April 14-20, 2005

cover story

Get Sauced

by Brian Howard

This week, more than 1,200 brewing and brewpub professionals will descend on Philly like so many ale-swilling locusts in the name of the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America. Held at the Marriott Center City, it's a giant trade show where peddlers of brewing ingredients and technologies will hobnob with the people who buy them. And while trade shows in most industries are glorified cocktail parties in the name of networking, at this one, at least the drinking is part of the dealmaking.

While there's a panoply of events happening in the city for conference attendees only, this is also an excellent opportunity for the average beer enthusiast to rub elbows with the people responsible for their favorite brews.

According to Edward Friedland of revered family-owned local distributor Edward I. Friedland Co., one way to meet some of the brewers in town is to simply go to your favorite better-beer bar. "Every night these brewery people will be out crawling around," laughs Friedland (who'll be speaking on a specialty wholesaler panel this afternoon). "If the average person is out and about and sociable that week, I think they'll run into a lot of beer people they've wanted to meet all along."

Friedland lists Eulogy, Monk's, The Khyber, Brownies, Standard Tap, N. 3rd, The Abbey and Tria among the usual suspects. So one plan is to go out, keep your ears open and hop on one of the impromptu pub crawls that are bound to spring up over the course of the weekend.

For those on the shy side — or who like a little structure to their carousing — there are organized events open to the public:

Brooklyn Brewery Night at O'Neals: Representatives (but not the brewer) from Brooklyn Brewery will be on hand, as will their Brooklyn Pennant Ale and rare seasonal Brooklyner Weissbock. Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., 611 S. Third St., 215-574-9495 , www.onealspub.com.

Meet the Brewers at the Irish Pub: Carol Stoudt from Adamstown's Stoudt's, Alan Newman from Vermont's Magic Hat and Bill Covaleski from Downingtown's Victory will do a meet-and-greet. Thu., April 14, 6-8 p.m., 1123 Walnut St., 215-925-3311, www.theirishpub.com.

Manayunk Brewery Open House: When conference attendees are finished with their tour of the Manayunk Brewery's facilities (starting at 4:30 p.m.), they'll likely hit the restaurant, where you can hit them up. Thu., April 14, 4120 Main St., Manayunk, 215-482-8220, www.manayunkbrewery.com.

Meet the Brewers at McGillin's: This is the big one. Brewers representing the area's powerhouse breweries Stoudt's (Marc Worona), Yard's (Josh Ervine), Flying Fish (Casey Hughes), Troeg's (Chris Trogner and Chris Bruger), Victory (Tracy Mulligan and Bill Covaleski) and Sly Fox (Brian O'Reilly and John Gianopoulos) will be on hand for a beer dinner. Owner Chris Mullins will be taking all imports off tap for the evening and replacing them with more of the local brews that already flow generously. "It's a political statement for me," exhorts Mullins. "It's an anti-globalization thing for me. I do have imports, but I'm trying to support the local guys as much as possible." Fri., April 15, 5-8 p.m., no cover, McGillin's, 1310 Drury Lane, 215-735-5562, www.mcgillins.com.

Meet Carol Stoudt at O'Neals: Carol Stoudt from Adamstown's Stoudt's Brewery will be on hand with her American pale ale and mai bock beers for an evening devoted to pale ales and bocks of all stripes. Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., 611 S. Third St., 215-574-9495.

Brewers' Late Night Hangouts: Thursday through Saturday Independence Brewpub at the Reading Terminal Market will host attendees from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m. Attendees with those dorky conference badges pay $1 per pint, so go and get friendly. 1150 Filbert St., 215-922-4292, www.independencebrewpub.com.