Countdown to Ommegang's BCTC 2009: some new goods from the host

If all goes according to last year's plan, I'll again be sharing the BCTC menu with you before the event. If not, I do have some insight to new beers that Ommegang themselves will be sharing with us at this year's festival.

Like last year's debut of Rouge, a Triple IPA and Holiday Strong Ale ("Adoration") will be debuted, most likely at Friday Night's VIP session...then again at the main festival on Saturday. Also word of a Belgian Scotch Ale...or is that Belgo-Scotch?

This news comes from brewer Brian Enrici, who made an appearance with Megan Maguire (Duvel/Ommegang sales) at Jose Pistola's this past Thursday night in Philadelphia. Quite commendable that Brian made the trip down from his hometown of Cooperstown, NY just for this event.

The notes above were the Brew Lounge-permitted comments. Ones I'm obliged not to discuss, for now, promise continued excitement coming out of Cooperstown's flagship brewery. And...one possible disappointing piece of news.

Brian was quite adept at making the social table rounds for those that were there for the special Ommegang event (Rare Vos, Witte, Abbey, Hennepin, and Rouge were all on tap...very nice, Casey). This looked good as I can just never understand the brewer/sales rep who participates in events like this, while hanging at the bar waiting for customers to approach them. Well done, Brian.

While we're talking Ommegang in Philly, they've got an interesting looking event coming up this Wednesday at Tria, home to all events including beer, wine, and cheese. This one pits the Duvel family of beers against wine in a cheese-pairing showdown. These events are popping up everywhere, it seems, since Sam and Marnie took their Mars and Venus show on the road a couple of years ago. Looks like it's sold out, but if you're interested, it never hurts to give a call and find out for sure.

Also discussed was how if O'Reilly's Stout can bump aside Guinness from tap towers, then why can't Witte do the same to Hoegaarden? Afterall, which would you rather partake in?

As American as Independence Day and Stoudt's Pale Ale

I sit down at my Brew Lounge desk (er, actually, my other desk) yesterday morning and my faithful Lancaster County Correspondent presents me with the front page of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal...y'know, one of those so-called newspaper thing-ys, printed words with pictures on a tree-based product. Ha, anyway.

This is one of the best correspondents a guy could ask for. He brings beers and tales from Lancaster County and is even up for some further research abroad, like in Pittsburgh or San Francisco. He puts the man in wingman. So, the paper...to the paper...gotta get the papers, get the papers.

Whole point is, if you haven't already caught wind of this, that the Stoudt Family's beer was served at the White House Holiday Picnic last weekend with President Obama, his family, colleagues, and friends. Looks from the article that this American Pale Ale from Stoudt's (the "patriotic one", of course!) has quite a history in our Nation's Capital.

Weekly Beer Calendar Update: July 9-July 15

All month long at Devil's Den in Philly, they're offering up Duval Ommegang specials during each day when there's a race stage. They'll also be giving away Duvel Ommegang prizes including cycling jerseys as well.

Otherwise, here are some highlights of events upcoming over the next week. Or, if you prefer, Check out the entire July 2009 calendar over here.

@Barcade (Brooklyn), New York, NY--- Thu. 7/9 - Ithaca Beer Night (6pm; PAYG for a lot of upstate goodness)

@Beer Yard, Wayne, PA--- Fri. 7/10 - Friday Night Tasting (Victory) (5:00pm-7:00pm; free tasting samples)

@Devil's Den, Philadelphia, PA--- Wed. 7/15 - Flying Dog Night (7:00pm-9:00pm; PAYG to let the dogs out, draft list TBD)

@Isaac Newton's, Newtown, PA--- Thu. 7/9 - Thursday Night Tasting (Smuttynose) (7pm-9pm; free tasting samples)

@Jose Pistola's, Philadelphia, PA--- Thu. 7/9 - Meet the Ommegang Brewer (6:00pm-10:00pm; PAYG for Hennepin, Rare Vos, Abbey Ale, Witte, and Rouge and a chance at prizes)

@Local 44, Philadelphia, PA--- Tue. 7/14 - Allagash Beer Night (6pm; PAYG for their Hugh Malone, Confluence, Victor Ale, and Four Ale all on draft)

@Sly Fox, Phoenixville, PA--- Fri. 7/10 - Hops Project 2009 Varietal Release: TBA (a firkin, then CO2) (11:30am 'til it kicks; PAYG)

@Swift Half, Philadelphia, PA--- Wed. 7/15 - Flying Fish's Exit 11 Release Party (7:00pm-9:00pm; PAYG for the next exit, a Hoppy American Wheat beer, which has absolutely nothing, we repeat nothing, to do with the NJ Turnpike...nothing! got it?)

@The Drafting Room, Exton, PA--- Wed. 7/15 - Sly Fox (6:00pm-10:00pm; PAYG for single hop beers from Hop Project 2008 and 2009 on tap: Amarillo IPA, Cluster IPA, Mt. Rainier IPA, Aurora IPA, Willamette Pale Ale & Marynka Pale Ale. Plus a firkin of Rt. 113 IPA and drum roll...Burns Scottish Ale)

@The Khyber, Philadelphia, PA--- Thu. 7/9 - Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Promo (5:00pm-7:00pm; PAYG for discounted hefe and schwag giveaway)

@Union Jack's, Boyertown, PA--- Thu. 7/9 - Firkin of Tröegs (5:00pm; PAYG for Pale Ale hopped with Cascades in the Firkin; plus, 2008 Mad Elf, Troegenator, Dreamweaver Wheat, Sunshine Pils)


Fun 'n' Games, oh yeah
@Nodding Head, Philadelphia, PA--- Sat. 7/11 - Royal Stumble (1:00pm; $45, currently sold out...head to the grey market if you still wanna go really, really badly)

@Tria Café, Philadelphia, PA--- Wed. 7/15 - Beer & Wine Thowdown with Ommegang (6:30pm-8:00pm; $42 for the showdown to end all throwdowns)


Take me out to the Beer Festival
@Reading Stadium, Reading, PA--- Sat. 7/11 - Pints for Pups Beer Tasting (6:00pm-9:00pm; $30 general/$50 VIP)

@Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY--- Fri. 7/10 - Empire State Brewing and Music Festival (5:00pm-10:00pm; $40)


Doesn't everyone celebrate Christmas twice a year?
@Grey Lodge, Philadelphia, PA--- Fri. 7/10 - Xmas in July (6:00pm-9:00pm; PAYG for Tröegs Mad Elf, Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve, Corsendonk Xmas Ale, Harpoon Winter, Sly Fox Xmas, Weyerbacher Winter, and Manayunk Festivus. Also Xmas treats from Hesh's Bakery)


Food and Beer, perfect together like New Jersey and you (er, um)
@High Street Grill, Mt. Holly, NJ--- Tue. 7/14 - Tap Beer Promo+All-You-Can-Eat Mussels (Lagunitas Lucky 13) ($10)

@Monk's Café, Philadelphia, PA--- Tue. 7/14 - Tom's Favorite Local Beer/Local Food Dinner (7:00pm; $55 for 5 courses of food plus )

@Jose Pistola's, Philadelphia, PA--- Tue. 7/14 - New Holland's Beer and Cheese Night (5:00pm; PAYG for beer, cheese, and appetizer pairings)


Check out the entire July 2009 calendar over here

Beer Trippin', The San Francisco Treat; Part 6

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That, in a nutshell, was San Francisco during the last week of June 2009. I missed NHC, but gained some new knowledge of the city while partaking in some of the mainstay treats that I've come to appreciate over the years. Next visit, I'd like to stop in at La Trappe, then get out of the city for another northward bound visit from Marin to North Coast and many places in between.

Sierra Nevada isn't far from my radar either.

So, let's see...what does that leave for me to share with you...um, yeah, oh right, the country's best airport beer bar. Now, of course, I haven't been to them all. A good number of the largest ones and a few smaller ones as well. I hear Portland, OR has some good beer at the airport. I know that Madison, WI, for its size, has some very good representation.



I was keeping my fingers crossed that when I landed for my connection in Denver from SFO to PHL that I would be in the C-terminal area and have enough time to pop in for a sandwich and a beer or two. Good fortune smiled upon me and within 10 minutes of landing, I was off to find myself some lunch.

Allow me to show you the tap and bottle list at "Timberline Steakhouse" in the Denver, CO airport. It's in the main shopping area of Concourse C and I first visited it after GABF 2008. It's just a short walk from the gates (moving sidewalks sure help) and once inside it becomes very easy to become distracted to the point of missing the gate closure. Between the decent food menu, the runway views, and the local beers I'm not sure it gets much better than this.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite airport beer bar? How does this rank?

Draft: Left Hand Sawtooth, Timberline Pilsner (by Left Hand), Stone Arrogant Bastard, Stone IPA, Avery Karma, Avery Ellie's Brown Ale, Coors Light, Bud Light, Miller Lite

Bottles: Avery Hog Heaven Barleywine, Avery White Rascal, Avery 14er ESB, Avery Salvation, New Belgium Fat Tire, Great Divide DPA, Fuller's London Pride, Bristol Laughing Lab, Odell 90 Shilling, Stone Arrogant Bastard, Stone Porter, Stone IPA, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Left Hand Imperial Stout, Left Hand Polestar Pilsner

Back to Part 5 in a Series of 6

Beer Dates in History: July Anniversaries

20 years
Rogue

15 years
Casco Bay Brewing
Flagstaff Brewing
Red Hook (Woodinville, WA)
Smuttynose

10 years
Golden Avalanche

Beer Trippin', The San Francisco Treat; Part 5

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Now that we were less than 24 hours from getting out of Dodge, it was time to put a finale on this trip to San Francisco. My traveling cohort, Dennis, and I headed east to Lafayette for our last dinner. He had never been to Bo's, a BBQ joint that many of you know me for going on and on about after each trip to the Bay Area. We met up for an early dinner with my sister-in-law's family.


In addition to a mostly glowing review, finally, though, the time has come for me to get in a dig in on Bo's. The prices. No, not the food prices...the beer prices. Though, some also jump on the food prices as well, claiming the meat not worth the moolah. I'd disagree. While it isn't fast food BBQ prices, it's not what I'd call expensive...particularly given the affluent suburbs in which it's located. Generally speaking, the entrees are priced in the mid teens and include a serving size of meat(s) appropriate for most average, or beyond, appetites plus a couple of small sides.


So, while the food was its typical meaty delish-ish-nish, it's time something be said about the beer prices. I keep a spreadsheet (ha, go figure, right?!) of all retail beer that I purchase, including date, size, brand, location, and cost. It's an interesting study over the years to see the beers that I purchase consistently and the prices that are charged for them. Unfortunately, I don't keep track of prices at restaurants or bars...just to-go beer. And, I definitely don't have concrete evidence of what I've paid in the past at Bo's for the good, bottled beer that they carry. At one visit, there was even a few Westvletern's in the cooler...tsk tsk!

But something in my gut (or my memory banks, which are typically pretty good) tells me that beer prices have taken a jump. I recall this feeling back in February earlier this year, but no where near as shocking as this past visit. Picture this: I walk up to the counter to place my food order with two large bottles in hand. One is a Piraat and the other is a Maredsous Tripel.

I don't recall which beer the counter lady said cost which price, but hold on to your seat as I tell you what the two prices were. She procees to ask me, "Do you know that one costs $24.50 and the other costs $20.75?" Say whhhhaaaaa?! is something along the lines of what my expression said. I may be off by a quarter or two, but the point is both 750ml bottles each cost more than $20. Yes, I agree that these are pretty decent beers in large bottles, but again....say whhhaaaaa?!

Even the Ballast Point Pale Ale was somewhere around $12.50 for a large bottle. Again...really?! This one's even stayed in its home state. Sigh...

So, who's wrong here? The proprietor or I? Is my "price programming" stuck back 5 or 10 years ago?

I begrudgingly put one back (the Piraat) and in its stead picked up a Rochefort 10. I mean, c'mon, Rochefort 10 with BBQ? It might not get any better than this, regardless the price. Well, it still clocked in (the 330ml bottle, that is) at $10.50, which practically seemed like a bargain for one of the best beers in the world...especially when compared to the first two that I picked up...and you know I don't say that too often. Once again, I may be off by a few quarters, but I believe that was the ballpark price. Ha, ballpark prices! These beers might actually be cheaper at the ballpark, wink wink nudge nudge.


Too bad the BYOB concept isn't a part of the Californian lifestyle the way it is in Pennsylvania.

What this all meant, fortunately or unfortunately depending upon your perspective, is that the four adults shared smaller quantities of beer than we might originally have expected. Nonetheless, the real winner here was as predicted: the Rochefort 10 with ribs, brisket, and fixins. Absolutely stellar.

We grabbed a little ice cream from a new shop down the street, said our goodbyes for this short visit, and then hopped the train back downtown. I made one more last call before throwing in the towel on this trip, this one at The Monk's Kettle in the Mission District. Another first for me.


The Bay Area has three prominent Belgian bars. Funny how just a couple of years ago, there were none. Now, with one across the bay in Oakland (The Trappist) and one in North Beach neighborhood (La Trappe), Monk's Kettle rounds out three spots around town where you can find some right good Belgian beer. Remaining now on my list from these three is La Trappe, whose building I'm told has a nice beer cave in which to drink. Next time, I suppose. Afterall, it's only but a few blocks from Rogue.


But back to the Mission and Monk's Kettle. It's a cozy establishment that, with its close quarters, promotes a friendly vibe. The bar in some ways reminds me of Bridgid's in Philly a bit. It's not a complete horseshoe, but it does have a bit of a wrap around that allows bar customers see each other and also be within easy earshot of the bartender. And friendliness, like at Bridgid's, abounds.


After being stuffed with BBQ within the last couple of hours, I was in no mood for food. From what I'm told and what I saw next to me at the bar, the kitchen cranks out some nice food (from a nicely smart and tight menu that promotes the whole local and sustainable thing wherever possible) to pair with the extensive beer list. For starters, the blue cheese platter and its accompaniments looked very enticing and will probably be the first thing I order the next time I set foot in the Mission.


The beer? Yes, there's a healthy serving of high quality Belgian and Belgian-styled beers available. But, the locals are well represented as well. From Speakeasy to Russian River to Lagunitas to Moonlight to North Coast, they've got the Bay Area covered and the rest of the state as well.

It was a brief visit, but a high quality one that puts it high on my recommendation list for others visiting San Francisco.

That took me to the almost-official end to this 5-nighter to San Francisco. I'll be back tomorrow to wrap things up AND to finally share with you what I may have found to be the country's best airport beer bar. Hint: it's not in Philly (for sure) nor in San Francisco.

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Beer Trippin', The San Francisco Treat; Part 4

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After Wednesday's day of work, I made a quick stop at The Wine Club on Harrison Street to pick a bottle of wine and a styrofoam shipper for a magnum-sized bottle of Anchor Barrel Ale (yeah, you already saw it in the picture, didn't you?!). The Wine Club is consistently a great place in downtown SF to pick up some harder-to-find indigenous California wines at reasonable prices. (No club membership required; they're open to the public.) This time I picked up a 2007 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel from Bonneau. Looking forward to trying it; maybe with an upcoming Birchrunville Store Cafe dinner back here at home.

Just a few block walk from The Wine Club in the direction of the Mission District is the City Beer Store on Folsom Street. Figured I had a couple of slots left in my beer box to take home with me. Of course, I overbought and ended up needing to stuff a couple in and amongst my suitcase of clothing. Best intentions of a quick trip, of course, went by the wayside when Chris Cohen (a new friend made during the Great SF/Philly Beer Tasting & Meetup) called out to me inside the shop.



So, naturally, we sat down and had one beer. After that, it was a hustle back to the hotel room to then turnaround and head out to the Noe Valley neighborhood. The J-Church Muni line deposited us easily on Church Street just steps from the front door.

Incanto Italian Restaurant on Church Street was hosting Dave McLean's Magnolia Brewery for their first ever beer dinner. By the end of this, you'll come to understand how this became quite possibly....

The.Longest..Five...Course....Beer.....Dinner......Ever.......yes---really---ever.

Don't get me wrong; I love slow dining. Have done it in Europe on numerous occasions. There's no need to rush through eating, particularly when its good food and good drinks with good friends. Though, actually, our lifestyle here in the States often demands rushed eating. That's often a shame. Whether it's our own over-jammed schedules or establishments desire to turn tables faster, a dinner rarely takes much more than hour except perhaps on special occasions...special occasions which are frequently too few and far between.

I don't actually believe it was Incanto's intention to create a 210-minute dinner for our table of six. Even if our group drew things out just a bit longer, judging by two-tops seated around us who were there at least 2 1/2 hours, the dinner certainly went on longer than the two hours that was advertised by the restaurant when I made the reservation.


The reason I've gone now into a third paragraph on this point is more from a lesson learned perspective rather than a complaint. Though, any plans we thought we might have had for the remainder of the night were now out the window after the dinner was completed.

Whether it was that the special beer dinner menu was being served all night long (it wasn't a fixed-time dinner) or that it was being served in addition to the a la carte menu (one out of six at our table did not have the special menu), it appeared to overwhelm the kitchen. Overwhelmed to the point that, while we didn't have the stopwatch running, between two courses we were pretty sure it was 45-60 minutes gone by. And, unfortunately, the one-pour-only beers were not well-timed with the dishes from the kitchen.

Okay, phew...sorry if I rambled on a bit there because, wait for it......we all had a great time at this beer dinner. And, when I say we, I'm referring to the party of 4 that Dennis and I were invited to join. I've described earlier in this series of 6 postings how the San Francisco Beer Scene reminds me much of Philly---it's difficult to go anywhere without running into people you recognize.

Case in point, after arriving at Incanto it wasn't too difficult to recognize Dave McLean at the end of the bar. Going to this dinner was my primary way of making up for not stopping in at Magnolia during this recent trip. That was a tough thing to do, considering I was really looking forward to checking out their Branthill Malt Project that they've been working on this year.

A few minutes after being seated at our little table for two, I then recognized Jesse Friedman (beerandnosh.com), Damian Fagan (barleypress), and Sean Paxton (homebrewchef.com). It wasn't long before we were invited to join Damian/Heather and Jesse/Elianna.


Sean was on his way to catching the red-eye to Maine to help with the opening of Lion's Pride in Brunswick, so unfortunately he was not able to join us. Still, it was a table full of great people with whom to share great food and beer. So, you ask...how did the dinner and its pairings go? Did you think I'd ever get to it?!


If you think you've heard the name Chris Cosentino before, you'd be correct if you said Iron Chef on The Food Network. If you've heard the name Dave McLean, it'd be from the Haight's Magnolia Brewpub. They came together for a night of firsts: Incanto's first beer dinner, as well as Dave's first beer dinner hosted outside of the brewpub.


~Kampachi crudo, strawberries, and vanilla salt served with Magnolia Half Step Hefeweizen
The dinner started with a smashing first course of Strawberries and raw Kampachi which was highlighted by the Vanilla Salt. Or was it vice versa? Overall, this course worked nicely with the light hefeweizen beer. Some hefeweizens are just too...let's see, too hefe, at least for my liking. This one is not and therefore it let the dish of food sing nicely alongside the beer. Then we waited...


~Fritto of duck bits & IPA aioli served with Magnolia Spud Boy IPA
Duck Bits. Hm, let's see...What might we expect from a chef who practices the art of offal? What we got was a plate with various pieces of duck organs, none more pleasing to me then the heart. To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure what some of the other pieces were, though I'm assuming the one was a slice of liver. But the heart...this slightly tender and flavorful, and full of protein, organ made for a nice bite-size morsel of goodness. This was the only bit on the plate not to be fried, which I believe helped to accentuate the flavor. The other pieces, I felt, simply got lost beneath the fried layer of breading. The IPA did fine to scrub away the fried and aioli flavors, but I think I would have preferred the Proving Ground IPA which, particularly on cask, is one of my Magnolia favorites.


~Lovage pappardelle & rabbit sugo served with Magnolia bourbon barrel-aged Weekapug Gruit
Ah, the papparadelle and rabbit was next. This one, paired with the gruit, jumped off the printed menu to me long before we walked through the door. Here was a dish that might have been the star of the evening when it came to the beer pairing. The tender stewed rabbit (with nary a toothpick bone to be found...kudos!) was the perfect companion for the herbed, starchy pasta and the herbified beer (remember: gruit=no hops). The mild gaminess and saltiness of the prepared rabbit (not a bad thing) seemed to play well with the hop-free herb-forward gruit beer. This jumped to the forefront of the night thusfar, nudging aside, just barely, the first course.


~Boccalone sausage, smoked escolar, potatoes, & horseradish crème fraîche served with Magnolia Big Cyprus Brown Ale
4th course. Was it the winner? It certainly got close. The sausage convinced me that the Ferry Building will absolutely be on my itinerary during my next Bay Area visit. I'm not sure if the smoked fish brought out the ever-so-slight smoked flavor in the brown ale or if it was the other way around...or whether it was the sausage doing the trick (my personal highlight of the dish). Either way, this dish worked well and the pairing was probably the third best of the evening, in my opinion, behind the first course.


~Roasted peaches, berry essence, almonds, & hop ice cream served with Magnolia Cabernet barrel-aged Tweezer Tripel
I've been known to say many times that there may be no better pairing than a chocolate dessert with a nice big beer (big in flavor and body, that is...not volume). So, if we're gonna do a non-chocolate based dessert as the last course of a beer dinner, it better be out of this world good. We were given two halves of a roasted peach with a hop-flavored ice cream and also some extra goodies to share across the table. One extra was a refreshing gelato (or a sorbet, I don't recall) and the other was what I believe was a panna cotta.

Each was good and interesting in their own respective right. But, the original pairing of the peaches with the barrel-aged Tweezer Tripel just didn't go far enough to astound me. The tripel seemed to be lacking some of the weight and the barrel and fruit flavors that I was expecting. And the ice cream had a bit too much of a, how shall I say?, dirty hop flavor that distracted me from the peaches and ice cream. It was fine, but my palate just couldn't get around on the ice cream.

Mark Pastore, owner of Incanto, stopped by to speak with us for a few minutes. I don't know if it was because he knew anyone at our table, since I didn't notice any other type of socializing from the kitchen, or Dave McLean, or Mark otherwise. There may have been some one-off visits, but the hosts of the evening generally stayed at the far end of the bar and allowed guests to go and speak with them.


Most of the well-received beer dinners that I've been to are ones where there is some level of interaction between the kitchen, bar, brewery staff, and the customers. But, at this one, there was no announcement(s), thanks for coming out to dinner, or introductions of the courses and the pairing intentions. That certainly could have gone a little ways to bridging the long waits between courses.

So, what do we learn from this seemingly rambling, never-ending story of eating and drinking in San Francisco's Noe Valley? (hey, give me a break...it was, afterall, 3 and 1/2 hours...there's a lot to tell) Let's recap: a new neighborhood, for me, discovered; dinner at a table of great friendship; beers by one of SF's best; dinner by one of the country's more adventurous and cutting-edge chefs; one of the more unique beer dinner experiences in my log book. A winner on all counts.


One closing note about Incanto. They have a sister establishment, Boccalone, though nothing like Incanto, this one set up on the opposite end of town in the Ferry Building Marketplace along the Embarcadero, not far from the Coit Tower. Three little words were mentioned to me, which will go into my itinerary for later this year: Black Truffle Mortadella.

And, if you'd like to read another perspective and see way better pictures of this dinner, please visit Jesse Friedman's Beer and Nosh website; you may never return.

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Take a Breath, Let's Catch Up

I've been keeping on my posting end of this Brew Lounge thing lately. Many of you/us have been doing vacation-y, holiday-y type of stuff over the past week or so.

In case you missed anything over the last week (and who can blame you...I've been missing out on a lot of my own reading as the dog days of summer engulf us all), here's a handy-dandy cheat sheet with links to what's been going on at The Brew Lounge. Check back tomorrow for more good stuff from San Francisco.

July's Calendar of Events was posted...along with a weekly update that gets you through this Wednesday, July 8th

A little something about Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp from Tomme Arthur (already attended) and Howard Weintraub (shipping out in August)

I got things underway with the first 3 parts in a series of 6 where I discuss my findings during a recent trip to San Francisco, CA. Part 1...Part 2...and Part 3. You can expect the remaining 3 this week, so quick catch up on your reading and check back tomorrow for Part 4.

Ken Grossman's keynote address to the National Homebrewers Conference via Basic Brewing Radio

A bit where I play middleman for Ommegang tickets for sale (looks like 2 VIP may still remain)

Publicans of the Year coming soon to Resurrection Ale House

Okay, so I walk into Local 44 yesterday to watch Stage 1 of this year's Tour de France (you do know, right, that these are seriously some of the world's most fit athletes, right? and that it's a team sport, right? and there are spectacular crashes, right? so why don't more people care?....eh, never mind...)

Okay, so as I was saying, Brendan and Ashley opened the shop yesterday morning. After the most pleasant 27 minute ride down the Schuylkill Expressway (er, yeah, how many times are those words strung together in a sentence?!), I found myself as the first person at the bar.

I also found myself congratulating Brendan on his (and Leigh's) announcement of a third edition to their growing Philly beer family. Resurrection Ale House is what it will be called...Yello'bar in Grays Ferry is the now-shuttered business in the location where it will be come the fall of '09. Corner of Grays Ferry Ave. and Catherine Street to be exact. An underserved area if I ever saw one.

It's been mentioned everywhere else, (yup, and here too) so I suppose I'm a little late to the game. But, I found myself saying to Brendan that even if they did nothing else this year, I'd put them up for Publicans of the Year.

Did I find out anything else new? Well, maybe, but things I can't tell. Brendan did mention that there will be 12 taps and 50 bottles, which does seem to substantiate comments you've read across those other links from above about how this third place of theirs will have more of a food-centric approach.

Then, I get home to do my rounds on the BeerNet and I find Kindly Mr. Curtin has already bestowed upon them the very same distinction. Ah, there are those big bucks at work again.

Ah well, I suppose that we really can't pile too many accolades upon Brendan and Leigh. After all, they in fact are very, very good at what they do. Where other places fail at doing trendy things or half-baked things, these two and their staffs do some very good things in a very consistently well manner.

Congrats and continued success to Brendan and Leigh, the staffs at Memphis Taproom, Local 44, and soon-to-be Resurrection Ale House. And, if you haven't yet been to the former two, uh...get going...now. You've missed out on some of the best local pub culture that Philly has to offer.

Oh, and by the way, the big draw yesterday seemed to be not only the Tour, but the keg of Racer X that put up on tap as well (the XP from Bear Republic on cask was also quite lovely). If you hanker for that sort of thing, fret not, another keg of Racer X will go on tap July 26th, the last day of the Tour de France when it heads down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. But, don't wait until then to check out one of the world's finest sporting events.