ON THE INTERNET, you can get almost anything. Books, baseball tix, bank loans . . . even broads.
Starting soon, you can even buy wine.

But in Pennsylvania, you can’t buy beer on the Internet.

At least, not legally.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that still treats beer as if it were a Class 1 narcotic. Nearly … Read the rest

Break out the Christmas beer, today is St. Nicholas Day. No, not Christmas – you’ve still got 19 days of standing in line at Wal-Mart for that.

Dec. 6 is the day the rest of the world (OK, would you believe, the Netherlands?) lifts a pint to St. Nicholas the original Santa Claus. Born in the fourth century in what … Read the rest

TECHNICALLY speaking, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout is not a Christmas beer. Not unless you’re talking about Christmas 2012.
Instead, it is the Delaware brewery’s latest stab at the world’s strongest beer. This year’s version hit 23.04 percent, about 5 points more than last year’s and just a notch under the record of 24 percent (held by Sam Adams Utopias … Read the rest

ON A brisk, rainy morning this week in a generic suburban shopping center, Brian O’Reilly shuffled into work to honor a tradition that brewers around the world have practiced for 700 years.

It was time to brew this year’s Christmas beer.

This is no small matter for brewers. Winter Warmer, Holiday Reserve, Santa Claus Beer – whatever it’s called, a … Read the rest

THE ELECTION’S over, our man is in, it’s time to spend all that money.

You know, the cash Ed Rendell is going to siphon from those tax-paying saps in western Pennsylvania. If I’ve heard the Mike Fisher ads correctly, once Rendell’s set up in the governor’s office, he’ll immediately begin forwarding checks to area code 215.

Yesterday afternoon, I headed … Read the rest

PITTSBURGH- It’s not, apparently, because we’re city slickers. Or shiftless and corrupt. It’s not because we’re smarter. Or healthier and better looking. It’s not because our mayor is black. Or the former mayor is Jewish. It’s not even because, this season, the Eagles can stomp the Steelers.

The reason Pittsburgh hates Philadelphia so much – the reason Mike Fisher is … Read the rest

PICK A BAR, any bar, and you’ll find a difference of opinion.
Music, chicks, sports, politics, best episode of “The Simpsons” – doesn’t matter, there’s always somebody who doesn’t agree.

Take that World Cup soccer match a couple months ago, Germany vs. Brazil. I remember finding a spot near the TV at Ludwig’s Garten, the Bavarian beer house on Sansom … Read the rest

JACK DANIEL’S is coming to town Monday in search of America’s best tailgate party. Which, given the pre-game scene outside the Vet, is like trying to find a clean towel at an orgy.

It could get a little messy.

Wandering through the parking lots before kickoff – especially on a Monday night, when fans have a good 72 hours to … Read the rest

JOHNSTOWN, PA – It is the morning-after at the Coney Island luncheonette, an institution here since 1916.

Just 11 a.m., and the reg’lars are already piling their paper plates with all-beef hot dogs doused with chili.

Me? Well, after last night, I’m sipping on a cup of joe. The late hours in this town’s odd mix of bars, talking about … Read the rest

IN a year when those sticky, sweet pseudo-beers known as malternatives swamped the market like a swarm of West Nile-infested mosquitoes, this year’s Great American Beer Festival was shaping up like a case of the Rocky Mountain Plague.

Skyy Blue, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Ice – whatever,

they’re alcohol-delivery systems for the Pepsi Generation, sugary booze substitutes for kiddies who … Read the rest