Yearly Archives: 2000

Shangy’s may be the best

Somewhere in California, a lady cop is watching for Nima Hadian’s beer truck.

“She sits at the bottom of a hill on this one little road along the coast, north of San Francisco, and she inspects every truck,” says Hadian, who runs the mammoth Shangy’s Beverage in Emmaus, Pa.

The maximum truck length on this road is 48 feet. The … Read the rest

This beer-wine-mead brew buried King Midas

I have sipped the nectar that moistened the dying lips of the fabled King Midas.

Sipping 2,700-year-old nectar – now there’s something you don’t get to do every day.

It happened Wednesday night in a Center City reincarnation of the Phrygian king’s funeral feast. Actually, this was just appetizers – goat meat, figs and cheeses served at Monk’s Cafe. But … Read the rest

Coyote Ugly is a pour excuse for a movie

Coyote Ugly”?

More like Coyote Stupid, if you ask me.

And not just the sub-zero plot. This summer turkey boasts half the complexity of your average MTV video and all the predictability of a WWF bout. It’s the kind of movie that gives mindless entertainment a bad name.

Normally you wouldn’t catch Joe Sixpack shelling out seven bucks to see … Read the rest

Brewers pour influence bucks into party coffers

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Republican race is still up for grabs. Not the presidential nomination – W. has that one in the bag.

But as the GOP marches into town this weekend, delegates will get a taste of another contest that has been brewing for months: the selection of Official Party Beer.

The race features America’s largest brewers in … Read the rest

With third location, bugs are mostly Ironed out

ron Hill Brewery & Restaurant just opened its third location – this one in downtown Media – and co-owner Kevin Davies is wary. “We don’t know if it’s going to be a big success or not,” he said. “No one knows until you’re up and running for a few months. ”

I think he’s just being modest.

Davies and his … Read the rest

Hoppy days are here again: July is American Beer Month

July in Philadelphia, the visitor’s dream:

Liberty! Fireworks! Independence!

We know the, the reality:

Hazy! Hot! Humid!

Mostly, locals abandon the streets to out-of-towners and head to the shore. But in the kind of unexpected synergy that makes the city so lovable, the pomp and the heat will merge next month to thoroughly wet Philly’s whistle.

It’s American Beer Month, … Read the rest

Under the Portland microscope, Philly comes up small

Thirty-six – I counted ’em – 36 different Northwest brews tickled Joe Sixpack’s polished tonsils last week.

Others would call that a binge. I prefer “fact-finding mission.”

The scene was Portland, Ore., which – with all due respect to Philly, Denver and San Francisco – is the undisputed craft-beer capital of America. Though one-third the size of Philadelphia, the City … Read the rest

Two of three docs agree: Beer is good for you

Beer drinking is good for you, according to exhaustive research conducted by a team of scientists at a corner bar.

Their findings, published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Cocktail Napkin, provide compelling evidence that beer consumption improves self-image, relieves worry and develops important joke-telling skills.

In repeated clinical trials at Joe’s Happy Tap, the researchers … Read the rest

This joint’s john cures your ales

This is the kind of thought the men at the Grey Lodge might idly ponder when they’re otherwise occupied with matters below the belt. For them, a simple visit to the john at this Frankford Avenue tavern is a brief interlude with the wit and wisdom of the literary drinker.

Filled with mingled cream and amber,

I will drain that Read the rest

10 ways to master beer

Inspired by an hour of waiting-room reading material – Men’s Journal, Esquire, Cosmo – here’s Joe Sixpack’s Ten Things Every Beer Drinker Should Do at Least Once in a Lifetime.

  1. Open a bottle without an opener.

The scene: On a beach, in the woods, in the parking lot at the Vet, you have a full case of bottles. You thought … Read the rest