The winners for 2008 World Beer Cup were recently released on their website.
http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/winners_list/winners_2008.html

If you are looking for good ways to stock your fridge, I would check out some of the winners.  I'm going to make it my goal in the next couple months to try as many gold medal winners as I can.  There are some locals that placed quite well in a few categories.  Enjoy!

Joe

This, our second meeting at Zot, was overall fairly disappointing. First of all, they didn’t open “Upstairs at Zot” because the bartended called out sick. This is disappointing for a couple of reasons. I am a fan of Zot’s beer list, but I was looking forward to $5 American craft draughts. Instead, I paid $7-$10 for their imported bottles. Also I feel the atmosphere “Upstairs” is more suitable for a beer club meeting.   Sitting downstairs would have acceptable except that they were short staffed and under supplied. It took longer than usual to get a beer and they appeared to be out of stock for many of their beers. While it may be that our members were choosing the most popular beers on the list and that’s why they were out, but it seemed to me that they didn’t have roughly half their menu. What’s the point of having a beer list of over 100 if you are only going to have 50 of them? Thursday night should not be night where this should happen. It is the unofficial start of the weekend and they should be fully stocked.

It’s not all negative - we did have decent turn out, picking up a random member, Sean Duffy, and having 2 first timers show up.

If anyone had a particularly delicious or atrocious beer at Zot, feel free to share it. It would be nice to get some discussions/debates going. Post it as a comment.

Take Care and Keep Drinking,
Joe

Please join us on Saturday, April 5th from 9:00 - Noon when we join the New Kensington Community Development Center in cleaning up Frankford Ave.  We will meet at the NKCDC Garden Center at Frankford and Berks and will help them clean trash off the Frankford Ave and surrounding areas.  There will be a BBQ afterwards which is sponsored by the Philedelphia Brewing Company.   Email Andrew or Joe if you have any quesitons.

Click here to view the location in Google Maps

I recently went home to Harrisburg for the Easter holiday and was pleased to find that my father had a case of Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout hanging out in the fridge. What a wonderful surprise. My father is and always has been a fan of dark beers. He came to the Philadelphia Craft Beer Fest on March 1 and was able to sample the Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn. He instantly fell in love, and thanks to Brooklyn’s fairly wide distribution network, I was able to enjoy the stout all weekend. It worked quite well with the holiday ham and was awesome with my mothers lemon cake. Also, weighing in near 10%, it was powerful enough to allow me to take a few of those wonderful holiday naps.   All in all, a good holiday surrounded by good family and lubricated by a wonderful stout from Brooklyn.

We went to Dock Street yesterday for a lecture from Philadelphia Area beer historian Rich Wagner. A decent crowd was gathered by the time he started, shortly after 6:00. He jumped right into the history (well short lived history, his starting point was 1978) and began going over all the previous Philadelphia craft breweries. While I found it fascinating that seemingly everyone who is involved in Philadelphia beer now got their start and worked together at some of these early brew pubs/breweries, I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t go deeper into the history. However, he did pepper his lecture with tales of his own experiences at certain breweries and his pictures were certainly interesting. Overall, I’m glad I went, I did learn a few facts, and as always, the Dock Street food and beer were amazing.

Some happy and some sad thoughts come to me now that Philadelphia Beer week is coming to an end. I have a new found respect for alcoholics, who can drink night in and night out. At this point I’m a bit beered out, but I’ll push through the last couple events. Up next for us, is the beer run tomorrow at the art museum. Andrew sent out an email earlier so hopefully some of you can make it! Take care and keep drinking,   —Joe

I arrived at the Independence Visitors Center at 5:30, a bit early but I was kind of hoping for a sneak peak at the night's festivities.  After sitting around and waiting for it to open, I couldn't have been more excited when 6:00 PM rolled around.  Once inside, I immediately began questioning the location of the event.  The Independence Visitors Center only offered one faily narrow corridor which housed the 21 restaurants and 21 breweries.  With nearly 200 VIP tickets sold and who knows how many regular ones, it seemed like it would get crowded, and fast.

Being one of the first ones inside was a pleasant treat however, since we were able to sample many of the foods and beers at our own pace, before any lines formed.  It was here that I tasted the Belgian stew from the Abbaye and the Sly Fox O'Reilly stout.  Both were an exquisite beginning to a memorable night.  The stout was as crisp and flavorful as the stew was delicious.  An excellent pairing which blended beautifully.  While I probably won't take the time to elaborate on all that I tasted, I'll be sure to mention the highlights.  Fork and Dogfish Head was another excellent pairing.  The shrimp ceviche worked with fruitiness of the Midas Touch. Their dry body of Midas worked well to cut through the fattiness of the glazed ribs.  The Rose Tattoo oysters worked wonders with the Double Simcoe IPA from Weyerbacher.  If you remember, Weyerbacher was the first official tasting that Philly Beer Club participated in, many month ago in McGillians.  Since then, I've gained a much more sensitive tongue and loved the combination of raw oysters with the briskness of the IPA.  Last on my highlights page, although I can truly say that I love every morsel I put into my mouth, is the Beeramisu from General Lafayette Inn.  This was amazing.  A true culinary delight.  It worked so well with the Chocolate Thunder Porter (which it was made from) that my mouth was in serious flavortown.  Magnificent.

Upstairs, away from the riff-raff, was a quieter VIP section which was well worth the money.  A spread provided by Di Bruno Brothers with Victory, Southampton, and Brooklyn Brewery being poured like water, was the main attraction.  This, along with tables made for sitting, was definitely worth the extra money I paid to be a VIP.   The true icing on the cake were the tastings, the first of which was conducted by none other than Garrett Oliver, who needs no other introduction.  He paired 6 beers with 7 distinct cheeses and let us all tap into his vast knowledge of both.  What I wouldn't give for that man's mind and his appreciation for flavors.  The second tasting was conducted by the equally as knowledgeable Marnie Old, who also took us on a wonderful flavor journey.

Sadly the night did have to come to an end, not without a few photo ops with various brewers, owners, Philly beer elite, and of course, Philly Beer Club.  Thankfully, however, beer week is just beginning.  After a well executed Brewer's Plate, I'm looking forward to the rest of beer week where I hope to get to know some brewers, owners, etc, more intimately and get the Philly Beer Club name out there.  Next meeting will be tomorrow night (Monday, March 10)  at Triumph Brewing for Ultimate Beer Trivia with IPA.  Hope to see you there and as always, keep drinking.    -Joe

With over 50 breweries and 120 beers, I think writing anything detailed would be monumental.  I did notice that a few of the attendees were taking notes, however I was not one of them. 

My overall experience was a definite positive one.  It was daunting at first, seeing a huge line snaking around itself thrice.  But once inside, the cavernous building swallowed up the crowd.  Yeah, it was a little crowded, but you never had to wait longer than 1 minute for which ever brew you were going for, although a little pushing and nudging helps.

As for the beer itself, I was not disappointed at the taste or quality of any of the many that I tried.  I was a little disappointed at the amount per sample that I was sometimes given.  Garrett Oliver, head-brewmaster of Brooklyn Breweries and author of The Brewmaster's Table, cries fowl over the 4 oz sample that often are associated with beer flights, tasting, and festivals.  While I was given a cup that held 4 ounces of beer, it was rarely filled to the top.  As Garrett says, and I agree, even 4 oz isn't near enough to truely experience the beer.  One cannot get the correct aroma or taste experience out of such a small sample.  

This was my second year attending this festival, with both experiences ranking about the same to me.  I hope that this is a Philadelphia tradition that sticks around every year.   However, from what I hear, the festival organizers are not treating the brewers well.  This caused a few of my local favorites to drop out of the festival all together.  While the average attendee might not notice, I certainly noticed the void caused by those who dropped out.  I hope this sends a message to the festival organizers, but I fear it will not. 

Anyway, I'll be back later this week to preview the upcoming beer week.  Hopefully we will get 1 or 2 events organized and I know personally, I'll be attending all I can.  Take care and keep drinking...

 Joe

Why didn't I think of this.  Perhaps I've killed too many brain cells.

Quick note on Baltic Porter.  Joe SixPack from Philadelphia Weekly had an article on a Baltic porter from Victory which tells a bit about the history.  It can be found here: http://joesixpack.net/columnArchives/2008/010408.htm.  I'll certainly be trying the Lancaster variety at St. Tap.

Whats a Super Bowl party without good beer?  (Don't answer, its rhetorical).   I celebrated the Big Game yesterday at a co-workers house where we chowed down on some delicious food (wings, ribs, shrimp, etc) and of course drank some hearty beers.  Here is a sampling of what we had -

St. Bridget's Porter - Great Divide Brewing Company - This porter was so dark and delicious, it practically erased the taste of the grilled pork ribs.  The heavyness of the flavor may have been a bit much in a normal situtation, but when paired with fatty ribs, it was superb. 

Dogfish Head Raison D'etre - One of my all time favorites.   This is often confused (by me) with the D'extra, the 20% powerhouse of a beer also by Dogfish Head.  The d'etre (which actually means "Reason to Be" and is not necessarily a note to the beer's raisin taste) has a malty flavor with some hints of nutmeg and other spicies.  I tried to with grilled shrimp with garlic aoili and while it wasn't the best combination, was definitely palatible.  Overall I love this beer.

Sam Adams Winter Lager - I think we had to have this.  The Patriots were in the Super Bowl after all.   Since I'm sure many of you have had this, I'll spare you from my thoughts.

Brooklyn Brown - Another necessity.  From NY, like the Giants.  One of my recent favorites. 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - Another good addition to the fatty and fried wings and the juicy ribs.  It cuts through fat like a knife through butter, which is essentially the same thing.

I'll keep you updates on beer week as we figure out what we're doing as a group (if anything).  As of now, I know that I'm attending the Craft Beer Fest on 3/1 and the Brewer's Plate on 3/9.  Look for a group-wide email once Andrew and I pound out a new event.  Take care and keep drinking.

-Joe