Saturday: Slow day. I’ve got a lousy cold. Just one event: a book-signing at the Grey Lodge with Lew Bryson. Tom Kehoe and Steve Mashington of Yards, who both worked the festival the night before, make it up to Mayfair, too. One guy shows up with a seal from what looks like a 100-year-old wooden keg from the old Hohenadel brewery in East Falls.
I haven’t seen an actual copy of this month’s Ale Street News, but the greatest debate since Nixon/Kennedy is now posted on line.
Well, let’s just say that Stephen Beaumont and I have different pints of view. Bottom line: He’ll be here for Philly Beer Week, too.
I spent the last two days straightening out the calendar at Philly Beer Week, so it should be a bit easier to read. It’s now up to 129 separate events over 10 days, plus a half-dozen nightly dinners and specials.
This being Philly, the negativity has commenced. Too much beer? What a lightweight. The writer should hang out with this crew.
Local Breweries Self-Guided Tour
7 Breweries and 8 Bars
6 p.m.-Midnight
$4 Pints until the sixtel runs dry.Â
Locations:
1. Jose Pistolas - Iron Hill - Vienna Lager
2. Good Dog - Dock Street - Satellite Espresso Porter
3. Misconduct - Flying Fish - Bourbon Abbey Dubbel
4. Black Sheep - Yards - Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale
5. Devil’s Alley - Sly Fox - Seamus Red Ale
6. Nodding Head - Nodding Head - BPA
7. Fergie’s - Tröeg’s - Nugget Nectar
8. Mcgillin’s - Everyone
The event starts at Jose Pistolas and we will move from bar to bar. After we finish the sixtel at each bar we will progress to the next location. The locations are numbered in the order we will progress. This is a going to be a great night with local brewers leading a tour through some of their favorite watering holes in Center City.
Remember the Book & the Cook? That was the week-long restaurant event that brought in cookbook authors and paired them for special dinners at area restaurants. The event basically collapsed, then made a meager comeback last year.
Anyway, in 2006, the Book & the Cook boasted of presenting 67 separate restaurant events.
In its first year, Philly Beer Week - which is basically the same idea as B&C, only with beer - has already organized 114 separate events, nearly all of them pairing brewers, writers, importers and other beer experts.
Twenty-five days till the first keg is tapped, and the calendar now lists more events than I can count. Here’s a cool one:
Beer and gourmet meatball slider tasting with Garrett Oliver at London Grill, 2301 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19130 www.londongrill.com 215-978-4545. 5-8 p.m., Monday March 10. Pay as you go
Join Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and author of The Brewmaster’s Table, for a special beer and gourmet meatball slider tasting at London Grill. Chef Michael McNally will prepare the special dishes, including meatball sliders of venizon, wild boar, duck and foie gras, and shrimp and lobster. Other plates will feature London’s house-made charcuterie and artisanal cheeses.
Now that’s a dish you don’t associate with Garrett Oliver: meatballs. Garrett, of course, is one of the nation’s top authorities on pairing beer and food. That’s food, as in the fine dishes served on china with white linens. But I’ve had McNally’s meatballs and they can hold their own against any gourmet dish (y’know, I’ve written that sentence 10 different ways, and it just sounds dirty every time). Anyway, I’m guessing the sliders will pair nicely with Brooklyn Local 1.
The calendar continues to grow, including new events out in the suburbs. For city dwellers too lazy to cross City Avenue, though, here’s a good way to get a foreign taste:
Beer and Cheese pairing with Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant at DiBruno Brothers, 1730 Chestnut St., 2nd floor. 215-665-1659.
6-8 p.m., Friday, March 14. $45
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, the East Coast’s fastest growing brewery/restaurant group with seven locations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, will host a beer and cheese pairing event at DiBruno’s. Chris LaPierre, Head Brewer of Iron Hill’s West Chester location will select six handcrafted beers, including his Cannibal, Saison and Quadruppel, to perfectly match with DiBruno’s cheeses. LaPierre and a DiBruno cheese specialist will lead the informative tasting.
Iron Hill has locations throughout the region, but none inside the city. If you’ve never had a chance to taste the brewpub’s best, get your tix now. LaPierre’s Quadruppel and Saison can stand with any Belgian-style ales you’ve ever tasted.
The Philly Beer Week calendar continues to grow. Here’s a cool event that even non-DYIers should check out:
The Extreme Beer Homebrew Challenge, presented by Home Sweet Homebrew at Jose Pistola’s, 263 S. 15th St., 215-545-4101. 7:00 p.m. $45
Join us for beer, food and fun. Meet & greet with Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione, Home Sweet Homebrew’s George Hummel and award-winning local homebrewers. Sam will pour extreme beers from the DFH stable of wacky beers. Signed copies of his “Extreme Brewing” book will be available. Some edgy homebrews will pour and you’ll have a chance to pick up brewing tips from some of the area’s most knowledgeable homebrewers. Tickets available at Jose Pistola’s and Home Sweet Homebrew, 2008 Sansom St. 215-569-9469.
With all the beer festivals I attend, the one thing I’ve come to learn is that, frequently, it’s home-brewed beer that’s the most interesting stuff that’s being poured. Last October at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, one of the best beers I tasted was a homebrew; same goes for last year’s Michael Jackson tutored tasting at the Penn Museum. It may be that I’m overly familiar with many of the craft beers at these events; but the fact is, homebrew can be pretty damn fantastic.
I just updated the PBW calendar. It now lists 81 events over 10 days, and I know of several more coming. We might actually hit 100 separate events - an amazing number in our first year.
Here’s another cool one:
Beer Gone Wild! Tria’s Fermentation School, 1601 Walnut St. 215-972-7076, www.triacafe.com. 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 15th. $55. For Lambic Lovers only! Join Armand Debelder, head of Belgium’s Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, and Dan Shelton, outspoken importer of mind-boggling brews, for a rare chance to lean about these funky fermented treasures.
Just a little background: I believe this is Armand’s first visit to America. Drie Fonteinen is a CLASSIC lambic producer whose kriek was the star two years ago at the Night of Great Thirst, the funky lambic fest held just outside of Belgium every other year. Armand could’ve gone anywhere with his beer, but he’s coming to Philly Beer Week, folks.
And if you can’t make the class at Tria, hurry and you might be able to scoop up tix for a tasting Armand will be doing at Monk’s Cafe on Sunday, March 16th.
By my count, there are already an amazing 75 separate events listed for Philly Beer Week, March 7-16. That’s better than 10 excuses to drink beer EVERY DAY!
The week is book-ended by several large-scale fests (e.g. Joe Sixpack’s Philly Favorites, Brewer’s Plate, Penn tutored tasting, Real Ale). I thought I’d start highlighting some of the smaller events and specials worth checking out.
Beer for Dessert at XIX (19th floor of The Park Hyatt at The Bellevue, Broad & Walnut). Throughout the week, executive pastry chef Dan Pino presents a special menu that incorporates his favorite brews into sweet creations. On the menu:
The desserts will be $9 each.
Temple film student Stephen Metzger is working on a video about Philly beer history and Yards, featuring Marlon Brando as Tom Kehoe, Sean Penn as Rich Wagner and Jerry Mathers as Steve Mashington. Joe Sixpack plays himself in a stellar cameo, which is to say he appears while hammered.Â
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