Philly - A Few Weeks Late..

So about 5 weeks ago, I ventured to Philadelphia, PA just for the hell of it.  Hopped a bus, managed to weasel my way into a hostel.. travel and accommodations cost me under $100 for 3 days, 2 nights.. beat that Travelocity gnome!  I needed a personal, solo getaway to clear my head, as we all do from time to time; as an added bonus - Philly is a killer beer town!

There was far too much for me to go into detail about each beer I had, and factor in that I had all these beers in 2 nights.. I got a bit too drunk each time to remember the last beer or two of each night!  Oops!  And let me just tell you, Boston has a KILLER local scene - brewpubs, micros, craft stores, but Philly, now Philly has Boston flat-out BEAT in terms of bars - almost every bar had an amazing imported selection.  Belgian and other European beers made up the bulk of it with tons of French and Scandinavian as well.  INSANE.  Step it up, Boston.  Step. it. up.

( and yes, of course I ran the Museum of Art stairs - aka the Rocky Stairs! )

So I'm just gonna list the beers I had an a brief sentence or two about each.. because, yeah, I had 15 or 16 in 2 nights. (note - all images stolen from a google image search!)

I started at Monk's, ranked as one of the top places in the WORLD to have a beer, so yeah.. pretty cool! 

't Smisje BBBourgondier - a 12% ABV Quad - apparently only 50 cases produced each year.  Crazy smooth, rich, boozy - dark fruits, molasses, brown sugar, raisins and figs..  damned good start to the trip!

Brouwerij de Molen - Hemel&Aarde (Heaven & Earth) - a 9.5% Imperial Stout brewed with the most heavily peated malt produced.  Basically like taking the darkest, richest coffee ever and dissolving a lovely Cuban cigar in it and chasing that with an opulent single-malt Scotch.  HOLY FUCK!

I then ventured to the Nodding Head Brewpub in downtown Philly...

Phreddie - a super PHunked-out Trippel-style ale.  Decently tart, overly sweet.. was like an ice wine mixed with wild Brett.

Monkey Knife Fight - a 4.75% ABV spiced lager.  Light, crisp.. biscuity sweet and notes of ginger and lemongrass.  Not half bad, but not really that impressed by this brewpub.  Constantly rotate their drafts however, so might have some better options I didn't see

Randomly found a German-based beer bar that was dead empty on a Thursday night, so yep!  I went!  Bierstube Tsingtau!

Started out with Kulmbacher - EKU 28 - 11.0% ABV doppelbock /starkbier (simply put - strong beer)  Sharply alcoholic, but sweet, toffees, apricot, caramel .  Huge, sweet and too easy to drink!

Petrus - Aged Pale - a 7.3% ABV Flanders Oud Bruin (sour old brown) I've heard of this sexy little lady, but never heard ABOUT her..  so I expected a woody, earthy pale..  um, NO.  This is the holy grail of barrel-aged tart beers.  Any other tart you've ever had, forget them..  THIS. IS. SOUR.  Cherries, apples, bits of the oak here and there.. and oh, so dry.  DAMN DAMN DAMN!

(I think I had another at Bierstube.. can't remember!)Then ventured on to Khyber Pass...

Brassiere Dupont - Posca Rustica.  An 8.0% Scottish Gruit.  Spicy, zesty, herby..  crisp and fizzy. Slightly tart, a bit sweet.  Not half bad!

(Note - definitely had another here, my bank account says so!  Too far gone to remember what it was and definitely forgot to note what I had.  BUT, I do remember having some bomb-ass pizza at 1am!)

And that's all for night one, folks!