Bound for Beer

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. While I've done a lot of beer things and been to a lot of beer places, it didn't occur to me that I'm a beer writer again and to take pix and make notes. (Note to self: stop enjoying the moment so much and start taking pix). Posting more on this blog/socials is on now my To Do list.  What spurred this post is that I had my first (and second) Sierra Nevada Celebration of the season last night. Sometimes you go to party not expecting find great beer and you get a surprise. As if the Eagles whipping the Cowboys wasn't great enough.  Sierra Nevada Celebration is an old school favorite. I always knew it as a seasonal treat that showed up in Philly around Xmas. Doing a little Googling (great link below), I was shocked that Celebration has been brewed for over 40 years! At some point they renamed from "Celebration Ale" to "Celebration Fresh Hop IPA".  It was only last year that I learned it was, and always has been, a fr...

There were 7 Trappist breweries, which back in the late 1990s, seemed like how it always was and always would be. And to be fair, back then the youngest Trappist, Orval, dated to 1931. Nothing had changed for a long time.   Here in the USA, due to a variety of factors, Trappist beers were rather expensive, special occasion beers. Filled with mystery and legend to match their out of the ordinary flavors. But times always be a changin (eventually). Between 2012 and 2016, 5 more Trappist breweries opened up, usually in countries not known for Trappist beer.  The most recent, from 2016,  is Tynt Meadow, from Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, England. Imported by Merchant du Vin, Tynt Meadow is now available here in the USA. This arrival was met with silence for the most part. This only crossed my radar, when I saw a post from Hopleaf Bar in Chicago. I figured if nobody else seemed to be writing about it, why not me? Photo from Wikipedia by Funkimunk - Own work, C...

UPDATE: Sat, 25 Jun 2022, 1:37 PM. I heard from a member of Local 830; the strike is over with a new contract having been ratified. Overnight workers should be on Sunday, and the trucks should start rolling on Monday.  Teamsters Local 830 went on strike this week against the major beer wholesalers in Philadelphia extended area. Teamsters Local 830 represents drivers, warehouse workers, and sales reps. This is Local 830's first strike in their 80 years of existence.  First a little history. I'll be brief promise.  Back in the day, the three major US breweries (AB, Coors, Miller) each had a number of wholesalers in the area, usually at the county level. As the breweries got larger, they wanted to work with larger and fewer wholesalers, and urged their wholesalers to consolidate. As the years went by, this happened.  So in the Philly area, we have three major wholesalers (Penn for AB, Muller for Miller, and Origlio for Coors), and a number of small distributors who mos...

On Friday, 10 June, for Philly Beer Week, I attended  Lunch with Bobo  at Memphis Taproom. I thought maybe there would be a quick post about it. Boy was I wrong.  Bobo is Bobo van Mechelen, who has promoted various Belgian beers in the USA for about 30 years. Traveling extensively, he's a living legend that many people all over the USA have met over the decades.  On that Friday, I stated my day at 4:30 am to get a number of to dos done, with my planned route coming to a finale at Memphis around when they open at 11:30am.  I found myself kicking my to dos out quickly and arrived quite early. After a stroll around the rapidly changing neighborhood, I contently parked myself in an Adirondack chair in front of Memphis and patiently waited for them to open.  Right in front of me, Bobo's Uber arrived exactly at 11:30 am. After he got out, I reintroduced myself and had an opportunity to ask about something I had been curious about for a few years now.  T...

William Reed just reminded me that the original fabricator of the HOG is Warren, not Wayne.  No wonder I can never successfully look him up.  William recommends following Warren's Instgram . You should check it out; Warren makes some impressive stuff. Not just giant hammers. 

 We're in the midst of Philly Beer Week, which started on Friday, 03 June, and runs to Sunday, 12 June.  This year, Philly Beer Week is a completely volunteer driven grass roots operation. So please match your expectations accordingly, and you will definitely be more than happy with the numerous events.  Hammer of Glory Relay After a 2 year hiatus due to COVID, William Reed (Standard Tap, Johnny Brendas, The International Bar) and I decided to bring the Hammer of Glory Relay back. Neither William nor I were on the Philly Beer Week board when we came up with the idea of the hammer (they roped us in later).  We were just humble publicans minding our own businesses. We thought Philly Beer Week needed something stupit to prevent it becoming all serious like it was Philly Wine Week or something.  Our idea, probably mostly William's idea, was to do an Olympic Torch type thing. Somehow we came up with a giant hammer. William knew Wayne, who had an iron forge, and the i...