Yearly Archives: 2018

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

Who was King Gambrinus?

Though he’s often called the “patron saint” of brewing, King Gambrinus is neither a saint. Nor a king. Nor an actual person.

Historians believe he is a conflation of other historic figures, who as far back as the 16th century was credited with the invention of beer. By the 1800s, his name and visage were adopted by Belgian, Dutch, … Read the rest

A rebirth of brewing in Wilmington?

Old King Gambrinus, the once-legendary symbol of Delaware’s greatest brewery, is in sad shape these days. He’s strewn across the floor in about 60 pieces, barely salvaged from the junk heap by a passionate beer historian in Wilmington, Del.

“This is the most iconic image of brewing in Delaware,” said John Medkeff Jr., who has been writing about Delaware beer … Read the rest

New Brewery Alert in Lansdale, Montco

Well Crafted Beer Co.

Where: 310 Madison St, Lansdale (Montco). The 100-year-old former Masonic temple was most recently used as an arts center.

What: Joining Round Guys as Lansdale’s second brewery, the space features a 7-barrel brewhouse, 20-tap tasting room and open-air seating within steps of Lansdale’s newly renovated SEPTA train station.

Who: A group of alumni from Rochester Institute … 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