May 14th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
I’ve confirmed a tip that the Foodery, the city’s superb takeout beer store, is scouting around for a third location. (It already runs shops at 10th and Pine, Center City; and 2nd & Poplar, Northern Liberties.)
Company reps have eyeballed properties in Manayunk and Chestnut Hill, and most recently spoke with development officials in Roxborough. It has no solid plans, yet.
Heading up to the northest section of the city should be a no-brainer. It’s basically middle-class with a growing young population, and it’s almost completely beer-deprived when it comes to takeout beer. The Trolley Car in Mt. Airy has an OK selection in a pinch, but there’s absolutely nothing that’s even half as varied as the Foodery till you get out to Capone’s in Norristown.
I’ve been telling license holders to check out Roxborough ever since I moved out here a decade ago. My personal beer budget could keep a good-sized store afloat for at least six months.
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May 14th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
In addition to running a fine bar, Dave Wilby of Dawson Street Pub (Dawson & Cresson, Manayunk) makes a helluva chicken noodle soup. He cooks his own stock and it’s loaded with plenty of chicken and veggies with just enough noodles to sop up all the brothy goodness. One bowl is a meal, for less than the price of a beer, paired beautifully with a glass of Lagunitas Ruben & the Jets.
I’ve finally figured out Victory Hop Wallop - assuming that’s what they were actually serving on cask at the Boathouse/Conshy last weekend.The ale has always struck me as a bit blunt, too obvious even for a double IPA. On cask, though, the hops seemed a bit softer, but here’s the big thing I noticed: a slight twinge of horseblanket funk. Was the cask turning? Did Victory suffer some cross contamination with its WildDevil? Was this actually a cask of WildDevil? I dunno, but I’d like to think this is what I’d been missing on the many other occasions I’ve tasted Hop Wallop, because here’s what I was what came to mind while enjoying that pint: Imperial Orval.
Cycling fans (I count myself among them) finally have a place to catch international races: Local 44 (44 & Spruce, West Philly). They’ll be showing Dauphine Libere (June 7, and 14) and Le Tour de Suisse (June 14 and June 21). Now, I realize cycling doesn’t quite pack the punch of Monday Night Football (or even boring English Premier League Soccer), but anyone who’s ever spent an afternoon in a Belgian cafe will appreciate the supreme enjoyment of sucking down a cold one while watching the greatest athletes in the world rip down a mountainside.
And finally…
The Marin Institute of California, which publishes one-sided studies bashing alcohol, recently produced something called “The Annual Catastrophe of Alcohol in California.” Among other claims:
“…Alcohol is responsible for severe reductions in individuals’ quality of life in California. We estimate that the disability caused by injury, the personal anguish of violent crime victims, and the life years lost to fatality are the largest costs imposed by alcohol. The total value for this reduced quality of life in California is between $30.3 billion and $60.0 billion.”
Of course, the study doesn’t mention the benefits of booze. According to stats compiled by David J. Hanson, who runs the excellent Alcohol Problems & Solutions web site, beer alone is responsible or about 212,000 jobs and over $8 billion in wages each year in California, plus over $2.5 billion in state and local taxes. And there’s something else. Noting that Marin somehow included the cost of “personal anguish” in its estimates, Hanson asks:
How is ‘personal anguish’ an economic cost? If personal anguish has an economic value, shouldn’t the pleasure provided by consuming alcoholic beverages also have an economic value?”
In my estimation, that pleasure is priceless.
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May 6th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
I’m helping the senior class at Swarthmore College run a small beer festival on Tuesday afternoon, May 26th. I need a few beer-savvy folks to help me pour beer and set these new beer drinkers off on the road of great beer.
If you’re interested, just drop me a line at: don [at] joesixpack.net
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May 4th, 2009 Joe Sixpack
With folks losing jobs left and right, here’s a rare bit of good news on the employment front. Dr. Patrick McGovern, the scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, reports that he’s going to get to keep his job - at least or the next three years.
You might recall that the museum tried to boot McGovern just before Christmas last year, citing budget cuts and its goal to turn the museum into more of a tourist magnet.
(For beer drinkers wondering why this is at all important, click here. McGovern is the scientist behind Dogfish Head Midas Touch, among other historic beer and wine re-creations.)
I know a number of readers told me they wrote to the museum on behal of Pat, who acknowledged that support in his email today.
” I greatly appreciate and thank you for your moral and very tangible support over the past six months. It was manifested in advice, personal letters on my behalf, signed petitions, articles in the press and on the internet, telephone calls, and meetings.
“My goal now is to build upon past research efforts, which [museum director] Richard Hodges has described as ’stellar,’ and make more advances in scientific archaeology.
More advances? Sounds like more beer to me!
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May 1st, 2009 Joe Sixpack
Fleur de Lehigh @ Rich Wagner’s “Breweries of Northern Liberties” lecture, Philly Brewing Co. (Kensington), Saturday, 2 p.m.
St. Pauli Girl @ the 84th Annual Bavarian Spring Festival, Cannstatter (9130 Academy Road, N.E. Philly), Saturday, 7 30 p.m.
Victory Old Horizontal @ 2009 Delaware Barleywine Expo, Stewart’s Brewing, Bear, Del., Saturday.
Sly Fox Maibock @ Sly Fox Goat Race & Bock Fest, Sly Fox Brewery, Phoenixville, Sunday (5/3),
Monkey Knife Fight on tap @ Nodding Head Brewery (Center City), all weekend.
Duck Rabbit Amber @ roll-out of North Carolina’s cult dark-beer brewery, The Side Car (22nd & Christian, Point Breeze), 6-9 p.m. Tuesday (5/5).
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