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Another year, another Belgian crawl. Ahh.. What a perfect way to take a break. Once again this year our club offered to all of its members the chance to go on a Philadelphia pub crawl or if you prefer a Belgian Crawl. It was a great time this year as always. Once again Jay Delaney did an outstanding job in finding some unique places to visit. As always we tried some new places and one old place to insure that we had a great time and at least one place that had beers beyond believe.
This year we started our little tour with a place that claimed to be the oldest Irish tavern in Philadelphia. It was McGillin’s Old Ale House established in 1860. This place was down a narrow one lane street. Just walking down this narrow street you could imagine the horse carriage making the turn and heading down the street to this tavern. The establishment is a relatively small two story building. When we entered the Ale House the first thing that caught my attention was the fireplace with a crackling fire. The inside of the tavern was very reminiscent of an old ale house. The furnishings were very sturdy and the whole affect was a warm friendly place. The floor is a red tile floor that was laid by McGillian in the 1860’s. It seems that he was tired of replacing the wooden floors from the wear and tear of laborers boots. He had seen that the red tile in the butchers shop was almost indestructible. This floor proved to be the answer. It has lasted until today and is still going strong. The present owner knows the value of a historic building and decor. He has been busy restoring to the original. This has included removing disco balls and other untimely additions. As you sit at your table you can look around the bar and see numerous wall coverings of brewing and brewing establishments. There are also scenes from the past city life captured in prints. Some of the windows are done in stained glass of by gone eras and the ceiling has large wooden beams that reflect those time periods. We were seated off to one side of the bar where we could look across the room and see the various patrons in the bar. It was like the old neighborhood bar that you either have been told about or remember. As we sat there and started in on our first drinks we debated what to get for an appetizer. At this point either the manager or the owner came by our table and mentioned not to miss the free soup. Of course that is what we went after. The price was right. The soup that they offered for our enjoyment, what else... Potato soup. It was delicious and hit the spot. Most of the patrons were like us sampling their drinks and enjoying the soup. After the potato soup was gone the kitchen sent out a chicken rice offering. It was not as good as the potato but the price was still right. The draft beers were limited so I decided to start with the Caffreys Irish Ale. As we were waiting for it along with the other choices to be brought out we were discussing our next choice. I was contemplating a Guiness and we were wondering if it would be a nice nitrogen based beer or not. The barmaid brought out my Caffreys and was I surprised to see that it was nitrogen based. It had that good creamy head with the less filing taste. It was the first of the new nitrokeg beers that I had tasted. Refreshing and a nice change from the normal. I did follow this with a Guiness and it also hit the spot. The staff was courteous , the regulars made the joint feel like a corner bar. All in all a place to not miss if you get a choice.
From here we walked about six blocks to Monks Cafe. This was to be our lunch site. Monks was the first of two Belgian bars that we decided to hit. Once you get inside it looks like your typical normal type of bar and we decided to take seats at the bar. We quickly started to sample some fine Belgian beers as we ordered our lunch. The menu was loaded with Mussels and various types of food from Rabbit, duck and many other fine choices. Monks is dedicated to bringing you the best and the hardest to find beers in the world . Their goal is that while other establishment may carry more beers none offer more beer styles than Monk's. They seem to sell quality beers at moderate prices and their selection of Belgian Ales is stellar. However I was a little disappointed in the amount that they offered on tap. There was only about eight Belgian available on tap. Now the rest were available in bottles but that was not the goal of this expedition to Philadelphia. The food came and was exceptional. Definitely the beer was worth the stop and to experience the food this was the place to be.
Last stop time. It was getting late and with one more stop to go... we were off to Copas II. The bar had not changed inside since our last visit however it seemed like the beer selection had! They still had a large selection of Belgians but the on tap Belgians were very limited. It was tough to fill a flight with Belgians from the ones offered on tap. In prior years we could have filled several flights with Belgians. However I once again I went for a flight of beers which provides you with 3-6 different beers at once for one price. I have found this to always be a good way to go when tasting beers at Copas. Just enough to enjoy and taste the beer but not enough to limit your ability to taste the next one on the flight. The results were two of the three were very good and worth their price the last one though was almost undrinkable. With this we packed up and headed home. If I had it to do over again I would have only changed the last stop and opted for another new place. The one stop that we felt was going to be the saving grace if all else failed turned out to be the worst of the three. Just goes to show how much a place can change in one year. Maybe it was a change of management or a lower demand for Belgians that has lead to this I really don’t know. Sorry you missed this tour maybe next year you can join us for this little adventure. It will have to include Belgians again I’m sure about that..
