A true beer lover has always dreamed of a vehicle that would drive them around the city for hours while they drink and learn beer nerd facts along the way.
Well, the time has finally come. From our Boston Beantown neighbors, let us introduce Philly Brew Tours, a complete day of non-stop beer education that includes guided craft brewery and distilleries tastings including food pairings with a hearty meal at a local brewery along the way to soak it all up. You drink, we drive is their motto and we like it – a lot.
Founder and CEO Chad Brodsky decided to add Philly to his list of beer education and craft brewery tasting tours which sprouted from Boston and spread to Washington, DC, Burlington, VT and New Hampshire’s sea coast. Partnering with some of the region’s top craft breweries to create all-inclusive itineraries is key by making each guest feel like a VIP. (That means no waiting in lines, no entrance fees, private tours and closed-to-the-public visits.)
Each tour lasts around 5 hours and costs roughly $85 per person and leaves from 1211 Arch Street in downtown Philadelphia, adjacent to the Reading Terminal Market. Don’t call them tourist guides. All tours are led by home brewers and beer experts, with a Rainman-like ability to spout off the most random and fascinating beer facts. at least three breweries, including at least 15 beer tastings with pours ranging from 3 to 16-oz, which tend to get heavier as the night goes on. From Strangers to Drinking Buddies is the motto, which is impossible not to happen as you are getting snuggly with you beer van neighbors.
As this list is always growing, some current featured breweries and distilleries include:
Yards Brewing Company (901 North Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia, PA)
Flying Fish Brewing Company (900 Kennedy Boulevard, Somerdale, NJ)
2nd Story Brewing (117 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA)
Dock Street Brewing (701 South 50th Street, Philadelphia, PA)
Saint Benjamin Brewing Company (1710 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA)
Lunacy Brewing Company (214 Davis Road, Magnolia, NJ)
We spot the van across the street. It’s impossible to miss as it’s the only car allowed to be parked there.They immediately give you a pass to mark off all the locations you travel to to get your beer nerd on.Founder and CEO Chad Brodsky only trusts the best with his company! Our trusty tour guide was amazing and stayed sober for us all.Inside the air-conditioned bus, visitors slap their name tag stickers as a sort of beer art.First stop, Dock Street in West Philly.Ever wonder what the back of Dock Street looked like? Here it is!Can we tap these kegs yet?Our trusty Dock Street tour guide rocks a Walking Dead inspired Dock Street Walker beer which was brewed with goat brains and cranberries. The director loved it so much, he requests it for each season.You are looking at a does beer yeast have feelings test. They put an iPod with rotating Wu-Tang Clan music to see how it affects the taste. Naturally, Wu-Tang reached out to taste it when ready.A mighty fine and tasty beer sample with electrolytes makes it just like Gatorade – with a nice buzz called Gose. Fun fact: Egyptians gave slaves beer to drink to keep them calm and hydrated.The gang is all here and not yet buzzed! But still a pretty sweet shot from our daring tour guide, climbing things.The Dock Street Walker beer is a legend.Cooper River Distillers in Camden, N.J. is not as scary a location as you would think with lots of friendly foot traffic.The staff at Cooper braces for our eager arrival and surprise at being served more than just beer!Steve Jobs started Apple in a garage space to. Just sayin’Wouldn’t one of these barrels of whiskey be nice to take home?Any good booze joint has a bar, naturally.Some mighty potent rum is just how we like it.More delicious rum awaits to be tasted and took home.Rum barrels and pirates, oh my!This is how you make moonshine.A close up of the science of making delicious booze looks like a giant tea kettle.Our fearless tour guide explains the molasses process.What makes booze taste better is always sugar, syrup and molasses!A gooey, sticky hole where it dumps into the vat.DIY cooling tubes hang above your head.The vats where the booze hangs out before it’s ready for consumption.All the places where Coopers is sold and served are marked with pins and expanding.Tasting time! Everyone gets a little board with drink samples ready to go.The buzziest part of the tour, a dark and stormy and whiskey shots are delicious.2nd Story Brewery is up next and where we get to have beer tastings with dinner. We are a ravenous bunch at this point!Part of the design inside is open windows to view the brewing process.Some of the options available on our tour, we love the fun names.Looking down from the second floor, you can see the bar.Our beer guide, Chad, explains the brewing process at 2nd Story.We stuck our lens inside this “do not enter” door to see a big brewing cauldron.The sign of 2nd Story from the second floor.Time to dine! Deep fried veggies are quite addicting.A tasty salad was shared among the group.Pretzel bites with what else than beer cheese to soak up the booze. The rest of the menu included sandwiches and chicken wings which were scarfed down too fast for photos! Obviously, we all hated them.Our flights arrived in time to chow down on said wings and sandwiches.We arrived at Brauhaus Schmitz and so did our German beer flight information for our beer tasting.View from the second floor is pretty sweet.Ask someone on staff to explain this to you, it’s great beer trivia fun – and fun to pronounce!The bar from the second floor looking all German and stuff.Talking about beer while drinking beer is always a winning combo.What’s that? More beer! One of our favorite flights from the night right here.
