Grid Philly - March 2009 - (Page 24) ← John rehm, Brewer-inchief of PBc hoists a pint in their spacious tasting room Although PBC’s much younger as a standalone company, they have quickly made a name for themselves in Philly with their distinctive retro labels, strong commitment to local promotion and support of projects like Greensgrow Farm, farmer’s markets and Sustainable Table, an online resource for sustainable living. Considering the troubled economy, one might think that the slightly more expensive craft beers will suffer, but John Rehm, Brewer-in-Chief of PBC, isn’t worried. “If anything, people will be doing more drinking at home,” he says. “Maybe they’ll buy less beer, but better beer. Beer is an affordable luxury.” Covaleski is also optimistic about the future of local craft brewing. After the sale of Anheuser-Busch, the largest American brewer, to the global conglomerate InBev last year, and an announcement of the loss of 1,400 jobs at the brewery, he sees a possible shift away from the dominant beers available. “Now that American macro beer has been globalized, a lot of loyalties that were passed down might shift. Real honestto-goodness local production could redefine what American brewing is.” ■ + our Kind of Beer With all this talk about local beer we got to wondering what kind of beer is truly Philly’s beer. Here are some answers: GeorGe Hummel, home Sweet homebrew: “We have a tradition of both British and German styles of beer. At a certain level, I would say a porter is really the beer I associate with Philadelphia. That was George Washington’s favorite beer when he visited Philadelphia and he actually arranged to have Philadelphia porter shipped down to Mount Vernon.” yards: Kehoe agrees about the historical importance of porter to our city. “Historically, Philly was known as a great maker of porter. Philly porter was as good as British porter and that was a point of pride,” he says. For Philly’s beer future, though, he sees a different brew. “Pale ale has come up at the forefront of the micro-movement. People know the style and what they’re getting, instead of something like a double bock.” Tom KeHoe, Bill CovalesKi, Victory Brewing co.: “It’s gonna have to be a lager. If you’ve been to American St., you can see the marker for where John Wagner made the first lager in America.” On N. American St., between Brown and Poplar, you can see the blue historical marker Covaleski is talking about. In 1840, Wagner brought over lager yeast, which differs in production methods from ale yeasts, and made the first American version of the crisp, German beer. pBc: Rehm agrees with the history line, but is more diplomatic about what Philly’s beer is. “Traditionally, it’s the lager, because lager was first brewed here. There’s so much good beer here that you can’t say one or the other. Variety is the best.” JoHn reHm, 24 g r i d p h i l ly. c o m march 2009 http://www.gridphilly.com
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