ISO: Philly bottle shops and breweries

Check out Forest & Main in Ambler. Not that far from Willow Grove. You'll be glad you did.

 

@LehighAce06 should be able to help you out, I believe that's his stomping grounds.

 

Very much so. @BigBarleywine check out Big Top, distributor (beer by the case only) in WG, excellent selection. I second Forest & Main in Ambler. Blue Dog in Chalfont and Iron Abbey's The Loft in Horsham are the nearest good bottle shops, but you aren't terribly far from Plymouth Meeting's Whole Foods or Norristown's Capone's.

If you're coming up Rt 95 you'll nearly pass Southampton's The Beer Store, and on the MD/DE border on the way up is State Line Liquor.

Tired Hands in Ardmore is a must (now two locations a block from each other), and there are a couple bottle shops near them (The Beer Shoppe and The Greeks). Also consider Theresa's in Wayne, and Monk's in the city, the only two places to reliably find Cantillon (though not to-go).

Feel free to BM me beyond that.

 

Couple of other breweries nearby: Round Guys in Lansdale, Crooked Eye in Hatboro, Bucks County in Pipersville, and I believe Doylestown Brewing's brewpub is open, though I'm not positive about that.

 

I'd say definitely check out the Trenton Road Take Out. Its about 25-30 min east of Willow Grove. Its a little hole in the wall liquor store, but don't let the outside appearance fool you. The place has got a HUGE craft beer selection, and you can buy single bottles of pretty much everything.

 

All of the above are good suggestions. A couple of additions. First, as Kevin said, Big Top is probably the best craft distributor in the area, and thanks to a recent change to a law, they are able to sell 12 packs of many beers, not strictly cases.
Also in Willow Grove is Mad Mex if you like Mexican food theirs is pretty good and they normally have a decent tap list.

 

Let's be a little more inclusive, Prism Brewing (North Wales), Neshaminy Creek (Croydon), Vault Brewing (Yardley), Victory (Doylestown), and Sly Fox (Phoenixville) also all in the general area. As for brewpubs, Iron Hill has a handful of locations including North Wales (closest to WG), Earth Bread & Brewery (Germantown) is great, and Barren Hill (Lafayette Hill) is doing pretty well too.

 

I was just going for more of the immediate area.

 

Fair enough!

On the assumption that you're driving up, you'll pass pretty close to Croydon and Yardley on the way N on Rt 95/W on the turnpike, and North Wales is pretty close, the others are a little further spread out.

 

Monk's was out of loons about 2-3 weeks ago. I don't think they get shipments that frequently, just as a warning, you may want to call if you were planning on going.

 

Same probably goes for Theresa's, rather than "reliably get Cantillon" I should have said "often get Cantillon".

 

Still worth a trip sans loons to both establishments! But monks was pretty much out of every bottle I tried to order as well, belgian or not.

 

Hey @BigBarleywine - If you're driving up from FL, you'll be passing through Delaware. Kreston Liquors is right off of I95 at Rt202. Worth a look - it's a mess of a shop but there are quite a few gems to be found there.

 

Ace 06 hit them all. I also suggest Forest and Main and if you can only do 1 between F&M and Tired Hands, F&M all day every day. Tired Hands has a release on Sun at the new place so I would avoid that and hit F&M or F&M and the TH Brew Cafe. The new place is much larger, sterile, and the food is viewed as being way overpriced.

Vault has an interesting release on Sunday, their second version of Nitro Coffee in cans without the widget. Vault has great pizza and salads. F&M has a smallish menu but everything is very good. If you can manage, Vault for the release and sitting outside, with session on the porch at Forest and Main.

 

Lots of good things to say about Big Top!

 

Tired Hands is by far the more 'coveted' release. With that said it's 400 bottles of a 500ml sour for $18 and it's limit 1 per person. Based off of previous releases you'd need to be in line for 3 or 4 hours at least to even have a shot (ie 8 or 9 am arrival required at the Fermentaria). For my taste that's way too much effort for a single bottle, awesome though it may be. I haven't heard too much about Vault's releases but I'd imagine they're significantly less of a shit show.

I disagree with the advice to stay away from Tired Hands entirely on Sunday, I think by 1PM (if you get into town at noon you wouldn't be in Ardmore much earlier anyway) the crowd will be largely thinned out and it'll be a nice afternoon there.

 

If you're in Willow Grove, F&M is going to be about 15 minutes away, TH about 40, but keep in mind F&M doesn't open until 4:00 on Sunday while TH opens at noon. Also, F&M is closed on Mondays.