Capone’s
is at its heart a neighborhood bar, but one that took its beer menu and
exploded its selection on draft as well as adding a top notch bottle shop in
the back. Tonight they were celebrating
CA brewer Firestone Walker, dedicating their tap selection to some of their best
brews. So I got a sampler that included
their 15th and 17th anniversary ales, as well as the
Velvet Merlin and Sucaba. I restrained
myself with the bottles (it was going to be a long day tomorrow) and simply got
a Lost Abbey Saison Blanc before heading over to Tired Hands brewing (http://www.tiredhands.com/). One of my favorite new brewpubs, I was
excited to see what they had to offer.
So with my order of sliced bread and butter, I tried their Communication
is the Key Lime Pie (odd name) Imperial IPA.
Awesome (as expected). But I
needed my rest, so I got to my folks and called it an early evening, excited
about what the next day might bring.
The
next morning I picked up Brian at the farm and we went to pick up Chris from
the airport. Chris flew in for the day
(how cool is that) so we headed over to the festivities at the Grey Lodge Pub (http://www.greylodge.com/). We got there early (just opened) and were the
first visitors so we got our pick of seats.
Both Brian and Chris were able to get food upstairs (good ballast for
the day) while I enjoyed a Dock Street Cranberry Kolsch on draft. The tapping of the kegs was calm, no baptisms
of the guests, and we all got to sample the initial casks. You better have liked stuff in your beer
(good thing I do). There were normal
beers that had coffee added (Nodding Head Grog, River Horse Oatmeal Stout, and
Yards Love Stout). We also had Sly Fox’s
Christmas ale and Flying Fish Red Fish Habanero. The Flying Fish was my favorite and BAM
really kicked it up a notch, but now I was hungry so we headed over to a new
destination for me, Kraftwork, for something to eat.
Kraftwork
(http://kraftworkbar.com/) was
recommended by the Brew Dogs TV show, and is a relative newcomer to the Philly
beer scene located on the north side. I
was hungry, so I ordered their Beer Can Chicken; shredded chicken cooked with
hot peppers and onions with sharp provolone cheese. Brian went with the
Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast (even though it was lunchtime), I went with the
Haand Odin’s Tipple, a Russian Imperial stout that was a bit too heavy after
the casks at the Grey Lodge, and Chris was happy to have a Climax ESB (on cask
no less). It was time to get to Center City
to checkout a few more stops.
The
first was Nodding Head (http://www.ripsneakers.com/nodding/),
a brewpub conveniently located by the parking garage. I switched over to water at this point
(hydrate Jeff, hydrate), but did get to taste their Sled Wrecker and Tannenbaum,
both Christmas beers that were quite nice.
Next we walked around the block to checkout Tria Taproom (https://www.triacafe.com/taproom/). A nice bar, I got to try a Half Acre Daisy
Cutter Pale Ale on draft. We sat and
chatted for a while. But we were getting
close to one of my favorite Belgian bars, Monk’s Café (http://monkscafe.com/), so we wrapped it up and headed right over.
Monk’s
Café is world famous, and I mean world famous, for their Belgian cuisine and
their selection of Belgian ales. My love
for the Belgian classic of moules and frites (with Belgian beer) started while
watching Three Sheets Belgium. I didn’t
particularly care for shellfish, but the Belgian style of steaming them in beer
with different spices was very seductive.
Monk’s mussels are excellent, and they always have a great beer
selection on draft with an impressive bottle list. We ordered 2 pots of mussels to share (Thai
Curry and Ghent I think), and the frites to go with them. For beer, I couldn’t resist the PNC Broken Elevator
from Allagash on draft, an 8.1 % ABV Wild Ale that was an amazing colaboration with Monk's Cafe, Falling Rock, Toronado and Brouwer's. The guys liked their food (Chris even drained the pot), and we decided to call it an evening.
I drove Chris back to the airport where he had an early morning flight back to NH. Brian and I made a final pit stop at Pinocchio’s
Beer Garden (http://pinbeer.com/), since the
night before I had called in and placed on hold a bottle of Goose Island Backyard
Rye (100 on Beer Advocate). Good thing I
did since they were long sold out, except for a single bottle they had on
reserve, for ME. I got a glass of the
Bourbon county Barleywine on draft while perusing the bottles. I decided to make it a Goose Island end of
the evening so I picked up their Gillian and Halia (a pair of Saisons released
this year) to go along with a bottle of the Barleywine to go. To score some hard to find beers to cellar,
on a day dedicated to sampling beers with friends, made it the perfect ending
to a great day.
I
checked the weather report which called for heavy snow, so I got up at o’dark
thirty and headed home. It was dicey on
the NY Thruway, but I took my time and made it home safe and sound. I’m blessed to have a wife that supports my
passions, and can’t wait to bring her to a Firkinteenth sometime in the future.
- 15049
“I recommend bread, meat, vegetables and beer.” – Sophocles (Recommendation on Moderate Diet)
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