14th Annual Manayunk Brewfest

The last Saturday in April has come and gone which means the annual Manayunk Brewfest occurred! For me, this was actually my 9th in a row which I think is a pretty good run. For the past few years, they've also been doing a theme (though it's more or less only followed by the really small breweries) and this year's was Wild Ales. Considering I hadn't ever seen Manayunk brew a wild ale, I was really curious what they were going to offer.

Like every year, the Septa trains out to Manayunk were timed terribly so we arrived about an hour early. However, this year we were actually the first people in line which was pretty surprising. Here's my friends and wife waiting on the front of the line.

People also gave us a wide berth in the front but I think it was because they were smoking and not because they thought we were weird. Or I hope that was the reason.

Philly Beer Geek Semifinals at the Manayunk Brewery

After my triumphant win (okay okay stumbling win) at Time Restaurant in the Philly Beer Geek contest, I was on my way to the Manayunk Brewery for the semifinals on Tuesday May 24th. I was pretty excited since I figured I'd get to meet a lot of cool people, the beer at the brewery is pretty good and I don't get there often enough. As I said yesterday, though, the contest didn't go so well for me but I'll get to that in a bit and the night itself was fun up until the end anyway.

14th Annual Manayunk Brewfest

For the 14th year in a row, the Manayunk Brewery held their brewfest on the last Saturday in April.  This was the 8th year in a row I've gone to it as it's generally a whole lot of fun.  It's a brewfest so there's of course a lot of different beers to drink, there's lots of interesting people and the pourers are a lot of fun to talk to.

South Philly Tap Room

Jo and I went to do some Christmas shopping in South Philly so we decided to stop by South Philly Tap Room for dinner and some drinks on the way home.  This replaced our trip to Devil's Den so I lied in my previous post.  Oh well, you'll just have to learn to live with the disappointment.  This was my first visit to SPTR so I was pretty excited.  I've heard a lot of good things about it and it lived up to all of them.  The draft list was quite varied and the food was really good.  I got a great meatball hoagie and Jo got an open-faced roast chicken sandwich that was quite delicious.  Plus there is a decently priced bottle shop called Brews across the street so you can stock up on things you need after having dinner.  How convenient.

To start, I got a beer I've been eying for a while, Allagash Interlude, an American Wild Ale.

It had a tart, fruit smell with a little funk in the background.  Not overpowering and very interesting.  Initial sip was tart and sour, but without the puckering lactic sourness that exists in some of the more pronounced sours.  Nice base of sweetness to buoy the sour flavors and keep them from ruining your mouth.  Jo really enjoyed this as well so take that as you will.  We both decided it had a lemonade like flavor although without the ridiculous sugar that exists in most.  I guess you could call it beeronade?  Hmm, maybe not since that sounds remarkably dumb.

After flip-flopping between Ommegang Adoration and Manayunk Iron Curtain, I decided to order Manayunk's Russian Imperial Stout since we're going to Ommegang in March anyway.

Cocoa, coffee and some roasted malt in the nose.  Quite inviting.  Some warming alcohol up front followed by some sweetness to counteract it.  The cocoa and coffee flavors fight with the alcohol a bit with the alcohol initially winning but, as is usual, the alcohol notes disappeared as I drank more.  It's a flavor that's easy to get past. at least for me, which allows the tastier stuff to come to the front.  Nice thick mouthfeel too.  Good offering from Manayunk even if it wasn't quite as tasty as the Stones Russian Imperial Stout I had the other day.  Hard to compete with them though.  Enjoyable end to the meal.