Wine Thief

Wine Thief Bistro
7152 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia

This is the newest joint in our lovely neighborhood located just a few doors away from Earth. I've been waiting for them to open for months, and now that they are I was pretty impressed. There is not a lot of seating so it felt kinda cramped and it was very loud. The decor is fine but boring. The menu was pretty fucking awesome for Mt. Airy. For our appetizers we had the eggplant cheesecake, which was rich and sublime, and the halibut ceviche, which was a bit heavy on the fruit and light on the fish but tasty. For our main course we had the fried chicken with collard greens and cornbread pudding. The chicken was nicely breaded, well fried and a good portion for the money. The collard greens were nothing special (go to Chef Ken's!), but the cornbread pudding was my favorite part of the entire meal. Sweet and salty and mushy and delicious. Talk about comfort food. And the beer? I wasn't in the mood for a drink so I didn't even ask but I doubt it's anything to write home about. My biggest complaint is that was kinda too snooty for Mt. Airy. The service was good but overly formal. The ceviche served in a champagne glass was cheesy. The carafe of water was just unnecessary. Aside from that I was impressed with the place and will be back soon.

What's new with me.

I'm moving, Wednesday, to another apartment in Mt. Airy about a mile from our place now. It's a long story I'm not getting in to, but basically we found a place that's nicer and cheaper which is awesome. It has a basement that's all ours, a back yard, 2 bedrooms, sweet kitchen. The neighborhood is not as quiet as where we are now but it's still a nice block. Wish us luck..

Memphis Taproom

Memphis Taproom
2331 E Cumberland St, Philadelphia

Been meaning to head out here for a while and glad a did. On a really chill street in Fishtown. Great relaxing place with a wonderful old bar. The tap list was great, though what they had coming up was better than what was on. I had a Brasserie De la Senne Equinox and some Sinebychoff Porter. Both were great, especially the porter which I've never had on tap. We got the hefeweizen hummus plate which was decent, and the suicide rings which were hands down the best onion rings I've ever had. Spicy and potent, deliciously breaded and perfectly crisp. What a great joint. I can see why it's consistently rated among the best in the city.

Shoot 'Em Up

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465602/

A little off topic (actually, very off topic), but I forget how goddamn awesome this movie really is. I watched again a few days ago and laughed my ass off the whole time. If you like ridiculously over the top action movies like Snakes on a Plane and the Transporter, watch this immediately.

Iron Abbey

Iron Abbey
680 N Easton Road, Horsham, PA

New "gastropub" in the burbs. We were out in Willow Grove at the mall a few weeks ago and decided to check this joint out. Nice clean place with a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. I was thoroughly impressed by the draft list, but the bottle list was a little lackluster. I had a Bavarian Barbarian Headbangerz Brown Ale that was well served and a delicious brown. I'm excited to try more of their beers! The food was stellar. Started with the Belgian Chili that was chock full of meat. Fantastic! Autumn got some stuffed shrimp which were very nice. I had the Portuguese Burger (ground beef and chorizo) that was perfectly cooked (super super rare), well formed, and topped with some heavenly prosciutto. I really enjoyed my time here and can't wait to get back!

Lazy Blogger

That's me. We are in the process of moving and will be in our place July 1st. I promise to post more than once a month then.

I've been smitten by Smuttynose

Last night we had a Smuttynose promo at Earth and it was great. We were pretty damn busy most of the night, which is good, and they brought some fantastic beers. Here's a quick rundown of what I thought.

Schmutzig Hopfen Weisse - A very delicious hoppy wheat beer that's insanely drinkable. It's not often I enjoy drinking a wheat, especially a German style one, but this was great. Could drink this all night.

Star Island Single - A simple, well balanced sessionable Belgian. What more could you ask for? Not overly estery but still pretty complex. A real single! Another one I could drink all night..

Shoals Pale Ale - Nothing too special, but an easy drinking pale. Nicely balanced and not over-hopped. Another killer session brew.

Robust Porter - I've had this plenty of times in the past and can honestly say that this is my favorite porter. Creamy and rich and chocolatey and roasty and perfect. So perfect.

Scotch Ale - Great! Nice amount of caramel with that great, smooth, clean mouthfeel that a Scotch Ale should have. Dangerously drinkable at 8.2%.

Imperial Stout - An interesting take on the style. The way the hops blend with the roasty notes is unusual. It's not a bad thing, but I wouldn't want to have more than one in a sitting.

I didn't get to try the IPA but I'm not sweating it. Thanks to Smuttynose for bringing 6 absolutely awesome brews. I love good beer and this some of the best!!

The Kite and Key

The Kite and Key
1836 Callowhill St., Philadelphia

Went here on Tuesday night after reading some good things online. Set in a peaceful section of Fairmount, from the outside the place has a bit of a modern, almost sterile feel, but once you step in it is much more comfortable. Everything is very shiny and new still, but I was a big fan of the atmosphere and decor. The draft list was good, not great, but good. (Only in Philadelphia could a draft list like that be considered only "good".) A very nice well rounded amount of local brews on but nothing all that interesting. Had some Chouffe, Hennepin, and Smuttynose Robust Porter, all served in nice clean glasses at the right temperature. Our server was good but a bit spacey.. The food was ok but nothing to right home about. The calamari is delicious, the fish tacos alright, and the pulled pork kinda crappy. Everything was very reasonably priced which is a big plus since we're poor as hell.

I'll be back at some point. Fairmount is becoming a great place for a pub crawl. Here, Brigid's, Belgian Cafe, St. Stephen's Green, Urban Saloon, London Grill. The list goes on and on. I love this city's beer. I love beer.

An Old School Stoning

We had a Stone promo at Earth the other night and I busted out some old Stone brews from the cellar. First up was the 2006 Double Bastard, which has aged pretty gracefully so far but may be a bit past its prime. The caramel and raisin notes were sublime but it definitely had a decent amount of oxidation going on. I'd say 2 years is prime for this brew in the bottle. Next up was the 07.07.07 Vertical Epic, which is a Belgian Golden/Saison with cardamom and some other random spices. This one showed no oxidation and, while delicious now, I think has a few more years before its perfect. The spiciness is a bit strong still. Finally we cracked the 05.05.05 Vertical Epic which, sadly, was very oxidized. Lots of wet cardboard, but still some nice dark fruit notes. If you have any of this, drink it up now.

Overall it was another fun promo. Cheers to Lee from Stone!!

PNC Bank can bite my ballsack.

That's right. Bite it. I never thought I would be so passionate about personal banking. Long story short - I'm poor and PNC fucked me. They have this fantastic, intricate, downright genius system set up with the way they post their transactions in order to maximize the amount of overdraft fees and it cost me $200 in overdraft fees. They instated the new policy in September 2008. Bastards. Do not, I repeat, do not do business with PNC bank in any fashion. They are not out to help the little guy, only to grow the wallets of the fat cats on top. They are a bunch of theives. Look here. And here. And here. It is unbelievable to me that a major corporation should be allowed to practice such unethical and greedy business practices.

Earth gets Stoned

Tonight come to Earth and get Stoned with the dudes from Stone. Big promo. They're bringing beers, I'm gonna bring a few old Stone bottles, should be a good time. Stop out if for some reason you are in Mt. Airy and haven't had Stone's brews a million times.

Local 44

Local 44
44th & Spruce, Philadelphia

I've heard some good things about this spot and had to check it out. Went late on a Wednesday and the joint was jam packed with college kids and hipsters talking very loudly. I know you can't judge a place by its customers (as so many people do at Earth) but it was kinda annoying. The place is simple and small inside, but the draft list is the opposite - HUGE! Nicely focused on the locals without sacrificing quality imports. Kostrizer Shwarzbier, Petrus Oud Bruin, Blue Bird Bitter, and Fuller's London Porter on the pump - what more needs said? They only have one bottle, which is Orval, which is awesome. I had an Ommegang Abbey that was absolutely sublime. I gotta say though the food wasn't so great. So, go somewhere else to eat, then come here to get sloshed. I recommend it.

Philly is pretty fucking awesome huh?

What in the crap?

So I brewed a quad like 9 months ago, let it chill for like 3 months then bottled it up. But, of course, since I'm an amateur and don't know what I'm doing really, I didn't re-yeast it. So now I have a flat quad, or so it would seem. I'm going to attempt to re-carbonate it eventually, but the other night, when popping one for a steak marinade, I heard a nice healthy hiss when opened. What in the crap? I've opened probably a dozen of these bastards and this is the only one that carbonated. Maybe all the priming sugar wound up in this one - who knows.. It didn't foam out the top at all. Regular carbonation but the taste did seem super cloying and sticky sweet. Weird.

The Institute

The Institute
12th & Green, Philadelphia

I haven't heard a lot about this place but I was very impressed. I met my friend Mike there for a drink thinking it would be your regular old bar with your regular old tap list and I was blown away!! I immediately got an Ommegang Rouge (get it while you can right?) which was served in a nice clean glass at the perfect temperature. The place itself is hip but not too hip, and quite comfortable with an interesting mix of tunes. The second floor holds a whiskey bar which seemed pretty alright as well. After I drained the Rouge, which is so damn good it goes down like water, I ordered a New Holland Golden Cap Saison which was good but had a bit too much wheat for my taste. Aside from our little group, there was absolutely no one there. That bothered me. This is a great bar and I hope people go down and check it out. The beer list is absolutely stellar. I didn't even notice they had bottles when I was there!

So hats off to The Institute for proving once again that Philly has the best beer bars anywhere. I will be back here no doubt and I hope other people check it out too.

I Love Malt!!

I really do. I love the way it looks and feels and tastes and smells, and more importantly I love the delicious beverage it aids in creating known as beer. This blog isn't going to focus on any one thing in particular. It's all about anything relating to really really good beer, how it's made, the people who make it, and the places that serve it (plus other random crap I feel like posting). That's about as specific as I can be. But most importantly, this blog is all about the love.

What inspired this change? The same thing that always inspires change in my life - a pub crawl. I was out and about in this great city known as Philly and came to the conclusion that I am in the best beer city in the world. All this time I've been advocating the hate but now it's time to shine light on the positive. I will probably go back to my hater ways sooner or later but for now, as I said, it's all about the love, baby!!