Jet Rock, Chickie's & Pete's, Beer at PHL

This probably falls just somewhere north of "who cares", but in the spirit of reporting news, the Terminal C Jet Rock Bar & Grill at Philadelphia International Airport is closing as of today. It's being replaced by Chickie's & Pete's. (The Terminal B location will remain). So, while the food is improving, the beer selection is declining.

I knew something was off earlier this week when I ordered an Anchor (sorry, sir), then a Sierra Nevada (not that either), then had to "settle" for drinking local with a Victory Hop Devil. I didn't have much luck on the food side of the menu either as many food items were not available. The bartender informed me that they weren't restocking inventory as the days passed leading up to closing.

For those of you not familiar with "Chickie's", it's a locally grown small chain of seafood/sports pubs (esp. crabs & fries) across the Philadelphia region. It's original location is just around the corner from another little establishment that you're probably all familiar with, the Grey Lodge Pub in the Mayfair/Wissinoming area of the city. They've grown slowly over the years to locations in the Sports Complex, the suburbs, and now the airport. They appear to becoming as synonymous with Philadelphia as Pat's, Geno's, and the Liberty Bell.

On a slightly related note, only about half of the micro/craft taps were flowing at the Independence pub (not to be confused with Independence Brew Pub in Center City), located in the "mall" between Terminals B & C. Hopefully, this was just an off day and they will continue to be an airport oasis for Troegs, Yards (maybe?), Lancaster, Victory, and other local faves. PHL has always been known as a decent airport when it comes to beer selection. These two places are the primary reason.

East End Brewing, Pittsburgh, PA

This story is long overdue, but, too important to pass up.

It was a beautiful day if not a tad cold in "dahn-tahn" Pittsburgh, PA. I just got some great news and I was ready to go back to Southeastern, PA. Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what East End Brewing had to offer. Especially since it was Thursday and Scott opens up for growler hours from 5:00-7:00.

Now I used to live in Pittsburgh, but, it has been a long time and had no idea where this place was located. Google maps helped me out a bit and before I knew it I was looking at a very unassuming facade. Some might think, "this is it?". I was thinking, "This is IT!". Hey, I like informal places ;-) Two cars out front and uh...where's the front door?

Oh there it is. The one with the sticky note that says "Come on in!". Now that is informal. In a way I felt like I was at a dance club in Pittsburgh's Strip District or perhaps in Buffalo, NY. Basically it seemed like an old building that was re-purposed into industrial park like spaces. Not too different from Tom Baker's old place in Ocean, NJ.

Inside there's a long dark hallway leading back to the brewery. If you look at the picture on the front page of his website you'll see basically the same tanks, taps and well Scott Smith himself. I kinda milled around while he was talking to somebody and introduced myself as that guy from The Brew Lounge that emailed him and he asked what I might like to taste. There were five options that night. Fortunately I wrote them down.

• Black Strap Stout
• American Wheat #7
• East End Witte
  
• Fat Gary Ale
• Big Hop IPA
  

All of them were very tasty. The Fat Gary is a solid session beer. The Witte needed a little more time to mellow out and lose a bit of the nose, but, it tasted great. The Big Hop was obviously for those of you our there who enjoy a ridiculous amount of hops. Don't miss it. I don't remember it being noticeably out of balance, but, I don't usually care about that anyway. Black Strap Stout is well just plain delicious. Reminded me somewhat of Perkuno's Hammer from Heavyweight. American Wheat #7 was delicious, if not a bit cold, but, hey its winter and the keg was on the concrete floor. Nice hit of hops with enough malt to keep it grounded.

Scott is definitely enthusiastic. I guess you have to be when you run a brewing business by yourself in a freezing cold warehouse atmosphere with concrete floors and icicles hanging from your nose...ok..ok, it wasn't that bad. Scott, does have some volunteers. The place is definitely charming in that manly kind of work your butt off way...heheh. Ever since Bryan brought East End to my attention and I checked out his site, I have been interested in meeting the one man machine behind the scenes.

My time was running short. I had over three hours to drive and as much as I wanted to stay, really need to get on the turnpike. So I asked Scott to pack up two bottles of The Ugly American and two of the 2006 Gratitude. One each for Bryan and I. I also took a growler of Fat Gary's Brown Ale. (after quick trip to a ATM I was all set)

What a truly great guy who brews very good beer. Pittsburgh is lucky to have a brewer like Scott. I hope to be back soon. In the meantime I'll have to find somebody to share those two big bombers with. Did I mention that all this beer is brewed in an environmentally sustainable way.

Thanks Scott. BTW, next time I'm coming in the summer!

Another Successful Trip to San Francisco

Good business was done, new friends were made, and tasty treats made their way home with me. Definitely some winners in this batch. Perhaps none more so than Alaskan Smoked Porter, Moylan's Hopsickle, and Firestone Walker's 10th Anniversary.

And to make matters even better, 10 bombers and 4 cans of beer travelled through checked baggage, the TSA, and baggage handlers with no casualties to report!

Air Travel with Beer

After this morning's unfortunate turn of events in today's world of terrorism, it appears that bringing beer on to an airplane will be practically impossible. Like nail clippers, this may last for a little while.

The two alternatives, as of this morning, are to A) safely wrap and check into stowed baggage....and pray(!) ; or B) send home through a private courier.

Will have to keep my eye on further developments as my next San Francisco trip is less than two weeks away and I have several ideas of what to bring home with me. Should be interesting......

Beer Travels: Traveling Friends from California

Well, like you couldn't have guessed it. A few "friends" from California joined me for my long flight home on Friday. They were almost consumed in the SFO airport during my 4 hour delay. But, fortuitously, my gate was positioned between the Gordon Biersch and the Anchor restaurant/bar locations. And, for a bit of caffeine, the always impressive Peet's Coffee was across the way.

Anyway, my traveling friends from California included: the venerable Bear Republic's Racer IPA; the always creative Anderson Valley's Brother David's Double and Triple; and the "new-to-The Brew Lounge" Marin Brewing's Breakfast Stout and Blueberry Ale. Can't wait to pour one of these bad boys. Oh, and if you're interested, they are all 22oz. "bombers" and were purchased from The Jug Shop on Pacific & Polk (at the end of my 9-mile run)....taxi, please!

Airports and Good Beer

Is good beer getting better to find nowadays or what?! First it's good beer bars, then good beer restaurants, then good beer at sporting arenas. Now, better beer is showing up at your neighborhood airport. Seriously! This may surprise some of you that do not have the opportunity to pass through airports. Or, those of you who don't have the time to search it out as you are passing through to your flight. But, others of you know exactly what I am talking about.

Take for example our trip this last weekend from Philadelphia to Detroit to Madison. Then, home from Madison to Minneapolis to Philadelphia. I have listed below a sampling of the beer that I found in Detroit, Madison, and Minneapolis.

You may agree that Madison may be the most surprising. Not because they have two bars with nice brew selections, but because they probably have the highest brewpub per airport capita rate....at an airport with only 10 gates!

Detroit, MI (DTW)
- "Tailpipe Taproom" (near Gates A71-A78) Widmer Hefeweizen; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Fosters; Labatt Blue; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite
- "Max & Erma's" (near Gate A29) Leinenkugel's Summer Wheat; Warsteiner; Molson Canadian; Sam Adams Summer Ale; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Miller Lite
- "Slapshotz" (near Gate A21) Sam Adams Boston Lager; Guinness; Fosters; Heineken; Labatt Blue; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite


Madison, WI (MSN)
- "Würst" (near Gate A5) Hacker Pschorr Weisse; Great Dane Pils; Beck's; Beck's Dark; Sam Adams Light; Amstel Light; Capital Winter Skal; St. Pauli Girl; Leinenkugel's Wheat; Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Budweiser
- "Great Dane Brewpub" (near Gate A4) Landmark Lite; Devil's Lake Red Lager; Emerald Isle Stout; Black Earth Porter; Old Glory American Pale Ale; Belgian Dubbel


Minneapolis, MN (MSP)
- "Axel's Bonfire" (in Main Terminal) Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Bonfire Lager (exclusively brewed by Auguste Schell); Bass; Budweiser; Bud Light
- "TGIFriday's" (near Gates C9-C12) Stella Artois; Blue Moon; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Summit Extra Pale Ale; Heineken; Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite