Kensington Blues

Philly Beer Week really works for a select constituency, mainly the guys who are covering the local beer scene. The rest of us can partake in the bajillion events happening all over the place if we like, but if articles like this one are any indication, Philly Beer Week has more in common with the local music scene in October than anyone would like to admit. Guys, all these events do is just cannibalize each other! (Hat tip to Lew Bryson for sharing that link on Facebook. I would’ve totally missed that piece in all the hoopla.)

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!’)

Helen and I spent a quiet evening in our neighborhood. We ate a delicious dinner at Memphis Taproom — short ribs on a seafood grits bed — and I had a flight of Gift of the Magi, Port Santa’s Little Helper, and Nøgne Ø’s God Jul. The beer was amazing as well. Our second New Year’s Eve dinner was just as great as our first.

We can’t say enough how much we love that place and the people who work there. It’s like an extension of our living room and kitchen. It’s our Cheers. We get great service, great food, and great beer. It’s hard to believe it’s been open less than two years. It feels like it’s been there forever.

We spent the rest of the evening at home, watching movies, drinking beer, waiting for Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest to count down to the New Year. It’s a minor miracle that Helen and I were able to stay awake to see the ball drop. Charlie’s usually waking us by 4:30 in the morning!

The start of 2010 was much more comfortable than where we found ourselves on Y2K. As Helen and I sat on the couch, watching television, I couldn’t help but think how lost we were last year after we boarded the R5 in the wrong direction, jumped off at Wayne Junction, and found ourselves stranded there until Helen’s aunt and uncle picked us up. We didn’t even have cellphones back then!

To add insult to injury, we ended up there after going to see G. Love at the Electric Factory. No further comment necessary.

As we start 2010, we’re thankful for our friends and family who’ve been there for us all along. We feel very lucky in these trying times. Here’s to a great 2010 and the decade ahead!

Last Thursday was a banner night for this beer lover. I met my friend Adam and we strolled on over to Memphis Taproom to enjoy a great Dogfish Head stunt tapping for their 75 Minute IPA. We got there a little early thinking we might have to twiddle our thumbs for a minute before they tapped the cask, but no, we were just in time to knock down a few pints of this great IPA.The 75 Minute IPA blends their trademark 60 and 90 Minute IPAs, resulting in a remarkably smooth IPA that will still knock you flat if you’re not careful.

Adam and I ended up having a wonderful conversation with my friend Derrick, another Memphis Tap regular and amateur beer aficionado like myself. We discussed the merits of Dogfish Head’s approach to brewing and how great it is to be sandwiched between so many great breweries, all of which are doing different, distinctive things. Dogfish Head really does a great job of brewing signature IPAs, complemented nicely by great seasonals. I think their spring and summer beers, both of which feature great fruit flavors, are among the most refreshing I drink, without being sickeningly sweet.

As an aside, I wanted to take this opportunity to mention Jay Hinman’s great beer blog, Hedonist Beer Jive. Some of you may recognize Jay from his legendary music blog, Agony Shorthand. Now, instead of debating issues of race with Black to Comm, he’s telling you why he won’t pony up for expensive bombers of Russian River Consecration (and I don’t blame him!) Jay’s always been a great read, and his beer writing is just as fun and engaging as his music writing ever was.

When Helen and I left our Mummer’s Row apartment for our house here on Letterly St. in December 2006, it was a sad affair. We left behind a delicious world of Italian bakeries and restaurants, as well as some great sandwiches, too, for a new neighborhood where the most obvious food options were Jovan’s Place, a quaint Yugoslav restaurant around the corner, and Key Foods Pizza across the street. It pains me to tell you that one evening we were so desperate for dinner we got takeout from — gasp — Applebee’s. It was probably our culinary rock bottom.

But there was light at the end of the tunnel. In the two years we’ve lived up here we’ve found some great food, whether it’s Memphis Taproom around the corner when we’re just looking for a quick bite and something to drink, or Bistro Juliana for the delightful Italian food we loved so much in our old neighborhood. But that’s not all! I recently made an early morning run to Czerw’s on Tilton St. for several pounds of smoked kielbasa and fresh-made pierogies. If there is a heaven, I hope it smells like Czerw’s. There’s great Mexican at Las Cazuelas, or quick Mexican at Taco Riendo. We’ve even found some decent pizza, having recently tried Santucci’s upside-down square pie. Now we feel like we have more options than we ever did back in old Pennsport.

We’re not alone. Our neighborhood has recently been a new focal point in local cuisine, featuring both newcomers and old. The amazing Rick Nichols recently ventured up Richmond St. in Port Richmond, highlighting all the wondeful Polish food the neighborhood offers. Think that sounds delicious? Then you should spend a Saturday afternoon with him on his Edible World Food Tour that’s being organized by First Person Arts! (I’ll add that you should check out the other New Wave Cafe up on Allegheny Avenue for a few rounds of strong Polish beer and more than your fair share of kielbasa and pierogies.)

Metro contributor and Foobooz writer Arthur Etchells also reps for our ‘hood in his recent article, “River Ward Steps Up.” He talks about some of the restaurants I mentioned above, as well as The Pickled Heron, a restaurant that will bring finer dining to Frankford Avenue later this spring. They also hope to take part in River Ward Restaurant Week! That’s really exciting, especially since there was some speculation about whether or not they would still be opening as the economy took the plunge. I can’t wait to try their menu!

When our friends Rick and Grace recently moved up to Letterly St. just two doors up the block, we assured them it was a great neighborhood that we’d been beta-testing for over two years. It’s a great area that blends old favorites like Jovan’s Place and Memphis Taproom. We have Greensgrow Farms and Philadelphia Brewing Company around the corner, too! Now when you think of Port Fishington, think food!

Weyerbacher Fireside
Originally uploaded by J T. Ramsay

I met Keith Fitzgerald at Memphis Taproom last night to talk about blogs, apps, and all the other fun geek stuff our wives tell us “sounds fun” as we walk out the door.

Our wonderful conversation was aided and abetted by some delicious beer as the No Repeat Beer Week rolls on! I started the night with a smoky Weyerbacher Fireside (pictured) before delving into a bunch of beefy IPAs. Here’s last night’s list:

• Weyerbacher Fireside
• Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Double IPA
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
• Moylan’s Moylander Double IPA
• Bell’s Pale Ale

I took it easy since it was a school night, but I can assure you I had no difficulty getting up this morning for a quick three-mile run.

Our conversation ended with an interesting discussion about how RSS is the blood coursing through the veins of the Internet, yet we still find ourselves joining every known social media platform that comes down the pike. Isn’t RSS supposed to make our lives really simple?

Speaking of which, we also chatted about Pitchfork’s headscratcher of a redesign. It reminded me of Paper Thin Walls after it was redesigned and made ready for a social network that never took off. Ouch. I told Keith that Pitchfork should’ve looked to ESPN.com’s redesign and focused on their video production. Why they’re still married to the concept of a music webzine escapes me.

Keith also shared his pet project with me: a running app for the 3G iPhone that should blow MapMyRun and its ilk out of the water. I’m considering buying a new iPhone just to beta test it against my Garmin watch. It sounds great for beginners and advanced runners alike. There’s a great opportunity for an iPhone app like this to meet the needs of Garmin customers who’re still waiting for Garmin to roll out their Mac features.

It was a great night for geeking out on beer and the Internet. I’m looking forward to working with Keith on tweaking and adding features to Kensington Blues over the next few weeks. To that end, can anyone recommend a clean, free, 2-column WordPress theme?