I’m not predicting the outcome of Sunday’s match.  I’m just looking at our beer list. I just adjusted our beer sign wall and realized that our beer list was looking particularly teutonic.  Not planned per se, just had a bunch of serendipitous  occurences that lead to us having four German seasonals on tap.  Paul, our brewer in Lancaster, sent me an e-mail last month letting me know he had a culture of Düsseldorf yeast if I wanted it.  I couldn’t resist the temptation to brew an Altbier.  It’s one of my favorite styles and I think it’s hugely under represented in the US.  Then I figured since we had the yeast in house I should put it to use in a Kölsch.  Of course its summertime, so I’ve got a Hefe on tap.  Then there’s that keg of German Pilsner I’d been saving for our beer dinner that’s now free to put on tap.  So we’re looking at a lot of German selections.  German beer, by the way, is one of the reasons I love being a beer lover in the Philadelphia area.  The east coast has always been ahead of the rest of the country in lager brewing.  Even brewing hubs such as California and Colorado tend to stick to their IPAs, Porters, Hefes, and more recently Belgians.  Philly had Dock Street brewing lagers 24 years ago, when it was nearly unheard of in a brewpub.  Stoudt’s made their name with traditional German beers, and we’ve also got breweries such as Troeg’s and Sly Fox turning out some world class German styles.  Maybe the fact that America’s first lager was brewed right in Northern Liberties may have something to do with all of that.  The Pils may not make it ’till Sunday, but by then we’ll still have 3 German brews on tap.  And don’t worry England fans, Pig Iron Porter is on tap year round.

Join me in a celebration of me brewing and you drinking 100 batches of beer in Maple Shade.  Our hundreth batch will hit the taps at 5:30 tomorrow and I’ll be there drinking one.   See you here!

Once a quarter or so Greg (our GM and designated driver) and I take a hand selected group of our staff out for a couple of beers to show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us over the past few months.  They’re often winners of performance contests we have in the restaurant, individuals who have gotten great feedback from our guests, or who have otherwise really excelled at their job.  Of course these field trips are always to places that have strong beer culture.  In addition to being a reward, its also meant to be an educational experience.  The first trip we took was to a few of my favorite beer destinations in Philadelphia (Tria, Monk’s and Good Dog).  The last one we did was a trip out to Victory Brewing Company.  Our staff has all had a tour of our brewery (some of them give tours) and have passed a test on the brewing process.  But I thought it would be fun for them to see how a bigger, more production-oriented brewery did things.  We had a great tour then sat down in Victory’s restaurant for some German cuisine.  On the way back to Maple Shade, we stopped by Varga bar and Swift Half for some quick nightcaps before crossing the bridge.  We plan to take our next field trip to Triumph up in Princeton.  I’ll put up some pictures of that one in a few months!

Thanks to all of you that came out for Monky Business, our most recent mug club event.  Lots of people showed up to drink our 8 Abbey style beers we had on tap, then stuck around to watch the Flyer’s game.  (What a great way to follow up a great beer event.)  As a matter of fact the game was going on while I was up on the bar getting ready for the raffle so I was able to let myself believe that people were cheering for me instead of what was going on on the big TV behind me!  Of course the raffle was something to cheer about, we sent lots of happy people home with shirts, hats, glassware, and gift cards.  The grand prize was a dinner for two to our August beer dinner.  In addition to the complimentary dinner the lucky couple won’t have to make reservations.  That’s almost a prize in itself as these things usually sell out in just over a day.  Another highlight was the Jereboam of  Oud Bruin that I brewed over four years ago.  There was only enough for a few ounces each but man has it aged nicely.  Thanks again for coming out and I look forward to sharing a beer with you at our one year anniversary party.  (more on that later!)

Chris