite his dismissal just before Christmas in 2006 (the subject of much local press, as many will recall), Morrison is diplomatic. “[A]t the end of the day, it just wasn’t a good fit for me or them. I’m really glad that Ryan Michaels
[current brewmaster at McKenzie] and Gerald Olson [now a coowner/brewer at Forest & Main] took what I was doing, and kept it alive there, as it was truly my passion making Belgian ales, before they really became what they are today.” After the dust settled, Morrison was invited to oversee brewing at West Philly’s Dock Street Brewing Company in its second incarnation, and (with a few consulting gigs here and there), kept things shipshape there until leaving earlier this year to start planning for Barren Hill’s late summer opening. “I’m really excited that I found a home at Barren Hill, as Erin and I both have the same ideas, and that’s exciting, as I think we’ll really make some fun beers,” says Morrison about the new venture. He also jokes that he hopes that the old building’s rumored ghosts will make good brewing assistants. With six ever-changing house taps (as well as space at Devil’s Den and Old Eagle Tavern), Morrison finally has ample opportunity to let his imagination—and years of experience—run wild. Collaborations will also be on tap down the line, with potential brewing partners identified in the US as well as further afield, though specifics are still under development—watch this space! Given the twists and turns of his career, it’s easy to understand Scott Morrison’s excitement about his Barren Hill role: “Being able to have no barriers and being able to look at everything is every brewers dream.” a
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travel
An Overlooked Part of New York An afternoon in the capital city. New York has become synonymous with New York City. Its identity has been almost entirely consumed by that massive city/cultural center of the world. It’s a very understandable situation, but the rest of New York shouldn’t be overlooked; and as far as craft beer goes, there is quite a lot going on. Throughout the state, there are many great breweries such as Ommegang, Ithaca, Three Heads, Medieval, and Southern Tier (Captain Lawrence is just as much NYC as it is upstate, thus the omitting), and many new breweries are popping up regularly. One such brewery is the new home for Shmaltz Brewing Company, just outside New York’s capital city, Albany. Albany is one of those cities that is currently forming its identity in the craft beer world. There are a number of great bars and breweries starting to open, forming a new culture sure to rapidly continue. One of the great boosts for this city will be the aforementioned Shmaltz
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Brewing Company. Shmaltz, better known as He’Brew Brewing or Coney Island Brewing, is by no means a new brewery, but as of July 2013, they are celebrating a new beginning. After many years of contract brewing, owner, Jeremy Cowan, has finally opened the doors to his very own production brewery. Located just outside Albany in Clifton Park, his beautiful, shiny, new brewery was 16 years in the making and the dream of contract brewers everywhere. Their 20,000 square ft. brewery boasts a 50 barrel brewhouse and gives Albany a production brewery they can proudly call their own. Making both their He’Brew Ales and Coney Island Lagers in their own backyard instantly added great credibility to this blossoming beer scene. Outside of Shmaltz, the Albany area really only consists of a handful of brewpubs. You have C.H. Evans Brewing Company, better known as the Albany Pump Station, Mad Jack, and Troy Pub and Brewery, also known as Brown’s Brewing. Brown’s Brewing is located in a restored warehouse just outside of Albany in the suburb of Troy. Opening in 1993, Brown’s was the
area’s first brewpub. The brewery has won a number of awards throughout the years, including a gold and silver medal at the World Beer Cup. Visiting the brewery will typically provide the opportunity to try at least a dozen different beers in the industrial, classic-feeling pub. Also, not far down the road, you’ll find a pair of bars worth checking out. An Upstate classic, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a fairly famous BBQ chain that’s been featured on multiple TV shows, but also has an impressive draft list to complement the BBQ. There are twentyfive beers are on tap—most of which are craft—and even a pair of drafts brewed just for them, including a smoked porter. Also nearby is The Ruck, which offers a fantastic selection of draft beer. This no frills, dive bar is a mix of neighborhood bar and destination, so you can expect to sit side-by-side with some regulars throwing back their bottles of Bud as you enjoy the great variety of local and hard to get beers. This bar also offers a simple pub menu with some tasty wings and classic bar games like shuffleboard, which is a rarity nowadays. This is definitely one of the best casual drinking bars in the region.
Back in downtown Albany, you find the Albany Pump Station. The Pump Station is located in what used to be an old water pumping facility. There are still two massive, functioning cranes located in the building, used for maintaining and fixing the water pumps and more recently used for installing the brewhouse. The lofty ceilings, exposed brick, along with the cranes, make the atmosphere of The Pump Station truly unique and a worthwhile experience. They also make some quality brews with about ten different beers on tap at a time, along with New York made Doc’s Draft Ciders. You can also find spirits from Albany Distilling Company, which is located in the same building. If you plan your visit appropriately, you can visit the distillery as well. In the same neighborhood, you will also find The City Beer Hall and The Merry Monk. The City Beer Hall is somewhat hidden in a massive, old bank-type building. Adorned with beautiful, oak woodwork and long bier hall-type tables, the bar has a very comforting feel. This spot offers up a great selection of both drafts and bottles to go
along with a gastropub menu featuring locally sourced food. On the second floor of the bar, they go a little western with the theme and even have a mechanical bull. The Merry Monk is Albany’s take on a Belgian-style bar. The drafts are heavy with Belgian beers to go along with an extensive bottle list of imports. The Monk is a small, simple bar and the complete opposite of City Beer Hall, allowing for a nice variety of experiences. Nearby, you will also find Albany’s German biergarten, Wolff’s, and their English pub, The Olde English Pub and Brewery, for those looking for a thematic experience.
In another suburb, Schenectady, you will find what is easily the region’s best draft list at The Bier Abbey, located in an old Victorianstyle house. A mix of craft and European, one can expect anything from a local New York craft to Tilquin Gueuze on draft. Their 30 drafts are filled with very high quality offerings, guaranteeing there will be many beers you’ll want to drink. This is a bar definitely worth leaving downtown Albany for a visit. Also, while in Schenectady, you can visit the Mad Jack Brewery at the nearby Van Dyck Lounge—a classic Jazz hall. a
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A brew on premises home brewing shop that offers brew lessons
Hours Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 7pm Sunday 11am - 5pm 162 Haddon Ave Haddon Twp, NJ 08108 856-858-6000
Beer List & Events Listed at www.FWOT.com 107 W. Ridge Pike • Conshohocken, PA
610-828-6191 “Whether our guests prefer to sample food and beer pairings, sip new and unusual beers or soak a brewer in our dunk tank, we can’t wait to pour out a pint with them and enjoy being right in the heart of ‘the best beer drinking city in America’.” Cheers! T McNally 2801 Fairmount Avenue Philadelphia
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Rotating
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Craft Drafts 14 Beers on Tap
215.978.4545
And don’t forget to check our
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Chicken Fingers & Wings
AWARD WINNING
Not Beer
Spicy and Delicious, Naturally. TorchBearer Hot Sauce from Harrisburg, PA. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the flavor spectrum; whether you like spicy, sweet, or savory and rich, we can all agree that any consumable product (i.e. beer, food, hot sauce, etc.) should be delicious and is usually better when the ingredients are fresh, local, and all natural. Especially compared to that other mass-produced, over-processed, and utterly bland stuff on the shelves. Enter TorchBearer Sauces. The small, yet rapidly growing family business was started out of Harrisburg by Vid Lynch, Ben Smith, Tim Wortman, and Vid’s parents, Tom and Pat. Like most small businesses, TorchBearer started as an accident. Looking for a way to save a surplus of habanero peppers from the garden, Vid and Ben decided to make habanero preserves. Realizing they were on to something special, they packed the car and headed to Texas to pick up 666 pounds of peppers. A batch of hand-made, hand-bottled, and hand-labeled bottles later, the boys set out to the Cajun Hot Sauce Festival in Louisiana, looking to share their creation—only to be validated further by winning three national medals. Similar to brewing a great craft beer, the ingredients matter; better ingredients equal a better product. TorchBearer is passionate about this concept. They quickly realized that the mass-produced stuff all tasted the same. Obviously the same can be said about the beer world. The reason for this, of course, is the ingredients, which TorchBearer strives to find and use only the best local and all natural. Their focus on this can be seen in their tagline “Accidentally Healthy. Intentionally Delicious,” which Vid says is the backbone of the company—it tells of their history and their passion for using
delicious, healthy ingredients—of which all can be pronounced (or grown in your garden for that matter). TorchBearer is also working to bridge the gap between local craft beer and local craft hot sauce. At the moment, they have their sauces for sale in the gift shop at Tröegs Brewing. Vid says they are interested in building stronger relationships with breweries, even open to using the beer as an ingredient in their sauces. After eight years of brewing and bottling delicious sauces, TorchBearer is still keeping it in the family. Although they have grown from the initial 666 pounds of peppers and are now bottling 350 cases a day—from savory garlic to super-hot Zombie Apocalypse—family and community still remain the driving force behind the company. The three friends, Vid’s parents, and maybe even an ex-girlfriend, along with the support of the local community, keep the company moving and growing. In keeping with the community theme, during spikes in the season when orders are up, TorchBearer creates jobs for people in the community who are out of work; whether it’s working at mall kiosks, fairs and festivals, or in the kitchen making the sauces. As they grow, their goal is to be able to create full-time employment opportunities for a few of these people who have helped TorchBearer get where it is today. So whether you’re a “hot-head,” prefer the tangy taste of BBQ sauce, or the sweetness of mangos and papaya, TorchBearer has a sauce for you. Once you try some hand-made, gourmet sauces, you’ll forget about that other mass-produced stuff you’ve been using for all this time. a
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spirits
A New Kick on Wine Spodee—a modern twist on a classic beverage.
What does one do when Prohibition has ended and one wants to start legally drinking again; but thanks to The Depression setting in, can’t really afford to do so with the variety they prefer? One takes homemade country wine and Moonshine and mixes it in a barrel with whatever they have sitting around. This could include soda, fruit, herbs, juice or anything the creative mind led you to. The result being the creation of Spodee. Already known for creative spirits, Steven Grasse is the founder of Quaker City Mercantile, the voice behind some local favorites. Grasse is responsible for many of the bottles seen on the shelves at various local bars including Root, Snap, Hendrick’s Gin, and Sailor Jerry. He even has a hand in New England beer staple, Narragansett. With brands such as these, especially the Art in the Age line (Root, Snap, Rhubarb, and Sage), it is evident that Grasse has no problem pushing boundaries and putting out a unique product that rides the lines of what a spirit can be. With that mindset in place, he set out to recreate a most unusual offering in Spodee.
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Spodee is part wine and part spirit with a taste like no other. Marketed as wine with a kick, the complexity of flavors within lends it to work in many ways—straight up as an extra decadent dessert wine, on the rocks with equal parts cola, a shot in your favorite martini, or infused into daily cooking plans. Imagine a concentrated red wine gushing with flavors of chocolate and herbs that tastes smooth enough to sip throughout the evening, yet strong enough to lend its complementarity hand to any quality cocktail menu. Fitting for the creativity in this spirited wine and its back country roots, Spodee comes packaged in an old fashioned milk jug-like container. Like milk jugs in the past, Spodee drinkers are encouraged to return their jugs when they’re finished, ensuring the product gets recycled and helping to lessen their environmental footprint. Those living local can bring their bottle back to the Art in the Age store in the Old City District of Philadelphia and even be rewarded with a t-shirt in exchange for their efforts. Though keeping bottles of Spodee does make for a much more enjoyable method of getting new glassware for your house than a trip to Ikea to buy a set! a
Hours:
Monday-Saturday 8am-Midnight Sunday 9am-Midnight
Huge Selection of American Craft Beer And Gluten Free Beers!
100 S. 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 (Center City)
215-496-0564
Inside there’s a Boxcarr Waiting...
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Our Fall Seasonal
Available August to November Facebook.com/StarrHillBrewery YouTube.com/StarrHill @StarrHill @StarrHillBrewery
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le fromage
Open
Philly Beer Scene is hosting
FREE Beer and Cheese Samplings Every 3rd Thursday of the month, from 3-5pm at the Fair Food Farmstand.
A Transitional Pairing for the Changing Seasons Roundtop Farm Natural Rind Tomme & Manayunk Dreamin’ Double IPA. By Ryan Hudak
If anyone can make people feel like putting down their smartphones and tablets for a while and appreciate what nature has given us, it’s a farmer. There is a growing farmer fantasy of moving far away from the city and creating things using only earth and water, maybe a few animals, and not having to live in the hustle and bustle of the ‘real world.’ Such is the life of Roundtop Farm in Honey Brook, PA, which has absolutely no internet presence: no website, no Facebook, no Twitter account. But they do have cheese. And Melvin Stoltzfus’ sheep make some delicious cheese. Take, for instance, his Natural Rind Tomme (in contrast to last issue’s Washed-Rind Tomme), which is a lesson in contrasts. If you give it a big whiff, the rind smells of blueish mold, a super-funk that will make you think you’re about to bite into some runny French cheese that’s more blue than white. When you bite into it, however, you get something completely different. You find an understated flavor, one that starts earthy—almost like delicious dirt—that sparks a few fruity notes on the back of your tongue before being swallowed. Imagine picking up a strawberry from the ground and not wiping it off before taking a bite. And now, wash it down with Manayunk Brewing Company’s Dreamin’ Double IPA. The brewpub, which has been holding down Main Street in Manayunk for almost 20 years, has improved 50
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its output over the last few years thanks to head brewer Doug Marchakitus. Manayunk has also recently begun to distribute cans of beer, which just so happens to include the fruity, yet delightfully bitter beer that we’re pairing. Inhale the beer deeply—remember that dirty strawberry we mentioned? It seems to have found its way into the beer, and the fruitiness of this IPA pairs perfectly well with that of the cheese. And then you have the contrast: the bitter hoppiness of the IPA cuts right through that earthiness of the cheese, livening it up and making the whole combination a complex delight of fruity, bitter umami. This pairing is perfect for a fading season and the transition from summer into fall. If you’re dealing with warm days and cool nights, this will bridge the gap. You have a fruit element that will bring to mind the summertime, while the warming bitterness and soil-like flavors will bring to mind falling leaves and fall weather. Put on your flannel shirt—but pair it with shorts—as you enjoy this pairing. The Dreamin’ Double IPA should be available at any bottle shop of note, while you can find the Natural Rind Tomme at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal. Whether you’re sad summer is leaving or excited autumn is on its way, this is the pairing that will help you transition. a
alterna-beer
Anthem Ciders In a growing scene of ciders—we have a winner. By Dave Martorana
We’ve talked about gluten-free beers and explored ciders and meads, but every once and a while, someone decides to give a hybrid a go. That’s what we have with Anthem Hops—a dry-ish apple cider made with Oregon-grown hops. Think of it as starting life as a cider but being finished off as if it were a beer. You might initially cringe at the thought—but don’t. This one is neat. The Anthem line of ciders is by Wandering Aengus Ciderworks in Oregon, and currently has four varieties. The Anthem Hops varietal is the only one that is made with hops, and is rather unique in the world of ciders. They boast that they only use whole-fruit, grown in the surrounding regions in Oregon and Washington. Interestingly, because of the varying amounts of sugars in apples, the ciders have an ABV range, so they print the ABV, batch number, and bottling date on every bottle. The one I’m drinking as I’m writing this is 5.5%, but their website claims it can go as high as 6.9%. And where beer often strives for high levels of taste reproducibility, Wandering Aengus Ciderworks embraces that each cider might have a slightly different flavor based on the characteristics of the apples at the time of pressing. After the cider is pressed and fermented, Anthem Hops is dry-hopped for three weeks using locally-grown Cascade hops. That the hops used in this cider are Cascade can hardly be a shock—they’re all over the Northwest, and the crispness they lend to lagers or ales is a perfect match for the crispness of the apples used in the cider. After pouring the cider, you’ll notice the same light-lager color we’ve come to expect from ciders. The complete lack of head is also common with apple ciders. The nose is interesting and hard to describe. Obviously you get some apple, but the sweetness is cut. It’s rather minerally, and you can’t quite figure out where some of
the aroma is coming from—the apples or the hops. But the flavor—it’s pretty awesome. First, the mouth-feel is interestingly soft. The flavor hints pretty heavily at dryness, but that’s a byproduct of the hops rather than the cider apparently. I personally prefer a traditional “dry” cider to what I call a “wet” one (you know the kind, basically fermented apple juice), and the hops do a really neat round-about on this cider to give it hints of that dryness. But unlike an English dry cider, the mouth-feel isn’t incredibly crisp —rather it’s full and fluffy. The apples and the hops are so perfectly blended that it’s almost impossible to pick them out from each other. Because it’s a dryhop, there isn’t a lot of the woodsy/piney flavor that boiled hops give off. The oils, however, do seep in well, and the mineral flavors cut the sweetness of the apples. But the flavor of the apples is the foundation of this drink. There’s perhaps a touch of tart cherry, or maybe it’s just tart... Look. I can’t adequately describe this cider—not to the level required to imagine what I’ve tasted. I’ve had others give it a try and they say pretty much the same thing. The fact is, this blend of hops and apples is really a bit brilliant. I’ve heard “I could drink a few of these” from people that really rather dislike cider, and “It tastes like... something...” from people that can wax flavorful about beer all day long. Truthfully, this cider has grown on me more and more and I’m ready to declare it a winner. Here’s the take-away—try this cider. Try it if you like dry ciders. Try it if you like “wet” ones. Try it if you don’t like ciders. Try it if you prefer lagers, or hoppy ales. But for goodness sake, try it. Then let me know what you think. a
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Brews Abroad
An American Chef in Bangkok Pairing the talents of local chef Jarrett Wrisley with the emerging Bangkok beer scene. By Keith Wallace
I was in Bangkok, Thailand on a mission. I was going to discover the city’s top chef and interview him about beer pairings. I found him. His name is Jarrett Wrisley, and he’s from Philly. The search didn’t start well. On my first day in the city, I was trolling through Soi Cowboy for riverboat noodles. The prostitutes were shit at giving directions. Sidewalks were largely nonexistent, and the traffic unrelenting. I finally found the restaurant I was looking for, but the idea of eating turned my stomach. The unbearable heat had glued the humid smog onto every inch of exposed flesh. I could feel the rays of sunshine burning my neck like an ant under a magnifying glass. The food carts— those famous Bangkok food carts— scared the hell out of me. The cooked food appeared to crumble in the heat, and the raw food was rotting. I gave up and turned tail, back to the hotel and its wheezing attempt at air conditioning. That night, I went to Nahm, the most famous of all of Bangkok’s top restaurants. It was a beautiful affair, tucked behind several embassies. This was a meal I (and my bank account) had been anticipating for several months. It was supposed to be the ultimate spot to experience authentic Thai food. Surely this was going to be a slam-dunk for my chef search. I could not have been more wrong. The room was filled with tourists, taking photos of their food and drinking iced tea. That was the first tip-off. The second was the staff, who managed the rare trick of being both inept and arrogant. And then there was the food, which rates only a single word description: dull. My mission to find the city’s top chef was in tatters. I sucked at Bangkok. Stepping out of the dreary Nahm, I promised myself— and my lovely wife— that I would do better. 52
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I didn’t. After three days of lowered expectations, we headed to the neighborhood of Thong Lo. The first restaurant we stepped into was Phuket Town. They served us a wide range of awesome Northern style curries. Everything tasted authentic. My faith was restored. We walked down the street, and stumbled upon another tiny restaurant, Soul Food Mahanakorn. In a few hours, and many more dishes, my search was over. I canceled all my other reservations. The meal was extraordinary. The gaeng massaman was a balance of heat and meaty richness that went far beyond anything I had experienced before. A salad of pomelo (a local grapefruit-like citrus), shrimp and chiles called yam som-o, held a zippy sweetness that would have jumped off the plate if it wasn’t anchored by a fermented fish sauce. There was more, much more, and if this was a restaurant review, I would continue to wax poetic about this wonderful restaurant halfway across the world. This article was supposed to be about beer pairings and authentic Thai food. It’s not anymore. It’s about Jarrett Wrisley, the owner and chef of Soul Food Mahanakorn. As you can probably tell from his name, he isn’t Thai by birth. He’s an American, but it’s even stranger than that. I went halfway around the world and ended up meeting a bad-ass chef from Philly, born and raised in Allentown. Yeah. Holy shit. What are the chances of that? So, I asked him, what is authentic Thai food? “Authenticity means very little to me,” said Jarrett. “I’m as inauthentic as it gets, right? There is no criteria for authenticity. There is no code. It means something different to everyone. Thai food is a crazy mix of cooking styles. Grilling, steaming, frying, smoking, braising. It is raw salads and
cooked ones; curries and soups, and curries that— to the casual observer who’s only seen a coconut curry—seem like soups. It’s deeply regional. But mostly, it’s about balancing a wide range of flavors, and a wide array of dishes, into a cohesive whole. There are several components to a Thai meal—a bland soup, a curry, a nahm prik or two, an omelet, a fried dish, and of course, rice—that create balance with texture and flavor.” It wasn’t only his mad skills in the kitchen that convinced me to feature him in this article. It was his beer list, which was the best one I had seen in Southeast Asia. In fact, it
was the first time I had seen craft beers from America featured on a list. I was curious if there was a craft beer movement in Thailand. “There is an interest in good, quality beers that is very new here,” Jarrett began. “The beer movement started with Belgian beers—which sell well in the Thai market because of their sugar content, I think. But now people are more accepting of hops, and interested to try beers that vary in style. It’s refreshing, after drinking watery Asian lagers for over a decade.” So, what is the best beer pairings with Thai food? “I think a crisp, citrusy pale
ale works well with Thai salads, as long as it isn’t all hops. For northern dishes, and things with tamarind, like my gaeng hang lay curry, a slightly sweeter, heavier beer might work. Something like Dead Guy Ale, for instance, or Boont Amber Ale. If I had to pick an all-around beer for Thai food, it might be something made in the style of a Czech pilsner.” How the hell did a Philly guy end up in Thailand, anyway? “Well, I stated out as a student in Beijing, and later a returned to China to write about food and drinks, travel and other topics. Food really became
my focus though, and I ended up traveling in the Asia region for a few years writing about food culture, working on recipes, and covering the restaurant scene. “After that, I decided to open my own place, in Bangkok, where I’d moved with my wife. I studied Thai cookery, worked on the cocktails, and just learned as much as I possibly could. Restaurants—good ones anyway—are about knowledge and dedication and mostly hard work. And I worked pretty hard on Soul Food.” a
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JiM Meiers All anyone wants to talk about is his clothes. by Drew Lazor
IN
an industry like craft beer, one that prides itself on laissez-faire sartorial standards, this is odd enough to merit mention. In a blue-collar ocean swimming with dudes uniformed in well-loved T-shirts and cargo pockets—maybe a branded polo, on a dressy day—Jim Meiers is the guy in the suit. And he’s been the guy in the suit long enough for his style to become synonymous with his substance. Bring up the name Meiers (rhymes with “beers”) to any bartender, bar owner or tangentially associated industry type in this town, and it’s the first topic broached. Jacket, trousers, button-up, knotted neck, shoes, specs, sharp brimmed lid taming his full Doc Brown-esque head of white hair—“Dapper Jim,” as his buddies are fond of calling him, doesn’t miss details. “[Bar owners] all dress the same,” says Bishop’s Collar and St. Stephen’s Green proprietor Jeff Keel.
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Alison Dunlap
“his youthful exuberance and enthusiasm fool people who don’t realize he started his career in the Mad Men era”
“We’re busy and we’re working. Then you’ve got Meiers in a top hat.” “I wear clothes pretty well,” says Meiers, his pronounced Philly accent sanding the edges of the statement in such a way that it comes off more informative than boastful. Origlio Beverage’s longtime craft and specialty sales manager chalks up the ease with which he slides into a shirt and tie to his Cardinal Dougherty education and his fashion studies at Philadelphia Textile School, now Philadelphia University. “He’s certainly the best-dressed man in the beer world,” says longtime friend Tom Peters, the Monk’s Café owner and shortsand-black-tee aficionado. “He wears a suit—but he’s definitely not ‘a suit.’” If you’re assuming that Meiers, himself 65, has a long-standing bond with some wizened tailor, an avuncular Italian named Salvatore or Giuseppe with a tape measure draped around his neck and pins dangling from his lips, you’d be wrong. He snags all of his suits—he won’t divulge how many he owns—straight off the rack. It’s a telling preference: Meiers has never needed any assistance making anything his own.
“He’s the guy, when you’re driving with him in Philly, winos appear at the side of the car and go, ‘Hey, Jim!’” says Nima Hadian, owner of Emmaus distributor Shangy’s. “Everyone knows him.” It’s true. A sit-down with Meiers in any public place has the potential to become a receiving line. Barely a minute into situating ourselves and our pints at a table outside Keel’s Collar, passersby stop passing and start talking. “What are you, going on TV in five minutes? Look at you!” It’s an old grade-school pal, who’s impressed with his get-up and wants to tell Meiers that he’d run into his brother the day prior. Next is a former employee of the Collar, a friend of Meiers’ daughter who coos to her fussy stroller-bound baby as she exchanges pleasantries. Later, Meiers spots
legendary restaurateur Neil Stein way across busy Fairmount Avenue, from a distance that’d likely impress a SEAL sniper. “This might happen a lot, even if we go someplace else,” Meiers explains mildly. “I’ve been doing this my whole adult life.” By “this,” he means building relationships—something he had a knack for long before beer became his livelihood. “I think his youthful exuberance and enthusiasm fool people who don’t realize he started his career in the Mad Men era,” says Jim Wiggins, who worked with Meiers at Origlio and now runs the craft division of South Jersey’s Kramer Beverage Co. Wiggins may be overshooting it just a bit, but he’s not far off. After college, the Chestnut Hill native worked in construction through the 1970s, overseeing house builds in Montgomery County. When the company went under, Meiers spent a year in Portland, Oregon. Returning to Philly in 1981, he landed a bartending job at Houlihan’s in Rittenhouse, in the space that’s currently Devon Seafood Grill. “The Irish Pub [on Walnut Street] was the biggest, most happening bar,” says Meiers of the neighborhood at that time. “There were really no craft bars.” 57
Constantly pitched by wholesale beer and wine reps hoping to land the busy Houlihan’s as an account, the gregarious Meiers began thinking he could do a better job. “Even as a kid, I’ve always gotten along with people,” he says. “[It seemed like] a natural job for me.” He logged three years with Pio, selling high-end Italian vino and even introducing the infamous Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler line to the Philly market. In 1986, a sales position broke at Origlio, Meiers’ introduction to a local beer scene shockingly different than today’s. When Meiers first started at the Northeast-based wholesaler, which currently distributes in the area of 13 million cases annually, “we were the green bottle company—we sold Heineken and Rolling Rock,” he says. Origlio’s biggest get back then was landing the local selling rights to two beers hops-obsessed geeks love to ridicule: Coors and Corona. “During that time, we didn’t really develop a craft portfolio” similar to the one he oversees now, says Meiers, whose sales territory spanned from river to river, Vine to Pine. “There just weren’t that many independent breweries, period.”
“we were the green bottle company — we sold Heineken and Rolling Rock” That ubiquitous Mexican beer, in particular, was in such demand in the ‘80s that its distribution was strictly allocated. “If you wanted to buy ten cases, you could only get six,” says Peters, who first got to know Meiers during sales calls to Copa Too in Center City. It’s humorous to picture droves of Philly bar patrons, who nowadays pride themselves on their beer knowledge and the citywide accessibility of said beer, waiting in the nightlife equivalent of a bread line for a flavorless longneck with a lime jammed into it. But it helps illustrate just how far our craft beer community has come—a journey expedited by Meiers’ contributions, though not in the manner you might think.
In 2000, after 14 years as a key account manager for Origlio, Meiers decided it was time for a change. He’d caught word that the newly hired regional rep for Belgian goliath Interbrew had bailed after just a month in. He interviewed for the job on a Tuesday; by that Thursday, he was in Brussels, receiving a practical education in Belgian beer culture from the firm responsible for bringing Stella, Hoegaarden and Leffe to America. He drank it all in: brewing history dating back centuries, matching the proper glassware to the proper beer, customizing draft lines to optimal conditions. 58
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”Many people at Origlio thought I was nuts,” says Meiers, describing the reaction to his career move, “but I was really interested and fascinated [in] the supplier side.” Already well-known in Philly, he immediately began making his presence felt in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Tuesday and Thursday evenings, in particular, he set aside for personal offthe-clock visits to his bar clients.
“People are like, who is this nut job in the hat? He’s in the corner yelling Stellaaaaa!” Some linkups just made sense: for a time, Peters’ Monk’s was the biggest Hoegaarden account in the nation. Some bonds called for unorthodox strategy. “He has this knack for clapping his hands. It’s the loudest thing you’ve ever heard in your life—it’s earshattering,” says Keel. “So he comes in [to Bishop’s Collar], starts clapping and yelling like a stark-raving lunatic. Then he starts buying people Stella. A few months later, the stuff was absolutely on fire. People are like, who is this nut job in the hat? He’s in the corner yelling ‘Stellaaaaa!’ But after awhile, we couldn’t take it off. It’s not the product, obviously. I don’t know if it was him...but he was into it, to put it mildly.” Other setups took effort to establish. In the late ‘90s, Shangy’s was the number one wholesaler of Hoegaarden in America, moving in the neighborhood of 3,000 cases annually. “That’s nothing in today’s world, but we were really excited to have a brand that was going over so well,” says Hadian, crediting its ability to get accounts interested in other import and craft brands. But Interbrew (now AB InBev) abruptly switched importers, a move that threatened Shangy’s exclusive distribution of the beloved wit, accounting for a huge chunk of business.
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After lawyers got involved, Shangy’s maintained its regional rights over Hoegaarden, coming into contact with Meiers face-to-face for the first time. “I was feeling very intimidated at the first meeting when he came in in a suit,” he says. “He looked like a million bucks, with a fancy hat. He kinda eyed me up. I thought, ‘This guy is going to hate us.’ Our place is so small. He looked at me and goes, ‘You really want to sell this beer, huh?’ After a discussion on how to handle the market, he said, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s do it.’” From that point on, Hadian began talking to Meiers “10 or 15 times a day. I think I’ve spoken to him more than I’ve spoken to my wife in 10 years.” Soon, Shangy’s grew Hoegaarden into a 100,000-case brand, dwarfing much larger distributors in New York, Chicago, Boston and L.A. “He wasn’t your buttoned-up, bullshit large-brewer guy with set things in his head,” he says. “He came into a situation that was so unorthodox to
what he’s seen. He looked at it and asked, ‘How can I make it work?’ He realized the passion [we] had.” Though Hoegaarden, as the result of a high-profile 2007 legal clash with AB InBev, is no longer in the Shangy’s portfolio, Hadian maintains a close kinship with Meiers. “We talk about business, talk about families, talk about everything,” says Hadian. “You don’t have the kind of relationship you have with Jim with anybody.” The year 2007 also marked Meiers’ departure from the supplier side of the game. “We sorta broke his you-knowwhat’s about going to the dark side,” says Keel. “He was impressed with how they operated and how they did things, but it wasn’t quite for him. He’s a unique guy. I thought that sort of structured environment wouldn’t work with him, and it didn’t.” Meiers has nothing negative to say about his InBev experience. “It opened up a whole new world for me and the [customers] I was talking to, because I could talk to them about better beers,” he says. This accessible entry point, combined with Meiers’ reputation, helped fortify the groundwork for Philly’s current craft-savvy beer environment. “You pick up a flyer out of your mail from Crate & Barrel, and they’re talking about craft beer,” says Meiers of the current landscape. “You pick [up] the New York Times or Washington Post, and they’re talking about craft beer. Everybody’s talking about craft beer. It’s gotten into our psyche.”
Banking on the trajectory of the craft realm, Origlio, the macro-focused “green bottle company” for the duration of Meiers’ first run, began building a specialty portfolio, acquiring distribution rights to Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues, Sly Fox and the products of New York-based Belgian importer Vanberg & DeWulf. Soon after
they lured their former top salesman back to head this new division in 2007, they acquired King of Prussia’s Kunda Beverage, strengthening their craft reach even more. He currently manages a team of four reps who service Philly and its surrounding counties. It may read counterintuitive, asking an old-school, feet-on-the-street fleshpresser to head up an ostensibly newschool facet of the biz, but Meiers’ knowledge, enthusiasm and connections rendered the transition seamless. “I had deep reservations about Origlio picking up all these specialty products,” says Peters, initially concerned that an operation the size of Origlio would be quick to drop beers that weren’t selling, thereby permanently hamstringing his overall access. “Then they said they were bringing Jimmy Meiers back. I said, ‘OK, now I feel way better about it.’” “In Philly right now, a lot of craft beer reps are hipsters—they like the movement and they try to act like it,” says Hadian. “Jim brings a look to him—whether it’s the
suit, the hat, the presentation—he brings something to craft beer that isn’t here. It gives a lot of credibility to it.” “He’s not like certain sales guys, who come in and just keep trying to cram shit down your throat—they don’t really care about you or your business,” says Keel. “Jim [wants] to sell you what’s going to make you more profitable. Never once, in all the years I’ve know him, has he tried to sell me something he didn’t believe in.” Of course, Meiers believes his occupation involves more than just getting people to sign on the line. He’s close to retirement— hanging up the proverbial hat (but not the literal ones) will give him more hours to spend with his wife and two adult children, some extra chunks of time to commit to banging out rock and blues on his old Fender Stratocaster, his primary non-work diversion. Until then, he’ll continue to do what he does best. “I don’t think you ever really sell anybody. I just think you make them comfortable to buy,” he says. “But the kick isn’t the sale. You’re turning people on to something new— that’s the kick. That’s why you love getting up every day.” a 61
Alison Dunlap
it’s a woman’s world
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How Beate Green Brought a touch of Germany back to the city of Brotherly Love. by Carolyn Smagalski
I
n the sunshine, her light brown eyes glow with a tint of green, sparkling as she offers me a toast of schnaps. “Beate Green is the queen of relationships,” says Marci Prester, Director of Marketing at Brauhaus Schmitz. “Her entire personality shows it.” The last time we met, Beate taught me how connections are made. “You always look into the eyes of the one you are toasting. Prost!” she says, as we dabble lightly with pear schnaps, served as a side with “the Andorfer.” She insists that pear schnaps, made of fruit, are “vitamins of the day…a necessity.” This woman from Scherleinsöd, Germany, could hardly have imagined the turns her life would take. The tiny village of Scherleinsöd lies about 26 kmby eastCarolyn of Passau,Smagalski amidst the rolling hills of Lower Bavaria. Because it is the closest town, Passau is near enough to be called home. Known as the Dreiflüssestadt or “City of Three Rivers,” Passau is a university town with a population of about 50,000. Her three favorite breweries are found in Passau, and Beate (pronounced as three syllables: Bay-ahh-teh) wanted to bring a slice of home with her to America. Several years ago, she had arrived in Philadelphia as the wife of an American G.I. who had family here. Eventually, her personal romance cooled-down, but not her love for Philadelphia, nor Philly’s love for her. It wasn’t long before the city discovered an appreciation of her talents. Because she was German, she was the perfect cultural fit for Ludwig’s Garten, an authentic, German-style beer hall that closed in early 2008. According to Beate, Ludwig’s really wasn’t
looking for anybody when she walked in. “My only talent was that I was German,” she said. But she admits that her German culture gave her an advantage. Her instincts regarding beer were a definite asset. She had a relaxed attitude and viewed beer as a healthy choice. “One wheat beer has the same nutrition as a loaf of bread,” she tells me. Then there was her sense of service. “It is so important to have the right glass for the right beer, to give a proper pour with the proper head,” she explains. “It’s a science. People spend so much time designing the right glass. The way the beer distributes into the glass makes a big difference,” she continues. For many who live in America, they would have to be taught what Beate already knew. When Doug Hager and his wife Kelly
To know a woman
Passau,” she explains, “there are beers from just that region. You never get a selection–just one brewery and the styles they make. There is no kölsch or altbier in Passau, for example.” In Germany, it is easy to become culturally connected to the beer from one’s home region. Targeting three breweries in her hometown of Passau, she was prancing like a racehorse at the thought of bringing them to America, particularly her favorite from Andorfer. But Thomas Andorfer, owner of Weissbierbrauerei Andorfer, wanted nothing to do with exporting his beer. Established in 1905 by Ignaz Urzinger, the original brewery was acquired by Hans Andorfer in 1919 and remains the most intimate brewery in Passau. As a third generation brewmaster, Thomas understands his responsibility to uphold a tradition of excellence. “That’s my beer, my reputation,” he said to Beate. “It is unpasteurized. It may not travel well.” His concerns were valid, but Beate was determined, not only to bring Andorfer to Philadelphia, but also to make it an exclusive for Brauhaus Schmitz. She wanted
When you go to Passau, there are beers from just that region. You never get a selection– just one brewery and the styles they make. Schmitz-Hager opened Brauhaus Schmitz in 2009, Beate and Doug already had a professional relationship after working together at Ludwig’s. Raised in Upper Darby, Hager was born in Aschaffenburg, Germany, to a German mother. Shortly after taking his wedding vows, Doug and his young bride returned to Cologne for two years, immersed in German culture. The experience impressed Hager who was anxious to bring home-spun German authenticity to Philly. Beate turned out to be his trump card. Beer in Germany is presented differently than it is in the USA. “When you go to
to create an emotional connection, and a visit to the brewmaster himself was a key element. If she could express her passion for his beer, she could convince him to export. At first, he showed no interest. “I don’t think it is going to work,” he said firmly. She toasted to him as they talked and shared “the Andorfer,” as Beate calls it, intermingled with schnaps. “I love your beer,” she told Thomas Andorfer. “It gives me a piece of home here. It feels good, actually,” she said. The emotional connection grew stronger. With Shelton Brothers Importers, they 63
worked out a plan to deliver Andorfer to the U.S. in prime condition. Bella Vista’s strong reputation for maintaining an ideal storage facility and distribution network gave them an edge as distributors for the final leg of the journey. Beate is happy to have been instrumental in bringing this true German weissbier to Brauhaus Schmitz. “Why drink the copy when you can have the original?” she asks. Her observation, after several years in the states, is that American brewers tend to over-hop the style. Beate’s favorite style of beer is Dunkelweizen, and she prefers wheat beer and dark beers such as dunkel lagers. “I’m a fan of malt,” she says. “Zwickelbier is another one I like, because it is light and flavorful … and
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Schwarzbier, too.” Beers from Andorfer are particularly pleasing to her palate. Although not a huge fan of smoked beers,
Beate’s favorite style of beer is Dunkelweizen, and she prefers wheat beer and dark beers such as dunkel lagers.
she agrees that the beers from Schlenkerla in Bamberg are ideal partners with German foods, particularly sausages of all types. Drying the malt over beechwood logs adds complexity to beer styles that could easily stand on their own. Although kiln drying, without smoke, has become popular throughout most of the beer-making world, the breweries of Bamberg have carried on the tradition of smoking malt over an open fire for almost 200 years. “We had a Schlenkerla beer dinner here at Brauhaus Schmitz,” says Beate, speaking with authority about the various smoked styles presented, including helles, weizen, urbock, märzen and Eiche doppelbock. Our discussion of smoked beer gave her the perfect segue for introducing Wursthaus
Schmitz, Hager’s newest venture at the Reading Terminal Market, into our conversation. Since opening in early 2013, this little merchant stand has brought authentic German specialty items to Philadelphia, including curry ketchup and mustard, German chocolates, deli meats and German sausages. “We make some here, and we also use a German butcher in the Northeast,” says Beate. She boasts that Wursthaus Schmitz has garnered praise from Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan for its housemade sausages, sides, and restaurant-made spätzle. Although you won’t find any beer served at Wursthaus Schmitz, in a little more than a mile, you can trek back to the Brauer Bund Room at Brauhaus Schmitz to satisfy your irresistible thirst.
The Brauer Bund: A Brewer’s Alliance The Brauer Bund Room in Brauhaus Schmitz snuggles into the back of the restaurant, off to the side, with its distinctive league of specialty kegs. This exclusive haven features the best German beers on draft anywhere in the country, evidence of the relationships built by Beate Green, along with Doug Hager’s commitment to authentic German beer, its history and traditions. “It’s not all about the big breweries, but opens the taps to the small brewers, as well,” says Beate. Her three Passau breweries—Andorfer, Hacklberg, and Innstadt—are represented in the Brauer Bund Room. You’ll find beer from Hofbräuhaus Traunstein Josef Sailer there, too. But Beate Green feels she is just getting started. Just as Andorfer is the smallest and most intimate brewery in Passau, Hacklberg is the largest, founded in 1618. Originally, the brewery belonged to the Castle Hacklberg and was expanded in 1698. A beer lagering cellar was added about a hundred years later. This allowed the “White (Weiss) Brewery” to function alongside the “Brown Brew House.” In 1945, a significant portion of the brewery, including the maltings, offices, and turbine warehouse, sustained bombing toward the end of World War II, but the owners took it in stride. They began reconstruction only six years later. Although the brewery no longer prepares its own malt, it has blended tradition with a modernized facility,
Beate is the unofficial schnaps queen of Philadelphia. If you are having a beer with Beate, you better be prepared to have a shot of schnaps as well. And, if you’re hanging out at Brauhaus Schmitz with at least three friends and Beate is working, you should also be prepared for her to talk you into a “shot ski.” As a schnaps connoisseur, we asked Beate what her favorite schnäpse are: “I prefer fruit Brandy. This way I am getting my Vitamins of the day.”
All-time Favorite: Penninger Blutwurz: It is a herbal schnaps distilled at a small distillery closed to my hometown. They usually light it on fire after they serve it, It’s 100 proof and absolutely delicious.
Favorites Available in the US: Schladerer Williams Birne Williams Pear Brandy:
A 160 year old recipe for clear fruit brandy coming from the Black Forest region of Germany. Saint Max Braun Gebirgs-Jaga:
A classic 300 year old herbal schnaps from the Alpine region of Germany. Schladerer Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser Cherry Brandy:
A clear fruit brandy from the Black Forest region. It is a “Wässer” or fruit spirit high in natural sugars. Kammer Obstler Apple Pear Brandy:
A clear fruit brandy from a comparatively young and more experimental distillery started in 1909. Combier Kümmel:
A clear liqueur distilled with caraway seed, cumin, and fennel, giving it flavors of rye bread.
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including lines for bottling and barrel filling. Just southeast of Hacklberg, amidst the beauty of the Bavarian forests, lies Innstadt Brewery, established in 1318. This old brewery stands as a tribute to Bavarian wheat beer. By the 1500s, wheat was a rare and valuable commodity in lower Bavaria, and wheat beer quickly took over as the preference of kings, princes and royalty. Only a few brewers were issued rights to brew with wheat, and each approved Brauhaus was held to strict standards. In 1579, Innstadt was awarded a commission to brew wheat beer, making it one of the oldest brewers of wheat beer in the world. Hofbräuhaus Traunstein, established in 1612, is located about two hours southwest of Passau, and its history is no less colorful. Despite warring monarchs and shifting borders, the brewery in Traunstein endured. The town of Traunstein was burned in 1851, destroying over 100 houses, the town hall, the church, watchtowers, and other gov-
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ernment buildings. The beloved brewery, however, was protected by its workers who diverted the beer they brewed to extinguish the flames. It’s good to know that Bavarian brewers had their priorities straight.
Beate, the Beer Ambassador “So many good beers in Germany—in Bavaria itself,” Beate says. “There are over 600 breweries.” As the acting ambassador of German beer in America, that leaves a lot of work for Beate to do. In April 2013, she again traveled to Germany, this time with Doug Hager and Rising Star Chef Jeremy Nolen, to strengthen existing contacts and establish new ones. Along the way, they toured breweries in Frankfurt, Cologne, Bamberg, Kelheim, Passau, Aying and Munich. Their visit included a stop at the Benedictine Abbey of Andechs in Upper Bavaria, where they
negotiated an alliance with the abbey, one that would both preserve Andechs’ monastic identity and open a path to the prosper-
Building brewery alliances has made Beate a local celebrity in Germany ous American market. Doppelbock Dunkel, Andechser Hell and an unfiltered Weissbier will be private exclusives of Brauhaus Schmitz for a year before being released to
other beer bistros throughout the country. Building brewery alliances has made Beate a local celebrity in Germany, stirring up the interest of residents in her home province of Passau. News of Green and Hager’s business has hit the German Passauer Neue Presse, Passau’s regional
newspaper, on more than one occasion. Beate feels fortunate to be in a position to make a lasting impression both at home and in America. “With draft beers, it is easy to sell,” she says. “You can give a sample, and they like it.” Along with her samples of “German orig-
inals” at Brauhaus Schmitz, Beate continued to introduce me to the world of schnaps, touching upon Williams-Birne, the Himbeergeist raspberry ghost, and flavors of caraway and hibiscus. As with German beers, these schnaps differed dramatically from American schnapps which undergo a different process and include added sugar and glycerine. The schnaps Beate presented glowed with the delicate flavors of pears, plums, or other distinctive fruits. These are typical of southern Germany and are Obstler or Obstbrand, (fruit-based) rather than grain-based, as is common in northern Germany and America. As my mind grew foggy, her role as beer ambassador became simple and clear. “I bring the beer in,” she says. “I convince grand brewmasters to send their beer to those Americans who have never experienced great, authentic German beer in their lives. It makes us have fun.” a
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Alison Dunlap
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Pennsylvania breweries undergo sustainable efforts in pursuits of crafting local beers. By Amy Strauss
fter traveling 17 years as an X Games’ professional skater, snowboarder and BMXer, Matt Lindenmuth decided to settle down in his hometown of Kutztown, focusing his competitive energies on an entirely different market—opening a brewery. With his previous stovetop brewing sessions typically teetering on the adventurous side, always incorporating ingredients he found locally no matter where he was traveling, the 32-year-old felt drawn to the idea of debuting his brewery in the agricultural landscape of Berks County. Just five months ago, Lindenmuth made his Saucony Creek Brewing Company official by debuting in the southeastern Pennsylvania market. And while last year’s successful Kickstarter helped funnel attention to the wide-eyed brewer’s local-focused brewery, the breakout success came with Philly Beer Week 2013, as he garnered publicity through bold, sustainable acts like canoeing a keg down the Schuylkill River to an event. But from where the founder and his head brewer, Mike LaRosa, previously of Rock Bottom Brewery in King of Prussia, stand now, the challenge is continuing to pull off his extreme dedication to the hyper-local concept. “Ever since day one, I’ve strived to make ‘truly local’ beers, from our farms to your pint,” Lindenmuth explains. With a goal in mind to consistently craft all-local beer, using only resources from Berks County, Oley Valley and Kempton farms, Matt soon realized he was as much in
the agriculture business as he was the brewing industry. “It wasn’t as easy as going to the local feed store and getting barley,” he says. “We had to grow brewers’ barley ourselves.” Malting was another step he and his team planned to do themselves, purchasing the necessary equipment and educating themselves on the processes. Locally grown hops weren’t out of the question either—several farmers are in the process of growing varieties for their use, including Cascade, Nugget and Willamette. “Other breweries out there just don’t do what we’re trying to do [on this level],” he
the general public will be able to visit and tour their brewpub. “Our brewery tour will be unique. It’ll show the malting process, the grain handling and roasting. It’ll be unique for those who say ‘visiting breweries is all the same’—now we have a chance to give people the first-hand tour of what happened before the grain and barley comes to the brewery.” For Saucony, their dream is to create a lifeline of farmers, woodworkers, artists and others with their own unique craft, and unite them over a pint. Breweries across the Philadelphia region agree that successful, symbiotic community partnerships have become crucial to surviving in today’s beer industry. Perkasie’s Free Will Brewing Company joined the local brewing ranks in 2012, conscientiously starting to take green-thumbed measures in sourcing their beers’ ingredients. In June 2013, brewmaster John Stemler reported that they have successfully planted a third of an acre of hops in Bucks County, which will yield 100 pounds of hops for the local brewery to use. Their current hop inventory even nears ten varieties, which
“It wasn’t as easy as going to the local feed store and getting barley, We had to grow brewers’ barley ourselves.” continues. “We have a vision and we’re taking the extra steps to achieve it.” By fall 2013, the Saucony Creek Brewing Company will have enough resources to be able to craft their first 100 percent Pennsylvania beer. 200 acres of winter barley will be ready later this year, which will act as a base of their beers and allow them to host a “80–85 percent Pennsylvania grain bill.” By October 2013, Lindenmuth reveals that
include Chinook, Centennial, Cascade, Northern Brewer, Nugget and Columbus, with Bullion, Canadian Red Vine and Sterling on the agenda to be prosperous in 2014. “Malt is a harder local source to find,” Stemler went on to explain, “but, we are working with a local 4H Club of Harleysville, who has a sister farm in Montgomery County, to start a small malt house. Though not certified, the house will of course be organic.” 69
From the relationship, Stemler and Free Will’s co-owner Dominic Capece intend to produce a seasonal one-off stemming from the eco-conscious collaboration, and they are looking to spark more local partnerships that will contribute to future releases.
bottled by volunteers. Our community bottling days bring people to the brewery and gives them ownership. We have the ‘town hall’ feel, allowing the community to be part of what we do, making them feel part of the process and respecting the craft.”
ents itself, he’s enthusiastic about the partnership. “We work with a local farmer and send him our spent grain. He’s becoming our local barley source too, he’s even testing out growing 12 acres of it. If it’s good, we’d love to use it for all of our beers.”
Such missions aren’t just about incorporating local ingredients into the recipe, but rather fusing the community into the business too. It’s a simple concept that rings sound at another suburb-based brewery, Boxcar Brewing Company.
Jason, along with co-owner Jamie Robinson’s endgame is to have all of their beers be 100 percent local. Their plan to source nothing from beyond a twenty-mile radius, they hope, will come to fruition over the course of the next five years.
Jason Kohser, co-owner of the West Chester-based brewery, believes their beer is a product of community. “All our beers are
“I hate that I make 4 to 5 beers using ingredients from 5 to 6 countries,” confesses Kohser. But, when a local opportunity pres-
The 10-barrel brewery also maintains a partnership with the Newtown Square Colonial Plantation, a living historical site that, among other things, allows history buffs to learn about the art of hop growing in the late 1700s. In turn, Boxcar is supplied with hops and includes the plantation in profit sharing.
You’re an artist [as a brewer] and if you’re a good one, you should be able to do something creative with what you have, especially local ingredients.
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“As a brewery, you keep finding ways that best expresses what your brewery is and will be—this is one of them.” Kohser went on to explain how inspirational exploration within your own turf can be as a brewer, and how the use of local ingredients opens creative floodgates. “You’re an artist [as a
brewer] and if you’re a good one, you should be able to do something creative with what you have, especially local ingredients.” For instance, he and his assistant brewer have a cream ale in the works, crafted from all Chester County corn. “We’re in the era of doing stuff that we wouldn’t have done, making beers that make you think. We want to make the best beers we can with the best ingredients we can get, and progress towards a more close-to-home mindset and more natural ingredients.” Over in North Wales, the use of all-natural ingredients, sourced locally, has been the foundation of Rob DeMaria’s Prism Brewing Company since he debuted in late 2009. “Really, for us, we got into brewing because
we enjoy making flavorful beers,” he says. “The use of fresh ingredients allows you to get the most flavor. That’s why we don’t filter our beer—we want to keep as much flavor in the beer as possible.”
Prism’s Bitto Honey, a local honey-infused ale, was DeMaria’s “break” into Philadelphia’s market, and has now been established as his best-seller and his roster’s mainstay. At first he worked with a Montgomery
“The use of fresh ingredients allows you to get the most flavor. That’s why we don’t filter our beer—we want to keep as much flavor in the beer as possible.”
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“At the core, we’re all about using all-natural and as much local products as possible.”
County apiary to source the local honey, but when the demand exceeded the beekeeper’s inventory, he began a new partnership with another raw honey purveyor, Chester County’s Swarmbustin’ Honey. “The honey is amazing,” he explains. “It literally is spun out of the nest.” His locally-loaded beer doesn’t end with his flagship—his entire inventory is built on ingredients procured from area-wide farms and co-ops. Prism’s Love is Evol, for example, weighs in as an enhanced brown ale brewed with locally sourced strawberries and jalapeños, while the meaty Insana Stout is brewed with a specialty-smoked pork belly from Lansdale’s Bespoke Bacon. 72
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“At the core, we’re all about using all-natural and as much local products as possible,” DeMaria shares. “Our growth model is to keep it local and grow slow. When it comes to the time where we will be selling beer in Florida, in California, we’ll put a brewery out there. We will never ship beer to California [from Pennsylvania], we want our beer to stay local.” Boyertown’s Other Farm Brewing Company strives to follow the same “farm fresh” mentality as Prism. Launched as part of Frecon Farms, a family fruit farm dating back to 1944, the small-batch brewery came to fruition in January 2013, as a spin-off of their three-year-old, bottle-conditioned cider line.
“Our backbone is our fruit farm. We had grown our own fruit for our ciders, and foreshadowed what we wanted to do with the brewery,” explains Hank Frecon. “We knew we wanted to grow our own hops, so we planted hops on the farm [in preparation for the brewery].” Frecon hopes to build up to supplying 100 percent of the hops the nano-brewery needs. Currently, Cascade, Chinook and Centennial hops are grown on the Boyertown farm. Working off a small-scale brewing system ,similar to what Sam Calagione used to start Dogfish Head Brewery, Frecon and his crew flip the Berks County estate’s crops into extremely local releases. While Hank himself proclaims he’s not a “fruit beer fan,” he digresses that if done the “‘right way’ without syrups and concentrates,” the farm’s fruit comes through “pow-
erful, allowing the fruit to speak for themselves.” In the heat of sour cherry season, the brewing crew took the whole cherries and rapid-froze them, forcing them to pop, split and break down the cellular walls—all to incorporate the natural, “true” flavors into a sour cherry saison. Other Farm followed similar steps with blueberries, allowing the robust crop to be seen in a new light—in local blueberry wheat beer! However, the pride and joy of the farmfresh brewery has nothing to do with fruit. A hop head’s paradise, the Estate IPA, is crafted 100 percent with the farm’s hops, released late winter and late summer. “We’re currently running tests on our farm’s spring water, with hopes that it will be our main water source for brewing moving forward,” says Frecon. Appreciation for local water sources and the no-brainer decision to make use of what’s right in your backyard is a common denominator for many local breweries, especially Downingtown’s Victory Brewing Company. Victory first released Headwaters Pale Ale in February 2011 to pay homage to the pure water sourced for their beer from the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek. Since beer is made up of four simple ingredients, with water being the most
valuable part of the equation, the brewery attributes the local water for giving their beer much of its character. “We’re not just trying to highlight the local water source, but we are also trying to improve the local supply,” shared Adam Bartles, Victory’s Director of Brewing Operations, who reiterated that the brewery is utterly reliant on the well-being of the local watershed. As part of the release, the brewery even established the Headwaters Grant, which donates one cent for every bottle sold
traditional barley malting on a local level,” Bartles says. “We want to be on the forefront of these discussions and share our input on what protein levels we want and give our two cents. We want to be be there from day one and talk about it, as we’d love to release a beer with all local ingredients and that’s what we’re driving towards.” Since Victory Brewing Company’s production exceeds that of many local, smallbatch producers, the brewers must think on a larger scale when aiming to source
“Cornell and Virginia Tech are working on techniques of growing barley in eastern climates, attempting to break the rules of traditional barley malting on a local level” to environmental advocacy groups protecting the Brandywine Watershed. “We’d love to do something very local, not just with the water,” he continues. Since local-minded brewing has been the focus of Victory Brewing Company since its inception, he relayed that they are in the process of sparking partnerships with those trying to develop another major player nearby—barley. “Cornell and Virginia Tech are working on techniques of growing barley in eastern climates, attempting to break the rules of
locally. In 2012, Victory produced 93,196 barrels of beer, and with the new Parkesburg brewery expansion, they now have the capacity to produce more than twice that amount—225,000 barrels per year. “The current yield of local farmers may not be applicable to the brewing industry, but we’re going to keep talking about it and keep pushing to show our interest. We’d love to make a Chester County-Lancaster County-Eastern Pennsylvania pint,” states Bartles. “We use local ingredients to highlight relationships with the community and the local industries,” he continues. “Using local barley would follow the same avenue, where we’d highlight the local farmers and local malters we’d be collaborating with.” Location is everything for the Philadelphia beer industry’s all-local, suburb-based kings. From Saucony Creek and Free Will, to Prism, Boxcar, Other Farm and Victory, each calls a sustainable community their home, and strives to represent the community in which they reside—pint, after pint. a 73
Bar+restaurant Spotlight
Druid’s Keep A neighborhood better beer bar. Thanks to the vision of William Reed, the Standard Tap has helped transform the neighborhood of Northern Liberties and 2nd Street in particular, into a craft beer destination. Following suit of the Standard Tap, places such as The Foodery, 700 Club, Blind Pig, Gunner’s Run, Max’s Brew Bar, and El Camino Real, amongst a handful of others, have made their bars craft beer-centric. 2nd Street between Spring Garden and Girard Avenue is a hotbed for beer drinkers and as perfect as any for a neighborhood pub crawl. A mere block off this beloved strip lies the often overlooked Druid’s Keep. Located directly on the corner of Brown and North Hancock Streets, the Druid’s Keep has been a favorite among locals for years. Tucked away from the heavy crowds, the Keep is a hidden gem of sorts and the perfect way to escape the hustle and bustle of 2nd Street. A fancy bar it is not. Aside from smoking, it shares the characteristics of any of your favorite dives. It’s a simple bar serving a simple purpose— good drinks with good company. However, unlike most dives, the Keep has an extensive offering of craft beer. Nine taps, one of which includes a staple Yuengling handle, and about fifty bottles provide plenty of options to keep all satisfied. The selection varies, but always favors heavily on local, so count on regular offerings from Yards, Flying Fish, and Weyerbacher, among others. Food is not an option though, so eating beforehand is typically a good idea. There is the BYOF or bring your own food option, and there are even a few menus on hand if you want to order delivery.
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After ordering your beer, you have some options. In the main room, there a few tables opposite the long bar to go along with an up-to-date version of Golden Tee and a jukebox. A few steps beyond and you’ll find a pool table, an offering much too infrequent in craft beer bars, and a dart board for those up for some competitive fun while imbibing. On nicer days when it’s not raining, there is also a large patio out back with plenty of seating. During baseball season, you can even catch the Phillies games being projected on the back wall of the building. A few good beers and the Phillies outside on a cool summer evening make for a hard to top way to end the day. On the not so nice days, you can always be certain to find some fellow sports fans to watch the game with on one of the five TVs surrounding the bar. You don’t always want to go out to a fancy beer event or seek out the rarest of beers. You don’t always need a fancy gastro pub meal to pair your beers with. Sometimes you just want to relax with a few beers and shoot the shit with some friends. That’s where the Druid’s Keep comes in. When you want to play a game of pool and throw back a few pint glasses of good beer, you come here. It’s the place to go to escape everything else and sometimes, that’s just what you need. Druid’s Keep is located at 149 Brown St., Philadelphia, PA 19123. a
Homebrew–
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Pilsner malt combined with an abbey yeast strain yields a remarkable and complex flavor packed with notes of spice, banana, and pear. Nicely balanced, with a moderate to dry finish, Merry Monks is bottle conditioned which imparts a special effervescence to the beer and a creamier carbonation that you’ll love! weyerbacher.com
Introducing The Art of Drinking Tröegs Bottle Cap Art Contest 2013 www.troegs.com/artoftroegs Submission Deadline: Sept 1st, 2013 200 East Hersheypark Dr. Hershey, PA 17033 (717) 534-1297 | www.troegs.com 75
richboro beer & soda 1078 2nd street pike riChboro 18954
215-260-0776
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Bar+restaurant Spotlight
Two Stones Pub Delaware’s beer temple. by adam baer
Philadelphia is arguably America’s best beer drinking city, with a plethora of fine tap houses to patronize and a seemingly year-round calendar of events culminating with Philly Beer Week. The high demand for craft beer is additionally leading to a proliferation of quality places well outside the city limits. Delaware may be slight in size, yet it contains many excellent spots to include on your beer radar. Two Stones Pub is perhaps the epicenter and it is easily one of the best establishments in the entire state. Two Stones gained a legion of loyal followers since opening in Newark two years ago, becoming a notable destination for beer enthusiasts and foodies alike. Don’t be fooled by outside appearances, upon entry it is evident that this is a beer-centric joint; the back wall is affixed with a massive chalkboard detailing 24 craft draught selections and usually one cask option as well. A giant Buddha statue presides over the double L-shaped bar, which serves as the heart of the pub, while high top tables finish out the main area. A separate back room provides more seating, allowing for a quieter dining experience. American craft breweries dominate the tap handles and one can usually find a contingency of offerings from near and far, including Dogfish Head, Evolution, Victory, Stone, Brooklyn, and Allagash, to name a few. The taps rotate often, allowing for solid options in a variety of styles and strengths. The staff frequently updates the draft list via social media, enabling customers to stay on top of what will be pouring from the lines prior to each visit. Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace seems to be a house favorite and this outstanding saison is a regular in the rotation. The bar staff is knowledgeable and willing to offer a helpful sample pour prior to settling on a selection. An impressive bottle list with 85 choices is also available to further complicate the decision making process.
Two Stones puts forth great care and commitment into their food offerings as well, whipping up some of the tastiest cuisine around. The menu options are quite diverse, focusing on much more than just your typical pub fare. House favorites include Parmesan truffle fries, jumbo hog wings, fish tacos, and for those looking to indulge—a decadent foie gras topped burger. Daily lunch and dinner entrée specials ensure that there is always innovative food coming from the back of the house. The kitchen shows its jovial side during weekly themed Taco Tuesday while Sunday brunch is quite serious business at Two Stones. Items change weekly but normally include some reincarnation of a breakfast burger and the smokehouse meat special paired with a selected brew. Six-course monthly beer dinners frequently sell out well in advance and this is where the kitchen raises the culinary stakes to an even higher level. The back room is the ideal setting for these events; lucky patrons can expect artisanal food expertly paired with accompanying beers. A recent menu course included a sashimi trio with Kona Kampachi, blood orange tiradito, and salmon tartare; served with minced mint and grapefruit, along with a homemade tuna roll. A fresh draft of Evolution Lot #6 matched perfectly with this well-executed dish. Two Stones preaches a believe nothing, try everything philosophy. Pay a visit to sample their many offerings; you will undoubtedly believe that this is indeed a temple worthy of great respect. Two Stones Pub also opened a second Delaware location at the corner of Foulk and Naamans Road in North Wilmington, featuring a more industrial vibe along with 32 draft selections and two casks. Two Stones Pub is located at 2 Chesmar Plaza, Route 4 & Marrows Road, Newark, DE 19713. a
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The Tasting Room September 2013 Venue: McMenamin’s Tavern Mt. Airy is a blossoming location for craft beer and for this Tasting Room, we go back to the bar where it all started for this neighborhood: McMenamin’s Tavern. McMenamin’s is one of the originals in the craft beer scene and is a place that holds a dear spot in the hearts of most of the industry and was around long before the craft beer boom of the past five years. The bar keeps things simple and done well; great pub food and great beer in a classic neighborhood bar setting.
How we Review Beer Every issue Philly Beer Scene gets together with notable guests from the scene for a small, private, tasting session. Twenty beers are chosen that are new, seasonal or just interesting.
Ratings Stay Away From This Beer A Drinkable Beer But Not Worth Seeking Out An Average Beer A Pretty Decent Beer Worth Drinking Anytime If You See This Beer, Order It You Better Go Out And Find This Beer Now
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notable guests
from the scene guests Keith Wallace is the founder of the Beer and Wine School of Philadelphia. He is also an accomplished writer, contributing regular columns to the Daily Beast and this magazine, as well as pieces for Philadelphia Style Magazine, amongst a slew of others. He also authored the book, Corked & Forked.
PJ McMenamin is the man behind this issues’ Tasting Room location. PJ took over McMenamin’s Ta vern for his dad in 1989. In 1994, McMenamin’s poured its first craft beer, Stoudt’s Pils, and never looked back. Starting long before craft beer was the ‘cool thing,’ PJ turned McMenamin’s into a destination for those looking for better beer.
Sean Keffer joins us as the winner of the 2nd Annual Battle of the Homebrew Shops. Representing Keystone Homebrew, Sean won the contest with a blood orange s a i s o n a g e d in Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey Barrels. The recipe and more on Sean can be found in the Homebrewer’s Corner section of this issue.
Doc’s Draft Dry Hopped Hard Cider
Dark Horse Kmita Kölsch
Dry hopped with Centennial and Chinook hops,
Dark Horse’s way of poking fun at the German purity
providing a citrus and floral hop character to a
law and those that insist beer has to be brewed to style.
traditional cider.
Loaded with Polish hops to put their winning touch on a
ABV: 6.0%
traditionally boring beer. ABV: 5.5%
Keith
2
Leafy, apple, and sour lemon. Oddball beer; like the asshole of an apple.
Keith
2
Not a kölsch, at least not in the traditional manner. Amber malt, dry, brown sugar, overblown.
PJ
4
Not bitter. Dry. Not sweet. I don’t like cider, but this is good.
PJ
2
Dark malt is overpowering. Just OK.
Sean
2
Maltiness to the extreme. Hints of banana. I could drink it if it was the last case in the beer store. Not bad.
Jon
2
Sweet malt- banana bread aromatics. Flavor follows through with bitterness.
Sean 1.5 Pleasant nose with the dry hopping but not my type of drink. Rough aftertaste.
Jon
3.5
Mat
3
A strangely sweet & bitter cider. Could pass as a sparkling apple chardonnay. Hops are more complementarity than overwhelming. Interesting cider. Great for chardonnay drinkers.
Mat 2.5
Not a kölsch. Dark, malty, and burnt. I could, however, see this growing on me after a full pint.
Anchor Califor nia Lager
Kona Big Wave Golden Ale
Single-hop beer, using only fresh, whole Cluster
A lighter bodied golden ale with a tropical
hops. The result is a uniquely sessionable lager
hop aroma and flavor—a smooth, easy drinking,
beer, which is maltier, hoppier, and somewhat
refreshing ale. ABV: 4.4%
stronger than modern American lagers. ABV: 4.9%
3
Fucking good lager. Balanced hops. Great carbonation. Very decent session beer.
PJ
4
Crisp lager. Dry, not sweet. Very drinkable. You could find this in my fridge.
Sean
2
Crisp beer. Very sessionable. I could have it at a ballgame tailgate.
Jon
2.5
Decent lager. Balanced with mild sweetness and very subtle bitterness.
Jon
4
Beautiful floral hoppiness. Bright and crisp. A great beach beer.
Mat
4
It’s just plain, simple beer. Contrary to what most craft beer has become and it’s refreshing.
Mat
4
Wow! Extremely unexpected and beautiful hoppy aroma. Tastes like a light, crisp lager with a fresh hop flavor.
Keith
Keith 3.5 Great carbonation. Lemon and cream finish. Bright, fresh & light. Awesome session beer for reformed hop heads.
PJ
2.5
Smell of spice, taste of hops. Light ale that makes me want to go to Hawaii.
Sean 4.5 Great beer! Nice and smooth with great hop notes and taste. I could drink this all day!
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the tasting room Augustiner Edelstoff
Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout
A bright export beer, sparkling and fresh at the
A full-bodied stout with focused chocolate flavors
same time, brewed with noblest raw materials.
and plenty of hops and malt. ABV: 6.5%
A great treat for every beer expert. ABV: 5.6%
Keith
3
Smokey with a touch of sweet. Traditional. Coffee bean, cinnamon, tight carbonation. OK. All malt and no magic.
PJ
4
Vanilla. Chocolate. Coffee. Easy drinking.
Pleasant. Good taste of Munich. Fairly decent and sessionable beer.
Sean
3
Pretty good. Some smoke and chocolate. Mouth-feel a little uncharacteristic of a stout, but a decent brew.
3
Clean, crisp lager with maybe a touch of brininess.
Jon
4
Chocolate with some black licorice and smoke. A little light bodied, but a great beer.
4
Really clean, crisp lager. A beer I’d love to try fresh in Germany.
Mat
4
Smells like a Hershey bar. Rich and creamy. Great dessert beer.
Keith
4
PJ
3.5
Sean
3
Jon Mat
Light hop. Crisp. Clean. Great lager.
Two Brothers Prairie Path
Devil’s Canyon Belle
A Belgian-style golden ale. Full flavored, slightly
A true feast for the senses with its rich, straw-
bitter, a clean and refreshing ale. The Belgian
like appearance and aromatic, fruity nose. This
malts along with the Saaz and Goldings hops
celebratory beer has a crisp, sweet flavor with a
give this beer great drinkability. ABV: 5.1%
strong, dry, effervescent finish. ABV: 6.0%
Keith
1
Very yeasty. Not enough stuffing in the beer to backup the pretentious label. Asparagus finish.
PJ
2
Sweet but dry. Dries out my tongue.
Sean
2
Very yeasty in the nose and taste. Drinkable, yet it seems to be an experiment gone south.
A nice sweet syrup scent with a light finish.
Jon
3
Clean straw-like appearance with fruit and yeast dominating the aroma and flavor.
Not much going on, but impressive compared to many gluten free options.
Mat 2.5
Keith
3
A well made beer for my anti-gluten peeps. Decent hop and malt package.
PJ
2
Extremely light, but drinkable.
Sean
3
Detecting potentially a Munich type malt similar to Edelstoff.
Jon
3
Mat 3.5
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Light, creamy body, taut and simple with great fruity finish. Perfect example of the style.
Surprisingly flat for a champagne yeast, especially considering how this beer is dominated by the yeast.
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
East Coast Cr uiser IPA
A slight hop bitterness up front enhances the
An American version of the historical English-style
distinctive chocolate and roasted finish. It’s prized
beer that is brewed using American ingredients,
for its creamy mouth-feel and intense complex
and features a higher hop aroma and more bitterness
flavors. ABV: 5.2%
than its European counterpart. ABV: 6.0%
Grapefruit and flowers on the nose. Muddy hop flavors and not well-balanced.
Keith
4
Almond and chocolate on the nose. Very pretty. Balance of caramel, caraway and crispness. Toasty but balanced.
Keith
2
PJ
4
Very good. Could drink this all night. A lot of carbonation but creamy.
PJ
2.5
Sean
4
Vanilla notes in smell and taste. Like the balance of this one. Well done.
Jon
4
Nice porter. Toasty, vanilla, and chocolate linger with rich, nice mouth-feel.
Jon
2
Sappy, earthy hops. Nothing else.
Mat
4.5
Classic. The reason why Deschutes was such a desired brewery. Nothing crazy, just a really great porter.
Mat
2
Lacks balance. Really earthy hops but nothing to back them up.
phillybeerscene.com
September2013
Light hop and malt. Easy drinking with a nice finish. Would have two of these.
Sean 1.5 Disappointed with this one.
Lavery Dúlachán
Maine Beer Another One IPA
An in-your-face West-Coast-style American
Another One is light in color, but the hops shine
IPA. At only 5.6% ABV, this beer packs a huge
in this IPA from Maine Beer Company.
hop flavor and aroma without a lot of bite
ABV: 7.0%
from the bitterness and alcohol. ABV: 5.6%
Pine needles, clove, fresh tar, orange zest: awesome. I will be drinking this.
Keith
4
PJ
3.5
Sean
4
Best IPA of the night. Nice grapefruit notes on the tongue. Great summer beer. Even the burp after tasted good.
Jon
4
Super hoppy. Clean and fruity. Fresh and delicious.
Great nose. Citrus. Clean. Delicious.
Mat 4.5 Easily one of the best PA brewed IPAs.
Soft and tough like a roller derby girl. Sea water, orange oil, and biscuits. Creamy finish and just a hint of butter.
Keith
5
PJ
2.5
Sean
4
Soft on the mouth. Citrus type notes. Nice and smooth. Well-balanced with great head retention.
Jon
4
Beautiful, hoppy brininess. Really great beer.
Mat 4.5
Bottle conditioned: nice. Great long hop flavor. Go buddy!
Amazingly soft beer while simultaneously complex and flavorful as any world class IPA.
Rogue Brutal IPA
Boulder Mojo IPA
An Imperial bitter with exotic traditional floor
Pale in color but packed with flavor, Mojo reflects the
malts, citrusy, hoppy flavor, stupendous hop
perfect balance of hop bitterness and malt character.
aroma. ABV: 6.0%
The unique Amarillo hop adds a slight citrus flavor to an ultra-crisp dry finish. ABV: 7.2%
Keith
3
Mushroom and caramel. Heavy and flat. Found this not so much brutal as blah. Solid but not a standout.
PJ
2
Please forgive me, not my favorite. Light hop. Very dry. It’s missing something for me.
Sean 3.5 Malt heavy. Very drinkable. Uncharacteristic of a traditional IPA but pretty decent. Can taste the hops in the very end.
Keith
3
Soft, new world hops on the nose. Respectable amount of malt. What can I say? Solid malt, solid hops...solid.
PJ
3
Draft is better but the bottle is good. Nice hop flavor.
Sean
3
Classic sessionable beer. Good IPA to accompany a meal. Very drinkable.
3
A classic IPA. Some booziness balanced with sweet bitterness.
Jon
4
Sweet maltiness, balanced body. Bitter hop finish. Great one from Rogue.
Jon
Mat
4
Not quite an IPA but a very solid, well-balanced beer. Could easily drink a few pints of this.
Mat 3.5
The IPA you’d expect from a classic brewery. The Sierra Pale Ale of IPAs?
Star Hill Whiter Shade of Pale Ale
Anderson Valley Heelch O’ Hops
Marries two bold beer styles: Belgian Wit and IPA. Two
Brewed with a “heelch” (that means “a lot” in Boont-
row and wheat malt provide a soft base beer for intense
ling) of Columbus, Chinook, and Cascade hops, this
fruity and spicy esters of the unique Belgian yeast strain
double IPA has a palate pleasing bitterness that is
while enhancing the strong hop aroma. ABV: 7.5%
artfully balanced with a full-bodied malt foundation. ABV: 8.7%
Keith
4
Anise, marjoram, lavender, and clove. Remarkable, great beer for food pairing, due to its weight and balance.
PJ
3
Good food beer. Light citrus. Easy drinking.
Sean 3.5 Very interesting IPA. Spices would make it a great
accompaniment to some pulled pork. Great malty finish.
Keith
3
Nice, no need for the high ABV. Hops and malt not in harmony. Nutty and malty with a touch of overblown alcohol.
PJ
3
Great 8% double IPA. Smooth. Little hop. Great beer.
Sean
2
Fairly subtle on the hops. It’s alright.
Jon
3
Good, balanced beer. Malty and sweet with some grapefruit-citrus notes.
Jon
3
Nice and bitter. Boozy, but well-hidden.
Mat
3.5
Definitely a food beer. Very herbaceous. Perfect for a BYOB.
Mat
3
Surprisingly lacking hoppiness. Light and deceiving for a double IPA.
81
the tasting room Urthel Hop-It
Old Dominion Morning Glory
Superior hoppy Belgian ale. White, very rich
Brewed with 68lbs. of local espresso beans,
foam, small bubbles. Very hoppy, spicy, fruity
Morning Glory is a full-bodied, rich stout filled
flavor and full, heart-warming body. ABV: 9.5%
with flavors of chocolate and coffee. ABV: 9.0%
Keith
4
Decadent milk chocolate and warm vanilla. Warm and round like a puppy.
Great first beer if you see it on tap. Lots of carbonation. Smooth. Strong. And she’s hot.
PJ
4
Chocolate nose and toffee. Like a sipping whiskey. Awesome winter brew.
3
Alcohol burn and fruity notes up front. Unexpected for a Belgian.
Sean
4
Now this is a stout! Great body and mouth-feel. Pass the turkey, stuffing and Dominion.
Jon
3
Spicy, floral, and very boozy.
Jon
4
Rich and velvety chocolate with a touch of espresso. Great body and flavor.
Mat
3
Hard to get past the booziness and hops are tamer than expected, but nice beer once you get into it.
Mat 4.5
Keith
4
Sweet, citrus nose. Roller coaster of ester-y alcohol. Whoop into a malty splash of coconut, caramel and toast.
PJ
4
Sean
A beer milkshake. Coffee is not overwhelming and exactly where it needs to be. ABV is deceiving. Great stout!
Orval Trappist Ale
Ichtegem’s Grand Cru
Intensely aromatic and dry character. Between the
Grand Cru is a Flemish red ale; nutty, malty, and
first and second fermentations there is an additional
has a subtle dark cherry tang that balances it
dry-hopping process, where the beer acquires its
beautifully. ABV: 6.5%
pronounced hoppy aroma and extra dry taste. ABV: 6.2% Keith
5
Tight carbonation. White truffle, brown rice, toasted cardamom and lemongrass. Dry as Hades.
Keith
5
Apple, sour, and caramel corn on the palate. Crisp and leafy with a touch of sweetness. I dig this shit.
PJ
1
Hate the carbonation. Gave up on this beer 10 years ago. Not my favorite trappist.
PJ
4.5
Sean
3
Classic beer. A good ol’ standby.
Sean
3
Pretty sweet for my taste. Fairly decent beer though. I recommend for anyone who likes Flemish reds.
Jon
4.5
Funky, farmy and spicy. It’s Orval.
Jon
4
Super sweet. Slightly sour and very effervescent. Too sweet for my taste.
Mat
5
What do you say about Orval? If you’ve never had it, do yourself a favor and go try it.
Mat
4
Not a fan of the sweet style but appreciate the quality. A must for any fan of Flemish reds.
Great sour. Ruby red. Nice finish. Awesome after dinner beer.
The Final Picks
Keith’s Final Pick: Maine Another One IPA. The nuanced flavors. The balance. The complex progression. It has the stuffing of a very serious beer without the pretentiousness.
82
phillybeerscene.com
PJ’s Final Pick: Anchor California Lager. First time having it and been waiting a long time for a new Anchor beer. It’s August and I’m going to get some for home.
September2013
Sean’s Final Pick: Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. Love the balance of this beer and the drinkability. Mahalo! Well done!
Jon’s Final Pick: Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. Really fresh summer beer. Perfect for the beach or anytime when you want to feel like you’re on the beach.
Mat’s Final Pick: Lavery Dúlachán. Easily the hardest choice I’ve made. Have to give the love to a local brewery and being that I prefer lower alcohol beers, this is getting the slight edge over Dominion.
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September2013
directory Philadelphia Center City Bars & Restaurants
1518 Bar and Grill 1518 Sansom St 1518barandgrill.com Alla Spina 1410 Mt. Vernon St allaspinaphilly.com BAR 1309 Sansom Street The Black Sheep 247 S. 17th Street theblacksheeppub.com Bru 1318 Chestnut St bruphilly.com The Cambridge 1508 South St cambridgeonsouth.com Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse 1823 Sansom Street cavsrittenhouse.com Cherry Street Tavern 129 N. 22nd Street
Finn McCool’s 118 S. 12th St. finnmccoolsphilly.com Good Dog 224 S. 15th Street gooddogbar.com Grace Tavern 2229 Grays Ferry Ave gracetavern.com The Institute 549 N. 12th Street institutebar.com Jose Pistola’s 263 S. 15th Street josepistolas.com Ladder 15 1528 Sansom Street ladder15philly.com Llama Tooth 1033 Spring Garden llamatooth.com McGillin’s Old Ale House 1310 Drury Lane mcgillins.com
Chris’ Jazz Café 1421 Sansom Street chrisjazzcafe.com
Milk Boy 1100 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA milkboyphilly.com
Coffee Bar 1701 Locust Street intoxicaffeineation.com
Misconduct Tavern 1511 Locust Street misconduct-tavern.com
Cooperage 123 South 7th St cooperagephilly.com
Molly Malloy’s Reading Terminal Market 1136 Arch St mollymalloysphilly.com
Dandelion 124 S 18th St thedandelionpub.com Devil’s Alley 1907 Chestnut Street devilsalleybarandgrill.com Doobies 2201 Lombard Street The Farmers Cabinet 1113 Walnut St thefarmerscabinet.com Fergie’s Pub 1214 Sansom Street fergies.com The Fieldhouse 1150 Filbert St fieldhousephilly.com
Monk’s Café 264 S. 16th Street monkscafe.com Moriarty’s Pub 1116 Walnut Street moriartyspub.com Pennsylvania 6 114 S 12th St pennsylvania6philly.com Perch Pub 1345 Locust Street perchpub.com Prohibition Taproom 501 N. 13th Street theprohibitiontaproom.com Pub and Kitchen 1946 Lombard St thepubandkitchen.com
Resurrection Ale House 2425 Grays Ferry Ave. resurrectionalehouse.com Slate 102 S 21st Street slatephiladelphia.com Smiths 39 S. 19th Street smiths-restaurant.com Smokin’ Bettys 116 S. 11th Street smokinbettys.com Strangelove’s 216 S. 11th Street strangelovesbeerbar.com Tangier 1801 Lombard St tangier.thekalon.com Tavern 17 220 South 17th Street tavern17restaurant.com Tavern on Broad 200 South Broad Street tavernonbroad.com Ten Stone 2063 South Street tenstone.com TIME 1315 Sansom Street timerestaurant.net
Wrap Shack 120 S. 18th St. wrapshackpa.com
Tria 123 S. 18th Street 1137 Spruce Street triacafe.com Valanni 1229 Spruce Street valanni.com Varalli 231 S. Broad Street varalliusa.com Varga Bar 941 Spruce Street vargabar.com Westbury Bar 261 S. 13th Street westburybarand restaurant.com Woodys 202 S 13th St woodysbar.com
Trolley Car Dinner 7619 Germantown Ave. trolleycardiner.com
Brewpubs
Nodding Head Brewery and Restaurant 1516 Sansom Street noddinghead.com
Homebrew Supplies
Malt House Limited 7101 Emlen St. Philadelphia, PA malthouseltd.com
Retail Beer
Colney Delicatessen 2047 Chestnut St The Corner Foodery 1710 Sansom St thecornerfoodery.com Food & Friends 1933 Spruce Street
Fairmount Bars & Restaurants
The Belgian Café 2047 Green Street thebelgiancafe.com The Bishop’s Collar 2349 Fairmount Ave. thebishopscollar.ypguides.net
The Foodery 324 S. 10th Street fooderybeer.com
Bridgid’s 726 N. 24th Street bridgids.com
Latimer Deli 255 South 15th Street
Jack’s Firehouse 2130 Fairmount Ave jacksfirehouse.com
Monde Market 100 S 21st Street Homebrew Supplies
Home Sweet Homebrew 2008 Sansom St. homesweethomebrew.com Chestnut Hill/Mt. Airy Bars & Restaurants
Trestle Inn 339 N 11th St Philadelphia, PA 19107
Retail Beer
Campbell’s Place 8337 Germantown Ave. Chestnut 7 8201 Germantown Ave Chestnut7.com Goat Hollow 300 W Mt Pleasant Ave goathollow.com McMenamin’s Tavern 7170 Germantown Ave.
Kite And Key 1836 Callowhill Street thekiteandkey.com
Brewpubs
Earth Bread + Brewery 7136 Germantown Ave. earthbreadbrewery.com Iron Hill Brewery 8400 Germantown Ave ironhillbrewery.com
Falls Taproom 3749 Midvale Ave Flat Rock Saloon 4301 Main Street Franklin’s 3521 Bowman St Jake’s and Cooper’s Wine Bar 4365 Main Street jakesrestaurant.com Kildare’s 4417 Main Street kildarespub.com Lucky’s Last Chance 4421 Main St luckyslastchance.com Manayunk Tavern 4247 Main St manayunktavern.com Old Eagle Tavern 177 Markle Street oldeagletavern.com
London Grill 2301 Fairmount Ave. londongrill.com
T. Hogan’s Pub 5109-11 Rochelle Ave.
McCrossens Tavern 529 N 20th St
The Ugly Moose 443 Shurs Ln theuglymoose.com
North Star Bar 2639 Poplar Street northstarbar.com
Union Jack’s 4801 Umbria Street
Rembrandt’s 741 N. 23rd Street rembrandts.com St. Stephen’s Green 1701 Green Street saintstephensgreen.com
Brewpubs
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant 4120 Main Street manayunkbrewery.com Retail Beer
Retail Beer
Mermaid Inn 7673 Germantown Ave themermaidinn.net
Dawson Street Pub 100 Dawson Street dawsonstreetpub.com
Old Philly Ale House 565 N 20th St Rybrew 2816 W. Girard Ave rybreadcafe.com Stone Beverage 1701 Fairmount Ave
The Foodery 6148 Ridge Ave fooderybeer.com Doc’s World Of Beer 701 E. Cathedral Road World Wide Beverage Co 508 Green Lane Northeast Bars & Restaurants
Manayunk Bars & Restaurants
Daly’s Irish Pub 4201 Comly Street
Couch Tomato Cafe 102 Rector St thecouchtomato.com 85
directory The Grey Lodge Pub 6235 Frankford Ave. greylodge.com Hop Angel Brauhaus 7890 Oxford Ave hopangelbrauhaus.blogspot.com Retail Beer
The Beer Outlet 77 Franklin Mills Blvd. Brewers Outlet 7401 Germantown Ave mybrewersoutlet.com Craft Beer Outlet 9910 Frankford Ave. craftbeeroutlet.com Grant Avenue Takeout 1900 Grant Ave grantavenuetakeout.com The Six Pack Store 7015 Roosevelt Boulevard thesixpackstore.com Northern Liberties/ Fishtown Bars & Restaurants
East Girard Gastropub 200 East Girard Ave Philadelphia, PA eastgirardpub.com El Camino Real 1040 N 2nd Street bbqburritobar.com Frankford Hall 1210 Frankford Ave frankfordhall.com Gunners Run 1001 N 2nd St Interstate Draft House 1235 E Palmer St interstatedrafthouse.com Johnny Brenda’s 1201 Frankford Ave. johnnybrendas.com Kraftwork 541 E. Girard Ave. kraftworkbar.com Max’s Brew Bar 1050 N Hancock St maxsbrewbar.com
700 700 N. 2nd Street the700.org
Memphis Taproom 2331 E. Cumberland St. memphistaproom.com
The Abbaye 637 N. 3rd Street
Murphs Bar 202 E Girard Ave
Atlantis: The Lost Bar 2442 Frankford Ave.
North Bowl 909 N 2nd Street northbowlphilly.com
Barcade 1114 Frankford Ave. barcadephiladelphia.com Bar Ferdinand 1030 N. 2nd Street barferdinand.com Blind Pig 702 N 2nd St blindpigphilly.com Bottle Bar East 1308 Frankford Ave Bottlebareast.com Cantina Dos Segundos 931 N 2nd Street cantinadossegundos.com Cedar Point 2370 E Norris St
North Third 801 N. 3rd Street norththird.com Silk City 435 Spring Garden Street silkcityphilly.com Standard Tap 901 N. 2nd Street standardtap.com Breweries
Philadelphia Brewing Co. 2439 Amber Street philadelphiabrewing.com Yards Brewing Co. 901 N. Delaware Avenue yardsbrewing.com
cedarpointbarandkitchen.com Retail Beer
Druid’s Keep 149 Brown Street 86
The Foodery 837 N. 2nd Street fooderybeer.com
phillybeerscene.com
September2013
Global Beer Distribution 1150 N. American Street globalbeerphilly.com
Sassafras Café 48 S. 2nd Street sassafrasbar.com
Royal Tavern 937 East Passyunk Ave. royaltavern.com
Northern Liberties Beer 1022 N. Marshall St.
Sugar Mom’s 225 Church Street myspace.com/sugarmoms
Southwark 701 S. 4th Street southwarkrestaurant.com
Homebrew Supplies
Philly Homebrew Outlet 1447 N. American Street barryshomebrew.com
Brewpubs
Triumph Brewing Co 117-121 Chestnut Street triumphbrewing.com
Old City Bars & Restaurants
Barra 239 Chestnut St
Bierstube 206 Market St mybierstube.com Brownie’s Irish Pub 46 S. 2nd Street browniesirishpub.com City Tavern 138 S. 2nd Street citytavern.com Eulogy Belgian Tavern 136 Chestnut Street eulogybar.server101.com The Irish Pol 45 S. 3rd Street theirishpol.com The Khyber Pass Pub 56 S. Second Street thekhyber.com Mac’s Tavern 226 Market Street macstavern.com National Mechanics 22 S. 3rd Street nationalmechanics.com Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant 120 Market St philadelphiabarand restaurant.com Plough and The Stars 123 Chestnut Street ploughstars.com Race Street Café 208 Race Street racestreetcafe.net Revolution House 200 Market St revolutionhouse.com
Queens Village/ Bella Vista Bars & Restaurants
12 Steps Down 831 Christian St. 12stepsdown.com Bainbridge Street Barrel House 625-627 S 6th St bainbridgestreetbarrelhouse.com
Tattooed Mom 530 South Street facebook.com/tattooedmomphilly Twisted Tail 509 S 2nd St thetwistedtail.com The Wishing Well 767 S. 9th Street wishingwellphilly.com Retail Beer
Bella Vista Beer Distributors 738 S. 11th Street bellavistabeverage.com
Brauhaus Schmitz 718 South St. brauhausschmitz.com
Hawthornes 738 S. 11th St hawthornecafe.com
The Dive 947 E. Passyunk Ave myspace.com/thedivebar
South Philly
For Pete’s Sake 900 S. Front Street forpetessakepub.com Growlers 736 South 8th St Growlersbar.com The Headhouse 122 Lombard Street headhousephilly.com Jon’s Bar & Grille 300 South St jonsbarandgrille.com Kennett 848 S 2nd St Kennettrestaurant.com Manny Brown’s 512 South Street manny-browns.com New Wave Café 784 S 3rd Street newwavecafe.com O’Neals Pub 611 S. 3rd Street onealspub.com Percy Street Barbecue 600 S. 9th St percystreet.com
Bars & Restaurants
2nd St Brewhouse 1700 S 2nd St American Sardine Bar 1801 Federal St americansardinebar.com Birra 1700 E Passyunk Ave birraphilly.com
Pub On Passyunk East (POPE) 1501 E. Passyunk Ave. pubonpassyunkeast.com South Philadelphia Tap Room 1509 Mifflin Street southphiladelphiatap room.com Victory Beer Hall 1100 Pattison Ave xfinitylive.com Watkins Drinkery 1712 S 10th St Retail Beer
Beer Heaven 1100 S Columbus Blvd Bell’s Beverage 2809 S. Front Street Brew 1900 S. 15th Street brewphiladelphia.com The Bottle Shop 1837 E Passyunk Ave bottleshopbeer.com Society Hill Beverage 129 Washington Ave University City/West Bars & Restaurants
The Blockley 38th & Ludlow Streets theblockley.com
Cantina Los Cabalitos 1651 E Passyunk Ave cantinaloscabalitos.com
Bridgewaters Pub 30th Street Station Thepubin30thstreet station.com
Devil’s Den 1148 S. 11th Street devilsdenphilly.com
City Tap House 3925 Walnut Street citytaphouse.com
Fountain Porter 1601 S 10th St Philadelphia, PA 19148 Fountainporter.com
Fiume 229 S 45th St
Garage 1231 E. Passyunk Ave The Industry 1401 E Moyamensing Ave theindustrybar.com Lucky 13 Pub 1820 S 13th Street lucky13pubphilly.com
Jolly’s Piano Bar 3801 Chestnut St jollyspianobar.com Local 44 4333 Spruce Street local44beerbar.com Mad Mex 3401 Walnut Street madmex.com World Cafe Live 3025 Walnut Street worldcafelive.com
Brewpubs
Dock Street Brewing Company 701 S. 50th Street dockstreetbeer.com Retail Beer
Bottle Shop at Local 44 4333 Spruce Street local44beerbar.com
Suburbs Bucks Co Bars & Restaurants
Bailey’s Bar & Grille 6922 Bristol Emilie Rd Levittown, PA 19057
Becker’s Corner 110 Old Bethlehem Rd Quakertown, PA 18951 Blue Dog Tavern 4275 Country Line Road Chalfont, PA 18914 bluedog.cc
Isaac Newton’s 18 S. State Street Newtown, PA 18940 isaacnewtons.com Jamison Pour House 2160 York Road Jamison, PA 18929 jamisonpourhouse.com Maggio’s Restaurant 400 2nd Street Pike Southampton, PA 18966 maggiosrestaurant.com Manny Brown’s 25 Doublewoods Road Langhorne, PA 19047 manny-browns.com Maxwell’s on Main Bar & Restaurant 37 North Main St. Doylestown, PA 18901 momsmaxwellsonmain.com
Bobby Simone’s 52 East State Street Doylestown, PA 18901 ilovebobbys.com
Mesquito Grille 128 W. State Street Doylestown, PA 18901 mesquitogrilledoylestown. com
Brady’s 4700 Street Road Trevose, PA 19053 bradys-pub.com
Newportville Inn 4120 Lower Road Newportville, PA 19056 newportvilleinn.net
The Buck Hotel 1200 Buck Road Feasterville, PA 19053 thebuckhotel.com
Puck 14 E. Court Street Doylestown, PA 18901 pucklive.com
Buttonwood Grill Rd 202 & Street Rd in Peddler’s Village peddlersvillage.com Candlewyck Bar & Grill 2551 Durham Rd Buckingham, PA 18912 The Dog & Bull 810 Bristol Pike Croydon, PA 19021 dogandbullhouse.com Green Parrot Restaurant Pub & Patio 240 N Sycamore St, Newtown, PA 18940 greenparrotrestaurant.com Hulmeville Inn 4 Trenton Road Hulmeville, PA 19047 hulmevilleinn.com
1661 Easton Road Warrington, PA unos.com
Trenton Road Take Out 1024 Trenton Road Levittown, PA 19054 trentonroadtakeout.com
Wycombe Publick House 1073 Mill Creek Rd Wycombe, PA 18980 wycombepublickhouse.com
Trevose Beer & Soda 550 Andrews Rd Langhorne, PA 19053
Breweries
Homebrew Supplies
Free Will Brewing Co 410 E Walnut St Ste 10 Perkasie, PA 18944 freewillbrewing.com Neshaminy Creek Brewing 909 Ray Ave Croydon, PA 19021 neshaminycreekbrewing.com Brewpubs
Triumph Brewing Co 400 Union Square New Hope, PA 18938 triumphbrewing.com Vault Brewing Company 10 S. Main St Yardley, PA 19067 vaultbrewing.com Retail Beer
Wine, Barley & Hops Homebrew Supply 248 Bustleton Pike Feasterville, PA 19053 winebarleyandhops.com Chester Co Bars & Restaurants
The Drafting Room 635 N. Pottstown Pike Exton, PA 19341 draftingroom.com Fenice Creolo 902 Village At Eland Phoenixville, PA 19460 fenicecreolo.com The Fenix 193 Bridge St Phoenixville, PA 19460 thefenixbar.com
B&B Beverage 3670 Sawmill Road Doylestown, PA 18902 bandbbeverages.com
Fitzwater Station 264 Canal St Phoenixville, PA 19460 Fitzwaterstation.com
Bailey’s Bar & Grille
Flying Pig Saloon 121 E. King Street Malvern, PA 19149
Spinnerstown Hotel 2195 Spinnerstown Road Spinnerstown, PA 18968 spinnerstownhotel.com
The Beer Store 488 2nd Street Pk. Southampton, PA 18966
Springtown Inn 3258 Rt 212 Springtown, PA 18081 springtowninn.com
Bensalem Beer & Soda 1919 Street Road Bensalem, PA 19020 bensalembeer.com
Half Moon Restaurant & Saloon 108 W. State Street Kennett Square, PA 19348 halfmoonrestaurant.com
TJ Smiths 1585 Easton Rd Warrington, PA 18976 tjsmiths.com
Bound Beverage 2544 Bristol Pike Bensalem, PA 19020 boundbeverages.com
Tony’s Place Bar & Grill 1297 Greeley Ave Ivyland, PA 18974 tonysplaceivyland.com
Candlewyck Bar & Grill 2551 Durham Rd Buckingham, PA 18912
Uno Chicago Grill 801 Neshaminy Mall Bensalem, PA 19020 unos.com
6922 Bristol Emilie Rd Levittown, PA 19057
thebeerstorebuckscounty.com/
Philly’s Craft Beer 160 Bristol-Oxford Valley Rd Langhorne, PA 19047 Stephanie’s Take-Out 29 S. Main Street Doylestown, PA 18901 stephaniesrl.com
High Street Cafe 322 S. High Street West Chester,PA 19382 highstreetcaffe.com Pickering Creek Inn 37 Bridge Street Phoenixville, PA 19460 pickeringcreekinn.com Rams Head 40 E. Market Street West Chester, PA 19382 ramsheadbarandgrill.com River Stone Cafe 143 W Lincoln Hwy Exton, PA 19341 riverstonecafe.com
87
directory Ron’s Original Bar & Grille 74 E. Uwchlan Ave. Exton, PA 19341 ronsoriginal.com Side Bar 10 East Gay St West Chester, PA 19380 sidebarandrestaurant.com Station Taproom 207 West Lancaster Ave. Downingtown, PA 19335 Stationtaproom.com TJ’s Everday 35 Paoli Plaza Paoli, PA 19301 tjseveryday.com The Whip Tavern 1383 Chatham Rd Coatesville, PA 19320 thewhiptavern.com Winners Circle 143 W. Lincoln Hwy Exton, PA 19341 winnerscircleexton.com Brewpubs
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant 130-138 Bridge Street Phoenixville, PA 19460
Waywood Beverage Co. 624 Millers Hill Kennett Square, PA 19348 waywoodbeverage.com Homebrew Supplies
Artisan Homebrew 128 East Lancaster Ave Downingtown, PA 19335 artisanhomebrew.com The Wine & Beer Emporium 101 Ridge Road Chadds Ford, PA 19317 winebeeremporium.com Delaware Co Bars & Restaurants
2312 Garrett Bar 2312 Garrett Rd. Drexel Hill, PA 19026 2312garrett.com Flip & Bailey’s 900 Conestoga Rd Rosemont, PA 19010 flipandbaileys.com Frontier Saloon 336 Kedron Ave. Folsom, PA 19033 frontiersaloon.com
3 W. Gay Street West Chester, PA 19380 ironhillbrewery.com
Garrett Hill Ale House 157 Garrett Ave Rosemont, PA 19010 garretthillalehouse.com
McKenzie Brew House 324 West Swedesford Rd Berwyn, PA 19312
JD McGillicuddy’s 118 N. Wayne Ave. Wayne, PA 19087
451 Wilmington-West Chester Pk Chadds Ford, PA 19342 mckenziebrewhouse.com
690 Burmont Rd Drexel Hill, PA 19026 mcgillicuddys.net
Sly Fox Brewing Co 520 Kimberton Road Phoenixville, PA 19460 slyfoxbeer.com
Oakmont National Pub 31 E. Eagle Road Havertown, PA 19083 oakmontnationalpub.com
Victory Brewing Company 420 Acorn Lane Downingtown, PA 19335 victorybeer.com
Pappou’s Pizza Pub 415 Baltimore Pike Morton, PA 19070
Retail Beer
Exton Beverage Center 310 E. Lincoln Highway Exton, PA 19341 extonbeverage.com Goshen Beverage 102 Turner Lane West Chester, PA 19380 Goshenbeverage.com 88
Pinocchio’s 131 E. Baltimore Pike Media, PA 19063 pinbeer.com Quotations 37 E. State Street Media, PA 19063 Teresa’s Next Door 126 N. Wayne Ave. Wayne, PA 19087 teresas-cafe.com
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UNO’s Chicago Grill 3190 West Chester Pike Newtown Square, PA Brewpubs
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant 30 E. State Street Media, PA 19063 ironhillbrewery.com Retail Beer
Back Alley Beverage 2214 State Rd. Drexel Hill, PA 19026 backalleybev.com Beer Yard, Inc. 218 E. Lancaster Ave. Wayne, PA 19087 beeryard.com Civera’s 2214 State Road Drexel Hill, PA 19026 Cold Beverage Station 202 and US 1 Chadds Ford PA 19317 coldbeveragestation.com Pinocchio’s Beer Garden 131 E. Baltimore Pike Media, PA 19063 pinbeer.com Township Line Beer & Cigars 5315 Township Line Road Drexel Hill, PA 19026 townshiplinebeerand cigars.com Swarthmore Beverage 719 South Chester Rd, Swarthmore, PA 19081 Homebrew Supplies
Brew Your Own Beer & Winemaking Too! 2026 Darby Road Havertown, PA 19083 Montgomery Co
Broad Axe Tavern 901 W. Butler Pike Ambler, PA 19002 broadaxetavern.com
Iron Abbey Gastro Pub 680 N. Easton Road Horsham, PA 19044 ironabbey.com
Tonelli’s 278 Easton Rd Horsham, PA 19044 tonellispizza.com
Brother Pauls Pub 3300 Ridge Pike Eagleville, PA 19403 brotherpaulspub.com
Keswick Tavern 294 Keswick Ave Glenside, PA 19038 Keswicktavern.net
Union Jack’s 2750 Limekiln Pike Glenside, PA 19038
Cantina Feliz 424 S Bethlehem Pike Fort Washington, PA 19034 cantinafeliz.com
Little Ortino’s Restaurant 800 North Main Street Schwenksville, PA 19473 ortinos.com
Capone’s Restaurant 224 W. Germantown Pike Norristown, PA 19401 thebottleshop.biz
Lucky Dog Saloon 417 Germantown Pike Lafayette Hill, PA 19106 theluckydogsaloon.com
Chadwicks 2750 Egypt Rd Audobon, PA 19403 mychadwicks.com
Lucky Lab 312 N. Lewis Rd Royersford, PA 19468 luckylabtavern.com
Chap’s Taproom 2509 W. Main St. Jeffersonville, PA 19403 chapstap.com
Mad Mex 2862 W. Moreland Rd Willow Grove, PA 19090 madmex.com
Craft Ale House 708 W. Ridge Pike Limerick, PA 19468 craftalehouse.com
McCloskey Restaurant 17 Cricket Ave Ardmore, PA 19003 Mccloskeystavern.com
East End Alehouse 712 Main Street Harleysville, PA 19438 ortinos.com
McShea’s 30 E Lancaster Ave, Ardmore, PA 19003
Farmers Daughter 1401 Morris Road Blue Bell, PA 19422 Normandygirl.com/bar Fingers Wings And Other Things 107 W. Ridge Pike Conshohocken, PA 19428 fwot.com Firewaters 1110 Baltimore Pike Concord, PA 19342 firewatersbar.com
Bars & Restaurants
Baggatawny Tavern 31 N Front St Conshohocken, PA 19428 baggatawaytavern.com
Flanigan’s Boathouse 113 Fayette Street Conshohocken, PA 19428 flanboathouse.com
Bar 31 31 N. Main St Ambler, PA 19002
French Quarter Bistro 215 Main St Royersford, PA frenchquarterbistro.com
Blue Dog Pub 850 South Valley Forge Rd Lansdale, PA 19446 bluedog.cc
Gullifty’s 1149 Lancaster Ave. Rosemont, PA 19010 gulliftys.com
242 Haverford Avenue Narberth PA 19072 mcsheas.com Oreland Inn 101 Lorraine Avenue Oreland, PA 19075 Ortino’s Northside 1355 Gravel Pike Zieglerville, PA 19492 ortinos.com/northside Otto’s Brauhaus 233 Easton Road Horsham, Pa 19044 ottosbrauhauspa.com PJ Whelihan’s 799 Dekalb Pike Blue Bell, PA 19422 pjspub.com Railroad Street Bar & Grill 36 Railroad St Linfield, PA 19468 railroadstreetbar.com Side Door Pub 3335 County Line Road Chalfont, PA 18914 sidedoorpub.com
Uno’s Chicago Grill 1100 Bethlehem Pike North Wales,PA 19454 unos.com Village Tavern 511 Stump Road North Wales,PA 19454 villagetavernpa.com Whitpain Tavern 1529 Dekalb St Blue Bell, PA 19422 Brewpubs
Appalachin Brewing Co 50 W 3rd Ave Collegeville, PA 19426 abcbrew.com Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant 1460 Bethlehem Pike North Wales, PA 19454 ironhillbrewery.com Forest & Main Brewing Company 61 N Main St Ambler, PA 19002 forestandmain.com McKenzie Brew House 240 Lancaster Ave. Malvern, PA 19355 mckenziebrewhouse.com Rock Bottom Brewery 1001 King of Prussia Plaza King of Prussia, PA 19406 rockbottom.com Tired Hands 16 Ardmore Ave Ardmore, PA 19003 tiredhands.com Breweries
Naked Brewing Co 51 Buck Rd Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 nakedbrewingcompany.com Prism Brewery 810 Dickerson Rd North Wales, PA 19454 prismbeer.com
directory 128 E. 3rd St Bethlehem, PA 18105 keystonehomebrew.com
Pour House 124 Haddon Avenue Haddon Twp, NJ 08108
Sly Fox Brewery 331 Circle of Progress Dr Pottstown, PA 19464 slyfoxbeer.com
Weak Knee Home Brewing Supplies North End Shopping Ctr Pottstown, PA 19464 weakKneehomebrew.com
Taproom & Grill 427 W. Crystal Lake Ave Haddonfield, NJ 08033 taproomgrill.com
Retail Beer
New Jersey
Round Guys Brewing Co 324 W Main St Lansdale, PA 19446 roundguysbrewery.com
Ambler Beverage Exchange 259 E. Butler Ave Ambler, PA 19002 amblerbeverage.com
Bars & Restaurants
Beer World 1409 Easton Ave Roslyn, PA 19001 beerworld-roslyn-pa.com
Dublin Square 167 Route 130 Bordentown, NJ 08505 dublinsquarepubs.com
The Beer Shoppe 44 Greenfield Avenue Ardmore, PA 19003
The Farnsworth House 135 Farnsworth Ave Bordentown, NJ 08505 thefarnsworthhouse.com
Capone’s Restaurant (takeout) 224 W. Germantown Pike Norristown, PA 19401 Domestic & Imported Beverages 485 Baltimore Pike Glen Mills, PA 19342 Epps Beverages 80 W. Ridge Pike Limerick, PA 19468 eppsbeverages.com Flourtown Beverage 1114 Bethlehem Pike Flourtown, PA 19031 Frosty Caps 1745-47 Old York Road Abington, PA 19001 Hatboro Beverage 201 Jacksonville Road Hatboro, PA 19040 hatbev.com Michaels Deli 200 West Dekalb Pike King of Prussia, PA 19406 Michaelsdeli.com Towamencin Beverage Co 1555 Sumneytown Pike Lansdale, PA 19446 Home Brew Supplies
Keystone Homebrew Supply 435 Doylestown Rd. (Rt. 202) Montgomeryville, PA 18936
Blue Monkey Tavern 2 South Centre St. Merchantville, NJ 08109 bluemonkeytavern.com
The Firkin Tavern 1400 Parkway Ave. Ewing, NJ 08628 www.firkintavern.com Geraghty’s Pub 148 W. Broad Street Burlington, NJ 08016 geraghtyspub.com High Street Grill 64 High Street Mount Holly, NJ 09199 highstreetgrill.net Jug Handle Inn 2398 Route 73 Cinnaminson, NJ 08077 Keg & Kitchen 90 Haddon Avenue Westmont, NJ 08108 kegnkitchen.com Lazy Lanigans Publick House 139 Egg Harbor Rd. Sewell, NJ 08080 lazylaniganspublickhouse.com
Max’s Seafood Cafe 34 N Burlington St Gloucester City, NJ 08030 maxsseafoodcafe.com Mexican Food Factory 601 W Route 70 Marlton, NJ 08053 themexicanfoodfactory.com Ott’s 656 Stokes Road Medford, NJ 08055 ottsrestaurants.com
Hops And Grapes 810 N. Delsea Drive Glassboro, NJ 08028 hopsandgrapesonline.com J & D’s Discount Liquor 430 N. Broad St Woodbury, NJ 08096
UNO’s Chicago Grill 225 Sloan Avenue Hamilton, NJ 1162 Hurffville Road Deptford, NJ 2803 S. Rt. 73 Maple Shade NJ unos.com
Joe Canal’s 1075 Mantua Pike West Deptford, NJ 08096
Brewpubs
Liquor Barn 1051 Florence Columbus Rd Bordentown, NJ 08505
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant 124 E. Kings Highway Maple Shade, NJ 08052 ironhillbrewery.com Triumph Brewing Co 138 Nassau Street Princeton, NJ 08542 triumphbrewing.com Breweries
Flying Fish Brewing Co 900 Kennedy Blvd. Somerdale, NJ 08083 flyingfish.com River Horse Brewing Co 80 Lambert Lane Lambertville, NJ 08530 riverhorse.com Retail Beer
Canal’s Discount Liquors 10 W. Rt. 70 Marlton, NJ 08650 210 N Black Horse Pike Mt Ephraim, NJ 08059 1500 Route 38 Hainesport, NJ 08060 5360 Route 38 Pennsauken, NJ 08109 2004 Mount Holly Road Burlington, NJ 08016 joecanals.com Route 73 and Harker Ave Berlin, NJ 08009 canalsofberlin.com Hopewell BuyRite 222 Rt. 31 S. Pennington, NJ 08534 hopewellbuyrite.com
3375 US Rt. 1 Lawrence Twp, NJ 08648 305 N. Rt.73 Marlton, NJ 08053 joecanals.com
Delaware Bars & Restaurants
1984 2511 W 4th St Wilmington, DE 19805 1984wilmington.com BBC Tavern and Grill 4019 Kennett Pike Greenville, DE 19807 bbctavernandgrill.com Chelsea Tavern 821 N Market St Wilmington, DE 19801 chelseatavern.com Deer Park Tavern 108 W Main St Newark, DE 19711 deerparktavern.com
Monster Beverage 1299 N. Delsea Drive Glassboro, NJ 08028
Domaine Hudson 1314 N. Washington St Wilmington, DE 19801 domainehudson.com
Red White and Brew 33 High Street Mount Holly, NJ 08060 redwhitebrew.net
Ernest & Scott 902 N Market St Wilmington, DE 19810 ernestandscott.com
Spirit Shop 2077 Marlton Pike E, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
Homegrown Cafe 126 E Main St Newark, DE 19711 homegrowncafe.com
Total Wine and More 2100 Route 38 Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 Walker’s Liquor Store 86 Bridge Street Lambertville, NJ 08530 Wine Works 319 Route 70 W Marlton, NJ 08053 Wonderful World of Wine 8 South Union Street Lambertville, NJ 08530 wonderfulworldofwines.net
McGlynn’s Pub 8 Polly Drummond Shopping Center Newark, DE 19711 108 Peoples Plaza Newark, DE 19702 mcglynnspub.com Nomad 905 N Orange St Wilmington, DE 19801 Two Stones Pub 2-3 Chesmar Plaza Newark, DE 19713
Home Brew Supplies
BYOB 162 Haddon Avenue Westmont, NJ 08108 brewyourownbottle.com Keg and Barrel Home Brew Supply 41 Clementon Road Berlin, NJ 08009 Princeton Homebrew 208 Sanhican Drive Trenton, NJ 08618
2502 Foulk Rd Wilmington, DE 19810 twostonespub.com Ulysses 1716 Marsh Rd Wilmington, DE 19810 ulyssesgastropub.com Washington Street Ale House 1206 Washington Street Wilmington, DE 19801 wsalehouse.com
World Cafe LIve at the Queen 500 N Market St Wilmington, DE 19801 queen.worldcafelive.com Brewpubs
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant 710 S. Madison Street Wilmington, DE 19801 147 E Main St Newark, DE 19711 ironhillbrewery.com Stewarts Brewing Co 219 Governors Place Bear, DE 19701 stewartsbrewingcompany.com Breweries
Twin Lakes Brewing Co 4210 Kennett Pike Greenville, DE 19807 Retail Beer
Avenue Wine & Spirits 2000 Delaware Ave Lowr Wilmington, DE 19806 Frank’s Union Wine Mart 1206 North Union Street Wilmington DE 19806 FranksWine.com Greenville Wine & Spirits 4025 Kennett Pike Greenville, DE 19807 wineandspiritco.com Kreston’s Wine & Spirits 904 Concord Ave Wilmington, DE 19802 krestonwines.com Total Wine and More 691 Naamans Road Claymont, DE 19703 1325 McKennans Church Rd Wilmington, DE 19808 totalwine.com Home Brew Supplies
How Do You Brew? 203 Louviers Drive Newark, DE 19711 howdoyoubrew.com If you would like to considered for the beer directory, please email mat@ beerscenemag.com
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local event calendar
Beer Events For more events, visit phillybeerscene.com
August Thursday, August 1st Anchor Brewing Brew & Chew Cavanaugh’s Headhouse 421 S. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 Friday, August 2nd 1 Year Re-Opening Celebration Churchville Inn 1500 Bustleton Ave., Churchville, PA 18966 Shawnee Craft Night Grey Lodge 6235 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19135
Saturday, August 17th-23rd Pucker Up!!! 4th Annual Sour Fest Devils Den 11th & Ellsworth Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saturday, August 3rd Victory BrewBQ Paradise Farm Camps 1300 Valley Creek Rd., Downingtown, PA 19335 Craft Beer Festival on the Waterfront Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino 777 Harrah’s Blvd., Chester, PA 19013 Sunday, August 4th Shark Week Kickoff 11-Tap Takeover with Neshaminy Creek Varga Bar 941 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19107 Tuesday, August 6th Barrels & Ballast Point Bainbridge Street Barrel House 625 Bainbridge St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 Thursday, August 8th Abbatia Decem- Oak-Aged Release Iron Abbey 680 N. Easton Rd., Horsham, PA 19044 90
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Monday, August 19th Terrapin Brew & Chew Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse 1823 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 Thursday, August 22nd 6 Year Anniversary Celebration Dock Street Brewery 701 S. 50th St., Philadelphia, PA 19143 Neshaminy Creek Beer Dinner Pickering Creek Inn 37 Bridge St., Phoenixville, PA 19460 Friday, August 30th Finally Friday Free Beer Tasting with Yards Trolley Car Diner 7619 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19119 Saturday, September 7th Lancaster Craft Beerfest Lancaster Square & Binns Park
100 N Queen St., Lancaster, PA 17603 Wednesday, September 11th Bells Brew & Chew Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse 1823 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 Saturday, September 14th Zwanze Day Monks Café 246 S. 16th St., Philadelphia, PA 19002 Saturday, September 21st Newtown Beerfest Stocking Works Complex Newtown, PA 18940 Sunday, September 22nd Smoke ‘Em if Yous Got ‘Em Yards Brewery 901 N. Delaware Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19123 Saturday, September 28th Pour the Core Navy Yard 4747 South Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19112
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Top 5 Places in the World to Have a Beer All About Beer Magazine, 2010
Top 5 places in America for Beer & Food Celebrator Magazine, November 2006
Best Mussels in America Maxim Magazine, August 2009
PHILLY’S BEST Beer Bar* BEST Draft Beer* BEST Beer Selection* BEST Late Night Dining* BEST Bar Food* BEST Burgers* BEST Fries* *Philly’s Best, Best of Philly, etc Awards ‘97, ‘98, ‘99, ‘00, ‘01, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11 & ‘12
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