Jack Curtin’s LIQUID DIET

A beer from outside the Philadelphia region will be served at the Standard Tap for the first time ever on Christmas Eve when a firkin of Oskar Blues Ten FIDY Imperial Stout aged in a Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey barrel is tapped. It’s a one-time thing, says William Reed, set up by an Oskar Blues sales rep who is apparently very good at what he does and wouldn’t take no for an answer. The Tap was making it a surprise by ace flack and good buddy  Marty Jones let the cat out of the proverbial bag in this post on BeerAdvocate.

That same Oskar rep, while visited the Khyber, snuck over and replaced a Sly FoX can in the bar’s display area with one of his own. I think I like this guy.

There are plans underway for a Tria class on canned beers in 2009, with representatives from Oskar Blues and Sly Fox. Food fight?

Belgium comes to West Chester, the popular annual big beer bash (at which I embarrassed myself entirely last year) will take place at Iron Hill West Chester on January 24. Who’s driving?

While Friday the Firkinteenth at the Grey Lodge hardly needs the help, the first of three of them in 2009 falls on the second Friday of Philly Beer Week. Scoats says he will try and bring in some surprise kegs to make it a bigger deal than ever and that, along those lines, the fun will start at 9am that day (this took a bit of browbeating last night, you can thank me later).

The new Wegmans in Collegeville will have draught beer and table service (the same thing will happen in Downingtown soon after, if not at the same time). Wegmans has a history of supporting local beers so this is going to be good news for some locals. What it will mean for retail beer stores is open to question at this point; I argue it is, on balance,helpful because people will be more willing to buy cases of beers they’ve already tried, others I’ve talked to are not so sure.

What is Gang Aft Agley Gone Astray? Only Tim Ohst knows. Well, and me, but I’m sworn to hint and to intrigue but not to reveal. It’s a tough gig, but what can you do?

If Mashington had done his job, by the way, I’d have more news you can use.

Just sayin’…

Tags: Breweries, Brewers, Brewpubs, Cafes, Restaurants, Taverns, News, Philly Beer Week by jackc
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Two pretty good comments I wrote last century about two of my most favoritest craft beer pubs (two of the earliest such in the region) continue to thrive on the web and–as I was reminded this week–in emails and other promotional efforts.

I am famous forever.

Or until Bryson writes something better (I awaken nervous every morning and run and check the internets to see. so far so good).

Dave Wilby sent out an email a couple of days ago about next Saturday’s Dawson Street Pub 20th Anniversary Celebration and recalls this ancient promise (which I still adhere to because, like they say, you never forget your first):

I christened Dawson Street the “World’s Greatest Bar” back in the day. That was another time and I was someone very different but I’ve never changed my mind. It was my first true “local.”

And the irrepressible Scoats has had this one on the Grey Lodge’s Friday the Firkinteenth page just about as long as there has been a Friday the Firkinteenth page:

This whole thing makes no sense whatsoever. It’s totally random because the timing is entirely at the mercy of the calendar. It’s held in this tiny neighborhood bar in Northeast Philadelphia, an area which is not exactly your mecca for great beer. Yet virtually every brewer within shouting distance would kill to be a part of it and people come from all over to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and hope they can get a beer from bartenders who are incredibly overworked. Scoats is either a genius or an idiot savant, I can’t decide which. But God bless him.

I’ve pretty much settled on idiot savant, how about you?

If my sparkling prose isn’t enough to get you to make a visit to these two classic old dive-bars-turned-beer-bars, consider this. Dawson Street has undergone a major refurbishing this year (and if I can ever get there when the damned place is open, I’ll relish seeing it) and there are three, count ‘em, three Firkinteenths in 2009.

Tags: Beer Writing, Cafes, Restaurants, Taverns, Personal, Philly by jackc
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I hauled myself the 43.5 miles (!) from out here where the bridges are covered, the streams rolling and the winds blow free over grassy green fields to the dim, crowded streets of Northeast Philadelphia, Mayfair to be exact, to enjoy the only Friday the Firkinteenth of 2008 today, to mark the tenth anniversary of the event, of which little, that is to say, nothing was made, since Mr. Scoats, the mad genius behind the glory which is the Grey Lodge Pub, he be clever as all get out but not a whit sentimental apparently.

There were three, count ‘em three, Firkinteenths back in 1998, the third of which, that November, was the first one I ever wrote about, building my story about a guy from Oregon who was in the house that night. Scoats and I reminisced a bit about that this afternoon as I enjoyed a pint and then a smaller sampler cup of Sly Fox/Standard Tap Standard Ale and a sampler of Nodding Head IPA.

A goodly portion of my two-plus hours there was spent chatting with NH’s Curt Decker and Stockertown Beverage regional sales manager and industry vet Peter (Bear) Brett. We were eventually joined at our position just inside the door, from whence I never ventured, by He Who Must Not Be Named (more on that issue on the morrow).

News? While a goodly crowd was on hand, it was not nearly so crushed as last year, which I hope is a sign that the crazed throngs are spacing themselves out rather than one that this will be an off year for one of the best and most creative beer celebrations in the area. Also, Decker revealed, in hushed tones with the hopes that nobody would ovehear, that yes, there will be a Royal Stumble at NH on the second Saturday of the Seventh month this year (July 12) as most expected, but that he’s just not telling anybody about it because that would be crass.

I’d go to their website and see and then link, just to be sure, but the site appears to be down. Or non-existent. Whatever. I think he’s carrying this laid-back thing a touch too far.

The drive to and from the Grey Lodge was, as it almost always is, a huge annoyance, the trip there being somewhat brightened up by catching Don “Joe Sixpack” Russell on WIP 610, where he apparently is one of several experts featured on Friday spot interviews. He sang the praises of Victory Whirlwind Wit as a good summer beer, an opinion both hosts eagerly seconded, which was good; he apprised them about the Firkinteenth event and everybody went off on how great the Grey Lodge is, which was good; he was suddenly and clearly unexpectedly asked to name some of the great Mexican beers for summer and you could almost feel the sweat breaking out on his forehand, which was hilarious (although he recovered and said nice things while, politely, suggested that “great” was an inappropriate adjective) and then, just to help me make through a long, annoying Schuylkill Expressway mess, totally blanked on Negra Modelo when one of the hosts asked “what’s that dark Mexican beer which goes so well with food?” which had me giggling and screaming the name at the radio and that too was, well, good.

I am a simple man and it was a good day.

Tags: Beer Events, Cafes, Restaurants, Taverns by jackc
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