Small Bites

Little Vittles

Every February, Tröegs Nugget Nectar drops a bitter bombshell on beer drinkers everywhere, blending five different hop varieties into an imperial amber ale with über-chutzpah. There's nothing that can stop the local hopheads from gunning for a pint of the Harrisburg-brewed hooch. Last weekend, the General Sutter Inn in Lititz celebrated Firkin Friday with a fresh cask of Nugget Nectar. "People were lining up outside," says the Inn's Danielle Youndt. Philly-area fans are in luck this Beer Week, as Tröegs will be hosting numerous events featuring the beer as well their newest creation, The Flying Mouflan, which co-founder John Trogner describes as "pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff." Check for nugged-out dates on the Tröegs Web site (troegs.com/phillybw09.htm), as you never know where a firkin could be lurkin'. —James Saul

Vegan beer drinkers wary of gelatin (hooves), isinglass (fish guts) and other questionable filtering agents can keep tabs on their bevy with barnivore.com. While a perusal of the free site's comprehensive database of vegan-friendly beers and spirits may reveal that one of your favorites is not on the safe list (R.I.P. Red Stripe), you can relax knowing no living beings were harmed, directly or indirectly, to provide you with a good time. —JS

One recent night, I ordered a "Citywide Special" (that's a PBR and a shot of whiskey, usually Jim Beam), but found the liquor just wasn't going down right. If only the cool relief of beer could be brought closer — sooner — to the source of the throat-burning heat. So I poured a splash of Pabst into my shot glass and took a sip. Eureka! It married the fizzy wonderment of cheap beer and the bite of cheap whiskey — and it was good! I don't claim to have invented this thing — Ben Franklin, a great admirer of beer, probably considered the possibility (alas, he didn't drink whiskey). But as far as I can tell, Citywide Beer/Whiskey Synergy is not (yet) widely in practice. So give it a shot. No pun intended. —Isaiah Thompson

You can safely say that craft beer has arrived when the world's most cutting-edge chef has to get a piece of the action. Ferran Adrià of Spain's elBulli has collaborated with Spanish brewery Estrella Damn to create Inedit, a low-alcohol hybrid of lager and Belgian wheat beer. The brew is lightly spiced with bitter orange peel and coriander, and has a creamy mouthfeel and complex flavor. Amada (217 Chestnut St., 215-625-2450, amadarestaurant.com) is the only place in Pennsylvania that serves Inedit, both in 750 milliliter bottles for $30 and 5-ounce glasses for $7. Amada chef/owner Jose Garces deems the brew "an ideal pairing with our authentic tapas," whether it's paper-thin slices of prized jamón ibérico or an oversize sharing dish of seafood paella. You can taste Inedit during Philly Beer Week at happy hour at Amada on Thu., March 12, at 4 p.m. —Felicia D'Ambrosio