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We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
Philadelphia
I was at the Philly airport in June.. terminal 6 (which is very easy to get to) has only one bar and it has Victory Hop Devil on tap. I remember drinking a pint at 9am with breakfast and thinking that getting routed through Philly wasn't really all that bad!
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G.M. Gillman
- Seasoned Drinker
- Posts: 1486
- Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:24 pm
OK, here goes. Here's my recap of my recent weekend trip to Philadelphia. I'm a bit lazy to look up all the destinations but they are easily found in Google to get addresses. I'll try to post up some pictures soon. I hope this can come in handy.
PHILADELPHIA - NOVEMBER 2009
Philadelphia was one of the last remaining U.S. beer destinations that I hadn't visited yet. It just never seemed to make it to the top of the priority list - Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, New York - usually ended up first. But I recently decided to take a long weekend trip to Philly and I'm glad I did. I thought Philly was going to be a great beer town. What I didn't expect was it to be a great destination overall.
What follows is a bit of a running diary of the trip.
Day 1:
We arrive at Philly airport, which is about 25 minutes by train right to downtown. $7 for the trip, trains run about every half hour. Super convenient and easy to get to the core. There are many direct flights to Philly from Pearson and it's on Porter's future expansion plans.
We orient ourselves and check into the hotels. I stayed at the Independent Hotel, a boutique hotel on Locust St. in between 12th and 13th. It's a great location, has free wifi, free coffee and little breakfasts delivered right to your door in the morning. There are often room deals here through Travelzoo. Hotels can be found even cheaper downtown on Hotwire.
The downtown area of Philly is easy to navigate and walking friendly. It's laid out as a logical grid so finding things is very easy. Exploring Philly is fantastic - lots of little residential alleys to wander down and interesting old buildings to look at.
We started the beer weekend at Jose Pistolas - a pub with Mexican food and great beer (a rare combination). It was the first of many special events - a Weyerbacher lunch with a fresh firkin of Double Simcoe IPA. Evidently it was Adam's birthday who was working at the bar. While trying out the beers we met the guys from Weyerbacher including Bob, Chris and Mike, and Mat from Philly Beer Scene magazine. We sampled the range of Weyerbacher available (Hop Infusion, Winter Ale, Merry Monks), had some delicious tacos and moved on.
Next up was Friday the Firkinteenth, a cask festival that occurs every Friday 13th at the Grey Lodge. The Grey Lodge is in NE Philly so a cab, ride or transit is required. This was a beer frenzy, with everyone clamoring up to the bar to try the casks. They had at any given time about 6 available, and when one drained the next was tapped. It made the event that much more exciting with new taps constantly coming on. The crowds spilled onto the street and nobody seemed to mind. We had a few cask goodies including Philadelphia Joe Porter, Yards Washington ESA and Stoudts Winter.
After some cask ales we headed back downtown to Monk's Cafe. As probably the most well known beer destination in Philly, Monk's doesn't disappoint. The space is comprised two areas - a front bar and back bar with varying tap selections. Make no mistake, Monk's is a beer haven. They have great food, friendly staff and killer beer - tons of Belgians and US Belgian styles on tap and in bottle. Not much can be said other than it's an essential stop. Try the Buffalo frogs legs.
Our last stop on Friday was Tria, which is an upscale bar/restaurant at Rittenhouse Square. Reminds me of the kind of bars on College Street, but with good beer. I had a Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin and we called it a night. They did have good looking cheese and meat boards and they didn't skimp on portions.
Day 2:
Saturday morning brought about a walk to the Reading Terminal Market, a food market right in the heart of downtown with lots of options for cooked food and things to purchase. On one side of the market is an area dominated by stalls managed by Pennsylvania Dutch. The Dutch Eating Place is a sit-down and takeaway restaurant with lots of food options. Worth having a bite, it's very unique. Note that the Dutch are only there Wed-Sat. Carmen's makes a fine hoagie as well (thanks Gary for the reco).
Walking through the city led us to the historic Independence Park, home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It's free to check out the bell so it's worth poking your head in. Philly has a ton of historic buildings as you wander - as we constantly joked everything in Philly is a "first".
Getting near the Delaware River we stopped in at the brewpub Triumph. Great way to start the drinking day with their sampler tray consisting of nine beers. Triumph's selection is very diverse - everything from a Jewish Rye to Altbier to Imperial Stout. The Eulogy Belgian Tavern is across the street from Triumph but we didn't feel like doing a double drink just yet so we kept walking.
As we walked north we wandered by Elspeth's Alley, which is known at the longest continually occupied residential street in the U.S. A neat street to check out. Continuing up led us to Northern Liberties, an area of the city undergoing an urban revitalization. There are lots of little shops and cafes, new condos but also decades-abandoned derelict buildings. Worth an explore.
On 2nd street and Poplar is the Standard Tap, known as one of Philly's first "gastropubs". It's an interesting moniker as pretty much all of the bars we visited serve food, and not just pub grub either. But I believe the Standard Tap serves all things local. Their beer was certainly top notch (Yards, Troegs, Victory, Flying Fish, Victory), as were the fries.
Continuing north we ended up at Johnny Brenda's, an old school music venue. Imagine the Horseshoe but with awesome beer. On this particular Saturday they happened to be hosting a "Wet Hop Rodeo" serving all wet hop beers. Another observation is that bars have beer stuff all the time. Incredible. Another Saturday, another beer event. Lucky us. We tried beers including Sierra Nevada Harvest, Weyerbacher Harvest, Rogue Wet Hop, Manayunk Hop Harvest, Victory Harvest Pils - what a delight.
Hopping in a cab we headed down to the Flyers game. The Wachovia Center is in a sports district where the baseball and football stadiums are both located. The game was fun and we even found Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Tickets were easy to get unlike our Maple Leafs. But like the Leafs the Flyers did lose the game.
Post game we stayed in the south side, hitting the South Philly Tap Room. Fantastic place. Lots of beers to try. It's located right in a residential neighbourhood - if only neighbourhood pubs were like this in Toronto. Again, an over-the-top tap selection including Southampton, Founders, Bear Republic, Elysian, Stoudts and others. An observation about Philly bars is that they don't focus on mega multitaps, but small selections of all outstanding beers.
We kept on to our final stop, the Devil's Den. Again, upscale bar which was packed on Saturday night. Had some grub, very good and some more interesting microbrews (they had Aventinus(!) on tap, Avery, a Two Brothers/Urthel collaboration, Left Hand, Dark Horse and more) to finish up.
Day 3:
Sunday morning involved hitting the SEPTA (Philly's transit) regional rail for a trip out to Merion. To say Merion is an affluent suburb would be an understatement. The houses here are estates. About a mile from train station is the Barnes Foundation. After two checkpoints to get onto the property, the Barnes is a most impressive private collection of predominately impressionist art - Renoir, Cezanne, etc. Barnes seemed to have a fascination with nude females as this particular image appears regularly. The compact galley has all the work tightly packed on the walls which makes for a dense art experience.
The Barnes is a subject of some local controversy as it is moving to a new gallery downtown. Seek out the documentary The Art of the Steal for a perspective on the matter. Although I think having the gallery downtown is convenient, I quite enjoyed the trip out to Merion for the experience. Visiting the neighbourhood is part of the fun. You have to book in advance and there's no food or coffeeshops at the gallery or the surrounding area, so eat first.
After getting back downtown for some shopping (there's no sales tax on clothes in Philly - so get some new gear), we took a break at McGillins Old Ale House. McGillins is the oldest pub in Philly, dating back to 1860. Fun place, good beer too (Stoudts, Dogfish, Sly Fox, Yards and more).
We kept walking, north towards the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (don't forget to stop at the iconic LOVE sign). The parkway is a large divided street (think University Avenue) in an area known as the museum district, and there certainly are lots of museums. At the end of the street is the immense Philadelphia Art gallery, famously known for its steps featured in the film Rocky. There is a statue of Rocky at the bottom of the stairs and you can jog up the stairs along with everyone else.
Not being satisfied yet, we cabbed up to a section of the city called Mount Airy, an area on Germantown Avenue. The cab took us through Fairmount Park which was very cool. Germantown is a great little strip, with a cobblestone street and lots of little shops.
On the street there were two places that couldn't be more different but both outstanding. The first was Earth, Bread & Brewery, a brewpub which is about a year old. EBB is a two floor restaurant with a huge flatbread oven on the main floor along with the brewtanks on visible on the lower level. They had four house beers available and crazy good guest taps including Two Brothers, Great Lakes, PBC and Founders. Their house styles were very unique styles - Berliner Weisse, Biere de Garde, Trappist and IPA. Consumed an excellent flatbread (try the Seed) and very delicious beer. On Sunday night there were lots of families there so a friendly spot if you've got some little ones.
Just a couple of doors up the street is McMenamin's (no relation to the chain of the same name on the west coast). McMenamin's is a classic neighbourhood sports bar - but again awesome beer (Lost Abbey, Elysian, Stone, Dogfish, Ommegang, Victory and even Southern Tier). We caught the tail end of the Eagles game which unfortunately ended in a loss for the home side. Not a good weekend for Philly teams.
Grabbing cab back downtown we hit another brewpub right in the heart of the city - Nodding Head. This was a fun place - on Sunday night they had a guy with a thick accent doing trivia questions with the crowd for prizes. Friendly folks there and we chatted with some locals at the bar over their house beers, including a 60 Shilling Scottish, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Blonde Ale, Altbier and a cask ale.
We felt it was appropriate to finish off at the granddaddy, so we headed back to Monk's. We ran into Tom Peters and Bernadette whom I both met at the Dogfish Head dinner at beerbistro last year. It was great to chat with Tom and he generously gave us some beer to try (an excellent bottle of Jambe de Bois and the Monk's Cafe brew to take home - you can do that in Philly). That closed off the night and the most outstanding beer weekend.
Day 4:
Monday morning brought the realization of having to go home. A quick wander brought me down to the south side again, through the Italian market and along South Street. I quickly realized there was even more of Philly to see and explore, but that would have to wait.
If you are a fan of beer, you have to go to Philly. If you are a fan of urban adventures, you have to go to Philly. It is easily walkable, has lots of history and interesting sites. The beer pubs are beyond compare - you can find a pub to suit your tastes and it'll have great beer. There were places on our list that we just couldn't get to - more for next time.
Philly is an incredibly friendly city. We were constantly meeting people and we would run into them throughout the weekend at the different pubs. They seemed geniunely interested in chatting and it is easy to have a conversation about beer or the state of local sports teams.
Philly is a bit of an overlooked destination, but it is a gem. It's truly a great place to visit. It's easily accessible from Toronto (90 min flight), hotels are cheap and so is food and beer. Philly gets my highest recommendation. Just go, you won't be disappointed.
PHILADELPHIA - NOVEMBER 2009
Philadelphia was one of the last remaining U.S. beer destinations that I hadn't visited yet. It just never seemed to make it to the top of the priority list - Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, New York - usually ended up first. But I recently decided to take a long weekend trip to Philly and I'm glad I did. I thought Philly was going to be a great beer town. What I didn't expect was it to be a great destination overall.
What follows is a bit of a running diary of the trip.
Day 1:
We arrive at Philly airport, which is about 25 minutes by train right to downtown. $7 for the trip, trains run about every half hour. Super convenient and easy to get to the core. There are many direct flights to Philly from Pearson and it's on Porter's future expansion plans.
We orient ourselves and check into the hotels. I stayed at the Independent Hotel, a boutique hotel on Locust St. in between 12th and 13th. It's a great location, has free wifi, free coffee and little breakfasts delivered right to your door in the morning. There are often room deals here through Travelzoo. Hotels can be found even cheaper downtown on Hotwire.
The downtown area of Philly is easy to navigate and walking friendly. It's laid out as a logical grid so finding things is very easy. Exploring Philly is fantastic - lots of little residential alleys to wander down and interesting old buildings to look at.
We started the beer weekend at Jose Pistolas - a pub with Mexican food and great beer (a rare combination). It was the first of many special events - a Weyerbacher lunch with a fresh firkin of Double Simcoe IPA. Evidently it was Adam's birthday who was working at the bar. While trying out the beers we met the guys from Weyerbacher including Bob, Chris and Mike, and Mat from Philly Beer Scene magazine. We sampled the range of Weyerbacher available (Hop Infusion, Winter Ale, Merry Monks), had some delicious tacos and moved on.
Next up was Friday the Firkinteenth, a cask festival that occurs every Friday 13th at the Grey Lodge. The Grey Lodge is in NE Philly so a cab, ride or transit is required. This was a beer frenzy, with everyone clamoring up to the bar to try the casks. They had at any given time about 6 available, and when one drained the next was tapped. It made the event that much more exciting with new taps constantly coming on. The crowds spilled onto the street and nobody seemed to mind. We had a few cask goodies including Philadelphia Joe Porter, Yards Washington ESA and Stoudts Winter.
After some cask ales we headed back downtown to Monk's Cafe. As probably the most well known beer destination in Philly, Monk's doesn't disappoint. The space is comprised two areas - a front bar and back bar with varying tap selections. Make no mistake, Monk's is a beer haven. They have great food, friendly staff and killer beer - tons of Belgians and US Belgian styles on tap and in bottle. Not much can be said other than it's an essential stop. Try the Buffalo frogs legs.
Our last stop on Friday was Tria, which is an upscale bar/restaurant at Rittenhouse Square. Reminds me of the kind of bars on College Street, but with good beer. I had a Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin and we called it a night. They did have good looking cheese and meat boards and they didn't skimp on portions.
Day 2:
Saturday morning brought about a walk to the Reading Terminal Market, a food market right in the heart of downtown with lots of options for cooked food and things to purchase. On one side of the market is an area dominated by stalls managed by Pennsylvania Dutch. The Dutch Eating Place is a sit-down and takeaway restaurant with lots of food options. Worth having a bite, it's very unique. Note that the Dutch are only there Wed-Sat. Carmen's makes a fine hoagie as well (thanks Gary for the reco).
Walking through the city led us to the historic Independence Park, home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It's free to check out the bell so it's worth poking your head in. Philly has a ton of historic buildings as you wander - as we constantly joked everything in Philly is a "first".
Getting near the Delaware River we stopped in at the brewpub Triumph. Great way to start the drinking day with their sampler tray consisting of nine beers. Triumph's selection is very diverse - everything from a Jewish Rye to Altbier to Imperial Stout. The Eulogy Belgian Tavern is across the street from Triumph but we didn't feel like doing a double drink just yet so we kept walking.
As we walked north we wandered by Elspeth's Alley, which is known at the longest continually occupied residential street in the U.S. A neat street to check out. Continuing up led us to Northern Liberties, an area of the city undergoing an urban revitalization. There are lots of little shops and cafes, new condos but also decades-abandoned derelict buildings. Worth an explore.
On 2nd street and Poplar is the Standard Tap, known as one of Philly's first "gastropubs". It's an interesting moniker as pretty much all of the bars we visited serve food, and not just pub grub either. But I believe the Standard Tap serves all things local. Their beer was certainly top notch (Yards, Troegs, Victory, Flying Fish, Victory), as were the fries.
Continuing north we ended up at Johnny Brenda's, an old school music venue. Imagine the Horseshoe but with awesome beer. On this particular Saturday they happened to be hosting a "Wet Hop Rodeo" serving all wet hop beers. Another observation is that bars have beer stuff all the time. Incredible. Another Saturday, another beer event. Lucky us. We tried beers including Sierra Nevada Harvest, Weyerbacher Harvest, Rogue Wet Hop, Manayunk Hop Harvest, Victory Harvest Pils - what a delight.
Hopping in a cab we headed down to the Flyers game. The Wachovia Center is in a sports district where the baseball and football stadiums are both located. The game was fun and we even found Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Tickets were easy to get unlike our Maple Leafs. But like the Leafs the Flyers did lose the game.
Post game we stayed in the south side, hitting the South Philly Tap Room. Fantastic place. Lots of beers to try. It's located right in a residential neighbourhood - if only neighbourhood pubs were like this in Toronto. Again, an over-the-top tap selection including Southampton, Founders, Bear Republic, Elysian, Stoudts and others. An observation about Philly bars is that they don't focus on mega multitaps, but small selections of all outstanding beers.
We kept on to our final stop, the Devil's Den. Again, upscale bar which was packed on Saturday night. Had some grub, very good and some more interesting microbrews (they had Aventinus(!) on tap, Avery, a Two Brothers/Urthel collaboration, Left Hand, Dark Horse and more) to finish up.
Day 3:
Sunday morning involved hitting the SEPTA (Philly's transit) regional rail for a trip out to Merion. To say Merion is an affluent suburb would be an understatement. The houses here are estates. About a mile from train station is the Barnes Foundation. After two checkpoints to get onto the property, the Barnes is a most impressive private collection of predominately impressionist art - Renoir, Cezanne, etc. Barnes seemed to have a fascination with nude females as this particular image appears regularly. The compact galley has all the work tightly packed on the walls which makes for a dense art experience.
The Barnes is a subject of some local controversy as it is moving to a new gallery downtown. Seek out the documentary The Art of the Steal for a perspective on the matter. Although I think having the gallery downtown is convenient, I quite enjoyed the trip out to Merion for the experience. Visiting the neighbourhood is part of the fun. You have to book in advance and there's no food or coffeeshops at the gallery or the surrounding area, so eat first.
After getting back downtown for some shopping (there's no sales tax on clothes in Philly - so get some new gear), we took a break at McGillins Old Ale House. McGillins is the oldest pub in Philly, dating back to 1860. Fun place, good beer too (Stoudts, Dogfish, Sly Fox, Yards and more).
We kept walking, north towards the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (don't forget to stop at the iconic LOVE sign). The parkway is a large divided street (think University Avenue) in an area known as the museum district, and there certainly are lots of museums. At the end of the street is the immense Philadelphia Art gallery, famously known for its steps featured in the film Rocky. There is a statue of Rocky at the bottom of the stairs and you can jog up the stairs along with everyone else.
Not being satisfied yet, we cabbed up to a section of the city called Mount Airy, an area on Germantown Avenue. The cab took us through Fairmount Park which was very cool. Germantown is a great little strip, with a cobblestone street and lots of little shops.
On the street there were two places that couldn't be more different but both outstanding. The first was Earth, Bread & Brewery, a brewpub which is about a year old. EBB is a two floor restaurant with a huge flatbread oven on the main floor along with the brewtanks on visible on the lower level. They had four house beers available and crazy good guest taps including Two Brothers, Great Lakes, PBC and Founders. Their house styles were very unique styles - Berliner Weisse, Biere de Garde, Trappist and IPA. Consumed an excellent flatbread (try the Seed) and very delicious beer. On Sunday night there were lots of families there so a friendly spot if you've got some little ones.
Just a couple of doors up the street is McMenamin's (no relation to the chain of the same name on the west coast). McMenamin's is a classic neighbourhood sports bar - but again awesome beer (Lost Abbey, Elysian, Stone, Dogfish, Ommegang, Victory and even Southern Tier). We caught the tail end of the Eagles game which unfortunately ended in a loss for the home side. Not a good weekend for Philly teams.
Grabbing cab back downtown we hit another brewpub right in the heart of the city - Nodding Head. This was a fun place - on Sunday night they had a guy with a thick accent doing trivia questions with the crowd for prizes. Friendly folks there and we chatted with some locals at the bar over their house beers, including a 60 Shilling Scottish, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Blonde Ale, Altbier and a cask ale.
We felt it was appropriate to finish off at the granddaddy, so we headed back to Monk's. We ran into Tom Peters and Bernadette whom I both met at the Dogfish Head dinner at beerbistro last year. It was great to chat with Tom and he generously gave us some beer to try (an excellent bottle of Jambe de Bois and the Monk's Cafe brew to take home - you can do that in Philly). That closed off the night and the most outstanding beer weekend.
Day 4:
Monday morning brought the realization of having to go home. A quick wander brought me down to the south side again, through the Italian market and along South Street. I quickly realized there was even more of Philly to see and explore, but that would have to wait.
If you are a fan of beer, you have to go to Philly. If you are a fan of urban adventures, you have to go to Philly. It is easily walkable, has lots of history and interesting sites. The beer pubs are beyond compare - you can find a pub to suit your tastes and it'll have great beer. There were places on our list that we just couldn't get to - more for next time.
Philly is an incredibly friendly city. We were constantly meeting people and we would run into them throughout the weekend at the different pubs. They seemed geniunely interested in chatting and it is easy to have a conversation about beer or the state of local sports teams.
Philly is a bit of an overlooked destination, but it is a gem. It's truly a great place to visit. It's easily accessible from Toronto (90 min flight), hotels are cheap and so is food and beer. Philly gets my highest recommendation. Just go, you won't be disappointed.
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G.M. Gillman
- Seasoned Drinker
- Posts: 1486
- Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:24 pm
-
cannondale
- Bar Fly
- Posts: 745
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:58 pm
- Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Thanks for the detailed report Cass.
I'm heading down next weekend Fri-Mon, and other than a Phillies game saturday night and STP/AIC concert sunday, no plans...so I may try to follow in some of the footsteps you describe above.
Anything above you might not bother with, or anything else that you wish you would have done or seen instead?
I'm heading down next weekend Fri-Mon, and other than a Phillies game saturday night and STP/AIC concert sunday, no plans...so I may try to follow in some of the footsteps you describe above.
Anything above you might not bother with, or anything else that you wish you would have done or seen instead?
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Nice, you'll have a great time. There's honestly nothing I regret doing from my trip. It's all good.
A couple of other things I would like to do is visit Victory, which is in Downingtown but accessible on regional transit.
I would have liked to go to the Memphis Taproom, but didn't make it to that area of the city.
If you're going to see the Phillies then you definitely have to do the south Philly and downtown stuff. Earth Bread and the Grey Lodge are quite a ways out of downtown so you might not make it up there unless you make a special trip.
Check for special events, there's always beer stuff going on in Philly.
A couple of other things I would like to do is visit Victory, which is in Downingtown but accessible on regional transit.
I would have liked to go to the Memphis Taproom, but didn't make it to that area of the city.
If you're going to see the Phillies then you definitely have to do the south Philly and downtown stuff. Earth Bread and the Grey Lodge are quite a ways out of downtown so you might not make it up there unless you make a special trip.
Check for special events, there's always beer stuff going on in Philly.
Thanks to all of you for the great info on Philly. Just got back from a weekend visit, and was able to stop in at several great spots: Tria, Monk's Table, Nodding Head, and McGillins. Great variety and quality and all in fairly easy walking distance from each other. Best beers were Bell's Two Hearted and Ayinger Oktoberfest, but many other intriguing things were left for another day.
Spent last week in Philly and thought I'd add a couple of new spots to the list:
Out by the University of Pennsylvania there are a couple of good, but different spots. Basically right on campus is a place called City Tap House, which is a modern bar and resto with about 60 beers on tap, lots of local micros. Quite empty when I was there so didn't seem like it had caught on yet.
Further away from campus, but seemingly in a more student residential area was Local 44. This was a great neightbourhood pub with about 20 taps, all U.S. micros. Fun spot.
Downtown I was able to check out a new place (since March) called the Farmer's Cabinet. This was a really unique place, modelled after an old-timey saloon. As this review states, they are able to pull off the theme successfully. Really interesting lineup of taps, some very rare ones from Europe and U.S. They even had Hopfenstark (!) on tap.
http://www.phillymag.com/restaurants/ar ... s_cabinet/
And if you're ever going to get Philly cheesesteaks at Pat's or Geno's, just a couple of blocks away is the Pub on Passyunk East (P.O.P.E.), a good neighbourhood bar with 20 primarily U.S. draughts.
Always a fun time in Philly, good beer is all over the place.
Out by the University of Pennsylvania there are a couple of good, but different spots. Basically right on campus is a place called City Tap House, which is a modern bar and resto with about 60 beers on tap, lots of local micros. Quite empty when I was there so didn't seem like it had caught on yet.
Further away from campus, but seemingly in a more student residential area was Local 44. This was a great neightbourhood pub with about 20 taps, all U.S. micros. Fun spot.
Downtown I was able to check out a new place (since March) called the Farmer's Cabinet. This was a really unique place, modelled after an old-timey saloon. As this review states, they are able to pull off the theme successfully. Really interesting lineup of taps, some very rare ones from Europe and U.S. They even had Hopfenstark (!) on tap.
http://www.phillymag.com/restaurants/ar ... s_cabinet/
And if you're ever going to get Philly cheesesteaks at Pat's or Geno's, just a couple of blocks away is the Pub on Passyunk East (P.O.P.E.), a good neighbourhood bar with 20 primarily U.S. draughts.
Always a fun time in Philly, good beer is all over the place.
Spent 4 days in Philly - great beer city. Some thoughts on the places I hit:
Belgian Cafe (Fairmount/Art Museum) - Sister cafe to the famed Monk's (same owner) it's more casual, warm lighting, good tap and bottle selection just not as extensive as Monks. Busy but not full on a Wed evening at 8, by 10:30 when I walked by again it was pretty slow. Good mussels & frites. Nice spot. (A)
Rembrandt's (Fairmount/Art Museum) - Neighborhood pub with nice bar area and sit down, fantastic food (Rogue burger w/ pork belly & fried egg on it). A touch out of the way but by the prison if you're visiting. Good 10 taps or so. (A-)
Eulogy (Old Town) - Right close to Penn's landing, good location. Small bar area downstairs (where I sat on a lazy Thursday afternoon) and some treacherously steep looking stairs going up to more seating. Fantastic taps, very extensive bottle list, could compare to Monks minus some of the lambic/geuzes. Cozy, Belgian themed. (A)
City Tap House (University City) - Right in UPenn campus, if you're there this is the closest craft spot. 60 or so taps pretty much all craft, American focused. Massive gastropub space with huge 2nd floor balcony/patio. All told, this could be the biggest craft space I've been to. Suits and young university crowd, good pizza, huge double sided bar in the middle of the room. Definitely worth visiting. (A)
Local 44 (University City) - About a 15min hike from the core of UPenn, small local bar. Dozen great taps with two casks on. Pretty basic local pub feel, simple, no frills. Seems alright. (B+)
Monks Cafe (Rittenhouse) - Little needs to be said. Good food, great taps, massive bottle list including rarities. Must stop. (A+)
Devil's Alley (Rittenhouse) - Industrial/modern space, 6 or so taps on with 'meh' selection. Food was so-so. A miss in my mind. (C+)
Also hit the Troeg's Nugget Nectar release party at Kite & Key in Fairmount/Art Museum but it was slammed and hard to tell the vibe, didn't have food either. Seemed like a nice space though with about 16 or so great craft taps.
Belgian Cafe (Fairmount/Art Museum) - Sister cafe to the famed Monk's (same owner) it's more casual, warm lighting, good tap and bottle selection just not as extensive as Monks. Busy but not full on a Wed evening at 8, by 10:30 when I walked by again it was pretty slow. Good mussels & frites. Nice spot. (A)
Rembrandt's (Fairmount/Art Museum) - Neighborhood pub with nice bar area and sit down, fantastic food (Rogue burger w/ pork belly & fried egg on it). A touch out of the way but by the prison if you're visiting. Good 10 taps or so. (A-)
Eulogy (Old Town) - Right close to Penn's landing, good location. Small bar area downstairs (where I sat on a lazy Thursday afternoon) and some treacherously steep looking stairs going up to more seating. Fantastic taps, very extensive bottle list, could compare to Monks minus some of the lambic/geuzes. Cozy, Belgian themed. (A)
City Tap House (University City) - Right in UPenn campus, if you're there this is the closest craft spot. 60 or so taps pretty much all craft, American focused. Massive gastropub space with huge 2nd floor balcony/patio. All told, this could be the biggest craft space I've been to. Suits and young university crowd, good pizza, huge double sided bar in the middle of the room. Definitely worth visiting. (A)
Local 44 (University City) - About a 15min hike from the core of UPenn, small local bar. Dozen great taps with two casks on. Pretty basic local pub feel, simple, no frills. Seems alright. (B+)
Monks Cafe (Rittenhouse) - Little needs to be said. Good food, great taps, massive bottle list including rarities. Must stop. (A+)
Devil's Alley (Rittenhouse) - Industrial/modern space, 6 or so taps on with 'meh' selection. Food was so-so. A miss in my mind. (C+)
Also hit the Troeg's Nugget Nectar release party at Kite & Key in Fairmount/Art Museum but it was slammed and hard to tell the vibe, didn't have food either. Seemed like a nice space though with about 16 or so great craft taps.
We went to Philly last month, but our focus was both beer bars, but also bottle shops since we drove down (7h) from Ottawa.
Capone's (Ratebeer 99: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/capones-restaurant/7270/)
A nice combination of an american restaurant, with amazing taps (Alsemith, Founder's, Short's, Allagash). Best thing is the small bottle shop in the back that sells singles. Managed to get Lost Abbey Carnavale, Alesmith Decadence, Dark Intrigue, Port Older Viscosity, etc). Didnt stay long enough for a bite, but this is surely on the return-to list.
Teresa's Next Door (98: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/teresas-next-door/8276/)
We were guided here by the owner of Beer Yard, and OH GOD thanks to him I drank some Russian River on tap. Had Hopfenstark representing Quebec there. They had dogfish 120 min, WWS on tap, and two good casks (Stoudt's american pale ale). Very nice small stop next to the only damn bottle shop worth visiting, and a MUST Stop when buying by the case in Philly...
Beer Yard (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/beer-yard/606/)
Pics: http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/2012/05 ... el-reseau/
This place had CASES from god, in behind a Starbucks... real easy to miss, even with a GPS. I say Lost Abbey, Founders, Bells, Port, Hair of the Dog, Trou du Diable, Orval, Central Waters, Shorts, Terrapin, Alesmith, Russian River (they pre-mix 12-packs os Supplication, Temptation and Damnation for those wishing to explore... good on them!). Owners were real nice, and friendly enough to join us for a beer at Teresa's in the middle of his shift. Prices are lower (48$ for a case of Breakfast Stout? Please!), 97$ for a 12 of Russian RIver? WOW. 140$ for a 12 case of Speedway... the next trip is going to cost me another fortune. Zuma bought a case of mixed 6-packs from Bell's Stouts. Even saw a 12-case of Melange no.3 from Bruery. At that point though, I was quota'd out from all the other less-good bottle shop stops... lessons learned.
Farmer's Cabinet (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/the-farmers-c ... hia/21098/)
Went there on Cass's reco, and will not be going ever again. Of the 8-9 taps they had, the first three we ordered were out, leaving a Struisse 2.5% alcohol table beer and 2 berliner weisses on the menu. Food was good, but fancy, expensive, and a steak with berliner weisse doesnt cut it really in rainy wheather. Beautiful place, packed with preppies at our 9hpm supper hour. We were sitting next to a godess who was spending time with an average looking 20-something dude texting away on his iPhone. All we could think about was that she was probably eating with her brother (at least we hoped for her sake). Shame on you Philly
Jose Pistola's (83: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/jose-pistolas ... phia/8602/)
Now THIS reco from Cass was SPOT-ON. We went there on the heels of an Alesmith food diner. They had X, IPA, Anvil ESB, and Speedway on tap at affordable prices (it was almost 3am at this point). Mex food was great, but I fell in love again with X... and saw it available at 76$ a case earlier in the day at Frank's Beverage. Next time, I'm treating myself fo sho. Of course though, as soon as we ordered the Speedway.. "Sorry guys, we just poured our last pint, the keg kicked." Damn it
.
Monk's Café (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/monks-cafe-philadelphia/87/)
This place does have gueuze on tap. Cant go wrong with that. The Pliny keg kicked right before we got there though. All in all, I will say something that may shock some, but ... L'Autre Oeil in Aylmer is better than this place. They have a good, but underwhelming bottle list if it wasnt for the Monk's gueuze. Place is beautiful in the back though. Really feels like a belgian estaminet. For a world-class outlet, I was expecting more though. More taps would have been a start. And prices were high. At Autre Oeill, you can get a 750ml Cantillon Mamouche for 23$. At Monk's it was 45$. I'd say stop if youre there, but dont go in expecting to be amazed... I'd think that depends on whats on tap. We probably just got there on a bad timing.
Tavern on Liberty (http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlac ... aceID=6464 )
Pics: http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/2012/04 ... au-quebec/
This place I wrote up a review on Bieres et Plasirs simply based on the fact that small place has the funnest concept EVER. Tables surrounded by a bar, and a line up of fridges full of by-the-bottle selections. Order from a cool series of taps, or buy a bottle to either drink in the pub, or bring home. Drank a Central Waters Bourboun Barrel Barleywine. Had great fun, and cool wings while we were there. Downside... you can smoke in the place. No one did other than the bartender though. A concept like this would rock here.
Capone's (Ratebeer 99: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/capones-restaurant/7270/)
A nice combination of an american restaurant, with amazing taps (Alsemith, Founder's, Short's, Allagash). Best thing is the small bottle shop in the back that sells singles. Managed to get Lost Abbey Carnavale, Alesmith Decadence, Dark Intrigue, Port Older Viscosity, etc). Didnt stay long enough for a bite, but this is surely on the return-to list.
Teresa's Next Door (98: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/teresas-next-door/8276/)
We were guided here by the owner of Beer Yard, and OH GOD thanks to him I drank some Russian River on tap. Had Hopfenstark representing Quebec there. They had dogfish 120 min, WWS on tap, and two good casks (Stoudt's american pale ale). Very nice small stop next to the only damn bottle shop worth visiting, and a MUST Stop when buying by the case in Philly...
Beer Yard (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/beer-yard/606/)
Pics: http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/2012/05 ... el-reseau/
This place had CASES from god, in behind a Starbucks... real easy to miss, even with a GPS. I say Lost Abbey, Founders, Bells, Port, Hair of the Dog, Trou du Diable, Orval, Central Waters, Shorts, Terrapin, Alesmith, Russian River (they pre-mix 12-packs os Supplication, Temptation and Damnation for those wishing to explore... good on them!). Owners were real nice, and friendly enough to join us for a beer at Teresa's in the middle of his shift. Prices are lower (48$ for a case of Breakfast Stout? Please!), 97$ for a 12 of Russian RIver? WOW. 140$ for a 12 case of Speedway... the next trip is going to cost me another fortune. Zuma bought a case of mixed 6-packs from Bell's Stouts. Even saw a 12-case of Melange no.3 from Bruery. At that point though, I was quota'd out from all the other less-good bottle shop stops... lessons learned.
Farmer's Cabinet (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/the-farmers-c ... hia/21098/)
Went there on Cass's reco, and will not be going ever again. Of the 8-9 taps they had, the first three we ordered were out, leaving a Struisse 2.5% alcohol table beer and 2 berliner weisses on the menu. Food was good, but fancy, expensive, and a steak with berliner weisse doesnt cut it really in rainy wheather. Beautiful place, packed with preppies at our 9hpm supper hour. We were sitting next to a godess who was spending time with an average looking 20-something dude texting away on his iPhone. All we could think about was that she was probably eating with her brother (at least we hoped for her sake). Shame on you Philly
Jose Pistola's (83: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/jose-pistolas ... phia/8602/)
Now THIS reco from Cass was SPOT-ON. We went there on the heels of an Alesmith food diner. They had X, IPA, Anvil ESB, and Speedway on tap at affordable prices (it was almost 3am at this point). Mex food was great, but I fell in love again with X... and saw it available at 76$ a case earlier in the day at Frank's Beverage. Next time, I'm treating myself fo sho. Of course though, as soon as we ordered the Speedway.. "Sorry guys, we just poured our last pint, the keg kicked." Damn it
.Monk's Café (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/monks-cafe-philadelphia/87/)
This place does have gueuze on tap. Cant go wrong with that. The Pliny keg kicked right before we got there though. All in all, I will say something that may shock some, but ... L'Autre Oeil in Aylmer is better than this place. They have a good, but underwhelming bottle list if it wasnt for the Monk's gueuze. Place is beautiful in the back though. Really feels like a belgian estaminet. For a world-class outlet, I was expecting more though. More taps would have been a start. And prices were high. At Autre Oeill, you can get a 750ml Cantillon Mamouche for 23$. At Monk's it was 45$. I'd say stop if youre there, but dont go in expecting to be amazed... I'd think that depends on whats on tap. We probably just got there on a bad timing.
Tavern on Liberty (http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlac ... aceID=6464 )
Pics: http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/2012/04 ... au-quebec/
This place I wrote up a review on Bieres et Plasirs simply based on the fact that small place has the funnest concept EVER. Tables surrounded by a bar, and a line up of fridges full of by-the-bottle selections. Order from a cool series of taps, or buy a bottle to either drink in the pub, or bring home. Drank a Central Waters Bourboun Barrel Barleywine. Had great fun, and cool wings while we were there. Downside... you can smoke in the place. No one did other than the bartender though. A concept like this would rock here.
Ian Guénard
http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/index.php
http://www.bieresetplaisirs.com/index.php
Finishing up a week in Philly. What a beer town!!
So many bars with great tap lists; and to make it even better, the lists are all quite different ( with the exception of the locals-Yards, etc )
A great effort to bring in interesting beers from all over is very evident here.
I stayed at 18th & Market, downtown Rittenhouse District.
Monk's cafe close to there, with their usual great selection: had Russian River Damnation and Port Brewing Anniversary Ale there.
Even closer was Tria, at 18th & Sansom. ( also at 12th & Spruce )
6 to 8 interesting taps: I had Hill Farmstead 'Nor' and Maine Brewing 'Peeper Tom' there.
Walking around, I found some great spots that haven't been mentioned here.
In the Reading Terminal Market, besides the great food, they have a great craft beer bar called Molly Malloy's, with 20 or so taps.
Walking along Locust ( a few blocks south of Market ), I found The Perch Pub, at Broad St, and The Misconduct Tavern, a few blocks west.
Both had 15 or so taps . Both had Half Acre 'Daisy Cutter' Pale Ale - excellent APA
Philly bars are well represented on http://beermenus.com, so I used that a bit.
Even the Irish Pubs are good for 3 or 4 good craft beers.
For bottle purchases, I stopped in at Food & Friends, 20th & Spruce, and picked up a few singles; huge selection, but not cheap
A great week; drank a ton of beers that I'd never had before
If you find yourself in Philly, you will be amazed.
So many bars with great tap lists; and to make it even better, the lists are all quite different ( with the exception of the locals-Yards, etc )
A great effort to bring in interesting beers from all over is very evident here.
I stayed at 18th & Market, downtown Rittenhouse District.
Monk's cafe close to there, with their usual great selection: had Russian River Damnation and Port Brewing Anniversary Ale there.
Even closer was Tria, at 18th & Sansom. ( also at 12th & Spruce )
6 to 8 interesting taps: I had Hill Farmstead 'Nor' and Maine Brewing 'Peeper Tom' there.
Walking around, I found some great spots that haven't been mentioned here.
In the Reading Terminal Market, besides the great food, they have a great craft beer bar called Molly Malloy's, with 20 or so taps.
Walking along Locust ( a few blocks south of Market ), I found The Perch Pub, at Broad St, and The Misconduct Tavern, a few blocks west.
Both had 15 or so taps . Both had Half Acre 'Daisy Cutter' Pale Ale - excellent APA
Philly bars are well represented on http://beermenus.com, so I used that a bit.
Even the Irish Pubs are good for 3 or 4 good craft beers.
For bottle purchases, I stopped in at Food & Friends, 20th & Spruce, and picked up a few singles; huge selection, but not cheap
A great week; drank a ton of beers that I'd never had before
If you find yourself in Philly, you will be amazed.
Sorry!iguenard wrote: Farmer's Cabinet (97: http://www.ratebeer.com/p/the-farmers-c ... hia/21098/)
Went there on Cass's reco, and will not be going ever again. Of the 8-9 taps they had, the first three we ordered were out, leaving a Struisse 2.5% alcohol table beer and 2 berliner weisses on the menu. Food was good, but fancy, expensive, and a steak with berliner weisse doesnt cut it really in rainy wheather. Beautiful place, packed with preppies at our 9hpm supper hour. We were sitting next to a godess who was spending time with an average looking 20-something dude texting away on his iPhone. All we could think about was that she was probably eating with her brother (at least we hoped for her sake). Shame on you Philly
When I went it was the middle of a weekday and was completely empty. I think it was quite new - all the beers were available & staff attentive as we were the only people in the place!Heading back to Philly on Friday for a short weekend trip. Will report back any new finds. This site is crazy:
http://phillytapfinder.com
What a resource!
http://phillytapfinder.com
What a resource!