Tap Talk

Brew Lounge’s Beer Calendar 5/16-5/22

Brew Lounge’s beer calendar for this week is posted.  Start getting those beer bellies warmed up for Philly Beer Week with these events.

All PA at Fingers, Wings & Other Things!

Sometimes PhillyTapFinder gets excited about events and other times, we get EXCITED about events.  This one, PhillyTapFinder is EXCITED about.  It’s all PA.  And it involves cask beer.  That’s right up our alley.  Do not miss this…

On Wednesday, May 15, at Fingers Wings and Other Things (Conshy), there will be a huge event involving only PA brewers.  Free Will, Full Pint, Lancaster, and Shawnee will be representing PA.  Kicks off at 5pm.  Here’s the lineup:

The casks are:
Free Will Napoleon Farmhouse Sour Ale with hibiscus, merlot skins and French oak
Full Pint Chinookie IPA
Lancaster Milk Stout
 
Kegs:
Free Will:
Hop Geek DIPA
Techno IPA
 
Full Pint:
Rye Rebellion
White Lightning
 
Lancaster:
Kolsch
Black Boar IPA
 
Shawnee:
Cuvee Saison
Tripel

Here are the descriptions for this delicious collection of PA beers.

Please come out and support your locals and drink from this amazing lineup.

Dark Horse Awesomeness at Bainbridge St. Barrel House

Check this out!  Hopped up on the Horse on Wednesday, 5/15.  Dark Horse Crooked Tree has a reputation as one of the best IPAs around in Philly.  I agree. It’s delicious.  But in addition to the regular Crooked Tree and Double Crooked Tree, Bainbridge Street Barrel House (6th & Bainbridge) will have a couple single-hop derivations of Crooked Tree that you rarely (if ever) see: Crooked Tree Falconer’s Flight and Crooked Tree Cascade.  That’s four derivations of Crooked Tree on tap at one time.  Flights will be available. You may never see this again. Fun starts at 6:30 p.m.

Wheat Beer Fest at South Philly Tap Room

This is one of Philly’s do-not-miss beer events.

And I know what you’re thinking — that sounds great, but what’s pouring?  I read your mind so PhillyTapFinder went and got the info:

Brooklyner Weisse
Flying Fish Farmhouse
Stoudts Heifer In Wheat
Wolavers Wildflower
21st Watermelon Wheat
Abita Purple Haze
Allagash White
Dock Street Summer Session
Firestone Walker Union Jack
Harpoon White
Harpoon Raspberry UFO
Manayunk Hidden River Belgian Wit
Ommegang Witte
Oskar Blues Mama’s
Sixpoint Apollo Wheat
Sly Fox Royal Weisse
Twin Lakes Winterthur Wheat
Unibroue Ephemere
Weyerbacher Wit Sun
PBC Fleur
PBC Walt Wit
Ithaca Apricot Wheat
Goose 312
Longtrail Blackberry Wit
Longtrail Witbier
Troegs Dreamweaver
Avery  White Rascal
Bell’s Oberon
Flying Dog Woody Creek Wit
Lefthand Good Juju
Southern Tier Hop Sun
Brew Works Steelgarden Wit
Two Brothers Monarch
Weihenstephaner Hefe
Cricket Hill Jersey Summer
Full Pint White Lightening
Lancaster Strawberry Wheat
Ramstein Blonde
Breckenridge Agave Wheat

As if this was not enough, more may be added.

I also got word that the dudes from Weihenstephaner will be there to pour!  Yet another reason not to miss out on this event. 

Rare Brewer’s Art Beers at Side Bar

I’m a huge Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, MD) fan.  I first encountered Brewer’s Art when I lived in Baltimore many years ago.  They make some of the best American-made Belgian-style beers.  I’m so excited that they are back in Philly.  Over the past several months, we have regularly seen about 4 or 5 different beers.  On Saturday night, that’s going to change.  Check out this event at Side Bar in West Chester with several beers that are rarely seen in this area.

Check these guys out.  I’m confident that you will be impressed.

Beers at the Ballpark

No plans next Friday, May 10?  You do now.  Check out this deal:

Beers and baseball at one of the most beautiful ballparks around.  $35 for a ticket and 2 hours of food and local beers.  Sounds like a perfect Friday night. See the instructions above to purchase tickets.

Update 5/6

The beers will be on draft and here’s what will be pouring:

Victory Summer Love

Stoudts Double IPA

Yards Saison

Troegs Hopback

PBC Kenzinger

May Beer Events brought to you by The Brew Lounge

Another very busy month of beer events.  Brew Lounge has compiled May’s events right here. Start warming up for Philly Beer Week.

I Know What You Drank Last Winter

The winter 2012-13 numbers are in!  PhillyTapFinder tracks what people are looking for, tallies up the pageviews every season, and puts together these very interesting lists.  Following is winter 2012-13’s most searched-for beers, breweries, bars, and styles.  Some of the results were expected, but there were some surprises as well.

Most Searched-For Bars - Winter 2012-13

1. Monk’s Cafe
2. Alla Spina
3. Sidecar
4. Kite & Key
5. Kraftwork

PTF’s reaction:  Monk’s has reigned supreme in this category since I started tallying the results.  BUT… this was the closest that another bar has come to having more pageviews than Monk’s.  Alla Spina was right on their tail.  Alla Spina has an amazing and unique tap list.  They also do a great job with spreading the word about their excellent tap list on PTF through social media (very smart move by Alla Spina) and they link to their list on PTF from their website (also very smart). 

Kite & Key also caught my eye.  Their regular tap list is great, but they are also putting together some of the best events in Philly.  The events may have had a big impact on this result.

Also interesting was that the sixth most searched-for bar was a brand new bar, Bainbridge Street Barrel House.  We’ll have to see if the “newness factor” had anything to do with this result, but in my opinion, they are pouring one of the most interesting lineups in Philly (lots of smaller, well-respected breweries from throughout the country).  I expect them to continue to do well and maybe crack the top five soon.

Most Searched-For Beers - Winter 2012-13

1. Russian River Pliny the Younger (CA)
2. Bell’s Hopslam (MI)
3. Russian River Pliny the Elder (CA)
4. Stone Enjoy by 02.15.13 (CA)
5. Troegs Nugget Nectar (PA)
6. Russian River Blind Pig (CA)
7. Troegs Mad Elf (PA)
8. Hill Farmstead Harlan (VT)
9. Lagunitas Sucks (CA)
10. Russian River Damnation (CA)

PTF’s Reaction:  Yes, this was Pliny the Younger season.  You can say what you want about chaos that it causes, but there is no question that it is one of the best beers around, its quantity is extremely limited, and it deserves the top spot. 

Hop-heavy beers consumed 8 of the top 10 spots.  And clearly, Philly loves Russian River as they placed 4 beers in the top 10 (CA claimed 6 of the top 10).  I was happy to see two locals on the list, but would love to see some more.  Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to see Lavery Dulachan fall in at number 12.  Lavery is from Erie, PA.  They are fairly new to Philly, but their beers are beginning to gain some big followers in Philly.  I am personally a huge fan of the brewery.

Most Searched-For Breweries - Winter 2012-13

1. Russian River (CA)
2. Bell’s (MI)
3. Troegs (PA)
4. Founders (MI)
5. Dogfish Head (DE)
6. Stone (CA)
7. Firestone Walker (CA)
8. Hill Farmstead (VT)
9. Evolution (MD)
10. Goose Island (IL)

PTF’s Reaction:  Really no surprises here, except one.  Evolution (Salisbury, MD) has been making a big push in the Philly market.  I’m personally a huge fan of the brewery so it’s great to see that others are as well.  Evolution was also the “featured brewery” on the PhillyTapFinder homepage for much of this season.  It was personally satisfying to see that this position is beneficial to a brewery; it gets more PhillyTapFinder users to see their incredible offerings.

It was interesting to see how evenly divided the top-ranked breweries were by geography:  3 West Coast, 4 East Coast, and 3 Midwest.

Most Searched-For Style - Winter 2012-13

1. IPA
2. Stout
3. Sour/Wild-Fermented
4. Pumpkin

PTF’s reaction:  The IPA still reigns supreme and I don’t think that will change.  Philly simply loves hops.  Seasonality, however, certainly made a difference in this category as stouts placed second and pumpkin beers placed fourth.

Hope that you enjoyed seeing these numbers as much as I did.  Some things will never change in Philly (IPAs, Russian River, etc.), but we did see some impact of the changes in season and some bars that previously did not make the top five list are making a big push.  Look for the Spring post in a few months.

New Yards Brew “Kinetic Collaboration” at Kraftwork!

This beer and event sound plain awesome.

On Tuesday, April 23rd, Kraftwork will be hosting an event to launch their “Kinetic Collaboration” Kristal Weizenbock that was brewed at Yards. The idea behind brewing the beer was born from Kraftwork’s desire to show support for both the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival and the Kinetic Sculpture Derby, which both take place on Saturday, May 18th.

Kraftwork will be pouring the beer from a standard pour and from a firkin. There will be at least two examples of sculptures that have participated in the derby in the past on our sidewalk and the great folks from Yards and our neighborhood associations will be in attendance. This promises to be a great get together for our neighbors while raising awareness about the derby and the arts festival.

Some Background about the beer:
Yards Kristal Weizenbock is an American take on a traditional German Weizenbock. It is light in color and medium in body. It is not bready or have flavors of dark fruit or prunes that you would find in a German Weizenbock. The aroma is a balance of clove and banana with a refreshing touch of grapefruit from the addition of Centennial Hops. 7.1% ABV.

Some background about the Derby:
The Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, a design competition and parade of human powered vehicle floats, was started in 2007 as an Economic Development Initiative of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation to compliment the East Kensington Neighbors Association’s Trenton Avenue Arts Festival.

Strangelove’s Amazing Opening Tap List!

Tuesday, April 23 is a big day.  At 5pm, Strangelove’s (11th St. between Walnut & Locust) is opening its doors and I could not be more excited.

Strangelove’s is owned by the same people that own Local 44, Memphis Taproom, and Resurrection.  All three of these bars are wonderful places to hang out and offer some of the best beer in Philly.  But this place is kind of different than those other places in several ways.  It’s much bigger than their other establishments.  Also, it’s in the middle of the city so there is more competition (unlike their other spots where they picked the perfect corner properties in the outskirts of the city that were desperate for a neighborhood craft beer spot — one of the owners’ many talents in my opinion). 

Without further adieu, here’s the amazing wonderful tap list:

Opening Draft Line Up
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Strangelove’s Duet
Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus
Hair of the Dog/De Proef Flanders Fred
Dieu Du Ceil Peche Mortel
Schlenkerla Helles
De Dolle Dulle Teve
Brewers Art Ozzy
Drie Fonteinen Zwet.be
Bear Republic Racer 5
Victory Braumeister Pils
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Omnipollo Leon
Nebraska Apricot Au Poirve
Firestone Walker Pale 31
Yards Love Stout
Dogfish Head Bitches Brew (2010)
Allagash White

- - - - -

On Cask
Sly Fox Phoenix Pale
Coniston Blue Bird Bitter

Let’s hope that this lineup is a sign of things to come.  Following their other three bars on PhillyTapFinder for that past couple of years, I have a strange feeling that it is.