Beercation: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As an epicenter for nineteenth-century brewing, seized hard on this century’s beer resurgence long before most East Coast cities had even caught a hops-scented whiff.

BREWING PIONEERS SUCH AS

Carol Stoudt of Stoudts, Rosemarie Certo of Dock Street, and Tom Kehoe of Yards Brewing still help set the pace for the Philadelphia region, which continues to set standards with its breweries, bars, and Belgian connections. As with everything, including their sports teams, Philadelphians do beer with intensity. Unlike with their sports teams, with their beer, they also add a wry sense of fun. You can walk into almost any bar on almost any corner and find at least one local knob and a “Citywide Special”—a shot of whiskey and a PBR chaser.

“Almost every section of Philly has a little brewery now, and there are so many more in planning,” marvels Kehoe. Because it’s so hard to wrap your lips around the breadth of beer in this region, it’s practical to concentrate on a few walkable neighborhoods.

Northern Liberties and Fishtown

Said to be the bar that birthed the term “gastropub,” Standard Tap is dog friendly and beloved for its rooftop brunch and

The tap list at Khyber Pass Pub can be intimidating, but bartenders are happy to help.

Opposite, top »

Opposite, bottom »

A wall of windows separates Yards’s popular tasting room from the brewhouse. burgers. The Tap’s local-beer-only policy first brought awareness to the native brewery scene and anchored the revival Northern Liberties (Nolibs).

“From day one we wanted this to be the neighborhood’s unofficial town hall, the neighborhood’s living room,” says William Reed, who launched Standard Tap in 1999.

Jerry’s Bar brings modern meaning to the “gastropub” label. Selections such as Bean Dream from Pizza Boy Brewing (Enola, Pennsylvania), Invasion from Cigar City (Tampa, Florida), and Sidra De Nava from Virtue Cider (Fennville, Michigan) line up next to an expert cocktail list and house-smoked meats to earn it the designation “best new gastropub of the year” from the city’s most respected restaurant critic.

In Fishtown, entrepreneurs are adding bars seemingly by the month to the streets that once housed little more than Reed’s intentionally grungy music venue, Johnny Brenda’s. JB’S still pounds out the tunes along with Reed’s signature locals-only beer program, but now it’s surrounded by other places of note. Barcade patrons play

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