When Two Work Spaces Collide

This is dumb. As you may or may not know, i sit in front of a computer for a living, let me tell you, not a whole lot goes on at this computer on this desk in this cubicle on this wing of the building in this end of the corporate center. Truly. If there was some sort of work pedometer my legs would've rotted away and fell from my hips a long time ago.

So the reason i'm telling you this is because i've got stuff to post, it's already written and ready to rock, but the pictures to go along with these posts are on my camera, in my home, on my nice street in my nice town up the block from my nice brewpub. So you'll have to wait. Add that to the list of productive things i could be doing rather than making phonebooks, which i am not really doing right now anyway. (I just finished typing this entire post, still no action on the phonebooking)

Anyhow, because the option is there and this is actually a post about some upcoming things, events, people, places, times, and beers. Click to see why i've really gathered you all here today.

These little 'Letter of Intent' posts are BS, i know it, you know it. It's like an IOU for blog posts. But since i'll be sitting here at this desk till 3:15 or so, i'm gonna line things up and let you know what to expect from me over the next week. I'm at work, so are you. Gimme a call, tell me about it. 610-731-2824 is Dr. Joel's Workday Hot Line. Calls from a bar during workday hours get you automatically quoted on The Grain Bill. If you leave me a voicemail my work phone automatically turns it into an mp3 on my computer so....just think of how famous you could be.

-The Art of Drinking Troegs, a bit of hype and info and pics for their yearly contest. I meant to do this over the weekend and then the weekend happened.

-My latest batch of homebrew hit my new brewery Tuesday evening. It'd been a good few months since i was able to brew last so there were ups and there were downs. Techniques employed, brewery tools laid to rest, and a monster starter got pitched into wort that's bubbling away as we speak.

-Ortino's Deck opens Saturday afternoon. It opens at 1 and i work at 2:30, so i've got to make quick work of it, but work of it i'll make. See you there.

-Speaking of Ortino's, more of the Dan Bengel Chronicles are due very soon. I'm formulating right now as you're reading this. I'm giving him preferential treatment in the beer part of my brain for a little while.

-The Tiki Bar is open and just about in full swing. We could actually use a couple people on the floor if anyone is interested shoot me a line. It's been a normal start for us, opening night was busier than anticipated, which is always a good thing. I'll be posting beer lists and such as things start to come together for the season. Have you ever eaten Alligator? Ours is marinated in hot sauce and is a suburban delicacy. Come see the man in the hat.

-I am pretty excited for Iron Hill to put their Rye IPA on. I think the board says May 12th (website reads 15th), but i am hazy. If i wasn't so darned busy this week i'd have instigated a maibock bar trip to Iron Hill Bridge St and Sly Fox. Anyhow, it looks like Mr. Tim Stumpf is putting the RIPA on cask as well and it may hit before the 12th as it's set to go on after the current and always delicious Dry Hopped Iron Bound cask hits ground zero. How do i know all this? Cask Ale Kev. He is the Northern Star of cask ale in this area.

-Two places i wanted to get this week will have to wait until next week. Possibly Wednesday for anyone interested. Ron's Schoolhouse Grille / Ron's Original and the reconstructed Victory site. If anyone wants to check these spots out next week, let me know. Sounds like yesterday was the day to be at Victory. Mr. Steele gave a call, but i was knee deep in Mother's Day shopping and Keema Samosa and couldn't take the evening shift.

-So that beer i brewed on Tuesday took me away from an impromptu trip to Capone's for all you can eat crab legs and Hopfen Weiss on tap. Poke my eye out with a crab claw. It hurts missing a trip to Capone's. Matt has some sort of voodoo over me i think. My trips to the bottle shop are the same everytime:

I walk in.
He says, "Hey, how ya doin'?"
I go way over beer budget.

I don't get it. But we're going on Tuesday to remedy the situation.

Anyhow, boy did i ramble on this one. Ah well, at least there was something to do when you came to the site today.

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Bock The Goat

Holy sunshine race fans, you couldn’t ask for a better day to run some goats. With false talk of rain clouds and showers leading up to the day of the Sly Fox’s annual Bock Fest, a bit of sympathy from Ra himself added provision to fruition and as always, the event was a great success. Six heats of pure goat adrenaline, a photo finish, a race off- it was enough to make you start charting out the odds and placing a bet.

The bocks were pouring away as Sly Fox featured something like six or seven different bock beers for the thirsty crowd. Beer lines snaked in front of, inside of, and around the brewpub while smile after smile shined right back up to those clear blue skies. Friends, notables, and strangers littered the festival site and if ever there was a kickoff to this new spring season of ours, it was at the hand of our feet.

So on to the action: Entrekin, Infected, Sundae, Reggie, Lightning, the competition was exactly as fierce as you would guess that competition at a goat race would be. With some close heats and a few disqualifications this thing was far from a landslide. Jasper, a goat with real purpose and speed took the crown by winning a one-on-one race off with first heat winner Entrekin.



My favorite goat of the day did not fare so well, but he had personality in spades and now that he’s got the taste for racing, i’d look for him to be a serious competitor in Bock Fests to come. Reggie, who was not only racing for the first time, but was actually seeing life outside of his own yard for the first time, had a lot to say in our pre-race interview. (I’ll post audio soon.) He was quick and to the point, answering my questions, relieving himself, then trotting off to the starting line.

Between the anticipation of the races, the exhilaration of competition, and the madness of the aftermath, Phoenixville was a oompah-ing, fur flying, beer garten raceway for yet another year. Many were in attendance for the first time and I believe just as many have vowed to make a return.


When waiting in line to get a beer is your only problem of the day, you’ve got to know you’re doing something right. Sly Fox continues to please their hometown fans (and those who like a bit of travel as well) with fun events, great beer, and a mindful eye on tradition. This year’s Bock Fest was no exception. It was a day to just relax and have a glass of beer or three with your friends, a day to be right where you are, and a day to enjoy a great event at a great brewery.



Oh, the Jasper Maibock is delicious.
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Posting Up With Joe Sixpack

So as i wrap my head around the weather miracle that was yesterdays Goat Race at Sly Fox and prepare my thoughts on the event, i'd like to post Joe Sixpack's column for this week. It's a great read and it wakes up all of those little thoughts about Philly's beer culture that are bouncing around in your head. I'm going to paste the whole thing in here because the link will take you to his new column each week. A story like this deserves a longer shelf life than 7 days.

May 2, 2008 | Build a good bar, and they will come

"I KEEP HEARING from readers who tell me, "I moved to this neighborhood because of [fill in the blank] bar." I hear it in South Philly, West Philly, Bella Vista, Center City and, more than anywhere, Fishtown, home of Johnny Brenda's Tavern.

One of these days, some smart, urban-planning scholar is going to publish a study on the role of beer in attracting new people to the city. Until then, we'll have to rely on anecdotes like this one:

The dude's name is Tyler Hays, 39, originally from Oregon but more recently of New York, where he's president of a Soho furniture company called BDDW. If you've never heard of the firm, it's only because you haven't been shopping for a $12,000 maple credenza lately.

His furniture designs are impeccable - beautiful craftsmanship that is regularly featured in the likes of Vogue, House Beautiful, GQ and the New York Times Sunday magazine.

Most of the pieces are constructed by hand at a studio in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. But the company has been growing and needed more space. So last year, Hays found himself nosing around on a real estate Web site, hunting for cheap buildings in Brooklyn.

"I came across this one building in Philly that looked pretty good," he remembered. "I said to myself, 'I just wish Philly wasn't 4 1/2 hours from New York.' I mean, what do I know?

"I Mapquested it and discovered, man, it's only an hour-and-a-half away. I climbed into my car and drove straight to Philly."

The building was in Port Richmond, tucked among rowhouses just off of Richmond Street. Big and ugly and vacant, it was previously a commercial printing shop that produced cereal boxes, among other products.

"A dump," Hays said.

He drove around, wondering if he'd wasted the trip. Down Aramingo, across Lehigh, past York to Girard - somehow, he found himself walking through the front door of Johnny Brenda's. "I went in and I'm thinking, holy cow, this is like Williamsburg 10 years ago."

Now, I have readers in Fishtown who get pissed any time I mention Johnny Brenda's because, after all, the neighborhood is ripe with corner bars - bars that have been pulling in the locals for generations. I tell them a favorite bar is a personal choice; it's hard to put a finger on what makes any place special.

Johnny Brenda's? A superb, local tap list, very good, affordable Mediterranean dishes, a laid-back dining room, an upstairs music venue - those are all obvious.

But there's more: a sidewalk sculpture for locking up bikes, a handmade iron railing, the painted tin ceiling, the hipster bartenders, a stack of community fliers by the door, a guy playing old records on a turntable, comfortable lighting, a red-felt pool table, well-scuffed linoleum floors and tattooed locals.

Tyler Hays took it all in.

"New York turns you into a snob," he said. "Then, you see a bar that really gets it. No posers. It feels like Philly. It's not trying to be anywhere else."

He went back to New York and started raving about the city, about how it wasn't so far away, about the monster space in Port Richmond, about how cheap it would be to live here.

"I told everyone how great it would be for the employees," Hays said. "You pay them $20 an hour in New York, they can't buy a studio in the city for that. It costs $2,000 a month for a loft in the Bronx . . .

"Down here, I can buy a house for a couple hundred grand. I can buy a pint of beer for $4 at a bar that's not crowded with a bunch of posers with their foreheads full of Botox."

Hays drank his beer and bought the building. Two of his employees quickly followed and now the three share a house on Thompson Street in Fishtown. When the workshop is at capacity, it will employ at least 30.

New jobs, new taxpayers - all because of a bar.

Yeah, it's just an anecdote, but I mention it for two reasons.

First, many politicians and community leaders in this town have a knee-jerk reaction whenever someone wants to open a new bar in the neighborhood. They make the owners jump through hoops for zoning permits, they give them grief at every turn.

I know, the city has its share of nuisance bars. But it's just as true that a good tavern run by responsible owners can be a community asset.

And second, I think we've got a new slogan, folks. Philadelphia: Our forehead's not full of Botox."

-Joe Sixpack

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The Session #15 - The Beer That Did It

On the first Friday of every month, beer bloggers the world over combine to offer their views, opinions, and experiences on one uniform topic. We have the wonderful Mr. Stan Hieronymus to thank for it and there's a great explanation and backstory at Jay Brook's blog here.

This month's topic, The Beer That Did It is a call to all of us to think about the beer that made us really sit back and think about things, that one beer that completely opened up our minds to a whole world of history, tradition, people, buildings, techniques, ingredients, and change.

The session for May 2008 is being hosted by Boak and Bailey whose UK Beer Blog is always worth checking in on. So while my contribution can be read right here by clicking 'Read More', you can go to Boak and Bailey's to get links to other posts on this topic from around the world. It's very cool. So on with the show i suppose....

Up from the rhizome and down to the cone, hop bines are a work of beauty in their purely whimsical sense of growth. Given structure, the bine will follow its path climbing ever upward. The transitive harvest of diamonds. In a beer, hops are extremely easy to identify, they are bright, bitter, and refreshing at once. For a newcomer to beer, they are easy to pay attention to and by that I mean to say they’re at many times unavoidable.

I got into good beer as a hophead. Simple as that. I’ve since come to understand much more about beer and its subtleties and its intricacies, but there was indeed a time when tons of great craft beers were too malty, tripels were too perfumey, and too many other Belgians just tasted like rotten fruit. I’m not scared to admit it, i’m just glad i didn’t think i was cool enough to blog about it back then. Actually, i don’t even think there were blogs back then. Consider the stars aligned.

I am proud to say, like so many others, that the beer that did it for me is one of classic example, it’s one that is very important to the current craft beer landscape, and most vitally, its one i can come back to every once in a while and remark to myself with each sip, “Man, that’s a nice beer.” Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause please for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Put yourself in my sandles for a few minutes, will ya?

You’re in between your Freshman and Sophmore year of college. You’re a dirty hippie. You’ve got dreadlocks growing like lead hop bines out of your head and diving past your shoulders. You’re in a parking lot in Camden waiting for a concert to start. It’s like a Cannabaceae family reunion out there. (Wisely, you’d eventually learn to take your lumps and just stick with the hops.)

“One for three, two for five. Heady beeeeers!”

Before you can take so much as 10 steps down Shakedown Street, Dave, your traveling buddy for the weekend-who you just met in a summer class at the local community college-puts a Sierra Pale Ale in your hand. It’s been on ice all morning and it is one of the most amazing things you’ve ever swallowed. In the summer sun you stare at the flowers that grace the label, the water, the mountain range. It’s beautiful man.

At this point you don’t even know what beer is made of, but you know this beer is a miracle. So onward you go into life and before you know it you’re actually seeing this beer on tap. Sometimes it’s just as you remember it, sometimes it tastes like dirty metal and you’re disappointed. You wonder how something so eye opening, so flooring could actually taste…bad. So you move down the taps to something else, Bass probably. Wait a minute, why does this one taste like metal with pennies glued to it? Eventually you learn that some bars don’t clean their lines and that others can’t move a half of Pale Ale to save their souls.

Whether justly or not you now listen to professed hopheads and wonder if their journey is similar to yours, maybe they’re just a few beers away from discovering abbey ales or maybe they need a more distinct bridge. Maybe they’ll get a mouthful of Cascades in an American Brown or American Wheat and head off into a new direction. Or maybe their journey is theirs and theirs alone, you can’t even fathom a guess as to where it will take them. Maybe it’s better that way.

Somewhere between Dark Star and Harry Hood it all just clicked together though. One beer led to another, one style led to another, and one brewery led to another. Now you’ve got beer aging in the basement, you’re scrubbing labels off of bottles to fill with your latest fermented concoction and you’ve got a glass resting on your Sierra Nevada coaster as you type your entry into a worldwide celebration of beer, its culture, its people, its power, and its beauty.

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Woe is Me

I don’t get a rush of comments on this site, but maybe this post will open the floor up a bit, who knows.

I’m not really held back by much in my dining / beer drinking adventures, I don’t meet any resistance when I want to go out to dinner and have a good beer at the same time. I realize this isn’t the case for everyone. Be it families, girlfriends, business partners or what have you, sometimes you end up at a place that just doesn’t serve any beer you’d like to drink.

Looking at the list of beers can be a little disappointing when you realize that some restaurants are stocking virtually the same beer just with six different labels. This is not to say that their customers don’t buy enough of all six to keep them re-ordering from the distributor, but the fact that there are about 100 styles of beer is hard to get by when you are staring at a menu full of beers that all look and taste the same.

In some cases, restaurant owners may not see the big deal in bringing in what may sound like another fad that they’ve fallen for in the past (malternatives, et al) and in other cases they may feel a bit intimidated by the risk of a higher priced product that they may not be able to move. They may just not want to fix what they might not see as broken.

Distributors are a big key here and in this area they have been stepping up well over the last few years. More and more restaurants and chains are looking at the numbers (double digit growth through the industry, increased market share) and seeing the obvious benefit of putting something, anything on their list. The sales forces of PA’s local breweries do wonders for their brands and get actively involved in the beer drinking communities that support them.

Yet still, not everyone is with it and the potential for bigger things within the spectrum of beer is stifling. Sure not everyone is going to be all that excited by craft beer and by imports, but as the numbers show- the customer base is getting bigger and bigger and all those folks have to go out to dinner sooner or later. Right?

Here’s the thing. As new restaurants open up and really now I speak about the suburbs, in Philly its become kind of automatic that you at least have something for the good beer drinkers (which makes Don Russell so, so right), they come up with their shtick and they try to be a million appealing things and then fall flat with their beer offerings due to a simple lack of education, effort, or understanding (assumption on my part).

Putting together a decent list of beer offerings is pretty easy if you know what to look for. Every restaurant can’t be the next great beer bar nor should they, but looking at what you have on your menu or your theme, or whatever defines you as a restaurant will dictate what beers make sense for you. Example. A new restaurant opens up in the town I grew up in. It’s a pretty cool building, they’ve got more hours than most places in town, their menu is nicely sized with something for everyone including a variety of Cajun/Creole sandwiches and wraps.

16 taps and 20 bottles later and nothing that really links up. Sierra on draft, check. Hoegaarden on draft, check Blue Moon, check. Sam Adams, check. The thing is, you just opened up, you’ve got a menu full of food to please an Italian craving, a Spanish craving, a seafood craving and a beer list that’s practically lifeless. I’m not saying it’s a short coming of the restaurant, but this is a gap that would be easily filled. Sure Sierra Nevada, and Hoegaarden are beers that I’ll happily settle for in such a grim case as this, but it’s just so hard to trust draft beer in a place that carries so little good beer. A bottle of Sam Adams is probably what I’d settle for here. Is that what you want to feel like when you sit down to dinner? Like you just settled for something? Not when there’s 36 beers on the menu.

My point, scattered as it may be becoming, is that if you take these 16 draft lines and these 20 bottles and pour them all into their own glass and line them up on the bar, all but 6 or 7 are going to look the same, barely identifiable from one to the other just by looking at them. After putting together 12 varieties of sandwich, 8 different tortilla wraps, and 5 steaks and 5 salads for the menu you are going to let 30 beer choices battle it out in your coolers waiting for the Bud bottle drinker, the Bud draft drinker, the Miller Lite bottle drinker, the Miller Lite draft drinker, the Michelob Ultra bottle drinker, the Michelob Ultra draft drinker, the Michelob Lite bottle drinker, and the Michelob Lite draft drinker to walk through the door but you won’t take a chance on a beer that’s a little different or exciting? It’s all a big mystery to me. You’ve got 7 beers that you offer both on draft and in bottle? Why? What do they all have to do with what defines you as a restaurant?

In this case something as simple as an offering from Abita or Dixie can sell you some beer in your restaurant with the slightest effort on your part. It’s not an expensive case, it actually fits into one of the themes that’s running straight through your food menu, it sounds just right to the guy about to order lunch:

“What’s that Ab..Abita beer all about?”

‘Abita is a brewery from New Orleans, their Amber Ale goes really well with our Bourbon Street Chicken Sandwich actually.’

You don’t have to spell it out, you look clever for offering it and any Amber Ale is gonna go just fine with chicken fingers and coleslaw in sauce on a bun. Can you really do that same thing with those 30 look alikes that we poured and set up on the bar?

I know, I know. Not every restaurant wants to make their staff memorize facts about beer or wine or booze, but one small piece of info like that can cover a bunch of their menu items and pulls their theme together. People now remember their little Louisianan experience and to them and the friends they tell, you’re the Cajun place with that New Orleans beer. Those little differences, having what nobody else does aren’t hard (especially in Pottstown) and they’ll bring some people back for more.

So where am I going with this? I dunno. Is it ok to just ramble for a morning? Hope so, because that’s what you’re getting out of me today. Share your thoughts or go drink a beer. Or do both.

Oh right, to leave you with a question. Is it just overthinking the whole thing to wonder why a place would carry 20 macro lagers and not make an attempt at something more interesting or carry something with an allusion or tie in to the menu? Is the line of thinking that if you don't carry Miller Lite in a bottle and on draft that you are really going to take that big of a hit?

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Outer Styles - Maibock

You might not know it by looking out the window this week, god forbid you go outside in this mess, but it’s just about May out there. Brown things are turning green, green things are turning all kinds of colors, people are peeking their heads outdoors. Despite the fact that it’s pretty darn cold out there right now, the sun is gonna be out before you know it and you’ll be forcing yourself off of the couch with any excuse you can.

Beerwise the obvious choices will start popping their heads up as well. There’ll be a wheat beer for every day of the week, maybe a pale ale here or there, we should all be drinking Saison until October. But what’s that you hear in the distance? Is it a tractor stuck between gears? Is it a chainsaw? A gattling gun? A ring tone?




It’s a goat.

May. The brewers have been lagering a beer away for you for two months or so and now it’s time to give them their due. It is Maibock season my friends, time for Munich’s first craft beer. A bit lighter than your typical bock or a bit stronger than that Helles you like so much, Maibocks rely on a lightly kilned base of Pilsner malt usually, though some use Vienna and you’ll find a bit of Munich malt (which other, heftier bocks rely more heavily on) to get a nice base that’ll contrast with a noble hop aroma and flavor.

Maibocks are just right for the time of year that May should be showing us as it arrives. Crisp and refreshing, they aren’t a one and done beer; whether you’re on your porch or a picnic bench they’ll see you through the duration. Without a lot of big flavors coming from the fermentation, you’ll get a great idea of how malt and hops combine and compliment each other with a nice Maibock.

Plus, it’s a darn festive beer. And a fest’ing it will go. Below is a small guide to the Maibocks of our fine land:

Iron Hill – Phoenixville -Tapping 4/29 (oops May 1st, sorry Kevin!)

Stoudt’s - Double Maibock -Just nabbed 2nd place at the Manayunk Brew Fest

Victory – St. Boisterous -All German malt and hops. On draft here and in further lands, bottles are only in PA

Union Barrel Works – Maibock -Like Stoudt’s they soothe the higher alcohol with honey

That’s the short list of what I’ve dug up. If any of the other local brewpubs brew one up i’ll be sure to add it to the list. Enjoy your Maibocks people, the wheat beers can wait and you don’t have to break the lawnmower out just yet. It’s strange though, i just can’t help but feel like i’m forgetting something. I dunno, i guess i can come back for an edit if it comes back to……OH!

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAE!

The annual Sly Fox Goat Race / Maibock Festival is this Sunday, May 4th. Food, Music, Six different Bocks for the tasting.

A goat race decides the name of this year’s Maibock and let me tell you, the competition is going to be fierce. Stories of horn sharpening, muscle enhancers, and loads of trash talk have all been circulating at Goat Competitor and I think this is gonna be a race for the ages. The event is from 11 am – 7 pm and I hope to see you folks there. Important parking info here.

Enjoy your Maibocks everybody.

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Sometimes You've Just Got To Say It

Man, we've got it good.

Despite the bumps in the road caused by the lumps on the log that run the drinks game in this state, we really do have a good thing going for ourselves. Every once in a while you've just got to sit back and sort of reflect on a few things, look at the world around you and say, "Jeez, this is kinda incredible."

And say so i will.

I live in Phoenixville, PA. There used to be a really fun brewpub a block from where my apartment is. Now when i want to get something good and fresh i take the 1202 ft walk to Iron Hill. Tim Stumpf is doing really good things there. His dry hopped cask conditioned Iron Bound Ale is a masterwork. I'll be stopping by for the Maibock tomorrow after work if anyone cares to join me.

Now i admit, i was at first not sold on Iron Hill. The food at the three i've eaten at (West Chester, Media, Phoenixville) is always really good, but in my younger beer drinking days i didn't understand why there were no all out hop bombs, nothing crazy, nothing out of the box. Then i actually learned a thing or two and realized that they do such service to styles like Wee Heavy, Roggenbier, and classic Stouts. Their attention to classic styles is worth tasting and when they do step out of the box, they do it their own way. They attract more than just beer drinkers and make them drink beer. It's a good thing. In this beer drinking world of big, different, strange, and varied it seems almost a gutsy perspective to be the normal, classic, to the letter guys and Iron Hill does a darn fine job of it.

If i just feel like 1200 feet is too much, i'll cut my losses and square it off at about 980 feet at Cheese! While i feel like Phoenixville is still a few years and a few key businesses away from coming into its own, i've gotta say Mike Romando typifies what the town is all about. He's excited about local business, he stocks a lot of local goods, he's got a cheese in mind for any occasion, and oh yeah- he likes beer. He's homebrewed and he's versed on the flavor components that make his cheese match what you want to drink. Sometimes when the timing is just right, an impromptu beer and cheese session can hop off after hours and suddenly your must have cheese list triples before your eyes.

Speaking of bringing your own bottle, the Black Lab Bistro has got some serious chops in the kitchen. While i'm sad to see my longtime favorite, the braised short ribs, gone from the menu, i am looking forward to heading back in for a bite.

Ok, let's travel off of Bridge Street. We're talking Phoenixville, so by law, we're talking about Sly Fox. Firkins on the third Friday of the month, the IPA Project, what Jack Curtin reports as a hopeful cask renaissance, Corey behind the bar, and oh...when you catch a really fresh Royal Weisse, holy moly. I still haven't checked out the Monday night crew there. Maybe next time i find a few bottles of something really special i'll head in.

I've never had a young beer at Sly Fox. Never. Their beers are always worth every well priced penny. I'll be interviewing goats on Sunday for some of the best Goat Race coverage that you ever did see. I was very excited to find out it's on a Sunday this year as i've always had to work when they were doing Saturdays. See you there.

From here it's just a matter of which way you want to drive. Keep heading down 113 and you've got Ron's Schoolhouse with their deep beer list and all new bar followed by The Drafting Room in Exton who need absolutely no explanation (followed by Victory, followed by the Flying Pig, by TJ's, by TND...get me?) or you could turn back towards town and the Epicurean's bottle shop for some nice prices on singles like Brooklyn Brown ($2.50), Schneider Weisse ($4.50), or Orval ($6.50) before striking out in a different direction. I'm partial to the back roads that lead me all the way to Wayne (about a 20-25 minute jaunt) for Teresa's whose Brunch (Sundays), Flight Night (Mondays), Tasty Tuesdays (special pairing menu on Tuesdays), or my weekly residency (Thursday) are always worth the trip. Plus with a nice bottle shop (Landis) and the cream of the distributing crop (Beer Yard) both less than a mile away, this is a 'can't go wrong' situation.

Point of the story folks, is that we've got a really healthy thing going here on our side of PA. This is just my little neck of the woods. We haven't even talked about other stretches of the suburbs, let alone the 309 divider line, let alone the city. Feel free to share your local joys in the comments section. Read more!