I love the age verification at Tru-Blood’s web site. Which century were you taken?
Type AB, I’m guessing, is an oatmeal stout. Great for sucking down. All flavor, no bite.
Looking for your favorite beer in town? Wondering what’s on tap at that new joint across town? A new web site just launched that’s promising to provide that info and more.
It’s BeerMenus.com, with a section devoted to Philly. So far only about 50 local joints are cataloged and most of those are incomplete. (For example, there’s no draft list for Monk’s Cafe, yet, though that info is available at Monk’s website.).
Over the years, I’ve seen a bunch of people try to tackle this Herculean task: a digitized list of who’s serving what. The biggest problem are those drafts; bars routinely kick kegs in a day or two, and around Philly it’s common to continually rotate brands.
How do you keep a website like this up to date? I have no idea and I’m skeptical that it’s doable. I will note, though, that BeerMenus.com seems to be putting a lot effort into the task (it’s New York section boasts an impressive 500-plus joints with more than 3,600 beers), and I wish ‘em luck!
Discovered while working on an upcoming column on beer floats: A Weekly World News report (circa 1989) that lumps them in with a bunch of other disgusting entries in “the world’s weirdest snacks.”
But never mind Ruffles potato chips covered with Heinz Home Style Gravy, or mashed potatoes with Cool Whip and apple sauce, what ever happened to the Incredible Frog Boy? “The tiny freak is so revolting,” the paper of alien record reported, the anguished mother is not allowed to see “the incredibly ugly being…”
Nothing better than a cold one in the fresh air. Here are the joints I mentioned this morning during my spot with Glen & Ike on 610WIP:
And are a few others worth visiting:
A cool beer, a warm puff of smoke… I’ll be pairing great beer and handmade cigars tomorrow at B&B Cigars (7920 Germantown Ave., Chestnut Hill). Duck Rabbit & 3 Habanos, Troegs & Tatauje Havana... and more. Crack open a bottle and light up, from 5-8 p.m.
Stop by and take a few drags.
Info: 215-242-6776
Last night’s meet and greet at Monk’s Café with Father Isaac, prior of Abbey De Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, turned up one news tidbit: the monastery’s brewery is close to getting its “La Trappe” name back on bottles of its abbey beer sold in America.
The only Trappist brewery outside of Belgium has had its ups and downs over the years. At one point its beer was made by Artois. In 1999, it lost its rights to use the iconic “Authentic Trappist Product” logo when the International Trappist Association decided the monks were not as active in the brewery business as required under the association’s bylaws. (Its Koningshoeven Brewery is actually a subsidiary of Bavaria-Netherlands, another, private brewing company.) It regained its certification in 2005 after making a few changes and strengthening its relationship with the brewery.
(Just as an aside here for those who imagine robed monks stirring boiling kettles of wort: forget it. All the other Trappist breweries – Chimay, Westmalle, Orval, Achel, Rochefort & Westvleteren – employ professional brewers and a sales force. Monks brew less often than Oliver Wendell Douglas farmed.)
Even after the imbroglio was settled, however, American Trappist monks objected to the Dutch monastery’s marketing of its beer with “La Trappe” on its label. That’s why bottles sold in the U.S. are labeled as “Koningshoeven” (which Google tells me means either King Farmhouses or Royal Hooves)
Which brings us to Father Isaac’s visit to America this week.
He was here mainly to promote the brewery’s 125th anniversary, which is being marked by the release of a celebratory one-off, La Trappe Isidor. (Proceeds from the sale of the beer will help the monastery rebuild a sister monastery in Uganda.) It’s a 7.5 percent amber ale that’s been bittered with hops grown on the monastery’s grounds. I enjoyed one of the first samples poured in the U.S. last night; it was light-bodied, distinctly hoppy and – unlike most ales from this brewery – exceptionally dry.
Notably, Isidor is labeled with the “La Trappe” name, following a compromise with U.S. members of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
Seeing an opening, Father Isaac met over the weekend with the American Trappists at their New Melleray Abbey in Iowa. After speaking with the members, he told me, “I’m very hopeful they’ll approve our La Trappe label” for the remainder of the abbey’s line of beers.
As you might expect at the crossroads where religion meets business, this is all very byzantine stuff involving weird distribution rights and pain-in-the-ass lawyers , not to mention cloistered characters who happen to produce some of the best beer in the world.
Or, in the case of New Melleray, handmade walnut caskets.
“…a pretty good authority on beer.”
Here he is explaining why foam is part of a good glass of beer.
Yards Brewing is close to taking a giant step across the Delaware, with a new brewpub in the Camden County borough of Merchantville, N.J.
The brewery, Philly’s largest, is in talks with the borough to open the pub in the old PNC Bank building (below) at 9 S. Centre St. The borough purchased the 80-year-old building earlier this year through a $1.2 million bond issue, and holds a liquor license for the property.
“We felt that we’ve got a nice, older building with a lot of character,” Merchantville Mayor Frank North told me this morning. “A brewpub would be the right thing for that building, and the right thing for the town… We have a lot of young families and a lot of young professionals coming to Merchantville. This would be a place for them to have dinner and relax and help vitalize the downtown.”
For Yards, the brewpub would be an effective means of spreading its brand to New Jersey - a big priority as it expands production. The Northern Liberties brewery is currently working to open a pub in its production facility on Delaware Avenue.
No word on how long this project will take to come together. Talks over financing and lease negotiations are underway. The big plus is that the borough holds the necessary liquor license, which is always a huge impediment for would-be restaurant and tavern developers.
For Jersey beer lovers, the development would be one more step in the region’s slow but positive evolution as a decent beer destination. Merchantville is just 10 minutes down the road from the soon-to-open Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in Maple Shade. And the borough itself is already home to the Blue Monkey (2 S. Centre St.), which pours 24 taps (including Founders, Stoudt’s, Sixpoint, Weihenstephan, Maudite, Flying Fish, Chimay, Corsendonk…)
A couple weeks ago, I put out a call on Facebook for beer recipes for the grill. Yesterday, for Father’s Day, I tried a simple one offered by Chris Leonard from Gen. Lafayette: flank steak marinated in Chocolate Thunder Porter.
I didn’t have any porter, though, and substituted Samuel Adams Longshot Traditional Bock plus a bit of teriyaki. Soaked overnight, the steak was absolutely superb. I don’t know if it’s the cut, but the flank totally sucked up all that malty goodness.
And now I’m going to try a couple of these delicious-looking recipes (click on the PDF files below) submitted by Meghan Maguire of Ommegang. The plum pork spareribs with Witte sounds tremendous.
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