Brews For Boobies 4

Good people of the Philadelphia area!

Mark your calendars and get out your drinking shoes!

Saturday, October 8th, 2011 at noon...BREWS FOR BOOBIES 4!

For the fourth annual event they have expanded to five Philadelphia neighborhood pub crawls, Center City, Old City, Northern Liberties, South Philly, and Fairmount. The simultaneous crawls will make stops at 8 bars throughout the twelve-hour day in their respective areas, last year featured an after-party at Varga Bar where each crawl ended up meeting but they haven't announced any such plan for this year's event yet.

"Combining a strong desire to support breast cancer awareness while raising money, an appreciation of good beers and a love for the city of Philadelphia, Brews for Boobies was established to be a lighthearted event with a powerful message."

Registration is only $25 which gets you a t-shirt and access to food and drink specials at each of the bars along your route. If you're worried where your money would be going, rest assured that 100% of the proceeds go directly to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

A group of my friends and I had a great time last year on the Center City crawl which we will be repeating again this year. We've all been looking forward to it for quite some time. The crawls have limited space and will surely fill up quickly so if this sounds up your alley (how could it not?) make sure you register NOW! Not only will you have a great time with good people but you'll be supporting an even better cause.

Hope to see you on the crawl, cheers!

PBW Recap: Saturday in Northern Liberties: Part 2

And so, my journey through Northern Liberties continues. After throwing back a couple at good old Standard Tap we made our way across the street to The Foodery. I give this place a lot of credit for pushing me over the cliff as far as beer goes, this is where the courtship between craft beer and myself really started so I'm always trying to stop in whenever I'm in the area despite my general lack of monetary means. In any case, it's a great place to grab a beer whilst waiting for friends to arrive.

It just so happens that there was a complimentary Allagash tasting going on inside...don't mind if I do. We caught the tail end of the event so I didn't get to sample everything but perhaps they were saving the best stuff for last...Curieux and Odyssey. The Curieux was smelled quite sweet which was totally undercut by the very prominent bourbon flavors. I believe this was the first time I had tried a bourbon-aged tripel so I was really impressed by how well the Belgian spices complimented the bourbon. I wish I had gotten some more but the sample gave me a good idea of just how smooth and delectable this beer is. I wasn't as head-over-heels with Odyssey, the oak aged "Belgian-style" dark wheat. It was an aggressive mix of roasted coffee, bitter chocolate, and oak, reminded me of a lot of Quads and the sample was all I really needed of this one.

A couple of my friends finally met up with us but we were still waiting on one more so we all grabbed a beer to tide us over. I went with Illumination, the Double IPA from Central Waters Brewing Company. I neglected to jot anything down regarding this beer but from what I've gathered from memory...I was a fan (give me a break, Beer Week is a long 10 days). Once our whole group was together it was time to find some grub and get away from the crowds for a bit. On our way to our next stop we stumbled upon this empty Nugget Nectar sitting alone on the sidewalk, a sure sign that Philly Beer Week was in full swing.

Beer Week is a great time to try new things so we decided to head over to The Abbaye, a spot neglected by everyone in the group before. We snagged a table outside and ordered up, the perfect setting for a few evening beers. My clear choice from the draft list was Brotherly Suds 2, the collaboration beer brewed for PBW 2011 by Yards, Troegs, Nodding Head, Victory, and Stoudts at their Adamstown brewery. This clear golden lager's aroma reminded me of a farm, lots of straw and light malt with just a bit of a funky kick somewhere in there. The hops add a floral touch and come out a lot stronger on the tongue. The brewers said this was a beer FOR brewers, not the beer geek crowd, but I really enjoyed it. Perfectly balanced, clean, crisp, and refreshing with the slightest bit of fruitiness made for a well rounded beer that is just one example that proves not all "yellow fizzy beer" is bad. 

My buddy Steve had gotten up from the table to make a phone call and wandered off, seconds later I realized he was calling me into the bar where he had ordered up two pints of Victory's Summer Love. I'm not sure why this was a secret mission but it was one I was happy to take part in. This is just a good standby beer for this time of year folks. Nothing to write home about but an American blonde ale that I've been enjoying quite a bit this year now that they have released it in bottles. It's a light-to-medium body beer with a stronger malt presence than you might expect, pale malt with some wheat characteristics as well. The hops add some light touches citrus flavors along with a bit of earthy spice to finish things out, a very accessible beer to share with your more tepid beer drinking friends this summer!

I really enjoyed The Abbaye, it was a quiet little spot just a bit off the beaten path. They're not running any gimmicks and there was no snobbery to be found. Exposed brick, hardwood flooring, outdoor seating, great beers, very reasonable pricing...pretty much everything I look for in a bar. They also have a lot of "U Buy The Glass" nights where you buy a pint glass for $10 and get free refills for 2 hours, not too shabby at all. We weren't all quite ready to head home yet so for some reason we went all the way down to South Street for a couple nightcaps at Brauhaus Schmitz, Philly's one true German beer hall. 

There aren't many other ways I would have wanted to end my first day of Philly Beer Week.

Next Up: The Deschutes beer dinner at London Grill

Cheers!

PBW Recap: Saturday in Northern Liberties: Part 1

As prior engagements prevented me from going to Opening Tap on Friday night, Beer Week 2011 started for me on Saturday. With a couple friends coming in from out of town (one who had spent the past 6 months in Spain) it was quite serendipitous that there was plenty for us to do in the city. We had decided that we would plant ourselves in Northern Liberties/Fishtown for the day instead of trekking all over, sometimes limiting your options during Beer Week just makes life easier.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Lyford

First up was Johnny Brenda's "it's a FiRKin RiOT!" for some real ale and lunch. Despite the fact that I had passed this place countless times driving to and from Temple over the past 5 years I had never once stepped foot inside. The British inspired event featured over 15 firkins that would be tapped over the course of the day, some standard English menu items, and of course UK rock blasting all day long. It was tough deciding which brew to go with since so many were  quite rare but I opted for the Dock Street Curried OMG Pale Ale first. We had this beer on tap at work and I had really enjoyed it so I was expecting to love this incarnation but didn't get too much out of it. I was expecting the curry to come through a lot stronger than it had but still...a damn fine beer to have on a humid day sitting outside as we were.

I've been on a bit of a hummus kick lately so Meridith and I had to give thier plate a taste which was really fantastic, I could've scarfed it all down by myself. The obvious choice for lunch however was the fish and chips complete with a cup of vinegar, just the perfect meal for the occasion. We were there a little on the earlier side and some of the firkins that I was initially looking forward to wouldn't be tapped until later so I went with one I had already had, Flying Fish's Wild Rice Double IPA, Exit 16. A little lighter in appearance than most DIPA's but it doesn't hold back in the flavor department. Medium bodied, grapefruity, hoppy, and deceptively smooth, this is one of the best beers Flying Fish has ever made so if you happen to see it out at any point you'd better order up! We couldn't stick around too long so it was farewell to the folks at Johnny Brenda's although I was a bit disappointed I was missing Victory's Yakima Glory firkin. I also wish they had been pouring full pints from the firkins, I don't think the Brits would have appreciated the smaller serving sizes...just saying.

Photo courtesy of Standard Tap

We made our  way to Standard Tap were the annual Kingpin contest was already underway where everyone's favorite local breweries compete to see who can kick their pin first. This year's lineup included Yards Brawler, Troegs Hopback, Sly Fox Phoenix Pale Ale, Philadelphia Brewing Kenzinger, Dock Street Summer Session, Flying Fish Exit 11, and my personal choice, Weyerbacher's version of a Black & Tan i.e. Double Simcoe IPA and Old Heathen Imperial Stout. Double Simcoe is possibly my favorite DIPA so I wasn't going to pass up this behemoth concoction which did not disappoint at all. While either one of those beers would have probably been too heavy for a mid-afternoon brew, combined they balanced each other out just fine. This seemed to be the crowd favorite and the most interesting choice there but I later found out that Dock Street ended up taking the grand prize, that Summer Session does go down quite easily so I'm not surprised. Pours from the firkins at Johnny Brenda's were $5 as they were at Kingpin, the difference being Standard Tap pouring full pints of local goodness...thanks for that.

It seemed like everyone was at least stopping by this event with reps from nearly all of the present breweries and other beer scene notables mingling about including the legendary Hammer Of Glory which I got an obligatory picture with...it's just something you need to do. Meridith wasn't too fond of the pin offerings but they had Weyerbacher Blanche (her favorite) on tap which made her happy while I snuck in a glass of Sly Fox's Saison VOS before we left to meet up with the rest of our group.

This was a good start to Beer Week 2011 and the day continued on with a few more stops before heading home but I'll save those for the next post.

Until then...cheers!