The long relationship of McGillin's and Stoudts continues

(Photo courtesy of Stoudts Brewing Company)
Stoudts' beers have been served at McGillin's for many years and the bar's eponymous IPA since 2010. Nice to see the long relationship continue with the upcoming re-release of the beer in bottles. Carol Stoudt will be there. Joe Sixpack as well. And you'll see a very attractive pricing of these beers for one night only. More information follows in the press release.

---

---

McGillin's 1860 IPA to be re-released in bottles
To commemorate 25th anniversary of ownership at McGillin's Olde Ale House, city's oldest tavern. Re-release party on August 9.

PHILADELPHIA (July 17, 2018) — McGillin's Olde Ale House, the oldest continuously owned tavern in Philadelphia and one of the oldest in the country, will re-release its 1860 IPA in bottles to commemorate the 25th year of ownership by Mary Ellen and Chris Mullins, Sr.

The bottles will be rolled out at a Re-Release Party from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, August 9 at McGillin's Olde Ale House, 1310 Drury Street. Joe Sixpack (a.k.a. Don Russell) will be on hand, along with Carol Stoudt, who is considered the first lady of craft brewing. At the party the bottled 1860 IPA will be reduced to $3.50. The event is free and open to the public.

Mary Ellen and Chris Mullins, Sr, a husband-wife duo, bought the bar from Mary Ellen's father and uncle in 1993. They run it today with their son, Christopher Mullins, Jr. His grandfather and great-uncle purchased the bar from the McGillin family in 1958, making Christopher Mullins, Jr., the third generation of the same family to run the tavern.

The namesake IPA, brewed by Stoudts Brewing Company, was introduced in 2010 when the historic tavern was celebrating its 150th anniversary. McGillin's 1860 IPA is unfiltered, as it would have been in the 1800s and is made from a secret recipe with multiple hop varieties, including centennial and amarillo. A crisp hop flavor and aroma with a slight maltiness and medium body round off this quaffable ale.

Bottles of the 1860 IPA will be available to drink at McGillin's or to take out. It is also available on tap. Bottles will also be available at other restaurants and bars around Philadelphia. As other establishments begin carrying McGillin's 1860 IPA, it will be announced on the tavern's social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

McGillin's has 30 beers on tap and is committed to Eastern Pennsylvania breweries and serves a large selection of regional microbrews. McGillin's also serves the only stout made exclusively in Ireland. The 1860 IPA is one of three house beers served at McGillin's Olde Ale House. The 1860 IPA, McGillin's Real Ale and McGillin's Genuine Lager are all brewed by Stoudts Brewing Company in Adamstown, PA. Mary Ellen & Chris Mullins, Sr. starting serving Stoudts beer at McGillin's 25 years ago when they bought the bar and they have a warm relationship with Carol and Ed Stoudt. The tavern serves more Stoudts draft beer than any other tavern in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

McGillin's Olde Ale House opened in 1860, the year Lincoln was elected president. It is the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia and one of the oldest in the country. The tavern that opened around the time the Liberty Bell cracked and long before anyone ever tasted a cheesesteak, is a stone's throw from City Hall, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Holiday Inn Express Midtown, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, the Philadelphia Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton and other Center City hotels. A private upstairs room for 90 plus guests is available for beer tastings, bus groups, fundraisers, and more. The tavern is open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

---

---

© Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge, 2018. 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

---

---

Gotta Play to Win

A couple of contests have caught my eye lately and thought they'd be worth sharing with you. One requires you to be in Philly on 11/17 with a chance to go to Belgium and brew beer and the other is more for residents of the internet world hoping to go to GABF 2011. Taking the lazy way out, here's the copied text from the first one here in Philly. The second is from the American Homebrewers Association.

---

One regional brewer and one local beer drinker and will get a chance to win an all expenses paid trip to Belgium to help brew a Philly Beer Week (PBW) collaborative beer with world-renown brewer Dirk Naudts of De Proef Brouwerij. The two lucky winners will be selected during a fun party on Wednesday, November 17 starting at 7 p.m. at McGillin’s Olde Ale House (1310 Drury St., 215-735-5562) in Center City.

---

---

---

It won’t take a jolly fat man in a red suit to fulfill your holiday hopes and dreams—all you need to do is register as a user of HomebrewersAssociation.org, and you’ll be entered to win a trip to the 2011 Great American Beer Festival (GABF)! The contest winner receives airfare for two, three nights of hotel accommodations and two all-session passes to Great American Beer Festival 2011 in Denver, Colo., September 29 - October 1, 2011.

---

---

---

Who knew that drinking beer could be so much fun and rewarding?

Breaking in the New Year 2010 with ease

After a great New Year's Eve in the neighborhood drinking a plethora (a plethora, you say?!) of great beverages from local craft brew to mulled wine to champagne to toasting with Firestone Walker's 10th Anniversary (holding up quite well after 3+ years) at Midnight, I looked to follow up with a back end of a doubleheader on New Year's Day. After sleeping in and cleaning up around the house, we were off into Philly on the train a little later than expected. The quick trip down the old Pennsylvania Railroad was made much easier with my chosen hair of the dog, Monk's Blood from 21st Amendment. Yes, I splurged on a case of these cans ($55...not a typo) and they are worth every penny for this sipping pleasure. And, yet another place where cans are just a little bit more convenient than bottles---trains. After strolling Broad Street a bit to take in some of the Mummery of the annual Philadelphia tradition called the Mummers Parade (it sounds so much better in person), we thought we might check out the kick off of McGillin's 150th Anniversary, well at least 2010's kickoff...since technically, the anniversary kickoff began mid-summer last year, 150 days prior to the anniversary date. But, the scene was just way more than we were looking for. We've seen McGillin's during a St. Patrick's Day parade and this was much the same mess, complete with a police cruiser being sprayed with beer, while the officer sat inside. Yes, this also was not a typo. We moved on across Broad Street to Monk's where the crowd was a bit thinner, a bit better behaved, and the suds a bit heftier and tastier. 19 Stouts and 1 Lambic is how Monk's promoted their New Year's Day. We saw a sub-chapter of the Usual Beer Crowd at Monk's before we moved across town and to the south to the H&H party (at the house of Hughes and Hatton, not Horn & Hardart, in case there was any confusion). Original Buddy held court for a while; I was not coerced, paid, or otherwise to call him Original Buddy. We skipped out on the 2 Street Revelry, which as many of you know continues into the wee hours of January 2nd every year. We opted, as some of the others did, to do our part on the firkin and some dinner at Devil's Den. Yards was continuing their 10-day Blowout of Olde Bartholomew Barleywine firkins. This was Day 2 and continues on through January 9th at the P.O.P.E. Check out their website to find some of this smooth and deceptively drinkable 10.3% brew out of the firkin. It'll be on CO2, of course, as well at many places in the city and 'burbs. But, the firkin is the one place that you should make an effort to have it from. In the coming days, you'll be hard-pressed to come up with an excuse not to. I'd hoped to start 2010 the way I did 2009, with a trip to Local 44...only this year to celebrate their 1st Anniversary instead of their grand opening. With the amount of time we had already spent gallivanting the city, the amount of calories consumed, and a holiday season that was just about to put its final stake in us, we opted instead for the train back home. That only postpones my visit to congratulate them in person; the wishes are nonetheless the same. Of course, that should mean one last T.U.D. at Bridgewater's Pub at 30th Street Station. That would not happen this time 'round, since they determined it was better to be closed on New Year's Day than put up with traveling mummer-ites. In a year where (just a few changes listed here) the Brendan & Leigh family grew 300%, Sly Fox began the process of moving its home location, Victory significantly expanded the brewhouse footprint and capacity, and the beer scene witnessed the losses of Zot, the tiedhouse, and Maia, it leaves us wondering what surprises and disappointments 2010 has in store for us.

McGillin's Turns 150!

If I were around this weekend, I'd love to hop on the McGillin's bus and join them in kicking off their 150th Anniversary celebration...which, well, actually occurs next year. They figure there's no time like t minus 150 days to get the party started. Sometimes it feels like McGillin's has been around forever, that 150 seems, well, kind of young! So many memories...such good memories of years gone by at McGillin's. Here is the cliff notes version of some of the highlights leading up to 150 years on Drury Lane. - August 1st: for $20, have breakfast, take a bus ride from center city Philadelphia to Adamstown to pick up some of the Stoudt's-brewed anniversary beer, McGillin's 1860 IPA. Bring it back on said bus, and continue the partying at McGillin's. Stoudt's already brews McGillin’s Real Ale and McGillin’s Genuine Lager for the house. - August 4th: Party-of-a-Century-And-A-Half includes a Don Russell book reading and signing and a ceremonial keg tapping by Abraham Lincoln (this should be a welcome deviation from the usual Ben Franklin keg tappings and sightings!) There'll be countdown clocks and prizes to keep the party going late into the night. - August 11th: Lew Bryson shows up to do a book signing and meet 'n' greet (though, with his baritone, he should do a reading too, right?) - August 25th: American crime novelist Duane Swierczynski will show up with books and discussions about his book that features a bar inspired by McGillin's. - September 1st: New York Times bestselling author William Lashner will read from Blood & Bones - September 8th: Dr. Lewis Losoncy, motivational psychologist and the Dr. of Encouragement, will read from Early Poppers: The Secrets of Self-Starters. Dr. Lew cites long-time McGillin's employee, John Doyle, as an example of a superstar of customer service.