Much has been made of our second president’s efforts to start a wine industry in the newly formed United States, but it would appear from this article that George Washington did his part to support the nascent brewing industry. Not surprisingly, Washington tended towards porters, most of which he ordered from Robert Hare, a brewer in Philadelphia. Although Washington appears to have purchased a fair amount of beer, there’s also a link to Washington’s own homebrew recipe for those of you who brew. If you want to see the real thing (reproduced above) check out the New York Public Library’s …read more

It’s a little late in the game for a top ten list, but here’s an interesting post from the Brookstone beer bulletin listing some of the top beer stories from last year. As per my earlier post, the biggest news for beer lovers may be the short supply of hops and barley, followed by the loss of Michael Jackson.
In Philadelphia beer news, the possible loss of Yards tied with the opening of Dock Street (which I still haven’t managed to visit, check back next week). Hopefully we’ll keep both.
If you know of another story which deserves to be in …read more

It’s the first day of the new year, and Yard’s brewery no longer has a home. Since the photo above shows the status of the brewery as of November 2007, I’m not exactly sure what that means for the future of the brew. For the sake of beer drinkers here in Philadelphia, I hope the future is bright, but I guess we’ll find that out later.
In the meantime, I wish you and yours much great cheer and great beer in the new year.
UPDATE: It occurs to me that I wasn’t exactly clear in the post above – Yard’s is moving, …read more