Wednesday, June 8, 2011

And So It Begins.....

       Yes sirree boys and girls and guys and dolls. June has opened up the flood gates of beer evilness, otherwise known as Philly Beer Week. There are three or so things you can pretty much count on during this so called week of madness.
 1--Weight Gain
 2--Insomnia
 3-- Divorce proceedings
 3A-- Near bankruptcy
Where in the hell do I sign up at? Well folks, let's take a quick look see at a few of the TLBL fun times so far.

                                           June 1 Night Of the Bastards @ Craft Ale House
No pun intended or was there? Yes, most of the TNSC crew made it out for some liquid bastards on Wednesday night, though I am quite sure that some patrons on most Fridays might have said the same thing about us. After a lovely Keller Pils to loosen up the taste buds, a sampler of the hoppy and oaked Stones gently washed down over my sun drenched lips. But it was the supper evil Backwoods Bastard that grabbed my tongue and wrestled it to side of my mouth, so I could let the whiskey soaked beer slide ever so slowly down my gullet. Good googly goo.

                                                    June 2 De Halve Mann @ TND
The Beer Yard and The Brewer

This was a must do for one simple reason. It was the first time that the Dubbel and the Unfiltered Zot has been poured in the USA. And after having those beers over there 3 years ago, I could only hope that it would be as good as I remembered. Mission accomplished! It also was a must visit for the 35 people going to Belgium with us next May as De Halve Mann will be our local brewpub. I can hardly wait to see these two great beers on tap later on this year around town. And I can hardly wait to get back to Brugge.

               June 3 Birthday party @ Becca's restaurant in Phoenixville
Nah, this had nothing to do with beer week, although some Kellerweiss and some Big Eye and 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die from Mr. Rubeo sure didn't suck. But it was my first time there at Becca's and I was quite impressed with the food and service. It is a BYOB though kiddies, as if that would stop you.

                                                     June 4 Ballast Point @ Capones
Too damn much stuff to do around the house made getting to this a lot later that I wanted, but that's the way it goes. Paul "The Hitman" Havelin from Bella Vista had just left, which meant we probably grabbed his seat at the bar. This event was not for the tame of heart as some big muthas were being poured including the star of the show, Bourbon Victory At Sea. Oh be still my quaking liver. Also, there was some nice leftovers from the good folks at Hill Farmstead, who have never ever made a bad beer yet.
We then stopped at ABC for a quick bite and a couple of Hoppy Trails on the hand pump which was quite tasty. But not as tasty as Mr. Sculpin.

                         June 5 Saison Sunday @ Khyber Pass Pub and Lost Abbey @ Monks
Holy guacamole Batman! The day started off with a nice lunch at the Khyber consisting of salad (Shocking) and some very smart Mac and Cheese which filled my belly so full I could barely get off the bar stool. But the beer I had to go with it was the excellent  De Proef/Sly Fox saison. Run don't walk to try it. Common sense would of told me to walk off that lunch, but my liver was all a tingle, so I hopped a cab and went straight to Monks, where the phone twittering man about town, Brian Parker had did his home work and saved me a seat at the front bar. To say the back was full is like saying there was line for lifeboats on the Titanic. But they kept a coming. Some were deterred, others braved the mighty BO in the back. When it looked liked our lovely bartender was not going to be able to secure our beers from the back there, the mighty Brian stepped up and fought his way tooth and nail to bring back a Duck Duck geuze and a Cuvee De Tommy. Cuvee was the clear winner in this battle and to celebrate I bought a bottle of the Monks Gueze which is as good as it gets.

                                                  June 6 Cigar City @ Capones
The "Hitman" was right on time with the Cigar City boys and you could tell that beer week was starting to put a hurting on those youngsters.But for myself, how could you not start with a glass of Humidor IPA from the firkin? After that cedar treat,  I then launched myself into a sampler of mostly C.C. house beers including a 4% table saison which was de lish! Much more evilness ensued as a few bottles magically got opened and passed around. I started to see darkness on the horizon and left the fine folks at Capones to their own devices. 

                                                               June 7
                                            On the seventh day I rested.

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