Only Here For The Beer!
Written: Aug 16 '01 (Updated Aug 16 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Exceptional variety of beers, unique beer events, Yuengling.
Cons: Little widespread beer culture, few brewpubs, Yuengling.
The Bottom Line: A definite Beer Town, with one of America's best beer bars. Could use more brewpubs.
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| beerfly's Full Review: Philadelphia |
Beer is My Business. This is My Town.
I write about beer for a living, and Philadelphia is my base of operations. I actually live in the far 'burbs in Bucks County, but the real beer action is in Philly (though my local, Isaac Newton's, is a great beer bar in its own right). There are people who know the Philly beer scene better, but not many.
Philly is a great beer town for a couple reasons. First and foremost is the variety. You may find more places with great beer in other towns, you may find better breweries in other towns, but there are very few towns anywhere in the world where you will find a better variety of available beer. Chicago comes close, Baltimore is in the running, but Philly, in my experience, is phenomenal.
Philly has an unbelievable array of Belgian beers, a full range of British and Scottish beers, more than just the run-of-the-mill German beers, and even the odder imports. You will also find an outstanding variety of microbrewed beers, ranging from what is acknowledged as one of the country's best IPAs (Victory HopDevil) to top-notch lagers (Stoudt's Pils is classically delicate) to stouts (Yards Love Stout, brewed with oysters) to our own interpretations of Belgian styles (Weyerbacher Triple, Flying Fish Farmhouse) to... well, whatever you'd like to call the amazing beers from Dogfish Head. I truly do not believe there is a beer style anywhere in the world that you cannot get in Philadelphia, either imported or brewed hereabouts.
The second reason Philly is notable is Yuengling. America's oldest brewery, Yuengling is about two hours north of Philly, in Pottsville, PA, and is a rare example of a regional brewery that continues to brew a full range of beers, from a light beer to a porter. More importantly, Yuengling's big seller, Traditional Lager, is BIG in Philly, reportedly over 15% of the market. As the owner of the Grey Lodge Pub in Northeast Philly says, "Any town where a regional amber lager has Budweiser on the run is a great beer town." True, but there is a downside in that many tavernowners think once they have Yuengling they don't need any other variety. A bummer.
The other downside to this town is a Philly Phenomenon. We're not impressed by ourselves. So very few beer people realize just how good we have it here for beer. A ton of respect is given to wine in Philly, even though, thanks to PA laws, it's one of the least notable wine cities in the world. Beer gets no respect, it constantly has to be explained. I'm doing everything I can.
Let's talk about some of the great bars. Let's talk Monk's Cafe. Any beer talk about Philly has to start here. There is a variety of beer at Monk's, but it does concentrate on Belgian and specialty beers. Partners Tom Peters and Fergus Carey have one simple goal. "We just want to serve the very best beer possible," says Peters. "Nothing affects what I do, except what I want to drink. We're not market-driven. The beer's important. Life's good."
I lost track a long time ago of the beers that have made their world draft debut under Tom's auspices: La Chouffe, Lucifer, Scaldis, Kwak, Straffe Hendrik Bruin, Kasteel Kriek, Rodenbach Grand Cru, and Cantillon's Rose de Gambrinus, Kriek, and Straight Lambic. All of them, on draft for the first time anywhere, at Monk's (or Tom's previous venue, Copa, Too!). You'll always find some great Belgians on tap in the back bar on what Tom laughingly calls his "Brussels spouts." Eat, too: the Trappist burger has been named best burger in Philly twice, the frites are excellent, the mussels delicious, and the often-overlooked stews are wonderfully fortifying. It's bistro food, but the beer elevates it.
I just ate at one of Philly's other Belgian restaurants last night: Cuveé Notredame. Named for Belgian-born owner Michael Notredame, Cuveé also has an excellent selection of Belgian beers, though not as wide a tap selection as Monk's (a questionable shortcoming; many Belgians apparently prefer bottled beer). Their food is on a higher level, though there is a very reasonable and delicious Belgian-oriented bar menu that many people prefer: tough steak, steak-frites, moule-frites, duck confit, and so on. I had beef carbonnades, which was greatly filling and superbly done, along with glasses of Leffe Brune, De Koninck, and Hoegaarden. I didn't have dessert, but when I do at Cuveé, I always get the magnificent creme bruleé.
Michael often hosts the charming Belgian chef and cookbook author Ruth van Waerebeek for events at the restaurant, and Ruth turns out the delicious foods from her mother's and grandmother's kitchens. Cuveé Notredame also is the scene of beer-tastings, often featuring as many as 50 Belgian beers for a single cover price, an amazingly good deal.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the third Belgian spot in Philly at least briefly. Bridgid's is not far from Cuveé, and is a more intimate (and reasonably priced) place my wife and I have found perfect for just-us-two anniversary dinners. They also have an excellent beer selection.
But we're more than Belgian beer! There are also two excellent German places. Ludwig's Garten is relatively new, and serves great German food accompanied by 16 draft German beers (with almost always some surprises like Hacker-Pschorr Weizenbock or Kostritzer Schwarzbier) and a Victory-brewed house beer in the dining room and in the very gasthaus-like taproom. Up in Northeast Philly is the Blue Ox Brauhaus, where the Grund family puts their exquisitely trained talents to work: father runs the bar, son runs the kitchen, daughter runs the pastry kitchen. The Brauhaus also hosts guest cookbook authors for special dinners and has beer dinners on occasion.
"The Greater Northeast" is largely a beer wasteland, but for the Blue Ox Brauhaus and one of my favorite Philly bars, the Grey Lodge Pub. The Grey Lodge, 'a corner bar in the middle of the block,' is a different proposition. Owner Mike "Scoats" Scotese has managed to accommodate both the longtime regulars with their rail drinks and draft Bud and anew clientele who comes for the great draft micros and imports he puts on.
He also puts on a unique beer event, called Friday the Firkinteenth. Every Friday the 13th (we just had two, the next one's in September, 2002) Scoats gets in about ten great casks of real ale, sits them up on the bar and pounds in the taps, and the beer flows till they're all kicked. Last time, in July, there were over 300 people and all the beer was gone before midnight. It's more than just an event, it's a vibe. Local brewers desperately want their beer on that bar, and everyone who loves beer goes.
All the way across town, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood on Germantown Avenue is another of my favorite places: McMenamin's Tavern. No relation to the McMenamin's brewpub chain in Oregon, this bar is run by PJ McMenamin, a cocky, friendly, beer-loving guy who's always got a quick comeback, a great man behind the bar. He's usually got at least two taps you won't find at the city's other beer bars because he strives to be different. The food has gotten better and better until now it is one of the city's best cafe menus, just waiting to be discovered. I really like the atmosphere: lots of places talk about being multi-culti: McMenamin's is. All races and ethnicities blend effortlessly here, and I've never felt more comfortable in such a mix. It's a neighborhood bar, and that's Mt. Airy, a polyglot mix.
Another great menu of food and beer is at Standard Tap. Standard Tap is all about draft, local beer and fresh, local food. They only do draft beer (and wine and liquor, but it's about the beer), they only do local beer. The only bow to mainstreamish beer is a big old 1960s-era fridge in the middle of the back bar that has a hole drilled in the door for a Yuengling Lord Chesterfield tap. The beer's fantastically well-kept, and the food's tremendous (the Tap was recently rated one of Philly's 50 best restaurants). When other beer writers come to town, from twice-a-year beer rag columnists to Michael Jackson and Stephen Beaumont, they all want to go to Standard Tap.
I'm missing a lot of bars, but those are some of my faves. I do have to mention two more, the oldest bars in Philly. The Khyber Pass is an ongoing love affair with beer, and often has beer you can't find elsewhere, definitely worth a trip. Then there's McGillin's Old Ale House, Philly's oldest bar, open continuously since 1850 (including a certain 13-year-period in the 1920s when business was conducted by the side door). Like the Grey Lodge, McGillin's believes in beer for everyone, and you can find Coors Light as well as Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre there.
Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre? Well, yes. Let's talk about breweries. First there are only four brewpubs left in Philly. Dock Street, the oldest, serves a wide range of beer and is currently undergoing changes. Manayunk Brewing is a huge place that barely brews enough beer to keep up with demand, making light stuff but also some real stemtwisters. Nodding Head concentrates on traditional British ales, but cuts loose with a wild hair occasionally like their Whiplash IPA, a big, big hopmonster. Independence is across from the Reading Terminal Market, a former Dock Street expansion, and is also going through some odd changes.
There is only one micro remaining in the city, Yards Brewing. Yards makes excellent, outstanding British-style ales, like their hoppy, slippery ESA, which is one of the best American cask-conditioned beers I've ever had. They also make a delicious take on a Belgian dubbel, Trubbel de Yards.
But there are a number of micros that consider Philly a major market. Flying Fish is right across the river in Cherry Hill, NJ, and sells a lot of their Porter, Farmhouse Ale, and Abbey Double in Philly. Stoudt's, the multi-medalled brewery in Adamstown, PA, brings Pilsner, Export, and a bunch of big bottle-conditioned beers to town. Victory, out in Downingtown, offers Philly its big, hoppy HopDevil and crisply brisk Prima Pils, along with its huge seasonals like Storm King Imperial Stout and St. Victorious Doublebock, and the madly drinkable 9% Golden Monkey. And yes, Dogfish Head, the little brewery in Rehoboth Beach, DE, that makes stout with St. Johns wort and chicory, Immort Ale in toasted oak barrels, and Midas Touch, a beer brewed to specs gathered from the tomb of the historical King Midas. It's all here in Philly!
Every spring it all comes here, too. There's an event called The Book and The Cook Festival, when over a hundred chefs and food writers come to Philly and take over kitchens all over the city. There are also some pretty high-powered beer events, including 3 mass tutored tastings Michael Jackson does at the UPenn Museum and beer dinners all week by people like Jackson and Stephen Beaumont (I've done a couple myself). It's a dizzying week, and much beer gets tasted. Monk's always throws a fantastic Jackson-hosted dinner: last year it was all-Trappist beers, before that an all-lambic dinner with thirteen different lambic beers.
Well! That's a seemingly lengthy but terribly incomplete tour of beer in Philadelphia. I could tell you stories, I could go on for hours, but... Come here and drink for yourselves.
If you can't find it here, it just ain't brewed.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
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Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 82 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
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