Center City Xmas bar hop
Mrs. Sixpack joined me for an afternoon bar hop today - a chance to do some gift shopping and visit a few locals.
The two highlights of the afternoon:
- Gouden Carolus Noel on tap at Tria (18th and Sansom). Phenomenal, incredibly malty, soft body with lots of chocolate and cherry notes. The missus passed off her Maredsous 8 to me and Bogarted my goblet.
- Sled Wrecker at Nodding Head (15th and Sansom). Spiced ale is not my favorite, so I ordered a small glass. But, wow, this was just wonderfully balanced; the spices were understated and the malt carried the day. Just beautiful. I also put away a freshly tapped pint of O-Tay, a somewhat hoppy buckwhat ale (thus the name) with a tremendous Belgian yeast character.
We also stopped by the Christmas village market in front of City Hall. Just a heads up: One of the shops is selling cool German beer steins - they make a great gift.
What else? We were in the holiday spirit, so we decided to check out some high-end joints.
We dropped in at the Ritz-Carlton, a longtime family tradition because of the place (the former Girard Bank on Broad Street) is so normally well-decorated. But this year the place was about as well appointed as your local Kmart - just a lonely tree and no t much more. We used the bathrooms and booked.
We also made quick visits to the bars at two steakhouses, Del Frisco’s (15th and Chestnut) & Butcher & Singer (15th & Walnut). The best beer at Del Frisco’s was Brooklyn Lager, which didn’t ring my bell at the time, so I went with a pineapple-infused vodka (yeah, I know, I know…). At Butcher & Singer (formerly Striped Bass), they were serving Chimay in overpriced bottles, so I went with an Absolut martini. Then Georges Perrier of Le Bec Fin plopped down next to me (we had lunch together once about 5 years ago, but he didn’t remember me) and ordered the same thing!
Georges was on his way to the Eagles game. So was I, only I was watching it on the flatscreen at home.
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