Monk's Mad Monday

Tomorrow at Monk's (16th & Spruce), there will be six Russian River beers on tap at the front bar starting at 11:30AM. They only have one keg of a few of these rarities, so get there early. They will limit some of these to one per guest because they are in such limited supply.

THE IPAs

Russian River Pliney The Younger (limit of one per guest)

Russian River Pliney The Elder

Russian River Blind Pig

THE 'TIONS

Russian River Temptation (limit of one per guest)

Russian River Consecration

Russian River Supplication (limit of one per guest)

Baltic Maple Porter

Dropped by Dock Street (701 S. 50th St) last night on a recommendation from a friend to try out their Baltic Maple Porter which I was chastised for having failed to write about yet. And yes of course we induldged in some of Philly's best pizza too.

Wow this is a very intense beer. It is beautifully dark and dense with little head. The aroma is darn near intoxicating with the flavors of brown sugar, caramel and maple syrup rising up.

The taste follows suit with the maple flavor doing battle with the roasted malts ending in a surprisingly sweet finish. Even at 8% ABV, this is amazingly drinkable.

If you have not sample this one at Dock Street yet, make sure you try some soon. This may be the best brew that have created (and I love the Man Full o Trouble porter).

Philly Foods & Philly Brews

Now I am glad to see these good local food/good local beer pairing catch on! Today through March 7, Bridget Foy’s (2nd & South) will be serving up a Philly Foods & Philly Brews menu.

The three course menu looks like this:

STARTER

Cheese Steak Soup
Paired with: Flying Fish ESB

Roasted Pork and Broccoli Rabe Spring Rolls
Paired with: Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady

Deconstructed Hoagie Salad
Paired with: Dogfish Head 60 Min. IPA

ENTRÉE

Sausage and Peppers over Creamy Polenta
Paired with: Troegs Nugget Nector

Herr’s Crusted Fish and Chips with Kenzinger Beer Batter
Paired with: Philadelphia Brewing Co. Kenzinger

Scrapple Stuffed Pork Loin with Maple Lager Glaze
Paired with: Sly Fox Seamus Red Ale

DESSERT

O’Reilly Stout float with Bassett’s Vanilla Ice Cream
Paired with: Sly Fox O’Reilly Stout

Butterscotch Krimpet Tiramisu made with Dock Street Sexual Chocolate
Paired with: Dock Street Sexual Chocolate

Chocolate Pretzel Tart
Paired with: Sly Fox O’Reilly Stout

A Lighter Coffee Brew?

Victory's Bill Covaleski is working with a local coffee shop to develop a new type of coffee beer. Not your typical coffee-infused stout, this brew will focus on the “lighter aspects” of coffee and create a lighter-colored coffee beer.

The Milton-Rome-NYC Connection

Yes yes I know this a story about a Delaware brewer working with brewers from Italy to make a beer for a brewpub in NYC, but it is pretty damn cool nonetheless.

The News Journal:

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and three other brewers are joining forces with the powerhouse restaurant team of Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich to create Italian-style beers for a New York City rooftop brewery-pub that’s scheduled to open in late summer.

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head in Milton will be making suds along with Italian brewer Teo Musso, brewmaster of Rome’s Birrificio Le Baladin; Leonardo Di Vincenzo of Birra del Borgo near Rome and Vinnie Cilurzo of the Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, Calif., for a venture to be known as Eataly.

Eataly is a Batali/Bastianich project that will encompass an Italian specialty foods market and multiple restaurants at 200 Fifth Ave., as well as an 8,000 square foot rooftop brewery and restaurant. The site will offer views of the Empire State Building.

Celebrity chef Batali, one of the Food Network’s Iron Chefs, and Bastianich, the son of PBS star Lidia Bastianich, own at least 15 restaurants together.

The four brewers met in Boston last week to test their first batch of Eataly beer, an English Mild ale fermented with Italian chestnut powder.

The Eataly house beers – unpasteurized, unfiltered and naturally carbonated – will feature Italian and American ingredients. The four individual brewers also will occasionally brew beers under their own names.

PW's bar awards

Philadelphia Weekly discovers the Dock Street growler and other bar gems across our fair city.

Reason #1 Why Philly Will Never Get The Olympics...

.....We would never shut down our bars!

Inquirer: Beer sales stopped in Vancouver

3rd Annual Philadelphia Real Ale Invitational

Coming up quickly on Sunday March 21 is the 3rd annual Philadelphia Real Ale Invitational. It is returning to Yards Brewing Company for the second consecutive year. This incredible event features the nations finest cask ale producers and offers attendees the oppurtunity to try a variety of unique flavors. Cask ale has a deep rooted tradition in the Philadelphia beer scene and it is only natural that the showpiece event will be held at the brewery that resurrected that style of beer.

Attendees will enjoy a variety of benefits. The event will showcase approximately 20 different cask conditioned beers (it may be more, but not less) and attendees will have the oppurtunity to sample all of them. Each attendant will also receive a commerative 12oz mug. Food will be provided. All of this will take place while the Jazz Horses are returning from last year (theyr'e sick) to provide some great music.

One change to note from last year, all of this will take place in the entire Yards Brewing Company space. Attendants will have the oppurtunity to mingle throughout Philadelphia's most sustainable brewery while enjoying the finest beer around. From the recently finished tasting room to the bottling line, you can enjoy everything that Yards Brewing Co. has to offer.

This event has sold out in previous years, so be sure to purchase your tickets early.

VIP tickets are very limited and will gain access to the event one hour early and will receive a private tour of the brewery with Tom Kehoe. They will also have the oppurtunity to try something special from Yards Brewing Co.

Don't Forget to Vote

Philly Beer Scene is proud to announce it's first ever "Best of the Philly Beer Scene" awards. They have narrowed down 35 categories of all things beer. Then, each founder nominated one exceptional selection fitting each category, giving each category, four options for the Scene to vote on. They also included the ability for you to select your own "Best of."

To vote, just click here.

A Politician With Some Common Sense

Today's Inquirer:

By Angela Couloumbis

HARRISBURG - A Montgomery County senator is championing a bill to allow Pennsylvanians to buy six-packs of beer at grocery and convenience stores, as well as their local beer distributors.

"Its time for Pennsylvania to move from an antiquated and unsafe system to one that is modern, safer and customer-friendly," Republican Sen. John Rafferty Jr. said at a beer rally this morning in the Capitol, where he unveiled his legislation. "This proposal has overwhelming public support."

As it stands now, consumers can purchase only cases of beer – which contain four six-packs – at beer distributorships. Although they can buy up to two six-packs at a bar or restaurant, it's often at a steep cost, since those places tend to greatly mark up the price.

A few supermarkets have recently been allowed to sell wine and beer at select locations, but for the most part, the state's beer laws don't make it convenient to pick up a six-pack.

"We're interested in seeing that the people of Pennsylvania who want to purchase beer, purchase it where they want to," Rafferty told a crowd of several hundred supporters this morning.

Rafferty's bill would also require 100 percent "carding" – meaning everyone, no matter how old they look, would have to show their driver's license - with electronic verification machines to ensure that minors are not purchasing alcohol illegally.

It would also provide for strengthened enforcement efforts and age compliance checks, to be funded through a $25,000 beer license fee and annual fees of $2,500.

There have been past efforts to change beer laws, all unsuccessful. But the bill's proponents hope the recent momentum of allowing some supermarkets to sell alcohol will ease the resistance by many lawmakers toward changing the law.

Donnybrook Stout

One of my favorite Victory creations (and the one I cannot bring home in a growler because of the nitro tap) is their dry Irish stout, Donnybrook.

This stout, as you would expect, pours a deep dark black with a rich full cream-colored head that had good retention and lacing. It has a great nose of roasted malt, chocolate and nuts.

The creamy flavor is simple but enjoyable with the roasted grains coming though and a finish that is sweet and dry.

At just 3.5% ABV, this a great lunchtime or session beer, and one of the real hidden gems of Victory's brewpub.

Philly Craft Beer Fest

On March 6th, the 4th Annual Philly Craft Beer festival returns to the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal at the Navy Yard (5100 South Broad Street) with over 50 different breweries proudly showing off their brews. Tickets for either the afternoon or evening session are $45 and can be purchased here.

4 Months To Go

Love foreign beer commercials