Tuesday

I accidentally started Tuesday a little early, attending Drexel’s Culinary Arts program hosting Patrick Jones from Triumph Brewpub in Olde City.  After a brief overview of beer, we got to sample 4 styles (Centennial IPA, Irish Red, Irish Stout, and Honey Wheat) and their accompanying dishes prepared by culinary students.  While there, I ran into Andrew Miller, who’s getting the Drexel Brew Club started up.  I got to see their 30-gallon boiler and chiller—quite impressive.  I’m looking forward to stealing it for a few hours to pursue my own devious recipes…

Grace

Grace Tavern had Harpoon as their guest, but no sign of a brewer.  Oh well.  The IPA wasn’t bad, but it didn’t stand out either.

Doobies

At Doobies, Sly Fox was featuring their Standard Ale on the handpump, a draught that until now has only been available at Standard Tap.  The owner of Standard Tap, William Reed, and Sly Fox master brewer Brian O’Reilly were on hand, and William shared some great stories about opening bars, buying places on whims, and running two great venues that are looking at some (hopefully) great years ahead.

Devil’s Den

A great way to end the night, I picked up a flight of Ommegang’s best.  They were too crowded to find out what the flight consisted of, but we enjoyed it nonetheless while taking in the madness. 

Wednesday

Nodding Head

A light night, with just a beer at Nodding Head.  The firkin of barleywine had just kicked, but I got the first glass of the new firkin of Palo Santo Marron from Dogfish Head.  Becky had a glass of Da Phunk, a barrel-aged version of Nodding Head’s The Phunk aged 7 months in a red wine (Chambourcin) barrel from Chaddsford Winery.  Over a plate of hummus, this was the perfect 11pm nightcap.  Light night, all in preparation for tomorrow night.

Local 44

I couldn’t pass up an email I got around noon offering all pints at Local 44 for just $3!  I had a porter that started with Sin, and Ben had the Coniston Bluebird Bitter, which we both loved.  It was also featured later that night at Tiedhouse—coincidence?  Probably not, since it was equally refreshing there.  I will be looking for this beer come summer time.

Not drunk?

Tiedhouse

Low-power flight

Monday night, Beer Club had 5 members show up for the Session Beer Project at Tiedhouse with Lew Bryson and Russ Czajka.  After keeping Russ peppered with questions for a good half hour, we have quite a few tips to practice at our next brewing.  We’ve been flying by the seats of our pants till now, with temperature control a complete afterthought.  Time to incorporate that variable into the mix.  I was really impressed with the food at Tiedhouse—only one item on the menu over $10, and the burgers were excellent.  Just the right balance of butteriness and moisture without being feeling like I just struck the cow’s jugular.  It went down perfectly with a pint of the Economizer—Gen. Lafayette’s “recycled” beer—that tasted like a cold peach on a hot summer evening.  The Red Velvet (a half & half mix of the Chocolate Thunder and their Irish Red) brought some much needed sweetness and openness to the porter half, while the maturity of the porter balanced the freshness & shininess of the red half.  Now I know I need a case of the Irish Red to counter the half-case of Thunder at home in the beer fridge.

Lew Bryson talks a good talk, but
just how good can a low-abv beer be?

Green Room

Afterwards, we headed to Becky’s old stomping-ground, the Green Room at 20th and Green.  The always-lovely JC took care of us, pulling out a few oft-overlooked bottles from the fridge.  It’s not the kind of place people order real beer often, but as Tom Kehoe pointed out during Craig LeBan’s chat on 3/3, you can walk into a dive bar and find good beer—something largely unheard of outside of Philadelphia.  I had a Flying Fish ESB and a shot of scotch and called it a night.