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Philly Craft Beer Festival 2009

We survived Philly Beer Week’s Opening Tap last night at the Comcast Center (and according to a friend, we were “on the news”). It was a lot of fun—Mayor Nutter showed Olympian form tapping the first keg, there were lots of new beers to try, and even though the event was sold out, it wasn’t too crowded.

Today we went to the Philly Craft Beer Festival, our third year attending. This year, the Festival fell within Philly Beer Week, competing with about 40 other events. It’s a great opportunity to try a lot of beers in a short time, and a great party to boot. The band was different this year, Dirk Quinn instead of The Bullets. They mostly covered fusion tunes written before they were born. They were excellent, although I didn’t spend a lot of time listening to them. Another change was the addition of a large tent at one end of the hall. Best of all, the weather was glorious. It was about 70, much warmer than any previous festival, and all the doors were left open.

We fell a little behind last year’s pace and tasted a mere 30 beers (and one hard cider). I was happy that there were lots of new beers (to me, anyway) to try. There are only a couple on this list that I have had before (in order of tasting):

• Roy Pitz Truly Honest Ale
• Manayunk Brewery Schuylkill Punch (raspberry lager)
• Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
• New Holland The Poet Oatmeal Stout
• New Holland Mad Hatter IPA
• Köstritzer Black Lager
• Bitburger German Pilsner
• Rock Art Jasmine Pale Ale
• Rock Art Big IPA
• High Point/Ramstein Amber Lager
• High Point/Ramstein Double Platinum Blonde
• Michelob Hop Hound Amber Wheat
• Redhook Long Hammer IPA
• Widmer Hefeweizen
• Hoppy Brewing Liquid Sunshine Blonde Ale
• Hoppy Brewing Total Eclipse Black Ale
• Gritty McDuff’s Best Bitter
• Boulder Beer Never Summer Ale
• Thomas Hooker Irish Red Ale
• Thomas Hooker American Pale Ale
• Ithaca Beer Apricot Wheat
• Anchor Liberty Ale
• Magic Hat Hi.P.A.
• Cricket Hill Cask Ale
• Cricket Hill Paymaster’s Porter
• Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
• Brasserie d’Oc La Mouska
• Warwick Valley Docs Draft Hard Pear Cider
• High and Mighty Beer of the Gods
• High and Mighty St. Hubbins Abbey Ale