Philly Beer Week (2018)

Looks like Churchville is doing at least one event (tomorrow): Cigar City. 2 El Catador stouts and two brewery-only barleywines.

 

Any others that you'd particularly want to sample?

 

Well, Philly Beer Week started off well for me.

My wife and I attended the Three 3’s & Bolero Snort event at the Boathouse (Conshohocken).

Three 3’s

I got a chance to chat with the brewer (Mike Geller) for 10-15 minutes. He is a real nice guy and I learned a few things. Firstly, Three 3’s will start distributing their beers in the Philly area starting now. They are presently a draft only brewery but they will shortly be canning via a mobile canning service. I ordered their Hibiscus Saison which I thought was very good. My wife drank a glass of Sinfully Citra New England IPA which she thought was just OK (I took two sips and I agree here).

Mike provided some information about how he brewed using hibiscus. Perhaps a homebrew using hibiscus is in my future?

Bolero Snort

I drank two of their beers, a ‘NEIPA’ and Imperial Milk Porter. I thought both of these beers were very good.

Cheers!

 

I attended the IPA War event at Capone's (Norristown) last evening. Matt had a very nice list of hoppy beers to choose from. I had my old (and always will be) favorite of Pliny the Elder. But I had a chance to try some new beers:

• The new beer of Stone: Fear/Movie/Lion was good. It had a nice combo of tropical fruit & citrus. I will drink this beer again
• Fat Head Benjamin Danklin was very good
• Pizza Boy Profiles of the Future was a 'winner'
• Melvin Hop Shocker was tasty/fruity goodness
• My wife enjoyed Cape May Follow the Gull

Overall a great event at Capone's

Cheers!

@Kadonny

 

I attended The Alchemist event at Monk’s Cafe with six beers on tap. Pours were a generous full pint for $8.00, including the tasty 9.2% “Lucious” Russian Imperial Stout. I also had and enjoyed Skadoosh XVII and Focal Banger.

I was belly up to the bar so service was quick. Long line before the doors opened but the owner was out front chatting with us for quite awhile. Friendly crowd. It was a lot of fun.

 

I agree. I think this trend has been going on for little while now. Most are PAYG events - pretty much like any other night of the year, albeit with special style or brewer focus. The Beer dinner type events are almost non-existent.

 

I saw also that there is a different rare tapping each night at the Goose Island Brewpub with Vanilla Rye being on Wednesday.

 

To be honest though I'm not sure how I feel about this year's events. I'm not interested in local tap takeovers because I go out to the breweries anyways and I'm not seeing much in the way of hyped offerings? Completely agree with @JackHorzempa above, maybe this year I will look past the more hyped offerings and just find a brewery I haven't tried before. Was down in DC this past weekend which is having their SAVOR week and was able to score some rare Fremont and Crooked Stave but glancing through the events list there is not a whole lot that really catches my eye.

 

Usually try to avoid Goose Island when possible, but Prop '17 was tough to resist on tap now at their Taphouse. Delicious. Bottle of Regal Rye for in-house consumption as well (though pretty pricey).

 

Or just attend an event that seems like fun to you. I will be attending the Pilsners & Pierogis event this Thursday at the Grey Lodge Pub. Not so much to seek out something 'new' or 'special' but just to drink a beer style that I enjoy (i.e., Pilsners) and eat a food that I enjoy (Pierogis).

Beers + fun = extra special.

Well, it does for me.

Cheers!

 

Conspicuously absent from Philly Beer Week this year is Philly Beer Scene. Not to hijack this thread, but with so may Philly area heavyweights on it, someone here ought to know. What happened to Philly Beer Scene mag? Website and social media accounts haven't posted anything since the beginning of the year. Mat Falco is clearly busy with Herman's coffee in south philly as evidenced by several write ups and his own postings. I did reach out to him directly to ask if Philly Beer Scene was dead or not, never heard back. I suppose I could stop in Herman's and ask him directly, but I'm lazy and live in the northern burbs.

 

website lists an event at Nodding Head for June 24th, didn't they close a couple years ago?

looked it up, 2014.

 

Anyone hit up Jose's or Good Dog last night? Was feeling lazy and didn't venture into town.

 

I also skipped last night, just not in the mood. I went home and grilled some chicken while drinking a Love City Hop Along IPA that I picked up on Friday night. So far I've liked all of their beers, I think they might go places.

 

I get the Philly Beer Week emails and I've got to say that a lot of their branding seems geared more towards binge-drinking frat boys than to beer nerds.

The subject line in the one I just got was "To us 'Drink Responsibly' means don't spill it."

An earlier one was "PBW Day 3 Late Night: Keep Going... YOU'RE FINE!"

 

Anyone go to the Goose Island Brewpub today or yesterday? How long did Prop or Reserve last?

 

I just got back from the Hidden River beer event at Capone's. I had a chance to meet up with some friends, drink some excellent Hidden River beers, and even had a chance to meet and chat with Doug (one of the co-owners of Hidden River).

Another great Philly Beer Week event at Capone's!!

Cheers!

 

I'm looking to come into the city tomorrow night, only night I can make it in during beer week, anyone going to something interesting ?