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Booze
Homebrewer turned craft-beer professional Tim Patton, who incorporated his Saint Benjamin Brewing Company in 2010, has locked in a physical location for his nascent nanobrewery. This past Friday, he closed on an industrial-zoned property at 1710 N. Fifth Street (intersection of Cecil B. Moore) that he hopes to have up and running by this summer. (By Philly Weer Week ideally, but more likely in the July/August window.) Most recently a warehouse, the building used to be a sewing machine factory; before the 1920s, it was a carriage house for a beer company. Bringing the address back to its pre-war roots, Patton aims to start out by brewing three to three and a half barrels, or about seven kegs' worth, at a time.
In October, Unibroue brewmaster Jerry Vietz visited the Del Val to brew with Chris LaPierre of Iron Hill. Jerry Chris Mas, the resulting collab, is being released at the Maple Shade IHB (124 E. Kings Highway) on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 sharp. The Québec-based Vietz will be in the house for the christening of the naturally conditioned brew, which LaPierre describes as a holiday beer ("even though it's well after the holidays") brewed with winter spices and sour cherries. Sounds kinda like Mad Elf to us. "Yup, a little drier, though," says LaPierre. Unibroue Terrible and Ephemere will be on tap, as well, but don't sweat it if you can't get to Jersey right away for Jerry Chris Mas. "We brewed 15 kegs," adds LaPierre. "It'll be on for at least a couple of weeks."
View galleryWHERE YOU AT? The biting cold this week has me longing for spring, so I went hunting for it at Mixto (1141 Pine St.), hoping its Latin influence could put a little sizzle in my step. My girl S and I arrived at 5 p.m. and sat at a high-top near the downstairs bar. We languished for a little while before realizing walking up to the bar to order drinks was the right move. Got our mojitos and miniature pinchos (grilled meat skewers) shortly after.
WHAT'S THE SCENE? All the natural wood and brick at Mixto is gorgeous, and in the summer they get their Miami-on-Pine thing going with outdoor seating. (They'll put tables out in the winter if the weather is temperate.) Inside has a good vibe, though, with upbeat Latin music and a menu largely inspired by Cuba and the Caribbean, further speaking to my need for spring. Even as early as 5, quite a few people were already seated for dinner. Most of the crowd looked to be in their late 30s, not a big surprise since the spot has been around eight years in a relatively affluent neighborhood — the clientele's a definite reflection of the stability of the place.
WHAT'S THE DEAL? I was happy we went on a $5 mojito day, since that minted rum drink was what my warm-weather heart was craving. This special rotates throughout the week: five-buck mojitos on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then $5 margaritas on Tuesday and Thursday. In addition, all Latin beers are $3, and they offer a couple small bites to enjoy alongside. My favorite $2 pincho was the chipotle barbecue chicken. I somehow managed to say no to the $1 empanadas, though it was awfully hard to deny something both fried and priced at a single dollar. All of Mixto's HH dealage runs weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m.
Swing by Molly Malloy's in the Reading Terminal Market (12th and Arch streets) today at 4 p.m. for a taste of Engine 1892 Market Stout, a new beer from Philadelphia Brewing Co. created as a nod to the RTM's 120th year of existence. It's a friendly 6 percent ABV chocolate stout crafted with 70 percent cacao Belgian dark chocolate from RTM's Chocolate by Mueller. Molly's will pour it through the end of February, and don't be surprised if you start seeing it appear on draft towers around town, too.
Photo: facebook.com/mollymalloys
WHERE YOU AT? MilkBoy (1100 Chestnut St.) has been open for about six months now, the newest member of a family that includes older siblings in Ardmore and Bryn Mawr. Philly's the baby, but it's got a serious leg up on its Main Line counterparts: a liquor license. They had a tempting draft list when I showed up with some girlfriends for happy hour around 4:30 one evening last week. We sat at the bar (specials apply to booth sitters, too), and I was glad I did — our bartender was extra-generous, letting my friends and I try a sample a few drafts before committing. I ended up with the smoky Williamsburg Alewerks Washington's Porter; friends grabbed a Mission Shipwrecked IPA and an "Auntie Maxie" cocktail, a combination of Absolut wild tea, Barenjager and lemon sweetly served in a mason jar.
Yards Brewing is rolling out its annual one-off beer in conjunction with the 2012 Philadelphia Science Festival, and we all get to vote on its name. This year's brew will be a weizenbock, a strong unfiltered wheat beer. Each proposed moniker is a twist on a different scientific theory or principle:
- Heisenberg's Drunken Principle
- Avogadro's Numbeer
- Bucky Ball Bock
- German String Beer-y
- Science FestivALE
- Atom Blonde
The beer will be on tap and in bottles at select bars/restaurants throughout the city from April 20 to 29. You've got until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 9, to vote for your favorite. For more information on each name, check out the PSF's blog. Yes, drinking can be somewhat educational.
Last time we checked in with secretive publican Lêe and his Hop Sing Laundromat (1029 Race St.), the long-pending Chinatown cocktail bar had its PLCB certificate in hand, legally giving them the right to serve booze. That was back in November. Now it's February and the doors have not yet opened, but if the newly stocked liquor shelves behind the bar (lots of fancy high-end stuff) are any indication, they're close, at least by Hop Sing standards. Lêe will not commit to an opening date or even an opening month, but states that he's "97 percent" there in terms of his progress; right now is his time for staff training. He's still guarded about the nitty-gritty details of his concept, but vows that his system will allow Hop Sing drinkers to get a cocktail in less than half the time it typically takes to acquire one elsewhere — on top of promising all fruit juice will be squeezed to order.
In terms of the frequent million-dollar "why is this taking so damn long?" question, the bar owner partially attributes the delay to the local media interest surrounding Hop Sing. "The press built this place, its expectations," says Lêe, who's redone several major elements multiple times since construction started. "If it wasn't for you guys, this place would've open by now."
Photos: Drew Lazor
Friend of Meal Ticket MB recently shared this photo of what appears to be the single most gorgeous Bloody Mary in the history of recreational alcohol consumption, so it behooved us to find out more. Don't let the Good Dog-ian glassware fool you — this is actually the house Bloody at Atlantis: The Lost Bar (2442 Frankford Ave.). The piece of flawless tomato-juice art is the handiwork of bartender Marianne Morrison and GM Fritz (just Fritz), both of whom run the Kensington tavern on Sundays.
In addition to Morrison's guarded-like-a-CIA-secret mix, each $8, double-shot Bloody is dressed like a boozed-up antipasti plate, with adornments including (but not limited to) a salami/provolone rollup, a grilled shrimp, pepperoncini, cherry tomatoes, onions, olives, cucumber, bell pepper and pickles. They only do them on Sundays from 12:30 to 7, and Morrison says she typically has the ingredients to crank out about 25 of them during her shift. Your day-drinking mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become of those 25.
Photo: Maria Beddia | Headline Inspiration: Prince
Out-of-state craft beer just got substantially easier to obtain. You can thank Sean Nevins, who dreamt up Philadelphia-based Beerjobber.com, an online marketplace and home delivery service for brewery-fresh craft beer. On Feb. 13, consumers can begin creating Beerjobber accounts, profiling their personal tastes by way of a survey. After that, the site automatically generates a list of brews that align with the surveyed drinker's palate. Once clicked and paid for, your order will show up on your stoop in five or fewer days.
It's taken Nevins and his team years to wade through the mire of state beer laws, but they've been met with success — as of this week, consumers from 35 states are legally able to have beer shipped directly. And Nevins, a Philly native, made sure Pennsylvania was one of them.
Damien Malfara of Old Forge Brewing Co. will be visiting Perch Pub (1345 Locust St.) tomorrow, Feb. 3, to host a guided beer tasting with Jason Miller of Bella Vista Beverage. This event serves as the official introduction of Old Forge into the Philly retail market — it's the first time the beers are being made available outside their Danville, Pa. brewpub, located about three hours northwest of Philly near Bloomsburg. "We're big on craft beer in cans," says BVB's Miller. "We heard about Old Forge canning their beer to sell to an outside market, so we wanted to jump on the chance to spotlight the brewery."
The tasting comprises three beers — Ol' Smithy, a winter imperial stout; Endless Summer, a pale wheat ale; and T-Rail, an American pale ale. The event is $10 a person and runs from noon to 2 p.m. (day drinking!). Bella Vista, meanwhile, will be debuting one different Old Forge brew a month moving forward.
Photo: oldforgebrewingcompany.com
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