What’s the best part about winter? It has to be Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant’s biggest multi-tap of the year: our annual salute to one of our favorite beer styles and a chance to party with our brewery friends and with you, our customers. It’s time for Belgium Comes to West Chester (BCWC)!
Open your calendar right now and block off Saturday, January 30, from 1–6 p.m. Actually, block off the whole day—after this multi-tap, you’ll need a nap. We’ve gathered 34 rare and prized Belgian and Belgian-style beers from 5 of our locations and 26 of our friends.
BCWC was the brainchild of senior head brewer Chris LaPierre in 2007 when he was a brewer at our West Chester location (he’s now at Iron Hill Chestnut Hill). It was wildly popular from the start, so we’ve kept it going—and growing—ever since.
“BCWC is our chance to represent our region’s cool variety of Belgians,” West Chester senior head brewer Paul Rutherford said. “Most of the brewers you’ll meet that day are our friends who we see on the regular. We love meeting everyone who comes out that day, and we especially love seeing our brewer-friends exposing their beer to our customers.”
The brawn behind BCWC is West Chester lead brewer Chris Endrikat. He’s done the heavy lifting to pull the day together and serves as the event’s host. Wind your way through the crowd that day to say hello to Chris, hit him with a fist-pump and see what he’s drinking (you’ll want to make sure you try that!).
BCWC is a line-out-the-door event, but we’ve got the insider scoop you need to know to get the most out of the day.
Top 5 Tips for Attending BCWC 2016
- Come as early as possible!
- Be responsible and plan for your transportation. If snagging a DD is an issue, make a reservation with Restaurant Valet: (877) 721-6155. Or you can take a page from our Philly-area friends’ playbook: a bunch rent a bus to port them to and fro. Nice!
- Plan to eat something—throughout the day. Your best bet for grabbing at table at Iron Hill and noshing on our regular menu plus the day’s Belgium-inspired fare (see that below!) is to make a reservation well ahead of time. Use OpenTable or call us at (610) 738-9600.
- Sip on a sampler! It’s the best way to try a variety of beers. Samplers are ten 4-ounce beers for $20. The pro move: each friend gets a different one to share.
- Attention King of the Hill Rewards Club members: you, our most loyal customers, may enter BCWC at noon. Cheers!
Announcing the BCWC 2016 Beer Lineup
- Iron Hill Phoenixville Lavender Tripel, a Belgian-style golden ale aged on fresh lavender from a local farm
- Iron Hill Chestnut Hill 2014 Brett Lappy New Beer, an American saison aged in used wine barrels with brettanomyces for nearly a year
- Iron Hill Media Tawny Port Barrel-Aged Brett Old Ale, an award-winning traditional English-style brown ale fermented with wild yeast and aged in second-use tawny port barrels
- Dock Street Nino’s Prickly Pear, a classic European-style farmhouse ale brewed with prickly pears for vibrant ruby color and barrel aged with wild yeasts for 18 months
- Boulevard Brewing Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, a complex straw-colored ale with grapefruit notes and a dry, peppery finish
- Tired Hands SaisonHands, a four-grain saison brewed with rye, oats and wheat, then hopped and conditioned in large oak foudres with house saison yeast
- Stewart’s Stumbling Monk, a strong golden ale hopped with a healthy addition of Styrian Goldings hops
- Yards Belgian Golden, a Belgian-style golden ale aged for a year in a red wine barrel with brettanomyces lambics
- Levante Twin Spires, a Belgian-style IPA made with local Deer Creek Malthouse malt for complex spice character
- Duvel Moortgat Duvel, a Belgian golden ale with aromas of grapefruit, dry aroma and a slightly bitter aftertaste
- Iron Hill Lancaster Bourbon-Aged Fe10, brewed with Belgian abbey yeast, dark candi sugar and assorted malts, then aged in a rye whiskey barrel for nine months
- Iron Hill Media Kriek, a traditional, unfiltered Belgian-style lambic with wild yeast and bacteria, aged for two years with wild cherries in oak barrels
- Iron Hill West Chester Van Damme, a Belgian-style golden strong ale aged on La Colombe signature Colombian coffee beans
- Forest and Main Melange de Jour, a blend of saisons barrel aged with brettanomyces and lactobacillus
- Sterling Pig Saison d’Hiver, a classic Belgian-style saison that is light blonde in color, with flavors and aromas of fruit and spice
- 3rd Wave Hang Ten, a bourbon barrel-aged sour raspberry Belgian-style tripel, with candi sugar sweetness, aged for nine months
- Fins Big Oyster Black and Blue Tripel, a Belgian-style golden ale aged on black tea and dried blueberries, with notes of bananas and spices
- Vault Belgian Golden, a Belgian-style golden ale that is aged in apple brandy barrels for eight months or more
- Coppertail Weequasher, a sour session IPA with citrus and pine notes from the American hops blend
- Ommegang Rosetta, a blend of young Flemish-style brown ale and old Flemish style brown ale aged for at least three years on cherries
- Iron Hill Chestnut Hill Wild Cannibal, Iron Hill’s famed Cannibal aged in a wine barrel with wild yeast for more than a year
- Iron Hill Media Raspberry Torte, house porter aged in a red wine barrel previously used to age a framboise
- Brooklyn Lord Sorachi, a “super saison” that is pungent, hoppy and strong with notes of lemon, dill and lemongrass
- McKenzie’s Saison Vautour, a Belgian-style farmhouse ale with bold, spicy yeast character and a dry, hoppy finish
- Denizens Bocho Bandido, a Belgian-style tripel aged in mezcal barrels with lactobacillus and brett drie fontenin, blended with lime goes
- Boxcar Third R’ale Triple, a Belgian-style tripel with notes of bananas and cloves and a smooth finish
- 2SP Dark As Night, an imperial dark saison brewed with American hops, chocolate malt, French saison yeast and brettanomyces
- Troegs 2014 Mad Elf, a Belgian-style ruby red ale reminiscent of ripened cherries, raw honey and cocoa with notes of cinnamon, clove and allspice
- Victory V Twelve, a Belgian-style quadruple with aromatic fruity notes and hints of pear and apricot, followed by refreshing dryness
- Allagash Tiarna, a blend of two beers, one aged in oak with brettanomyces, the other aged in stainless with Belgian yeasts
- Dogfish Head Higher Math, the brewery’s 20th anniversary celebration beer, a golden ale brewed with chocolate and sour cherry juice
- Firestone Walker Opal, an unfiltered interpretation of the classic saisons that originated from the eighteenth-century farmhouses of southern Belgium’s Wallonia region; spice character from the yeast blends with citrus and tropical fruit notes imparted by dry-hopping
- Brouwerij Rodenbach Grand Cru, a Flanders red ale with hints of ripe berries and oak, at once rich, effervescent and tart
- Captain Lawrence Golden Delicious, a golden ale dry-hopped with amarillo hops and aged in apple brandy barrels, tropical aroma from the hops and delicate apple aroma from the barrel are a perfect match
Save Room for Belgian-Inspired Fare
- Chicken Waterzooi, Belgian cream of chicken soup
- Panisse, chickpea fries with dill-yogurt dipping sauce
- Pommes Frites, house-cut fries with curry sauce andalouse
- Open-Faced Croque Monsieur, ham, gruyere and mornay sauce on toasted brioche (make it a Croque Madame with the addition of a sunny-side egg!)
- Belgian Meatballs with potato bread croutons and golden raisin-apple syrup
- Flemish Beef Tenderloin Stew with potato stoemp, roasted pearl onions, Belgian ale gravy and mustard toast
- Moules Frites Brabant, with leeks, garlic, lemon and witbier, or Moules Frites Conchon, with apple, bacon, bleu cheese and saison, both served with house-cut fries and rosemary-roasted garlic mayonnaise
- Pan-Roasted North Atlantic Salmon with carrot and potato stoemp, buttered haricots verts and Belgian witbier beurre blanc
One last tip: make sure your smartphone is charged so you can blow up your social media and be the envy of your friends with the hashtag #BCWC2016. We can’t wait to welcome you!
With 11 locations in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, there’s an Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant near you. We specialize in handcrafted beers and fresh, from-scratch New American cuisine. Monthly releases vary by location, so scout out our beers on tap and visit us soon.
