Philly Beer Week Single

Whew, what a firkin week!!! Friends don’t let friends drink and blog so my computer has been off-limits, but it’s now time for a little PBW wrap-up, Part 1. I missed the opening weekend of PBW due to a previously planned car event in Rochester NY (definitely NOT a beer utopia…) and didn’t get a chance to tap into the festivities until the start of the week after work. Monday began at the Flanigan’s Boathouse Happy Hour in Conshohocken for the Meet the Brewer event with Rudi Ghequire from Palm/Rodenbach.

This event kicked off the US re-launch of the Palm and the Rodenback Grand Cru. They also brought the Steenbrugge Trippel. The Palm uses mineral rich water and light colored malts of maritime barley to produce its golden amber color. It is slightly hopped with soft aroma hops resulting in a fruity sweetness and a nice, biscuity malt. The Grand Cru is tarty with cherries and cranberries and vinegar- oh my!  We beat Rudi to his next event at Teresa’s Next Door and keeping with the theme, enjoyed some drunken (beer, garlic, and chorizo) moules and pommes frites with Belgian mayo. TND offered the above three beers as well as the Steenbrugge Dubbel, which was malty with some candi sugar and dark fruit.

The last stop (work night!) was the Ommegang-“bang” at TJ’s. I had yet to be inaugurated into the Obamagang Ale. They also offered the Three Philosophers, Abbey Ale, and Chocolate Indulgence on tap. Brewer Wes Nick and Regional Sales Manager Megan Maguire worked the room in Brewmaster Phil Leinhart’s absence. The Belgian lineup didn’t end with the Ommegang offerings. Duvel Green and Houblon Chouffe also invaded the taps. Maybe because it’s the new exciting beer, maybe because St. Patrick’s Day was the following week, but I definitely saw a trend of “the Green” at many bars during PBW. Duvel Green is the same recipe as the Classic, but no additional yeast is added at bottling and it’s filtered. The Green is clean and crisp, not at all what you’d expect from a 6.8% brew.

Wednesday night began at the Drafting Room with a few unique Smuttynose brews on draft. Already familiar with the Smuttynose IPA and Gravitation, I ordered a Smutt-pack of the Star Island Single (Belgian style single), Schmutzig Hopfen Weisse (hoppy Wheat), Smut-a-roni (wild rice beer), and Terminator G-Bock. The Star and the Schmutz pretty much fit the description. The Smuttroni misses that clean Pilsner finish but was still drinkable. The G-Blech was a mess. It hid the alcohol about as well as a glassy-eyed punk at a sobriety checkpoint slurring “Yessss Ocifer, should I start by counting the alphabet backwards or touch my tongue to my nose while standing on one head?” I think my notes pretty much summed it up- Oof. I finished with a Sierra Nevada Chico IPA and then headed to TJ’s for the firkin of Flying Mouflan.

The firkin was set to be tapped at 7pm so I continued my hop abuse with some Breckenridge 471, finishing the glass just as Jeff poured me a pint of Flying Mouflan. FM is the first of the Troegs Scratch series (#4) to become a regular on their beer roster. It’s like two- count ‘em- two beers in one! Three varieties of hops pushes the beer past 100 IBU’s and to 9.3%, but this heat is dampered by candi sugar and dark chocolate nibs. Cellared for a few months will calm down the hops and develop the flavors of raisin and chocolate with a rich barley essence. I headed home and feeling a virus starting to ferment in my system, I nightcapped with Nyquil and hoped I’d be better by the weekend.