Philly Beer Scene

Devil’s Den and Old Eagle Tavern Owner Erin Wallace reached financial settlement this past week on the Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery property. Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery is set in the historic General Lafayette Inn and Brewery in Lafayette Hill on the outskirts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Along with the new opening, Barren Hill announced renowned brewer Scott Morrison (Old Dock Street Brewing Co., McKenzie Brewpubs) as Head Brewer in charge of recipe development and production.

Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery is slated to open in the summer of 2013. Similar to Wallace’s other Philadelphia establishments, Barren Hill will focus on craft beer with six of the 30 draft lines dedicated specifically to house made brews.

With more than 20 years of experience and seven Great American Beer Festival medals, Scott Morrison is a perfect fit for launching Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery from the ground-up.  Morrison has gained much of his career praise from his Belgian Ales, but the six lines at Barren Hill will be diverse and eclectic.

“Scott asked me what direction I wanted to take Barren Hill, and I gave him creative license. This project is exciting because of its endless possibilities,” said Wallace. “We’re looking forward to bringing contemporary cuisine and brewing styles to this historic and storied location.”

Knowing Wallace’s love for sour ales, one can only expect and hope for an array of such offerings in the future.

For the past couple years, Chef Robert Leggett has been putting together some really awesome beer-infused recipes for each issue of the magazine.  For the past few months he’s also been busy running his new food truck, Guerrilla Ultima.  This sunday though, he’ll be taking over the kitchen at Dock Street Brewery for a special beer infused brunch.  If you haven’t tried any of his food yet, this is a great opportunity as the menu sounds pretty great.  Here are all the details for the Pop-Up Brunch:

Since releasing the nominees for this years Best of Awards (as well as in years past), I’ve received a great deal of feedback.  Everyone has their opinion on who should be nominated, who should win, and how the Awards should work as a whole.  Lots of the feedback is positive and people just see the fun in the voting process. Others show signs of discontent as some of their favorites were not included in this years lists.  I’d like to take a few minutes though and help clarify how the whole process works and where these “nominees’ come from.

Firstly, I do not choose the nominees.  I actually don’t even give myself a vote.  I try and keep myself as distanced from this process as possible to keep things unbiased.  Buying ads, doesn’t get you awards, or even nominations (just in case that needed to be clarified). I take a great deal of pride in the dignity of the magazine and do what I can to keep all editorial and advertising completely separate.  That’s sidetracking though.

To decide on nominees for the different categories, I thought it made since to let those working in the industry decide who gets recognized each year.  These are the people who’s lives are entrenched in craft beer and should have a great deal of knowledge on the subject.  They are also the people who I hope can remain unbiased and look at things from the consumers point of view as well.  These industry people all have different roles though and if they were able to nominated in every category, than they would be able to nominate themselves, which is something I very much wanted to avoid.  To solve that problem, I created 5 different online surveys.  Each survey only contained categories that were fitting for them to give an opinion on.  Also it should be of note that all categories were optional, so that someone would not have to make a nomination in a category they may not have felt knowledgable enough to have a valued opinion on.

The industry was divided into the following categories: Wholesale (the people who bring the beers in from the breweries and sell to bars/distributors), Brewery, Bar, Retail, and Media.  The brewery category was permitted to nominate in categories such as Best Bar, Best Bottle Shop, and Best Event, but not in any category that referred to a beer (brewery, IPA, etc..).  The Bar category was allowed to nominate in categories such as Brewery of the Year, Brewpub of the Year, Best IPA/Pale Ale, etc, but not any category that could allow them to nominate themselves such as Best Bar, or Best Bar Food. The Media category allowed for voting in every category besides Beer Writer.

The surveys were sent to everyone in the industry whom I had a contact for. They were kept anonymous as well. This was to provide an extra level in comfort in their nominations, but also keeps me from knowing who nominated who. ISP’s were also tracked so that multiple nominations were not allowed. Once all the surveys were filled out, I tallied up all the votes and took the top five from each category.  It should also be of note that I only allowed a single beer to have a single nomination.  Thus a beer couldn’t be nominated for Best Seasonal and Best Lager.  This provided room for more diversity in the nominations.  All these nominees are the ones that you are now able to vote on. That poll is kept open to public for a little over two weeks.  There is also an “other” option on each category so that if you strongly feel that someone or something not nominated deserves to win, you can write in your vote.

That is the basics of how I go about coming up with nominees for the Awards.  They are truly, only the views of those affiliated with your favorite breweries and bars. Are they the final nominees I would have chosen? Maybe not, but I can’t argue any of them.  Everyone up for an award is rightfully deserving of so, though sometimes you personally may not be a fan.  We are lucky to be in an area that is overflowing with great beer and bars, but when you have to narrow things down to just five, unfortunately there are some worthy people that are going to be left out.  That shouldn’t discredit any of those places though.  Everyone has there favorites and each for their own reasons and that’s how it should be.  Plenty of my favorites were overlooked in nominations and I’m fine with that. They’re still some of my favorites and I’m still go to seek them out as I would if they won every category.

I hope that that clarifies the process up a bit. As always though, I always appreciate your feedback and would love to hear your thoughts. I can easily be reached at my e-mail (mat@phillybeerscene.com) so feel free to send me an e-mail at any time.

As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve had to throw out some great beer over the years. Beer that deserved to be treated better. Beer that was neglected and left to face the ultimate death of going flat in a growler after pouring a pint. It’s just the nature of the beast, drink it all while it’s fresh or be prepared to pour it down the drain.

But theres now a solution to keeping growlers fresher, crisper, and tasting better – for longer!

It’s called The Growler Saver and it’s the brainchild of Philadelphia beer enthusiast Steve Mosaic. It’s basically a two-part system – a special growler cap that fits any standard growler and a CO2 injector that replaces any oxygen in the growler with CO2, the same process used with kegs.  The end result is consistently fresh, carbonated beer, even after multiple times opening the growler.

This is a product that is great for any beer enthusiast. Whether your a home-brewer, brew-pub aficionado, or just love the fresh, draft beer taste you get with a growler – you need to own at least one of these things.

The Growler Saver is still in the kickstarter phase and could use your help to see it reach the masses on a larger scale. Show your support (and because you know you want one) and head over to kickstarter to learn more.

On Tuesday, April 23 at 7 p.m., some of Philadelphia’s most talented chefs will compete in Brewery Ommegang’s second-annual Philly Hop Chef for a chance to represent the city in a cook-off at the brewery’s annual Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event.

Hop Chef is an annual competition: six chefs each create one dish each showcasing their imaginative beer and food pairing skills, based on five principles of pairing.  The dishes, all paired with Ommegang beers, are served to a panel of judges and to all attendees; each chef is on hand and gets 15 minutes to describe and defend his dish to the judges.  This year’s Philly Hop Chef will be held at Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden Street, 215-232-2100); tickets are $53.50 per person, with a portion of proceeds going to support the Mural Arts Program and Groundswell.

Not only are the chefs competing on the culinary stage, they’ve also taken to social media to battle it out. Follow the chefs on twitter to keep up with their 140-character smack talk or just to show some love – just remember to include  #HopChef in your tweets.

Yun Fuentes of JG Domestic(@JGDomesticPHL);

Lucio Palazzo of La Calaca Feliz (@LaCalacaFeliz);

Nick Macri of SouthWark (@Meat_Man_Macri);

Pat Szoke of The Industry(@PatSzoke);

Eli Kulp of Fork (@EliKulp);

Mike Deganis of Alla Spina (@ChefMikeDeganis).

Each chef has also announced the Ommegang beer that he has chosen for his dish:  Rare Vos, a traditional care-style ale that is mellow, fruity and spicy, for Chef Fuentes;  Witte, a traditional Belgian-style wheat ale that is flavorful, soft and hazy, for Chef Palazzo;  Hennepin, a hearty and rustic golden ale that is full-bodied, hoppy and crisp, for Chef Macri;  Three Philosophers, a blend of Ommegang Quadruple Ale and Liefman’s Kriek cherry lambic, for Chef Szoke;  Abbey Ale, a rich, fruity and aromatic Burgundian brew, for Chef Kulp;  and BPA, pale and hoppy with notes of citrus and tropical fruits, for Chef Deganis.

The chefs will be judged based on five pairing principles:  Simple Pairing, a direct interaction between food and beer;  Incorporation, utilizing beer in the cooking process;  Mimicking, matching the flavor profile of a dish with the flavor profile of a beer;  Story Telling, tracing the history of the dish and the beer;  and Experimental, making beer the star of the dish.

It’s sure to be a great event that you don’t want to miss!

For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.utphilly.com/event/241755-brewery-ommegang-hop-chef-philadelphia/.

You can also follow Ommegang on Twitter @BreweryOmmegang and @OmmegangPhilly.

Tim Patton is looking to get the doors to his brewery, St. Benjamin, open and needs your help.  Here is the story on what he has in the works and how you can help out:

When Tim Patton, owner and founder of Saint Benjamin’s Brewing  Company, found his warehouse space located on North 5th Street in Kensington, he immediately knew it would be the future home of his planned brewery and pub. With a large open floor plan, great layout, and dramatic and historic architectural features, the space hasthe perfect combination of functionality and historic character, both requirements when taking on as complex and difficult a project as opening a historic brewery and pub in North Kensington. According to Patton, the warehouse was once the carriage house of the Theo Finkenauer Brewing Company in the late 1800’s (picture attached), during a time when this part of the city was a hotbed of brewing. As the decades passed, the neighborhood has changed considerably and most of the breweries in Philadelphia have left. 

Interestingly though, breweries and the culture of craft-brewing are having a mini-resurgence in the city of Brotherly love. This resurgence has been brought on partly by a collection of “nanobrewers” that are turning their passion for brewing beer into full-scale commercial operations.

These transitions to full-scale brewery are not cheap however, and require significant amounts of capital. Enter the local crowd-funding website Lucky Ant. On Lucky Ant, businesses raise capital for improvement projects by offering specific rewards and deals to their local community. Business receive the capital they need to complete their project and grow, and customers receive exclusive offers, VIP access, discounts and more. 

In the case of Saint Benjamin’s Brewing Company, they are raising $20,000 to partially fund the construction and development of the brewery. The majority of the funds will be used specifically to rebuild and restore the façade of the brewery to its late 19th century condition. The goal of the project is to not only create an awesome new brewery and pub in Kensington, but also reclaim a piece of the history and character of a neighborhood that has been such an important part of the brewing industry in America. 

In exchange for helping restore history, supporters can receive free merchandise (such as pint glasses, t-shirts, etc.), free food, discounts, and more. For more information, including funding opportunities, rewards, project description and more, head to www.luckyant.com/saintbenjamins