Beer Week 2010 Super Blog, Pt 5

Day Four


Thirty-one different Bell’s beers on tap! That alone had preempted any of our other plans to check out other Beer Week happenings for Day Four.

City Tap House

Another relatively new comer to the Philly beer scene, the City Tap House occupies the upper mezzanine level of a mixed use high-rise with an outdoor patio complete with fire pits.

There was already a good sized crowd mulling around waiting when we arrived. Our waiter gave us the regular drink menu asking if we wanted anything since they could not pour any of the featured beers until the appointed start time for the event. I kind of looked at him strangely, “Why would I want to do that with 31 beers to drink?” I don’t think that was the first telepathic communication he had received that night since he walked away with a slight grin on his face.

They could not pour the beer until 7:00PM but our waiter returned to take our order way before the appointed time. The genius who came up with this system must have thought that they would have to pour several hundred beers when the clock hits 7:00 with horde of thirsty people demanding their beers. We couldn’t let him down on his well thought out plan by ordering 6 beers ourselves as a contribution to the madness.

Strength in number. To tackle 31 beers, we enlisted Buddy Karen to bring the average number of beer consumed per person down.

Forty five minutes later, our beers finally showed up. Our helpful waiter tried to tell us which was which but after sipping a few beers, we realized that he had the order completely messed up. Beer roulette time!

Our result for the first 6 beers mix and match beer roulette: 1) Batch 6000 – A 10.5% dry hopped barley wine brewed in 2003. It’s very smooth with all the essential characteristics of a good barley wine. 2) Le Pianiste – This 5.8% malt forward beer has a good note of bread crust with a dry and crisp finish. Very easy drinking. 3) Golden Funk – Lots of peppercorn, cardamom type flavors in this 6.2% wheat. Enjoyed drinking it very much. 4) Bourbon Barrel Aged Hell Hath No Fury – To say that Aiiyah really loved this beer is an understatement. I loved the Hell Hath No Fury. Aging this beer in bourbon barrels would just make me to commit unthinkable acts just to have another one. Yes, at 10.5%, who wouldn’t want to have another one? 5) Le Contrabassiste – A 7.0% from the Biere de Garde series. A very easy drinking beer with light hints of coffee and caramel. 6) La Batteur – Another Biere de Garde beer. Another easy drinking blonde at 5.8%

We traded a few beer tales with our new friends Dave and Kevin who recounted for us their beer adventure in a bocce ball tournament in Kansas City(or was that Nashville?) as part of the Knights of the (Sacred) Malted Ball team dressed in their KKK Grand Imperial Wizard look-alike costumes/uniforms…long story. They also gave us a few ideas for our next beers.

Beer number 7) Black Note (11.0%) – It’s a bourbon! It’s a 50/50 blend of the Expo beer and the DCS beer aged in bourbon barrels for up to 18 months; but it’s a bourbon. It’s strong. It’s a WOW! It’s beyond description. It’s a bourbon! 8) Wedding Ale – Wheaty, hoppy; and at 7.0%, it wasn’t something that stood out to me on this night. 9) Harry Magill’s Spiced Stout – It’s supposed to have used spices from around the world to brew this with the oldest specialty stout recipes. At 7.5%, all I tasted was a lot of herbal notes, but still very good.

So we had tried. However, after 9 beers and a good buzz, it was getting late and we were getting tired. We threw in the towel by waving little white flags. There were still a few more one-off that we would have liked to try but we were glad that we had what we drank. Some of these beers were so rare that even Google would not return a result. On the way to the bathroom, we noticed the hallway was lined with kegs from the who’s who heavy hitters of the craft beer world. We called it a night knowing that we’d be back soon when these kegs are tapped.


Day Four Beer Tally:


Bell’s Batch 6000
Bell’s Le Pianiste
Bell’s Golden Funk
Bell’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Hell Hath No Fury
Bell’s Le Contrabassiste
Bell’s La Batteur
Bell’s Black Note
Bell’s Wedding Ale
Bell’s Harry Magill’s Spiced