UNDER a leaky roof in a tired corner of Camden, there’s a single barrel of whiskey quietly aging and mellowing toward what might be the next frontier for American craft beer. It’s marked “IPA-skey. ”
James Yoakum, the owner at Cooper River Distilling, pulled a sample for me the other day and handed it over. It was smooth and a … Read the rest
YIPPEE! Pennsylvania beer drinkers can finally buy 12-packs at distributors, thanks to a ruling last week from our pals at the Liquor Control Board.
Well, yes . . . but before you start celebrating, there are good reasons to be worried.
Unelected bureaucrats are rewriting the rules.
The LCB calls its 12-pack opinion an “interpretation” of the existing law. But … Read the rest
YOU KNOW all those lawyer jokes? Forget ’em.
Starting today, Pennsylvania beer drinkers can buy a 12-pack at a beer distributor, thanks to a loophole in state liquor code discovered by a sharp-eyed lawyer.
Elsewhere in America – in New Jersey, for example – purchasing a 12-pack is no big deal.
But since the end of Prohibition, Pennsylvania, distributors have … Read the rest
IF YOU WORKED at Sacchetti’s Bakery, in Ardmore, you learned two things.
You learned to duck when Rearo, the hotheaded Italian who owned the business with his brother Tony, headed your way. That S.O.B. had a handshake like a bench vise and a fist like a ball-peen hammer. If he was happy, he’d squeeze your knuckles into mangled pulp; if … Read the rest
THE CRAFT-BEER world’s fixation with India Pale Ale shows no sign of fading. Just last month, for example, Philadelphia welcomed a new portfolio from California’s Knee Deep Brewing that includes no fewer than five different IPAs, including a double, a triple and a heretofore unknown “Quad IPA. ”
Which is all perfectly fine if you’re a hop addict, craving your … Read the rest
WHAT’S ON TAP at your local pub? Who’s pouring your favorite beer?
You could just pull up a stool and, y’know, ask the bartender. But in a day when new releases come nearly every day and bars change their draft handles hourly, many beer lovers are reaching for their smartphones before embarking on a pub-crawl.
With tons of beers in … Read the rest
LEHIGH VALLEY Beer Week starts Sunday, and among the assortment of festivals, tastings and tap takeovers that will draw beer lovers to Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is a seven-course dinner with Garrett Oliver, the author, engaging lecturer and debonair brewer at Brooklyn Brewery.
The lavish menu pairs the likes of truffled prosciutto, foie gras and aged strip steak with Brooklyn’s most exotic beers, … Read the rest
WHEN THE SUN is swallowed all day by gray skies and gloom, when the streets turn black with week-old slush, when even double IPAs taste like rock salt, a Philadelphian can’t help but think about getting out of town. Here are 10 beer-soaked destinations to consider:
1. Lititz, Pa. This quaint Lancaster County town boasts three brewpubs, including JoBoy’s, where … Read the rest
WATCH THE beer commercials during Sunday’s Super Bowl, and you’ll see ponies and horses and Pac-Man.
Here’s what you won’t see during breaks in America’s most-watched athletic event: professional athletes.
Though sports celebrities these days endorse everything from underpants to arthritis meds, beer is apparently off limits.
Think about it: When was the last time you saw an athlete touting … Read the rest
MARK BRAULT turns one shovel of heavy, water-soaked barley on the slick, painted floor of a 150-year-old timber-framed barn, and then another, and another, as country music plays on the speakers. He’ll turn 3,500 pounds of grain three times this day and for 3 1/2 days total, the essential labor in a process known as floor-malting that aerates and untangles … Read the rest