Category: Latest

The Best and Worst of the Best Beers of 2018

It’s that time of the year, when beer critics put down their pints for a moment and try to remember: What the hell was I drinking this year?

That’s right: It’s time for the Beers of the Year.

Unfortunately with the demise of so many beer rags and blogs in recent years, we’re beginning to see wine writers fill the … Read the rest

About those dumbass New Jersey brewery regs

By now, you’ve heard New Jersey’s Bureau of Alcohol Beverage Control has spiked those dumbass, new brewery tasting room rules. Y’know, the ones that – among many other things – prohibit breweries from displaying menus from the local pizza shop and require a permit to turn the Eagles game on TV.

The agency will go back to the drawing board … Read the rest

Walk, don’t run, to these brewhouse neighbors

My report earlier this week about Phoenixville’s wealth of breweries in proximity to each other got me thinking about other local destinations where you can hit two or more breweries in one quick walk.

Here’s a few twofers (and three-ways) that come to mind:

Pitman, N.J. – This once-dry Methodist town is decidedly wet these days with two small breweries … Read the rest

The 3rd-fastest growing brewery in America has fewer tap handles than your average Hooters

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

A brave, new beer world

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