Philly Beer Week, Days 8 and 9

As I write this, the sun is up and shining and it's the last day of Beer Week. As usually happens, I met this day with a sense of relief. No, I don't have to go out every day during Beer Week, and I obviously didn't. But I still went out much more than usual, and I'm looking forward to my usual routing kicking back in.

Having said that, here is my wrap up of Days 8 and 9.

Day 8
Day 8 was an exciting one for me - John was coming home. I knew I'd have some time to kill before I had to meet him at the airport, so had decided to head to South Philly, where it would be easy for me to jump on 95 to pick him up. I wound up at P.O.P.E. with some friends, and while they weren't doing anything specifically for Beer Week at that time, they had the Allagash Yakuza on tap. Yakuza is the Tripel dry hopped with Sorachi Ace and Cascade hops. It's a big beer at 9%, but extremely well balanced and tasty. I think it's pretty rare - there's only 2 reviews for it on Beer Advocate and 3 on Rate Beer! I also had the Elysian Loser Pale Ale, one of my favorite pale ales. So flavorful!

After getting John from the airport, we headed to Misconduct Tavern. I love their burgers and we were both hungry for some dinner. I had the Harpoon Catamount Maple Wheat, a wheat beer brewed with Vermont maple syrup, which was quite good. After dinner we headed to Monk's, because even with all their great beer events I hadn't been there during the week. Again, nothing really going on per se, but they did have some great Russian River brews on tap, including one of my all-time faves, the Blind Pig, which is what I eagerly ordered.

Decided to take a little bit of a walk on to the other side of Broad Street, and found ourselves at Varga, where they were having Weyerbacher night. I had the Weyerbacher Victor, an India Red Ale, and their latest in the Brewer's Select Series. Really drinkable and delicious, and only 5.8%. I also had the Last Chance IPA, which I'd had earlier in the week.

We found ourselves at Tria after leaving Varga. Grabbed more food and I actually switched to a glass of wine at that point. Having only water probably would have been smarter, but I enjoyed the wine nonetheless.

Home was next on our agenda, and much needed at that point.

Day 9
I could tell Beer Week was getting to me, as I slept until 10:30, which I never do. Had a bit of leisurely morning - John was acclimating back to east coast time, and he slept until noon. He probably would have slept later if I hadn't woken up, but my stomach was telling me that some serious food was in order. We headed over the Memphis Taproom where they were having a home brew event. After having brunch (and a Brussels Calling from Brasserie de la Senne) we headed out to the beer garden where the beers of several home brewers were being showcased. Really fun event. We got to try some different beers, and met people that I'd been following on Twitter that I hadn't met in person before. I had a lovely lavendar saison brewed by Bombshell Brewing, a Candadian Bacon IPA (two of my favorite things in one drink!), a Wit or Witout (Belgian Wit) from St. Benjamin Brewing, an English Pale Ale by Mellody Brewing, Fishtown Smally (a Trappist-style table beer), Summer Blonde, and Love Bite (English Ruby Mild).

Headed over the Royal Tavern, because we were both hungry again. They had a Troegs Tap Takeover, and I had the Sunshine Pils, one of my favorite summer beers.

From there we headed out to celebrate a friend's birthday. So once again, Beer Week fun ended but the party continued on.

Not sure what's on the agenda today. May head out for one last hurrah, or may start the detox process. I guess we'll see soon enough!

Philly Beer Week, Days 2 and 3

The first weekend of Philly Beer Week is over, and I made it through! I think I'm getting smarter about this whole drinking thing because I managed not to have a hangover at any point. So that only took about 20 years.

Anyway, what a great weekend it was! The weather couldn't have been better, and the events I went to couldn't have been more fun. Let's start with Saturday, or Day 2.

Day 2
After getting a very late start, I made it to The Pour House in Collingswood for lunch where they were having a Goose Island Tap Takeover. It was also the Haddon Pub Fest, but we didn't do any crawling. Finally made it in to Philly a little before 5 and headed straight to Varga where they were having their annual block party. Although it was late in the day (the event only went until about 6), we were still there in plenty of time for fun and good beer. There was a DJ spinning great music and everyone was just chilling out, enjoying the beautiful skies and light breeze. The block party ended and then it was a Great Lakes Tap Takeover event. Got to have some of the great beers from Great Lakes before heading to the next destination.

Devil's Den was next on our list. Although there wasn't anything in particular happening while we were there, we benefited from earlier events in the form of rare/new beers. I got a flight, which consisted of Ballast Point Even Keel (an amazing, tasty session beer that's only 3.7% ABV), Reprisal Centennial Red from 4 Hands Brewing, Belgian Tripel from Neshaminy Creek (really liking what these guys are doing!), and a Choco-Latte from Williamsburg AleWerks.

Our Beer Week adventures ended there, but the fun continued as we helped a friend celebrate his birthday.

Day 3

Sunday was another beautiful day. Unfortunately, I had to take John to the airport as he'll be in LA for the week for work. I was sad to drop him off, but luckily I had some Heady Topper from The Alchemist at Misconduct Tavern to look forward to. This was the first I've had of the Heady Topper; it was from a keg and it was honestly awesome. I've heard some say it's a strong rival against Pliny the Younger, and I agree with this sentiment! Next up was a Lavery Oak-aged Lipoard Oir, from Lavery Brewing, which even after the bitter bite of the Heady Topper still came through as a beautiful saison.

The artist at work

 The best part of Sunday was absolutely Mat Falco of Philly Beer Scene getting his head shaved by Casey Hughes. I believe Mat's been growing his hair for 2 years. To the left you can see what Casey had to work through. I don't even have the words to describe how much fun it was to see this happen.
Mat was a great sport, although more than once I'm sure he had to be wondering what he had gotten himself in to.

The end result

Casey did a nice job, although Mat may feel differently. You can see more photos here.

Next up was the Cirque de Sasion at Tapestry. This was a great event for kids and adults. There was face painting, live music provided by Slo & Shakey, men on stilts, hoola-hooping, and an amazing array of saisons. I had the Del Ducato Nuova Mattina. Delizioso!

Making my way north and east, I wound up at Standard Tap where they were having a scratch beer showdown between beer writers Lew Bryson and Jack Curtin. Both used Troeg's facility to brew their beers; Lew's was a Zwickel Licker and Jack offered a Biere de Grouche. It was essentially a dead heat, with Jack beating Lew by just three glasses. (I'll be honest. I didn't stay until the end and I just read online what the outcome was). Having tried both, I'd say they were both winners.

It was an epic weekend, followed by the need for a day off, which is why I won't be posting anything tomorrow about Day 4. My Day 4 consisted of lots of TV time and water. Back at it again tomorrow (Day 5) and am excited for what the night will bring.

Photos courtesy of Stephen Lyford.