Rich Pawlak

Damn! Of all days to be out of town!!!! Hey I gotta run out and find me a Star-Ledger!

Yeah, my bad. I didnt finish reading the damn article before I posted the link! Yikes.

According to the article, the panel tasted 22 IPAs, and gave us their top picks out of the 22. I would imagine that they took out Brooklyn's very fine IPA due to the fact that Garret Oliver, its brewer, and a good friend of the Asimov, was on the tasting panel for the article.

Take note of the nice interactive feature from the NY Times website, where you can listen to some specific reviews from the IPA tasting panel: IPAs, NY Times-style

Duh! My favorite t-shirt around town and at Philly Park, the horse's home turf: IT TOOK A HORSE......

God, this is awful news; I started going to Chaucer's while still in college, and Rick was a great publican, and an all around good guy. I never knew his last name. Many a night I spent at Chaucer's with Rick, his fried mushrooms (I must've eaten hundreds and hundreds of those beauties over the years), and musician Kenn Kweder (when he'd get done bartending at Doobies!), trying new beers and lining up bottles of just drunk, swing-top Grolschs (our favorite at the time)....vivid memories for me 25 years later. Godspeed, Rick.

We surely can hold our own in the Beer Forum on eGullet (and some of you HAVE been holding yours a bit too long...), and BIG THANKS to Ray and Cornelia for their thoughtful responses to your equally thoughtful, and thought-provoking questions. When we all do manage to gather for a gather-worthy beer event in the future, let's hope Ray and Cornelia can be a part of it; you'll find them as fascinating in person as they have been all this week. GREAT JOB everybody, I hope we can keep the topics flowing all summer!

I smell shill.

Oh baby, it starts today: St. George Greek Festival

Joe Sixpack, although occasionally good, is a poor excuse for a beer writer; much of his bi-weekly column comes straight from press releases. I have campaigned loudly with the Phila Inquirer to seriously consider a regular column on beer, with our local, favorite beer writer, but to no avail. Inquirer food critic Craig Laban has attemped some articles on beer, but he has shown his lack of depth in most of them (he once complained about how flat Yards ESA was, served from a handpump!). Given the richness of the Philly beer culture, you'd THINK we'd have more food media attention in town.

Oh dear, get ready for the Bass Twins; gee, maybe they'll put them in bikinis!

I disagree about beer with Italian food; I have found that beers like (believe it or not) Tsing Tsao, Yuengling Light and Rolling Rock pair superbly with red sauce Italian and pizza, while beers like Pilsner Urquell, Victory Pils and New Belgium Blue Paddle go very well with Northern Italian.

I scoured and asked around for some decent location for a quality beer while in Miami Beach last week, and the resounding recommendation was The Abbey Brewing Co., at 16th St. just below Alton Rd. I was also advised not to let the appearance deter me. What a great place. Cozy as a sitting room, knotty pine and old wood, just 4 booths and about a dozen barstools,friendly as all hell, with some terrific beers on tap, 4 of their own (brewed in Melbourne, FL, their IPA and Bock were sensational) and many guest taps, including the only handpump in South Florida, serving up Old Thumper. The inauspicious exterior. The tap selection, including 3 of their own, some Germans and Belgians Lovely stained glass behind the bar Beer bric-a-brac The beer menu, best as I could photograph it, it was physically pretty large Old Thumper, and it was! Clever wood carving above the taps They also had a small food menu, consisting of pizza, wurst, and homemade empanadas, which were quite good. I only wish I could have spent more time here; it was so un-Florida, so relaxed and sure of itself. And the best part: it's open from 11AM-5AM. Bartender said their busiest time is between 4-5AM. A fabulous dump.

King of Beer? Two words: Road Trip.

Ive had inconsistant food there (the sampler plate was kinda awful..), but there's no questioning the superb beer. Top notch stuff, especially the Bitter.

This week, May 17-22, we have in the eGullet Q&A Forum, the abovementioned Corey and McCoy, ready to answer any and all questions regarding thier quest for individual titles as Beerdrinkers of the Year, as well as their thoughts on beer styles, beer travel (and they've done a TON of travel, worldwide), beer food and many of their most memorable beer adventures. Load up your best questions for Cornelia (beergirl) and Ray (alekeep), and get ready for some great beer give and take! Q&A with McCoy and Corey

It's one thing to be named "Beerdrinker of the Year", and it's another to manage to win the title as partners, and a couple, no less! If you could help us all understand what actually went into the competition, as well as what motivated EACH of you to compete? In this Q&A, the part of Cornelia Corey will be played by "beergirl", who has been a welcome addition to our beer discussions in recent months. Ray McCoy will be played by "alekeep", an utterley appropriate moniker. Both Ray and Cornelia, aside from being beer aficionados, are also very active in the thespian arts in their neck of the woods of North Carolina, so let the questions---and answers---begin!

In the next coupla months, I have a funny feeling PIZZA CLUB will be heading to Old Forge for pizza. Arcaro & Genell's, Maxie's, Club 17, and maybe even Revello's and a side trip to Vince The Pizza Prince. Any new Old Forge pizza places garnering attention up there? Your mention of Julia's brought back memories of a place called JULIE'S in Avoca that put out a kind of pizza that today would be called pizza rustica, but back then was just called "Avoca-style pizza": very thin, rectagular pies, cut into small squares, spicy sauce, mix of mozz and American, all molten orange, impossible to stop eating, served up on its own pizza peel. Boy, I had a good childhood.

This is my favorite of the many Greek festivals in and around Philly and NJ, big, boisterous, enthusiastically staffed, and full of terrific food, pastries and music. This year's St George Greek festival, with the best outdoor-grill gyros I've ever had, advertises this schedule: 5/20 5-10PM 5/21 11AM 12MID 5/22 11AM-12 MID 5/23 12N-8PM From 12 years experience, I can tell you that the indoor buffet food starts to run out at around 8:30-9PM, but the outdoor grills run late, with both chicken and pork souvlaki, as well as gyros. The food is all ridiculously cheap. Admission in the evening is $2. The pastry tables here, as well as tables with other Greek staples, are especially good, as are the flea market rooms in the attached grade school and the salon for selling interesting iconography. My habit has been to attend on Friday night, and I will do so this year, around 7PM. This has all the makings of a cool night out for Greek food enthusiasts. See you there! The address, for Mapquesting: St George Greek Orthodox Church 1200 Klockner Rd. Hamilton Township, NJ

My favorite summer beers (some of which you may get to sample on your visit to Philly, Mal): Flying Fish Farmhouse Yards Saison Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock Yuengling Light Sierra Nevada Summerfest Saranac Golden Pilsner

The beer and food at Triumph Brewing Co. are adequate, nothing too remarkable, but it's all the town has. Four dining experiences I would definitely NOT miss: Conte's Pizza, 339 Witherspoon, nostaligic vibe, beautiful thin crusted pizzas. Tiger Noodles, 260 Nassau St. simple rustic Sechuan cooking with a lovely garden dining area, and creative specials, easily the best Chinese in the area. Ask for Judy or Peter. The Ferry House, 32 Witherspoon St. perhaps the best restaurant in town, with the very creative cooking of Chef Bobby Trigg, who has a real thing for mushrooms of all kinds. Here's the Spring Menu! and in nearby Trenton: Delorenzo's Tomato Pies, 530 Hudson St. Trenton, a legendary parlor (with no bathroom!) that produces remarkably light, thin pies that set the standard. (see Pizza Club topic in Pennsylvania forum for details and pics).

Just a quick note--I'm trying to vacation from my laptop, too---but Joe, GARCIA'S SEAFOOD was a blast, sweet simple seafood, great conch fritters, blackened grouper, sweet cold shrimp and that amazing, classy amuse bouche of whitefish salad to put on your crackers, such a simple, laid back, sincere place, and the passing ships and tugs towing freighters was an extra nice bonus. \ Also was able to find Lil' Red's barbecue, in Ft Lauderdale on Rte 84, and the 'cue was sensational, artfully smoked, with that red rim of smoke on the ribs and chicken, another sincere joint that I can never get enough of. More on the dining experiences elsewhere---later. The weather's been perfect.

I smell another DDC event, and a great theme: "Photo Food Folly".

I went to Mundo last month and wrote a bit about it in this thread. Robyn

Thanks Joe! JUST what I was looking for!