As another year passes it’s always a joy to reminisce, especially when it comes to lining up your favorite sips from the last 365 days. This was such the case as Danya Henninger, the Editor in Chief at The Drink Nation, joined PA Eats’s Managing Editor, Jim Breslin for a 2012 Philadelphia themed alcohol rehash. From craft beer’s continued growth to the early stages of aperitif and amaro trends, the food and drink focused editors let nothing from 2012 slip through the cracks during their brief, adult beverage-infused session.
Jim Breslin: So how long has Drink Philly been up and running?
Danya Henninger: We’ve been up since 2008, starting in Philadelphia and since then expanding throughout the nation. It’s really been a great run and it’s definitely a good time to be drinking in this area.
J: What’s happening with the Philly bar scene? What’s big? What was notable throughout 2012?
D: Well, 2012 was still about craft beer growth. Philly has been a craft beer mecca for quite some time so things just continue to pop off. In the U.S. as a whole, for the first time since 1987 we had over 2,100 breweries. In the 1970s there were only 80 something but there’s been a boom in the past ten years and, in this area, you can see there have been several new microbreweries and nanobreweries that popped up. There’s Vault Brewing Company in Yardley, Round Guys in Lansdale, Tired Hands in Ardmore, Neshaminy Creek in Lower Bucks. These are microbreweries and nanobreweries that are joining our standbys like Yards, Philadelphia Brewing Company, Victory, Troegs and Sly Fox. And a lot of those bigger breweries are even expanding their facilities. Craft beer is still hot. Now 9% of United States beer sales is craft beer.
J: Yes, it definitely seems like every couple of months you hear about a new craft brewery opening up. Actually, I’m going to be talking to a brewer of Ship Bottom Brewery who’s still brewing in his garage but starting to sell soon at different locations. It just seems to continue to grow. Victory is starting their second brewery site over in Parkesburg and I’m dying to try Tired Hands down in Ardmore. I’ve talked to the guys but have never visited it. There just seems to be an explosion that’s a lot of fun. Now down in Philadelphia, in the city, is there a particular microbrewery that you like?
D: Well we have a couple microbreweries right in the city. We have Dock Street Brewing Company in West Philly, in University City. They have great pizza and do a lot of collaboration brewing. They just did a collaboration with Four Seasons Hotel to create a special brew. We also have Nodding Head Brewing Company which is right in the middle of Center City. They have all their own brews on tap. Then another thing that is happening in the city is more places that used to be about clubs and dancing are closing and being replaced by craft beer bars. Like Old City which used to be a mecca for tourists and clubs. A lot of the clubs have closed down now, like Mad River, there is now a place there called Craft & Claw. It’s all about craft brews and seafood. Where Dolce and Paradigm used to be, there’s now Barra, a craft beer pizza bar. Even down at Xfinity Live, the huge entertainment complex, there is a Victory beer hall down there.
J: I’ve been to a couple craft beer spots down there and I think Farmer’s Cabinet is one that’s known to not just represent American craft beers but they’re importing European craft beers with some really great names and really rare stuff.
D: Yes, and they are still doing that. For a little while they tried to open their own brewery in Virginia and things went a little awry but another place where you can get craft beers from around the world that just opened this year is Alla Spina. It’s from Marc Vetri and it’s up on North Broad and they do Italian craft beer in addition to local beer. It’s actually a reverse trend because beer started off in Europe but Americans lately have been doing all this craft beer stuff so now Europe is copying us.
J: So the craft beer trend, the home base was America you’re saying?
D: Definitely!
J: Let me ask about down in Philly. In addition to the great craft beer and bars, and I know there are a ton of them, but how about cocktails? What do you see going on with the cocktail scene?
D: Well, cocktails—craft cocktails in general—are definitely on the rise. There are signature cocktails and now cocktail pairing dinners. There used to be wine pairing dinners and Philly has a lot of beer pairing dinners so now we’re seeing cocktail pairing dinners. Plus, there’s a lot of newcomer bars that are focusing just on cocktails like Hop Sing Laundromat in Chinatown. Emmanuelle is a spot that just opened up in The Piazza. One Tippling Place is in Rittenhouse and that joins The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. and Ranstead Room as speakeasy bars that are still going strong. Specifically there’s been a big rise in aperitifs and amaros, which are the “hot” liquors these days.
D: They are kind of like liqueurs but not sweet. So Campari and Fernet Branca. Fernet Branca is actually on tap at Lemon Hill in Fairmount. It’s bitter. You know, it’s not for the starting off drinker. It’s very popular in Italy. I has 40 different ingredients in it but it’s very distinctive and very enjoyable. It’s been having quite a comeback this year.
J: Right. One of the bars that I enjoyed down in Philly this past year that unfortunately closed was The Boilermaker. I was surprised that it didn’t have a long life there but evidently a couple bars haven’t had a long life there. The idea of a shot in a beer and mixing it up I thought was a really unique idea.
D: I agree. It’s a shame that they closed.
J: You know in a city like Philly, you think a shot in a beer would do well with our working man roots.
D: Exactly! They even have a name for it—the Citywide Special. We have an article on our site that you can find under the round-up section. The traditional Citywide Special is a shot of Jim Beam and a tall boy/pounder of PBR. Usually it’s $5 but there are bars all over the city that do different tweaks of it, you know, like substitute whiskey or a different type of beer.
J: Right and I really enjoyed what Boiler was doing with it. So now every bar has somewhere along it’s life a peak and some bars are just known as the hottest bars around. I was down at The Farmer’s Cabinet this Spring and the bartender said, once I told him we were doing a bar crawl, to go check out Franklin Mortgage. He said, “that’s the thing.” What would you say now is going to be the next big bar or maybe a place just opening and just starting to catch wheels?
D: Well I would point to the one I mentioned that just opened right before Thanksgiving in The Piazza is Emmanuelle. It’s kind of different. If you’ve been to The Piazza you know how all the stores and restaurants are on the inside but this is kind of like a speakeasy because the door is hidden on the outside. It has a drink list designed by Katie Loeb. She is a fantastic bartender and drinks author who has worked all over the city. She’s working there and also joining her is Phoebe Esmon who is another great female mixologist and also the President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the United States Bartending Guild. So there is a lot of talent at that bar.
J: Okay. I’m going to put it on my list. I have that down and Alla Spina so I’ll have a few for my next pub crawl in the city.
D. Alla Spina definitely. Have you been to Hop Sing Laundromat? I mean there was a lot of hype—the bar is pretty incredible—and they have the most expensive well liquors in the whole country.
J: Really? OK. I’ve heard very good things about it but have not been there. A friend of mine, we were having a Twitter conversation and she was talking about that so I’ll have to check it out.
D: Now, the last cool thing that I have to note is, if you’re buying drinks to take home, the PLCB is totally doing a rebranding. If you go to the liquor store you might get a whole new experience.
J: Oh, you mean how they are re-designing the stores inside?
D: Yes! Have you been to one of the new ones?
J: Out in West Chester they just re-designed one and it’s really upscale. Very nice with a little tasting place. They are definitely doing a good job.
D: They even have an iPhone app now that you can use.
J: Well I haven’t tried that but I’ll have to take a look. Until then, thank you so much for chatting!
D: Thanks for having me!
Photographs courtesy of Emmanuelle, Tired Hands, Farmer’s Cabinet, and Campari. Liquor store photograph credited to Amy Strauss.
