Volume 93 Issue 23 — Bar Guide 2015

BAR GUIDE

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015

My burly, middle-aged, conservative father isn’t much of a drinker and denies my brother ever stole a sip of his cold Budweiser years ago. But my brother, he swears that hot afternoon in the cul-de-sac he tasted his first beer.

That traditional Bud, forever ingrained in my brother’s memory, is still that classic summer beverage. But according to beer company Anheuser-Busch InBev, it is having a hard time marketing its 139-year-old Budweiser to millennials.

In February, the New York Post reported the company is “repositioning the brand and making it more relevant for younger adults,” according to chief financial officer Felipe Dutra – and it’s no small feat.

Millennials have acquired a taste

PAGE B1

for beer and their palettes are changing. Sure, there will always be crushed cans of Natty Lite littering basement floors on Friday nights. There will always be millennials that have a special place in their hearts for the Bud, including my brother. But the individuality of the craft beer is something new.

Beer doesn’t even have to be cold any more. The buy-in is that crafts keep you on your toes, and can be identified in a blind taste test. They come in all sizes and flavors, and it’s not just light or dark.

So ditch the Natty this weekend.

Fill your next 6-pack with a spruce tree flavored Yards or a crystallized ginger Dogfish Head and see what all the fuss is about.

Emily Rolen A&E Editor

Crafting a specialty

Brew Boutique in South Philly sells specialty craft beers and coffees.

O

CHRISTIAN MATOZZO The Temple News n Mifflin Street, coffee grinds, barley, stimulants and depressants share some space at the bar.

At Brew, a beer boutique in

South Philly, beer fanatics can enjoy their favorite brew in a coffee shop environment.

Brew, which shares its space with coffee shop Ultimo Coffee, offers a wide selection of craft beers for sale, both bottled and on tap, for customers to drink in or take to-go.

“It’s the coffee shop atmosphere, but it’s not as pretentious as going and sitting in Star-

bucks.” said Brew employee Shawn Whyte.

“It’s like a bar you can get [stuff] done at. It’s hard to bring a laptop to a bar. If you want to drink and not be at your own house, but not be at a bar, [this is the place].”

Brew offers more than 500 different

BREW PAGE B4

BAR GUIDE

PAGE B2

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015

Organic eating and homemade beer are a ‘lifestyle and culture’ for Mount Airy brewery Earth - Bread + Brewery specializes in its own home brews, sells exclusively local craft beers and supports ecofriendly dining.

ALEXA ZIZZI The Temple News The owners of Earth - Bread + Brewery in Mount Airy base their choice of house brews on whatever moves them at the time.

Peggy Zwerver and her husband Tom Baker, who have been brewing since 1997, moved to Philadelphia six years ago to open Earth - Bread + Brewery which operates with a specific focus on local community support, an environmentally friendly atmosphere and a sustainable philosophy.

All the cleaning products used in store are non-toxic and biodegradable, while the food is homemade, non-processed and purchased locally to support nearby producers and farmers. Everything is recycled and composted, and the amount of waste that ends up salvaged is twice the volume of trash the brewery wastes weekly.

Even the grain left over from brewing is brought to local farms in Pennsylvania and fed to the animals or composted.

Along with supporting local agriculture, Earth - Bread + Brewery strongly focuses on featuring local brews with distributors like Philadelphia Brewing Company, while also including select craft beers from all over the world.

Zwerver said Baker is always brewing, and the 11 beers they offer on tap, four house drafts and seven guest drafts, are constantly changing.

“My husband does whatever he feels like at the time,” Zwerver said. “Because we have all these other drafts, he likes to do whatever moves him, just whatever style he likes.”

The couple’s current four house drafts are a German Sticke alt, “Polyjeanynol Harveyoxide;” an IPA, “Flavorama;” an Imperial Stout, “Breznik” and a rye saison, “Stella, It’s Not.” All of the house brews are made in the basement of the brewery where the kettle and fermenters are kept.

The brewing process starts with mashing the grain, which becomes pressed when added with hot water. It is then brought to the kettle where it gets boiled and hops, the cone-like female flowers of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus) are added as a stability agent for flavoring. Depending on the recipe, the timing of adding the hops will vary. The hoses connect the process and yeast is added when transferred to the two fermenters, Lynne and Leslie – named after Zwerver’s sisters.

Zwerver said a recent beer her husband was brewing had a recipe that caused a potent smell she describes as sweet, malty and smoky.

“This specific beer has a smoked character to it,” she said.

“What he does is, he roasts the grain a bit to make it dark so that when it gets boiled, it gives it this smoky taste.”

“It’s a very specific process for this recipe,” she added.

The couple is also currently featuring craft beers from local Philadelphia brewers, as well as New York, Indiana and Florida.

Zwerver said the two of them are close friends with Philadelphia Brewing Company who provides their restaurant with bottled beers including Commonwealth Hard Cider and Gregarious Ginger Cider.

Aside from supporting the community with their business and sustainability, Earth - Bread + Brewery focuses on fundraising and

MARGO REED TTN

At Earth - Bread + Brewery, Liz Martino, bartender, pours a drink from one of 11 beers on tap that are constantly changing.

husband does whatever he “feelsMylike at the time. Because we

have all these other drafts, he likes to do whatever moves him, just whatever style he likes.

”

Peggy Zwerver | co-owner Earth - Bread + Brewery

holding events for local nonprofits as well.

Omar Muhammad, a server who has been with Earth - Bread + Brewery since it opened six years ago, said the sustainability theme is important in many aspects of the restaurant and brewery business.

“It’s our lifestyle and culture,” Muhammad said. “We’re all about giving back and taking less of the earth. We have to preserve it for us and our future generations, so composting, recycling and having a sustainable method of running a business is actually how I would love to see all businesses grow.”

MARGO REED TTN

* alexa.zizzi@temple.edu

The food and drink menus at Earth - Bread + Brewery focuses on sustainable and eco-friendly items.

What’s in my beer?

Adding more malt to a beer essentially adds more sugar.

Stronger beers call for more malt. Craft beers are made with malt, while lagers – lighter in taste – are made with corn and rice.

MALT Hot water is added to malt, which creates an ingredient called “mash.”

Once the hops are added, the substance is brought to a boil for about 75 minutes.

WATER HOPS

Hops are an oily, powdery resin that adds bitterness to beers. Some variations of hops add earth smells and tastes, while others add tropical fruit smells.

Yeast, a fungus that eats sugar, can be reused 10-12 times in the beer-making process.

YEAST

DONNA FANELLE TTN

BAR GUIDE

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015

PAGE B3

ADDY PETERSON TTN

JENNY KERRIGAN TTN

A look behind the bar

Yards brewer Matt Hall said he has always had an interest in brewing, even from a young age.

VICTORIA MIER The Temple News

Matt Hall moves around Yards’ brewery with a comfortable, deft ease, as if it’s his mother’s kitchen.

Something about beer makes him feel at home.

“Growing up, when the whole craft beer movement started taking off in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, my dad would always be looking for a brew pub or something on family vacations,” Hall said. “I was always intrigued; you can make beer in a restaurant? I always thought it was in a big factory in the Midwest.”

Hall, a brewer at Philadelphia’s Yards Brewing Company, was drawn to the beer-making process from an early age. While studying business at Bloomsburg University, the Bucks

County native began working as a cashier at a beer distributor.

Hall wanted to try every beer in the store – his employee discount, he said, certainly came in handy. One day, a particularly interesting case of beer was delivered. “[Samuel] Adams Brewing Company does a home brewing contest every year, and the winner gets their beer made on a large scale,” Hall said.

“We got a large shipment of cases and I bought one, tried the beers and I was blown away. I couldn’t believe somebody made this in their kitchen.”

Hall immediately purchased a Sam Adams home brewing kit and began brewing himself. The first few batches were not more than “OK,” Hall said, but it got him thinking.

“I thought I could possibly make a career out of being in the beer industry,” Hall said. “When I graduated Bloomsburg, I ended up going into beer sales.”

From there, Hall worked for a wholesaler in sales for about two-and-a half-years. It was a well-paying job, Hall said, but he craved a hands-on position at a brewery. Hall said he had

trouble getting his foot in the door.

So, he quit his sales job.

“I’m always like, ‘How did I pull that off?’” Hall said.

Hall said he attended a brewing school in Chicago, spending two months in the Windy City and another in Germany, learning everything from how malt is produced to packaging and retail.

“As soon as I graduated from there, I sent my resumes out,” Hall said.

“Yards happened to have a position open on the bottom line.”

From there, Hall worked his way up from packaging to the brewing side, eventually taking on a full-time brewing position.

During the past few years on the job, Hall has learned that, in a nutshell, making beer involves breaking malt up and mixing it with hot water to break down starches into simple, fermentable sugars. From there, the sugary water is drained out of the water and malt mixture, called “mash.” With the solids left behind, the liquid is boiled and hops are added. After that, Hall said, the liquid is cooled down and sent to a tank, where

yeast is added.

Making beer is “as simple or complex as you want it to be,” Hall said.

“There’s a lot of details,” he added. “You’ve got to hit specific temperatures, and there’s a lot of variables, like how healthy the yeast is and the quality of the grain, which fluctuates throughout the year. Making beer is not complicated, but doing it in a manufacturing setting where you have to hit details, that’s when it gets complicated.”

Hall said he prefers some things less complicated – well, his beer, at least. The brewer likes a simple, clean, crisp taste, all malt, not a “kick you in the teeth with hops” beer.

For Hall, the best part of his job isn’t the beer.

“I enjoy making the beer and then being able to see people sitting here at the bar, drinking it and being happy,” Hall said. “It’s seeing the customer enjoying the product and getting excited about it. That’s the ultimate reward.” * victoria.mier@temple.edu

THE PROCESS: Making beer is “as simple or complex as you want it to be.”

At Yards Brewing Company, the process starts with malt. The more added, the stronger the beer will be. Malt is added to hot water, resulting in a substance called “mash.” The mash sits for 40 minutes – enzymes break down the starches and dissolve in the water.

The mash is transported through a pipe into the lauter ton. Here, liquids and solids are separated. In 2.3 hours, the result will be closer to the beer we see in bottles.

Once the kettle is full of this substance known as “wort,” hops are added. Hops are a flowery plant that adds bitterness to beer. Once the oily, powdery resin is mixed with the wort, the new liquid is boiled for 60-120 minutes.

The beer is transported to the whirlpool, where all of the solids in the liquid sink to the bottom of the vat.

The liquid drains through a valve, and is sent to ferment at 200 degrees. It will sit there for 17 days.

JENNY KERRIGAN TTN

One beer barrel is 21 gallons of beer, or 100 kegs of beer.

It takes 24 hours to fill up one tank.

Beer at Yards has a 6-month shelf-life.

Yards produces 120 bottles per minute and five cases per minute.

BAR GUIDE

PAGE B4

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015

South Philly’s Brew offers coffee, 500+ crafts Continued from page b1

BREW bottles of beer, and another 10 beers on tap. The boutique, a craft beer enthusiast’s dream, specializes in solely craft beers.

“Generally craft beer is better,” said Brew manager Kathryn Wiggins.

“It’s tastier, a little more full-flavored.

[Craft beer] uses better quality ingredients … usually it’s better made, a better example of something new and interesting.”

Wiggins said craft beers tend to use actual hops and malted barley, compared to larger beer producers Budweiser and Miller, who use corn and rice for the malt process to tone down the flavor and bitterness of the beers. This tends to appeal to a mass-market audience.

Brew’s specialization in craft beers also comes from its owner and Temple alumnus, John Longacre. Longacre also owns South Philadelphia Tap Room and American Sardine Bar, both of which specialize in craft beers.

Due to Philadelphia’s liquor licensing laws, a customer at Brew can only purchase 192 ounces of beer at one time, which in turn created the shop’s unconventional layout. Beer at Brew can be purchased to-go in 12-ounce bottles, 64-ounce growlers, and 38-ounce milk cartons, compared to Pennsylvania beer distributors, which can only sell cases of beer.

“That’s the one thing about Pennsylvania’s liquor laws that makes this place unique,” Whyte said. “[At] distributors you’re stuck getting one case and just 24 bottles of one beer. Here you can mix and match, you can get 24 bottles of 24 different beers.”

Wiggins said the popularity of craft beer in recent years is for a variety of reasons, including consumer tastes for more locally-made products. “[Craft beer has] become popular for the same reason local food and local farms have gotten more popular,” Wiggins said. “People are more interested

KARA MILSTEIN TTN

Brew in South Philly offers more than 500 different bottles of beer and 10 different brews on tap.

in knowing where the stuff that they’re eating is coming from … A lot of times you can know the people are producing [the beer]. It’s not some nameless, faceless giant. Joe Schmoe around the corner is making your beer.”

In Philadelphia, there is no shortage of breweries, with more than 10 breweries located within the city limits. Local breweries include Yards Brewing Company in Fishtown, Dock Street Brewing Company in West Philadelphia and Saint Benjamin Brewing

Company in Kensington, all of which have beers stocked by Brew, adhering to the local flair that Brew looks to capture when stocking beers.

Philadelphia hosts the yearly Philadelphia Craft Beer Festival at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia, the most recent of which was held on March 7. Craft beer enthusiasts also got a taste of rare beer this month, when Philadelphia bars Monk’s Cafe and City Tap House had tastings of acclaimed Russian River beer, Pliny the

Younger and more.

Whyte claims that Philadelphia hosts one of the largest craft beer communities on the East Coast, and thinks the amount of breweries in Philadelphia lends itself to a growing community of craft beer drinkers. Whyte said events like the Pliny the Younger tasting will only increase demand for craft beer in Philadelphia.

“There will be people waiting in line for Pliny the Younger at all of these different bars,” Whyte said. “And

it won’t be less after people drink it once, they’ll be going to the next place to get it again. It’s just that rare.”

“The only place [Pliny the Younger brewer] Russian River distributes on the East Coast is Philadelphia,” he added. “The only place they send their beer is Philly because they know we drink it … and the more beer there is here to drink, the more people there will be to drink it.” * christian.matozzo@temple.edu

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

Bar Guide 2015 featured locations

1

Brew Beer Boutique 1900 S 15th St.

2

Yards Brewing Company 901 N Delaware Ave.

3

St. Benjamin Brewing Co. 1710 North 5th St.

4

Philadelphia Brewing Company 2440 Frankford Ave.

5

Earth Bread + Brewery 7136 Germantown Ave.

SOMERTON

FOX CHASE CHESTNUT HILL

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA

NORTHWEST PHILADELPHIA GERMANTOWN

5

NORTH PHILADELPHIA

3 WEST PHILADELPHIA FAIRMOUNT

FRANKFORD

4

KENSINGTON

2

FISHTOWN

BELLA VISTA

1

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA

DONNA FANELLE TTN