Beer Weekend, Pt. 2

Saturday

Pliny the Younger at Tria in the Gayborhood

No beer has enjoyed so much notoriety lately as Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing. Not because it has been rated as the all time number one beer by Beer Advocate; not because it is extremely limited in distribution with the reportedly less than 100 barrels produced each year; not because beer geeks line up outside when/wherever the beer is tapped; but because it might have unwillingly played a role in the now infamous Keystone Cop style Great Beer Raid carried out by the PA State Police and the much beloved PLCB as one of the beers they were looking for and confiscated less than a week ago.

I am usually never early for anything but I found my self getting into the city early since there was barely any traffic because of the miserable rainy weather. When we arrived at 20 minutes before noon, the appointed time which the Younger supposed to be pouring, there was already a sizable group of people queuing up outside Tria waiting to get in. There is nothing more miserable than standing in line in the cold wet rain, however, considering that the first guy in the line had been there since 10:00AM, we couldn’t complain too much.

Tria did a very good job in letting people inside in groups so the place wouldn’t be jam-packed. The Tourist Tree has had the Younger previously but this was my first taste of this much talked about double IPA. I am not much of a hoppy beer drinker but I must admit this was a pretty good beer. It’s hoppy alright but it also has quite a complex flavor and a slight sweetness. I have been scared away by some of the extreme American style IPA’s, nevertheless this beer has a lot of merit on its own. With the Tourist Tree being the hophead between us, we both agreed that the Younger is a very good beer, but we are not sure if it is something worth standing in line for in the rain. It was also quite an expensive pour at $7.50 for a small glass. As the Tourist Tree put it, “There are other excellent beers out there…”
 

People still standing in line outside as we were enjoying our Younger leisurely. I also noticed that two women and one man who waited in line earlier but were now drinking wines at the bar. Wine! Why somebody would wait in line for a beer event and had wine instead once they got in?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Garces Trading


There was a need for food after drinking the 11%ABV beer with an empty stomach. We stopped at the Iron Chef’s newest venture, a super upscale deli/grocery store/bakery/table service café, with a mini PLCB store attached within.

Buying a wedge of cheese, a few slices of cured meat, and picking up a bottle of wine under the same roof is nothing new to the rest of the free world. However, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which still operates by Prohibition era liquor laws and influenced by big industry special interest groups and politicians’ personal interests, this is a totally new concept.

The wine store is very small. It boasts that it stocks mostly “special order” wines that are generally available only to restaurants but not in the regular retail stores. I found the selection to be extremely limited. There were a few bottles each from different parts of the world but nothing from the US. Most of the bottles were unknown to any average person but only to wine geeks. The entrance to the wine section has a clear sign on the door reminding everybody that the space is leased and operated by the PLCB. I guess the best advantage of this arrangement is that one can buy a bottle of wine and byo through the glass door partition to the café section and have a meal with wine without paying the usual restaurant markups. Wacky!

Beer? What beer? You know that you can’t buy wine and beer under one roof in PA. That’s would just make life too easy for its citizen!

Compared to the wacky wine store setup, the rest of the place looks surprising normal; granted very fancy with the high ceilings, light color walls, brushed aluminum display cases with super-sized chalkboard menus above, and a crew of clean cut staff in crisp white uniforms behind the counter.


There is an amazing selection of cheeses from local and international producers, plus mozzarella made in-house. There are also a wide selection of sausages and cured meat from around the globe except I didn’t see the much talked about 2lb packaged burger meat that is used in the Village Whiskey burger for sale during our visit.

Cheeses, glorious cheeses!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I found the most interesting part to be the olive oil and balsamic vinegar bar which you can help yourself to a taste of the different offerings before bottling one yourself to take home.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The in house bakery makes the bread and a small but well rounded selection of desserts. It also sells different coffee beans including one that are roasted specially for the Garces empire.
 
 
 
 
 

The Moroccan


Within the café, there are several communal tables that allow you to enjoy your purchase from the counter cafeteria style. Instead, we took a table served by a waiter and both ordered the Moroccan sandwich; I had it “wit”, Tourist Tree “witout” the bread.

We were brought fresh bread and olive oil which looked very delectable but neither of us wanted to fill ourselves up.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

A nice thick cut of perfectly roasted lamb lion with a spread of finely diced roasted pepper, eggplant, herbs, and bacon on top; whole chickpea, comté on the bottom; sandwiched between two pieces of hard crust bread spread with harissa aioli on the super soft and delicious inside; arrived at the table.


The bread was of the same type that was in the bread basket. It would take some strong jaw muscles and sharp teeth to bit through the ensemble but you would be rewarded with a wonderfully tender piece of medium-rare lamb nicely flavored with the accompanying vegetable spread and the aioli. I am not much of a sandwich person but this one was delicious and very satisfying. Just what I needed after Pliny the Younger!


 The Moroccan “wit”

 The Moroccan “witout”

We couldn’t resist but had to get the tempting looking canalé and macron for dessert. The canalé was excellent with its soft custard like middle. We loved the salt and caramel macron. It was soft and airy to bit thought until the gooeyness filling hit you with sweetness and a hint of salt that’s very satisfying.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
The lovely Tourist tree enjoying a cup of Garces private reserve coffee while dreading the inevitability of bundling up to combat the Northeaster rain storm outside.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Interesting Find. We noticed this soda in the soft drink cooler. According to the label, it’s a Pinot Noir soda from Wine Country soda with 50% of the juice coming from the pinot noir grape. So…where does the other half of the juice came from? Does it taste like a pinot wine or is it just an expensive grape soda?
 
 

Supplication at Tria Rittenhouse

We were completely soaked by the time we arrived at the other Tria. Staying with the Russian River beers theme, we had the featured beer of the day, the Supplication. I am not a fan of the Belgium style sour but after the big lunch at Garces, I needed one. This brown ale made with sour cherries and aged in French Pinot Noir barrels made a nice digestive for my full stomach.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The day was still young, we could have gone to a few more places, but with the crappy weather and wet clothes, we decided to head home…..for a nice afternoon nap.