April 29th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
Mark your calendars: Philly Beer Week is June 4-13, 2010.
Yes, we moved it from the first weekend of March. Believe me, this was an incredibly difficult decision, particularly because we had such great success in March over PBW’s first 2 years.
Why did we move it?
Conflicts with other dates, mainly. Many pub owners and distributors felt they were already busy on the weekends leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Moving PBW would give them an added bang. There was some concern that responsible craft beer lovers are wrongly confused with the chug-and-puke crowd of the Erin Express. (Classic: I’m told that at the Good Dog, Erin Expressers - who were banned from the bar - referred to us as Beer Week Yuppies. Gotta love it.)
Additionally, the Zythos Festival in Belgium is the same weekend, which not only prevents Belgian brewers from visiting Philly (a/k/a Brussels on the Schuylkill), but also presents problems for Belgian importers and distributors. Further, the annual Flower Show - held the last week of February, first week of March - prevents PBW from ever expanding into the Convention Center.
And then there’s the weather. We were extremely lucky this year - the night of Opening Tap was one of the nicest days of the year. But in ‘08, we opened with a miserable storm. And it’s only a matter of time before the week is snowed-under or iced-over.
I opposed the move, mainly because I felt we’d already established ourselves in March. As one local bar owner, who also opposed the move, told me last night: “You don’t get off the winning horse in the middle of a race.”
Why June?
That was the other challenge - if not March, when?
- Moving it into February was deemed untenable because of the weather and the Flower Show.
- Late March, early April runs into the Easter holidays - a perfectly good excuse to drink, in my opinion, but a bad time for out-of-town travelers, who tend to stay at home with their familes. The NCAAs are also in full swing then, making it a busy time for bars.
- May is graduation time, an exceptionally difficult period to book hotels in the city. Toss in Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, and you’ve got even more scheduling problems.
That brought us to June, which is not without its conlicts: Father’s Day, the bike race and a huge outdoor festival in Manayunk. I think PBW can work off all of those, however. I mean, if a guy can’t get a pass to spend the day drinking beer on Father’s Day…
The big plus for June, however, is the weather. Now, we can do more of our beer drinking outdoors. Some of the week’s best events - bike rides, beer-runs, sumo wrestling - are a lot easier to promote in 80-degree sunshine than under 35-degree overcast skies.
So… that’s the thinking that went into moving the date. Agree? Disagree? Personally, I don’t think it’ll matter on June 4th, 2010.
Posted in Philly Beer Week | 6 Comments »
April 28th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
And not just because they continue to employ A-Rod.
New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov blasts the pinstripes for failing to pour anything remotely potable at their new stadium (9 bucks for a can of PBR). It’s a nice lede to a review of the wonders of American craft-brewed pilsners, which ranked these top 10.
- Victory Prima Pils
- Penn Kaiser Pils
- Troegs Sunshine Pils
- Brooklyn Pilsner
- Lakefront Klisch
- Lagunitas Pils
- Sly Fox Pikeland Pils
- Stoudt’s Pils
- Butte Creek Organic Pilsner
- Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils
A couple weeks ago, I noted that Nos. 1, 3 & 7 are all on tap at CitzBank Ballpark.
Thanks to Richard Ruch or the heads-up on the NYT piece.
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April 28th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.
The author suggests using Vegemite as a malt substitute, and possibly foregoing hops. Well, it’s better than making wine in a prison toilet.
As the author notes:
A cool, smooth brew, flavored with whatever you found. It may be very bad, it may be good. It will be beer…Â You are now the most popular person on the boat. Enjoy.
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April 27th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
$125 a head ($225 VIP)Â to spit into a bucket?
Oh, and this is from the press release:
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will operate an on-site store featuring wines sampled at the event, including many that are highly sought after, or not available for purchase in Pennsylvania. A concierge staff will assist with loading wine purchases to guests’ cars.Â
Try that at a beer festival and you’re facing a hefty fine.
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April 26th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
I enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal last night: spaghetti & meatballs. (Only, in my house, it was rice pasta & turkey meat balls.)
Anyway, Mrs. Sixpack kicked things off with a nice, light salad - a course that I’d usually pair with a saison or light lager. We had a bottle of Jumilla on the table to go with the spaghetti, but that wasn’t floating my boat. And I was too damn lazy to run downstairs to the beer fridge. So I pulled out the one bottle I had upstairs: Heavy Seas Below Decks barleywine.
I know, I know - barleywine with the first course is a bit over the top, especially when it’s 90 degrees outside. I mean, where do you go from there?
I should mention that this salad was topped with a few pieces of freshly grilled radicchio, because that’s what made this pairing work like a dream. The bitter spiciness of the leafy veggie matched perfectly with the bitterness of the barleywine.
Not looking to bore you with the details of last night’s dinner here… just wanted to offer a heads up to a food-pairing that you might not ever consider. Barleywine & a salad of greens - who knew?
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April 25th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
I should be pissed - I’ve been talking about writing a kids book about beer for years. But Tom Robbins is practically my favorite author, so I’ll just have to suck it up and get my copy on Amazon.
You can read the first chapter over here.
“Mommie,” Gracie asked one afternoon. “What’s that stuff Daddy drinks?
“You mean coffee, sweetie?”
“Not coffee. Ick! That other stuff that’s yellow and looks like pee-pee.”
Hmmm… must be a story about Coors Light.
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April 20th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
The Allentown Morning Call has an interesting story this morning about Larry Spagnola, the author of ”The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler,” the Anna Paquin movie which aired last night on the Hallmark channel. I missed the film, but it sounds pretty decent - it’s about Irena Sendler, a social worker who helped Jewish children flee the Warsaw ghetto during WWII.
Anyway, if the last name is familiar, it’s because Larry is the brother of John Spagnola, the former Eagles tight end who played on the Birds’ 1980 Super Bowl team.
And the beer connection? Larry Spagnola says he helped write one of the best beer jingles ever, back in the late 1970s. Listen to it here and sing along.
 Here’s to good friends,
Tonight is kind of special.
The beer we’ll pour
Must say something more, somehow.
So tonight (tonight),
Let it be Lowenbrau.
 It’s been so long.
Hey, I’m glad to see ya.
Raise your glass.
Here’s to health and happiness.
So tonight (tonight),
Let it be all the best.
Now that the song is stuck in your head, here’s a bit more trivia: The jingle was sung by Arthur Prysock.
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April 14th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
Just about the saddest day of my life was the day that I had to take my dog to the vet for the last time. I think yesterday came kind of close when I learned Harry Kalas died just before a Phillies game.
I’d lost a friend.
Companionship - just as with my dog, it’s what Harry brought to my life. Countless hours of listening to him describe the only game that really matters. Not just the home runs, though that’s what we’ll always remember. But the plain, joyous monotony of balls and strikes, of extra innings that stretch into the night, of ground-outs and pitching changes, of a lazy fly ball falling into leather.
It was the comfort of familiarity.
I’m one of those people who would rather listen to a game on the radio than actually watch it on the tube. The long pauses between pitches that allow the mind’s eye to imagine the dirt on the cleats, the red pinstripes, the flash of a fastball. Hi-def shots of replays from multiple angles can never replace the visceral bond you feel with a game described by a fellow human being.
It’s somewhat fitting that - in his last full season - he finally got to tell the story of a World Championship. Years from now, it’ll be Harry’s voice that echoes through our mind as Brad Lidge throws that final strike. It’s not victory, however, that I cherish the most when I think of him. Maybe it’s the Philadelphian in me, but what I think about is all those years of utter failure, of listening when the Phils were 25 games out of first place in late September and the lineup featured the likes of Ricky Jordan and Chris James and Shane Rawley - guys you hardly remember. Winning, losing - it meant absolutely nothing on that Sunday afternoon. The Eagles were on TV, but I’d rather listen to the bittersweet sounds of boys playing a game in the lengthening shadows of autumn.
Richie: Say, Harry, did you hear that archeologists recently dug up the grave of Beethoven?
Harry (ever the straight man): Really? No, I didn’t hear.
Richie: Yes, and you wouldn’t believe it, when they opened the coffin, there he was - Beethoven - furiously erasing the notes from a sheet of music!
Harry (supressing a laugh): Slider, just misses the outside corner, 2 and 1… So, Whitey, Beethoven was erasing the notes?
Richie: That’s right -Â he was decomposing!
It is no understatement to say, “You had to be there.”
Last year on opening day, Andy Musser - the third of the Phillies’ best-known trio of announcers - took me to ballpark and introduced me to Harry. I shook his hand and mumbled how nice it was to meet him. Fact is, after 38 years of hearing his voice, I felt we were already friends.
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April 10th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
Reader Ed Riesch cautions I shouldn’t have been so quick to mock the dude who motorized his bar stool. Apparently, this is a big thing out on the Utah Salt Flats, where every September they have an actual bar stool race.
Top speed is 49.972 mph, set last year.
Unbelievable, especially considering that - unlike this one rigged with a Briggs & Stratton - these are powered only by a single 12-volt battery. Here’s the rules, in case you want to rig up your favorite seat:
 1. Must be constructed from a REAL BAR STOOL
2. 12 Volt DC Maximum Power (limited to ONE battery only)
3. MOTORS - Optional (limited to ONE single 12 volt motor)
4. STEERING - Required (keep it simple but safe)
5. BRAKES - Required, single-hand operated, external hand brake okay.
6. BODYWORK and FAIRINGS - Optional at builder discretion. There are TWO class records available. STREAMLINER class will have enclosed wheels and tires. LAKESTER class will have open wheels and tires. Other bodywork allowed in LAKESTER class.
7. TIRES - (4 required) Either pneumatic implement type tires and wheels or solid rubber tires and wheels. 10″ MAXIMUM height.
NO BILLET ALLOY TIRES ALLOWED.
8. 30″ MINIMUM seat height.
9. 23″ MAXIMUM overall wheel track width measured to outside of tires. In streamlined class bodywork can exceed this measurement. Minimum wheel track width 18″ measured to outside of tires. The wheels must be arranged in a rectangular configuration.
10. 21″ MAXIMUM wheelbase.
11. Competitors must wear full face helmet, gloves, long pants and jacket to cover arms. NO SHORTS AND TEE SHIRTS ALLOWED.
12. No Gearbox, or Mechanical Shifting Device.
13. Rider MUST sit on the seat. (Your Butt must be on the Seat!)
14. All riders in the Bar Stool Class must be age 18 or older to participate.
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April 8th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
If you never visited in the few months it was opened… you weren’t the only one. It’s been dead bar walking for the past two months and owner Chris Leonard pulled the plug today.
Here’s his farewell.
Posted in Tavern | No Comments »
