Examining East Coast Beer: Philadelphia

In a week spent visiting my sister in Washington DC last month, I drank a lot of beer at a variety of places on the East Coast. Without question, the highlight was the 24 hours my friend Kai and I spent in Philadelphia. For months, I'd been hearing that Philly may be the best beer town in the U.S. and, admittedly, I was skeptical. After my brief time there, I'm a believer. For 12 hours straight, we hit seven spots in Philly and shopped at an amazing bottle shop called the Foodery. Each place was memorable in its own way. Here's the itinerary:

Tria - We started the day out with lunch and a beer here. I had the Stoudt's Gold Lager, a light but flavorful beer that typifies the ability of East Coast brewers to craft tasty, sessionable lagers. Tria had good, reasonably priced food and a small, but solid draft and bottle list. The staff was very friendly and enthusiastic about our plan to hit as many Philly beer stops as possible in one day.

Nodding Head was the only Philly brewery we visited. I tried the BPA (Bill Payer Ale) a hoppy pale ale. I wanted to try the 3C Extreme Double IPA, but I had to remind myself that it was a marathon, not a sprint. An 8% beer wouldn't do me any favors later in the day. As at Tria, we encountered friendly folks here, including a bar patron who was having a beer on his lunch break. He recommended several places as I furiously took notes.

The Khyber is one of Philly's first beer bars and perhaps my favorite place of the day because of the mix of atmosphere and beer selection (they had mostly Pennsylvania beers with a few from other parts of the country such as Abita and Flying Dog). I sampled the Philadelphia Brewing Company's Kenzinger, a pilsner/kolsch hybrid that was an easy drinker but had enough flavor to be taken seriously. The bartender here was great and I wish we could've had a couple more rounds with him. The Khyber is the kind of place I'd go all the time if I lived in Philadelphia.

Brownie's - We stopped in here on the recommendation of the barkeep at the Khyber. Billed as an Irish pub, it reminded me of my local dive bar in SF (Dovre Club). Brownie's had a solid craft beer selection mixed with the usual macros and a pool table upstairs. I had a Founders Red Rye, a spicy rye beer from Michigan. We didn't do much socializing, just shot some pool and enjoyed one beer.

Standard Tap was one of my most anticipated stops of the day since they only carry draft beers produced within a 70-mile radius of the bar. I stuck with my pattern of having just one beer at each stop, but man, it took every ounce of my willpower not to drink half the beers on the board. My one beer ended up being the Sly Fox Pale Ale, which had an IPA-like hoppiness and good drinkability.

José Pistola's was the only spot in Philly that we visited twice. The first time, early in the evening, we stopped by to meet Suzanne Woods (a.k.a. the Beer Lass) who was celebrating her 30th birthday. We returned and ended the day here later and were fortunate enough to meet co-owner Casey Parker, who was a great guy. He was very generous with both his time and beer samples. José Pistola's is a combination beer bar/Tex-Mex restaurant. We didn't try the food, but the beer selection was excellent--a mix of regional craft beers and a healthy selection of Belgian and German imports.

Monk's Café - On the Beer Lass's recommendation, we had dinner at the world famous Monk's Cafe. Even though this trip was about drinking local, I knew we had to stop here. I didn't think it would be for dinner, but I'm glad things worked out that way. Monk's has a pretty good vegetarian selection--a seitan cake in a rich mushroom gravy with potatoes. It was just the kind of meal I needed to keep me going during a long day of drinking. As you might expect, the Belgian beer selection was great. I had a Rodenbach Grand Cru, a beer I always order when it's available.

All in all, it was a great beer-drinking day in Philadelphia. What really stood out for me were the people. Everywhere we went, we encountered friendly folks who were passionate about Philadelphia beer. It was refreshing to talk beer with people who were extremely knowledgeable but had none of the pretension you sometimes find in beer geeks. I can't wait to return to Philly to discover new beer spots and meet more beer enthusiasts. I'm thinking I'll need a lot more than 24 hours to do the city justice.