Meanwhile, on the rumor side of things, I hear that brewer Tim Roberts, last seen being shut down in mid-brew as the law came and closed Independence Brew Pub last week, has surfaced at Yards and in fact is already brewing there. Makes sense and a good move for owner Tom Kehoe if it's true (Tom hasn't answered my calls or emails of late, which is understandable if frustrating).

I've also been told that Kehoe has "bought a brewery" but it's not clear if this is A) true, B) a brand new brewery as was at implied in Kehoe's recent posting at BeerAdvocate or C) an existing brewhouse, tanks and bottling line (which is what he'll need to function as before). What I haven't heard anybody say as yet (and I've talked to at least two people to whom Tom talks) is that he has a location. And there, as they say, is the rub.

Meanwhile, and this appears to be pretty much a fact, I've gotten reports that Yards tap handles are apparently disappearing from some locales in the city which are presumed to own their allegiance to the (promised to be forthcoming) Philadelphia Brewing Co. Of course, if customers keep coming in and asking for, say, Philadelphia Pale Ale, I'd think that issue would rectify itself somewhat, especially since PBC is still just a concept and not a reality. The battle for taps, though, will be serious and, I fear, bitter.

Conjecture? Well, the question I've been asked a lot lately is this: do I think that the end result of the split between Kehoe and the Bartons will result in, as of 2008, there being two, one or no full-service breweries in Philadelphia? My answer, cautiously, is...two.

But I hedge my bet on that still being the case in 2009.

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[Posted 2:43pm edt]

21 August 2007
Dock Street Opening: a gathering of angels some of the usual suspects.

That's Rosemarie Certo and just-arrived head brewer Julius Hummer welcoming you to the new Dock Street Brewery & Restaurant, which officially opened in West Philadelphia at 11am yesterday.

Julius is, well, a big 'un. As you can see below where I photographed the same pair in the brewhouse, Casey Hughes is no longer the tallest brewery in local captivity.

I was there to interview him for my next Celebrator Beer News "Atlantic Ale Trail" column and to welcome the old familiar Dock Street name back onto the local pub scene. And, yeah, have me a beer or two. It's what I do, y'know?

When I shot down to visit (and I mean "shot," about 45 minutes door-to-door at mid-day, with the first 30 of those covering the initial 35 miles, and the last an additional eight or so, mostly on traffic-laden Baltimore Avenue once I departed the Schuylkill Expressway just beyond 30th Street), I didn't know what to expect but was pleased to see about a dozen, maybe more, people at tables and the bar, finishing lunch or just enjoying a pint (it was 1:30pm). No familiar faces anywhere except for that of Rosemarie, who was engaged in a discussion with some of the staff, a situation which was rapidly rectified.

As I waited for her to finish, out of the far corner of the room materialized the one and only Brendan Hartranft, known to the world as "Spanky" and the guy running the front of the house at Nodding Head. He and brewer Gordon Grubb (who was in the brewery chatting with Julius) had come over for lunch and to welcome the new/old kids to town, and co-owner Curt Decker was on the way. Spanky, it turns out, lives in the neighborhood, a few blocks away.

I was beginning to feel more at home, especially after Rosemarie joined us and brought me a pint of the beer then listed as Rye IPA. I say "then listed" because beer historian and Ale Street News columnist Rich Wagner, who walked in a while later, just ahead of Decker, later suggested that it ought to be called "Rye-PA" and we all, Rosemarie included, then decided that the spelling should henceforth be RYPA (all caps). We'll see how that works out. In any case, this is a nice twist on the IPA style, with the rye (15%) giving it a unique, slightly dry flavor upfront before it smooths its way into a nice hoppy finish (Simcoe & Amarillo). It comes in at 6.2% but doesn't seem that strong while it's going down.

I suppose this is the place to note that all the beers for now were produced by some guy named Morrison. Consider that done.

I did my interview with Julius and Rosemarie in the brewhouse, then spent a good 14-20 minutes in a rather spirited discussion with the latter about the history of local craft brewing (I'll probably post something about that in a day or so) and got some photos. I came back out to the bar and cajoled myself into a glass of the not-yet-released (it should be on today) 8.6% imperial Oatmeal Stout, whereupon Don "Joe Sixpack" Russell of the Philadelphia Daily News walked in, followed not long after by George Hummel of Home Sweet Homebrew, who covers the Philly scene for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. We had us a veritable press convention going on. Not quite the best and the brightest, I suppose--call us the beer-soaked and the baffled.

You want to know about the beers, right? Already said the RYPA was fine stuff, maybe my favorite, but the Stout was a mighty close second, roasted and complex and black, just the way it should be. I had a small glass of the Gold Stock Ale, a crisp, nicely balanced golden ale which, at 4.5%, will probably the steady session beer at the pub (they don't plan, at this point, to have any of the current bottled products brewed and on tap there, although Rosemarie is already wavering on Illuminator) and a smaller, sample glass of the 4.8% White Ale, a summer wheat. Both of those were drunk while sharing a pizza with Rich and George. (the pizza is as good as the beers, crisp and well made). Looking ahead, Julius says a couple of the current beers will be kept on the menu and the first ones he's looking at adding are Left Coast Ale and Cherry Porter. The plan is to have six beers on regularly when they get rolling.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was the first day of business, although there was a private party for local residents held on Saturday night (more on that topic at the end of this posting). As for my report, you'll have to wait for more in the Celebrator column (either in print or here on the site (click on the photo for the current column, just uploaded), but I'll add some additional photos here to whet your appetites:

This is shot from the far right corner and shows a good portion of the bar.

The brewery is visible through windows behind the right side of the bar.

The Nodding Head crew at the far left corner of the bar, where you can see two of them standing in the first photo directly above.

Overall, the new Dock Street has a comfortable, casual feel to it which should appeal to the university crowd, both students and faculty, and it is hoped by local residents that it will be a spur to improving the neighborhood and encouraging other new enterprises, much as Standard Tap and South Philadelphia Tap Room did for locales (the role model for that sort of thing is, of course, this place).

Here's a front page story from yesterday's Metro Philadelphia which offers some more information about the area and the almost unprecedented support for the arrival of Dock Street by locals.

Finally, Dock Street may be a bit difficult to find for those not familiar with the area, certainly in the early going. The best and easiest way to get there from center city, I am told (I haven't tried it myself yet), is the #34 Trolley, which can be picked up by The Clothespin at 15th & Market, a block off of City Hall and right upstairs from Suburban Station. The trolley stops at the big intersection right by the Dock Street front door. Can't beat that.

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[Posted 12:50pm edt]

19 August 2007
What I did, and didn't, do of a fine Saturday in August.
It was an absolutely splendid day yesterday here in the Best. Beer. Region. In. The. World. and there were two parties/events going on. One was a picnic being held by Dan and Suzanne Weirback and the other the latest Dan Bengel-inspired event at Ortino's Northside, both starting in mid to late afternoon.

Both were relatively close...and appealing. My original, ambitious plan, therefore, was to attend both, hitting Northside early on and then proceeding to the First Annual Weyerbacher Human Foosball Tournament and Pig Roast.

"Life," as John Lennon once famously said, "is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

To be honest, I was leaning toward doing just Big Dan's event even as morning dawned, for two reasons. The first was, hard to believe, practical and wise. The Weirback afternoon did seem to promise a lot of physical activity and, given my still-think-I'm-25 inclination to want to participate in such endeavors without regard to my real, not-25 physical condition and the fact that I am trying to physically strengthen and rehabilitate a bum leg, not attending that one was a Good Choice. My physical therapist Danielle is, so far, relatively gentle and kind, but there is a dark spark in the back of her eyes that I don't want to bring to full flame by walking in there limping and moaning come Monday morning. Besides, her husband is apparently a beer guy and they live in Schwenksville, so I'd already recommended that they go visit Northside Saturday themselves, so I had good karma on my side.

And to be honest again (if this becomes a trend, it will destroy this website), big, hoppy beers are not, I say not, a thing I am seeking out these days.

Not that it mattered. Life is what happens etc. etc.....

As I wrote both on this page and over here, I had dinner with my daughter and her husband last Sunday. Among the things we discussed was my offer to give them my gas-fired grill because it's too large for the tiny alcove/deck area I have here. They offered to pay for the smaller, simpler charcoal grill I said I would replace it with (thanks to the impressive arguments offered by this guy in favor of getting back to basics) and that's where we left it.

At around 11:30am this morning, my son-in-law arrived at my front door with a new grill in a large box and some other stuff, the other stuff being a new set of towels and a back support for me to use on the couch and here at the computer, two things I had mentioned in passing that I planned to go out and buy this week.

Daughters are truly wonderful creatures.

Using our impressive mutual set of mechanical skills, son-in-law Tom and I managed to put together the new grill in slightly less than twice the time than anybody else could have.

After he left, I walked outside onto that space off my rear door. It is roughly 12 feet wide by 8 feet deep, stretching the length of the bedroom double-window from my back door to the storage closet opposite. It's the sort of tiny corner which is almost embarrassing for most of the units here, but given my location--in the rear of a building on the east side of the property, on a hillside, with a small woods below that--it's not a bad place at all.

With the larger grill gone and the new one nestled into the corner, it looked to be, if not spacious, well, spacious enough.

To sit and contemplate how I've come to the this place and time.

Or to read.

Or to read and contemplate.

And maybe have a beer or two.

Especially if contemplation became the order of the day.

I had scored a bottle of the exquisite Southampton Cuvee Des Fluers from my pal Tim Ohst on Friday afternoon.

It was, as I mentioned in the headline, as fine an August day as you could imagine.

I was home, life was good and I had a well-written and agreeable novel I wanted to finish.

I was required to neither shower or dress up more appropriately to fulfill the attractions of that beer and that book and that newly-freed space. Indeed, either activity would be counter-productive.

What would you do?

That's what I did.

Today there is another gathering at Camp Terry, an elite beer location known to very few (although the standards may be dropping; I'm told that the sound of non-silence has threatened to be there). I'm seriously thinking of going.

Before I do, though, especially if the rain holds off, I'll walk out tha back door one more once and think about it. There is, I must admit, another novel ready for starting and a bottle of Heavyweight Biere d'Art in the Stash which has been calling out my name all week...

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Before I forget...
...I want to say something about the just-released Sly Fox Oktoberfest, a bottle of which I took home after my Friday evening visit to Phoenixville and which I forgot to mention in yesterday's post.

I love this beer in all its malty goodness and can't wait for it to arrive on the taps. Indeed, I love all well-made lagers, love their subtlety and complexity, relish their rich maltiness, embrace the way they complement so many foods that I enjoy.

I do, I really do, feel sorry for those with uninformed and uneducated palates who can only appreciate the aggressive nature of ales. I can do that too--wallow in the spiciness, sourness, bitterness and sometimes just plain weirdness that makes that style the most adventuresome of the beer breed (and also perfect with a wide variety of foods)--but I would not care to limit myself to only those experiences.

My house has many mansions, as Someone once said.

I live here in the Lager Capitol of America, maybe the world (don't argue and make me come over there). I have the great Pilsners, Bocks and Rauchbiers of Sly Fox, Victory, Stoudt's and Troegs (to name our most notable producers, though there are several others) available to me on a regular basis.

I'd be a damned fool, or at least someone who should not be writing about beer professionally, if I didn't recognize and happily partake of the bounty which I am privileged to enjoy.

Anyway, Sly Fox Oktoberfest. Good. Shoulda said that yesterday.

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[Posted 7:42am edt]

18 August 2007
Karl Shoemaker, beer geek.
This past week has seen a flurry of stories about the continued craft beer "surge" in the first half of 2007, all involving a myriad of formal reports and statistics and other "real world" data to back them up. Heck, anybody can do that. In the spirit of our anti-reality White House and non-news news media, I hereby offer another strong indicator, purely anecdotal and perfectly true, which might be as accurate a barometer about the way good beer is taking over as are any of those boring numbers other guys use.

Long time readers here (and maybe even some to whom it just seems a long time) will recall Karl Shoemaker, who used to be a regular hereabouts back in the day (about all that, see following post). Karl first appeared as a guy who hung at Sly Fox Phoenixville, a guy who'd lost his job when the plant where he worked closed and now was getting by on various pick-up jobs and lots of eBay sales. When The Fox expanded with the Royersford brewery, he came on board there as a the "Mr. Fix-It," the guy who got stuff up and running (most famously, the former Dogfish Head bottling line which previously was most effective at lopping off appendages in Rehobeth). Since then, through a beer connection nicely enough, he's gotten another full-time gig and still does what he does at Royersford as needed.

Back then, Karl liked beer, a lot, but made a point of insisting that he was not, and never would be, a "beer geek," even in the days when he was a regular at the Monday Night Tastings.

Ah, how things do change.

Friday morning, what do I receive, sent at 7:28am, as part of a mass mailing from the same Mr. Shoemaker to everybody he knows, this message:

To all that care..Tim just put on a half of 2004 Renard D'Or at Pville. It is around 8% and is REALLY nice.