Chasing the Firkins

Yesterday I got kind of sidetracked before heading out to the Philly Beer Week local breweries self guided tour. When we finally headed out around 8PM we intended on hitting up good dog for the Dock Street Satellite Espresso Porter on firkin. Little did we know the moving firkin swilling beast of a bar tour had already pillaged that bar and the lot of them as well. When we got to Good Dog and found out they were killing these firkins in record times we decided to skip a few and hopefully catch up to the tour. We headed out to Devil's Alley hoping to catch some of the Sly Fox Seamus Red Ale but had just missed them so we decided to get a bite to eat there. That is where our luck changed. While the tour was tearing up the rest of the firkins at Nodding Head and Fergie's we had a few Smooth Hoperators and some BBQ. By chance we met Chris Mullins from Mcgillin's who informed us that they did in fact have all of the beers from the tour awaiting the crowd at their bar. Chris was a good guy and chatted it up for a few about beer. We talked about pushing the idea of a "passport" for next year where you would travel around and get stamped for some type of commemorative widget as proof you were out there running around these bars all week. After this we decided to head directly to McGillin's...no passing go or collecting $200. This was certainly the best decision of the night.

When we reached McGillin's the place was jumping and there were people everywhere. Downstairs was karaoke night. The special beer was served from sixtels at a table set up in the corner of the upstairs bar room. They were selling beer tickets for $2 at the bar which you redeemed at the table for your mug of the beer of your choosing. As far as I could tell there were no limits on the tickets, excellent. The only thing I might do a bit different would be to post a sign telling of this setup as some of the people didn't quite "get" it and went directly to the table and jamming up the line. This was remedied by Chris jumping on the Mic (PA system?) and announcing how it was set up. There were a lot of known faces present at the event and I got to meet a few new people throughout the night. I thought the highlights were the Troegs Nugget Nectar and the Dock Street Espresso Porter but I have had those many times now. The Flying Fish Bourbon Abbey Double was also excellent and a nice treat that I never had before.

Overall it was a great night with some great beer and one that wont soon be forgotten. If there is one thing that I learned it is not to underestimate the Philly Beer scene and their ability to drink large amounts of beer in record time. Word had it that they were killing them in 20 minutes. Next time I wont miss the firkin tour!
I didn't get to take any pictures as the bar was a little too dark and I was having so much fun. Cheers. -dOc