The Philadelphia story
Jack Curtin spends a day discovering the beers and bars of this Pennsylvania city
Sitting at the Standard Tap in Philadelphia on a Sunday morning, happily sipping a pint in an establishment which serves only local beers, and only on draught, it is easy to understand how this city can lay claim to being one of the best beer cities in America.
In fact, the respected Celebrator Beer News out of California recently ranked Philadelphia fifth, behind Portland, San Francisco, Denver and Seattle.
At first glance, all this might seem an unlikely bit of beer hubris. There is but one full production brewery in the city – Yards Brewing Co – and only three currently operating brewpubs.
Two of those are downtown, the large, touristy Independence Brewpub and the more traditional Nodding Head Brewery & Restaurant, while Manayunk Brewery & Restaurant is located in the far west section of the city whose name it bears.
A fourth should be up and running before this sees print, when Triumph Brewing Co., which already has thriving pubs in Princeton, New Jersey, and New Hope, Pennsylvania, opens this autumn.
Philadelphia’s true beer reputation rests on the outstanding brews produced all across the vast Delaware Valley region of which it is the hub.
The Delaware Valley extends well north and west of the city limits in Pennsylvania and east and south into the neighbouring states of New Jersey and Delaware. Beers brewed here match or surpass the best from elsewhere in the nation, and the range of styles done might actually be broader than in any other region in the world.
In.....
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By Jack Curtin
Section : Beer Journeys
Page number : 50
