February 6th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
The Philly Beer Week calendar continues to grow. Here’s a cool event that even non-DYIers should check out:
The Extreme Beer Homebrew Challenge, presented by Home Sweet Homebrew at Jose Pistola’s, 263 S. 15th St., 215-545-4101. 7:00 p.m. $45
Join us for beer, food and fun. Meet & greet with Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione, Home Sweet Homebrew’s George Hummel and award-winning local homebrewers. Sam will pour extreme beers from the DFH stable of wacky beers. Signed copies of his “Extreme Brewing” book will be available. Some edgy homebrews will pour and you’ll have a chance to pick up brewing tips from some of the area’s most knowledgeable homebrewers. Tickets available at Jose Pistola’s and Home Sweet Homebrew, 2008 Sansom St. 215-569-9469.
With all the beer festivals I attend, the one thing I’ve come to learn is that, frequently, it’s home-brewed beer that’s the most interesting stuff that’s being poured. Last October at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, one of the best beers I tasted was a homebrew; same goes for last year’s Michael Jackson tutored tasting at the Penn Museum. It may be that I’m overly familiar with many of the craft beers at these events; but the fact is, homebrew can be pretty damn fantastic.
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February 6th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
With all the excitement over Philly Beer Week, let’s not forget about the “unofficial” start of the 10-day beer celebration, namely the Philly Craft Beer Festival at the Cruise Terminal in South Philly.
I’ll be there in the back room, chatting up brewers and others in a series of interviews that will be open to the public.
And, if you’re in the Manayunk vicinity, you can grab a ride down to the fest on a bus leaving from the Dawson Street Pub at 11 a.m. Tix are $50, including entry to the festival and a t-shirt (plus you won’t have to pay for parking). Pretty sweet deal. Drop Dave an email for details at dawsonstreetevents@live.com
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February 5th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
I just updated the PBW calendar. It now lists 81 events over 10 days, and I know of several more coming. We might actually hit 100 separate events - an amazing number in our first year.
Here’s another cool one:
Beer Gone Wild! Tria’s Fermentation School, 1601 Walnut St. 215-972-7076, www.triacafe.com. 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 15th. $55. For Lambic Lovers only! Join Armand Debelder, head of Belgium’s Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, and Dan Shelton, outspoken importer of mind-boggling brews, for a rare chance to lean about these funky fermented treasures.
Just a little background: I believe this is Armand’s first visit to America. Drie Fonteinen is a CLASSIC lambic producer whose kriek was the star two years ago at the Night of Great Thirst, the funky lambic fest held just outside of Belgium every other year. Armand could’ve gone anywhere with his beer, but he’s coming to Philly Beer Week, folks.
And if you can’t make the class at Tria, hurry and you might be able to scoop up tix for a tasting Armand will be doing at Monk’s Cafe on Sunday, March 16th.
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February 5th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
This whole beer & food thing is really taking off, and I’m not talking about Yuengling and Herr’s (though that sounds like a pretty good lunch right now). Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience is coming to Washington, D.C., May 16-17.
This is a production of the Brewers Association, the folks who produce the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver each year. It’ll feature small dishes and appy’s paired with craft beer from across America. Sounds a bit like Philly’s annual Brewer’s Plate.
Tix ($85 per session) just went on sale yesterday. Here’s the link
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February 4th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
By my count, there are already an amazing 75 separate events listed for Philly Beer Week, March 7-16. That’s better than 10 excuses to drink beer EVERY DAY!
The week is book-ended by several large-scale fests (e.g. Joe Sixpack’s Philly Favorites, Brewer’s Plate, Penn tutored tasting, Real Ale). I thought I’d start highlighting some of the smaller events and specials worth checking out.
Beer for Dessert at XIX (19th floor of The Park Hyatt at The Bellevue, Broad & Walnut). Throughout the week, executive pastry chef Dan Pino presents a special menu that incorporates his favorite brews into sweet creations. On the menu:
- Sticky Toffee Pudding with Malted Weyerbacher Old Heathen Stout Ice Cream;
- Coffee Mascarpone Cream and Brooklyn Brown Braised Pineapple;Â
- Milk Chocolate Mousse with Red Hook Ale Sorbet,  Spiced Mango Cream and Apricot Marmalade;Â
- Macerated Raspberries with Sly Fox O’Reilly’s Stout foam, Sesame Powder and Shaved Dark Chocolate;Â
- A selection of beer ice creams and sorbets.Â
The desserts will be $9 each.
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February 4th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
The day after the Super Bowl, I think I was mostly on with last week’s criticism of the NFL season’s beer commercials. The Bud Lite ads were, as predicted, fairly lame, and the Rocky-themed Budweiser spot was humorous only if you’re the type who thinks Branson, Mo., is on the cutting edge of art and culture.
The Will Farrell/Jackie Moon endorsement, however, might’ve been the best ad of the night. Even if he’s getting in a rut with his self-centered sports characters, Farrell is a riot. “A magical bend of barley, hops, and delicious alcohol” - now that’s my kind of beer!Â
Meanwhile about that well-publicized ad you can watch only on Bud.tv: It’s an extended fart joke, and not even a good one at that. If you’ve got a few minutes to wade through the site’s login pages, the secret code is 1982.
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February 4th, 2008 Joe Sixpack
One of the best new events on the local scene is back for a second year: Winterfest at the General Lafayette Inn & Brewery (646 Germantown Pike, Lafayette Hill). Here’s 4 reasons it’s such a hit:
- Strong beer. Nothing under 8% alcohol, all of it quite warming.
- Lots of local beer. Stoudt’s, Appalachian, Stewart’s, Flying Fish, Troeg’s Sly Fox, Victory, Nodding Head, Manayunk, Legacy, Iron Hill and maybe more.
- Great food. The spread of appetizers, cheese, snacks, entrees and desserts is spectacular. Really, I was tempted to make like Dan Akryod last year and stuff the salmon into my shirt, it was so good.Â
- Limited tix. Just 350 tix are sold, which means no wall-to-wall beer-sloshing. This is an entirely comfortable event.
Taps open noon-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. Tix: $45. Info:Â www.generallafayetteinn.com or 610-941-0600.
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