Philly-area brewers flashed their stuff at the Real Ale Festival in Chicago earlier this month. The annual festival features beers that are conditioned by secondary fermentation in the keg or cask, then served without extra CO-2.
The award winners
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant (West Chester) Pig Iron Porter, silver, dark ale category.
Victory Brewing Co. (Downingtown) Storm King Stout, gold, imperial stout.
Manayunk Brewing Co. (Manayunk) Moon Dahg Russian, silver, imperial stout.
John Harvard’s Brew House (Springfield), Springfield IPA, bronze, American strong ale.
Yards Brewing (Manayunk), Trubbel de Yards, bronze, Belgian-style ale.
Flying Fish Brewing Co. (Cherry Hill, N.J.), Flying Fish ESB, silver, English-style bitter; and Flying Fish Porter, bronze, American dark ale.
(Real strong ale)
If you’ve been paying attention in recent years, you’d know Boston Beer and Dogfish Head Brewing have been having a playful back-and-forth with strong beers. Every time Dogfish’s Sam Calagione pushes an extra half-percent alcohol out of his stout, Jim Koch fires back with another knock-your-socks-off brew from Sam Adams.
On Thursday, March 21, Nodding Head Brewery will match them up with an unprecedented show down featuring all of the world’s strongest beers. The contestants:
* Sam Adams Triple Bock (17.5 percent).
* Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout (18 percent).
* Sam Adams Millennium (21 percent).
* Dogfish Head Raison Extra (21 percent).
* Sam Adams Utopias (24 percent).
The World’s Strongest Beer Tasting, presented by Ale Street News, will warm up with Nodding Head’s own potent barleywine, as well as several other former record holders: EKU 28, Samichlaus and Belzebuth.
Tix are 40 bucks, including a buffet, and seating is extremely limited. Info: 215-569-9525.
Beer radar
Venerable Dickens Inn, the British pub sold last year to the Irish-blooded owners of Black Sheep, has gotten around to changing its name. It’s now Dark Horse (421 S. 2nd St., Society Hill). Co-owner Matthew Kennedy, who used to tend bar at Dickens, has made some cosmetic changes but says it’ll stay Brit . . . The Steelers and Iron City were made for each other, but Rolling Rock wants a piece of the action, now. Word from Pittsburgh is the Rock has shelled out big bucks for exclusive advertising rights inside the stadium next year.
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