January 7–14, 1999

food|sidedish

Khyber's Kegger

You may have never stopped to consider the large-scale socio-economic implications of planting yourself at your favorite watering hole and knocking back a pint. And really, why should you? Knocking back pints was invented to help forestall such weighty dilemmas.

But for Brendan Hartranft, Khyber bartender and beer lover, these issues are paramount.

"Drink locally, think globally," explains Hartranft, taking a break from sating customers' thirsts at the Second Street bar. "We have a lot of great local breweries and people are drinking beer that's traveled thousands of miles."

The sentiment is more or less Hartranft's motto; it's also the driving force behind The Khyber's Big Ass Beers Festival (BABF), a one-day affair featuring 12 beers and their brewers, plus food and live music. Hartranft, a home-brewer and former employee of the now-defunct Gravity brewery [Gravity's beers are now brewed by Philly's Independence brewery], knows how hard it can be for a local brewery to compete when a large portion of the drinking public simply "sticks with Bass."

"You can't call up the owner of Bass or Guinness if you're unhappy with their beer, so what do they care," says Hartranft.

The BABF is just the type of event beer drinkers should take advantage of, thinks Hartranft—a chance to meet the people who make the beer you drink (or should be drinking). Beers and brewers from Adamstown's Stoudts, Easton's Weyerbacher's, Downingtown's Victory, Penn from Pittsburgh, Franconia and Barley Creek from the Poconos, and Philly's Yards, Savage, Red Bell and Independence will all be in attendance. And the beers won't be the brewerys' standard issues, but rather seasonals and other special brews including some with tantalizing names like Yards' Old Bart and Victory's Old Horizontal.

"I have nothing against imports," emphasizes Hartranft. In fact his love of beer started with imports. But when he realized that fresher beer of the same or better quality was being made locally, his conversion was a no-brainer: "Beers in Pennsylvania are more than drinkable—they're awesome. It's the Munich of America, we've got the best fucking beer in the world."

-Brian Howard

Big Ass Beers Festival, Wed., Jan. 13, 5 p.m., $7 admission includes a Middle Eastern buffet by Bitar's and live music by Adam Brodsky and The Marks.