Category Archives: Beer

Tastykake: Good in Shakes, Ice Cream and Spiked Blended Drinks

I believe it was Marie Antoinette who once said, “Let them eat Tastykakes.”  Or maybe that was just the Marie Antoinette impersonator during the Storming of the Bastille re-enactment during Philly’s Bastille Day celebrations of years past.  Regardless of whoever said the quote, we should heed the advice.

Tastykake, of course, is a Philly original, serving wonderful baked products for close to 100 years.  Sure, it merged out of necessity with Flower Foods, Inc., but that doesn’t mean it changed any of its recipes to its krimpets, kakes and pies.  And one of the best things about Tastykake products is that you can incoporate them into other foods, such as milkshakes, ice cream and blended alcohol drinks.  Thanks to the good folks at The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (Visit Philly) and Foodspotting, I had the opportunity to take part in an “Eat Up” tour of various Tastykake-inspired dishes throughout the city.

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BeerAdvocate Respects Beer in Philadelphia

In case you weren’t already convinced that the Philadelphia area is home to one of the best beer scenes in the country, no less an authority than BeerAdvocate agrees.  Today, BA founders Jason and Todd Alström flew their crew down from Boston to once again visit a good sampling of the city’s best beer bars.

The Alström brothers established BA as a way for beer enthusiasts to connect, support and promote good beer.  In addition to general beer discussions through its forum, the website provides a pretty comprehensive database of beer reviews and ratings.  If you’re visiting another city and looking for bars serving good beer, the BA website also features reports and reviews of bars and other places of interest.  Its motto is “Respect Beer,” which is simple and yet a great way to live life.

On occasion, BA goes on the road to check out the local flavor.  Previous trips have included the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado as well as two prior visits to Philadelphia.  This trip’s rather ambitious itinerary included drinking beers at Grey Lodge Pub in Northeast Philly, Jose Pistola’s and Monk’s in Center City, Earth Bread + Brewery in Mt. Airy, Farmers’ Cabinet in Midtown Village and Khyber Pass Pub in Old City – all from noon to about 10 p.m.  Fortunately, there was no need for a designated driver.  As soon as they landed and checked into their hotel, they put away the keys to their rental cars and are depending on cabs to get from place to place. Continue reading →

Philadelphia Is a Spoiled Beer City

On Saturday morning, I went over to Sidecar Bar and Grille for its “Let’s Do Breakfast with Founders” event, which was run in conjunction with the Craft Beer Express.  With the bar opening at 10:30 a.m., one would reasonably believe that getting there at around 10 a.m. would be quite early enough.  Wrong.  By 9:15, over an hour before the event, there were already twenty people in line.  By 10 a.m., the line was seventy deep.  To wait in line to drink beer on a nice Saturday morning.

Of course, it wasn’t just any regular beer.  Founders, a relatively small brewery based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of the most well-respected breweries in the world.  It only brews about 30,000 barrels yearly, but its entire lienup is highly regarded in the beer drinking community.   Fortunately, Pennsylvania is one of the sixteen states to which it distributes.  And while Founders has a nice selection of beers available year round, it also has special, limited release beers that draw beer enthusiasts like opening day sales of new versions of iPhones. 

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