Visiting Perch Pub

I've heard good things about the Perch Pub, located at Broad and Locust, and finally decided to visit last Friday night. The bar was already pretty busy when I got there around 5 as they have a decent happy hour with half off most of their drafts. Right now, they have 14 different draft lines with 2 being reserved for small batch stuff like Hill Farmstead, one-offs, things like that.

I started with a glass of Blue Point No Apologies, a double IPA.

Clean grapefruit nose. Started a little bitter up front, followed by a bit of grapefruit, and then finished with some malty sweetness. Decent enough double IPA although it may be a bit sweet for some people. Nice way to start off the night.

After that, I got a glass of Brooklyn Companion, a wheatwine.

When I looked at the beer list earlier in the day, this was one I really wanted to try. Unfortunately it was a horrible disappointment. Belgian nose, lots of banana in it. Unexpected start but hey. At first, I got a weird wheat flavor up front followed by an odd dirty dishwater flavor in the back. As I drank more, I realized it was sort of like drinking potpourri. Just a lot of weird herbal and perfumy flavors that just didn't do it for me at all. Oh well, can't win them all. At least the 10% alcohol was well hidden I guess.

After that I went for a slight change of pace with a much sweeter beer, Long Trail Triple Bag, classified as an American Strong Ale but not anywhere near as hoppy as most in the style.

Huge malt nose. Lots of bread notes. Started with the same sort of malty breadiness with hints of caramel and toffee. Finished with unfortunate notes of acetone and alcohol though. This wasn't bad, but it really wasn't that good either. Sort of one note in flavor and the alcohol finish killed it a bit. As a side note, the onion rings in the picture were pretty great. The breading was tasty and they were cooked really well. If all the food is that good, nice sign.

Up last was the Left Hand Fade to Black Vol. 3, a porter made with chili peppers and a whole bunch of other stuff.

This was supposed to come in a pint glass, but I knew I couldn't handle that much of it so I asked for it in a smaller glass. Smelled smokey, almost ashy. A smokey chili pepper flavor is the main point in it but there's hints of roast and chocolate underneath to keep it from just being a glass of chili juice. The smokiness felt similar to the flavor you get from roasting hot peppers. Really interesting beer and remarkably drinkable for what it was. I actually got a small sample before ordering the full glass and I'd suggest everyone do the same just because of how polarizing I imagine it can be. Surprisingly it was my favorite of the night so take that for what it is.

That was my first visit to the Perch Pub. Nice place, pretty classy looking with lots of room. The bar itself was quite nice and a decent size and there were a large number of tables around the room. Seemed to have darts and a pool table too. Well put together draft list and with two tap handles being reserved for interesting stuff, it should always have something for everyone. I didn't make the best choices on beers considering two weren't that good, but when trying so many different beers that's going to happen. The visit was still good and with the happy hour deal quite inexpensive.