So Bella Vista Beer Distributor recently moved across the street into a larger space and they are celebrating today by giving away free beer. Choose from either Dock Street Bohemian or Samuel Smith Winter Welcome. MMMM, festivities take place at 3.
Bella Vista Beer Distributor, 755 S 11th Street.
Greensgrow, purveyors of fine locally grown produce that keep my fridge stocked with cheddar cheese cauliflower and this head of purple cabbage that never seems to shink no matter how much I cook (want some borscht? call me.), is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow in Kensington for a kitchen hood to be installed in their community kitchen. Hence: hood for the ‘hood.
RSVP requested, donation required. Food first at the farm (2501 E. Cumberland), then mosey over to Philadelphia Brewing Company. Dunno if they have a TV, but it’ll be bird on bird with Eagles v. Ravens. Speaking of Baltimore, every time I go up to Kensington I’m reminded of its white-working-class-semi-gentryifying cousin down I-95, Hampden. In addition to being the locus classicus for John Waters and stronghold of Baltimoreana with the annual Honfest, Hampden goes whole hog for Christmas with the Miracle on 34th Street. While I doubt Kensington, or any neighborhood for that matter, will ever match Hampden’s epic kitsch, it looks like the holiday spirit is coming to the near northeast.
The self-guided tour tells you everything you need to know. Between the food at Greensgrow and the beer at PBC, Hampden can have its hub cap Christmas tree and electrified rowhouses. The crabs pulling Santa’s sleigh are pretty bad-ass, however.
Ditto the lil’ Natty Boh angel.
Tags: Beer · PBC · Uncategorized · bmore · christmas · greensgrow · hampden · kensington · philly
The food shortage is in full effect around the world. Riots are expected. Mud pies are being sold and Oh Noes! American craft brewers are now reformulating their recipes to cope with rising hop prices.
Ian Ward, president of Brewers Supply Group in Shakopee, Minnesota — the nation’s largest craft brew supplier — says things are only going to get worse. “That’s the crisis that brewers are finding themselves in,” Ward says. “They’re having to review their recipes. The crisis really hasn’t hit hard yet.”
The hop shortage became noticeable around July, when a market glut and hop reserves stored in extract began dwindling.
The bulk of U.S.-grown hops are produced in the Yakima, Washington, area. Farmers weren’t getting a profitable return and got out of the market, switched crops or went bankrupt. The same was happening in Germany, the world’s No. 1 hop-growing country.
In the United States alone, there were an estimated 515 hop growers in 1950; 75 in 2000 and just 45 today, Ward says. In 2006, about 2 million pounds of hops were destroyed in an S.S. Steiner warehouse in Yakima, equaling about 4 percent of the U.S. hop crop.
All the while, beer sales are increasing worldwide by about 1 to 2 percent annually. The craft brewing industry is growing yearly by 12 percent. That economic reality is pushing hop growers back into the fields.
Anybody noticed any differences in price or taste?
Tags: Beer · beer week · drinking · drinking philly
I love beer. I’m especially glad to live in Philly where most places have Yuengling priced the same as the other big pisswaters domestics. Even better than Yuengling is all of the wonderful beer bars like Eulogy, Monks, Nodding Head, Independence, Triumph, Ten Stone and so many others. There are also the awesome beer take out stores with the Foodery and the Wurst Best House at the top of the heap.
Raise a glass to Philly!
Tags: Beer · beer week · philly