My Wife Whit is a brewer over at Victory Brewing Company and we popped into Mt. Airy for a Victory Keep the Pint Night at the new Earth Bread and Brewery. This is the newest brewpub around, and looks to fast be a personal favorite. The hip new spot on Germantown Ave. is owned and operated by former Heavyweight heavyweights Tom and Peggy Baker. We were fortunate enough to be greeted by the Ackersons at the door (they live 3 blocks away!) followed quickly by Peggy. Tom was hard at work making pizzas, which they call ‘Bread’. The menu is brief and well executed. There are 3 or 4 house beers on tap and a very thoughtful selection of local draft beers and important bottles from around the world. Think Sly Fox cans and Boone Kreik.They’ve done it right and I wish them great success. We stayed too long for a ’school night’ but it was totally worth it. The usual suspects from VBC were out: Bill, Tracy, the Dr., etc. We even me the chef from Mcmennimins at the upstairs bar!

here’s a shot of the bar from the back

Good Luck Tom and Peggy!

Had dinner last night at The General Lafayette Inn with my wife and some old friends. The brewer over at the General is Russ Kaja. Russ is a talented guy and is really getting some great beer to the faucets. We had a quick beer / tour with him before settling down to a little grub and guzzel with my old assistant Bill Young. Bill rocks. He’s now been at Manayunk Brewery longer than any other brewer…I think. We couldn’t do the math on how long Jimmy Brennan held the head brewer position after 3 beers, but it was fun trying! I got to meet Collin Ferrel (no lie, that’s really his name) who has been working with Chris and Bill over there at the ‘Yunk for some time now. Our consensus was that the General is still holding down the fort as a must stop brewpub.

Thanks Chris Leonard for the pints and for keeping this important landmark rolling.

Get in the and drink some Real Beer or stop by their new location in the city. It’s a spot in Fairmont called the Tied House at 2001 Hamilton St. In the sake of full disclosure, I haven’t been yet…but I love these guys and I’m sure it rocks. 

I know your calendar is filling up fast, but check this out. To show our appreciation for the support our mug clubbers throw at us we will be tapping a 5 gallon keg of this years GABF Silver Medal Winning Cherry Dubbel on Saturday, November 1st at 12:00 p.m. I’ll say that again:

We are Tapping a keg of Cherry Dubbel

We’ll have a little Super Secret bottle conditioned Ichabod Imperial Belgian Pumpkin Ale, a bit of food for your to nibble on a some prizes to raffel off too. Ditch the Bed Bath and Beyond trip and stop in for some ‘Beer you Can’t Get’ beer.

If you don’t know Casey Huges, Head Brewer at Flying Fish, then you don’t drink beer at any bar in Center City Philadelphia. Casey is a good friend of mine and this Friday everyone is getting together to celebrate his B-day. Apparently Nick ‘I’m Not THAT Drunk’ Johnson is in charge…which means that he’ll be the first to fall down for sure. Check out Howling Case in his “Suns Out the Guns Out” uniform from the ‘Yunk Bike Race last year. In any case we’ll all be at FERGIES PUB for a Hughes inspirted Big LEbowksi Halloween party/ birthday party. Come get your drink on. Casey won’t need presents, just drinks and bail money!  Oh, and for the record my wife and I will be watching the Dude in action tomorrow. She DIDN”T EVEN KNOW WHO THE DUDE WAS!!!! I love her, so it is my obligation to edumacate her in the ways of Dudeness.

See you there!