Your guide to making the most of the remaining days of Philly Beer Week
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
BEER GEEK: Steve Wildy behind the Beer Week- stocked bar at Alla Spina.
Neal Santos
Neal Santos
Philly Beer Week is upon us once again and the city is crawling with amateur zymurgists and hop heads. All manner of beer enthusiasts have descended upon our city to enjoy everything from rare barrel-aged barley wines to bracing Berliner Weisses and everything in between. We’ve put together a Thursday-to-Sunday guide to getting the most out of the last four days of the hundreds of events (and thousands of brews) that make up Philly Beer Week 2014. And if you’re feeling a little rough around the edges afterward, well, we’ve got a couple of tips to ease back into post-PBW- week life for you, too.
+ Thursday, June 5
Percy Street Barbecue (900 South St.) is taking the way-back machine to the year 1982 for Fast Times at Percy Street, a night of Cameron Crowe-inspired excitement with craft-can specialists Oskar Blues. They’ll be debuting Oskar Blues Chaka, a serious Belgian-style ale in a handy resealable 16-ounce can, and cracking open Dales Pale Ale, Gubna and Mama’s Little Yella Pils. But the real excitement here is that Percy Street’s channeling their inner San Diego surf bros and bringing in a mechanical surfboard for the occasion. It’s the perfect excuse to knock back a couple, embrace those Sean Penn-Spicoli vibes and hang loose. Percy Street is grilling up $5 sliders, but we’re pretty sure no one’s going to give you a hard time if you try to order pizza.
Keeping with the Vetri Family’s fondness for a little friendly competition, Alla Spina (1410 Mount Vernon St.) is pitting two semi-local brewers against each other for the last in their series of Beer Week cage matches. This one puts Sansom Street’s Nodding Head and Delaware’s Dogfish Head head to head, if you will. From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Alla Spina will be offering four courses with two beer pairings from each brewery for $45. Diners can weigh in on their preferred pairing and the winning brewer earns a spot on the Italo brewpub’s Sunday Suds & Grub menu.
+ Friday, June 6
Chef Scott Schroeder of South Philly Tap Room (1509 Mifflin St.) isn’t shy about straying from his sandwiches-and-bar-fare-
Taking the craft part of craft brewing in a slightly different direction, Good Dog Bar (224 S. 15th St.) is hosting the first-ever Sly Fox Beer Can Derby. It’s kind of like a box car derby except with more beer — and the box cars are beer-can sized and must include a 12-ounce beer can in the design. The cars will race on a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby racetrack. Races start at 7 p.m.
+ Saturday, June 7
Sancho Pistola’s (19 W. Girard Ave.) has got your Beer Week Saturday plans covered. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., Sancho’s is hosting the Bean Brew Challenge with ReAnimator Coffee and Philly Homebrew Club. For $30 you get a full brunch from the awesome kitchen plus a chance to taste coffee home brews from amateurs hoping to take home the title of Bean Brew Champ.
File this under stoniest (official) Philly Beer Week event yet — on Saturday Time (1315 Sansom St.) is teaming up with Northern California’s Lagunitas for a night they’re calling Hop Vape. Not only will the Lagunitas be flowing, they’re also going to be vaping hops. If you know what this is, then you probably have some feelings about it.
+ Sunday, June 8
It wouldn’t be Beer Week without the mad rush for Russian River’s holy grail of double IPAs, Pliny the Elder. For the last day of Beer Week, Local 44 (4333 Spruce St.) is tapping the Pliny along with five other brews from Russian River’s catalog — including Supplication, Consecration and Damnation. In anticipation of the last push for Pliny, Local 44 will offer a special bedlam-for-brunch menu beginning at 11 a.m.
Post-Pliny, you can keep it local in West Philly and head over to Dock Street Brewery (701 S. 50th St.) for its sixth annual End-of-Beer-Week Music Fest. From 4 to 9 p.m., they’re setting up outdoor games, pouring pints of Pimp My Rye IPA and Johnny Berliner, firing up pizzas and hosting the West Philadelphia Orchestra, Gliss and Grandchildren.
+ Fighting Post-Beer Week Blues
After an intense 10 days of Beer Weeking, you might fall into a post-PBW rut, but really there’s no need. You could certainly take the high road and use the Monday after Beer Week as an excuse to go on that juice cleanse you’ve been talking about. But is that really going to happen? Instead, we suggest you keep on drinking. Nearly every bar around town orders much more beer than it can pour over the course of Beer Week, and that means that for the next couple of weeks tap lists are going to be filled with all sorts of leftover surprises. So really, everyone wins.
