Monday, January 26, 2009

Beef 'n' Beer at South Philadelphia Taproom: 1/25/09

A lazy Sunday afternoon on the weekend before the Super Bowl. What else to do? Especially for a particular South Philly bar owner (that'd be John Longacre), the answer seemed obvious: Throw a Beef 'n' Beer event. And for close to 100 pub-goers, the answer seemed equally obvious. Thanks to Joe Beddia of South Philadelphia Taproom (and soon, but not "too soon" to be, Brew....just down the street at 15th) for reminding me of their event yesterday at SPTR and inviting me in. The starting time of 3pm was perfect. It gave those with cobwebs from the previous night a chance to clear them out, while all but guaranteeing, that with a 6pm finish time, it wouldn't be be late Sunday night. Great planning guys. I arrived with around an hour to go, fortunately the taps were still flowing all four gravity-fed cask conditioned beers. Close to 100 people had come out for this event. I'm not sure the last time I was at a Beef 'n' Beer where the customer was the beneficiary. And, benefit we did from the meat and potatoes laden buffet table and the beer. Chef Scott Schroeder had some hand-carved sirloin, short rib tacos, and steak tartare along with the appropriate sides and fixins. A firkin each of Yards ESA (is there any place this beer isn't showing up lately?), Sly Fox Burns Scottish (only one to-date in Philly proper), PBC Joe Porter (finally got my lips on this one and was not disappointed), and Nodding Head BPA (perfect as always on my palate). I'm drawing a blank on the "special hopping" for the Yards ESA, maybe someone can help to answer that question of mine. Reps from each of the breweries were there, though come to think of it I don't believe I saw anyone from Nodding Head unless they were there earlier. I hung around for a little extra longer to learn that the coffee should likely be flowing from SPTR's new venture, Brew, down the street before the beer is. Licensing, not the community, appears to be the delay...y'think? Exact date still TBD. And, also long enough to be reminded that I'd never been to one of the their Wheat Beer Fests. Last year, they had around 30 or so breweries representing with an estimated close to 1,000 attendees. This year should be at least as impressive with even more wheat beers and more careful planning for crowd control (read: porta johns). All in all, another good night spent in South Philly, one that will help me to forget a certain Monday night at SPTR when the World Series game was suspended. You know how I feel about up-to-date taplists. Wanna see SPTR's...here's a link.

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