Beer Board of the Week



Dogfish Head rules at Craft Ale House. The 75 min is outta here!



World Wide Stout vertical. Cab please!

It's almost silly to announce when good beer is flowing around the Philly area. When can't you find a bar that has a killer line-up? The deep western burbs beyond King of Prussia were rich in offerings this week with the kick off of Suburban Beer Week 19468. One of the better  events was Dogfish's impressive appearance at Craft Ale House. No Sam C in the house but there were 21 DFH beers on tap including a firkin of 75 Minute and 4 years of World Wide Stout: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Obviously not a night for the session minded. 

A few courteous tweets also filled me in on Kite & Key and their Savage Sixtel Sunday (Rich on Beer has the details). A Randallized version of World Wide Stout infused with coffee and Vanilla beans along with a couple Russian River beers, Alesmith Speedway Stout and few others rounded out the draft list.  As much as I would of loved to cruise down to my old stomping grounds for an evening with Randall and the others, I stuck to the burbs. I'll have to wait to experience my first Savage Sixte at Kite & Key. For now Craft Ale House's DFH board is my winner of the week.

Hangin' with The Baggataway Beer Club

A few weekends ago I had the chance to hang out with a great group guys and take part in a themed beer tasting.  The group was the Baggataway Beer Club, the gathering was in Phoenixville and the theme was beer variations. Each person attending was to bring at least two beers to compare, i.e. Cigar City Winter Warmer 2011 and 2012 as a vertical or a beer with various treatments, i.e. Bourbon County Brand Stout, Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout and Bramble Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout. To round out the day there was also plenty of non-judged beer just in case anyone needed even more of a selection.

Now before you start thinking this is some pretentious group of beer snobs with their noses in the air understand that the Baggataway Beer Club (named after Baggataway Tavern. Sorry don't know the entire back story) is made up of guys with various levels of craft beer knowledge who get together every few months to casually enjoy good beer and food. How pretension can it be when games of Cornhole mix in with the tastings? All beers are judged and afterwards the victor (person with the highest rated beer) and the loser (worst beer tasted) receive trophies. I was lucky enough to win the later with Cigar City Winter Warmer 2012 judged as the stinker of the afternoon. The winner all versions of Goose Island Bourbon County. 

Thanks again guys. I look forward to the next gathering and hope to elevate my good name with a far better beer.

My contribution to the day. Proud to be a loser



Ohhhh the carnage



To the victor go the spoils



Suburban Beer Week 19468 & Pittsburgh Beer Week

As we wait for Philly Beer Week 2012 a couple of other areas are preparing for their own big beer week celebrations.


Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week

Currently in Philadelphia mentioning Pittsburgh will only bring up conversations about the undisciplined, cheap shot artist Penguins (not my words). Hopefully The Burgh is better with beer than the Pens are with stopping pucks. Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week kicks off today (Friday April 20th) and runs until Sunday April 28th. This is the inaugural year with 360 events planed over the nine day period. Details on all events can be found here (pittsburghcraftbeerweek.com).

Suburban Beer Week 19468

Why should the big city have all the fun? Beer flows proudly in the western suburbs beyond King of Prussia. As I found out several years ago after moving out of the city, the area along 422 is rich in craft beer. So much so that Suburban Beer Week 19468  launches Monday April 23rd and continues until Sunday April 29th. It all gets underway with a massive Dogfish Head Total Tap Takeover at Craft Ale House in Limerick. The beer week celebration is naturally small in scale when compared to the behemoth Philly Craft Beer Week but it looks to pack an impressive punch. The events center around four area bars all in the 19468 area code: Craft Ale House (Limerick), French Quarter Bistro (Royersford), Lucky Lab (Royersford), and the Railroad Street Bar & Grill (Linfield). Each bar will host one or more events during the week. For more information on events and times check HERE. Cheers to raising a few in the burbs.

Heads Up Philly Heady Topper Is In

By the time you read this it may be too late! Hopefully the rush to get Heady Topper, one of the most sought after DIPAs, isn't so frantic that all those selling the canned elixir from Vermont's The Alchemist Pub & Brewery aren't already staring at empty shelves.  This is the first and possibly the only time Philadelphia will get Heady.  The current distribution in the Philly market is due to extra production. Look at it as a bit of a tease. For now once it's gone, it's gone. Here is more from the source (The Alchemist website)

Now that mud season is among us, I am happy to say that we finally have some extra product to send out of Vermont. Over the course of the next 8 weeks, we plan to make shipments to Philadelphia, Boston and NYC. We wanted to attend Philadelphia Beer Week in June, but realized that we will not have enough product to send out of state once summer is upon us.



So, we will have Heady Topper available in Philadelphia within the next 2 weeks. Origlio is helping us with this shipment; we hope to have a link on our website listing retailers as soon as possible. I do know that our friends Tom and Peggy, at Earth, Bread and Brewery will be having some sort of event with Heady. Wish we could make it! They are a lot of fun.

The event mentioned at Earth Bread + Brewery happens tomorrow night (4/19). They will be pouring Heady from cans and offering free can cozies while they last. I'd expect a few people to show for this little gathering. Remember keep your elbows in and no crowding the bar. Cheers!

(Photo from www.brewerysessions.com)

Did You Get Younger?

Anytime I take a slight or in this case a lengthy hiatus from my beer blogging duties I feel like this part of the universe has passed me by. And so it has. To get up to speed I'll pick up from where I left off.

So did you get your Pliny?

Well if you live in and around Philly and didn't get your Pliny the Younger don't blame it on availability.  Seemed like every good beer establishment had it flowing at some point. Whether you had to stand in line, bought tickets, put money towards a charity, received a special tweet or happened to arrive at a place by dumb luck, the opportunity to imbibe the ultra brew was there. I stuck to two locations this go around and they couldn't have been more different experiences.


That glorious smudge is where Pliny the Younger was listed

A quick tweet (sorry can't remember from who, but a HUGE thanks) alerted me to the early evening tapping at Teresa's Next Door.  Since work is only minutes away and I had finished for the day the timing couldn't of been more dead on. The beauty of the situation was the unadvertised tapping meant that by the time I walked in the bar it was only a quarter full. Amazingly I had time for some conversation and a little food before ordering. At no point did I fear not getting my fair share. By the time I was ready to leave the room was active, but not crowded, I had two 10oz pours and the Pliny had just kicked. Perfect.

My second go around took on legendary event status. As always word went out in advance for Capone's big PtY day. Anyone who  is familiar with it knows the crowd grows every year. I swear each year will be my last but how could I put an end to a 5 plus year tradition? A wise man arrives early for this one. An hour and a half before the doors opened guaranteed a good spot in line (and a seat at the bar). A cool wet morning did nothing to deter the faithful. By the time the doors opened the line had worked its way to the rear of the building. Even with hype and humanity this is one of the better run Pliny events. Money was collected outside, each person received a ticket for a for a 5oz pour, and once inside pre-poured glasses of PtY awaited the masses. Instant crowd control. Matt Capone's organization and a damn impressive draft list kept most at peace and satisfied.





Both experiences were good and it's always interesting to see how establishments handle the chaos.  I use to think there was a perfect way to structure a day around the PtY release. Not the the case. The uniqueness of each location and the creative twists make it interesting. As long as Pliny the Younger is released only in small quantities once a year, people will continue to jump on the hype train and seek out a spot for their opportunity at tasting a sip or two of hop heaven.

More catching up to follow.......