THE NEW documentary “Crafting a Nation” spends about an hour and a half fussing over exactly what makes America’s craft beer so special.
It’s hard work by small businessmen.
It’s all-natural ingredients.
It’s fresh, locally made and produced with care for the environment.
It’s about overcoming the odds and the local building inspector.
Apparently, though, it’s not about actually drinking … Read the rest
TO ALL the obnoxious, yakking, shoving, foul-breathed Central Park pigeon-feeders of New York City who were displaced by Sandy, the gentlefolk of Margate, Ventnor and Longport would like you to know you’re welcome to stay this summer.
Just don’t wear your damn N.Y. Rangers jersey into Maynard’s Café, said Ed Berger, president of the Margate Business Association.
To which this … Read the rest
YOU KNOW a microbrewery has stepped it up a notch when it graduates from kegs to bottles and cans – and not just because the beer can be shipped to more drinkers in new destinations.
It’s one thing to fill up a half-barrel with 15.5 gallons of brew. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to spray exactly 12 ounces of those … Read the rest
AFTER A MERE 104 years, Shiner Bock is finally available in Philadelphia. The Texas lager is already for sale in more than 40 states, so this is not exactly earthshaking news. But it does make you wonder:
What took so long?
And, more importantly, is it too late?
Shiner, made by Spoetzel Brewing, is a lot like Pennsylvania’s D.G. Yuengling … Read the rest
WITH PHILLY BEER WEEK just five weeks away, word is beginning to spill about many of the new brands that the locals will be showing off for the festivities. Consider this your early checklist.
Manneken-Penn, Dubbel, 7.5 percent alcohol by volume.
For the third year, Philly Beer Week sent a local brewer to Belgium to collaborate on a one-off, and … Read the rest
WHY DO bars serve nuts?
I’d always assumed it was to make you thirsty so you’d drink more beer. But that’s only half right, as the taste and smell experts from University City’s Monell Center proved to me on a recent afternoon of sudsy experimentation.
The center’s researchers were gearing up for the Philadelphia Science Festival, the citywide nerd expo … Read the rest
WHAT’S with all the beer and food pairings? It’s getting that you can’t down a mug without someone shoving a plate of ale-braised Brussels sprouts under your chin.
Wednesday night, Nick Macri, the chef at Southwark, at 4th and Bainbridge, laid out a four-course menu pairing imaginative dishes (seafood stew and hot-pepper relish) with suds from Ardmore’s Tired Hands Brewery. … Read the rest
USED TO BE, spring beer meant one thing, and one thing only: bock. Darkish, sweet, mildly strong, full-bodied lager meant to brace you against the last vestiges of winter and welcome the daffodils.
It was liquid bread, the beer of Lent, of happy, dancing goats celebrating the verdant early days of the season. Paulaner Salvator . . . Ayinger Celebrator … Read the rest
EIGHTY years ago this Sunday, the federal government enacted a law that targets beer drinkers with a mean-spirited tax on every bottle, every glass, every sip they take.
In the decades that have followed this ignominious date, the law has taken billions of dollars out of our pockets, killed jobs, thwarted brewery expansion and threatened the middle class.
Beer lobbyists … Read the rest
“I DON’T like beer.”
You wouldn’t believe how many times I have heard that. There are some people who just won’t drink beer. At bars and restaurants, at tutored tastings, at casual backyard barbecues, I’ll offer a stranger a bottle and you’d think I was spreading the plague.
Here – I promise, it won’t kill you.
“No, I hate beer.”… Read the rest