In 2006, when Matt Keasey opened the doors to the Spring House brewery—which is located in the barn on his property outside the city limits—he learned a valuable lesson about just how magnetic beer can be.
Long Trail lends a hand to citizens in need; brewers throughout the Northeastern US cope with floods; can extra bubbles give Foster’s a lift?; Yuengling expands distribution to the Buckeye State; and the world’s strongest fermented beer, fresh from a deer.
Today, Philly has upwards of 20 breweries within a 100-mile radius, including Yuengling, the oldest brewery in America, and nationally known brands like Victory, Flying Fish and Stoudt’s.
Switching from the once-ubiquitous brown bottles to cans may have been novel nine years ago, but today, it’s just one way craft brewers are reexamining their relationship with the container industry in hopes of shaving costs and putting better beer on the shelves.
At his environmentally conscious Philadelphia brewpub, Earth Bread + Brewery, guest taps outnumber Baker’s own beers by nearly two to one. That way, customers looking for an American IPA can drink somebody else’s, and Baker’s taps are free for his more unusual and experimental beers.
Will Straub’s returnable bottles get canned?; Independent Brewers United acquired by North American Breweries; no Christmas this year for Goose Island; and Sierra Nevada teaming up with Trappist monks.
Craft beer is dark, it is light, it is hoppy and it is sour. The one thing it is not, is mass produced. That fact is never forgotten at Old Forge Brewing Company, a small brewpub in the heart of Danville, Pa. Located on Mill Street, where local artisans craft virtually everything, craft beer fits right in.
Philadelphia brewpubs raided by police; Moosehead, Boston Beer Company ink distribution deal; A-B InBev bid for distributor blocked by Illinois; and Iowa, Oklahoma become friendlier to craft brewing.
Hindenburg beer sells for $16,000; Semper Ri pays tribute to Marine regiment; Sheetz stores on a mission to liberate Pennsylvania beer sales; and no Spotted Cows allowed in Manhattan.
The Tröegs brothers were able to create their diverse array of ales and lagers by traveling and studying both nationally and internationally, immersing themselves in the craft beer culture. Their philosophy is to brew the beers they like rather than brewing to a particular style.
The southeastern corner of Pennsylvania has emerged as a hotbed of craft-brewed Pilsners. Specifically, the crisp and bitter northern German-style Pils.
Yuengling takes to the skies; Molson retirees’ free beer to dry up; Amsterdam beer bikes prove both popular and controversial; and Iron City Brewing moves to Latrobe, Pa.
A crop of serious young brewers and a mammoth lineup of bars boasting huge craft beer selections, modest prices and liberal liquor laws that let bars serve bottles and mini-kegs to go, and you’ve got, perhaps surprisingly, one of the country’s best beer towns.
Looking back, we survey a country where beer was once the agitator of rebellion and omnipresent companion to social discourse. Behind us is the mass industrialization of beer, but also the craft explosion; ahead of us—possibilities.
Chefs around the world are taking the concept of pairing the two a step further by treating beer as a core ingredient when cooking. The result is a growing culinary passion for cuisine that offers layers of depth that only beer can bring to the table.
In a dozen-odd years of professional brewing, Weyerbacher Brewing Company’s Dan Weirback has traded restrained English-style Ales for big, brawling Belgians, bourbon barrels, and imperialized… well, whatever he can make an Imperial, he will.
Why is beer suddenly grabbing the attention of chefs and bar managers at the hoitiest and toitiest places in the nation, after being relegated to second-class status for so long? There are a lot of intangible reasons, but there’s a more tangible one as well: Garrett Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table.
