Chink's Steaks (Northest Philadelphia) - Cheesesteak

Appears a 10" roll with thin slices of steak, melted american cheese and nicely caramelized onions on top. - 4

The roll is Liscio's. What sets this roll apart from most cheesesteaks places, that use Liscio's rolls, is that they slightly toast the roll on the grill for just a few seconds. This gives the roll a firm and slightly crispy outside. - 5

The meat is thin ribbons of ribeye. The steak is lightly seasoned and cooked perfectly. Juicy, tender and flavorful with just the right amount of grease. A great thing about this steak joint is that every steak is cooked to order. - 4.5

The cheese is melted on the grill with the meat. Melted nicely and sticking to the meat and roll, so you get some cheese with each bite. - 4.5

Overall, it doesn't get much better then this folks. This is up there with one of the best cheesesteaks I ever had. Open since 1949, Chink's Steaks has won numerous awards throughout the years. Be sure to try one of their extra thick milkshakes or old-fashioned fountain sodas with your steak. - 4.5

Total Score: 4.5/5

Chink's Steaks Website: http://www.chinksteaks.com/

Rossi's Pizzeria (Royersford) - Pizza

Appears a large, 16" pie with a thin crust and a thin layer of tomato sauce with scattered melted cheese on top. There is a few charred bubbles along the edge of the crust. A small amount of dried herbs are in the center of the pie. - 3

The crust is thin with a golden color. This crust is kinda flimsy but it's a decent enough crust. - 3

The sauce is ok. Nothing special here, crushed tomatoes that are lightly seasoned. Not very sweet and it was a tad pastey as well. - 2.5

The cheese appears to be shredded mozzarella. It has an ok flavor. - 2.5

Overall, this is an ok pie. I would have liked to see a little more sauce and cheese on the pie. The ingredients are fresh but nothing is sticking out here to make this a great pie. - 2.5

Total Score: 2.8/5

Rossi's Pizzeria Website: www.rossispizzeria.com/

                                                              
 

Tired Hands - Believer's Club

From the Tired Hands website:

The Tired Hands Believer’s Club will operate as follows:




Beginning December 18th, 2011, you, the discerning local beer drinker, will be able to prepay for our beer at a rather serious discount. We will be selling exactly one hundred (100) Tired Hands Believer’s Club memberships at three tiers, which include the following perks:



Tier 1- $250.00

10% off all glasses of beer and growler fills, and access to our bottle releases (one every other month) before they go on sale to the public for the duration of your membership. Also included is one Tired Hands t-shirt, a pair of Tired Hands stemware glasses, and a Tired Hands Believer’s Club Card!

Tier 2- $500.00

15% off all glasses of beer and growler fills, and access to our bottle releases (one every other month) before they go on sale to the public for the duration of your membership. Also included is one Tired Hands t-shirt, a pair of Tired Hands stemware glasses, a Tired Hands Believer’s Club Card, and a private cellar tasting with Jean Broillet IV!

Tier 3- $1,000.00

20% off all glasses of beer and growler fills, and access to our bottle releases (one every other month) before they go on sale to the public for the duration of your membership. Also included is one Tired Hands T-Shirt, a pair of Tired Hands stemware glasses, a Tired Hands Believer’s Club Card, a private cellar tasting with Jean Broillet IV, and an invitation for TWO to a pre-opening party (that means an evening of Tired Hands created libations and food before anyone else)!

If you are interested in participating in the Tired Hands Believer’s Club, please feel free to email me your information at tiredhandsbrewing@gmail.com. We are currently only accepting payment through check or cash mailed in or dropped off to:

Tired Hands Brewing Company
16 Ardmore Avenue
Ardmore, Pa 19003

Union Jack's Inn on the Manatawny (Boyertown) - Hot Wings - BEST WINGS 2011

The texture is a very crispy wing with a nice coating of hot sauce sticking nicely to each wing. These wings definitely don't appear dry. - 4.5

The sauce is very nice. Smelling these wings make my eyes and mouth water. There is a nice amount of heat and after eating a few wings you get a nice sting. - 4.5

The flavor is excellent. Fresh, meaty and juicy with a nice crispy skin. Hot with a nice buttery taste. Great stuff! - 4.5

The edibility is fantastic. Lots of flavor with a lot of juicy tender meat on the bone. It's easy to see why these are award winning wings. I had no problem devouring this basket in no time. - 4.5

Overall, these are some of the best wings I ever had. Union Jack's Inn on the Manatawny has a great selection of craft brews on tap and in bottles. Be sure to check out one of their beer events. - 4.5

Total Score: 4.5/5

During this visit, I had a Bell's Two Hearted Ale on tap:

look: 4.5
smell: 4.5
taste: 4.5
feel: 4.5
overall: 4.5

Appears a hazy golden/orange color with a white fluffy, soapy head. Very nice lacing sticking to the glass. Looks like a winner to me.

Smell is of very fresh citrusy, floral and slightly piney hops. I'm also picking up some sweet malts.

Taste is crisp, light and refreshing. Lots of citrus with a sweet malt backbone. This is very well balanced IPA.

Mouthfeel is smooth and nicely carbonated. The drinkability is outstanding. This is great IPA.


Union Jack's Inn of the Manatawny Website: http://unionjacksmanatawny.com/

Philly Food and Beer's "Grand Cru" Homebrew Competition 1/5/12 - Event Sponsor Page

Any new sponsors for the First Annual Competition that come on board with donations will be added to this page.  Always looking for more sponsors.  :)
...

Much Thanks to ALL of our event sponsors for their outstanding generosity:

Appalachian Brewing Company

Austin Homebrew Supply

BeerSmith Home Brewing Software

Blue Dog Family Tavern/Pub

The BrewWorks

BYO Magazine

Devil's Den

Eulogy Belgian Tavern

The Farmers' Cabinet

Five Star Chemicals

 

Flying Dog Brewery

Old Eagle Tavern

Philadelphia Brewing Company

 



Pinnochio's Pizza and Beer Garden

Railroad Street Bar & Grill

River Horse Brewing Company

Standard Tap

Tired Hands Brewing

TJ's Restaurant & Drinkery

Whole Foods - Plymouth Meeting

Yards Brewing Company

And of course, our partnered drop-off locations:

Keystone Homebrew Supply

Weak Knee Home Brew Supply

Spring House Brewing Company Taproom

Lancaster County Homebrewers






Stoney Creek Homebrewers

Bruclear Homebrew Club

 

Farmer's Cabinet - Italian Beer & Food Experience on December 14th, 2011

This is the event of the year. 

The ITALIAN “Food and Beer” EXPERIENCE

8-Regional Courses

9-Italian Craft Beers (including a surprise 9th beer from Matthias!)

$90++ (ticketleap.com)
Tickets on sale now!

Host: Matthias Neidhart

{owner of B. United Int. importing company}




MEAL:
Piccolo Morso
Quince & Honey
“Del Borgo L’equibrista”

Prima
Fettucine, Brodo, Thyme, EVO
“Montegioco Quarta Runa”

Secondo:
“Ndocca” ndocca, Boiled Pork, Pink Peppercorn, Grapefruit, Honey
“Almond 22 Pink IPA”

Terzo
House Cotechino, Chestnut Polenta, Egg, Snout
“Grado Plato Strada San Felice” (DRAFT)

Quarto
Veal, Tuna Tonnato, Almond, Prosciutto
“Loverbeer Madamin” (DRAFT)

Quinto
Lamb Ragu, Potato Gnocchi, Shaved Apricot
“Malthus Baluba ZYMATORE – aged in Ransom spirit whiskey barrels that once held Pinot Noir” (DRAFT)

Intermezzo
Double Cream Gorgonzola (*pending)
“Troll Shangrila aged and poured from a wooden JW Lees “Sherry” cask”

Dolce
Verdi Zabaglione, Anise Semonlina Cake, Chestnut-Honey Caramel, Chili Flake
“Del Ducato Verdi Imperial Stout” (DRAFT)


*****{SPECIAL SURPRISE BEER FROM MATTHIAS AFTER DINNER}*****

———

We have been waiting a long time for this special event! It is always exciting when we have a rare appearance from Matthias. His company imports some of the finest beer, cider, mead and spirits from around the world. We work with Matthias intimately to offer to you {what we think} are some of the finest European beers available!

We are focusing on Italian beer for this event because it is some of the most unknown and under appreciated beer available in the states. The Italians have blended brewing techniques and ingredients of their own and fused them with the practices of other cultures to develop truly unique and very refined beers.

Like anything from Italy, food is just as important as the beverage. So, we will be pairing Italian food with an Italian beer from the same region. The meal is designed to take you on a culinary journey through Italy!


See more on the Event link.
Farmer's Cabinet - 215.923.1113
To hold your ticket w/ a $9.99 deposit

Railroad Street Bar & Grill (Limerick) - Tasty Food and Beer.

The Railroad Street Bar & Grill is located a few miles off the Limerick/Linfield exit on 422. It's a neighborhood bar that is nestled up against railroad tracks and offers some great craft beer and tasty bar food. Owner Mike McCloskey has a passion for craft beer and great food. He has recently added more taps to his bar, most of which are craft brews. Railroad Street Bar & Grill now has 38 taps and soon a handpump. The taps now offer a large variety of all styles of beers. Mike gets some rare and limited beers too. Two glass coolers offer around 200 bottles as well.

Pictured above is the buffalo chicken grilled cheese. The sandwich is served with a bag of Good's potato chips (my favorite) and a pickle. This grilled cheese has meat of buffalo chicken wings inside the sandwich. It's like eating a grilled cheese and hot wings at the same time. Yum. Railroad offers a great menu with tasty appetizers and lots of cold and hot sandwiches (a whole page of specialty grilled cheese!). Be sure to check out some of their daily specials as well, such as: $2 cheesesteaks and $1 tacos, to name a few.

The Railroad Street Bar & Grill is quickly becoming a favorite destination for craft beer lovers. So next time you're in the Limerick area, make sure you stop at Railroad for some great beers, food and friendly service. Check out their up to date draft list on Beermenus.com

This visit, I enjoyed a Ballast Point Sculpin on tap:

look: 4.5
smell: 5
taste: 5
feel: 4.5
overall: 4.8

Appears a very clear golden/orange color with a nice bright white head. Tight, tiny bubbles with a very nice lacing sticking to the glass.

Smell is of fresh tropical fruits. I get aromas of ripe mango, peach and orange. Bright, fresh fruity and citrus hops, with a light sweet malt background. Smells awesome.

Taste is wonderful. Big bright citrus notes. The tastes follows the nose on this one. A nice clean dry finish. Well balanced.

Mouthfeel is great. Super fresh bitter bright hops upfront with smooth dry finish. Nice carbonation. This is a world class IPA.

The Railroad Street Bar & Grill Website: http://railroadstreetbar.com/

Free Homebrew Workshop

Philly Food and Beer's First Annual "Grand Cru" Homebrew Competition - January 5th, 2012

Philly Food and Beer will be conducting it's First Annual Homebrew Competition.
This competition is a freestyle competition, encouraging homebrewers to submit their "Best Offerings" of the year.  Beers will not be judged strictly "per style", so if you, or someone you know feels like you've developed a nice beer that doesn't fit any particular style, this is the perfect opportunity to show off what you've done!  Put simply - we're looking for those outstanding beers you've made.

Only one bottle is necessary for entry with an affordable cost of only $2 per bottle. Any size bottle 12 ounces, or more is fine.  It doesn't matter what type of bottle you use...really - if we get Sam Adams bottles, ball mason jars, swing tops, or PET bottles...it's all good.

This is a non-sanctioned event that will be conducted for fun purposes.  The top five placers of the contest will be decided by our(estimated)6-man panel. This will give brewers a chance to have the beers that never fully fit any particular style, or any of their other favorite beer they've brewed be recognized on phillyfoodandbeer.com.  We'll take a picture of it, give the brewer props on the site, and even send the top five winners award medals.  Winners will also be given the opportunity to select prizes in the order from top placers picking first.  The prizes and values are undetermined at this time and will depend on the response of donated prizes.


Beer may be dropped off at Keystone Homebrew Supply in Montgomeryville by December 28th.

Beer may also be dropped off at Weak Knee Homebrew Supply in Pottstown by January 4th.

Beer will also be collected during Bruclear Homebrew Club's Meeting at Craft Ale House on January 3rd, 2012...I'll be the guy wearing the green Yards Brewing cap.  Entries may be accepted up till the day before the event.
You may email either Mike (mike@phillyfoodandbeer.com) , or Chris (chris@phillyfoodandbeer.com)
to arrange a possible meet up to get the beer entered.
Lastly, you may send the beer via UPS, or FedEx to the shipping address on the official Submittal Form.
 
We're looking forward to trying the wonderful array of fermented libations from the local homebrewing community.  Good Luck!

Event Sponsor Page