Thankful for special beer releases this week: Philadelphia area

You say you like getting beer as fresh as it gets, sometimes standing in line for special bottle/can/crowler/draft releases? Well, then, this is for you.

I began noticing a flurry of special releases around the Philly area this week, so let's get to a simple summary of where you want to be, and when, to catch some hot releases as early as this afternoon. As you'll see, many breweries are double-dipping and releasing two special beers to further entice you to visit them.

Tue. Nov. 21
  ~ at 4 p.m., Saint Benjamin Brewing in Philadelphia is releasing Electric DIPA in cans.


Wed. Nov. 22
  ~ at 10 a.m., Victory Brewing in Downingtown is releasing Wisdom's Hour Barrel-aged American Sour and a "surprise" bottle during its annual Dark Wednesday event.

  ~ at 11 a.m., Saucony Creek in Kutztown is releasing (pre-sale only) its first crowler offering — Thorondor On A Stick NEIPA.

  ~ at 12 p.m., Weyerbacher in Easton is releasing its Quad.

  ~ at 12 p.m., Capone's in Norristown is featuring a lineup of Goose Island Bourbon County Brand vintages.

  ~ at 2 p.m., Evil Genius in Philadelphia is releasing both Trust The Process Oat IPA and Run By Fruiting IPA.

  ~ at 3 p.m., Locust Lane Brewing in Malvern is releasing their first canned offerings — Locust Lane Kolsch and Three Tun Citra IPA.

  ~ at 5 p.m., Bistro On Bridge in Phoenixville is hosting Hidden River and Levante breweries for a dinner where they'll feature their newly, and collaboratively, released Genetically Modified Visual Stimuli NEIPA.


Fri. Nov. 24
  ~ at 9 a.m., Exton Beverage in Exton will be selling bottles....; at 12 p.m., Alla Spina in Philly will have draft....; and at 11 a.m., Boathouse in Conshohocken will be selling bottles. The Boathouse, fyi, will have draft beginning at 11 a.m on Wednesday.....of.....2017 (and vintages in some cases, check individual event details for specifics, plus special raffles) Goose Island Bourbon County Brand beers.

  ~ at 12 p.m., Free Will Brewing in Perkasie and Lahaska (Peddler's Village) is releasing its big (both the beer, and the bottle) Ralphius Russian Imperial Stout and Ella.

  ~ at 12 p.m., 2SP Brewing in Aston is releasing Bourbon Barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout and Best Wishes Imperial Saison.

  ~ at 12 p.m., Spellbound Brewing in Mt. Holly is releasing a canned version of its Porter aged in Palo Santo wood.

  ~ at 12 p.m., Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing in Cherry Hill is releasing Lifeguard Off Duty Saison and Sword Juggler Belgian Lambic-inspired.

  ~ at 4 p.m., La Cabra Brewing in Berwyn is releasing Hipster Catnip American IPA and Feelin Thankful Double IPA.


Is this enough to be thankful for? Any I've missed?

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© Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge, 2017. All content is owned and uniquely created by Bryan J. Kolesar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Kolesar is strictly prohibited. Excerpts, images, and links may be used with advance permission granted and only provided that full and clear credit is given to Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Contact Kolesar at TheBrewLounge@gmail.com

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Exton Beverage loves its customers

I don't recall going to the beer distributor with my father on a Friday night to be fed food, be given beers (well, of course not at that age, that'd be ridiculous, right?!), and listen to live music.

Exton Beverage has done it again. For the second time this year, they've put together a customer appreciation-type of event with food, beer, and live music. This time it was Holt 45 on stage, beers and reps from 1/2 dozen breweries, and food from four local restaurants. I'm wondering if this is the highest off the floor the band has ever played.

Not too shabby for a Friday night in Exton at the beverage distributor. Good times all around with a bunch of friendly faces. Dad would be proud :)

If you're on the book of Faces, you can follow this link for a bunch of great pictures by Andrew Seymour.

And one last beer event, a freebie at Exton Beverage

Well, this is an embarrassing omission from The Brew Lounge's monthly calendar.

The closest great beer distributor to me, and the one I write a newsletter for - go figure, is having another one of those kick-ass Customer Appreciation/Fall Fest events. Similar past events have been wildly successful.

If you're in Northern Chester County this afternoon, be sure to stop by between 4pm-7pm. They're located on Route 30, directly across from the Exton Square Mall.

It'll be hard to miss, what with the free beer samples, free food (Station Taproom and The Drafting Room), the usual Friday afternoon crowd plus some, and the live music (from Holt 45).

See you at Exton Beverage.

Exton Beverage knows how to throw a party

Last Friday evening, Exton Beverage put on a Spring Beer Sampling complete with live music, food from local restaurants, and beer poured by brewery and distributor reps.

Unfortunately, I showed up late to the party -- please hold all smart-alek comments. When I arrived, there were still 20 or so customers mingling.

The crush, though, apparently came in the first 90 minutes when it was reportedly crowded shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the store. Sandwiches, pizzas, and other snack food was mostly devoured by the time I arrived. Bill Hake, local musician, made great use of what hardly anyone would have thought was a performance stage. But, the platform high at the end of the store turned out to work very well -- and provide a glimpse of the store like I've never seen before!

In my short 45 minutes there, I heard three individuals ask for cases of beer that they had just sampled from. Sometimes you have to give to get and that's what this event seems to have proven. Good times on a Friday night of a holiday weekend.

I'm not sure that Greg and crew have put on an event of this magnitude in the past, but hope they consider making it at least an annual, or semi-annual event.

(High above Exton Beverage's floor of great beer)

(Bill Hake of Hake & Jarema)

Great upcoming events at 4 of my favorite Chester County spots over the next 3 weekends that are 2 good to miss.

I'm slowly coming out of my writing funk after our rough last week and a half. I've got a pretty good story about our dog Logan and dogs and beer in general that is almost finished.

But, before I get to any serious writing, here's a quick plug for four of my favorite places in Chester County and worthwhile looking stuff that they're doing over the next three weeks.

The Drafting Room, Sat. 4/9 - This is tomorrow, folks. It's an "all-local" event. But, not just any "all-local" event. The Drafting Room is celebrating their Top 25 ranking (#24 to be exact) on Rate Beer's annual polling for the country's best beer bars. They're celebrating by rolling out some more of the unique local beers that cannot always be readily found. The most usual suspect is Stoudt's Pils and I would suspect that we'd all agree that ain't too shabby. Otherwise, think Brew Works, Earth Bread + Brewery, Nodding Head, Rock Bottom, and most of the other locals that you could guess.

Iron Hill, West Chester, Fri. 4/15 - Check out the Iron Hill fundraiser for disaster relief. All Iron Hill locations are sending 100% of proceeds from a one-day Rising Sun IPA promotion to the American Red Cross. Get dinner while you're there. Show your AHA card and get 20% off everything. Or your Mug Club membership for all of its benefits. Soon, city folks not inclined to venture out of the city will be able to experience the magic of Iron Hill in Chestnut Hill. Until then, if you're in the City, at least take the trolley out to Media and support a great cause. Drink a few beers; it's the least you can do.

TJ's, Sat. 4/16 - A total tap "takeover" by importing distributor B. United. Belgian Beer. German Beer. Italian Beer. Japanese Beer. UK Beer. It's all covered on this day and it might just be the wisest place for a true beer lover (that's you, right?!) to be on this Palm Sunday Eve. Seriously, check out the stellar list.

Exton Beverage, Fri. 4/22 - I don't know if this is a first, but there's a 3-hour event scheduled at Exton Beverage. This ain't your father's beer distributor anymore! There'll be live music on "the stage" (did you know Exton Beverage has a stage?!), food donated by local restaurants, and beer supplied by Exton Beverage. It will truly be a good Friday ;-)

The Madness is underway at Exton Beverage

Exton Beverage has a fun promotion taking place during March and Round 1 is already in the books. A la March Madness, the Chester County source for one of the largest and most diverse beer selections by the 1/2 keg, 1/6 keg, and case is having a Sweet 16 Beer Madness tournament.

Through this past weekend, round 1 took place with customers participating in blind tasting sessions in four regions: IPA, Wheat/White, Brown/Porter, and Pilsner.

Sixteen beers were paired off in round 1 across these four categories. Paticipating customers were simply asked to judge which beer they personally liked better.

Here's where they stand as they go in to round 2, which begins this week.

In the IPA region, Founders Centennial (a bit of surprising runaway at 64%-36% over Great Divide Titan) will be facing off against Lagunitas IPA (which convincingly beat Victory HopDevil, 58%-42%).

In the Wheat/White region, Coors Blue Moon (after a 63%-37% trouncing of Harpoon UFO) will be facing off against Paulaner Hefeweizen (which narrowly beat Hoegaarden by a margin 55%-45%).

In the Brown/Porter region, Brooklyn Brown (after scoring the first round's most convincing victory at 79%-21% over Long Trail Double Bag) will be facing off against Yards General Washington Porter (which narrowly knocked off Sierra Nevada Porter by 55%-45%).

Finally, in the Pilsner region, Lagunitas Pils (after taking a clean sweep against our hometown Victory's Prima Pils by a tally of 59%-41%) will be facing off against Sly Fox Pikeland Pils (the narrowest of first round victories at 54%-46% over Stoudt's Pils).

Stop in this Thursday, 3/17 (5-7pm) and Saturday, 3/19 (12-4pm) to participate in the second-round fun. While there, you can also fill out your bracket predictions all the way to the finals for a chance to win prizes from Exton Beverage.

Philly Beer Week 2010: Day 6 Wrap-Up

Day 6 Pictures are all displayed below--yes, there are only 4 of them and yes, one of them is a picture of food and the other of glassware...promise many more people pictures tomorrow.

Link back to Day 5 ----- Link forward to Day 7

Brew Lounge activity during Philly Beer Week 2010 has been brisk, but I can see that many of you are between 1 and 3 days behind in your reading and browsing. Fortunately, last night was a light and suburban night for me, so I've got very little to share today.

With my main goal of getting home for what turned out to be the last of the Stanley Cup Finals games last night and preparing (yes, preparing) for Philly Beer Geek tonight in Manayunk, I opted away from some of the big names and big lights of the city (Lambic Summit, Brewers Pub Crawl, and Vintage Happy Hour at Nodding Head, et cetera).

Instead, I made a quick stop in to see the guys at Exton Beverage and have a taste of a few porters and stouts that they were pouring. They've had a nice stream of people tasting and hanging out at each of the tastings that they've been conducting. They even got a completed job application from one of the tasters last night. Tonight is a sampling of a half dozen or so Belgians and Friday is canned beer (think: Sly Fox, Brooklyn, 21st Amendment...and I think I may have heard Red Racer, Caldera, and one or two others). Stop by, they're fun to hang out with after work---or whatever time of the day that is for you.

Then, I made my way to The Drafting Room where Bernie from Stockertown was going to be repping Bear Republic from Healdsburg, CA. Fortunately, the beers rep themselves well enough, because Bernie got stuck in Philly and wasn't able to make it. I figure that brewers and reps would have a difficult time cover the city, let alone the city and suburbs together with the jam-packed schedule that has them so spread thin during these ten days.

No matter, Racer 5 IPA on hand-pump? If this isn't a go-to cask-conditioned American IPA for you, you should really check it out and see if you agree. The Apex (one of my best-in-show at the Double IPA Festival in Hayward, CA two years ago) and the Crazy Ivan (Belgian Strong) were real crowd pleasers.

But what else did we spy on the bottom of the chalkboard menu? Why, under the Erie Pilsner, it was Lost Abbey Angel's Share on tap, something that many people were also dabbling and delighting in.

It was a solid crowd of people enjoy a lot of Bear Republic beer and take-home pint glassware. The Drafting Room has a nice-looking Great Lakes event tonight and Brooklyn on Friday...two more great reasons to pull in off of the madness of route 100 in Exton, PA.

Remember, that no matter where you are during Philly Beer Week, it's important to support your local guys (Bucks County? Hulmeville Inn; Delaware County? Iron Hill-Media; Montgomery County? Iron Abbey or Teresa's Next Door....just to name a few suburban spots participating in Philly Beer Week). Celebrate every week of the year with them like it was Philly Beer Week.

(Exton Beverage poured out the Stouts and Porters during Happy Hour in Exton, PA--Weyerbacher Old Heathen and Yards Thomas Jefferson were crowd favorites) (Exton Beverage poured out the Stouts and Porters during Happy Hour in Exton, PA--Weyerbacher Old Heathen and Yards Thomas Jefferson were crowd favorites) (tasty Pastrami eggrolls have replaced the cheesesteak eggrolls at The Drafting Room) (yes, this is really just a picture of Bear Republic glassware at The Drafting Room...that was their representation)

Exton Beverage (and the Brewsletter) goes to Beer Camp

I haven't touted this too loudly since I'd begun over six months ago and that's my fault. No one ever accused me of being a self-aggrandized marketer! Not to say, though, that I shouldn't have told you about the work that I've undertaken with Exton Beverage Company to produce a monthly "Brewsletter." While the physical newsletter has all sorts of interesting content (what else did you expect?!) for retail customers (pick one up at the checkout counter) of the Exton Beverage Center, the short article that I include in each month's is posted up on Exton Beverage's website. The bonus in the May issue is that the owner, Greg Ramirez, wrote an article about his recent experience at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, CA. He was part of the Philadelphia-based contingent that comprised Sierra Nevada's most recent Beer Camp in April 2010. The beer that they produced is intended to be unveiled during this year's Philly Beer Week. Enough from me, go over to Exton Beverage's website and check out what Greg has to share...including a few pictues of the work...and play that took place.

Truly SHOCKING News out of Exton, PA

Press Release.....News can be found at ExtonBeverage.com In a day full of pranks, this news release is truly shocking. I knew that Greg always dreamed of something "more" and is highly accomplished in the outdoors arena, including all-star/championship disc golfing, but this was a bit unforeseen I must admit.

Get in, get a keg, get out...easy as 1-2-done at Exton Beverage

Next time you're at Exton Beverage, you'll notice that selecting and buying a keg just got a bit easier. Greg Ramirez has hooked up a screen above the doorway that is tied into the cash register and inventory system. Now, in a glance you can see all 1/2 and 1/6 kegs that are currently available in the cooler and their individual prices. No fuss, no needless conversations with the employees :=p Ah, technology. What's next? Real-time tap lists for bars?

PBW 2009: Even in Exton, PA

A few more tasty events have shown up in Exton, PA to complement The Drafting Room and Uno's Chicago Grill during Philly Beer Week 2009. Sheesh, whoever thought those two would be mentioned in the same breath?! Exton Beverage has lined up a series of daily style themes that look worth stopping by for a few minutes to grab a beer and say hi to Greg, Mike, Bob, and the rest of the crew. Here's the lineup, per their website...and a link to their location. Fri. 3/6 (4pm-6pm) Belgian-style Sat. 3/7 (1pm-3pm) Pilsner/Lagers Mon. 3/9 (4pm-6pm) Wheat Tue. 3/10 (4pm-6pm) Barleywine-style Wed. 3/11 (4pm-6pm) Stout/Porter Thu. 3/12 (4pm-6pm) English Style Ales Fri. 3/13 (4pm-6pm) I.P.A. Sat. 3/14 (1pm-3pm) Mystery Beers?? Test your beer knowledge.

Sixtels Aplenty at Exton Beverage in Exton, PA

There's a room in northern Chester County across the street from the Exton Square Mall where people travel sometimes great distances to step foot in. It's a refrigerated room and people aren't just heading there in the summertime to stay cool. It's the cold box at Exton Beverage on business route 30. Greg Ramirez, owner of Exton Beverage as of October 2007 (manager since October 1996), has been steadily increasing the amount of sixtel inventory over the past few years. So much so that this summer he built racks for an extra wall of storage within the room. The holiday season seems the right time of year to pickup a sixtel or two of beer for all of your dinner and party guests. Quick tutorial to bring you up to speed. A beer barrel (or bbl, abbreviated) is 31-ish gallons of beer. Therefore, a half-barrel (or half keg) is 15.5 gallons and the standard size when the "average" person asks for a keg of beer. A quarter-keg is half of that or around 7.75 gallons. We could talk about other sized vessels like pins and firkins but let's save that for another day. A sixtel then, still using the 31 gallons as the starting point, is just a shade over 5 gallons of beer (or around 40 U.S. pint glasses, more depending upon head size)---also the typical size of most homebrewing batches of beer. There's not much to wax on eloquently about when it comes to the sixtel cold storage at Exton Beverage. I mean, it's a refrigerated room with beer. Even I can't get all that wordy about it. So, instead, we'll approach it from an interview style angle. Suffice to say, it borders on a wow moment when you open the door. Let's allow Greg to share the rest of the story with you. The Brew Lounge ~ Was there a particular point in time or event when you said, "I've got to start focusing on these sixtels?" Greg Ramirez ~ I would say my Eureka moment came when Victory started making 1/6 kegs available to us several years ago. I am not sure of the time frame but I’m thinking it had to be at least 8 years ago if not more. When Victory Brewing started 1/6 kegs they actually had the shorter and wider looking 1/6’s back then. I remember that they had made an initial investment in these particular style 1/6 kegs. These kegs are still around but eventually Victory went to the taller 1/6 kegs. The first time I saw these kegs I immediately thought that these were the perfect size kegs that folks with home draught systems. My thinking was that size and quantity of the 1/6 keg made buying craft beer affordable and convenient for consumers. Personally I’ve had 1/4’s and 1/2’s of better beer on tap and it seems to take forever to get through all that beer. With a 1/6 keg, which is about 55-12oz servings, it doesn’t take as long to kick and this in turn keeps the beer’s freshness. TBL ~ Could you say which is the most popular brewery or specific beer in terms of sixtel sales at your place? GR ~ I would say for Exton Beverage, the most popular brewery in terms of 1/6 kegs would be the local breweries. Victory would take top honors as far as number of kegs. Victory HopDevil, Prima Pils, and Lager are the best sellers for Victory. We also sell quite a bit of Sly Fox beers in 1/6 kegs as well. Stoudt’s, Yards, Flying Fish, Tröegs, and Sierra Nevada all do well. TBL ~ Why do you think people are drawn to sixtels? GR ~ As I mentioned, 1/6 kegs hold about 55-12oz serving or 2 and 1/3 cases of beer. This amount of beer certainly makes it affordable. Typically 1/6 kegs average about $60-$70. When comparing prices of cases versus 1/6 kegs there is definitely saving in volume. Another draw for 1/6 kegs would be the actual size of the keg itself. Since these kegs are tall and narrow they allow one to actually store more than one 1/6 keg in their draught unit. TBL ~ How much additional equipment does one need to tap and serve from a sixtel? Do you sell or rent this equipment? GR ~ Just about all 1/6 kegs use the same tapping system. This would be the standard ‘D’ Sankey coupler which is used on most domestic 1/4’s and 1/2’s. Exton Beverage has all the equipment to dispense beer from all kegs. Picnic pumps are available for use with 1/6 kegs. There is a $50 deposit for the tap itself. Exton Beverage does not charge a rental fee for taps, deposit money is refunded upon return (given a reasonable amount of time). We also offer draught services which include refurbishment and conversions. This includes adding addition draught lines to an existing system. Depending of the space a beermeister or kegerator, one could add as many as three spigots. Imagine the envy of friends when they see three great beers on tap. TBL ~ What is the most commonly requested beer in a sixtel that you can't get? GR ~ The most commonly beer asked for that is not available is probably Yuengling. We also get people asking for Miller Lite, Heineken, and Corona. I find the Corona request funny myself. Corona is not available on draught anywhere but I’ve had people tell me that they have most certainly had Corona on tap! Most of the beer found in 1/6 kegs is craft/micro breweries. There are a few European beers available as well, like Pilsner Urquell and Chimay. TBL ~ If you only got access to a single unit of a particular sixtel that you would keep for yourself and not put out on the floor for sale, which would it be? GR ~ The one beer I would keep for myself? Tough question! As a Hophead I would say Russian River Blind Pig. Pliny the Elder or Younger would be nice too but a bit too strong for me to have on tap, after all I do like to get up early. These past couple of years I was actually able to secure a 1/6 keg of each Sly Fox Anniversary IPA that was released every month. I actually kept these for myself. These beers were single hop IPAs and enabled me to really learn about different hop characteristics. TBL ~ What else should we know about sixtels and how you sell them? GR ~ Over the last several years, Exton Beverage has seen a steady increase in 1/6 keg sales. The larger the selection has brought more sales. This past summer we actually had to expand our cooler space for several reasons. The first was logistics. We had so many kegs stuffed in our keg room that it was virtually impossible to get anything in or out. Kegs were buried and became a bit unmanageable. We purchased a use walking cooler for all our ¼ and ½ which allowed us to dedicate the existing cooler to 1/6 kegs. We finished our last 1/6 keg rack to complete the cooler. On July 1st we were ready for the big 4th of July holiday weekend. We believe we have the largest inventory of 1/6 kegs for retail sales in the Philadelphia area. I have believed that to be successful we need to be a beer destination, not just another beer store. Our website had been a valuable tool in drawing customers to our store from far and wide. We keep a list of 1/6 kegs in stock and update it regularly.

It's ironical, ain't?

On my way to check out Ortino's Friday frivolity and I got sidetracked by a little late-Friday curve ball at work and rush hour madness around Phoenixville. Now I'm set back an hour, and there's no way I can justify the drive to Zieglerville to spend, like, only 15 minutes on beers like Tiny Pliny, Perkuno Metata, Stone's Throw, and Dirty Ol'.

I guess my frustration got the better of me, because I drove right on by Sly Fox and Iron Hill in Phoenixville when I decided that I was bagging the Ortino's trip and heading home. I'm counting on some of these fine brews to still be available tomorrow and perhaps I can make me a Sunday afternoon diversion.

But, in the meantime, I'd found those aforementioned ironies in the form of two smaller beers at Exton Beverage and The Drafting Room. Patrick Mullin (fka The Drafting Room's beer guy) paired up with EB's Greg Ramirez on this splendid Friday afternoon and was pouring and spreading the good word of Sierra Nevada. The Pale Ale was flowing, of course, but the Summerfest also made appearance fresh from the bottling line. I liked the Summerfest Lager so much (even better than the Pale Ale...must have been the almost-unseasonably warm weather) that I bought a case of it...$29.99...this message was brought to you by the fine folks at Exton Beverage and Sierra Nevada!

(would you prefer a better lit picture?)

Seriously, though, at 5% ABV, it's just pushing its sessionability but in an oh-so-refreshing way. The advertised 32 IBUs are just enough to get your attention with the soft finesse of the Saaz hops. Such a good drinker that it became my lawnmower/hockey/lawnmower beer today. They've been doing this beer for quite a few years, but this, to the best of my recollection, is my first taste of it. The bar's been set for my favorite new summer beer of 2008.

Speaking of The Drafting Room, it'd been at least a few weeks since I'd stopped in (and thanks to Heather for making special notice of my absence). In the spirit of supplying an updated tap list to all of you fine folks and, uh, rehydrating in the couple of miles that it'd been since I left Exton Beverage, I stopped in to find another close-to-session beer in Lakefront's White. Just a 10-ouncer, though if I had known I was canceling my trip north, I'd have gone for a second or at least a full pint. A real nice crisp and to-the-point Belgian wit-style. Though just a bit thin, it helped to accentuate the tart flavors and make it an easy, refreshing drinker.

So, in the end, no big beers for me. Just a couple of real pleasant finds before we were off to Union Barrel Works' 1st Anniversary Party in Reamstown, PA. More on that later.