You know what else the riverwards don’t have? A brewery and pizza spot like Dock Street Brewing Co. Went with Mark and Erin before a Party Photographers’ show at Younglove’s last winter, but had no idea how great it was for lunch. Bought two pies — Flammenkuchen and Florentine — and got a growler of their Summer Session to go. Can’t beat it!

Helen, who tends to hate brewpubs because the food is often oh so bad, really loved it. Win-win! Beats having to convince her to haul out to Iron Hill or Victory for lunch and we can stroll down to Clark Park afterward.

Maybe we’ll be West Philly people yet…

I know I complain about this all the time, but restauranteurs looking to take advantage of reasonable terms here in Fishtown and beyond: please understand that simply boasting a craft beer selection won’t be enough to lure customers away from their regular haunts. Even bars like Starboard Side offer some nice taps. Want to know how often I go to the Abbaye now that I’m around the corner from Memphis Taproom and Kraftwork? Hell, I don’t even venture as far as Johnny Brenda’s unless I’m going to see a band. Be more creative!

I know most local beer critics revel in this. It’s an embarrassment of riches, to be sure. But I can’t help but think that Philly could really use an enfant terrible in the beer scene. It’s soft and bloated and increasingly self-important. Who will set things straight?

Picked up a growler of Iron Hill’s Biere Noir out in West Chester yesterday. Had a few glasses last night. Delicious! Can’t wait to get back for a refill.

My main question is why didn’t I know about “Brew Masters” before catching a commercial during a Tottenham-Arsenal match on ESPN2? I’m not even that much of a soccer fan. And I follow @dogfishbeer on Twitter! Serendipity!

Not sure that I’ll be able to watch when it airs as it shares a time slot with a little show called “Boardwalk Empire,” but you better believe I’ll be DVR-ing it like a boss to watch Monday night while Helen checks out “Gossip Girl.”

UPDATE: I may have spoken to soon. Read this funny post over at A Good Beer Blog for the details. “Cake Boss” of beer sounds apt. Could be a turkey, but I still have love for local craft brewers. Go Sam!

It’s that time of year, people! Troegs Mad Elf has arrived!

Pretty sure winter seasonals are my favorite, but there’s a special place in my heart for Christmas brews. Goes back to my time in Denmark, where julebryg is a special event each year. They’re really something to look forward to.

This year I’m going the extra mile and I’m buying a two cases: one for drinking now and I’ll cellar the second for next year. Still have a bunch in my basement from last year, too. Can’t wait to sample those babies!

It was amazing! Beautiful weather goes perfectly with great beer and people. Had a lot of fun.

What did I drink? (Looks at list.) Keep in mind they were 6 oz. cups. Otherwise I’d probably still be laying in the biergarten.

Listed in no particular order:

• Allagash Confluence
• Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale
• Dogfish Head Bitches Brew
• Dogfish Head Saison du Buff
• Green Flask Le Freak
• Harpoon Wet Hop
• Ommegang Cup o’ Kyndnes
• Sly Fox Keller Helles
• Victory Saison du Buff

Jesse cooked up some marvelous food, too. I wolfed down his choucroute garnie. What’s that. Think meat plate. It was Boudin blanc, ribs, pork belly, kielbasy, potatoes and kraut. Hearty. Just what the doctor ordered.

No one retailer is perfect. I’ll accept that for all intents and purposes beer snobbery is the new record snobbery. You can read all about it, salivate over every boutique brew, but the the real challenge is to find it in the wild. Might not be so hard at the local taprooms, but try finding a bomber of Dogfish Head’s latest, Bitches Brew, anywhere around town. It’s pointless to try.

I’m not sure what the answer is. I’m not typically a fan of privatization. Sure, there’s malfeasance in the public sphere, but we can influence that. Look around at what’s happened in the free market in the past ten years and ask yourself if they’re doing much better. What I will grant is that folks in other states with more liberal alcohol sales laws tend to have a better overall experience. Would it kill someone to let me buy a mixed six pack, instead of having to buy a whole case of pumpkin ale?

As it stands now, plenty of Pennsylvanians become bootleggers rather than conform to local laws. It’s too tempting to sneak over the Jersey or Delaware border to pick up your favorite beer and wine in stores that are frankly much better than any state store or distributor. Why not just reform the laws and find a way to make that system work as it does in neighboring states?

I will say this: bootlegging is much easier now since the advent of E-Z Pass. You don’t even have to wait in pesky toll lanes!

I’ve been tweeting recently with Dave Martorana, half of the Two Guys on Beer duo. They have a video podcast, which you can also view at their YouTube channel. Naturally, I’m eating crow here as they haven’t recorded since the World Cup ended, but I think that’s due to some shenanigans at Indy Hall. Dave’s been great about recommending other video podcasts to me, like Beer Tap TV and Two Beer Queers.

Thing that’s great about video podcasts now? They look great on your iPhone 4. Seriously. Amazing. I was totally over podcasting. The word just turned me off and the product often wasn’t much better. You know what changed all that? HD technology. Everything looks and sounds awesome, and you can watch while you ride the train to work! Perfect, bite-sized morsels of beery goodness.

But you know what? I want more! Recommend your favorite beer writers and podcasters. I love local folks, but I want to know who your favorites are. It always helps to refresh sources and I feel like I’m long overdue for some goodies. Drop your recommendations in the comments so I can check ‘em out!

I noticed an insightful tidbit from Mithras, a great Philly blogger I’d not read in a little while. He wrote:

I understand that bars have to pay a fee to PBW to participate. One bar owner told me it was $500. With 1,000 venues, that’s a lot of revenue. Of course it’s in PBW’s interest to have more and more events – but it’s not in bar owners’ or in beer drinkers’ interests.

So there’s the follow the money angle, if PBW organizers have no skin in the game for week to be a successful one from a standpoint of curating a great citywide beer experience.

Of course, I’m with the folks who just think that having Philly Beer Week during the first week of June is just silly. I managed to get over to Memphis Taproom — which is literally around the corner from my house, as I’ve written repeatedly — exactly twice. Helen and I squeezed in a quick dinner and drinks before the Erykah Badu concert and I made it back over one evening for a hasty Happy Hour with Charlie in my lap. I probably drank three beers total at Memphis Taproom that week, which is actually fewer than most weeks.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of making a fuss over Philly Beer Week. When I talk to beer-loving friends who live elsewhere they never forget to remind me just how lucky I am to be a Pennsylvanian, PLCB notwithstanding. We need to celebrate what makes this state so special to the microbrew culture that’s maturing into a sustainable business and not just luxury brews for beer snobs. But aren’t we celebrating that very thing nightly in this town? Do we really need bigger, better, faster, more? Philly Beer Week is verging on SXSW Music in terms of sheer scope and insanity.

Jack Curtin seems to feel the same way. Sure, March can be tricky, too, what with the whole St. Patrick’s Day thing, to say nothing of the impending 96 team field for March Madness, which may add an additional weekend to the proceedings. Factor in the lousy weather we had this winter and maybe Philly Beer Week dodged a bullet by moving to June. With any luck, the organizers will work some of the kinks out for next year and it’ll be the dream event everyone wants it to be.

(In case you’re wondering, I drank a delightful imperial stout from BrewDog called Tokyo. I thought it’d do me in. Need I mention what an amazing job Leigh, Brendan and the crew do over at Memphis Taproom during Philly Beer Week? No Repeat Beer Week for me is the epitome of what makes Philly such a great beer town. My neighborhood bar can create the entire experience in a microcosm! As they say where I grew up, ‘Nix besser!’)

Summer beers I like include:

• Troegs Sunshine Pils
• Victory Prima Pils
• Philadelphia Brewing Co. Rowhouse Red (or Fleur de Lehigh)
• Sly Fox Pikeland Pils
• Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale

It’s nigh impossible to choose one as my favorite summer session ale. I know what you’re thinking: first world problems, dude. But it’s one of those things where you like to have a dependable go-to when you reach for a beer in your fridge or cooler, you know? I’ve been partial to Sly Fox, since I love the cans, but now Oskar Blues has Dale’s Pale in our market. I also love the refreshing taste of the Troegs and Victory selections. I must admit a waning appreciation for PBC beers; I just don’t think they live up to the quality of comparable craft beers. What’s your favorite? Feel free to sound off in the comments.

An aside: was the session beer movement just a figment of Lew’s imagination? Friends of mine who homebrew said they’d heard that everyone was going big — very big — just as the economy started tanking. Made sense to me, but as someone who’s trying to wean himself off of those humungo beers, I’d like to think some brewers haven’t abandoned it altogether.