Chickie's & Pete's Where's the Beer (WTB)?

Chickie's & Pete's has recently opened in Audubon, PA. I'm sure most Philadelphian's who enjoy sports, drinks and bar grub are more than familiar with the, "Crab House and Sports Bar".  I've made it to several of their locations over the years and have succumb to the delicious spell of their crabs and famous Crabfries (cheese sauce please).  Now that they are essentially in my backyard the temptation to throwdown will be even harder to resist. However as great as their food menu is one look at their beer selection leaves a craft beer fan asking, "Where's the beer (WTB)"?

(from C&P website S.Philly Menu)
Draft List
Amstel Light, Blue Moon, Budweiser, Coors Light, Guinness, Heineken, Hoegaarden, Michelob Ultra, Miller Lite, Sam Adams Seasonal, Rolling Rock, Yuengling Lager

Bottle List

Amstel Light, Bass Ale, Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Lime, Coors Light, Corona, Corona Light, Harp, Heineken, Heineken Light, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Miller 64, Molsen Golden, Moosehead, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Rolling Rock, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Smirnoff Ice, Smithwick's, Stella Artois, Twisted Tea, Twisted Tea 1/2 & 1/2, Twisted Light, Twisted Peach, Yuengling Lager, Yuengling Light, Yuengling Black & Tan, O'Doul's.

Why in a town known as, "America's Best Beer Drinking City", where the "Beer Week" phenomenon originated and whose residents support an amazing array of craft beer locations, does Chickie's & Pete's have one of the largest selections of bland, unimaginative, fizzy yellow, macro muck on draft and in bottles? One look at what the South Philly location is pouring and anyone who knows good beer would head in the other direction. There's barely even a thimble full of taste on either list and having Sam Adams  does nothing to appease my dissatisfied craft beer soul. Ironically this is happening at a time when even cookie cutter national chains such as T.G.I. Friday's and Applebee's are getting a clue and doing slight tweeks to improve their beer menus. Seems odd that a well run Philly based restaurant/bar chain would snub craft beer. Worse yet turn it's back on local brews.

Obviously the powers-that-be who guide the Chickie's & Pete's gravy train are successful with what they do and their business plan is certainly rapidly moving them forward. However why not offer some quality beer choices that go beyond what I'd find at a late night frat party. Would that take C & P too far off course? Hey, no need to get crazy with the beer offerings. I'm not shooting for a selection of 10% imperial, barrel aged, smoked, Whatchamacallits. To avoid getting lost in the sea of craft beer choices start simple and stay local.  Sorry, having Yuengling as the only local beer doesn't cut it. There are plenty of good choices from: Victory, Sly Fox, Troegs, Dogfish Head, Stoudt's, Weyerbacher, Yards etc. Imagine a successful local restaurant/bar with fantastic food and amazing local beer. Hmmm, (Standard Tap) wonder if that would work?

 

Now in fairness I haven't made a trip to the Audubon location of Chickie's & Pete's so I'm judging from past experience and relying on the beer menus posted on their website.  If the beer program has miraculously changed for the better I stand corrected. Hooray if that's the case. Then it's time for me to shut up and move on. Since I'm headed to C & P over the weekend I'll have recent first hand experience. I hope I'm not stuck asking, "WTB"? Check back here for what I uncover.

Meanwhile, to the guys who make the decisions at the house that Crabfries built, check out what craft beer can do for you. Just a thought.