Recent news reports naming Phoenixville’s Crowded Castle the third-fastest growing small and independent brewery in America in 2017 had me scratching my head.
How could a brewery that’s been open barely a year be among the fastest growing? Especially one that produces, perhaps, a mere 1,000 barrels a year, and sells it all in-house from 11 taps.
My money would’ve … Read the rest
The distance from 138 Bridge St. in Phoenixville to No. 368 is barely 2,000 feet. Maybe 800 steps, if you’re walking with purpose.
Which is what you would need to do if you were going to visit all the breweries along this short stretch of downtown Phoenixville main drag in one shot. From Iron Hill’s brewpub at one end of … Read the rest
Ten years ago this month, my first book, Joe Sixpack’s Philly Beer Guide, was published. It was a compilation of everything I knew about the city’s beer scene at the time, from its earliest breweries to its burgeoning craft beer scene.
It took years of work, and I was plenty proud to present the most complete look at the … Read the rest
Sean Arsenault is pouring a pint of Old Stoop Rye Ale. His wife, Erica, is making change at the counter. His twin brother, Andy, is sanitizing metal fittings from one of the fermenters. The tasting room is packed with couples draining pints and diving into plates from a food truck parked out front.
This is the weekend routine at Brewery … Read the rest
‘You know those urinal troughs on the floor at the base of bars in old-time taprooms?
Well, zip it up guys. Despite the common myth, the fact is those troughs are not, were not and never were intended to be used as urinals. In fact, the troughs are spittoons, a handy place to puh-tooey a wad of slobbery tobacco juice.… Read the rest
Beer me up, Scotty.
And not just any beer will do. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the landmark sci-fi TV adventure, Star Trek has its own series of brews produced by a small group of fans based in, of all places, Vulcan, Alberta.
In recent months, the group — which calls itself the Federation of Beer — … Read the rest
An Irishman and a Palestinian open a bar in Philadelphia…
No, this is not the start of a joke.
It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship, one that grew over the next two decades and would come to define the spirit of one of the city’s most successful bars. Beyond the foamy pints and mixed drinks, the laughter and the … Read the rest
They take their coffee seriously at Gran Caffe L’Aquila.
The Chestnut Street cafe and restaurant operates its own second-floor roaster, its co-owner is a medal-winning bean man, and the entire place has been modeled on the stylish grand cafes of the owners’ homeland in the Abruzzi region of Italy. On most mornings, the place is a popular destination for Italian … Read the rest
We made America great last week.
A populist upheaval swept aside decades of control by elitist power brokers who reaped the rewards of government while the people had borne the cost. But last week, the carnage stopped right here and it stopped right now.
That’s right: Pennsylvanians can now buy a sixpack at a beer distributor.
Amid all the commotion … Read the rest
Philly Beer Week, which marks its 10th-annual celebration this June, announced this week that it’s evolving into a year-round organization called Philly Loves Beer.
The new organization is “devoted to raising Philadelphia’s global profile as a destination city for beer tourism… independent of a brewer’s guild or business association,” and will be the nation’s first nonprofit business league “dedicated to … Read the rest