Beer Week 2010 Super Blog, Pt. 3

Day Two


The drive from Washington, DC to Philadelphia is a tolerable journey, if you have a good music mix in the iPod. My playlist was barely keeping our sanity in check when it took us one hour to move just 7 miles when 3 lanes on New York Ave. were merging into one, so a patch of 10 by 10 could be repaved. All these time sitting in the car crawling our way north did give us ample opportunity to thumb through the extensive list of events happening during the Beer Week and decide on a place(s) to go for day two when we (hopefully) got back to Philly. It took us no time to come up with our first destination.

The Good Dog Bar


Our favorite hangout in Philly was hosting the Flying Dog. That’s a no brainer for us to stop in when these two dogs meet. So who did we see as we walked less than two feet past the front door into the crowed bar? Our very own beer goddess, the Beerlass, who was still wearing her race number from the 3 ½ mile Beermuda Triangle Run earlier that afternoon. She even seemed to have survived the run pretty well since she was still on her feet despite it took her 2 hours to complete the loop.

 The beeline from I-95 to the front door of Good Dog led us to the firkin of Flying Dog Snake Bite sitting on the bar, our first official Philly Beer Week beer event, in Philly. While the Tourist Tree was appreciating this hoppy 7.1% IPA after the slow drive home; Aiiyah decided to switch to something more suiting his taste, the Barrel Aged Gonzo Porter. At 7.8%, this imperial porter provided Aiiyah with both a good taste of satisfaction and an equal amount of high octane happiness.



Doing the Flying Dog with Flying Fish Casey and Tim.

 Summer in the City


Alcohol does impair judgment. We both desired a good burger after flying around with pints of the Flying Dogs. I still do not understand or remember what had transpired us not to have the Good Dog Burger but instead we walked down the street and tried our luck in getting a few seats at the Village Whisky. Alcohol does impair judgment.

To our surprise, and probably to anyone who had tried to get a table on a Saturday night’s surprise; we were seated immediately at Village Whiskey. Summer in the city was doing us well!

We love beets. We even tried to cook beets at home one time and gave up on any future attempts after realizing that it takes a very long time to cook a beet till it is tender. We now order beets whenever we see interesting ones on menus.

The pickled beets were served with black olive tapenade, whipped ricotta and toasted sourdough. The yellow and red pieces were tender yet still had a nice snap. The light pickling allowed the beets to retain some of their natural characteristics without being drowned out by the process

Village Whisky has an extensive whisky and cocktail list, yet I am proud to say that of the many times I have visited, I have not had anything other then beer there. There has always been something very interesting either on the taps or in bottles in the short but sweet list.


After the rowdy good time we just had at Good Dog, I wasn’t going to have another beer with dinner but the sign written on the chalk board outside the restaurant so intrigued and convinced me, “Beer Week Special: Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Brandy Aged Stout”. Enough said. This jet black dark liquid of gold was sweet, smoky, and herbal’ish. It’s thick, viscous, and packed a good punch at 11.5%ABV. I have not seen many beers from the Cigar City Brewery in the city yet, but I like every beer from this Tampa, FL brewery that I have tried so far. I still have no idea who Marshal Zhukov is.

With an audacious need for a good burger, Tourist Tree ordered the BBQ Pork Sammy (without the sammy part). The pulled pork soaked in whisky BBQ sauce was sweet with a little kick of spice following. As a pulled pork connoisseur, Tourist Tree liked the meat but thought the sweetness in the sauce was becoming overwhelming toward the end of her meal.


There are times the by-catch on a dish becomes the star while the main attraction stands behind in the shadow. This time, it was the fried pickles, which were nicely seasoned and battered. A bite through the perfectly fried crunchy batter led to a juicy slice of pickle followed by the light kick of spiciness from the seasoning. These fried pickles on the side of the BBQ pork were awesome!

With an audacious need for a good burger, Aiiyah had his with cheddar, bacon and an egg on top. There is nothing more satisfying than a gooey egg yoke running all over a wonderfully prepared burger made with high quality meat; well…, may be if the bacon were a bit crispier. Regardless, my handful of a juicy bomb provided what I needed psychologically and physiologically. Of course, nothing was complete without a good order of tater tots on the side.
 

 
 
 

The temptation was too much. With Capogiro only a few feet away across the street, it would be illegal not to stop in for a little cup of goodness before going home. While the Tourist Tree had her usual mix of sorbets, Aiiyah had a Thai Coconut Milk granita with a nice scoop of Stracciatella on top. Excess is good!
 

Day Two Beer Tally:

Flying Dog Snake Bite

Flying Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter

Cigar City Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Brandy Aged Stout