February 12th, 2010 Joe Sixpack
Headed to Center City and looking for a bottle to bring to a BYO?
Everybody knows about the Foodery (10th and Pine), but if you’re on the other side of Broad I greatly encourage you to check out the selection at Latimer Deli (15th between Locust and Spruce). I’ve mentioned this joint before, but I stopped in the other day and noticed they upgraded their coolers. The Foodery has more brands, but Latimer’s array of 750mls and 22oz bombers can match anybody’s. We’re talking big boys from Westmalle, Unibroue, Victory, Weyerbacher, Ommegang, Rogue, Sly Fox, Smuttynose and at least 50 other breweries.
Remember: In a city with so many BYOs, don’t ruin your dinner with a crappy bottle of State Store wine.
(Note: If you’re a bit further west, check out Food & Friends at 1933 Spruce St., also a very good selection.)
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January 19th, 2010 Joe Sixpack
Are you one of those guys/gals who can’t help but offer advice to fellow beer shoppers? Always sneaking up behind some stranger and telling him which beer he oughta be buying?
A Philadelphia beer distributor will pay you to do exactly that. Call it a beer concierge: a professional beer guide.
It’s a part time job, with work on Saturdays and/or Fridays. It’s up to you to negotiate the hours and pay.
For all you folks who frequently email me looking for a way to break into the business, this may be it. You can put your beer knowledge to use and learn a bit about working with customers. And, yeah, I’m sure there will be a free sample or two fringe benefits along the way.
Send me an email if you’re interested: joe(at)joesixpack.net
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January 13th, 2010 Joe Sixpack
Whole Foods opened its new crunchy granola store at Plymouth Meeting Mall yesterday, complete with a takeout beer section . (For non-Pennsylvania readers, this is a big deal involving complex state regs that weirdly require grocery stores to operate an in-store restaurant in order to be licensed for liquor sales.)
Whole Foods exploits the loophole with its so-called Cold Point Pub, a generic seating area behind large windows with a view of the checkout aisles. If WF were smart, they’d create a new drinking game: Organic Bingo. Everyone chugs when a suburban mom loads her cart with rice milk, soy chips and fair-market bananas.
The pub’s drafts were all locals on my visit - Yuengling, Sly Fox, Yards, Victory, Troegs & Flying Fish. And well priced: just $1.99 for (14oz?) of Vitamin Y. That glass of St. Victorious above was $3.99, a real bargain for an 8.5 percenter.
Don’t expect bar service. In a completely awkward setup, you have to take your draft to a checkout register inside the pub and pay by the glass. (Note to WF: You oughta install another register just for drafts.) The menu card at my stool said tipping isn’t necessary, and I can see why.
They’re also filling growlers, but that’s another awkward setup involving too much foam; these folks really don’t know their way around a tap handle. Growler prices are excellent, however: just $7.99 for a half-gallon of Troegs Rugged Trail or $3.99 for a quart (with one of those Grolsch flip-tops). Glassware is extra (I forget the prices, but they’re not outrageous) or you can BYO.
Adjoining the pub (which, by the way, also serves wine and snacks) is a nice-sized takeout section that’s actually chilled to about 55 degrees, not unlike Moore Bros. in Camden. That’s a really nice touch because it means you can pop open a cold one on the way back down the Blue Route.
Beers were fairly well priced. Most local baseline sixers are priced between $7.99 and $8.49. Victory Storm King was $11.49, a four-pack of Guinness, $6.99; Brooklyn Local 1 (750ml) was $7.99; a 12-pack of Yuengling Lager cans was $8.99.
Selection is very good too - not as big as nearby Capone’s, but you’ll certainly find something you like. I mean, if you told me that one day I’d see Chimay, Westmalle and Orval in a grocery store…
The store was jammed yesterday, and I’d expect crowds awhile. But here’s a hint: park in the garage. Drive past the main parking area on the left and into the garage. There’s an escalator running directly into the store. The pub is at the front of the store.
As much as I appreciate the convenience and price of buying beer in a supermarket, that’s the ONLY thing WF has going for it. Ultimately, shopping for beer in a supermarket is a crappy, soulless experience. One of the pleasures of alcohol is enjoying it in an actual adult venue that respects booze. A bar, a distributor, even a deli - not some florescent-lit, industrial-sized box whose aisles are filled with snot-nosed kids and Cymbalta-addled moms, where beer is no more special than lemongrass-scented dish-washing soap.
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May 19th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
The Far Northeast is finally getting itself a high-end takeout store. If it gets the go-ahead from city licensing poo-bahs, the Craft Beer Outlet will open this weekend at Morrell Plaza Shopping Center (Frankford Avenue and Knights Road, near Holy Family College).
Owner Mark Sablowsky told me at least 16 to 17 of the store’s 22 separate cooler doors (!) will be dedicated to craft beer and imports.
Sablowsky, who also operates the nearby Beer Outlet distributorship at Franklin Mills, said he was inspired to open the sixpack and bottle shop because of all of the customers who would come into the distributor and say, “I’d really like to try one bottle of Chimay, but not a whole case.”
With a nod to the Foodery, the city’s best takeout shop, Sablowsky said, “There’s no reason that a Center City idea like that can’t work up here.”
Directions from I-95: Exit at Academy Road, turn right at Frankford, drive 1.5 miles, store is in shopping center on left.
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