Philly Beer Week, now in its fifth year, has flowed over the glass and across the river into New Jersey! Now you don’t even have to cross the bridge to take part in the mother of all beer events. There are over 230 bars, restaurants and breweries participating in almost 1,000 events so it was only a matter of time before our state got into the act. Here are a few sips to tempt your Garden State palate.
Haddon Township is all in and will be the scene of the Haddon Pub Fest on June 2nd. From noon until 6pm each participating pub will spotlight a particular craft beer and there’s even a free shuttle service! You can get more details at their website. It’s great to see a whole community supporting the event.
Uno Chicago Grill has 3 New Jersey locations; Maple Shade, Deptford and Hamilton, and all three will be hosting events every day of the ten day week. Yes, it’s a ten day week. Even the calendar has to be stretched for Philly Beer Week! “Jersey Love” is the weekend highlight where they will feature River Horse, Flying Fish, Kane, Boaks and Cricket Hill beer for $6.50 flights. Ain’t love grand?
You are definitely going to want to check out Iron Hill in Maple Shade where brewer Chris LaPierre was the beneficiary of Philly Beer Week’s “Win a Trip to Belgium” fundraiser. The raffle winner selected Chris to make the trip across the pond to brew a collaboration beer at none other than Brasserie Dupont in Belgium. Their creation, Special Belge, will be featured at the June 1st kickoff event at Independence Hall! It will also debut in New Jersey at Iron Hill from 5pm to 8pm on June 4th. Iron Hill will break out the funk with a farmhouse ale theme and many of DuPonts offerings will be on tap. Special Belge is billed as a complex, sessionable blonde ale with a little peat smoked malt. I wouldn’t call it sessionable at 6.8%, but pencil me in for a couple!
To find out more about events on the other side of the river go to Philly Beer Weeks website. If the Betsy Ross Bridge proves to be a bridge too far, fear not! There’s plenty to do right here in New Jersey.
Sources:
http://www.ironhillbrewery.com/mapleshade/
Peter Culos is the editor of “Beer Bites,” a new monthly feature about breweries, bars and good beer in the garden state. A graphic designer by day, and a life long New Jersey resident, Peter was first introduced to the novel idea that beer could actually have flavor during several visits to the UK. He’s been riding the craft beer bus ever since. It has been called the ultimate social lubricant and Peter’s philosophy on beer is, “I’d rather split my last good beer with a friend than drink the whole thing by myself.” Besides beer he also likes history, dogs, Jeeps and painting. In the past, he has written a History and Art blog for the Weider History Group and occasionally contributes to his own blog, history-geek.com. Life is short. Drink good beer.
