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| Philly Beer Week: Stephen Beaumont and Don Russell (Joe Sixpack) Debate Philadelphia’s Beer Cred |
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| Written by Stephen Beaumont and Don Russell | ||||||
| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | ||||||
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The Book and the Cook, Philadelphia’s week-long gastronomic splurge, has morphed into Philly Beer Week and its organizers are proclaiming their town as the Best Beer-Drinking City in America. That’s a pretty bold claim, says Stephen Beaumont...
Stephen: Okay Don, as Desi used to say to Lucy, you’ve got some ’splaining to do! Philly is a great beer town, you know it and I know it. In fact, I’ve got to be one of the city’s biggest non-resident boosters. But “America’s Best Beer-Drinking City”? Isn’t that a bit over the top? Don: Well, as you know Stephen, I am a professional journalist. I am merely reporting the facts. Like you, I’ve traveled around the US a good bit, and I’m quite fond of a lot of other beer towns. But this one’s really a no-brainer. I’ll stack Philadelphia up against any other city and show why it’s America’s Best Beer-Drinking City. I’ve been to Portland (both of ’em), Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Seattle. I love every single one of those cities (even the bastards in Denver with their damn Rockies). Each has its strong points, but none can match Philadelphia’s beer tradition, diversity and trend-setting excellence. S: Diversity? “Brussels on the Schuylkill” is diverse? I’m sorry, my friend, but I think those eyeglasses of yours have developed a bit of a pinkish tinge. With a handful of exceptions, Philly’s best beer destinations are wholly immersed in the Belgian tradition, from the obviously landmark Monk’s Café to Tom and Fergie’s new Belgian Café to Eulogy to Bridgid’s and both locations of Tria. That makes for great eating and drinking, but it can also make it tough to find a good märzen or best bitter or Czech-style pilsner — any of which, I might add, I can find within a short walk of my place in the decidedly second tier beer city of Toronto. D: You’re forgetting Beneluxx, where you can order from more than 20 draft Belgians by the ounce. And there’s a new joint out on the Main Line called Teresa’s Next Door with an impressive Belgian list. And Jose Pistolas, which has kind of a Mexican-Wallonian feel to it… And it’s been that way for years. Philly was the first city in America to pour a Belgian ale on tap (Kwak, at Copa Too, 1994). It was also the first to serve draft Chimay, draft Cantillon, and too many others to even remember. Both Monk’s and Eulogy have house beers made especially for them in Belgium. I remember Michael Jackson marveling at a dinner he attended at Monk’s Café that featured bottles from every single Belgian Trappist brewery (a feat he’d never witnessed before), including Westvleteren and mini-kegs of Achel 8, which at the time had never been poured outside of the monastery where it was made. So, yeah, Philly deserves its rep as Brussels, USA, and it’s manifested in more than just the Belgian imports. Philly brewers have spent an inordinate amount of time bending their elbows in these taverns, and it has influenced them greatly. Every single local brewery makes Belgian knockoffs, from Flying Fish Winter Grand Cru to Weyerbacher Merry Monks. But surely you know we drink more than Belgian ale. Victory makes Golden Monkey, a tremendous strong Belgian-style golden ale. But it’s not a Belgian-style brewery — it’s German. Its founders both trained in Germany and it’s their lagers — Prima Pils, St. Boisterous Hellerbock, Moonglow Weizenbock and Festbier — that are its finest beers. Belgians get a lot of the ink, but the fact is Philadelphia is a lager town. Surely I needn’t remind you of Yuengling. S: Yuengling? You mean that brewery up in Pottsville, almost a 2-hour drive away? You’re including that in Philly’s beer largesse? You have opened a can of worms, my friend. Start driving outside of Portland, OR, and you pretty much hit a brewery every few miles, including such near-legends as Deschutes and Rogue. Drive outside of San Francisco and you start hitting places like Russian River and Bear Republic. Outside Denver is New Belgium and…Well, I could go on, but I trust you get my point. Here’s a question for you: Can you get a great local beer at Brasserie Perrier or the Striped Bass? Because you can at pretty much every high-end restaurant in Portland, most in San Francisco and, now, even at a good number of places in that noisy neighbor of yours up the road, New York City. You want to talk Beer Towns, you’ve got to talk beer culture, too. It’s not just what you can get, but where and how frequently you can get it. D: I mentioned Yuengling only to make a point about this town’s lager roots. It’s one of this town’s great assets. Tell me, how many lagers do you think you’re going to find out in the northwest? At the GABF in October, Philly-area brewers brought home seven medals for lagers. You want to know how many the entire state of Oregon won? One. The point I’m making is that Philly represents all kinds of beer — not just the Belgians that you’re so enamored with. And you don’t have to drive to find these beers. Here in Philadelphia, Stephen, we have this unique service where breweries actually deliver beer to taverns. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with this concept, but it works like this: Walk down the street, enter the door of your neighborhood bar, and I guarantee you will find at least one very drinkable local beer. (By the way, that Russian River you mentioned? We drink it regularly. Outside of California, Philadelphia is the only city other than Washington, D.C., where it’s poured.) As for Brasserie Perrier, I dunno about its beer selection. I kinda remember finding a couple Belgians on tap there once, but you’re talking about a place that serves a $32 prix fixe lunch — not exactly my kind of haunt. But if you’re paying, next time you’re in town, we can both get dressed up and check out the list at Vetri. Dinner is $115 with a beer list that includes Saison Dupont and La Chouffe. S: I don’t do gourmet lunches every day either, Don, but when I do, it is nice to be able to have a beer before or with my meal. My point being that there are cities across the US, good, rock solid beer-drinking cities, where you can do just that. If Philly is not to be included in such company, it kind of weakens your argument, don’t you think? And being able to find a local beer of significant character — and I trust you’re including Yuengling in that camp, which some might not think quite so characterful or quite so local — in any neighborhood bar doesn’t make Philadelphia unique anymore. I can do that in Denver, San Francisco, Montréal, Portland, even little ol’ Victoria, British Columbia. You’re going to have to come up with better than that if you’re going to support this claim to be the Best Beer-Drinking City in the land. D: You misstate my argument, Stephen. I point to Yuengling not because of its “significant character,” but to make the point that Philly offers something better, even when it comes to baseline American macros. We’re talking about Everyman’s drink here. And I’m saying, across the board — not just in precious sectors — Philadelphia is America’s Best Beer Drinking City. I’ll give you another example: Citizens Bank Ballpark, home of the Phillies, who play the American pastime, and I’m not talking hockey. Anyway, last season it was pouring at least a dozen local craft brews, including the GABF’s gold medal German-style pilsner from Sly Fox. Seattle (and possibly the Coors brewpub at the Rockies’ ballpark) might match that. And before you shrug that off, realize that that means 40,000 people per game are drinking better beer than those in other supposed beer towns, like San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, San Diego, Montréal…oh, sorry, forgot, the Expos already left town. I’ll get back to you later on our taverns and restaurants, but in case you’re losing track, so far we’ve established: -Best Belgian beer scene in America. -Unmatched diversity of beer styles. -A better macro lager for the masses. -The Phillies are better at serving beer than playing baseball. S: Okay, Don, you need to know two things: 1) I stopped caring about pro hockey when I moved to Toronto and discovered the best this town could do was the Leafs; and 2) You can get Anchor and Gordon Biersch beers at AT&T Park in San Francisco and some pretty damn fine local beers at Camden, plus those award-winners you allude to in Denver. But we’re talking beer, not baseball, and despite that unsubstantiated crack about the “unmatched diversity of beer styles,” I’m still pretty much on your side where Philly’s beer cred is concerned. I never said it wasn’t great, just that it might be one of the best rather than the best. But because I like you, and I’m already planning my own participation in the Philly Beer Week, I’m going to hand you what I think is likely the best endorsement of Philadelphia’s beer scene possible: Michael loved the place! I can’t think of anywhere else this side of the Atlantic — save for Denver during the Great American Beer Festival, and let’s face it, even the inestimable Mr. Jackson was but a sideline attraction at the GABF — where Michael had such a long-standing, yearly tasting gig. If the Great Man himself was ready to devote that amount of time to Philadelphia, I think it behooves the rest of us to pay at least some attention. D: It’s hard to top Michael’s endorsement, Stephen. As for the claim that Philly is America’s best beer-drinking city, I’m glad it’s grabbing attention and, maybe, ruffling some feathers. The fact is, I’ve visited Portland, Denver, San Francisco and the others, and have enjoyed their beer, their brewpubs and their taverns. Now it’s time for the folks in those cities (and the rest of Ale Street News’ readers) to come to Philly. Here, they’re going to discover Standard Tap, the historic tavern that practically invented the gastropub concept. And Nodding Head, who make more Berliner Weisse than anyone outside of Berlin. And the Grey Lodge, where a day doesn’t go by when Scoats, the owner, isn’t promoting some kind of offbeat beer event. And McGillin’s Old Ale House, where the liquor licenses dating to 1860 that hang above a row of local taps are a sign of this town’s beer heritage. They’re going to find more hand pumps than any town in America, serving real ale from Yards, Victory, Dogfish Head, Sly Fox, Flying Fish and others. They can bar-hop in Old City and grab a pint at Eulogy, the Khyber, Triumph Brewing, Sugar Mom’s and a dozen other spots while tracing the steps of our Founding Fathers, who built this great nation in the taverns of Philadelphia. A quick ride on public transportation will take them into the ’burbs, where places like Teresa’s Next Door, Flying Pig and the Drafting Room draw even a city boy like me. Or, they can head to the bars of South Philly, Manayunk, Northern Liberties, Fairmount and Fishtown and discover why Philly is a city of neighborhoods, a city that shows its best side in the brotherly appreciation of beer. Bottoms up, Stephen. First round’s on me. S: You’re on, Mr. Russell. But I get to choose the place!
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