If your spouse drags you to “Men’s Night Out” at the Philadelphia Home Show tomorrow night (1/19) at the Pa. Convention Center, be sure to look for the Flying Fish booth. They’ll be pouring samples of Winter Grand Cru with cheesesteaks from Tony Luke’s.
Frankly it’s probably the women who could use the pop, after listening to their pathetic husbands whine all night about buying a pool table
Nice beer spread in the February ish of Maxim, with the top 25 new beers on the editors’ expense account. Among the locals, Victory Helios, which is actually a re-branding of Victory Saison, and Dogfish Head Indian Brown, which is new only if this is 1999.
Even nicer is the kudos to Philly as the editors’ favorite beer town - a title the mag says we swiped from Portland, Oregon, because of:
From a press release today, Ommegang announces it’ll be supplementing its regular lineup with a roll-out of specialty beers in 750s and draft. Some of these already exist, but they’ll be tweaked.
Additionally, Ommegang says it’ll be pouring beers from a pilot program, at its Cooperstown brewing plant only. The first is described as “a Belgian-ish porter” called Porter, Sorter. It’s warm-cellaring now and should be released before the end of January.
Finally, they’re doing some high-gravity aging in bourbon barrels.
Looks like a fun year from a great brewery.
Whole Foods opened its new crunchy granola store at Plymouth Meeting Mall yesterday, complete with a takeout beer section . (For non-Pennsylvania readers, this is a big deal involving complex state regs that weirdly require grocery stores to operate an in-store restaurant in order to be licensed for liquor sales.)
Whole Foods exploits the loophole with its so-called Cold Point Pub, a generic seating area behind large windows with a view of the checkout aisles. If WF were smart, they’d create a new drinking game: Organic Bingo. Everyone chugs when a suburban mom loads her cart with rice milk, soy chips and fair-market bananas.
The pub’s drafts were all locals on my visit - Yuengling, Sly Fox, Yards, Victory, Troegs & Flying Fish. And well priced: just $1.99 for (14oz?) of Vitamin Y. That glass of St. Victorious above was $3.99, a real bargain for an 8.5 percenter.
Don’t expect bar service. In a completely awkward setup, you have to take your draft to a checkout register inside the pub and pay by the glass. (Note to WF: You oughta install another register just for drafts.) The menu card at my stool said tipping isn’t necessary, and I can see why.
They’re also filling growlers, but that’s another awkward setup involving too much foam; these folks really don’t know their way around a tap handle. Growler prices are excellent, however: just $7.99 for a half-gallon of Troegs Rugged Trail or $3.99 for a quart (with one of those Grolsch flip-tops). Glassware is extra (I forget the prices, but they’re not outrageous) or you can BYO.
Adjoining the pub (which, by the way, also serves wine and snacks) is a nice-sized takeout section that’s actually chilled to about 55 degrees, not unlike Moore Bros. in Camden. That’s a really nice touch because it means you can pop open a cold one on the way back down the Blue Route.
Beers were fairly well priced. Most local baseline sixers are priced between $7.99 and $8.49. Victory Storm King was $11.49, a four-pack of Guinness, $6.99; Brooklyn Local 1 (750ml) was $7.99; a 12-pack of Yuengling Lager cans was $8.99.
Selection is very good too - not as big as nearby Capone’s, but you’ll certainly find something you like. I mean, if you told me that one day I’d see Chimay, Westmalle and Orval in a grocery store…
The store was jammed yesterday, and I’d expect crowds awhile. But here’s a hint: park in the garage. Drive past the main parking area on the left and into the garage. There’s an escalator running directly into the store. The pub is at the front of the store.
As much as I appreciate the convenience and price of buying beer in a supermarket, that’s the ONLY thing WF has going for it. Ultimately, shopping for beer in a supermarket is a crappy, soulless experience. One of the pleasures of alcohol is enjoying it in an actual adult venue that respects booze. A bar, a distributor, even a deli - not some florescent-lit, industrial-sized box whose aisles are filled with snot-nosed kids and Cymbalta-addled moms, where beer is no more special than lemongrass-scented dish-washing soap.
A number of local beer events got snowed out just before the holidays, including Jingle Beers at Union Jack’s (Manayunk). With weekend temps finally expected to reach the 30s(!), they’ll roll out the kegs this Saturday (1/16).
Check out this draft lineup (starting 1 p.m.):
Live music in the evening will be performed by Jeremy and Pete of Fathead and Blivit fame.
Eulogy (2nd & Chestnut) is one of four national semifinalists for Beer Bar of the Year in Nightclub & Bar mag. That’s a nice tribute, and owner Michael Naessens is doing it one better by running a drawing to send a regular out to the awards ceremony in Las Vegas in March. Stop in at Eulogy for details.
The other three finalists:
•   Gritty McDuff’s, Portland, Maine
•   Tapwerks Ale House & Café, Oklahoma City
•   Willimantic Brewing Company, Willimantic, Conn.
Johnny Brenda’s just posted a beer event at Philly Beer Week’s calendar for Saturday, Jan. 30th. The event features the following:
The name of this event? The Trouble with Tripels.
As first reported by Michael Klein, Philly’s original beer bar is for sale. Formerly known as the Khyber Pass, the Old City joint has been a beer mecca since the mid-1970s. There’s been a bar at the location since about 1870.
Oh yeah, and this guy once ran the place.
What’s to happen to this gem? Who knows. But someone should tell the buyer that the “very old oak bar” referred to in the sell sheet is a remnant from a cherished chapter in Philadelphia history. It originally stood in the Brewers Pavilion at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial.
 
For a second I thought/hoped this was a legit invention, circa 1934. “Your favorite beverage on tap all the time. Invaluable in traffic jams or on Sundays.”
Not sure where it was originally published, but it did get me thinking that, in this age of mad mothers, point oh eight and interlocks, no one even makes jokes about drinking and driving.
Here’s a great time-waster: The Vintage Ad Browser. Among its 100,000+ ads are about 2,000 beer oldies. This one is from Budweiser’s 1930s campaign that urged drinkers to try Bud for 5 days. “On the sixth day, try to drink a sweet beer. You will want the Budweiser flavor thereafter.” (The largest of the medals in the ad is from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial.)
You are currently browsing the Beer Radar weblog archives for January, 2010.
