Avery 20th Anniversary

Just a short post today and it's honestly more of an excuse to post a fun picture than really talk about the beer. This is from a visit to Kite & Key Jo and I took quite a few weeks ago so I don't remember much about the Avery 20th Anniversary Double IPA other than that it was a fine beer. You won't be disappointed ordering it but it definitely didn't blow me away or anything. However, I like this picture and didn't want it to go to waste.

If you expand it, you can see Pax just chilling there on the right, all asleep and comfortable. So, yes, if you're wondering, this is just an excuse to post a picture of my child. Sue me! At least I'm not tweeting pictures of him, all day everyday like some people. Right?

Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout

A lot of Avery's barrel aged stuff isn't distributed at all, but lately they have been sending out a few of them. I guess their barrel program is growing large enough at this point to spread the love. Uncle Jacob's Stout is a monster of a bourbon stout coming in at 17% and was either the first or second offering to become available. Not sure if Rumpkin was first though it doesn't really matter.

Super thick pour, like motor oil. Really impressive and exactly how I like a stout. Smelled of chocolate, graham cracker, strong bourbon, vanilla, and a mostly complete lack of alcohol. Body followed with chocolate, caramel, plum, raisin, bourbon, and even more chocolate in the finish. Pretty complex obviously. There were some hints of the alcohol in the aftertaste but amazingly smooth for 17%. Like, ridiculously smooth. This maybe should be a weekend beer considering the strength, but who cares about that. Clearly not me. If you like bourbon stouts, this one is right up there.

Avery Maharaja

Stopped at the Kite & Key yesterday with Jo and ordered an Avery Maharaja, a double IPA.

Nice clean grapefruit and pineapple nose. The fruit starts, followed by a light bitterness, and finishing with some caramel sweetness. There was a a lingering dry bitterness to it, keeping the caramel from overpowering the hops and the whole thing from being too sweet. Considering it's over 10%, this was quite impressive in not being too alcoholic or tasting particularly strong. Definitely a good double IPA for me.

Another Savage Sixtel Sunday at Kite & Key

It was finally time for another Savage Sixtel Sunday at Kite & Key and of course I had to go. I mentioned a while back that it's named after the bartender on Sunday nights, Jim Savage, and so he was there behind the bar. With all the tvs Kite & Key is definitely a nice place to spend a Sunday night.

I started with a glass of Stillwater Debutante, a saison of sorts.

Avery at Kraftwork

Now we come to what turned out to be my second favorite event of Philly Beer Week. The London Grill dinner was my top favorite, but this night came pretty close. There were two reasons I found this event at Kraftwork so cool. One, the Avery draft list was quite amazing and I got to try a whole lot of them because of their awesome flight deal. And, two, they hired a group called the Olde City Sideshow who were pretty awesome. Kraftwork is located on Girard St. in North Philly. Decently large bar with tables ringing the room. Avery is a brewery out of Colorado best known for, hmm, probably their Joe's Pilsener but for me it's their super high octane beers like Mephistopheles, Samael's, and The Beast. Thursday's event was named "The Greatest Show on Earth", I believe, and some of the staff actually dressed the part which was cool. Nice to see a bar have an actual theme and then follow through on it.

When we arrived, there wasn't any room at the bar so we stood near a friend's table and I enjoyed a glass of Avery Dihos Dactylion, an American Wild Ale.

Kennett

Jo and I recently met up with some friends at a restaurant named Kennett.  It's located on 2nd street just before Carpenter and is pretty easy to get to.  Reasonable amount of parking as well.  Not a big place, but well set up.  Nice looking bar on your left as you walk in with a couple tables across from it leading into a dining room with four or five more tables.  As I said, not big.  Food was really good.  They have a brick oven and their pizza was very tasty and our friend said their veggie burger was good.  Beer list was decent as well and most likely sees a decent variety.

Prohibition Taproom

Jo and I picked the Prohibition Taproom to visit before our chocolate tour of Philadelphia.  We were looking for somewhere new and this was close to Reading Terminal so we decided to check it out.  It's at 501 N. 13th Street, just south of Spring Garden.  Nondescript outside with a sign that said bar or something.  Neither of us can remember.  Inside, there were only a few tables and a pretty neat looking bar.  It was made of solid wood and had some islands that jutted out from it into the middle of the room.  Interesting set up that we've never seen before.  Might be hell for the wait staff, but our bartender said she didn't much mind it.  Our food was actually quite good and their draft selection was pretty varied.

I started with Avery Old Jubilation, a winter warmer.

It smelled a little roasty with some sweet malt.  I got hints of some caramel, a few more roast notes, and some other sweet flavors.  Interesting and quite good.  I'm really looking forward to trying Avery's Mephistopheles after having this.  I haven't had enough from them considering the quality of this one.

After that I had a glass of Yards Hoppy Lil' Hudson, an IPA.  (Yards brews this in collaboration with the Prohibition Taproom.)

Decent hop smell once again reminding me of grapefruits.  Almost an inch of head, but this came off cask which is why it looks so creamy.  Very smooth mouth feel also possibly a result of being on cask.  Some bitterness in it but there was none in the after taste.  Pretty pleasant to drink.  Very smooth flavor, very smooth finish.  Felt like drinking creamy hops which is pretty different than a lot of IPAs.  Once again I enjoyed an IPA quite a bit.

After that we went on to do our Chocolate Tour which was pretty fun.  A couple hours later we ended up at Tria and I got a glass of Port Older Viscosity, an imperial stout.  I talked about it during the Hulmeville Beer Geek BBQ event.

Similar thoughts to last time except I thought this glass had a bit more bourbon flavor in it.  Some wood flavors as well but not a ton of sweetness.  Second sip had a lot of chocolate notes.  As I drank more, the chocolate, wood and bourbon flavors blended reasonably well together.  Strong beer, but one glass is a good choice if you savor it.