Vegetarians like beer too

There's a Vegetarian beer dinner on the Horizon. featuring the beers of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant and culinary creations of
Jose Pistola's executive chef Brenton Wallace and
guest chef Eric Anderson of Essene.

Who: Hosted by the above mentioned dudes, Jose's owner and Rock and Roll star Casey Parker and Iron Hill brewers Chris " I'm a VIP agent" LaPierre and Jean Broillet

When: Tuesday May 13th at 7:00 pm

Where: Jose Pistola's; 263 South 15th Street, Philadelphia,PA

five courses (menu to follow) and seven beers for $65 plus tax and gratuity.
Call to get your veg on 215-545-4101.

Getting Started

Vienna Lager
This amber Austrian lager has a distinct bready malt aroma

and flavor followed by a crisp clean finish and a spicy hop aroma contributed by the use of Saaz hops.

Winner of a Bronze medal at the 1999 GABF and Silver medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup.

1st course

Chilled cucumber and cantelope soup paired with

Heywood

Golden sour ale fermented with 100% Brettanomyces. This unruly yeast is characterized by an assertive tartness, fruitiness and overall funkiness! Not a beer for neophytes!

2nd course

- Saitan Pastilla with puff pastry paired with

American Brown Ale

Roasty and chocolatey malt notes mingle with an assertive American hop aroma and bitternss.

3rd Course

Arugula salad, red onion, toasted pinenuts, with a California Chevre' in a golden balsamic dijon vinagrette paired;

Belgian Triple

Traditional Belgian-style golden strong ale, complex aroma and flavor of plums, spice and bananas with a refreshing balanced bitterness.

Three time GABF Bronze medal winner, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

4th course

Roasted root vegetable pan fried fritter, black truffle lentils, forest mushrooms with a porcini reduction/ paired with;

Baltic Porter

lighter in color but higher in alcohol than its London cousin.

Distinct malt sweetness and roast character, with a clean finish.

AND

Saison

Belgian-style farmhouse ale. Unfiltered, bright and light bodied, yet the yeast gives it a character that is earthy, fruity and spicy with a refreshing finish

Something Sweet

Vanilla Peanut butter mousse with an espresso bean cookie/ paired with

Bourbon Aged Wee Heavy

Our strong Scotch Ale, aged in Eagle Rare bourbon barrels.

Distinct sweet malt character is entwined in the bourbon and vanilla flavors.

Victorious for the Day

Victory Brewing reopened their Downingtown brewpub on Wednesday. I didn't want to miss out on this momentous occasion so I planned my sales day around it in Chester Co.

They had two nights of soft opening prior- so on day of, there was a great crowd there- but it was still mellow enough that I got a seat at their beaut of a bar.

It was the most comfortable I felt in a 2 million dollar renovation in a long time.

It's was open, and tastefully done.
Some were nervous that it would feel too much like the Disney World of BrewPubs when they reopened their doors after being closed for a few months, but the nervousness had to be subsided when people walked in and saw that was not the case.

The beers were on point. I tried their Tettnang hallertau pils. Holler! and the 10 year alt bier.
I didn't get a chance to eat, but the menu seemed to have a lot of sandwiches, 3 pizza options, and of course soft pretzels. This is what Jack Curtin's jerk chicken looked like. Are you really what you eat?

I ran into a bunch of industry folks there. Checked in with resident victorian Richard Ruch to make sure he found his new barstool okay. I think he was leaning toward the left of the long bar (30 seats?). Just to the right of the pole. By one of the two copper kettle cut outs. (that are the real deal, not fake). Jack Curtin, Lew Bryson, Bryan Kolesar, and Mark Haynie were all enjoying themselves.

To the left of the bar was a Biergarten room that can sit up to 96 people. The room was simply decorated with framed posters that all had the word victory in them in some capacity.

This was Lew's favorite:

The best part was I got there in 45 minutes. Clear of traffic on 76 and 202 south.
The bad part is their nifty growler machine wasn't quite working yet.

Victory brewing Co, going in it's eleventh year is one of the area's most respected breweries.
Their beers are now being poured as far out as Colorado and California, resulting in 45,000 barrels at the end of 2007.

Here are some more shots...

And I'm just NOW finding out about this...

I thought I discovered something new the other evening at a dive bar in Fairmount called Krupas. I had heard nothing mentioned about this packaging...I was very curious.

Krupas, in the same vein as the Triangle Tavern, presents the opportunity to downscale your drink from the norm. When in these watering holes, I order Miller High Life. Yep.

Many in the craft community would choose Yuengling, maybe a well drink? But not I.

Steve Winwood plays in my head and I go for the sweet effervescence of a miller high life.

But I usually see the clear bottles.
Last Saturday night, I found orange and black cans. Halloween motif?
I was rather excited..thought it was vintage packaging of some sort, trying to stay neck and neck with PBR for the hipster thumbs up.

But then I went on Beer Advocate and found this...
So I guess these are left over from the Hunting Campaign of the fall of 2007. I had no idea..
It's actually kind of cool though, because Miller donates "Proceeds from the sale of the hunting-themed packaging to Whitetails Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Someone's gotta look out for the Pheasants!

I'll leave you with Grammy Winner in 1986 Mr. Winwood himself. Long Live the Mullet.

"Jasper the Friendly Goat"

There's been tons of wonderful coverage on the goat races at Sly Fox in P-ville this past sunday...
via Uncle Jack Curtin....and a nice takeaway from Mr. Bryson...that makes you feel like the Goat Races should be the first Sunday of every sun-soaken month...not just May.
Thanks for that.

Side Note: Goat to the right here is not Jasper...





A gang of 24 drunkards, (brewers, bartenders, bar owners, and writers, pr peeps) gathered on a bus to head out, drink bock, watch goats cross the finish line, and wait to see which one of us bock drinkers would unintentionally cross our own finish line first. Pictured here on the left is Troegs head brewer, Chris Brugger who sports the lederhosen annually.

Sly Fox was set up for the rain, tent and all, however it was not needed as we left with sunkissed faces. The tent was great-Local Chester Co. brewpub favorite, Richard Ruch stated, "as soon as you walked up-you knew you were at an event."
I agree.

Lines were long, but whatcha gonna do?
2900 people, plenty of staff on hand, they moved as fast as they were going to move.
And They moved through 65 halves throughout the fest.

"Jasper" walked away the victorious goat of the day. Owned by Chris Eckerd of Skippack. They had him a mere two weeks. Jasper was one of two goats they entered that day.
And him and his wife are poppa and momma to three more that that.

What continues to prove true throughout the last 9 years is..you can't claim a goat on premise and think you're going to tap the year's Maibock...no, nope, not going to happen.
Not even for you Ron Johnson.

You're going to have people chant you on in your last ditch effort, till the goat -as stubborn as the animal 6 times its size stands still, and you have to pick it up and run it to the finish yourself.
Just ask Toby...


Oh by the way this is Jasper...
Photo Credit: Joel Armato

Lastly, here's some great video footage from Philly local celebrity 2005,
Johnny Goodtimes

Bells Bells and More Bells

..
Bells Bells and more Bells. I didn't know if I was going to make it to the Bells event at SouthPhilly Tap room last Thursday....but I did and I was as happy as a goat race participant with a designated driver.

10 Bells were on tap with a Rep there to chat about the well-respected Michigan Brewery.

I remember my very first Bells was a double cream stout bottle from Ten Stone in 2004 I think. And I was in love.
I didn't see it it too many places just yet...but that would surely change.

Bells has found a home on many tap handles around the city...from beer specialty spots like the Belgian Cafe or Jose Pistolas...to those bars that are kind of hybrids: Bishops Collar and Yell O'Bar. Hybrids meaning they appreciate craft beer, but almost by accident, they sell as much if not more Miller Lite.

I read somewhere that founder Larry Bell was a baker...and I joke that he just found a more fun use for yeast.

The only Bells on the lineup that I never had was the Pale Ale.
They were missing Kalamazoo, cherry and Java stout, but all was forgiven as long as they had the Expedition. Although The stout really will take you on a journey to pass out lane.

Attendees included Derek of Bells Brewing, Nima of Shangy's the beer authority of Emmaus.
Dan Conway, Shangy Sales consultant, Mike Fava of Dock St. and Rocco, the barguy at Le Virtu on Passyunk. That's us there on the left. Fun was had by all.
I had just eaten so I didn't get a chance to sample more of Michael's new menu this time around.

We ended up at the Pope where the Bells caught up with us... young jenny hobbs and bronwyn were part of the Thursday night drinking festivities as well.

Name that Nipple

The other night we were out for the Flyers play off against Montreal.

Lance and I were the only ones that refrained from screaming, high fiving and making out with our significant others when the Flyers won.

We were joined by a gentleman of the brewing industry at large who thought we should celebrate with the ever debated Irish Car Bomb.

Said gentleman got half of his IC bomb on his shirt...mildy revealing his nipple.


So let's play a game, Name that nipple....
I can only hope that I have more friends that spill their beers on themselves...that we can play name that nipple again.

Saturday Brunch best bets....

Since I work every Sunday morning, I've got to get brunch in on Saturday.
Not going to brunch at all isn't an option;)

This past Sat. Lance and I dug into some eggs florentine on Fairmount at the London Grill.
Brunch was good. Service was friendly. They also feature a make your own bloody mary bar for $6.

I opted to have it done for me for $7...which is a tad more than I want to pay for my hangover helper.

Here are some options....
The Abbaye (drink specials!)
Standard Tap
Side Car (home made s c r a p p l e)
Johnny Brenda's (homemade donuts!)
Devil's Den (new at eleven and ellsworth)
South Philly Tap Room (new chef!)
Memphis Tap Room (starting May 11th)
Royal Tavern (always features specials)
Cantina los Cabalitos
Jose Pistolas (amazing bacon!)
Farmacia (also has really good bacon)
N. 3rd (think montecristo)
Jack's Firehouse (have a sly fox stout)
Honeys ( b y o b even for brunch!)

Please feel free to leave a comment with other Saturday egg options (pref. with a bar;)

From romance novel cover boy to dutch boy...lance loses his hair

I've been dating lance since January of 2007. Great guy as many of you know....
Great guy...bad hair. (although some women did like it)

He was growing it for locks of love. Everytime I told him to cut it...he said I would be stealing from sick little children. So he hadn't cut it for two years...it was longer than mine and it was just w e i r d .

So you can imagine my delight when he told me WMMR (rocks) was having a Lock of Love day with Kathy, preston and Steve. He's a fan of the show and has been a guest a few times.



Finally he would get his hair cut and in the company of fine radio folk.

His "appointment" was for 9:30. We show up and there are all sorts there...
From guys that looked like regulars at the Dolphin tavern to a seven year old darling...that helped out a peer.

Sponsoring salons including Ground Zero and Gravity.
All the stylists that were donating their time were hotties.
I asked Lance if he wanted the J.Lo or Cameron Diaz clone?
He wasn't sure...but he was hoping for a back scratch to boot.

But he ended up with the only male stylist, Joe.
Joe told me that he would look like a hot country singer when he was done with him.

Great...I was going to be dating a Keith urban look alike...well I guess if its good enough for Nicole Kidman...it's good enough for me.

I laughed non stop for 30 minutes...Here's the play by play.

Clips!


He looks kind of drunk in this one...


The "aftershot" (I am so happy- dutch boy is way better than romance novel coverboy)

The art of drinking....troegs

Tis that time of year...

birds chirping,
patio renovations (more to come on this)
golf carts running through the greens,
Flyers fans hoping for the best, but expecting otherwise
and people all over the place racking their brains for the most innovative artwork using Troegs bottlecaps!

The ART of Drinking TROEGS launches this week.

Whatcha got to do is Come on out to any of the bars listed below on Thursday May 15th and pick up a Starter Kit and have a few beers to help get those creative juices flowing.

Each of the bars will have posters, coasters, pint glasses available while supplies last and most importantly some tasty Tröegs beers on tap or bottles. You might even get to have a beer with Troegster Nick Johnson. He may even stay on his bar stool...but probably not.
The line up of bars includes many of my favorites.
For more info check out: www. troegs. com/art_of_troegs_new. htm

Philadelphia-
o Old Eagle Tavern – www. oldeagletavern. com
o South Philly Tap Room – www. southphiladelphiataproom. com
o Brigid's – www. brigids. com
o Standard Tap – www. standardtap. com
o Johnny Brenda's – www. johnnybrendas. com
o Grey Lodge – www. greylodge. com
o Good Dog – www. gooddogbar. com
o Pub on Passyunk East – www. myspace. com/pubonpassyunkeast
o Dawson St. Pub – www. dawsonstreetpub. com
o The Khyber - www. thekhyber. com

Chester County-
o Drafting Room Exton – www. draftingroom. com
o TJ's Everyday – www. tjseveryday. com
o Flying Pig

Bucks County-
o Spinnerstown Hotel – www. spinnerstownhotel. com

Montgomery County-
o Brother Paul's – www. brotherpauls. com
o Drafting Room Spring House – www. draftingroom. com
o Ortino's Northside – www. ortionsnorthside. blogspot. com
o Union Jack's Glenside
o Union Jack's Congo
o Capone's – www. myspace. com/caponesinnorristown
o Bones Grille – www. bonesgrille. com

Berk's County-
o Union Jack's on the Manatawny - www. unionjacksmanatawny. com

(Make sure to check with the bar first, some may do the promo on another day)

Toasting away the 20s playback < < <

So thirty came and went...well I guess it's still coming.
So far so good. I totally got this.
I've never been so 30.

The day itself was pure magic and I cheesily rented a convertible mini cooper for the day and cruised down 76 with the wind blowing my 30 year old hair and the Felice brothers playing all the while.

I bought shoes that made me 5 foot 5 and returned to Philadelphia to ready myself for my birthday happy hour.

It was the best.
Rick Suarez from Unibroue was my beer angel that day.
He sponsored my party and all attendees got their first unibroue on the house.
La fin du monde, Blanch, Maudite, there was even some Unibroue 17 pouring around.

Tom Peters was in the house with a special bottle of FireStone Walker 11th anniversary ale and flowers. George Hummel, Russ from General Lafayette, Bill Young from Manayunk, Casey, Lance, homebrewing friends, beer promo friends, johnny goodtimes and gang, beer club lasses, friends from college and highschool, my stylist and his friends, little woods and many more came to toast away my twenties.

My friends all chipped in and bought me a chocolate Cannon Powershot SD1100IS which I love.
Lance picked it out and hooked me up with a new watch to boot. Family got me all domesticated with a vacuum and Pots and pans. I even got running socks that I needed.

After the best happy hour of all time, my pals threw me a surprise party at Standard Tap upstairs with the ever ham ron johnson bartending. There some more surprise guests like Scoats and Jordan from Bella Vista Beer Dist.

I knew something was up when everyone left happy hour without saying good bye...but I didn't expect to walk into a room staring at 50 suzy woods masks..Here's a shot of Lance with "me on his shoulder.

I was everywhere. I was hanging out on top of paintings, hanging outside a window by second st.

There was tons of great beer on tap including Lance's brown ale from Iron Hill...which was delicious when I was actually drinking it and not spilling it!

There was a Pinata! which looked like a car referencing my never ending car problems. It was filled with my favorite candy- Peanut butter cups and almond joys...geez these people thought of every little thing.
If the good feelings of the day have even the slightest presence over the next 364..it's going to be one hell of a year. Here are some more pics from the night....

FIRKINS at Phila Fish & Co.?

O
Philadelphia FISH and Co is switching things up!

This Friday will mark their start of Firkin Fridays...
They haven't titled it anything more oceanic- yet!

Kicks off at 5. 2nd and Chestnut.

The debuting Firkin will be SLY FOX ESB.

Come out if you can!

ALSO--It's first Friday tomorrow...so Old City might be an ideal place to do happy hour.

There's a first time for everything. cliche but true.


COMING Up!
* Photos from my Toasting away the Twenties shindig
*Lance's big day at the salon of WMMR.

Tappin' in to the RareBit

Tonight I stayed in. I was sort of itching to go out and try some of the new menu at the South Philly Tap Room around 10, but will power won for once (i must be 30;) and I stayed in. But staying in meant no food, and I was famished.

With a fridge full of beer and condiments I was out of luck. I really regret not taking my sis up on her offer to take home my birthday cake, but I struck gold in a king size Take Five that my Ground Zero salon friends got me for my big day. One hour later, I am in a bit o' pain wanting a stomach transplant. I even took a Tums
(I must be 30).

I can't go out every night. Every night gets rough. real rough.
But I always appreciate those evenings that I have more than a beer at a bar.
*I eat something I never heard of
*My bartender/server rocks
*I learn some new fun fact about what I am eating or drinking


In a short five days- I can already tell that the Memphis Taproom will be a good locale for all of the above. They opened Tuesday night to 500 people. It would have been 501, but I was in Mount Holly, NJ.

I made it a point to go the next day for lunch, where I was to meet Yards' Steven "Mittens" Mashinton... he brought his entourage with him to boot, so I got to chow down with Frank and Tim Roberts as well.

The place looks great. Nice mellow hues of green and yellow lather the room. Decor is limited to some neat hotographs, not too cluttered and well selected.

Spanky himself is pouring drinks and entertaining as usual. I can barely drink my Founders Red Rye while he's "on stage." Other options included:
Poperings Hommel Ale (they went through 3 kegs in 2 days)
Rogue BuckWheat (he made a special arrangement to get this beer...no one else is pouring it on draft in the East -i think)
With a tip of his hat to his resume: Monks Cafe Flemish Sour and Nodding Head 60 shilling
Sly Fox O'reilly's Dry stout
Yards Pale Ale
Troegs Sunshine Pils...and more

All our priced to move at $4. They won't be doing drink specials per se. But every happy hour, the beer that's been on draft the longest, will be priced to drain at 1/2 off.

It was tough to decide lunch, but I first coursed it with Tempura Battered Butternut Squash served with a Poblano Coconut Curry. I love how I order squash to feel healthy, but make sure it's fried all the while. This counter productivity plagues my days.

and went on to enjoy the Welsh RareBit - A beer and cheese fondue over toast with a fried egg on top. The beer of choice was the Old Peculiar and there was certainly a note of dijon to the fondue as well. Rare to me, but not those living in Wales.
It is a traditional Welsh dish that can be served with or without the egg.

There are different theories on how the delightful dish was named. But they all seem to be along the general lines of - The poor people of Wales ate cheese because they couldn't afford butchers meat. In England, the peasants ate rabbit. So in the next land over, they called roasted cheese over toast, Rarebit. No meat involved .

The dish dates back to 1725 and American big box frozen food company, Stouffers even has a commerical version of it.

I enjoyed the rich Rarebit so, that I even called it"I have no intention of wearing a bikini this summer" rarebit.

Other than that, some other menu items include:

Beef and Onion Pasties: Rodenbach braised beef and onion horseradish
*/* ALT :Avocado Bacon and Lettuce with tomato on Toast The Port Richmond Platter: Grilled Keilbasa, perogies, potato pancakes and Kraut
(only $12 buckaroos)
Chicken Fried Chicken:Buttermilk Biscuits, braised collard greens, and Red Chili Mayo
(only $8)
Jalapeno Corn Dodgers: Crispy cornmeal fritters with roasted red pepper ketchup
Walla Walla Suicide Rings: Sweet and Spicy onion rings with Habenero cream

Chef is Jesse Kimball, whom trained under Dominic Feloni (Bianca, Savona) and mastered the kitchen at Matyson following. As the website reads he had a brief course in Molecular Gastronomy at Lacroix and made his way to Memphis and Cumberland.
And they are darn glad to have him.

Just as the beer list has something for everyone, the menu is complete with a key of sorts for Vegans and Vegetarians that certainly haven't been forgotten.

The bar is a mere two blocks from greensgrow farms...In case you ever heard of Greensgrow and wanted to check it out.

The community has welcomed them with open arms. The doors have been flooded by beer industry and fishtown residents alike.

The area has been referred to as one of the last family communities in Philadelphia.
With the addition of the TapRoom, the family grows. and the best part is the reunion can happen daily.

Birthday din din

Marigold Kitchen was the destination for my birthday dinner with lance romance...Just look how romantic that table scene is.
Two glasses of Saison,
a votive,
a Poached egg on top of collar greens and corn bread
and Lance, himself, in the distance wearing a button down shirt.

Dinner was a surprise. He told me to pick out the beer, we were going to a byo, and I had to meet him at 30th st. station at 8:30. Of course I got caught up playing with my new point and shoot that I didn't meet him until 9.

I had been wanting to go to this restaurant ever since it opened...so this was a delightful decision on his part.

I am not sure why it is named Marigold...through my limited research I just found out that it's a british colloquialism for a yellow glove for washing dishes. Doubt that's it;)

The owners of Marigold also own head house squares Xochitl, which I've written about and Society Hill's newest Zahav, which I will write about;)

The culinary theme of Marigold is one of southern homecooked food with a twist.
Our server despite having a bad hair day---you know when it's kind of messy, but it still looks good...was very knowledgable on the fare.

First course
Cornbread with collard greens, ham and a poached egg ( I am really into this poached egg thing apparently this week)
Lance: Grits with Shrimp

Second Course
They didn't have the scallops that I opted for, so I went chicken. I never order chicken out, but this was a great turn of events.

They pounded the chicken out and rolled it into a roulade with a cornbread stuffing (Marigold loves their cornbread). It was joined by cippiolini onions sausage and more greens. It was perfect. Best chicken I have ever had dining out.
Lance: Got hangar steak with home made mashers and these green pickled things that I will have to check on the name of and edit.

Dessert
You know if lance is having dinner, dessert is ever and option.
I selected their house speciality, banana bread pudding served with coffee ice cream...
the cocoavore went with the warm chocolate cake and malt foam



And we were tuckered.
It was nice to exit the Victorian style house turned restaurant and walk a few blocks through scenic West Philly to get a cab. Well at least the part we were in was scenic. I dont' make it out to West Philly too too often, so this was overall a great pick.

Birthday hats off to Marigold Kitchen, and of course, Lance.

Toastin' the 20s away

Hey there....
a Few more days till I will be snapping pics again....

This week I checked out
Les Bon Temps
Time
SideCar (for th 30th time;)
PoPe
Phillies Game
Good Dog (again)
Druids Keep
The abbaye
Standard tap
fin mccools
Fergies
House Party
and more....

THIS THURSDAY-=-=-I'm Thirty years of age.

Please join me on the 24th at Jose Pistolas from 6-8 for a birthday Happy Hour.
We'll toast to the end of my twenties!

I am trying to send out an e-vite..but the program keeps crappin' out on me.


Hope to see you there.

<<<<<<<
i am five y o here. My mom did my hair. And it is osh kosh bgosh.

Friday...Saturday ...Sunday....part II

The rest of the week flew by....new Sly Fox prospects, good bites and a really nice late night bike ride.

On Thursday night, I had to get some Ichor stickers dropped off at Race st. April Annie lives a mere block away so I thought it would be the perfect meet up spot. There are two seats and the end of the bar and I take one of them. No sign of her or Casey (her partner in crime at the moment- and ever a criminal on his own). It was the 2008 debut of the purple thunder, my rock hopper courtesy of Lance. I rode from my house sorta kinda by the Italian Market to there. I def needed a water, then thought a stone IPA would hit the spot. And it did. Unfortunately though, Casey and April were on the roof deck at Standard Tap. I had 3/4 of a beer in front of me when this news was presented.

This young lad from El Salvador sat down next to me. Antonio. Which was kismit because I was working on a freelance project involving latinos. Antonio was more than happy to be interviewed. He told me he used to drink corona light all the time- but now its a lot of yuengling and magic hat. I reach into pay for my beer and realize my wallet is in my sales bag. How mortifying. So Andy from race st. kindly bought me my beer.

Eventually, I rode on over to standard tap. I passed a crowded N. 3rd. sidewalk, everyone had a bit of spring fever I guess only cured by some good beers.

I had a saison or two with April and Casey, a slice of pizza from Rustica next door. Ran into a friend Then had one more saison. Now instead of just owing Andy a beer, I owe two other people too.

Then back home. It was a beautiful night for a ride as i raced down Broad street, not trying to get home to soon, but went so fast with that perfect breeze in my face only to be stopped by almost riding into the back of a burgundy corolla.

Friday was good. I visted Drafting room Springhouse. They were getting ready to do their monthly? firkin. They had a bitter on from Brooklyn. Next month I think he's doing nugget nectar. Steven, the GM, gave me a sample of the Brooklyn. It tasted a little underattenuated, but it wasn't bad.

On to the Ye Old Ale House in Lafayette Hill. They devote at least 6 taps to craft beer even though the majority of their audience coming in still is getting their "usual." The owner, Chris, is a great guy, and they do the beef behind the bar just like Cherry St.

Mcmenamins was my next stop. I was there earlier in the week too, when they had a wait for the dining room on a Tuesday night. Good for them. I am hoping they take sly fox back into rotation soon. I know they switch it up a bunch. I had a nugget nectar while I was there and shared a bottle of Dogfish Black Blue with my new friends Kyle and Damien. They were pretty funny. Damien just got a job working with Cavtel, selling communication technologies and Kyle is pretty high up in a pharma company. Damien was trying to sell phone service to Kyle and kyle was humoring him...but don't see that deal going down anytime soon. Paul Rutherford will probably stay on a bar stool all night first.

I took a nap then met up with Lance at Devil's Den. Despite my fatigue this was a pretty pleasant experience. The place was pretty packed, but there were two seats at the bar.
Sat down ordered chorizo and mussels and a a Goliath Triple which was very nice.
The mussels were great. The fries were slightly undercooked, just like I like em'.
We finished up sharing a NorthCoast organic Cru d'Or. a Belgian Style Dubbel. I thought it was pretty good. Maybe one of the best organic beers I have had. I've never been overwhelmed by the Peak stuff.

Saturday breakfast was at Carman's...Lance's favorite.
It was great, and I was able to talk to yet another latino about my beer project. He told me that one of the most popular beers in Puerto Rico is called medalla light (medalla is medal in spanish). But he said even more popular than that is Coor Lite.

I dropped Lance off at the airport (not before he would've locked his keys in his car and had to drive mine to his house to get them...)
and headed to a mini charity beer festival at the Public House in support of the Ronald McDonald house. I thought it was a great cause. with less then three hundred people there they raised over $30,000 dollars. I think that's a much better use of money then town street lamps.

Headed to Dock st. for some pizza and a saison. The saison was good but a bit darker than I am used to...I'll have to ask the guys about that next time I see them. I got a call from Johnny Goodtimes while I was there reminding me about the Rock Paper Scissors movie playing that night at the International House. Perfect! I was already west of the walnut st. bridge. I had jenny hobbs in tow- My Origlio brand manager kindly took us to the Best House to get some beers and we headed over. There were 3 films being showed. One detailing peoples obsession with the Rocky Statue, one about Frankie the 13th and Philadelphia Rock Paper Scissors league and finally one about philly's other obsession, the cheesesteak. All were well done. I had a brief cameo in the RPS one....but my favorite was probably "This is my Cheesesteak." In addition to having a great soundtrack...and detailed historical information about all of Philly's most loved grease purveyors, it had a song from Tony Luke Jr. himself singing in his kitchen. The movie concluded with a picture of all the steak giants of Philly in one room and on time. Rumor has it that Joey Vento showed up last...

A percentage of DVD and teeshirt sales went to Breast Cancer Research in honor of Filmmaker Ben Daniels mom, who was recently diagnosed.

Then off to Dark Horse for Jim Wiggins 30th b day. I got to see Jim Meiers play electric guitar which was great. I drank a smithwicks. Which was - a smithwicks. If my car wasn't towed, it would have been a good time. When you car is half way in a spot, and half way out and the sign says "No stopping past this point." you should consider other alternatives.

Okay, time to do taxes.
A couple of reminders

-Sly Fox Goat Races- Sunday May 4...if you want on the bus leaving from Philly...email jennie@profilepr.com. The event goes from 12-6. Races starts at 2.

-Attention women-April 23rd we have a special meeting at Bella Vista bev complete with beers and cheese. Learn a bit about what goes on in the beer business...then off to Devils Den a few blocks away.
-April 24....some lass is turning 30. come celebrate at Jose Pistolas. The kind and full of character Rick Suarez of Unibroue will be coming down from New York to celebrate and talk beer. It's going to be like a cocktail party....With BEER! All you can drink/eat for $30.
email me beerlass@gmail.com if you can come;)
-April 26 Manayunk Beer Fest