Philadelphia Beer Scene or how I found some cool beer places

Oh Philadelphia how I love your beer scene…you have now become my one of my favorite beer places.

I had to head up to Philly for training and an exercise with one of my co-workers. As I do for any trip I planned ahead and scoped out what others have recommended.

As with any trip where I’ll be somewhere for more than a few days I had to stock up. Our first stop was the Craft Beer Outlet. I love places I can get single bottles from and the Craft Beer Outlet did not disappoint. Add to that the fact that you can consume on premises and you have a recipe for success. After having a a Fegley’s Always Sunny Pale Ale and a Great Lakes Brewing Dopplerock we headed to the hotel.

Dinner for the evening was at Coaches Sports Bar. The food was ok but the bartender and the hockey game made up for it. A few Yard’s Brewing Philadelphia Pale Ales didn’t hurt either.

The next day I hit the Market Street area in Philly and the Triumph Brewery. Let me say I had no plans to stop in but I was cold and decided I needed to warm up. The food here was amazing, so good that I came back a second night with friends. I recommend starting with the pretzels.

The beer was great too. Any place that puts a nine beer sampler in front of me is starting off on the right foot. The lineup:

Feral Wheat
Amber Ale
Cream Ale - really tastes like a cream soda
Biz Journ Ale - I was disappointed that they had just changed out their kegs to this from a Rauch Bier but it was still good.
Bengal Gold IPA
Schwarzbier
Kellerbier
Belgian Something Else
Jewish Rye (cask) - tastes great if you like rye bread…I mean it really tastes like rye bread.

One stop at the Eulogy Belgian Tavern for dinner and a Eulogy Busty Blonde Ale and I headed home for the evening. Eulogy was good, loved the sausage plate I got and the Busty Blonde was a good Belgian.

Day three saw us checking out one of the Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives recommended restaurants The Memphis Taproom. With a great food menu and a beer menu to match this place is a must stop if you are ever in Philly. You have my heart if you make good pierogies and polish sausage…thank you. And I’m sorry that the people I was with were a little rowdy.

We also made a brief stop at Kraftwork for one beer and I had a nice Duchess de Bourgogne to round out the evening.

Two last places to mention. We had one at the National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant. Great looking bar and cool environment make this place a staple. My only regret is that I didn’t go to the Irish Pol Bar. This Irish/Polish Bar had a great draft list and looked really cool.