Sunday, June 10, 2012

Philly Beer Week 2012: Day 9 Wrap-Up

-->A link to the Philly Beer Week Index

-->A link to Day 8 highlights

-->Look ahead to a Day 10 preview
-->A link to Day 10 highlights

The beauty of doing a Philly Beer Week wrap-up is that there's almost no way in which I, or anyone else, can be wrong in my assessment. After all, with an average of 80 or so "events" a day (and let's be honest, after five years, there are still quite a few questionable "events" on the calendar, but let's move along), no one will or can see it all to render an opinion on how the whole of the day went down.

So, instead, here is my account of the ninth day, June 9, of Philly Beer Week 2012 based upon my whereabouts. To the extent that I have credible second- or third-hand accounts of the day, I'll be including them in each day's wrap-up as well.

First, a link to Picasa and my day 9 of PBW wrapped up in pictures.

And, now, some brief notes in no particular order other than perhaps chronologically.

~ Sorry to continuing to harp on all my prep for the big race at Dock Street on day 10 of PHW '12, but it takes a lot more prep, much behind the scenes, to pull off something of this size. Plus, as you might imagine, I'm rather proud of it. For the runners, for Dock Street, for Philly Beer Week and the 400 attendees that we're bringing to it....just for the run. So, my day began in University City helping with Dock Street to distribute race day materials to nearly a third of the runners. The rest we'll meet prior to the race.

~ Then, it was on to Nodding Head for a few funky beers (and a few that poke fun at our crosstown rival Pittsburgh Penguins and their superstar Sidney Crosby that the Flyers bounced early from this year's NHL playoffs). See pictures for the fun beers and their descriptions. To make the mid-day visit perfect, the daily special consisted of a perfect fried chicken sandwich and a cube of fried lobster mac & cheese.

~ Plus, I learned something that seems to made it's way in to the public forum, but haven't seen it in print anywhere yet. Brewer Mike Fava is following his life plan up to Maine and Oxbow Brewing Company. It happens to be where the brewing equipment that was once destined for a Morrison/Fava setup might have wound up.

~ The train would have been my next stop if Mr. Fergie hadn't walked in to Nodding Head and reminded me of an event back at his Fergie's Pub. A cask of Yards beer. Hammarhead motorcycles. A motorcycle on the bar top. And live Irish music. So of course I needed to check this out for myself. You can see it for yourself in the pictures. And then of course there was the requisite beer I needed to dip into from the prior's day event with the boys from Seattle - Brouwer's Cafe and Bottleworks. A Brouwer's 6 was indeed quite tasty. Then it was time for the train.

~ The train, that is, to Ardmore where I finally got to check out the finished version of Tired Hands Brewing Company. Jean Broillet and his staff were working quite a crowd of what seemed to be mostly locals. We sampled our way through several beers and a couple of small plates of food. I'll focus more on these guys in the coming weeks. For now, take this as a valuable tip: Get there soon and experience one of the most unique brewpub experiences in the region.

~ And now, for one more day. Day 10 of Philly Beer Week 2012.

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