Joe Sixpack Reports

You know those urinal troughs on the floor at the base of bars in old-time taprooms?

Well, zip it up guys. Despite the common myth, the fact is those troughs are not, were not and never were intended to be used as urinals. In fact, the troughs are spittoons, a handy place to puh-tooey a wad of slobbery tobacco juice.

Common sense alone should tell you they weren’t designed for barstool urination. Never mind the whole socially unacceptable aspect of whipping out ...

Beer me up, Scotty.

And not just any beer will do. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the landmark sci-fi TV adventure, Star Trek has its own series of brews produced by a small group of fans based in, of all places, Vulcan, Alberta.

In recent months, the group — which calls itself the Federation of Beer — has worked with several breweries to produce sudsy tributes to Star Trek characters. Among their portfolio: ...

An Irishman and a Palestinian open a bar in Philadelphia…

No, this is not the start of a joke.

It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship, one that grew over the next two decades and would come to define the spirit of one of the city’s most successful bars. Beyond the foamy pints and mixed drinks, the laughter and the music, the friendship flourished and endured as a testament to the goodwill of men brought together in ...

They take their coffee seriously at Gran Caffe L’Aquila.

The Chestnut Street cafe and restaurant operates its own second-floor roaster, its co-owner is a medal-winning bean man, and the entire place has been modeled on the stylish grand cafes of the owners’ homeland in the Abruzzi region of Italy. On most mornings, the place is a popular destination for Italian expatriates sipping cups of espresso and speaking with an accent you don’t often hear on the streets of Center City, yo.

It’s ...

We made America great last week.

A populist upheaval swept aside decades of control by elitist power brokers who reaped the rewards of government while the people had borne the cost. But last week, the carnage stopped right here and it stopped right now.

That’s right: Pennsylvanians can now buy a sixpack at a beer distributor.

Amid all the commotion in Washington, D.C., and on the streets of so many American cities, the antiquated beer laws of the Keystone State were changed ...

Philly Beer Week, which marks its 10th-annual celebration this June, announced this week that it’s evolving into a year-round organization called Philly Loves Beer.

The new organization is “devoted to raising Philadelphia’s global profile as a destination city for beer tourism… independent of a brewer’s guild or business association,” and will be the nation’s first nonprofit business league “dedicated to beer appreciation,” according to a recent press announcement.