Thursday, August 6, 2009

Forward Momentum

When we started brewing beer as Philadelphia Brewing Co. 20 months ago we hoped this town would drink it faster than we could make it. With a lot of hard work and hustle we've kept up. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. A couple of months ago it became obvious that we were going to need someplace to put more beer!

Below I have pictures from Silver State Stainless who we chose to build our four shiny new 2600 gallon fermentation tanks (with more to follow). They've just begun fabrication.

Personally, this is especially exciting. I've only ever had the opportunity to brew on systems that were already in place. The mantra always seemed to be "... doing the best with what we've got." This seems to be common in most small breweries where there are many different pieces of equipment accumulated over the years.

Designing these tanks exactly the way we want them has been a fun and educational process. The real drama begins in two months when the first batch of Kenzinger is happily bubbling away in them!

Welding the cooling jacket ...
Nicely polished top dome ...
finishing the bottom cone ...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

"Paul" Saison tapped!

I've heard that "Paul" Saison is pouring over at The General Lafayette Inn & Brewery. As part of their * Brewer Residency Program * they asked me to collaborate on a saison recipe. Below I've posted the pictures I took during brew day.

The name of course is a tribute to Paul Cezanne the French Post-Impressionist artist currently being featured at Philadelphia Museum of Art. It turned out to be a very tasty beer. On top of a solid grain bill we've lightly added orange peel, coriander, and red, white, and black peppercorns. My contribution was our house belgian yeast (used in Walt Wit and Rowhouse Red) and a generous serving of dandelion greens toward the end of the boil.

In true collaborative fashion the beer fermented primarily with our yeast and was finished with the General Lafayette house belgian yeast.

A big thanks to Chris and Russ for asking PBC to be the first Brewer in this program and for letting me glory brew for a day.

And all the photos are here.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Every week is Philly Beer Week




Philly Beer Week is approaching fast and everybody's calendar is filling up!

In less than a month an impressive array of people from all over will descend upon the city to see if there's any merit to the claim of Philly as the best beer drinking city in the US. This is great for the city and great for beer ~ and I think we could rightfully stake that claim.

In all the hustle let's not forget one thing. We've chosen to call it Philadelphia Beer Week. We've done this because we've got the beer and the ego in this city to back it up. The best thing about beer is it's diversity and I love to find inspiration in artfully crafted beers from around the World. (I don't need to remind anyone we've got that all right here in our own backyard.) I'm excited to share a beer and trade ideas with all the non-local brewers that will be coming into town and they will add depth and creativity to the event. They are coming - the list is impressive. And I'll admit - I'm as much a sucker as anyone else for a good German accent.

With all that said - PBW is ours. Lets own it and not forget why it exists in the first place. When you're out at a bar try counting how many of those tap handles are Philly-centric? - And better yet, if you manage a bar you still have time to plan accordingly. Let's be proud of what we have to offer. Let's show em what we got!

~ Cause when all those nicely tanned west-coasters and well mannered Belgians pack up their suitcases and their special taphandles and go on home we'll still be here; local, dependable and delicious.

For us every week is Philadelphia beer week.