Wife and I will be camping out in the Quakertown area next week (with a couple of day trips to Philidelphia) and I'm wondering what local and easily obtainable Pennsylvania area brews I should try. I seem to recall hearing that Philly was the only place on the east coast where Russian River beers could be found. You're only able to buy beer by the case in PA, right? Ideally I'd be looking for some kind of variety pack so I could try a bunch of stuff while there, though any brewpubs where a thirsty Eagles fan could sample beforehand would also be nice to hear about. Oh and fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory!
You can buy single bottles at bottle shops, buying by the case is only true at distributors. I have no idea what is around Quakertown though so you're on your own research wise. Or someone else will chime in, whatever.
For Russian River, PtE and Blind Pig are draft only and available on occasion in Philly. Use phillytapfinder.com to see whats on. Bottles of the wild/Belgian ales can be found in bottle shops and bars but will be expensive. If you're driving in and out of the city, there's a bunch of different breweries you can check out if you're looking to try some fresh local beers. Tired Hands tends to be the consensus favorite, but you're also within a reasonable distance from Weyerbacher, Naked, Free Will, Forest and Main, Neshaminy Creek and some others. TH and F&M are brewpubs with food and "regular" hours, the other locations I would check their sites before driving there to make sure they're open. You can save yourself some money by buying beer away from the city, so hopefully someone else can chime in with something closer to Quakertown since I'm not familiar with it.
Yards (Philly), Weyerbacher, Victory, Troegs, and Sly Fox are some of PA breweries that are frequently sold everywhere and in abundance. You'll have to look through the list of those breweries on BA to see what beers you like and match them up with what's available. As mentioned above, phillytapfinder.com is a great way to figure out which bar you want to hit, but pay attention to the last updated date and whether or not it's only for a particular event. Here's your code for RR: http://phillytapfinder.com/brewery/russian-river/. Some of the places kick rather quickly so if you are searching for something in particular, call before you head over just to make sure they still have them. A few places with good/large craft selections: Iron Abbey (closer to Quakertown) Churchville Inn (also closer to Quakertown) City Tap House Kraftwork Varga Bar Monk's Cafe (Belgian specialist and reason why Russian River ships to Philly) Eulogy (Belgian specialist) Strangelove's (also has RR on occasions) Philly is an awesome place to be for craft beers. Enjoy! Al
If you're camping near Quakertown then the Lehigh Valley is a little bit closer to you than Philadelphia. Both are pretty convenient though! In the Lehigh Valley you can check out Shangy's and the Trapp Door in Emmaus, Strange Brew Tavern (which is pretty alright, has nice local LV only offerings) in Allentown, Allentown or Bethlehem Brew Works, and Abe's Cold beer in Bethlehem (for take out needs). Also, the Spinnerstown Hotel is really close to Quakertown, right near the PA turnpike exit. They have some nice taps and update their website pretty regularly. All these spots could be done in a day so it might be worth an afternoon trip as its a short distance from Quakertown.
In center city, Yards and Iron Hill (Chestnut Hill) are musts. If you make it to Iron Hill, swing by Earth Bread+Brewery and say whassup to Tom and Peggy and have one of their solid brews and a flatbread.
Absolutely underrated. Philly Pale, ESA, Brawler, Love Stout, IPA, all damn solid and the folks there are great at what they do.
Thanks all! Looks like there's consensus to definitely try Yards. I might miss out on any Russian River taps simply because it's hard to drag the missus to bards (she doesn't drink), but it sounds like there's plenty else around that I won't be disappointed if that's the case.
And all of this, right here, is my old stomping grounds. I would add Tavern at Liberty (or Liberty Tavern, if you will) in Allentown for some really solid pizza, a great taplist and some phenomenal bottles.
