I’m going to Philadelphia for 4 days and am trying to plan beer bar/brewery stops. I’ve been told that The Foodery and Monks are must-sees. Any other suggestions?
Chris
Yes. My favorite is the Standard Tap. It is in a 100 year old building in the Northern Liberties neighborhood. Their focus is on local micros and locally sourced food. There’s a deli next door where you can buy bottles to go.
Not far from Monk’s downtown is Nodding Head, which has very good and very interesting beers. They have a Berlinner Weisse on tap most of the year.
Philly is a greeat beer town. Sign up for Philly Beer Week news feeds.
I’d recommend the General Lafayette Inn in Lafayette Hill, I’ve been there several times and have been impressed each time. You could, of course, go to Victory in Downingtown. Gogo Golden Monkey! Yards brewing company is solid, too. Dogfish head isn’t far either, it’d only be about a 2 hour drive. (That’s where my wife and I will be going for our belated honeymoon next month!)
All great choices. I also recommend Monk’s, Dock Street and Victory is in Downingtown which is about 30 mi west of Philly.
Here’s some more great establishments.
+1000 on Monks! The muscles are great and the beers are even better!
You can go for the muscles, but I’ll stick with the mussels. ;) Great place. They had a lot of the Lost Abbey beers there as well, if you haven’t had those before.
+1 on Nodding Head, if for no other reason than to try a good Berliner Weisse. Try it plain before getting the syrup.
Philly Beer Week is off the hook. I was stunned by the events they had.
And get a cheesesteak at Tony Luke’s. Skip Pat and Genos. Those are for tourists.
Or a roast pork sandwich at the Reading Terminal Market.
If you’re staying downtown, there are lots more places with great food and beer. Triumph is one, Eulogy is another Belgian pub. Farther from town (north east) is Kraftwerks and Memphis Tap House. You just can’t go wrong.
Are you staying around downtown or all over? If its just downtown i can fill you in so get your printer ready…
Beer Bars:
- Definitely Monks just cuz, best Belgian beer bar in the city
- Devils’ Den - One of the great, not as well known bars
- Def on the South Philly Tap Room - Great Food
- P.O.P.E - A Philly Tradition
- Irish Pol (Old City) - 40+ Taps
- Brauhaus Schmidt’s - Authentic German Beer Bar
- McGillin’s Old Ale House - Don’t go there late at night. it gets pretty crowded
- All over Northern Liberty/Fishtown Area, You could literally spend a Day (KraftWork +25 Taps, North Bowl, PYT, Bar Ferdinand, Abbey, Standard Tap, and North 3rd…)
- Fairmount Area - Urban Saloon (across from the old Penitentiary - Awesome Sports/Beer Bar. Burgers and Tots (Yes, I Said Tots) are awesome, Bishop’s Collar, Jacks Firehouse, Johnny Brenda’s
- Fork and Barrel - And AWESOME new Euro Beer Bar. It’s about 10-15 minutes from downtown but well worth it. Totally lit by candles, firkins on every day, and a crap load of hard to get drafts and bottles
- Phillies Game If you can catch one, they have a bunch (60+) Crafts on tap.
Breweries/Brew Pubs
- Nodding Head - +1 on the Berliner Weiss (Kind of a small place but good food, While you’re there 2 blocks away in Home Sweet Home Brew, a HBS, George literally helped Sam of DFH get off the ground)
- Triumph - Fun scene, on Saturdays they have pretty good Indie bands
- Yards Brewery - They close like around 5 or so, so get your day drinking on
- Dock Street - Grab a brick oven slice
Food :
Lunch/Snack - Redding Terminal Market (Anything there, but the roast beef sandwich in key
+1 On Tony Luke’s but they’re better known for the roast pork with provolone and broccoli rabe
With all due respect, I wouldn’t diss the Pat’s/Geno’s route, it’s a bit touristy, but hey, you’re a tourist and it’s still pretty good.
Dinner - Sonata in Northern Liberties (It’s a BYO, but the Foodery is nearby so you can pick up a few bottles before heading over)
Hope that helps. Obviously there are a million other places, but these are just a few that I have been to personally. If you want anymore suggestions if you are going to be in any other areas feel free to ask I don’t mind helping out a fellow beer lover.
60+ on tap at Phillies games?!?! Joy! I’m hitting up a game on 6-9-11 and now it looks like i’m also going to get a hotel rather than head back to Baltimore that night.
What a great list. I’ll have to save that. I spent 9 months working in Philly and only got to about a third of those places. But I was only a 10 minute walk from Monk’s, so that usually had something to do with it.
At Tony Luke’s, I did have the broccoli rabe and aged provolone cheesesteak (I think they called it an ‘Italian’). I saw the place on Throwdown on the food network. That was the steak that kicked Bobby Flay’s ass. And yes, it was great. Didn’t try the roast pork. Another reason to return… The Pat & Geno thing just seems a bit contrived to me. All the “order it this way or we’ll curse at you” just seems hokey. Honestly, I think I got as good a cheesesteak as theirs from the food truck outside the Comcast building. It was good, but the Tony Luke steak was amazing.
I don’t know what’s about it, but even a so-so steak in Philly seems to beat what is called “Philly Cheesesteak” in any other city. I’ve stopped trying to get them elsewhere. Just not worth it.
+1 Or Jim’s on South Street.
+1 to The Reading Terminal Market as they have an awesome Jewish deli and various other eats as well. The cheesesteak possibilities are numerous. Tony Lukes or Capo’s Deli both rock! If you’re into baseball Citizen’s Bank Park is a fabulous place, plus you can check out the Fightin’ Phils.
Most of that Fightin’ being in the stands, right? 
Not in Philly. 
Ha. Our plan was to heckle the crap out of Lee for chickening out of being a true ace, but have since decided against that. Now I’m just hoping I get to see Halladay.
All of the above are great suggestions, do no miss Monk’s. You should also stop in and see Nancy and George at Home Sweet Home brew.
The best Philly steaks are actually in New Jersey, at Big John’s in cherry Hill.
To revive an old thread. My trip is in a week. Plan on hitting Monks for lunch. To my pleasant surprise, it’s also Philly Beer Week next week. As I said earlier, we are going to a ballgame on the 9th. My main question, outside of where else to visit for special beer week events, is should I carry my handgun in downtown Philly? It’s a pain in the ass to fly with it, but I’m current law enforcement so I can carry anywhere. We’d be walking from the ballpark after the game back to our car, which will probably be left at some all-day parking lot closer to the Liberty Bell and Monks.
Philly areas breweries to look for are Sly Fox, Yards and Nodding Head. You might also find Flying Fish (NJ) and some Dogfish Head oddities.
Good web sites:
Mid-Atlantic Brewing News (http://www.brewingnews.com/mid-atlantic/)
Philly Beer Week (http://www.phillybeerweek.org/)
The touristy areas of Philly are reasonably safe from violent crime, IME, although it’s been a few years since I’ve visited. The hairy areas are/were West and North Philly and that’s not where the bars or attractions are. Anyhow, most of the violent crime is between people who know each other, rather than random attacks on visitors.
I’m not a cop or a lawyer, but it just seems like common sense to research the local gun laws; perhaps talk with your department or the Philadelphia PD. Pennsylvania has some weird laws, so there might be oddities about carrying there. Presumably, professional police forums or the NRA web site will give better advice than you’ll get here.
Given that you’ll be going into bars, stadiums and other private property where they might have restrictions on carrying, my gut instinct is to leave the gun at home. If you “look like a cop” even out of uniform, I can’t imagine anyone hassling you. In any case, your most valuable weapons when confronted with most crimes is common sense and a cell phone.
I’m actually headed to Philly today for the start of “Philly Beer Week”. Our first stop will be at Monk’s for lunch then we’re off to Nodding Head and The Devil’s Den. Time permitting we may make more stops.
Thanks. Citizen’s Bank Park has a no-carry rule unless you’re on duty. I doubt my city will pay me overtime. I may end up parking the rental down near the ballpark and walking to the Liberty Bell during daylight hours that way i have less of a walk back to the car after the game.
And I’ve been breing for 5 years now and behind a desk for the last 2. I’m starting to lose that “cop” look… 8)