gbredben

I really enjoy everything brewed by Old Dominion. Their selections are wonderful. I hate having to go all the way to Maryland to pick up their beer. Looks like another road trip to State Line Liquors is in order.

You will be missed. I was wondering when someone would open this topic. A lot of great beers lined up. The wait is killing me.

Wow!! The only word I can think of when I ventured into the new store on Chestnut Street. A fantastic place where you can now get anything italian under one roof. In simplicity, the DiBruno's main store and Pronto on 18th Street have now re-located to 1730-1732 Chestnut Street. But you are only scratching the surface when describing the new store. Inside, you'll find the classic selections of meats, cheeses, oils and other fare of the classic Di Bruno store. You will also find the great prepared foods of Pronto. But inside you'll also find classic desserts courtesy of Termini Bakery. While there, pick up some artisan bread and rolls from the Metropolitan bakery. Deli order a sandwich, a Met roll stuffed with classic Di Bruno meats and cheeses. That Termini cannolli not enough for dessert, then order some Capogiro gelati and La Colombe espresso to finish your meal. Order some custom chocolates courtesy of The Chocolate Truffle to take home. So much now located under one roof, complete with an upstairs dining area where you will also find the Kitchenaide Kitchen Arena (you read that right) for an assortment of cooking demonstrations. Probably some of the best food fare on the planet now under one roof. And for me it will be torture working a mere half block away.

Sounds like a plan.

Stegmaier Gold Medal. Great taste and outrageously cheap. $11.00 for a 24 pack case, 16 oz bottles. Great to enjoy for drinking and cooking.

Holy Grail Ale rocks!!

Just wanted to say thanks to Katie and all the staff at SSOH. I had a great time this evening with all the brewers. Chatted with Guy and his gang. Hope to see him again soon at a future DDC event. I also talked with Neil Evans of Albany Pumping. Will need to make a side-trip in July when I venture up to Cooperstown, NY. And Brian O'Reilly and the crew from Sly Fox was also there. Great food, great beer, and great people.

Thanks very much Susan. I can't wait for May 13. Hope to see you there.

My beef with this article is the feeling that he's comparing all the pies to NY style pizza. That to me is just wrong in that Philadelphia to me has its own unique pizza style. In that, of course Lombardi's will win because its NY style pizza. What about the identity of Philly style pizza? And absolutely no mention at all of South Philly and Northeast tomato pies? To me, its just one person's opinion piece rather than a true representation of pizza in Philly.

Some research on the web turned up this article: http://www.temple-news.com/global_user_ele...?storyid=899896

Last summer, I was travelling through the 1500 block of Mifflin Street, and I was surprised to find a large, green neon Yards sign hanging in a window. The name outside advertised the place as The South Philadelphia Tap Room. After driving by since on numerous occasions, curiosity finally got the better of me. So, last night I decided to stop in check out the place. The South Philadelphia Tap Room is located at 1509 Mifflin St., about a block from St. Agnes Medical Center near the intersections of Broad, Snyder, and Passyunk Ave. Upon entering, the first item of notice was that the special for the evening was jumbo ravioli. The next items I noticed were the 10 tap handles sitting behind the bar. One group of seven taps consisted of Miller Lite and Yuengling Lager, a PBR tap. Handles also for Guinness, Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale, Smythwick's Irish Ale, and Magic Hat #9. At the end of the bar were three taps for Leffe Brown, Hoegaarden, and Stella Artois. The bottle selection was even more impressive with selections including Brooklyn Lager and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Victory Hop Devil and Golden Monkey, and Dogfish Head. Wednesday night is Lady's night. The advertised drink specials were $2.50 Coronas and Amstel Light bottles and $3 cosmopolitans. Behind the bar sat a nice selction of vodkas and whiskeys. I sat down and ordered a Yard's and asked to look at a food menu. While the typical bar fare of cheesesteak, fries, and even a bacon cheeseburger were noted. Other items included pierogies, gulf shrimp, a honey grilled and a smothered grilled chicken sandwich, a jumbo lump crab cake sandwich and platter and a NY Strip steak. Talking to the bartender, I found out the place has been open for about a year and a half. And, whoever runs it is a big Temple fan judging by all the Temple memorabalia. I ordered the provolone steak and an order of pierogies. The cheesesteak was an ordinary steak on a soft roll with the ends cut, not greasy. Good taste, but nothing special. The pierogies with red onion were unfortunately sauteed in vegetable oil and not the preferred butter and served with a side of sour cream. The overall atmosphere reminded me of McMenimen's in Mt. Airy. I intend to go back and try the bigger menu items to see how they fare and report back. Until then, it's nice to discover good beer just got closer to me.

For me personally, I have been always satisfied with the sandwiches from Planet Hoagie. But I also enjoy sandwiches from Capriotti's, Casapulla's in North Wilmington, Gooey Louie's, Primo's, Chickie's Deli. Need to try the hoagie at Salumeria's. Even the neighborhood bar near me makes a pretty decent italian hoagie for the lunch crowd. Thumann's, Hatfield's, Dietz and Watson, and Boar's Head seems to be the ingredients of the better hoagie shops in the area. But the difference in taste and size also I believe allows for a wide variety not only of sandwiches, but also of sandwich types. An italian from Primo's and an italian from Gooey Louie's may be polar opposites, but both are great sandwiches with a lot of flavor.

Any idea what's going to happen to the shop in the Reading Terminal?

Yee-ha!!!

I hated to see the loss of Wawa at 16th and Walnut, and now the loss of Lombardi's. Don't force closures of businesses that make Center City special.

Stopped by SSOH tonight for a great happy hour. Ordered a half dozen blue points and a dozen cherrystones for the happy hour appetizer which were pretty tasty; especially the clams with a spritz of Tobasco and lemon. Next came dinner which consisted of a grilled bronzino with a baked potato and creamed spinach. Light, flaky meat which had a nice taste from the grilling. Not fishy at all, although since it was a smaller fish, you had to be careful of bones. The creamed spinach added the perfect complement. Dessert was a huge piece of bread pudding covered with a sugar frosting glaze and a fantastic whiskey sauce. Add to that a couple of pints of Yards Philly Pale Ale and it made for a very "happy" happy hour. Also found out that Sly Fox beer will soon be available on tap. First up I believe is Sly Fox Royal Weisse which will hopefully appear some time early week. I will be spending a lot of time on Sansom Street.

I will be attending the Stephen Beaumont Beer Dinner at Monks on March 15 and the Waldy Malouf dinner at the Smoked Joint on March 18 . Plus add St. Patrick's Day, and it should make for a fun week.

I had a friend message me about review he had read concerning The Smoked Joint. What was intriguing was that the reviewer said he had talked to a member of the staff who stated they were opening a place on South Street. No word about any specific location. If true, this would mean a big step to open a second location already. I'm interested in knowing if anyone can confirm this.

Woo-hoo!! Congratulations Katie!! A great place for happy hour. Great place to let off steam, eat oysters and clams on the half shell, followed by pint after pint of Yards Philly Pale Ale. A great place just got better.

I second State Line Liquors in Elkton Maryland. What impresses me at State Line is not only the wide variey of breweries represented, but also the wide selection available from each brewery. In central PA near Danville is a distributor called Maloney's, just east of Danville on Rt. 11. Maloney's always has a good selection from both macro and micro-breweries. Within the city of Philadelphia, I like going to Society Hill Beverages which is located near third and Washington Ave in South Philadelphia. They also have a good selection of micros and international beers as well.

When I order at Rangoon in Philadelphia, which serves real good Burmese dishes, I always order a Singha Malt Liquor.

Hearing all this makes me yearn for my young days. There is a local butcher west of Danville on PA Rt. 642. Bobby George farms. The shop is only open Thursdays thru Saturday as he smokes the rest of the week. Excellent source for smoked meats. He also makes pretty good scrapple as well. Not too much flour or pepper. Good meaty taste. To me, good scrapple should be gray and well cooked, not green. The best way I've always enjoyed scrapple would be to take large slices, fried crispy and hot and topped with King table syrup.

Me and my friend went and raided State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD this morning and made a pretty good haul. I was very impressed with the selections and the prices. I instructed my friend to keep me on a 45-minute time limit to find and choose items. In the end, these were the selections I made. I want to say thanks to LJDolan for his earlier post and recommendations. Items included were as follows: 6 pack Avery India Pale Ale 6 pack Otter Creek Octoberfest 4 pack Dogfish Head Midas Touch 4 pack Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA 1 btl. Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA (12 oz) 1 btl. Dogfish Head Olde School Ale (12 oz) 1 btl. Heavyweight Lunacy (12 oz) 1 btl. Heavyweight Perkuno's Hammer (12 oz) 1 btl. Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot (12 oz) 1 btl. J.W. Lees Moonraker Ale (.500 l) 1 btl. Cisco Brewers Moor Porter (.750 l) 1 btl. Cisco Brewers Bailey's Ale (.750 l) 1 btl. Stiegl Pils (.500 l) 1 btl. Ommegang Three Philosophers (12 oz) Was hoping to nab a bottle of Dogfish Head Liqueur De Malt, but was told 5 cases had sold out in about a week. Just opened a Midas Touch. A lot of fruit and sweetness with this one, and a nice kick at 9% ABV. Here's to some good beer drinking for the next couple of weeks.

Spotted this article. It's a great piece with even Lew Bryson contributing. Well worth the read. Modern technology keeps making advances. Here's the article: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a..._beer_bottles_3 Does anyone know if Iron City is carried by anyone here in the Philadelphia region?

Great pictures and commentary Rich. Only proves inspiration can strike anywhere.