Heading into the weekend, it looks like we’ve got three new contenders for your beer-buying dollars.
Flying Dog Brewery’s Kerberos Tripel joins the brewery’s “Canis Major Series” of brews. Kerberos Tripel is a bottle conditioned, strong Belgian-style ale with a slightly hazy appearance and mousse-like head. It is brewed with Golding and Saaz hops and Pilsner and Aromatic malts to yield a medium body and champagne-like carbonation.
Mendocino Brewing has introduced a new limited edition Summer Seasonal White Ale. Unfiltered and cloudy, the Belgian White Ale has 4.8% ABV and “features a thirst quenching blend of sweet orange peel and the subtle spiciness of coriander, topped off with a delicate twist of lemon.”
Finally, Jersey’s own Flying Fish has rolled out their Farmhouse Summer Ale for its 12th season. This is a great seasonal brewed with Belgian two-row pale malt and 7% wheat, lightly filtered, and has a earthy, spicy character from Styrian Goldings hops.
Enjoy!
The voting is over and the dust has settled on Philadelphia CityPaper’s Beeramid to determine the best beer in Philly. Flying Fish Belgian Abbey Dubbel (1283 votes / 29.6%) was my pick to win it all, but Nodding Head Grog (3049 votes / 70.4%) easily took the prize in a final round that wasn’t even close.
I’ve never had their grog, but will definitely have to give it a try now. Here’s what some other people had to say about it:
RateBeer.com - 68%
“On tap at brewery. Pours a dark brown with a thin beigh head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee notes and some chocolate. Flavor is dark malts,nuts and some toffee with a light dry finish…”
BeerAdvocate.com - B+
“Pours just short of opaque. Nose is woody. Flavor is whoa! Nice and hearty. Woody character. Thick robustness that is nowhere near overdone. Slight bitter back tone. Feel is thick enough on the liquid. Has a good level of carbonation. Very drinkable. A good brown ale. If you see it, go for it.”
Great article in USA Today about how Philly is quickly becoming known for much more than cheesesteaks and brotherly love. Glad to see my favorite city, which always seems to get lost in the shuffle between New York and Washington, get its due. Of course, my mind quickly started racing trying to figure out some way that I can get my wife to let me go to a few “Philly Beer Week” events. Hmm…
Seriously, there’s some great stuff I didn’t realize about the Philly beer scene:
- Philadelphia’s beer history dates back at least to 1680, when city founder William Penn began work on his brewery.
- The first American lager is said to have been brewed in Philadelphia in 1840.
- By 1870, there were 69 breweries in Philadelphia and eventually an entire neighborhood called Brewerytown. But Prohibition shuttered many facilities, and the last city brewery, Schmidt’s, closed in 1987.
- Today, there are at least 20 breweries in the Philadelphia area, including Yards, Flying Fish, Stoudts, Sly Fox and Victory.
- Yuengling, the oldest brewery in America (1829), continues to operate about 75 miles away in Pottsville.
- The beer industry employs 16,000 workers in Philadelphia, producing about $422 million in wages and $122 million in taxes.
Be sure to check out the complete article at http://www.usatoday.com and raise a glass at Philly Beer Week, which actually runs a ten-days, but who’s counting?
Round Two of Philadelphia CityPaper’s Beer-a-Mid has begun, so we must say goodbye to eight contenders: Yuengling Lager, Troegs Troegenator Double Bock, Iron Hill Pig Iron Porter, Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot, Legacy Hedonism Ale, Dock Street Bohemian Dock Street Pilsner and Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA.
Of course, this screws up my entire bracket because I had Yuengling going to the finals. Damn… oh well, time to let the voting begin for the Standard Tap and Khyber regionals! Victory Hop Devil and Flying Fish Belgian Abbey Dubbel are now my frontrunners.
What’s big, shiny, and costs about half a million dollars? It’s Flying Fish’s new bottling equipment!
If you can’t make it out to Cherry Hill, New Jersey for one of their free brewery tours on a Saturday afternoon, be sure to check out this video they just posted up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lOUTEAV0R8. This clip shows their bottling line from 2004 and their new one from February 2008.
