Sixpack Sez

Aug. 31, 2007 | General Lafayette to toast its 275th year

THERE'S SOMETHING romantic about an old inn. The etched walls, the burnished woodwork, the thick, exposed beams, the comfortably creaky floors - you can feel the history.

Chris Leonard, the owner and brewer at the General Lafayette Inn and Brewery, which celebrates its 275th anniversary this weekend, doesn't want to hear any of that sentimental rubbish. When I stopped in for a visit this week, he had a leaky drain pipe to fix and an air conditioner on the fritz, not to mention another 200 bottles of anniversary ale that would have to be hand-corked in the next few days.

"There's always something," Leonard shrugged.

But even after yet another 60-hour work week, Leonard's eyes still sparkled when he talked about his Lafayette Hill brewpub. "Over there" - he gestured to where the pool table sits - "that was the original structure. It goes back to 1732. How many restaurants can say that?

"I mean, it's just so old. . . . I feel like I have a responsibility in owning this building, to keep it from disappearing. The responsibility of maintaining this place as a cornerstone to the community is not lost on me."

Standing just outside the city along Germantown Pike (at Church Road), the inn almost certainly got its start as a simple roadside tavern, a rest stop for traveling merchants and a meeting place for local farmers.

Its history is sketchy, but early on it was known as the Three Tuns, which suggests someone might've been brewing beer, perhaps in its cool, dark cellar.

There's no record that George Washington ever slept there, but Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, probably stopped in for a cold one.

Lafayette was the legendary French aristocrat who served under Washington as a major-general at the age of 19. His military honors are vast, but in the town that bears his name he's best known for his encampment of 1778 at what was then called Barren Hill.

In the months after Washington's winter at Valley Forge, Lafayette used the high terrain around the inn as an outpost to keep an eye on British movements out of Philadelphia.

After the war, the battle-damaged inn was renovated, and in the next 150 years, it expanded. But it wasn't until the 1940s that it was known as the General Lafayette. The brewery was added in 1996.

Two hundred and seventy-five years: a lot of history, a lot of beer. The inn will celebrate it all tomorrow at noon with food, fun and entertainment. A few tickets are still available ($40), and attendees will get a taste of General Lafayette 275th Anniversary Ale, a powerful (13 percent alcohol) barleywine brewed by Leonard and his assistant, Russell Czajka.

Info and tix at 610-941-0600 or www.generallafayetteinn.com.

Inns and outs

Several other 18th-century joints continue operating in the region, and some of them still serve beer. Here are a few of the places where you can get an authentic taste of history:

Standard Tap (901 N. 2nd St., Northern Liberties). Yes, believe it or not, the city's trendiest gastropub dates to the 1700s, when it was known as the Bull's Head Inn. Its taps now pour all locally brewed beer.

Piper Tavern (Route 413 and Dark Hollow Road, Pipersville). Established in 1759; legend has it that the owner's wife helped finance the Continental army with gold she'd inherited. Flying Fish, River Horse on tap.

City Tavern (138 S. 2nd St., Old City). It's a modern-day re-creation of the original, circa 1976. But you still get the feel for a tavern that played an important role in the founding of our nation. Grab a Thomas Jefferson Ale or George Washington Porter, brewed for the tavern by Yards.

Blue Bell Inn (601 Skippack Pike, Blue Bell). Established in 1743, its well provided water for Washington's troops on the way to the Battle of Germantown. Today it's a pretty decent restaurant known mainly for its wine, but you can find a bottle of Anchor Steam or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Dilworthtown Inn (1390 Old Wilmington Pike, West Chester). Built in 1754 as a private home, it suffered substantial damages during the Battle of Brandywine. After the war, it began operating as a tavern, then was used as a boarding house. Today its wine list gets all the notice, but there are a few decent bottles behind the bar, including Troegs Rugged Trail and Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. Next month, the Blue Pear Bistro, operating in Dilworthtown's historic general store, will open with a tidy draft selection.

Black Bass Hotel (3774 River Road, Lumberville). Built along the Delaware River 30 years before the Revolution, it was mainly a traveler's inn. Its claim to fame seems to be that Grover Cleveland once slept here. Today, it has an English flavor with Bass and Guinness in bottles.