WooHoo! Here is the 2012 Belgium Comes to West Chester Final Menu!

Check this out: Belgium Comes to West Chester is this Saturday the 28th. Our friends over at WC Dish are giving away two mug club memberships!!!! These babies will get you in to the 12:00pm Mug Club Only Preview! Head over there for your chance to win.

See you Saturday!

I can’t believe it’s Bike Race time again! Wow, that year went fast. In any case this coming Saturday is the 8th annual Iron Hill Twilight Criterium. The race runs right in front of Iron Hill West Chester. We will have a beer garden open on the patio, and will be broadcasting the race live on closed circuit T.V. in the restaurant. Come by for the action…it’s really pretty awesome!

Here it Iron Hill West Chester, we have our very own patron Saint.  Saint Dan Bethardus. St. Betherdus is a larger than life man with larger than life appetites.  He worships here at the kitchen of the holy Eat-Sencion where he heads the crusade for flavor in beer and food!  Much as the rule of St. Benedict has governed monastic life for thousands of years, so has the rule of St. Bethardus governed the life of Iron Hill Brewery for over a decade.  When not hanging with his  Brothers Basil, Rosemary, and Tyme, St. Bethardus spends his time  contemplating food,  feeding the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty and  distributing wares to those in need…as in ‘where is my beer!’. Today we celebrate the Birthday of our patron saint in the same way he would, by drinking and eating!  

Fun Saint Bethardus Facts:

Most monks make their own cheese. Saint Bethardus makes his own cheesecake, which we think is much better.

The Rule of St. Bethardus

• Sustenance for the soul

• Beer is food, the consumption of which leads to enlightenment
• Strong beer good, weak beer bad. 

• The eating of meat is holy, and bacon is the holiest of all meats, so thou shalt eat bacon at every possible opportunity
• Thou shalt not leave the kitchen with an empty stomach, or an empty hand.

I’m sure you all know that its pretty hard to find an Iron Hill beer in a bar or restaurant that’s not Iron Hill.  I and the rest of our brewers are busy enough keeping beer on tap for you in the restaurant that we can’t afford to send beer out.  So if our beer winds up in another spot its either because it’s run by personal friends, or it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.  This beer dinner is both.   Just about all of the industry folk we’re friends with spend quite a bit of time at the Good Dog.  It’s in a great location, it’s reasonably priced, and the food is good too! It’s fair to say it’s in my top 5 in Philly.  I’ve spent enough time there to become friends with owners Dave and Heather and lots of their staff.  I’ve got a lot of respect for what they do at the Good Dog and for how they run their business.  So when Dave pitched Mark and Lap the idea of closing his restaurant for a night to host an 8 course, all Iron Hill beer dinner we were flattered to say the least.  The concept is pretty cool too.  Chef Jessica of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives fame is going to take one favorite or signature beer from each of Iron Hill’s 8 head brewers and match one of her own pieces of culinary art with each of them.  For those of you who haven’t tried Jessica’s cooking, you owe it to yourself to do so.  If you come to this event, don’t plan on running right off to another Beer Week event too early in the evening.  You’re going to spend the better part of your night in a gustatory heaven at Good Dog.  You can click here to view the menu and buy tickets. It should be AWESOME! Look for Mike Rutkowski at the dinner!

The Legend of Saint Bethardus.

Here it Iron Hill West Chester, we have our very own patron Saint. Saint Dan Bethardus. St. Betherdus is a larger than life man with larger than life appetites. He worships here at the kitchen of the holy Eat-Sencion where he heads the crusade for flavor in beer and food! Much as the rule of St. Benedict has governed monastic life for thousands of years, so has the rule of St. Bethardus governed the life of Iron Hill Brewery for over a decade. When not hanging with his Brothers Basil, Rosemary, and Tyme, St. Bethardus spends his time contemplating food, feeding the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty and distributing wares to those in need…as in ‘where is my beer!’. Soon we celebrate the Birthday of our patron saint in the same way he would, by drinking and eating! Today we are brewing his namesake beer: St.Bethardus Abt 8. More soon, but check out Chef ‘Brother’ Dan Bethard in action masing in his very own Abbey Style beer. Release party is scheduled for Friday, June 17th so save the date!

Well, BVCB fest number 11 has come and gone. What a great day! over 1000 thirsty craft beer fans came to sample beer from all around the metro area. The event benefits the Media Youth Center. The rain held off until we were all cleaned up! Highlights this year were secret beer at the booth (behind it, actually), Capt. Stubing hangin’ with Mark,  and Bob B. pouring 6 liters for the crowd. The Hammer of Glory made an appearance too. Check out the photos!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Hey Gang,

in case you haven’t been following me on twitter (@brewerlarry) we have been running super secret beers for Mug Club members on Monday evenings. Tonight is the redux of India Black Ale. Check out the list of beers we have coming up!

5/9 India Black Ale

5/16 Pineapple Express (cask)

 5/23 New Holland’s Cabin Fever Ale

 5/30 Kentucky Kreme

Log into Twitter and let me know what you think, or what beers you’d like to see on the #mugclubmonday list.

cheers!

Last Saturday we wrapped up judging for the 6th Annual Iron Brewer Competition. This year we had a total 41 Iron Brewers (a new record!) enter homebrew made for our wort. Check out this photo from the Best of Show round! The competition was stiff as there were some really creAll in all an amazing event.

The esteemed panel of judges evaluated the Iron Brewer entries and narrowed the field down to a top 10, which will be on tap at the public tasting on April 30th from 12:00pm-4:00pm. The judges also selected the ultimate “Iron Brewer” for 2011, however that information will not be announced until the public tasting event! The top Iron Brewer Beer will be brewed by us and the homebrewer and sent in to the Great American Beer Festival for the Pro-Am competition!  Make a plan to come to the public tasting party that will take place this coming Saturday.  Thank you to all of the homebrewers who participated. Needless to say, this event would not be possible without their participation!

So without further ado… The top ten Iron Brewers for 2011 are as follows, in no particular order (ok, they are in pull # order from the judging session, but it’s about as random as you can get!)

Brewery stadium is on fire! All of the B.U.Z.Z. members have been brewing up a storm with ingredients from the brewery here at IHB West Chester. Over 40 home brewers are competing for the top honor of ‘IRON BREWER 2011′. Next week a panel of certified judges will narrow the field from 40 to 10, and then we will tap all 10 beers on Saturday April 30th at 12:00pm in the West Chester Back Bar. Come pay a flat fee of $15 to sample all ten, and then vote for your favorite. The brewers will be on hand to convince you to vote for theirs. We will brew the winners and enter them in the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am competition.

This crew can brew, so make a note on your calendar to join us for the sweet efforts of their labor!